Someone behind me began to roll the chair forward into the yawning darkness. I felt hot air that smelled of sulfur buffeting my face as we cleared the threshold of the room, leaving behind the clean precision of the modern clinic for the rough-hewn dark walls of volcanic rock that surrounded us on every side. There were five of us including Aller, and the three attendants all had flashlights clipped to their shirts now, the jostled illumination dancing back and forth across the slowly deepening tunnel as we progressed further out and down.

I wish I could say I don’t remember any of this, but I do, at least for now. I also remember when the tunnel finally flattened out and widened into a stone chamber that seemed impossibly large. The walls to either side were only ten or twelve feet away, but they seemed to run ahead of us and upward forever, far higher than should be possible considering how deep I thought we must be. And the walls themselves were pocked with row after row of holes that appeared to be tunnels half the size of the one we had just left. I had the thought of a beehive, though I knew it was a bad comparison.

I was more afraid at that moment than I had ever been, more than I ever thought I could be. I found myself hoping I would just die from being afraid, but it was just me lying to myself again. I wasn’t going to die, and I could still be much more afraid.

They turned and began to push me toward one of the smaller tunnels, and as we grew closer I saw something moving in that deeper dark. I was so transfixed by trying to see what we were approaching that I almost didn’t hear Aller talking to me again.

“Back in 1783, there were a series of volcanic eruptions near here. It lasted for eight months, if you can believe it. Killed many people, you know. Famine and fluoride poisoning mainly, though some died of other causes.” My eyes were still fixed on the indistinct shape coming closer, but I heard him chuckle. “Many people call it Skaftareldar. A few of us know it meant much more than just fire and destruction.”