Great! Here's **Chapter 5: The House's First Test** – the tension mounts, and Jacob and Argo find themselves in the middle of a mystery:---

## **Chapter 5: The House's First Test**

Jakub felt his heart pound in his chest. The water in the black fountain moved more and more violently, and the reflections shifted, as if the house itself was deciding which memories to reveal.

"We must be careful," Mara said, raising her hands in a gesture meant to protect them. "The house won't let you pass unless your thoughts are pure."

Jakub glanced at Argo. The dog didn't take his eyes off him, sensing danger in every movement of the air.

"Pure thoughts?" Jacob muttered. "What does that even mean?"

Mara sighed.

"The house is trying to draw out what you hold deepest within you. Fears, secrets, mistakes… all of it is becoming real." Only if you face them will you be able to move on.

Jacob felt the shadows on the walls begin to move, forming figures from his past. Every decision he regretted, every mistake, every moment of hesitation was here.

"It's impossible..." he whispered.

Argo barked, but not in anger—more in warning. Jacob knew he couldn't go back.

"I have to go," he said finally. "I have to face this."

The first figure stepped out of the shadows. It was his younger self, staring at him accusingly.

"You can't forget," said the younger version of Jacob, "what you've done."

Jacob felt a knot in his stomach. He knew that any escape would only strengthen the house's power. He took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of his own reflection:

"I can't change the past... but I can choose what I do now."

The shadow quivered, then disintegrated into drops of black fountain water. Another figure emerged from the darkness—this time it was the woman he had once hurt, a witness to his mistake.

"You don't have to be afraid," Jacob said, trying to keep his voice calm, "but you must admit you were at fault."

The woman disappeared into a swirl of shadows. Every figure, every memory began to melt away, giving way to emptiness.

"Good…" Mara whispered. "That was only the first test. The house tests heart and courage. The next test will be harder, and there's something at stake that even I can't predict."

Jakub took a deep breath. Argo pressed his head against his knee, as if relieved that the first test had been passed. But Jacob knew it had only just begun.

"Whatever awaits next…" Jacob murmured, "we will face it together."

And so, with the black fountain behind them and the darkness still waiting for them to move, Jacob and Argo moved deeper into the house, ready to uncover more secrets that had been hidden within its walls for decades.

---

I can immediately prepare **Chapter 6**, in which Jacob and Argo discover the first true secret of the house—something that connected the pasts of all the women in its sarcophagus and… their own futures.

Want me to do that?