Hastening on, despair was rapidly engulfing me once again and I thought my situation totally hopeless, when I noticed a change in the quality of light some way ahead of me. Having no better avenue to pursue, I trudged on, but did not get my hopes up at what I might find. The cold seemed to be slowly eating into my bones and I hugged my arms around my chest and began to quicken my steps--more to keep warm than to hurry my progress.

I soon reached the area I had sighted previously and the light was indeed brighter here. I slowed my steps as I neared a low doorway, recessed into the wall on my left. It was from this doorway that a soft, warm light spilled into the passage. I then became aware of something that had been playing around the edges of my mind for some time. I stopped short of the doorway and listened intently.

Unmistakably, I could hear music.

I must have been subconsciously aware of it for some time, but the melody was so soft, so unlike anything I had ever heard before, I must have simply put it off as a trick my mind was playing on me, brought on by the long imposed silence I had suffered through the past hour, or so. And yet, the more I strained to catch that spectral tune, the more I came to realize that I was not actually hearing the music--rather, I seemed to feel the notes within my brain. The music was simply there, in my head.

While I knew that what I was experiencing was physically impossible, that fact did not seem to bother me as much as I thought it should. In point of fact, an unusual and unexpected sense of well being was seeping into my body, making my fears of just a few minutes ago now seem somehow far behind me. As I stood there, the music enveloped me with a gentle warmth and my sense of well being increased, while my fears dissolved away completely. Feeling a trifle lightheaded, but in a better frame of mind than I could remember processing for days, I stepped forward to peer through the open doorway.

Three, well worn stone steps led down to a wide, low-ceilinged, empty room. I descended the steps and looked about at my surroundings. Directly across from the entrance was what appeared to be another, much larger doorway, but it was set horizontally to the floor, about halfway up the wall. I could think of nothing it could be used for and other than that peculiar item, the faded walls and floor of the room were bare.

And yet, this was definitely where the music I seemed to sense was coming from. It appeared to swell and ebb, all around me, never letting me quite catch hold of it. Entranced, I advanced to the center of the room and did a slow pirouette, taking in the entire, empty scene.