The hallway felt even longer as Yumiko, Kaido, and Leo made their way back through the west wing of the mansion. The flickering candlelight cast eerie shadows across the walls, and the distant whispering voices from the vortex seemed to echo in their minds, like a distant memory trying to surface but remaining just out of reach.
They had just left the heart of the mansion, but the unsettling presence of the swirling vortex still lingered in their thoughts. As they walked in silence, the weight of what they had learned pressed heavily on them. The mansion was alive, sentient, and feeding off their fear. It was waiting, watching, and plotting its next move.
Yumiko couldn't shake the feeling that something worse was coming. The shadow, the vortex, the sigils—they were all connected, but the missing piece was still out there, lurking in the dark corners of the mansion, waiting to reveal itself.
Kaido broke the silence first. His voice was gruff, his frustration barely contained. "So, what now? We've seen the vortex, we know about the sigils, but we still don't know how to stop any of it. Are we just going to wait around for the mansion to swallow us whole?"
Leo's hands tightened on the wheels of his chair as he glanced back at Kaido. "No. We're going to find the source of the sigils' power, and we're going to destroy it. That's our only option."
Yumiko glanced at Leo. "You said the sigils are part of the mansion's defenses. But what's feeding them? You think it's something... inside the house?"
Leo nodded slowly. "Yes. I believe there's something—or someone—within the mansion that is keeping the sigils alive. The mansion has been trapping souls for centuries. It's possible that whoever—or whatever—is behind this is drawing power from those souls."
Kaido shook his head, his frustration mounting. "But that doesn't make any sense! If the mansion's been feeding off people for centuries, why hasn't it just finished us off already? What does it want from us?"
Leo's expression darkened. "I don't know. But we're not the first to be trapped here. The mansion plays with its victims. It breaks them down, piece by piece, until they're too weak to fight back. That's what it wants from us—our fear, our despair. It thrives on it."
Yumiko shuddered at the thought. The idea of being slowly consumed by the mansion's malevolent presence filled her with dread. But there was something else nagging at her, a thought that wouldn't leave her mind.
"What about Dan?" she asked softly, her voice trembling. "He's still out there... somewhere. We can't just leave him."
Kaido tensed at the mention of Dan's name. His jaw clenched, and he turned away, staring at the darkened hallway ahead. "We don't even know if he's alive, Yumiko. We saw him vanish into that portal. There's no telling where he went."
Yumiko's heart ached at the thought of Dan—her childhood friend, her closest ally—being lost in some dark, unknown world beyond the portal. But she couldn't give up hope, not yet. "We have to try. There's still a chance we can find him. Maybe... maybe if we destroy the vortex, we can bring him back."
Leo's gaze softened as he looked at her. "It's possible. But we can't make any promises. The mansion is unpredictable. It warps reality. If Dan is still alive, he could be anywhere, in any version of this house."
Kaido turned back to them, his face etched with frustration. "Fine. We'll destroy the vortex, we'll take down the sigils, and then what? We still don't know why we're here or how to get out."
Leo's eyes narrowed. "One step at a time, Kaido. First, we deal with the sigils. Then, we'll find out why the mansion chose you."
"Chose us?" Kaido snapped, his voice rising. "You keep saying that like we're special or something. But all I see is a death trap! Why the hell would this place choose us?"
Leo's voice was calm but firm. "Because you have something the mansion wants. Something that makes you different from the others."
Yumiko's pulse quickened. "Different? How?"
Leo paused, his gaze lingering on her and Kaido. "I don't know yet. But I can feel it. You're not like the others who came before you. There's something about you that resonates with this house, something that's keeping you alive when others would have fallen by now."
Kaido scoffed, his anger barely contained. "Great. We're special. That's just what I needed to hear."
Yumiko, however, was more thoughtful. Leo's words echoed in her mind. What made them different? Why had the mansion targeted them specifically? And why had it allowed them to survive this long?
