Salem’s breath hitched as he stared at the two objects floating in front of him — the glowing silver key and the crumpled script, its edges flickering like a broken hologram. Neither felt real, yet both screamed importance. His instincts screamed grab one, but a strange voice inside his head whispered, choose wisely.
The room itself was collapsing — walls folding into one another like an origami nightmare, the ceiling bleeding pixels, and the floor occasionally disappearing into pure static. Time wasn’t linear here; it bent and looped like the world was tangled in a glitchy knot.
He reached out with trembling hands, wavering between the key and the script. The key hummed softly, cold and smooth, promising escape or maybe even control. The script crackled with fragments of dialogue and na
