Ellison sat with his back against the iron door, the dim glow of his flashlight the only thing keeping the suffocating darkness at bay. The silver key, cold in his palm, felt heavier than the red one before it.
"Alright," he muttered to himself, aiming his camera toward his face. His voice trembled despite his attempt to sound confident. "Update for the Nooshe Nation. So far, I've found two keys, been chased by shadows, and solved a weird book puzzle. And guess what? I'm not dead yet. Let's keep it that way."
The shadows in the room hadn't fully dissipated. They lingered on the edges of the room, pulsing and shifting like they were just waiting for him to slip up.
Ellison took a deep breath, standing up slowly. "Next step—figure out what the heck this key opens."
He glanced around, noticing a staircase that spiraled upward at the far end of the room, hidden behind a thick velvet curtain. He hadn't seen it earlier. In fact, it felt like it had materialized out of thin air, as if the mansion itself was moving, changing around him.
"Great," Ellison muttered. "A staircase. This is definitely not going to end well."
But the pull of curiosity was stronger than his fear. With the silver key clenched tightly in his hand, he walked toward the stairs. Each step creaked under his weight, the sound echoing in the silence.
The staircase wound up and up, its wooden steps worn smooth by time, but still sturdy. The walls were lined with faded portraits—faces of people he didn't recognize, their eyes following him with an unsettling intensity.
He didn't dare look too long at them, his focus solely on the steps ahead. The air grew colder with each level, and the shadows stretched longer as if they were crawling toward him.
At the top of the stairs, he found another door. This one, unlike the others, was made of aged oak, with a thick brass lock that seemed to mock him. His heart pounded as he stepped closer, the key trembling in his hand.
Without thinking, he inserted the key into the lock. The door creaked open with a low groan, revealing a room covered in dust and cobwebs. The windows were boarded up, leaving only slivers of light to filter in.
"Looks like no one's been in here for years," Ellison said, stepping inside.
As he moved deeper into the room, he spotted something that made his breath catch in his throat.
A desk, covered in papers, sat near the far wall. On top of it was an old, cracked television, its screen flickering with static.
Ellison approached cautiously, filming everything as he went. As soon as he touched the television, it powered on with a loud buzzing sound. Static filled the screen for a moment before a distorted image appeared.
Kaylee's face.
She looked much older in this footage—tired, worn. Her eyes were wide with fear as she looked into the camera.
"Whoever finds this," her voice crackled, "you need to get out. This place isn't what it seems. The mansion... it's alive. It will take you if you stay too long."
Ellison's stomach churned. "Alive? What does that even mean?" he whispered.
The footage continued, her voice growing more frantic. "The puzzle... the box... it's not just a game. It's a test. And it'll never stop until you solve it. If you don't... you'll become part of the mansion, too."
The screen flickered again, and Kaylee's face was replaced by a terrifying image—of the iron door, the one Ellison had just passed through, opening by itself.
His pulse quickened.
Then, in a burst of static, the video ended.
Ellison stood frozen, staring at the blank screen. The air around him felt thicker now, almost suffocating. He glanced nervously around the room, sure that the shadows were closing in.
Suddenly, the floor beneath him rumbled. A hidden passageway opened up in the floor, revealing a spiral staircase descending into an even darker part of the mansion.
"Of course there's another staircase," Ellison sighed, his voice strained. But despite his fear, his curiosity won out. He reached for the camera, switching it on as he descended into the unknown.
The stairwell was narrow, and the air grew colder with each step. The walls were lined with old stone, and the faint smell of earth filled the air. At the bottom, the staircase opened into a cavernous underground room.
The only thing in the center of the room was a pedestal with a strange, glowing orb sitting atop it.
Ellison's heart raced. The orb hummed with energy, and as he stepped closer, he felt a chill run down his spine. He didn't need to be told—it was the key to unlocking the final mystery of the mansion. But the closer he got, the stronger the pull of the shadows became.
"Alright," he whispered, "let's see what you've got."
He reached for the orb.
The moment his fingers brushed its surface, the ground trembled violently. The shadows, now swirling violently around the room, leapt toward him, their forms monstrous and dark.
"Get off me!" Ellison shouted, backing away, but the shadows didn't relent. They wrapped around his arms, his legs, pulling him into the center of the room.
The orb began to glow brighter. He could hear Kaylee's voice in his mind now, faint but insistent: "You're close. But not close enough."
The shadows reached for him, and he knew one thing for sure: This wasn't over.