The passage Ao Shun led them through descended steeply, contrary to what Grim had expected. Unlike the ornate corridors they'd traversed earlier, this tunnel was perfectly round and smooth, as if bored through the ice by some massive creature.
Ao Shun's dragon form filled nearly the entire space. Despite his size, he moved silently, scales occasionally scraping against the ice walls with a sound like distant wind.
After several minutes of descent, the tunnel opened into a vast chamber unlike anything Grim had seen before. Where the throne room had been empty and austere, this space was filled with shimmering pools of different sizes, each glowing with a different hue of blue or green. The pools were arranged in concentric circles around a central depression that contained a pool of water so dark it appeared black.
The temperature here was marginally warmer than the throne room, though still well below freezing.
