### 8

After several minutes of intense effort, the lock opens with a dull Clunk! Carefully, you push open the door and enter a spacious chamber that is lit by ten globes of flickering white light. They hang suspended in the air with no visible means of support. The walls of this chamber are plastered and decorated with murals that depict the armies of Darklord Chlanzor despoiling the farms and cities of the Freeland Alliance. Standing against the far wall is a throne-like chair, crudely fashioned from a huge block of black marble. Veins of fluorescent purples and greens colour its surface, and the air around it shimmers like a desert haze.

As you approach this chair, you hear the door slam shut behind you. Instinctively you spin around and you see that there is no lockplate on the inside of the chamber door. Its surface is plastered and entirely smooth; it blends in seamlessly with the painted walls.

To continue, turn to 90.