THE LAST DREAMER

The air outside the mansion was heavy with silence, but the wreckage behind them screamed a thousand stories. The mansion, once a place of torment, had collapsed into the earth, leaving only ruins and the faint, lingering memory of its sinister presence. Ethan and Maya had barely escaped the crumbling wreckage, but they had made it. For now.

They found themselves standing at the edge of the forest, the sun's first light breaking through the trees, illuminating the wreckage in an eerie glow. The world seemed different now, as if they had crossed a threshold into a place that didn't quite feel like home, but where they had no choice but to keep moving forward.

But Ethan's mind was not at ease. The darkness, the entity that had shaped the mansion's fate, still lingered in the back of his thoughts. What had happened? They had destroyed the stone, ended the curse… but the creature that had haunted them—the figure that had once been Jake—had told them there was something worse, something far greater pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Ethan turned to Maya, his brow furrowing. "There's something I don't understand. We destroyed the stone, and the mansion's falling apart. But why do I still feel it? The pull, the weight of the darkness—it's still here."

Maya's eyes, wide with exhaustion, met his. She was barely holding it together, but there was a spark of something else in her gaze: understanding. She too had felt the same lingering shadow, the same unanswered question gnawing at her soul. The truth wasn't just in the mansion—it had to be something more.

"Ethan…" she began, her voice barely above a whisper. "There's something I've been thinking about since we first entered that place. Something I didn't want to believe, but now… I have no choice."

He took her hand, his grip tightening as the fear they had been suppressing for so long began to creep in again. "What do you mean?"

Maya hesitated, her eyes distant as if trying to piece together fragments of memories that didn't make sense. "It wasn't just a curse. The mansion, the stone, Jake—it wasn't all some random accident. The real evil behind everything... it's a person. Someone who was always there, who pulled the strings."

Ethan's pulse quickened. "Who?" His voice cracked, a mix of dread and disbelief rising in his throat.

Maya turned toward the remnants of the mansion, now little more than rubble. "It's him. The man who built that place. The one who set everything into motion." Her voice caught, and she whispered, "It was my father."

Ethan froze, the world around him going still as the words registered. "Your father?" He repeated, barely able to believe what he was hearing. 

Maya nodded, her expression darkening. "He was the architect, the one who designed everything—every trap, every curse. But there's more. He wasn't just a man of wealth and influence. He was obsessed with the occult, with controlling forces beyond what anyone should have ever touched."

Ethan stepped back, trying to digest the revelation. "You're saying your father built that place, knowing what it could do? That he intentionally cursed it?"

Maya closed her eyes, a tear slipping down her cheek as the weight of the truth pressed down on her. "Yes. He believed he could control it. The rift, the darkness, whatever was inside it... he thought he could harness its power. He thought he could transcend mortality—become something more. He did all of this to make himself immortal."

Ethan's heart ached for Maya. Her father, the man who should have been a protector, had turned into the very monster they had been fighting.

"But how?" Ethan asked, his voice barely a whisper. "How could he have done all this and still been... just a man?"

Maya wiped away her tear and looked him in the eyes. "It's not just a man, Ethan. He was changed. When he opened the rift—the original rift that still exists within that mansion—he became something else. A hybrid. A creature of shadow and power. Not fully human anymore."

A cold chill crawled down Ethan's spine. "So, he's not dead. He's still out there."

Maya nodded solemnly, her gaze dropping to the ground. "Yes. He is. And he's coming. No one escapes that kind of transformation. Not without becoming a part of it. A part of the darkness. We may have destroyed the stone and the mansion... but he—he's still alive."

Ethan felt the weight of her words crash into him like a tidal wave. The entity that had taken so much from them wasn't gone. The true monster behind all of this was still out there, still watching. And worst of all, it was someone Maya had once trusted—the very person she had thought was gone, had believed was a distant part of her past.

"You're telling me your father is alive, out there, waiting for us?" Ethan asked, the sense of foreboding wrapping around him like a shroud.

Maya's face paled, her expression haunted. "He'll come for us. He'll come for you, Ethan. And if he gets to you—if he gets to anyone—we're all doomed. There's no running from it. There's no escaping what he's become."

The wind howled around them, stirring the dead leaves on the ground as if the earth itself mourned their fate. Ethan's mind raced, calculating their next move. They couldn't run. Not anymore. But they couldn't just face him unprepared, either.

"Then we fight," he said, the fire of resolve burning in his chest.

Maya shook her head, stepping back. "It's not that simple. We've only seen the tip of the iceberg. Your connection to the stone—it was always part of the plan. He knew what he was doing. Everything about you, Ethan… it was a test."

Ethan's blood turned to ice as the truth slowly unfurled itself before him. "A test? What do you mean?"

Maya met his gaze. "You were never meant to survive. You were meant to be part of his ascension—to be sacrificed to the rift. But now, things are different. You've broken the rules. That's why he's coming for you now. He won't stop until he has what he wants."

A sharp gust of wind swept through the forest, and for a moment, everything went quiet. Ethan could feel it—an overwhelming sense of dread as something dark began to stir just beyond the horizon. The trees seemed to bow under the weight of it, and the light dimmed as if the world itself feared what was coming.

Maya grasped Ethan's arm, pulling him close. "He's closer than we think. And when he arrives, we won't be able to stop him. Not without knowing everything about who he's become, and how to defeat him."

Ethan's mind reeled. He had thought the worst was over, but he had been wrong. Maya's father—an immortal creature born of darkness—was coming for them. And this time, there would be no running. No place to hide.

Maya squeezed his hand tighter, her eyes filled with a quiet desperation. "We need to find him before he finds us."

And with that, they turned toward the unknown, knowing that whatever came next, it would be the final battle—a fight for their lives, and for the future of everyone left in the wake of the curse.