He was alone in the sense that the little man was not with him, but not completely because there was a pointy stick where he had stood a moment before. Lack saw that it was made of some kind of shiny black metal and he could not tell if it was magical or not.
He decided to test it by wishing aloud for a Holy Hole. He was tiring of the Lumbery Sea and he felt anything else would be an improvement.
Just as he had hoped, a hole appeared in place of the stick (it must have been magical). There was no explosion this time. The hole wasn’t there and then it was with no superfluous fanfare.
This new hole was about the same size and shape as the last and just as unsettlingly opaque.
Lack, recalling the fall he had just recovered from, tried to climb slowly down the second hole. As expected, he failed and fell another interminable distance. He was starting to get used to it by now and it wasn’t as bad.
The Slowest of all Possible Elevators 