Finally, the sun came back up.
Bastian had hyped himself up for an explosion or a similarly exciting event, but he was out of luck. The thing merely freezed in place, letting them climb down and then the pirate captain was able to continue with his quest.
He could simply not deal with any tears, so he just marched towards the entrance, not caring about the traps beyond basic intuition. If there were any on the ground, they were surely hidden well enough that searching for them would just cost him precious time. At least the ground and the floor looked smooth enough that not even the most skilled eyes could have spotted any irregularities.
But as his torch lit up the dark corridor taking a quick turn towards the womb of the earth, he started to feel something he had never experienced before.
