"How long is it going to take? You said we'd be there before dawn! But it's already dark."
"I know, I know, I'm sure we were going the right way but…"
"BUT WHAT, AROON?! We've been walking around aimlessly in a forest! Do you know how dangerous that is?! What if a ferocious animal finds us what are we gonna do then?!"
"I'm really sorry, sis. I'm sure we are going the right way. Before we left the campsite I had marked a few trees. See, just like that one."
"Yeah, I know, but we should have arrived by now. We haven't gone that far."
As Aroon and Nina continued to roam around the forest, the moonlight grew unnaturally strong, almost sharp.
It didn't just illuminate the trees it washed them in a pale, cold glow that made every branch look like a twisted limb reaching for them.
The silence pressed against their ears, heavy and suffocating, as if the entire forest were holding its breath.
They felt afraid. Truly afraid.
They both knew something was wrong, but neither dared to admit it.
What if their fear was becoming real?
Were they actually lost?
Was there really no way back?
"What about Tiliv? I'm pretty sure he followed us, didn't he?" Nina whispered, her teeth clenched as goosebumps prickled up her arms like icy needles.
"You're right! But… when did he disappear? I'm sure I heard him walking right behind us."
Even as he said it, Aroon felt a chill. The footsteps he thought he heard earlier suddenly seemed… wrong. Too soft. Too slow.
Nina took out her phone again, checking for network even though the forest felt like a place where no signal and no help could possibly reach.
"Do you think an emergency call would work? I mean, it goes through without signal sometimes," she asked, her voice trembling now.
"Yeah, let's do that… but let's walk around for five more minutes. Maybe we won't need to."
His voice was low, almost swallowed by the darkness around them.
Just as they were about to give up, they saw light.
A faint, flickering glow between the trees.
Hope, desperate, almost painful hope rushed through them, and they ran toward it.
Their breaths turned white and ghostly in the cold air as they pushed forward.
But when they reached the source, their excitement died instantly.
In front of them was an old mansion.
Huge.
Silent.
Watching.
They froze. They had never heard of this place and something that big couldn't just exist without anyone knowing. It wasn't possible. Yet here it stood, like it had been waiting for them.
Although old, it looked disturbingly luxurious.
A place built with care and obsessive attention, by someone whose artistic sense felt…to imaginative.
Too elegant for the middle of a forgotten forest.
Too perfect to be abandoned.
"What should we do?" asked Nina as she quietly looked around, her eyes darting through the trees like she expected something to crawl out from behind them.
"There must be someone inside. The lights are on… let's just go inside," said Aroon as he cautiously took a step forward. His foot sank slightly into the soft, cold earth, the air around them unnaturally still.
As the siblings walked toward the mansion, the world seemed to shut itself off.
Every sound vanished.
No rustling leaves, no distant owls, not even the mosquitoes that thrived in places like this.
It was as if the forest itself was holding its breath.
— Creck.
A floorboard? A branch? Or something else?
"Wow… someone else just showed up. How unlucky. Seems like they're eager to die."
The voice came from inside, casual yet dripping with something sinister.
A young man sat on a sofa, his silhouette framed by the dim, flickering lights.
He rose slowly, almost lazily, and as he stepped closer, they realized just how tall he was.
At least 180. Maybe more.
He moved with the confidence of someone who knew exactly where they were… and exactly what the siblings were stepping into.
A smile slid across his face — too calm, too knowing.
"I'm Leo," he said, his voice echoing faintly through the mansion's hollow halls.
"And welcome… to this hell hole."