While the six of them were drowning inside their own memories — Tony with his parents, Samy with her sister, Jet in the empty camp, Tin with those cold walls, Kim at the clue board, Roger hearing the sound upstairs — somewhere far beyond their senses, a storm was erupting.
A room existed that didn't belong to the real world.
Or to the past.
Or to the tenth gate.
A room made of shifting walls, glowing sigils, smoke, and darkness so thick it pulsed like a heartbeat.
Inside it—
Two shadows fought.
One black.
One white.
The same shadows that had appeared around the six before.
One had tried to harm them.
The other had dragged them away, saved them, protected them when they were about to die.
Now the two shadows stood face to face.
The black shadow leaned forward first, voice sharp like cracking glass.
"Why did you save only them?"
The white shadow didn't answer. It simply raised an arm — and a blast of pale light shot forward.
The black shadow dodged, turning into a streak of dark smoke that rushed across the room.
They crashed in the center.
The floor shook.
Walls rippled like water.
The black shadow struck first, claws cutting through the white body like slicing moonlight.
"All the others who entered the gate… you let them die."
The white shadow swung its arm and the room exploded with a wave of brightness.
But the black one didn't fall.
It twisted its body, forming a blade made of pure darkness.
It slashed.
The sound echoed like thunder.
The white shadow slid back but didn't break.
For a moment, the two circled each other like predators.
The white one finally spoke.
A low whisper, barely human:
"They are not like others."
The black shadow growled.
"You think they can survive this place?"
The white shadow didn't reply.
Instead, it rushed forward, landing a punch that sent the black shadow crashing into the far wall. Darkness splattered like ink before forming back into shape.
The black one's laugh was cold.
"Protecting them will break you."
The white shadow raised its hands and the whole room lit up with deadly beams of white.
The black shadow darted between them, fast, sharp, alive with anger.
"They don't deserve saving."
The black voice cut through the flashing lights.
The white shadow's reply was calm.
Almost too calm for a being that wasn't human:
"That is why they must be saved."
Dark smoke shot forward, wrapping around the white form like chains, squeezing.
The white shadow didn't panic.
With a quick burst, it shattered the smoke restraints and spun, kicking the black shadow across the room.
The entire space shook like a living creature.
The white shadow stepped forward.
"Leave them."
The black shadow's eyes glowed with sharp fury.
"They are the reason the gate awakened."
White energy flared.
"No. You know the truth."
The black shadow rushed at impossible speed, slicing through the air.
"The gate wants them!"
The white shadow blocked the attack, light bursting along its arm.
"It wants everyone. But they—"
It paused, and the room dimmed for a moment.
"—are chosen differently."
That word angered the black one.
"Chosen? Or cursed?"
White shadow didn't flinch.
"Both."
They clashed again.
White light.
Black smoke.
The room tearing apart and repairing itself instantly, as if afraid to collapse in front of them.
Their power was equal — opposite — eternal.
Each strike created ripples that vibrated through the memories where the six kids were trapped:
Tony felt his spoon tremble.
Samy felt the table shake.
Jet's bicycle wobbled for a second.
Tin heard a low rumble in the corridor.
Kim's papers fluttered without wind.
Roger saw a photo frame tilt slightly.
None of them understood why.
The fight was happening somewhere close and far at the same time.
Somewhere between reality and memory.
The black shadow landed a hit that sent the white shadow sliding across the floor.
"If they stay here, they will break!"
"If they leave now, they will die."
The white shadow said it simply, as if explaining the weather.
Black shadow hissed.
"You can't protect them forever."
White shadow lifted its hand.
Light filled the cracks in the room.
"I don't need forever."
It struck.
A beam of pure white cracked the air in half.
The black shadow blocked with its arms crossed, but the force pushed it back step by step.
The room warped.
The sigils glowed red.
The walls screamed.
The black shadow suddenly dissolved into a fast-moving mist and appeared behind the white one, claws raised.
"They will become like the others!"
The white shadow didn't even turn.
"No."
It caught the black arm mid-air.
A shockwave burst outward.
"They have something the others never had."
The black shadow struggled, its form flickering.
"What?"
The white shadow finally answered clearly, its voice echoing through the entire strange place:
"Each other."
The black shadow pushed away, furious.
It slashed again, smoke turning into razor-sharp blades.
"You really think six broken children can fight the gate?"
White shadow struck back, its punch landing like a meteor.
"They are not broken."
The black shadow staggered.
Light and darkness collided again and again, shaking the room like an earthquake.
The black shadow unleashed a scream — high, sharp, tearing through the silence.
The lights in the room flickered.
"They will not survive."
The white shadow stepped forward, glowing brighter.
"Then I will carry them until they can."
Their last collision was the strongest.
White light bursting like a dying star.
Black darkness rising like a storm.
The floor cracked.
The ceiling split.
The air shattered.
And then—
BOOOOOOM.
A final shockwave blew both shadows to opposite ends of the room.
Everything went still.
For a long moment, neither moved.
Only the sound of the strange room repairing itself echoed softly — like breathing.
The black shadow rose first, shaking with rage.
"This is not over."
The white shadow stood too, steady, calm.
"I know."
They stared at each other — eternal enemies, same blood, same power, same origin — different hearts.
Outside, in their memories, the six kids breathed without knowing how close danger was.
They were still trapped.
Still lost.
Still unaware of the war happening for them.
But the white shadow knew something the black one refused to believe:
Their story was only beginning.