Episode 44: The Secrets of Ashwick Estate
767 Words
The House That Should Not Exist
The road was empty.
Dark.
Silent.
As if the world itself had stopped breathing.
Claire and Ethan stood before the gates.
Cold iron. Twisted vines.
Beyond them—
The mansion loomed.
Tall. Ancient. Wrong.
Ethan’s jaw clenched.
"This place should have been destroyed."
Claire nodded.
They had left it behind.
But now—
It looked exactly the same.
As if it had been waiting for them.
As if it had always been watching.
A whisper curled through the air.
"You shouldn’t have come back."
Claire’s stomach dropped.
Because the voice?
It wasn’t Ryan.
It wasn’t the gods.
It was something else.
Something they had never met before.
Something that had been in control all along.
The Doors Open on Their Own
The mansion welcomed them.
The doors creaked open without touch.
The air inside was thick. Heavy.
Claire stepped forward.
Ethan followed, his hand tight on her wrist.
The house smelled of dust and decay.
But beneath that—
A scent she recognized.
The same air from the Trial of the Gods.
The same scent from when they rewrote fate.
This place wasn’t just a house.
It was something more.
A bridge.
A doorway.
A prison.
And deep inside—
Something was waiting for them.
The Hallway of Echoes
Their footsteps echoed.
The paintings on the walls were wrong.
Faces blurred.
Eyes that followed them.
Claire’s breath shook.
"I don’t remember these being here."
Ethan’s hand tightened around hers.
"Because they weren’t."
They turned a corner—
And suddenly—
The air shifted.
The hallway stretched.
Grew longer.
Reality rippled.
And just like that—
They weren’t alone anymore.
The Figure That Shouldn’t Be There
A shadow stood at the end of the hall.
Claire’s pulse spiked.
Ethan’s body tensed.
The figure stepped forward.
Slow. Unhurried.
Then—
A voice.
Soft. Familiar.
"You’re back."
Claire’s stomach twisted.
Because she knew that voice.
But it wasn’t possible.
She couldn’t breathe.
"Ethan…" she whispered.
He didn’t move.
Didn’t speak.
Because standing before them—
Wrapped in darkness—
Was another Ethan.
The Doppelgänger That Knows Everything
Claire froze.
This wasn’t an illusion.
This wasn’t a trick.
This was Ethan.
But not the one she knew.
This Ethan was different.
Darker.
His gaze was sharp.
His smirk was cold.
He tilted his head.
"Did you really think you changed fate?"
Ethan stepped forward.
His jaw clenched.
"Who the hell are you?"
The other Ethan smiled.
"I’m you."
"The version that should have existed."
Claire’s breath stalled.
Because she understood.
This wasn’t just a shadow.
This was a fragment of the past.
A piece of fate that had been left behind.
A version of Ethan that had been erased.
And now—
It wanted revenge.
The Truth They Were Never Supposed to Know
The other Ethan circled them.
His voice was mocking.
"You fought so hard to survive."
"To rewrite the story."
"To escape the gods."
His eyes darkened.
"But did you ever wonder what happened to the pieces of you that were left behind?"
Claire’s blood ran cold.
Ethan’s hands curled into fists.
The other Ethan laughed.
"Every time you fought fate—"
"It broke reality more and more."
"And now, the world is unraveling."
Claire’s chest ached.
She had felt it.
The way the world had started to shift.
People forgetting.
Ryan disappearing.
Time falling apart.
And now—
Now she knew why.
They weren’t the only ones who survived.
The pieces of their old selves were still here.
Still alive.
Still waiting to take back what was theirs.
The Last Warning
The other Ethan stepped closer.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"You think this is over?"
His fingers lifted—
Brushing against Claire’s cheek.
Ethan snapped.
He grabbed the other Ethan’s wrist.
Yanked him back.
His voice was pure fury.
"Don’t touch her."
The other Ethan smirked.
"Protective."
"That’s cute."
Then—
His expression turned cold.
"But it won’t save her."
"Not when the world starts collapsing."
Claire’s pulse spiked.
"What do you mean?"
The other Ethan’s smirk widened.
"You didn’t just rewrite fate."
"You tore a hole in it."
"And something is coming through."
The air grew colder.
The shadows stretched.
And suddenly—
The house began to shake.
The Final Collapse Begins
The walls cracked.
The ceiling groaned.
Ethan grabbed Claire’s hand.
"We need to get out of here—now."
The other Ethan laughed.
"Too late."
A piercing shriek ripped through the mansion.
The floor split beneath them.
And then—
Darkness swallowed everything.
Claire screamed.
Ethan’s grip tightened.
And then—
Everything vanished.
To Be Continued…
- Writer
