Chapter 26: In the Grip of Darkness

Nathan plummeted through the abyss, weightless, his mind fracturing further with every second. The darkness wasn't just around him—it was inside him now, threading through his thoughts, twisting his memories, erasing the boundaries between himself and the factory.

He tried to scream, but the air was too thick, pressing into his throat, suffocating him. There was no sound, no sense of time, only the unrelenting void swallowing everything he was.

Then—

A voice.

Not his own.

"You were never meant to be free."

The darkness convulsed, shaping itself into something tangible, something real. Nathan's descent slowed, the void molding around him like liquid stone. The air turned cold—freezing—biting into his skin as he landed on something solid.

He gasped, his lungs burning as he tried to steady himself. His hands touched rough concrete, but when he looked down, the surface was moving, shifting like a living thing. The ground pulsed beneath his fingers, veins of darkness creeping through it, spreading outward like cracks in shattered glass.

He pushed himself up, his limbs heavy, his head throbbing with the weight of something unseen. The whispers returned, weaving into his thoughts, more insistent now, more possessive.

Nathan…

He turned sharply. The darkness ahead of him stirred, shadows twisting into something familiar. A figure stepped forward, its movements fluid yet unnatural, like a marionette controlled by unseen strings.

Nathan's breath caught.

It was him.

But not entirely.

The figure was almost him—same height, same shape—but its skin was stretched too tight, its eyes too hollow. It smiled, but the expression held no warmth, no humanity.

Nathan's pulse pounded. "You're not real."

The figure's smile widened. "Neither are you."

The darkness surged. The walls trembled, the air thickening as the factory's grip tightened around him. The echoes of the past bled into the present, voices overlapping, whispering his name, calling him home.

Nathan clenched his fists, his breath shallow. "I won't let you take me."

The doppelgänger tilted its head. "You don't have a choice."

A force slammed into Nathan's chest. He was thrown backward, his body colliding with the shifting ground. The shadows rose around him, wrapping around his limbs, dragging him down. He struggled, but the more he fought, the tighter their grip became.

Panic clawed at his mind. He was sinking—being consumed. The factory wasn't just holding him. It was absorbing him.

Nathan thrashed, his vision darkening. He could feel his mind splitting further, his identity unraveling thread by thread. The doppelgänger loomed over him, watching with something almost like amusement.

"You were always meant to be part of it," it whispered. "Just like the others."

Nathan's heartbeat pounded in his ears. He could hear the factory breathing, its walls alive, shifting, waiting. This was the end. He could feel it.

No.

A spark of defiance ignited within him. He had come too far, seen too much, fought too hard to let it win. He wasn't just another piece of the factory's collection. He wouldn't become an echo in its halls.

Nathan forced a breath into his lungs, focused on the flickering remnants of himself still left untouched by the darkness. He reached inside, grasping for anything—any last fragment of resistance.

Then, he found it.

The light.

It was buried deep, hidden beneath layers of fear and doubt, but it was there. A sliver of something real. Something his.

He held onto it, clung to it with everything he had. And then—

He pushed.

The shadows recoiled as a burst of light erupted from within him, tearing through the suffocating void. The darkness howled, shattering into fragments, the grip on his body loosening. Nathan gasped as the weight lifted, as air rushed back into his lungs.

His doppelgänger staggered back, its form flickering, distorting. "No," it hissed. "This isn't how it ends."

Nathan forced himself to his feet. His vision was still hazy, his body weak, but he stood tall. He met the doppelgänger's empty stare, his own reflection warping in its hollow eyes.

"This isn't your story anymore," Nathan said, his voice steady.

The figure let out a guttural shriek as the factory trembled violently, its very foundation cracking apart. The whispers turned into wails, the voices of the lost rising into a deafening crescendo. The walls buckled, the darkness unraveling at the seams.

Nathan didn't wait to see what happened next. He ran, pushing forward through the collapsing void, his only focus on finding a way out.

The factory fought against him, the corridors twisting, trying to trap him one last time. But the light inside him burned brighter now, cutting through the illusions, breaking the cycle.

Then—

A door.

A real door.

Nathan lunged for it, his fingers wrapping around the handle. He wrenched it open, the light beyond blinding, pulling him forward.

The factory screamed. The shadows reached for him. But it was too late.

Nathan stepped through.

And the darkness was gone.