After experiencing old memories flash in front of his eyes, Ulysses searched for the rest of the group with Illyana in tow. He found the Remington brothers and quickly caught up to them as they walked down a hallway.

“W-Wait! Stop!” Ulysses choked out, his breath escaping his lungs. He felt as if his chest was on fire after sprinting, with Illyana barely able to keep up with him.

“W-We have to… stick together. This place… it's messing with our minds.”

Jacob blinked and the others looked at each other. They all experienced something. Illyana with her brother, Joshua with his fear of spiders, Ulysses with his sins, and Jacob himself with his affair. There was enough evidence in everyone else's faces that proved that they were not insane or imagining things. Something about this house wanted them to know fear. It wanted to show them their fears and their sins. Yet even though their attempts to subvert the house’s attempts to attack them, its strategy would change. The group was alerted very suddenly by the distant sound of a woman's crying. A pitiful, awful sound that filled their ears with sound and their hearts with fear. Was this yet another attempt from the house, or was it the baron’s daughter? They looked at each other with trepidation and dread. Nevertheless, they followed their guts and followed the noise, this time as a group. No one would be separated on their own this time.

They traveled further into the hallways, following the echoing sound of the woman's crying nonstop. The louder it became the more they could feel the growing pits in their stomachs and the lump in their throat. They pressed on further into the hallway, carefully climbed down the stairs, and found the hallway where Illyana had first found the door that led her to her nightmare. The door was not previously there for all to see. Yet this time there it was clear as day. Only this door was different. This one matched the other doors. Ulysses glanced at Illyana to note her reaction. She swallowed hard before giving him a frightened nod. He slowly reached for the door, his hand trembling as it inched closer to the doorknob.

The touch of the cool brass against his fingertips sent shivers down his spine as he began to twist the knob. Slowly opening it to just a crack, he looked inside and saw what appeared to be a woman crying in the corner of the room. He swallowed, careful not to make sudden movements. This could be a trick of the house after all. He looked back to make sure that everyone else could see the woman, which they did. Joshua would take a deep breath and entered the room before Ulysses.

“M-Miss Angelica?” Joshua said quietly and gently as he made his way inside. Slowly; step by step he crept in closer. The woman continued to sob uncontrollably. He continued to creep closer to her despite all his senses telling him otherwise. There was a strange feeling that he felt. It was some primal urge to run away and hide like a frightened animal. Nevertheless, he carried on and got even closer.

“Miss Angelica? M-My name’s Joshua Remington. We’re here to help.”

He was only met with more sobbing. More uncontrollable sadness flooded the room. He slowly reached his hand out to her.

Ulysses noted that there was something strange about the figure. She was very frail, more so than they would have expected. She had been missing for a while, but not so long that she would be nothing but skin and bones. The clothes she wore were ragged and tattered, barely able to cling to her. How any of it managed to be wearable was beyond reason. The strangest thing however was that she hid her face. She was low on the ground, curled up with her face down on the ground, her head covered by her spindly frail arms. Joshua’s hand moved closer, inch by inch as he went to try to comfort the crying woman, but all the while Ulysses continued to examine her. He noticed something extremely odd. The silk clothes that the woman was wearing seemed to be attached to her. It was like it was growing out of her. Ulysses outstretched his hand to try to pull at Joshua.

“Wait…” He was concerned and frightful. This woman…this thing was not who they were looking for. The “woman” quickly grabbed Joshua and lept onto him, revealing its face. Multiple eyes pierced into Joshua’s very soul as it opened its fanged mouth widely, showing the needle-like teeth in its maw. The arms of the woman split in half. Four limbs turned into eight as her body began to reveal itself for the horror that it truly was. A humanoid spider abomination that was fouler than anything Joshua had ever seen before. He screamed, helpless in the creature's grasp. He was paralyzed by fear as the milky white skin of the creature was sticking to him. It would only be a moment before the creature sank its fangs into his flesh. The two spider fangs were as large as daggers and just as sharp, dripping with a green viscous liquid that fell to the floor and burned through the wood.

Ulysses pulled out his sword and stabbed the creature. It screamed and backed away, letting Joshua go, who crawled on the floor sobbing like a child. The creature stood up and showed its real height. It was tall enough to bump its head against the ceiling. It grabbed Ulysses by the throat and threw him aside before pulling the sword away. It looked at the sword and placed it on the high ceiling before vomiting up webbing on the blade. The weapon was now stuck as the creature returned its attention to Ulysses and slammed him against the wall.

