Kim's fall ended abruptly.He landed on cold, damp stone, the echo of his scream swallowed by darkness.
A dim light flickered ahead. He got to his feet and saw a massive door—old, blackened wood, covered in strange runes that pulsed faintly.The stone from Chapter 2 was in his pocket, still warm, vibrating.
He tried the door. Locked. Yet it creaked open slightly, as if inviting him.
Inside, the air was heavy, filled with whispers—low, teasing, mocking.Voices he couldn't place. Some sounded like his own, some… like the children from Chapter 1.
A hallway stretched endlessly. On the walls: faces pressed into the stone, frozen in silent terror.They opened their eyes as he passed, staring.
Kim's heart pounded.Was this real? Or the stone showing him… something else?
The whisper returned:"Some doors, once opened… never close."
He moved forward, compelled, terrified, until he reached a room with a single chair in the center.On it sat a man—gray, emaciated, face hidden under a hood. In his hands, a notebook.
"You have questions, Master. Answers come… but not for free."The man lifted his head. Kim glimpsed his mouth stretched impossibly wide into a grin, teeth jagged like shards of glass.
Kim staggered back.The chair rotated slowly, revealing not one, but dozens of eyes staring from the darkness behind it.Then a voice whispered in his ear:"Do you dare see what lies beyond?"
Kim screamed.