The camera dives into the blue flame inside the lantern — revealing a surreal dream world of floating candles, gears, and clock hands suspended in the dark. The skeleton boy floats weightlessly, his reflection shattered into multiple versions of himself. Strange gothic creatures with stitched smiles drift by like lost souls. A mechanical clock strikes midnight — the echo breaks the illusion.
(End with the flame bursting open — light flashes — transition back to real world.)