While the walls brightened and their paintings took on stark contrast, Sunny paused on the stairs to stare back at Laphicet with a slackened jaw. He was [i]glowing![/i] Like something ethereal or divine, the kid emanated a brilliant light from within himself to guide their way. Sunny grinned a little, fondly; the metaphor hadn't escaped her.

Thinking of wizards and monsters and stars and home, Sunny continued farther down the winding staircase.

Laphi's light revealed still more of their surroundings as they descended; the primitive artwork of the higher rocks -- depicting handprints and symbolized people and forests and monsters -- soon gave way to colorful mosaics of intricate design. Blues and yellows and reds, violets and greens, shone brilliantly in the white light. Together the small stones created images of huge godlike figures basked in radiance, destroyed cities, people carrying jugs of water up winding stairs, the white towers of a prosperous civilization gleaming in starlight.

Sunny gaped at the beautiful mosaics, so distracted that she stumbled when she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. The floor was a shining obsidian that perfectly reflected Laphi's light -- yet still the farthest reaches of the room were shrouded in shadow.

"Who's there?" a man's voice echoed out of the darkness, quick and suspicious. "Identify yourselves, strangers! Who dares open the way? You'll let loose --"

[i]"KREEEEEE!"[/i]

Sunny spun around, pressing her torch in the direction of this new echo; out of the darkness a pair of shining white eyes stared steadily down at them from high above, moving back and forth, flicking dangerously. Quieter were the sounds of clacking talons and shifting feathers.

Only Aro would distinctly recognize the call of a griffin.