Emma stepped beyond the door.
The darkness was thick as ink, but from the center of the spiral, a dull, pulsing light glowed.
Jessica and Nóra followed closely behind her.
As they approached, Emma realized the stone spiral wasn't just a sculpture—
The spiral lines were deep grooves, glowing faint red like veins filled with living blood.
At the center—
A figure.
Kneeling, as if in prayer.
Its body was wrapped in a long, black cloak, but its hands were skeletal, fingers tipped with long, sharp nails.
Emma stopped.
The spiral vibrated beneath her feet.
Her breath grew heavier, like the very air was tightening around her.
Jessica tugged at her sleeve.
"Let's go back," she whispered desperately.
But it was too late.
The figure stirred.
Slowly lifted its head.
Emma froze.
There was no face.
No skin.
No mouth.
No eyes.
Just smooth, blank flesh—
And yet… it was watching them.
A voice echoed—not in the air, but inside their heads:
"Too late… You are already part of it."
The spiral pendant around Emma's neck began to burn, searing into her skin.
The being slowly rose to its feet.
Behind it, the spirals flared bright red—alive.
The voice continued:
"Every memory. Every guilt. Every fear… flows here.
You are the spiral."
Jessica began to cry.
Nóra collapsed to her knees, hands clamped over her ears, trying to shut out the words.
Emma stood alone before the entity.
And in that moment—
She understood:
The spiral wasn't outside.
It was inside them.
And those who couldn't face their own shadows would be swallowed by it forever.
Emma stepped forward.
She raised the pendant high.
"You don't own us!" she shouted, her voice shaking the darkness around them.
The creature leaned in.
The spiral pulsed faster.
And Emma knew:
In the next moment—everything would be decided.
Either the spiral's grip would shatter—
Or they would be lost forever.
The figure stepped forward.
Each movement twisted unnaturally, like the spiral itself was dragging it through space.
The darkness around them thickened.
The spiral glowed red-hot. The ground trembled.
Emma felt the others slipping into despair.
Jessica sobbed on the floor.
Nóra didn't move at all—like an empty shell.
And Emma knew—if she didn't act now, they would all be lost.
She raised the pendant.
It burned hotter than ever, searing into her palm, but she didn't let go.
Facing the creature, Emma didn't think of fear.
Not of pain.
Not of mistakes.
She thought only of the one small, unbreakable place inside her—
Where love still lived.
Where hope remained.
Where the will to live pulsed like a heartbeat.
The spiral trembled.
The creature stumbled—
For a moment, it faltered.
Emma screamed.
Not words.
Not curses.
Her name.
"I am Emma!" she shouted. "And I am not yours!"
The spiral screamed back.
A world screamed with it.
Every guilt, every repressed nightmare.
And then—something changed.
The stone spiral cracked.
Thin, black fractures spread across its surface.
The creature staggered. Its form began to unravel.
Jessica looked up—hope flickered in her eyes.
Nóra slowly rose to her feet.
Emma stepped forward and thrust the pendant toward the creature with all her strength.
It touched the being.
For one breathless moment, time stopped.
The darkness collapsed inward.
The spiral shattered.
And the creature—
With one final, silent scream—disintegrated.
The chamber began to tremble.
Emma turned.
"Now!" she shouted.
Jessica and Nóra followed her.
They ran—
Back through the tunnel,
Up the spiral stairs,
Through the ruined basement.
Behind them, the spiral room crumbled.
The fog lifted from around the house.
And as they stepped through the front door—
The first rays of sunlight broke through the trees.
They were free.
But Emma knew—
The spiral never truly disappears.
It only sleeps.
And waits.
Inside us all.