The corridor stretched before them like the spine of some ancient beast, its golden walls lined with stone sentinels that had stood watch for millennia. Twenty-four knights carved from the same luminous material as the temple itself held ceremonial spears at perfect attention, their faces hidden beneath elaborately detailed helms. Each statue stood nearly eight feet tall, positioned at precise intervals along the fifty-meter hallway that seemed to extend into infinity until the distant walls finally converged at what appeared to be another doorway.
The expedition team moved in careful formation through this gallery of stone warriors, their enhanced senses probing every shadow and surface for signs of the traps and guardians that labyrinth lore promised. The artificial illumination that had blazed to life when they entered cast everything in warm, golden light that should have been comforting but somehow felt ominous instead.
