Adam stood before the ancient stone house described in his grandmother's journals, located in the heart of the moonlit "Ulmar" forest—a place where sunlight never reaches and where cursed spirits are said to feed on the memories humans bury in their hearts.
The house was strangely designed: no windows, no number, no clear door. Just a wall of black stones simmering quietly as if breathing.
He stepped closer and placed his hand on the wall.
It pulsed.
Adam stumbled backward, his heart leaping inside his chest. But a voice came from behind him, a whisper barely audible:
> "Everything you see is but a reflection of an unforgiven sin..."
He turned around. No one was there.
But when he looked back at the wall, it was gone. In its place was a dark, rectangular void leading to a narrow stone passage.
**Laboubo** appeared suddenly beside him, more serious than usual.
He said in a low voice:
> "This house devours light but never reveals the darkness... Everyone who entered before you returned broken... *If* they returned at all."
Adam didn't respond. His hands were trembling, but he walked on. Step after step.
The passage felt alive—the walls breathed, and the ceiling dripped with the sweat of stones. He reached a vast hall, devoid of furniture or floor, filled only with thick, boiling air heavy with terror.
Suddenly, a scream echoed...
A familiar voice. Feminine. Heartbroken.
**"Zera?"**
Adam ran toward the sound, but the ground vanished beneath his feet.
He fell.
Not into emptiness, but into a room forming before him—an old wooden theater stage, from which *his own body* hung, suspended by a black noose.
Then the performance began.
He watched himself as a child, screaming at his grandmother, refusing to listen, breaking things, running away from home when she fell ill.
Then the scene of her funeral appeared... but he wasn't there.
Tears streamed down his cheeks, but he couldn't move.
Then the face of the **Embodied Shadow** appeared, laughing with a smooth voice:
> "Every sin you haven't confessed becomes a weapon in my hand... Now, show me if you are ready to understand your truth."
A small body appeared on the stage...
**The body of Adam at ten years old.**
But the child held a dagger. And he advanced toward him.
This is where the test began.
---
**Closing Quote:**
*"Your most dangerous battles are not with the monster... but with the child you buried deep within."*