His own shadow was lagging behind.
Noa noticed. "…Ren?"
The shadow turned its head.
Ren froze.
"Go." He pushed Noa forward. "Go, NOW."
The shadow moved first.
It lunged.
Ren dodged, shoving Noa ahead as the darkness clawed at his feet. It grew teeth, stretching toward him, trying to pull him in.
Noa reached for him, gripping his hand. "MOVE, REN."
The shadows screamed.
They shot upward—rushing past them, devouring the stairs above.
Ren grabbed Noa and jumped just as the steps beneath them vanished.
They hit the next floor hard.
Ren coughed, rolling onto his side. His shadow was normal again.
Noa clenched her fists. "…I don't think we're supposed to make it past these floors."
Ren exhaled, staring at the dark hole where the stairs had once been.
"…Yeah."
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise climbed first.
The air was thick. Heavy. She could hear whispers in her ears—her own voice, over and over, mocking her.
"…Why do you even bother?"
"…You're going to die here."
"…He won't save you."
Darian was behind her. He heard nothing.
Then—on the fourth step—
Elise sank.
Hands burst from the stairs, clawing at her ankles.
Darian reacted instantly. He grabbed her arm and pulled hard.
But the hands wouldn't let go.
They dug into Elise's flesh, leaving deep purple bruises.
She screamed.
Darian yanked harder. The arms snapped.
Elise was free.
But when they looked back—
The hands had formed a body.
And it was smiling.
"We will see you again on the next floor."
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Jace was limping. The stairs had cut into his foot.
Rowan looked ahead. "…We're here."
The second floor.
The air was thick. Oppressive.
The walls twitched.
Jace clenched his jaw. "I hate this."
The lights flickered.
Then—
The walls opened their eyes.
Hundreds of human faces—**distorted, writhing, stitched together—**began to whisper.
Rowan grabbed Jace's arm. "We need to move."
Jace couldn't.
The faces were familiar.
His own.
They laughed.
Then, in unison—
They all screamed.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
The second floor was breathing.
The walls pulsed—a grotesque rhythm, like the insides of a living beast.
Lucian wiped the sweat from his brow, but the air was humid, sticky— it clung to his skin like a second layer of flesh.
Aria froze. "Lucian…"
Lucian turned—
The walls peeled open.
It wasn't paint. It was skin.
Rows of eyes, mismatched, unnatural, rolled inside their sockets, blinking at them with slow, disgusting wet sounds. Mouths formed in between—lips cracked, gums black, teeth shattered and uneven.
And then—
They spoke.
"You shouldn't be here."
Lucian's stomach dropped.
The mouths stretched open—too wide—too wrong—
And then, from deep inside the walls, something pushed forward.
A body. Half-formed. Dripping in flesh and exposed bone.
Lucian's fingers twitched. "Run."
Aria was already moving.
But the floor collapsed beneath them.
Lucian barely had time to grab her before they fell—
Straight into a pit of writhing, screaming faces.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
The floor was not a floor.
It was a pit of bones.
Noa's boots crunched down. A deep, sickening snap echoed up the halls.
Ren exhaled, slow. "I don't like this."
Then the bones twitched.
Ren froze.
Noa looked down. Her foot was sinking.
The bones were pulling her in.
She kicked—hard— but the remains clamped onto her ankle, dragging her down.
Ren grabbed her arm, pulling with all his strength.
But the bones were alive.
A skull turned its head up.
It was grinning.
"Let her go," Ren snarled.
The bones laughed.
Then—they answered.
"Trade."
Ren's chest tightened. He already knew what it meant.
Noa gets out. He goes in.
He hesitated.
The bones did not.
They yanked her under.
She was gone.
Ren's lungs seized. "NOA—"
Then—darkness.
The floor was empty.
Ren was alone.
And the only thing left was the skull—staring up at him, still grinning.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise's skin burned.
Darian was dragging her.
Behind them— the walls rippled, split, birthed things that shouldn't exist.
Creatures. Bone-thin. Hollow sockets where their eyes should be.
And in their hands—
Rusty, jagged blades.
Elise gasped. "Darian—"
He didn't answer.
He turned—and threw her forward.
Elise hit the floor just as the creatures lunged.
The first blade sliced into Darian's back.
He choked.
Blood splattered the floor.
Elise screamed.
Darian collapsed. The creatures descended on him.
Their knives didn't stab.
They peeled.
Skin first.
Then muscle.
Darian's screams broke apart as his throat tore open from the force of it.
Elise ran.
But as she reached the next room—
A voice whispered behind her.
Soft. Wet.
"We can put him back together."
She froze.
Then slowly turned.
Darian was standing.
His body was stitched back together.
His eyes weren't his.
And when he opened his mouth—
It was someone else's voice.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
The second floor was a hallway.
But the walls were moving.
Jace exhaled sharply. "This place is worse than hell."
Rowan nodded. "Let's go."
Then—a wet, sticky noise.
Jace turned.
His own body was standing behind him.
But it wasn't him.
The copy smiled.
Its arms ripped open at the seams, splitting down to the bone as its fingers extended into needles.
Jace's breath hitched. "What the fu—"
The copy moved.
Faster than it should. Faster than anything human.
The needles shot forward.
Jace barely dodged. The wall behind him screeched as the needles impaled through it like spears.
