The maze walls pulsed around Jason, slick like they were coated in oil, the air buzzing like flies in a jar. Fog choked the paths, grey and heavy, smelling like rotting food left out too long. The three Eli figures were close behind, their knives glinting, platters pulsing like hearts, voices screaming about the spotlight he stole.
He turned a corner, and the walls fell away, opening into a massive chamber like a broken-down theater. Rotting curtains hung like strips of skin, swaying in a breeze he couldn't feel. A single spotlight burned in the center, so bright it hurt, cutting through the fog like a blade.
He hid between the theater chairs. The figures were smart—they dispersed, each one taking charge of a section. But Jason was smart too, jumping from one section to another. The fear kept rising though.
Suddenly the spotlight flared to life again, this time on a statue of a boy standing on the theater stage. He was holding a diploma, his face frozen in what should've been happiness, but only the mouth was clear ,the rest blurred into nothing. The figures recoiled from the light, backing away like it burned them. Jason crouched in the front row of the second section, watching. "If there was something Eli never received, it's the spotlight he always wanted." That's it. The spotlight that's how you kill them.
The light went off again and Jason noticed something,the entities could barely see a thing. Clearly not blessed with superpowers just because they had the high ground here. An idea popped into his head. Decoys He could use decoys to lead the entities onto the stage, and just in time spotlight would hit them. They were easily distracted by noise...
So he started making random noises while slipping from section to section. The entities kept investigating where the sounds is coming from, discovering nothing each time. But they kept pursuing anyway, which gave Jason enough time to reach the stage. He shoved the boy's statue over, and it shattered into fragments on the ground. Again, the entities rushed toward the commotion. They lingered there just long enough for the spotlight to ignite again, and it incinerated one of the figures. The scream it made was gut wrenching.
The plan was successful, but the other two entities grew more aggressive and made certain to never approach the stage again, recognizing it as a trap. They retreated back to hunt for Jason between the chairs, and this filled him with despair. His only strategy had been defeated, but at least he only had to contend with two instead of three.
He took a deep breath. Luckily for him, the shadows were still following the noise, so he kept repeating the pattern over and over. He was still bleeding from the earlier attacks, and he started feeling like the world was spinning around him. Then it hit him the second plan. There was a mirror on the stage. All he had to do was reflect the spotlight toward the entity and eliminate it. Easier said than done, but he was determined to succeed.
He approached the stage slowly, each step deliberate, careful not to make noise. His fingers finally closed around the mirror's frame heavy, cold metal. Suddenly, a guttural roar erupted behind him. He'd been spotted. Jason spun around just as one of the entities lunged from the shadows, claws outstretched, close enough that he could feel the cold radiating off it. Death stared him in the face. Instinct took over. He wrenched the mirror up, angling it desperately between himself and the creature. The entity hesitated for a split second, confused by its own reflection. That hesitation was all Jason needed. He adjusted the angle, tilting the mirror until he caught the faint glow from the stage lights above. The spotlight flickered on perfect timing, terrible luck for the creature. The beam hit the mirror's surface and refracted directly onto the entity. It shrieked, a sound that tore through the theater , as the light seared into it. Jason held the mirror steady, arms shaking, watching as the creature convulsed and disintegrated into ash. The mirror slipped from his grip and shattered on the stage floor making just enough noise to attract the last one but Jason already spotted a hiding spot and ran towards it.
