Elara stepped through the carved wooden door. Darkness swallowed her instantly, thick and heavy, like a blanket made of shadows. Every sound she had ever heard in the mansion whispers, screams, footsteps came alive at once, echoing inside her skull.
She stumbled forward. The walls shifted, stretching and twisting. Mirrors formed in impossible angles, reflecting hundreds of versions of herself, some screaming, some smiling cruelly, some reaching out as if trying to pull her inside.
"Hold onto yourself!" the other Elara shouted. Her voice was steady, but her eyes were wide with fear.
Elara tried, but the shadows pressed against her mind. Every memory the door had stolen clawed at her, overlapping with the ones she had reclaimed. Birthdays she'd forgotten, hidden rooms, childhood laughter, whispers from trapped versions they all merged together, threatening to overwhelm her.
"No… I am me!" she screamed, clutching her head.
The mirrors fractured violently. One by one, reflections lunged at her, shouting her name, trying to pull her inside. She staggered backward, tripping over nothing, and for a moment, she saw herself as hollow-eyed, trapped forever in the mansion.
"I… can't… lose myself," she gasped, heart pounding.
A twisted version of her stepped from a mirror, smiling cruelly. "You always come back… and you'll always leave pieces behind," it hissed. "We are you… and soon… you'll be us."
Elara's chest tightened. She felt herself slipping her mind blending with the shadows. Panic flooded her.
But then… a memory surfaced. The child drawing symbols in the attic. The hidden chest. The birthdays she had remembered. Every fragment she had fought to reclaim.
"I remember! I am still me!" she shouted. Light burst from her chest, faint at first, then stronger, pulsing through the darkness. The shadows shrieked, recoiling. Mirrors shattered, reflections dissolving into nothing.
The mansion trembled violently. Walls twisted, floors rippled, the carved wooden door pulsed faster than ever. But Elara kept moving forward, holding her memories tightly, refusing to be swallowed.
At last, the shadows screamed one final time and vanished. Silence fell, heavy and complete.
Elara's eyes focused. Ahead, at the center of the room, a faint glow marked the heart of the mansion. The other Elara whispered, "This is it. The last test."
Elara took a deep breath. She knew the door's truth would finally be revealed and the choice she made now would decide if she escaped… or became part of the mansion forever.