The corridor was silent.
Only the hum coming from the depths of the mansion could be heard.
Aras, dark Umi, and Shadow...
All of them were looking at Umi.
The book's pages moved even though there was no wind.
Umi took a deep breath.
Then she slowly walked toward the second option.
"I choose to save the Shadow."
Aras's eyes widened.
"Umi, no! This is too dangerous!"
But Umi had made her decision.
What she had seen inside the Shadow wasn't a monster.
It was a child left alone.
The key necklace around her neck began to glow.
Blue light covered the entire mansion.
The Shadow pulled back.
As if it was afraid.
"Don't come closer..." it whispered.
Umi didn't stop.
She took one more step.
"You're not alone anymore."
The faces inside the Shadow trembled.
Some started crying.
Others disappeared.
For the first time in years, the darkness was weakening.
Umi reached out her hand.
Right then she saw terrible images.
Fears lived through for hundreds of years...
Losses...
Pains...
Loneliness...
All of it flooded her mind at once.
She collapsed to her knees.
But she didn't pull her hand back.
"Let it end."
A little girl came out of the Shadow.
She was about ten years old.
There were tears in her eyes.
This was Selim's lost daughter.
She had been trapped in the darkness for years.
"Am I really too late?" the little girl asked.
Umi smiled.
"No."
Tears streamed from the girl's eyes.
And she smiled for the first time.
At that moment all the darkness turned to light.
The cracks covering the mansion's walls disappeared.
The fog began to lift.
The curse that had lasted for hundreds of years was breaking.
Aras watched in shock.
"This... isn't possible."
Dark Umi smiled quietly.
Because finally a different choice had been made.
After one hundred twenty-three failed attempts...
For the first time.
Light filled the whole mansion.
And then everything turned white.
When Umi opened her eyes she was lying on the grass in front of the mansion.
The sun was rising.
The fog had completely disappeared.
The mansion was still there.
But it no longer looked frightening.
As if it had found peace.
Just as she was getting up she found something in her pocket.
An old photograph.
In the photo Umi, Aras, and the little girl were smiling together.
And there was only one sentence written on the back:
"Every ending is a new beginning."
And at that moment Umi felt that her dreams hadn't completely ended yet...
Because far away, deep in the forest, another door had opened.