"Something was wrong with the world… and this time, I wasn't the only one who noticed."
Chapter 3 – The Room That Never Ends
After falling into the void, Leonardo felt a strange pang in his heart, as if every cell in his body were screaming. The air around him was cold, but not normal; it was thick, like a mist that slowly wrapped around him and pressed against his chest.
Then a floor appeared beneath his feet, but it wasn't firm. It moved like the surface of a thin stream, shimmering with ever-changing shades of silver and blue. He tried to take a step, but the sound of his footsteps echoed endlessly.
In the distance, he saw a strangely shaped building, tall, but seemingly stretching endlessly, like a tower reaching for the sky, whose colors shifted between sunset and night in an instant. Above the building's entrance, a panel of light bore the inscription:
"The third floor begins here…" Leonardo hesitated for a moment, but curiosity compelled him to enter. With each step he took inside, the feeling grew that he was observing himself from afar. The first mirror he saw was ordinary, but it didn't just reflect his image; it displayed memories of his childhood, moments he had never before recalled. "This…isn't real…" he muttered to himself as he walked past the mirror.
Suddenly, he heard whispers from all the walls. Scattered words, but they spoke of secrets he hadn't even admitted to himself. One of the voices whispered,
"Every decision you make has an eternal impact…" Then a small figure appeared, a girl in old clothes, her eyes fixed on him. She was a version of Leonardo's childhood, but he felt she possessed a wisdom beyond her years.
"Do you know why you're here?" she asked.
Before he could answer, the floor shook beneath his feet, and the walls began to move, gradually revealing endless corridors.
In the heart of the structure, he found a room filled with doors, each bearing different symbols. He chose one and opened it to find a miniature city within, every building moving as if it were alive. In that city, he saw multiple versions of himself, each experiencing a different moment, some happy, some broken. He stood there, lost in thought, when a figure appeared, wearing a black coat and a large hat. Its voice held an irresistible power:
"Every step here represents a part of your mind… Your choices will determine your destiny."
Leonardo tried to approach, but the ground beneath his feet suddenly split open, and he nearly fell. The hat vanished, and the city began to spin around him. Suddenly, he felt every version of himself moving toward him, their voices overlapping, each saying something different:
"Run…"
"Face…"
"Don't trust…" He hesitated for a moment, then decided he couldn't run, that confronting the versions was the only way to understand the truth. He began running toward the version most like him, and a fierce mental battle ensued: every thought, fear, and pain from his past confronted him all at once.
After moments that felt like hours, everything stopped. The copies vanished, the city froze, and another door appeared before him, larger and more mysterious, bearing the inscription:
"The Fourth Level begins upon passing through this door…"
Before he could touch the handle, he heard a faint whisper from the darkness:
"You are now one step away from knowing the truth… but are you prepared to pay the price?"
Leonardo stepped through the door into the new city and found himself amidst winding streets, the buildings moving slowly as if they were breathing. Every window reflected reality, but some of the images were unlike anything he had ever seen: strange versions of himself walking, laughing, crying, or suddenly vanishing.
He approached one of the buildings and noticed a small door illuminated by a red light. Inside, he found a room filled with enormous books and scattered papers, all bearing mysterious symbols and numbers.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps. The man in the hat reappeared and said in a low voice, "Each book here holds a part of your mind… but some parts must not be opened." Confused, Leonardo was driven by curiosity to flip through the books, and each page revealed a scene from his past that he hadn't remembered: his childhood, his fear of failure, and his wrong decisions.
→ Cliffhanger: Before he could close the last book, all the books vanished, and a third version of himself appeared before him, smiling coldly. "Are you ready to dive deeper?"