Shadows Of Eterna

The Haunting

Episode 4

The figure behind the glass smiled wider, gums black and teeth jagged like shards of broken porcelain. The sound of its tapping echoed unnaturally, as though it came from inside their skulls instead of the booth.

“Trial Two,” it hissed. “Show me what you fear.”

The booth light flared—and suddenly, the room warped. The chairs dissolved into shadows, the tiled floor turned liquid, rippling like black water. One by one, the group was separated, each standing alone in their own distorted corner of the chamber.

Nina blinked—and she was back in her childhood bedroom. Her stuffed animals were where she left them years ago, the posters peeling slightly from faded walls. But outside the window, darkness pressed like a living thing. She heard her mother’s voice calling faintly. Warm, comforting. Then the voice broke, twisting into sobs. “Why didn’t you save me, Nina?”

Her mother had died in a fire when Nina was eleven. She’d never spoken about it. Now the smell of smoke filled the room, choking her. She screamed and ran to the window, only to see the jagged circle burning into the sky.

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Maya found herself in a sterile hospital corridor. She knew this place. Years ago, her younger brother had wasted away in these halls. The fluorescent lights hummed, and a gurney wheeled itself toward her, a sheet covering a body. She didn’t want to look, but the sheet peeled back on its own, revealing her brother’s sunken eyes. His lips moved soundlessly, then split open to reveal the voice of the entity:

“Fear is nourishment.”

She stumbled back, clutching the candle like it might protect her, but wax began dripping onto her skin—hot, searing.

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Eli stood in his father’s garage. The old tools hung neatly, the smell of oil heavy. His father’s voice boomed, angry, disappointed. A belt cracked against the workbench. Eli was a kid again, small and trembling. The pocket watch in his hand ticked louder, faster, until the sound drowned everything else. When he looked up, his father was gone, replaced by a shadow taller than the ceiling. It bent toward him, whispering:

“Coward. Always a coward.”

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Harper was back in high school, standing in a crowded gymnasium. Everyone stared at her—faces she once knew but now twisted, eyeless. They laughed, pointing. She felt her clothes melt away, skin exposed, raw. The mirror shard in her hand reflected not her face, but a faceless void where she should be. A void that whispered:

“You don’t exist. You never did.”

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Jules found himself in a dark alley. Rain fell, just like the night he’d been mugged years ago. That night, he hadn’t fought back—just watched his friend get stabbed while he froze. Now the friend appeared before him, blood soaking through his shirt, eyes accusing. “You left me,” he gurgled, before collapsing into Jules’s arms. Except when Jules looked down, he wasn’t holding his friend—he was holding himself, a dead twin with a knife still lodged in its chest.

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Their screams overlapped in the warped chamber. The entity behind the glass drank it in, its grin stretching impossibly wide.

But then—their objects began to react.

Nina’s key glowed faintly, drawing her toward the burning window until it snapped open, flooding her with a gust of clean air. She gasped, breaking free from the smoke.

Maya’s candle flared to life on its own, burning with cold blue fire. The hospital dissolved as she held it high, shadows hissing as they retreated.

Eli’s pocket watch ticked louder, each sound striking like a hammer, shattering the shadow of his father until the garage collapsed into nothing.

Harper’s mirror shard reflected the eyeless crowd back at themselves. Their laughter twisted into shrieks before they melted like wax.

Jules’s rope tightened in his hand, coiling into a knot. He hurled it at the corpse-double, and the figure collapsed into smoke.

One by one, the illusions shattered, and the group found themselves back in the waiting room. The booth was empty now, glass shattered, the figure gone.

They were together again—but shaken, pale, drenched in sweat.

“That thing… it feeds on us,” Maya whispered. “On what we’re most afraid of.”

“It’s trying to break us apart,” Jules said hoarsely. “But… we fought it. We survived.”

For the first time, Eli didn’t grin. He just stared at the watch, its hands now at 12:02.

A deep rumble shook the ground. Dust fell from the ceiling as the tiled floor cracked. Somewhere below, chains rattled, dragging closer.

A voice seeped up from the dark, filling the chamber:

“Two trials remain. One must pay the price.”

The air grew colder. The shadows thickened.

And they all understood—the final tests would demand more than fear.

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