The hall had changed.No longer just mirrors—it was alive. Every surface writhed like skin, veins pulsing beneath glassy reflections. Every step they took sank slightly, as if the floor itself were hungry.
Alex gritted his teeth. "Keep moving. Don't stop."
Sophie's hand shook in his. "But… it's everywhere! How do we even fight this?"
Evelyn's lantern cut a narrow path through the shadows, illuminating the faces in the mirrors. Each reflection was different now—some were older, scarred, screaming silently; others were grotesque versions of themselves, mouths stretched impossibly wide.
Leo whispered, voice tight: "It's… feeding on our fear and our memories. Every hesitation, every regret—it knows them."
A mirror shattered ahead, and a shadowy version of Alex lunged from the fragments. Its movements were faster, stronger, wrong. It wasn't just a reflection—it was a weaponized version of him.
Sophie screamed as her own reflection appeared behind her, whispering all the things she had failed to do, all the mistakes she had buried. The whispers wrapped around her mind like chains.
Evelyn swung the lantern in a wide arc. Light tore through some of the shadow-figures, but more emerged instantly, crawling from broken mirrors, stretching across walls and floor.
Alex struck at his shadow-doppelganger, breaking one figure into pieces—but three more sprang from the shards.Leo ducked as a mirror on the ceiling split open, spilling black smoke that formed another twisted version of himself.
The hall pulsed violently—the Heart's presence throbbed through every surface.A voice echoed through their minds, low and omnipresent:
"You belong to me. Your fear… your guilt… your will… all mine to consume."
Evelyn forced her mind steady. "No. We decide what's real. Not you."
She projected calm, focusing her pulse into the lantern's flame. The shadows shrieked and recoiled, and for a fraction of a second, the hall seemed to shrink away, giving them space to breathe.
Alex took the lead. "We keep going. Step by step."
Step by step, they advanced, lantern blazing, hearts racing.The reflections screamed, twisted, lunged—but the group held together, moving as one, refusing to let the Hall claim their minds.
At the far end, a door appeared, darker than the rest, veins glowing red like the Heart's pulse itself.The whispers stopped.
But the last echo lingered in their minds:
"You can survive… but you cannot escape me."
Evelyn swallowed hard. "That's fine. We don't need to escape. We need to fight."
And with that, the four of them stepped toward the dark doorway—their next step into the Heart's true nightmare.