In that instance, Jacob and Illyana entered the room. They chose to fight this thing. Jacob jumped onto the creature’s back and wrapped his arm around its neck. Ulysses was slammed again by the creature as Jacob tried to choke the monstrosity out. It swung its arm and threw Ulysses out of the tiny room next to Joshua. Ulysses’s head rang louder than a church bell as he slammed his head on the wall. The creature bucked like a wild horse and tried to grab at Jacob as Illyana placed her hands together and began to cast a spell, spraying fire upon the monster. The creature roared before bursting out of the room and throwing Jacob away, setting its sights on Joshua. Joshua began to sprint as the creature let out an ear-piercing shriek, forcing everyone else to cover their ears before it darted toward Joshua. It crawled on the walls and ceilings, avoiding all of the furniture that Joshua threw at it as he ran. Joshua sprinted down the hall, tears of absolute terror running down his cheeks as the spider raced after him. Joshua bobbed and weaved down the hallways as the creature came closer and closer to him. Were there this many turns and forks in the road before? How long did this hallway seem to go now, when previously it was shorter? What awaited him on the other side? Would he reach a dead end soon? These questions were absent from Joshua’s mind.

All that Joshua thought about right now was outrunning this monstrosity that nipped and clawed at his heel. Every corner he turned, everything he grabbed and threw at the creature in futility, all to escape the creature. He then ran across an enemy far more terrifying than the spider. A dead end. No doors, no windows, just a blank wall that stood there mocking Joshua in what would most likely be his final moments on Navara. He could hear the creature behind him, barreling at him like a charging angry bull with its horns aimed directly at him. Joshua pressed his back against the wall and anticipated the creature as the noise it made grew louder and louder with its approach.

Finally, there it was, hurling at him like a runaway boulder tumbling down a hill straight at Joshua. He slid down from the wall, huddled in the corner as the creature continued to charge. He covered his eyes as the creature came closer and closer, charging at him with terrible speed. His arms blocked his face in a futile attempt, and he waited for his inevitable death. Then, a great silence fell upon him. He was hesitant to lower his arms, trembling like a mouse about to be swallowed by a cat. He pulled his arms down to look. The spider creature was gone. He looked around and began to stand up. His breathing was fast, afraid of every sound that came from all directions. He began to calm down. A sense of relief washed over him. He sighed through his nose and tried to make his way back to the group.

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“Jacob?!” He hollered loudly down the hallway, cupping his hands around his mouth to shout. “Ulysses? Illyana? Anyone?” Silence reverberated around the walls. He then began to feel less calm. Perhaps the house wanted to separate him from the rest of the group. He tried to retrace his steps, but the hallways had become a maze. He looked around, placing his ear on every door to see if he could hear the group calling him. He continued to call out for them, but no reply was heard.

Then, he heard a sound coming from one of the doors. A sound not of chittering spiders or growling of some unholy beast, but something carnal. Something seductive. Something that sounded like his darling wife.

“D-Diana?” His voice trembled at the sound before he remembered. This house was full of tricks. At first, he moved away from the door, doing his best to ignore the house. But as he moved further away from the door, he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard his wife’s voice say something that shocked him to his very core. A single word. A name. “Jacob…” His wife’s illicit tones called forth Jacob, and Joshua stood there in shock. Curiosity got the better of him and he moved closer to the door. His hand hovered over the doorknob, afraid to see what lay inside, yet curious to know the truth. He took hold of the doorknob and twisted it, opening the door to a crack.

He opened it just enough for his eye to peek, yet the first thing that greeted him was the sound of lust-like air escaping a jar as the lid popped open, releasing the carnal sounds of animalistic pleasure in the hallway. There he saw with horror the truth. His wife Diana was on all fours, and rutting behind her was none other than Jacob. The house had shown Joshua more than just what he feared. It introduced him to something new to fear. The two people he cherished more than anything in the world, and were betraying him. The adulterers melted into each other with primal urges and grunts. Joshua wanted desperately to look away, but as if being the audience to a tragic play, all he could do was watch.

He shook his head. No. This had to be a trick from the house. Just another illusion that sought to play with his mind for some dread purpose. He pushed himself away from the wall and closed the door, turning to walk down the hallway. Yet, just as he had closed the door, the hall that he had previously found himself in was gone, replaced by the interior of the barn at the house. There he saw Diana and Jacob again.

