The Heart pulsed beneath her like a living drum, each beat shaking the floor, the walls, the very air. The whispers had stopped—but the emptiness around her roared like a predator waiting to strike.
Evelyn lifted the lantern high, the flame flaring into a brilliant white so intense it scorched the shadows licking at the edges of the Heart. Her knuckles were raw, her lungs burned, but she didn't falter.
"This ends now," she shouted, stepping forward onto the writhing surface. The veins rippled beneath her feet like living ropes, trying to coil and crush her, but the lantern's light seared them away, smoke hissing in the darkness.
She swung the lantern down with all her strength, striking the Heart. Flames licked across its black and crimson surface. The pulse stuttered, then surged violently, thrashing like a wounded beast.
The train shrieked—a deafening, monstrous sound that rattled her bones and split the carriage. Shadows exploded outward, forming tendrils and faces, each screaming in rage. Evelyn dodged and swung again, each strike burning veins, shattering eyes, tearing chunks of the Heart's flesh away.
The lantern glowed brighter with every strike, feeding off her fury, her grief, her love for the friends the train had stolen. Memories flashed in her mind—Sophie laughing, Alex stubbornly defying danger, Leo smiling through it all. She was fighting for them as much as herself.
The Heart thrashed violently. Its voice roared, layered and monstrous:"You will not destroy me! You are alone! You cannot win!"
Evelyn's teeth clenched. "I'm not alone!" she screamed. The lantern flared into a white inferno, scorching the Heart, blinding it, burning the tendrils and faces into ash. "I carry them with me. All of them. And I'll burn you down!"
The Heart convulsed, veins snapping, walls collapsing, the train screaming in fury. Evelyn's flames cut through the pulse, the roar, the black veins, until… the Heart cracked. A deep, jagged fissure formed, light spilling from within.
The pulse slowed. The train trembled. And Evelyn—panting, bloodied, but unbroken—stood atop the crack, lantern blazing.
For the first time, she felt the train hesitate.
And in that moment, lil sis… she realized: this could be the beginning of the end.