Alex awoke to silence.
The world around him no longer screamed or pulsed with dark energy. Instead, it was eerily still—quiet in a way that set his nerves on edge. He sat up slowly, blinking against the dim amber light that filtered through a haze of dust. The chamber he'd emerged into was massive, lined with high arches carved into stone walls that breathed with a faint pulse, like the heartbeat of a sleeping behemoth.
He had left the Halls of Reflection behind, but something about this new place felt… curated.
A soft sound reached his ears—like glass tapping against bone.
He turned toward it, and there he saw the figure.
It was not monstrous in the traditional sense. No claws or grotesque limbs. Rather, it was disturbingly refined. Tall and cloaked in elegant tattered robes of deep crimson, the figure wore a porcelain mask painted with a smiling mouth and weeping eyes. Its fingers were long and gloved, but they twitched with an unnatural rhythm.
"Welcome," the figure said, its voice a silky echo that slithered through the air. "I am the Collector. You've wandered into my domain, and I must say… your essence is unusually loud. So much potential pain. Delicious."
Alex stood, fists clenched. "What do you want?"
"To play," the Collector replied, tilting its head. "A game of choice. Of consequence. You've done well thus far—survived, evolved, even glimpsed the darkness within. But tell me, Alex… how well do you fare when your decisions have real cost?"
The walls of the chamber shifted. What once resembled a cathedral now warped into a circular arena. At the edges, four glass cases rose from the ground. Inside each stood a person.
His breath caught in his throat.
Each figure was from his old life—faces from before he awoke in the Horror System. His high school history teacher, Mr. Duncan. A fellow bookstore employee, Mina. A stranger he once gave his umbrella to. And then—
His sister.
"Jessa…" Alex whispered. She stood motionless inside the glass, her eyes shut, unaware of the hell that now surrounded her.
"These are echoes," the Collector said, drawing closer. "Fragments of people once connected to you. Some living, some long gone. But for you, all real. All valuable."
"Why are they here?"
"For the game," the Collector replied. "Each case is bound to a trial. Choose one. If you succeed, the echo is freed—and you gain what was locked away. Power, memory, purpose. Fail…" The mask's smile deepened. "And they are devoured."
Alex's knuckles turned white.
This was different. More than survival. More than facing monsters. This was responsibility weaponized. Emotional weight turned into cruel mechanics.
He looked at each glass case again. His instincts screamed at him to go straight to Jessa. But he knew better. Emotional choices were often traps in the Horror System.
"I choose… Mina," he said at last.
The Collector clapped its hands once. The others vanished into mist, and the glass containing Mina cracked, crumbling to ash.
Mina stepped forward, dazed. "A-Alex? What—where are we? I was just—"
Before she could finish, the floor split open beneath her. She fell into the chasm, her scream echoing until it cut off sharply.
Alex dove after her without hesitation.
The darkness swallowed him whole.
He landed hard on damp stone, the wind knocked from his lungs. A moment later, he heard Mina's ragged breathing somewhere to his left.
The chamber they had fallen into was circular and bathed in flickering red light. Its walls pulsed like veins, slick and moving. A familiar voice echoed in Alex's mind—though it wasn't the Collector's.
"Trial begins. Subject: Guilt."
Chains snaked from the walls and wrapped around Mina's wrists and ankles, hoisting her into the air. She screamed in fear and confusion.
"You have five minutes," the voice continued. "Free her, or she will be absorbed. Her pain will fuel your strength if you let her go. Your choice."
Alex cursed under his breath.
This wasn't just about rescue. The Horror System was baiting him—forcing him to choose between personal power and saving another.
He stepped forward, examining the chains. They were etched with glowing runes—complex and pulsing. A lock mechanism lay embedded in the floor, split into three shifting glyphs.
A puzzle.
He knelt, sweat already beading on his brow. As he stared at the glyphs, memories began to flood his mind—times when Mina had comforted him after hard shifts, defended him when coworkers mocked his strange demeanor, offered him friendship when he'd withdrawn from the world.
A whisper curled around his ears. "She's replaceable. Her pain will make you stronger. Break her… ascend."
"No," Alex growled through clenched teeth.
He focused, watching the way the runes shifted. Three glyphs. One central lock. The pattern repeated every fifteen seconds. It was like the rhythm of a heartbeat.
He waited—watched again.
Click. He moved the first glyph.
A scream tore from Mina's throat. Blood began to run down her wrists.
Wrong choice.
He bit back panic.
Again.
He reset. Watched. The rhythm pulsed again—one, two, three. A light flickered in the third glyph for a split second each cycle.
There. He rotated the third glyph first, then the second, then the first.
Click.
The chains recoiled and dropped Mina to the ground. She groaned, alive but barely conscious.
The voice returned. "Trial complete. Echo retained. Strength unlocked: Resilience."
Alex felt a rush of energy surge through him, reinforcing his body and mind. His wounds faded slightly, and his heartbeat steadied.
They were pulled upward in a column of crimson light, returning to the Collector's domain.
The Collector clapped slowly, the sound echoing like bones snapping.
"Well done," it said. "You chose empathy over power. An interesting gamble. I wonder if you'll always be so noble."
Alex caught Mina before she collapsed. She blinked up at him. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'm getting through it. We both are."
The Collector tilted its head. "You may rest for now. But next time, the stakes will rise. The more echoes you save, the heavier your burden. The deeper your strength, the darker the price."
Alex glared at the masked figure. "Then I'll carry it. All of it."
He felt the voice in his mind stir again, a quiet acknowledgment.
The abyss listens. And it waits.
The Collector faded into mist, the arena shifting back to stone and silence.
Alex helped Mina sit upright, his mind already preparing for the next trial. The Horror System wasn't just testing his strength anymore.
It was testing his soul.