This image started out as a fascinating tunnel of books, a free, CC0 image which I edited drastically in order to create the effect of an “inside-out glowing snake tunnel” as described in Chapter 1 of A Lon Beginning.
There was light—diffuse, impossible to pinpoint—and once Kel’s eyes fully adapted to the darker tunnel, the wall gleamed deep orange and dark gold, in regular segments that made a subtle texture under Kel’s fingers.
Mama had once shown Kel a book full of strange animals from far away and long ago, and one of them had had skin like this wall.
“Snake,” Kel murmured, walking just fast enough to keep up with the little scurrying thing. “If a snake was hollow, this is what it would look like. How did someone put a snake inside my mountain?”