Suddenly, a faint sound broke through the tension—a soft, rhythmic tapping, just like before. Yumiko froze, her breath catching in her throat. It was the same sound they had heard before entering the west wing.
Kaido stiffened, his hand instinctively going to the knife he had taken from the kitchen earlier. "Do you hear that?"
Leo nodded, his expression grim. "It's the same sound we heard before. Something's coming."
The tapping grew louder, more insistent, echoing through the corridor like the steady beat of a drum. Yumiko's heart raced as she scanned the hallway, her flashlight beam flickering over the walls, but there was nothing there. Just darkness and the faint glow of candlelight.
"Stay close," Leo whispered, his eyes scanning the shadows. "The mansion is playing with us again."
Kaido gripped his knife tightly, his eyes darting around the hallway. "We can't just stand here. We need to move."
Leo nodded. "Agreed. Let's head back to the study. It's the only place in the mansion that seems safe, for now."
But as they turned to leave, the tapping sound suddenly stopped, replaced by an eerie silence that made Yumiko's skin crawl. She froze, her heart pounding in her chest. Something was wrong.
"Wait," she whispered. "Do you hear that?"
Kaido frowned. "Hear what? It's quiet."
"Exactly," Yumiko replied, her voice trembling. "Too quiet."
Leo's eyes narrowed as he turned his head slightly, listening. The mansion, which had been filled with creaks and whispers, was now deathly silent. Even the distant hum of the vortex was gone.
"This isn't right," Leo murmured. "The house... it's holding its breath."
Suddenly, a cold gust of wind swept through the hallway, extinguishing the candles and plunging them into darkness. Yumiko gasped, her flashlight flickering wildly as the temperature dropped. The air around them felt heavy, oppressive, as if something unseen was pressing down on them.
"Stay together!" Leo called out, his voice strained. "The house is trying to separate us!"
But before they could react, the ground beneath them trembled, and the walls of the hallway began to shift, the stone and wood twisting and contorting as if the mansion itself was coming alive. The floor cracked beneath their feet, and Kaido grabbed Yumiko's arm, pulling her back just as a section of the floor collapsed into a gaping hole.
"What the hell is happening?" Kaido shouted, his voice filled with panic.
"The mansion is changing!" Leo yelled, his wheelchair skidding across the uneven floor. "It's trying to trap us!"
Yumiko's heart raced as she tried to steady herself, her mind spinning. The mansion was shifting, rearranging itself, cutting off their escape. She could see the walls moving, stretching, growing closer together, as if the house was trying to crush them.
"Run!" Leo shouted, wheeling himself toward a narrow passageway that had opened up ahead. "We need to get out of here before it closes off completely!"
Kaido didn't hesitate, grabbing Yumiko's hand and pulling her toward the passage. They sprinted through the twisting hallway, their footsteps echoing in the darkness as the walls seemed to close in behind them.
The passageway was tight, barely wide enough for Leo's wheelchair, but they pushed forward, desperate to escape the mansion's clutches. The air was thick with dust, and the ground beneath them shook with each step, as if the house was alive and angry.
"Keep moving!" Leo urged, his voice strained as he struggled to keep up.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they burst out into a larger room, the walls no longer shifting, the floor no longer trembling. They collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, their hearts pounding in their chests.
Yumiko looked around, her eyes wide with fear and disbelief. "What just happened?"
Leo wiped the sweat from his brow, his face pale. "The mansion... it's more powerful than I thought. It can shift its layout, trap us inside. We need to be more careful."
Kaido stood up, his hands trembling as he sheathed his knife. "If the house can do that, how are we supposed to fight it?"
Leo's eyes darkened. "We don't fight the house. We find the source of its power and destroy it. Before it destroys us."
Yumiko shivered, the weight of their situation pressing down on her. The mansion wasn't just a haunted house. It was alive, and it was hunting them.
And somewhere in the darkness, the tapping sound resumed—fainter this time, but still there. Still watching.