Noah and Pete finally made it out of the cage room.
The hidden passage behind them slowly disappeared into darkness as they continued forward. Neither of them spoke for a while. They were still trying to understand what they had just witnessed—the missing students, the chains, the fear in their eyes, and the strange force that seemed to keep them trapped there.
Behind them, Roger and Kim silently followed.
They still couldn't be seen by Noah or Pete, but they stayed close enough to hear every word.
Pete kept looking around.
"Do you think we're actually out?"
Noah didn't answer immediately.
He scanned the surroundings carefully.
"I don't know."
The place ahead looked nothing like the area they had just escaped.
It was a hallway.
But unlike the Darkside they knew, this hallway looked strangely elegant.
Tall pillars stood along both sides, painted in a deep blue shade that almost seemed to glow against the darkness. The ceiling disappeared into blackness, making the hallway look far larger than it should have been.
There was something beautiful about it.
And that was exactly what made it frightening.
Pete slowly walked forward.
"This doesn't look like the Darkside."
Noah glanced at him.
"Maybe that's what it wants us to think."
Pete looked at the pillars again.
"Maybe."
They continued walking.
A few steps later, something appeared beside the wall.
A small table.
On top of it sat an empty vase.
Pete stopped.
"That wasn't there before."
Noah looked behind them.
The hallway seemed completely unchanged.
"Keep moving."
They walked farther.
Another table appeared.
Another vase.
Then another.
At first, all of them were empty.
But after several more steps, something changed.
A small glass snow globe sat on one of the tables.
Pete stopped again.
"What is that?"
Noah approached carefully.
Neither of them touched it.
Roger and Kim stood several feet behind them, watching.
Kim whispered to Roger, even though he knew they were probably alone in their ability to hear each other.
"This place is definitely hiding something."
Roger nodded.
Pete leaned closer to the snow globe.
Inside it was a tiny model of a building.
He couldn't recognize it.
Noah looked at him.
"Don't touch it."
Pete hesitated.
"I know."
But something about the globe drew his attention.
He slowly reached toward it.
The moment his fingers touched the glass—
Everything changed.
The hallway vanished.
Pete opened his eyes.
He was standing in a street.
Noah stood beside him.
Neither of them moved.
The street looked old.
The buildings were different from anything they had seen in the school.
The road was almost empty.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then footsteps echoed from somewhere ahead.
A young man appeared.
He looked well dressed, almost like someone from another time.
Behind him walked another person.
This person wore a dark cloak that completely hid their appearance.
Pete looked at Noah.
"Who are they?"
Noah shook his head.
"I don't know."
Roger and Kim were there too.
They had been pulled into the memory alongside them.
Roger looked around.
"Another memory?"
Kim nodded.
"Looks like it."
The young man and the cloaked figure continued walking until they reached a darker section of the street.
Then they stopped.
The young man stepped forward into the light.
Noah's eyes widened.
"Wait…"
Pete looked at him.
"What?"
Noah stared at the young man's face.
"I know him."
Pete looked again.
The young man was unmistakable.
It was Mr. Reed.
Their music teacher.
Noah's expression changed completely.
"That's Reed."
Pete stared.
"The music teacher?"
Noah nodded.
"But he looks younger."
Kim and Roger exchanged a look.
They had seen memories before.
But this one felt different.
This wasn't a memory of the school.
It was something that happened before everything.
Something hidden.
The cloaked man spoke.
"So… what do you think about the deal?"
Reed looked confused.
"I don't know."
The cloaked man immediately became irritated.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
Reed took a small step back.
"Look, if you don't explain it to me, how am I supposed to make any conclusion about the deal?"
The cloaked figure went silent.
Pete frowned.
"What deal?"
Noah shook his head.
"I don't know."
The conversation continued.
"You were told what would happen."
"I was told something," Reed replied. "That doesn't mean I understand it."
"You should understand enough."
Reed looked toward the cloaked figure.
"Then explain it."
The figure didn't answer.
For several seconds, the two simply stared at each other.
Roger watched carefully.
"There is something wrong with this."
Kim nodded.
"Definitely."
Pete stepped closer to Reed.
He instinctively tried to speak.
"Mr. Reed!"
Nothing happened.
Reed didn't react.
Pete tried again.
"Can you hear me?"
Nothing.
Noah waved his hand in front of Reed's face.
Nothing.
"They can't see us."
Kim looked at Roger.
"Just like the other memories."
Roger nodded.
"But why are we seeing this one?"
No one had an answer.
The cloaked man finally spoke again.
"You will understand soon."
Reed frowned.
"I don't like the sound of that."
"You don't need to."
The cloaked man turned away.
Reed remained where he was.
For a moment, he looked toward the darkness behind the buildings.
Almost like he could sense something.
Pete felt a strange chill.
Then the memory suddenly began fading.
The street blurred.
The buildings disappeared.
Reed became transparent.
The cloaked figure vanished into darkness.
Pete reached forward.
"Wait!"
Everything went black.
When Pete opened his eyes again, he was back in the elegant hallway.
The snow globe was still in his hand.
Noah stood beside him.
Roger and Kim were still there.
Pete quickly placed the globe back on the table.
"What the hell was that?"
Noah stared at the snow globe.
"I don't know."
Pete looked at him.
"But Reed was there."
"And he was talking about a deal."
"Exactly."
Kim stepped closer to Roger.
"We need to remember that."
Roger nodded.
"The music teacher was involved before we even entered the school."
The thought left all four of them silent.
Maybe Reed hadn't simply become part of the horror.
Maybe he had been connected to it from the beginning.
Far away, the two shadows.
They stood apart in the enormous black void.
The white shadow looked around.
"We need to find a way out."
The black shadow nodded.
They started walking in opposite directions.
The white shadow went left.
The black shadow went right.
They walked.
And walked.
And walked.
But nothing changed.
The void remained endless.
The white shadow stopped.
It turned around.
The black shadow was nowhere to be seen.
"Where am I going?"
No answer.
The shadow continued walking.
Eventually, it saw something in the distance.
A faint light.
It moved toward it.
But the light disappeared.
The black shadow experienced the same thing.
Every path seemed to lead nowhere.
Every direction eventually became the same empty darkness.
The black shadow finally stopped.
"This place…"
Its voice echoed.
"…won't let us leave."
The white shadow heard the echo from far away.
It stopped too.
For a moment, both understood the same thing.
They weren't enemies anymore.
They were trapped together.
And whatever had trapped them—
Was still watching.
Back in the elegant hallway, Pete looked toward the endless path ahead.
Noah stood beside him.
Roger and Kim followed silently.
Pete took a deep breath.
"We need to find out what that deal was."
Noah nodded.
"And we need to find out why Reed was involved."
They continued walking.
Another table appeared ahead.
Another vase.
And sitting inside it—
Another snow globe.
Pete and Noah stopped.
This time, neither of them reached for it.
Because they both understood something now.
These weren't decorations.
They were memories.
And somewhere inside those memories was the truth they had been searching for.
The truth about the school.
The truth about the Darkside.
And perhaps—
The truth about the Owner.