Diana frowned as she looked at Jacob.

“I’m late, Jacob…” she said with tears in her eyes, losing control of her emotions for a moment.

“No no no…” Said Jacob as he pounded his fist upon a support beam. “You can’t be serious”

“I am” She assured him. “When we…did that, Joshua was traveling to the city to sell some horses, remember? The timing is…”

“...You’re sure about it?”

Diana said nothing but offered a simple disheartened, worried nod and a frown. She rubs her eyes and looks down. Jacob ran his fingers through his hair in stress and sighed.

“...What are we going to do?” Diana managed to choke out a question as she looked to Jacob for comfort.

Realization dawned on Joshua’s face as he saw them talking. His blood boiled white-hot and his fists clenched. The usually thoughtful and kind Joshua was now filled with rage. His wife and brother betrayed him, and it was obvious now why Jacob was so eager to get the gold. He knew that Diana was now pregnant, and the healer would be expensive, along with repairing the farm. Perhaps they would run away together, leaving Joshua with the broken farm and alone. And what of poor Fiona? Joshua wasn’t the only one Jacob betrayed.

Joshua’s anger continued to boil over and finally reached the tipping point. Before the dragon attacks, Diana and Jacob wrapped themselves around each other and planted an illicit comforting kiss. Joshua let out a roar and anger flooded him. He grabbed Jacob by the throat and threw him against the wall.

“You bastard! You Gods forsaken bastard! I’ll kill you!!!” Joshua grabbed him again and picked him up and threw him out of the door. The barn door swung open as Vedmaarvith burnt the farm, yet Joshua’s anger burned just as hot. He reached down to pick up Jacob, only to have Jacob transform into Diana as quickly as blinking an eye. Joshua let go and stepped back, looking at Diana with a now heavily pregnant belly. Diana’s face was twisted into a horror that stretched her skin tightly, showing rows of sharp needle-like teeth. Her eyes were as black as sin itself, and her pregnant belly rumbled and swelled.

“Look at you, Joshua~,” Diana spoke with thousands of voices coming out of her throat, all in unison.

“You are pathetic. You’re no man. Just a hapless child, afraid of an insignificant bug…”

She was wretched in pain as her belly began to balloon up, growing bloated. She wailed and screamed in agony before she was ripped apart like fabric. Her blood and bile pooled on the ground around her. The same spider-like creature from before crawled out of her belly, coated in her intestines and gore. Joshua screamed and bolted in a direction, any direction as the spider chased him. Joshua ran through the door, bashing it open with his shoulder, not even noticing that he was back in the hallway from before. The creature once again chased him, barreling towards him with great speed. He ran as fast as he could in a mad dash to escape the creature.

Ulysses and the group heard his screams and decided to set a trap. They went into different rooms to hide, hearing Joshua getting closer. They waited carefully. If they were but a moment off, Joshua would be dead. Too soon, and they would kill him. Too late, and the spider would. They sat there, waiting; patiently, carefully, and silently. Then Ulysses saw Joshua running with the creature in hot pursuit. He looked to the others and they prepared themselves. Jacob with his weapon, Illyana with her flame, and Ulysses with his sword and expertise. They lay in wait for the right moment. Ulysses held up a finger to give them pause. Just a bit closer now… Then, finally, Joshua passed by, and Ulysses came out of the room and swung at the spider, cutting off one of its limbs. Though it refused to die. Illyana came forth and sprayed fire on its face while Jacob went over to beat the creature over the head.

The group beat down the creature. Ulysses stabbed the beast at every inch of its body. Illyana burned it to a smoldering pile, and Jacob beat the creature to protect his brother. Eventually, the horrid creature stopped moving. It curled its legs up and became nothing more than charred ash. Illyana took a calm breath and blew, using her magic to create a cool wind and put the flames out.

Joshua was on the floor, having witnessed the group kill the creature. He panted, gasping for air as Jacob knelt down.

“Joshua. Are you alright?”

Joshua paused and looked at his brother. There was a relief, but that lingering anger inside him. He stood up and would grunt out his reply.

“I’m fine.”

Jacob looked confused. Did he not just help to save his brother's life? It must be shock or fear. He put it to rest. He was just glad that his brother was fine. The group looked at each other. It was time to rest. They went into the same room and made camp there. There, they thought they had some measure of safety. If they were together, then they could fight this thing, this house.

Time would tell how long that truth would remain to be true.