The last figure was furious. It started yelling "JASON!" over and over again. Jason recognized the voice,it was Eli's. The same pattern repeated itself: make noise, run, think of a plan. But then he got hit with another revelation the spotlight wasn't reappearing anymore. How was he supposed to counter the entity's attacks now? How was he supposed to defeat this nightmare? His mind raced through possibilities. The mirror was destroyed. The spotlight mechanism seemed exhausted, or perhaps it had a limit three uses, three entities. No, wait. Two entities killed by light, but there had been three originally. The mathematics didn't matter now. What mattered was survival. He pressed himself against the back of a theater seat, trying to control his ragged breathing. Blood still seeped from his wounds, leaving a trail the entity could easily follow. Eli's voice or whatever wore Eli's voice kept calling his name, each repetition more anguished, more accusatory. Jason's hands trembled. There had to be another way. The statue. The broken statue of the boy with the diploma. Maybe the answer wasn't in destroying this last figure, maybe it was in confronting what it represented? ...."if there was something Eli never received is the spotlight he always wanted...the spotlight"
Maybe that wasn't the answer. When Jason stole the spotlight, it made Eli sad but not hateful. Even after stealing his food, his money... but what if it was just a facade? What if Eli had indeed wanted revenge all along? It became clear to Jason now,what he needed to do. It was risky, possibly suicidal, but it was the only option remaining. He stepped out from behind the seats, deliberately making his footsteps echo through the theater. "Eli!" he called out, his voice hoarse. No more hiding. No more running. "here I am, Eli. Take your revenge. Take what I took from you." the monster didn't hesitate a second and rushed towards Jason and stabbed him.....the wound was so deep and painful.
Blood was spilling in alarming quantities now. Jason locked his eyes on the figure's gaze, staring deep into them as if he was trying to connect with Eli directly, to reach whatever remained of his friend beneath the monster. "I am sorry," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The spotlight is all yours now." Suddenly, the light appeared again, blazing down on both the entity and Jason, burning them simultaneously. The pain was unbearable ,far worse than any stab wound. It felt like his skin was peeling away, like fire was devouring him from the outside in. Jason reached out through the agony and grabbed the entity's hand, gripping it tight, not allowing it to flee or pull away. They both screamed,Jason's voice human and raw, the entity's an inhuman shriek that might have once been Eli's cry. The light intensified. Jason held on even as his flesh charred, even as every instinct screamed at him to let go and run. He wouldn't. Not this time. Not again. The screaming continued until both figures crumbled into ash, indistinguishable from one another, scattered across the theater stage like the final curtain had fallen.
Jason could still feel his body but barely. He was still conscious, but cold. So unbearably cold. "Where am I?" he wondered, though no sound escaped his lips. He could sense he was falling, but his eyes refused to open. All he felt was the cold and this vast emptiness trying to swallow him whole, pulling him down into its depths. Strange thing was, he wasn't scared. This was his first peaceful moment since arriving in this nightmare. The first time he could just... exist without fighting, without running.
"Will you erase all your sins, or are you merely cloaking them in apologies? Only one of these truths will grant you passage from this place."
The voice was haunting, but he was certain it wasn't the same one from before. This one felt different. Older, maybe. More final. Jason's throat felt tight, but he managed to speak into the void. "I still have more fights I need to win. Most of them are over myself."
His eyes opened.
He was in the middle of a white room no furniture, no walls he could properly see, nothing. Just endless white. But he wasn't in his body. He was a child again, small and skinny like he used to be. In the distance, a boy was walking away. It was Eli.
"ELI!" Jason shouted, his voice high and desperate, but it fell on deaf ears. He started running, begging him to wait. Maybe for one last moment between friends. Maybe for one last apology. But Eli refused to turn around. He just kept walking, growing smaller and smaller until he disappeared completely.
The room vanished.
Jason was suddenly back in his adult body, standing before a massive gate leading out of the city. He blinked, disoriented. What just happened? His confusion deepened when he noticed the horse standing there, waiting for him with those same pitiful eyes from before. The city behind him looked different now cleaner, less vibrant than before. No food or coins dripping on the ground like some grotesque display of excess. It felt emptier. Quieter.
Jason reached up to touch his neck and winced. There was a scar there, tender and sore, like someone had tried to choke him with a rope. But he didn't recall that ever happening....He didn't think much of it. He pushed against the gate's doors and they opened easily, almost too easily, like they'd been waiting for him. He took one last look at the city behind him. An unexpected wave of sadness rose inside him,overwhelming unwanted, but undeniable. He didn't understand it. Shouldn't he feel relieved? Wasn't this what he wanted? he got on top of the horse and went to the other side of the gate.