Great! 😄 Here's **Chapter 9 of Part 3 – "The Game of Reality and Dreams"** in its full, literary form: ---

 

## **Chapter 9: The Game of Reality and Dreams**

Skalin was asleep, but Lena Sobczak hadn't slept in hours. Fog filled the streets, and the shadows of trees and buildings seemed to move to the rhythm of her own rapid breathing. Every step through the city was simultaneously a test – in the real world and in the world of dreams, which had now become just as dangerous.

"This is no ordinary night," Marta said, looking at the runes carved on the walls. "I feel them… as if our thoughts and dreams were becoming part of this game."

Lena nodded. The Alchemist was still leaving physical traps, and the Puppet was manipulating their emotions. But now the Labyrinth of Dreams had entered the game – a space where any decision could alter reality.

“We have to operate in two worlds simultaneously,” Lena said, concentrating. “If we lose control in our dreams, our bodies will be easy targets for the antagonists.”

The first challenge was an old library, where runic symbols pulsated both in reality and in dreams. Lena and the survivors entered, feeling the boundary between the two worlds blurring.

“It’s as if our thoughts were materializing here, in the library,” Piotr said, touching one of the pulsing runes. “If we make a mistake, our own nightmares could attack us.”

Marta closed her eyes and focused on visions of the rituals they had previously discovered. Her mind drifted into the dream, and in it, Lena saw symbols that weren’t present in the real world—runes connecting locations in the city with the antagonists’ plans.

“These are clues,” Lena whispered to the group. “If we read them correctly, we can predict every move the Alchemist and the Puppet make.”

However, the Dream Labyrinth had a logic of its own. Illusions that appeared in dreams infiltrated reality, creating traps and false paths. One survivor, under the influence of a vision, strayed from the path, almost falling into the Alchemist's chemical trap.

"Focus!" Lena shouted, catching him at the last moment. "Reality and dreams are connected. If we lose our balance in one world, we lose everything!"

For several minutes, the entire group moved in sync, combining their abilities—Martha's intuition, Piotr's visions, and Lena's experience. Runes pulsed in rhythm with their shared concentration, and the shadows of the antagonists retreated, as if unable to comprehend the force that had just arisen.

"This is only the beginning," Lena said, feeling that she was in control of her own dream and its influence on the real world. "But if we don't learn to control these two dimensions, the subsequent rituals could engulf the entire city."

The fog in the library and the streets of Skalin seemed to intertwine, as if reality and dreams were a single labyrinth. Lena knew one thing: **As long as the group can operate in sync in both worlds, they have a chance of winning the game that could destroy the city and all its inhabitants.**

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I can now prepare **Chapter 10 – “Confronting the Antagonists”**, in which Lena will face the Alchemist, the Dark Puppet, and the Shadow from the Past simultaneously.

Want me to do it now?