Rowan pulled out his knife. "Don't."
The copy tilted its head.
Then, in Jace's own voice—
"You don't need two of you."
It lunged.
And Jace realized—
It wasn't trying to kill him.
It was trying to replace him.
They fell.
The faces reached for them—skin stretching, jaws snapping, hands clawing at their clothes, their hair, their flesh.
House 1
Lucian kicked violently, grabbing Aria by the wrist.
They slammed into something solid.
Not the floor. Not wood.
Flesh.
Lucian looked down—and his stomach dropped.
They were standing on a human torso.
A giant one.
The skin was stitched together with crude, black wire, barely holding in the writhing, moving mass beneath it.
And then—
It breathed.
A deep, sucking inhale.
The stitches strained.
Lucian's blood went cold. "Run."
They moved.
Aria's boots slammed into the fleshy, uneven surface as she sprinted toward what looked like a doorway—but the skin beneath them shuddered.
Then—it split.
Aria fell.
Lucian reached for her—but something else grabbed her first.
A hand.
No.
Hands.
Hundreds of them. Small. Child-like. Twisting out of the flesh below.
They dug their nails into Aria's skin and began pulling her downward.
She screamed.
Lucian grabbed her—yanking, pulling— but the hands were stronger.
Then—
From deep within the open cavity beneath them, something else moved.
Lucian's breath hitched.
It was a head.
But not human.
Its mouth stretched ear to ear. Its eyes rolled—empty, white, bleeding.
It opened its mouth—
And sang.
A lullaby.
Soft. Sweet.
Lucian's grip weakened.
His vision blurred.
Aria's screams faded.
The flesh opened wider.
And the hands pulled her under.
Gone.
Lucian stood there, swaying—unable to move.
The lullaby grew softer.
And then—
The hands returned.
Reaching for him.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Noa woke up in the dark.
Her head pounded. Her throat was dry. Her body felt… wrong.
She reached for her leg—and froze.
It wasn't her leg.
It was bone.
Her hands shook violently as she ran them down her calf—her skin ended at the knee.
Below it—exposed, polished bone.
Her breath came sharp, broken, uneven.
Then—
A sound.
A wet scraping.
She turned too fast.
A shadow moved in the corner of the room.
No.
Not a shadow.
A figure.
Tall. Thin. Twisting unnaturally.
It stepped forward.
Noa's lungs seized.
It was wearing her skin.
Her skin.
It draped over its skeletal body like a loose, ill-fitting coat, sagging in places where it didn't belong.
The thing reached up, grabbing at its face—Noa's face— pulling the flesh tighter, adjusting it.
Then—it smiled.
Noa screamed.
And the thing lunged.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise was trapped.
The walls had melted shut behind her, sealing her inside a narrow, twisting corridor.
Darian—or whatever he had become—stood at the other end.
His stitched body swayed.
Elise took a step back.
Darian took a step forward.
His jaw cracked.
Then—
He spoke.
"Elise, please."
His voice was wrong.
Layered.
Like there were dozens of voices underneath, speaking at once.
She shook her head violently. "No. No, you're not him."
Darian's stitched smile widened.
"But I can be."
The seams on his face burst open.
Inside, there was nothing.
Just a gaping, endless black void.
Then—
The void moved.
Hands reached out.
Hundreds. Crawling, writhing, stretching toward her.
Elise ran.
The hands followed.
Dragging themselves across the walls, peeling skin and meat away as they pulled the darkness forward.
She screamed.
But her voice was swallowed by the dark.
And Darian laughed.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
The thing wearing Jace's face moved first.
Jace dove out of the way just as the needle-thin fingers slammed into the floor, splintering the wood into shards.
Rowan charged.
The thing turned too fast—too smooth— and split its mouth open.
Not wide.
All the way.
From ear to ear, down the throat, past where its stomach should be—
Inside, it was all teeth.
Rowan staggered. "What the fuck—"
The thing lunged.
Jace grabbed Rowan's arm— yanking him back just in time as the jaws snapped closed on empty air.
The thing grinned.
Then—it split.
Jace's blood ran cold.
Its entire body peeled open, from head to toe, like a butterfly tearing out of a cocoon.
Inside—
It was full of hands.
Hundreds. Thousands.
All of them Jace's hands.
They reached forward.
And they pulled Jace inside.
House 5 – Lily & Carson
Lily was covered in blood.
But it wasn't hers.
It wasn't Carson's.
It was the house's.
The walls were bleeding.
Thick. Black. Choking.
It dripped from the ceiling, pooling at their feet.
Carson gagged. "Lily—"
The blood moved.
It slithered, stretched, shaped itself.
Arms. Legs. A head.
Then—it turned its face toward them.
It was Carson's face.
But wrong.
The skin was melting.
The eyes were screaming.
And then—it reached for them.
Carson froze.
Lily grabbed his wrist. "MOVE—"
The thing screamed.
And the entire house shook.
The walls split open, black blood pouring out in rivers, drowning the floor, swallowing their feet—
Lily gasped.
Then—
Carson's hand was gone.
She turned—
He was gone.
And in the blood—dozens of Carson's faces surfaced.
Screaming.
The Third Floor had claimed its victims.
And above them—
The High Beings watched.
Their mouths stretched open.
Smiling.