A picture frame

'I believe I may have set my expectations too high. Surely, he wouldn't have left such a key here for someone else, would he?'

With the rock secured on his person, Adrian continued his descent, recognizing that locating the key wasn't his primary mission. Stumbling upon the key would have been a stroke of luck, but he didn't linger on that thought for too long.

Descending further, Adrian glanced backward and noticed that the elusive heels were no longer trailing him this time.

'I should take this as a cue to take the hell out of here but I want to see it for myself.'

Contemplating his next move, Adrian pressed on. Despite the possibility of encountering trouble below, he maintained confidence in his ability to escape through the shadows if needed.

The escape route fueled his progress. As Adrian approached the place where the door was, a growing intuition hinted at something lurking in the depths below.

Uncertain about its nature, Adrian found himself grappling with the enigma concealed within the impenetrable darkness, even with the aid of his newfound senses and enhanced eyesight.

'This is more troublesome than I thought but I wont be able to relax if I don't confirm it.'

Once again, curiosity wielded its influence, leading Adrian towards potential peril. Despite a nagging certainty that retreat was the prudent choice, Adrian couldn't betray his true nature – the instinct to face the unknown rather than retreat defined him.

He couldn't back down so easily. 'If Vyrtalis could do it, so can I.'

Gradually, Adrian discerned the mysterious entity dwelling in the depths. As he fixed his gaze upon it, a peculiar sensation coursed through his mind, as though something were attempting to bore into the recesses of his consciousness.

'Okay I don't think even if the door is still there, it's accessible anymore.' even though Adrian thought this, he still continued down. 

The intensifying buzzing evolved into a pounding headache, even within the concealment of the shadows. Just as Adrian approached the obscure abyss he couldn't clearly perceive before, a form materialized within the shadows, catching his attention.

Within the shadows, Adrian discerned a small object emitting an eerie black light.

Despite the unclear visibility, Adrian pressed onward, suppressing the insistent warnings from his senses. Venturing a bit further, he finally unveiled the identity of the mysterious object.

In the midst of the shadows, Adrian discovered a picture frame. Hindered by the inky black light emanating from it, he couldn't discern if there was an image within, but the unmistakable contours revealed its frame-like structure.

Upon gazing at the frame, Adrian's mind abruptly went blank. His thoughts dissipated, and the capacity for coherent thinking slipped away, leaving him in a state of profound mental vacancy.

It was so severe that he couldn't even pin his thoughts together to escape this place. 

Frozen in the shadows like a statue, Adrian remained fixated on the frame, and an eerie sensation crept over him as it seemed like the frame was drawing him closer, inch by inch.

'S-shit.' 

With the bare minimum ability to think, Adrian used his big brain to put word together, and it was shit.

If someone had witnessed Adrian in this state, he might have earned the label of retard, but fortunately, the solitude spared him from potential judgments, allowing his peculiar condition to unfold without an audience.

As Adrian felt the inexplicable pull toward the frame, a fleeting glimpse behind it caught his attention.

It was a door.

Behind the frame, Adrian's eyes locked onto a familiar sight—a plain blue door. Its simplicity belied a profound significance, as he recognized it from the recurring dreams as Vyrtalis, each line etched in his memory.

'The door is actually there.' 

As the realization struck Adrian, his mental faculties snapped back into action. Wasting no time, he propelled himself through the shadows, ascending toward the crater's exit with a renewed sense of urgency.

Having satisfied his curiosity, Adrian reflected on the perilous encounter that had nearly cost him his life.

'So there's the door and now there's an abomination in front of it, just great.'

Contemplating the picture frame, Adrian couldn't shake the eerie similarity between the recent encounter and the unsettling experience he had with the lantern.

The déjà vu struck him—the similarity between the encounters with the lantern and the picture frame was undeniable. In both instances, a mysterious darkness surrounded the objects, hindering his perception and the thought process. The crucial commonality that bound the two experiences together was…

…the door.

Adrian couldn't ignore the striking resemblance between the red door he encountered in the past and the current blue door. The designs mirrored each other, and the enigmatic darkness that shrouded both doors further emphasized the uncanny similarity.

'I have gone into this door and its totally different than that red one.' 

Despite drawing parallels between the two doors, Adrian remained uncertain. The uncertainty stemmed from the fact that the lantern had been inside the red door, while the picture frame appeared to be positioned outside the blue door.

The darkness resided within the red door, while it enveloped the space outside the blue door. 

'Interseting. I love my life so much.'

Upon reaching the summit of the crater, Adrian spotted the heels standing there. Unable to contain himself, he addressed them, "If you were aware of what lay below, a warning would have sufficed. Choosing not to enter is one thing, but I believed we shared a bond, a connection that might have prompted you to intervene."

'..."

If the heels possessed a face at that moment, they might have rolled their eyes at Adrian, not only for his dramatic expression but also for his own childish actions.

"Indeed, it's advisable for you to maintain silence and reflect upon your choices," Adrian remarked, scanning his surroundings only to find nothing of particular significance.

The persisting darkness indicated to Adrian that he hadn't lingered too long within the dream or the crater, a comforting realization.

Adrian proceeded toward the luminous tree, recognizing it as the singular catalyst for the peculiar events he had experienced.

'So sleeping under the tree has something to do with Vyrtalis dream or is it the fruits? I should try it once more.' 

En route to the tree, Adrian's thoughts delved into the mysteries surrounding Vyrtalis and his mother. The tranquility they had enjoyed for numerous years raised questions about what could have disrupted their once peaceful lives.

His motivation extended beyond mere curiosity; Adrian sought to glean additional insights from the blue door, recognizing its potential to provide more answers.

Recognizing the potential significance of what lay beyond the blue door, Adrian deemed it worthy of risking his life. The assurance that it was a dream alleviated some of his concerns.