The Heart's pulse quickened violently beneath Evelyn's feet. The cracks she had carved burned brightly, but the Heart wasn't defeated. It was angry, and desperate measures were coming.
From the fissures, shadows coalesced into forms—human shapes, solid and real enough to move, but distorted and terrifying. They were the souls the train had swallowed, twisted into wraiths of hunger and rage.
Evelyn's stomach dropped as familiar faces emerged: passengers from other carriages, some she vaguely remembered hearing whispers of, now completely warped into monsters. And worst of all… echoes of Sophie, Alex, and Leo—but not her friends—they were hollow, eyes glowing red, twisted grins, limbs snapping unnaturally.
The Heart roared, pulsing like a drum of fury. The wraiths surged toward her, coiling, striking, and shrieking in voices that were a mixture of pleading and threat.
Evelyn swung her lantern, flames erupting in every direction, cutting through tendrils of darkness and burning the wraiths back. Yet for every one destroyed, two more emerged, faster, hungrier, sharper.
"You can't stop us," hissed the hollow Alex, voice layered with the Heart's cruelty. "You'll fail. Just like before.""Join us, Evelyn…" whispered the hollow Sophie, stretching impossibly long arms toward her."Why fight when you could rest?" the hollow Leo intoned, a twisted calm that made her skin crawl.
Her chest burned, her hands shook, but Evelyn planted her feet firmly. "I won't give in!" she shouted, flames roaring brighter. "I fight for them! I fight for all of you!"
Her lantern flared white-hot, searing through the wraiths, melting them into smoke. The Heart convulsed, pulse staggering under her attack.
But the train was far from done. The fissures spread wider, forming new passages, new tendrils, new horrors. Evelyn realized: this battle wasn't just about survival—it was about destroying the Heart completely.
And the Heart was ready to fight back harder than ever.