### 42

A soft, whirring noise emanates from inside the lock, then silently and effortlessly the great portal swings open. With your nerves on edge you enter the dark interior and follow a featureless corridor to another large but less impressive door, which opens at your approach. A surge of damp air whips past you, sucked into the chamber beyond, as the air-tight seal is broken after many decades. Torches ignite spontaneously and, for the first time in its long history, the secrets of the inner sanctum of the Great Sepulchre are revealed to the eyes of an Aonian.

Turn to 54.

Text copyright © 1987 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1987 Brian Williams.