The forest went quiet first.
Not the gentle quiet of birds pausing or wind settling, but an abrupt, unnatural silence like something had reached into the woods and cut the sound cleanly away. They got loss in forest while playing.
Ethan noticed because his ears began to ring, a thin, high pitched whine that made him stop mid step, one boot hovering above the dirt trail.
The others kept walking.
"Guys," he said. "Do you feel that?"
Liam glanced back, pushing a branch aside. "Feel what?"
Before Ethan could answer, the ringing faded, replaced by the slow, heavy thud of his heartbeat. He struggled to find the words. The air felt different, it is thicker, charged, pressing against his skin like damp cloth.
"That," Maya said softly. She had stopped too, one hand hovering near her chest. "Like the air just… turned."
Chloe snorted from behind them. "It's called weather. Happens outside."
Noah laughed, light and easy, though the sound bounced strangely between the trees. "Relax. Worst case, we get soaked."
Ethan lowered his foot and kept walking, but the feeling didn't leave. Each breath tasted metallic, sharp at the back of his throat. The trees seemed closer than they had moments ago, their trunks darker, their bark splitting into shapes his eyes lingered on too long.
A low rumble rolled overhead.
Thunder.
Liam stopped. "Okay. That wasn't in the forecast."
The wind picked up suddenly, leaves whispering frantically above them. The first raindrops fell, it was heavy, widely spaced, darkening the dirt path in uneven stains.
Then the sky cracked open.
Lightning split the clouds, followed instantly by thunder so deep it felt like a growl. Rain slammed down in sheets, driven sideways by violent wind. The trail vanished beneath mud, roots surfacing like bones through skin.
Maya grabbed Ethan's arm. "We need shelter. Now."
Another flash lit the forest white.
For half a second, Ethan saw the trees differently crowded, overlapping in impossible ways, branches woven together like a cage.
He thought he saw faces in the bark. Eyes. Mouths stretched too wide.
The darkness rushed back before he could be sure.
"We need to turn back," Maya said, voice shaking.
Liam turned, scanning behind them. "The trail's this way."
He pointed.
There was no trail.
Only more trees.
Chloe's confidence faltered. "That's not funny."
"I'm not joking," Liam said. "It was right there."
Another thunderclap exploded overhead, so loud Ethan flinched. Rain soaked them through in seconds, icy water streaming down his spine. The forest felt endless now, unfamiliar, closing in.
Then Ethan saw it.
At first, it was just a shape and too angular to be natural. Then lightning illuminated it fully.
A mansion.
It stood at the edge of the woods like a black wound carved into the land. Tall, narrow windows stared back at them, unlit and opaque.
The roofline clawed at the sky, uneven and broken. Ivy strangled its stone walls as if trying to drag it back into the earth.
Ethan's stomach dropped.
He didn't remember ever seeing it before.
But it felt… familiar.
"There," he said, pointing.
Noah squinted through the rain. "Tell me that's a hallucination."
Maya whispered, "It feels wrong."
Chloe crossed her arms, teeth chattering. "So does hypothermia. Pick your choice."
They moved toward it.
With every step, the forest resisted. Branches snapped at their faces. Roots caught their feet. Ethan swore the trees were leaning and shifting just enough to block the way behind them.
The front gate hung open, rusted and twisted. One hinge had snapped completely, leaving the iron bars bent outward like broken ribs.
As they reached the door, Ethan noticed something that made his skin crawl.
There were no animal sounds.
No insects. No birds.
Nothing lived near this place.
The door itself was massive, dark wood scarred with deep gouges that looked uncomfortably like claw marks.
"Last chance to bail," Noah muttered.
Lightning struck so close the ground vibrated.
Liam didn't hesitate. He grabbed the handle and pulled.
The door opened far too easily.
Cold air rushed out, carrying a stench that made Ethan gag. A rot, mildew, and something coppery beneath it.
Old blood, his mind supplied.
They stepped inside.
The door slammed shut.
The sound echoed through the mansion. Maya screamed. Noah jumped. Chloe spun and yanked the handle.
It didn't move.
Liam slammed his shoulder into it. Nothing.
"No," Chloe said, panic creeping in. "No, no—"
"Stop," Liam snapped. "Everyone stop."
The storm outside was gone.
Not fading. Gone.
Silence pressed in, broken only by water dripping from their clothes onto the marble floor.
The foyer was enormous, the ceiling vanished into darkness then a grand staircase split in two, curving upward like skeletal arms.
Dust coated everything except the floor directly in front of them.
Where there were footprints.
Fresh ones.
Leading deeper into the house.
Maya clutched Ethan's sleeve. "Those aren't ours."
They were too long. Too narrow. One heel dragged, as if whoever made them had been limping.
Or pulled.
A creak sounded above them.
Then another.
Footsteps.
Measured. Deliberate.
Noah laughed too loudly. "Old houses make noise."
Right on cue, the chandelier above them swayed.
There was no wind.
Pressure built behind Ethan's eyes. Images flickered at the edges of his vision with hands bound with rope, a mouth screaming silently, a dark room lit by a single bulb.
He staggered.
"Ethan?" Maya whispered.
"I've been here," he said before he could stop himself.
Everyone stared.
"What?" Chloe asked.
"I don't know," he said, heart pounding. "It just feels like I have."
The lights flickered on.
All at once.
The chandelier blazed to life, harsh white bulbs burning overhead. Portraits lined the walls with dozens of faces frozen mid-expression.
None of the eyes were painted correctly. Too dark. Too deep. They followed him.
A clock stood against the far wall.
It began to tick.
Slow. Loud.
Each second landed like a blow.
Liam swallowed. "Okay. We explore. We find another exit. We don't panic."
The house answered.
"WELCOME."
The voice echoed through the walls, layered and distorted, as though spoken by many mouths at once.
Maya collapsed, sobbing.
The clock chimed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then a man appeared " welcome to Mansion of Echoes and to leave you must finish the game"
They were not guests.
They were contestants.