A dark, misty cavern features a massive, twisted rock column encircled by an ancient stone spiral staircase, illuminated by faint light.

They came at last to the underground threshold—a winding stone stairwell that spiraled upward around an immense, natural column of rock. At first, Veronica mistook it for a man-made structure, but then she saw it clearly: it was a stalagmite, broad at its base, narrowing at its middle where it joined its counterpart—the mirrored stalactite descending from the cavern ceiling. The two had fused over millennia to form a single, monumental pillar of calcified stone, cold and ancient, encircled by meticulously carved steps that climbed in solemn ascent around it like a tightening coil. See more