The door opened into a void. There was no floor, no walls, no ceiling—only an endless blackness that seemed to breathe, exhaling cold that clawed at their lungs.
Evelyn's lantern barely lit the space, and even its light seemed to vanish into the darkness. Every step they took echoed… not in sound, but in presence. The shadows beneath their feet twisted, mimicking their movements with a slight delay, as if mocking them.
Sophie shivered. "It's… following us. Everything I do… it does…"
Alex's shadow stretched impossibly long, then bent unnaturally, slinking toward him like a living thing. He tried to run, but the floor itself was gone, replaced by blackness that seemed to swallow his legs mid-step.
The Conductor's voice drifted through the void, everywhere and nowhere."You see only what I allow. You know only what I choose. The mind… is mine to unravel."
Suddenly, the shadows morphed into twisted versions of themselves. Sophie's double sneered, mocking her voice, pointing at every secret she feared being exposed. Alex's shadow grinned with teeth too many, whispering every doubt he'd ever held.
Evelyn's heart raced. She tried to keep the lantern high, but the shadows stretched, reaching for her, crawling up her arms. They didn't burn, cut, or touch her physically—but every contact felt like fire inside her mind, digging at her fears, whispering sins she hadn't admitted to herself.
The whispers intensified:"You are weak… you will break… you will beg… you will join us."
Sophie screamed as her shadow lunged forward, wrapping around her neck like an invisible noose. Alex's double pushed against him, pressing into his chest until it felt like his ribs would snap.
Evelyn realized the carriage wanted to crush them psychologically. Flesh could heal; fire could burn away; rot could be washed—but the mind? The mind was eternal.
Her lantern flickered. She forced herself to breathe, focusing on reality: the floor, the next sigil glowing faintly in the distance. Step by step, she dragged her friends toward it.
Every movement caused the shadows to twist, reform, and multiply. Memories of mistakes, betrayals, hidden desires, and forbidden thoughts flashed before their eyes. Screams of people they had wronged, voices of those they loved or hated, all melded into a cacophony of guilt.
"Keep… moving!" Evelyn shouted, teeth clenched. Her lantern burned brighter for a moment, searing some of the nearest shadows into black smoke.
The Conductor appeared at the far end, his form half-shadow, half-flesh. He raised a hand, and the shadows froze mid-motion, forming grotesque shapes—arms, faces, claws—pointing at them, accusing them, mocking them.
Evelyn's grip tightened around the lantern. "We… won't… give in!"
The sigil pulsed with light, a small island of reality in the storm of darkness. One by one, they stepped onto it. The shadows hissed, screeching like a thousand broken voices, before recoiling into the corners of the void.
For a brief moment, silence.
But Evelyn knew—it wasn't over. The Carriage of Shadows had tested their minds, forced them to confront their darkest selves. And the train, eternal and hungry, had more nightmares waiting.
A whisper floated behind them, cold and patient:"Sanity is a gift… one you'll lose before the ride ends."
The next door loomed, darker than the void itself, and beyond it… something stirred.