After making sure Marco and Mili were out of sight, Lucius left the room and sauntered right back to Mister Thame’s hideaway. A measly stab wound did little to impede the gentleman’s lively step, but he couldn’t look too healthy. Lucius still had a role to play.

  Once he arrived, a foul stench quickly invaded his nostrils. There the young Jack laid, wheezing for air, while his arm bubbled and churned like a freakish stew from all the filth nesting inside. It was a wonder how the man managed to remain conscious; Lucius’s own injury looked quite paltry in comparison.

  “You’re… you’re back.”

  Jack’s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing Lucius’s face, but that joy soon turned into horror.

  “W-What happened? Were you attacked—”

  Yes, yes, by now Lucius already knew the drill. The young Jack’s reaction was practically identical to the others - nothing new. All he had to do now was repeat his prior performance, albeit this time laying the blame on the opposite side. Some changes had to be made since the whole ‘madness by poison“ excuse wouldn’t work.

  After a bit of brainstorming, Lucius decided to emphasize the duo’s lack of sleep as the main culprit for their supposed delirium. “They were erratic, dangerous!” he cried, pouring out his heart. “I tried to help, I really did, but alas I fear my words failed to reach them. Mister Bernardi and Miss Mili were not given the same luxury as we to rest their weary minds. It is no wonder they went mad, wandering the halls for hours on end, constantly fearing for their life… they must’ve believed me to be some sort of hallucination or a trap wrought by the maze. I’m lucky to have escaped with my life.”

  Jack replied in a predictable manner. He showed disbelief, then panic, and then a steeled resolve. “There must be something we can do!” he said, standing up with a vigorous cheer… only to stumble back upon his rear. His determination was all well and good, but unlike his other companions, Jack had not the stamina to go running off on a heroic quest. Fortunately, Lucius pulled him back from the brink of courage.

  The young man cursed at himself and curled up into a ball. Now, Jack was more powerless than ever.

  “Maybe… If I…”

  He mumbled something, what exactly Lucius couldn’t tell, but there was a drastic shift in his expression: hesitant, frightened, but most of all—deranged. As if whatever he planned to do was his absolute last resort.

  Jack quickly shook his head and appeared to abandon the thought. Instead, he turned to Lucius and sought his aid.

  “I’m sorry to ask you this when you’re already injured, Lucius, but—”

  Lucius raised his hand. “Say no more, Mister Thames. You need not apologize. I will be the one to seek out Marco and Mili. They are my precious cohorts just as much as they are yours, and this time, I will be prepared. Expect good news the next time you see me!”

  Lucius was just about to make his way out when he suddenly turned around and gestured for Jack’s spear.

  “Ah, if it is not too much trouble, would it be okay if I borrowed your spear once more? Having another weapon would greatly put me at ease.”

  Jack chuckled and handed it over without a second thought. “Take it. I’m in no shape to use it right now anyway.”

  With a deep bow, Lucius bid him farewell for the second time this day.

  It would not be the last.

  Firstly, Lucius headed towards the west where the duo should be stumbling about, and true to word he found them absolutely exasperated: knocking on the walls and maintaining a sharp eye for any possible tracks.

  They were far away from Jack’s hideout - so far in fact that the young man wouldn’t be able to hear a thing even if Lucius shouted right now.

  “Righty-ho, then. Time for another magnificent performance.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Lucius followed the pair until they entered a hall with one of those trap bricks. It was the perfect spot, right near a corner, so he could wait until Marco and Mili were far enough along that they wouldn’t be able to reach him. And then, he spoke.

  “M-Mister Thames!?”

  Lucius raised his voice just enough so that it could be clearly heard, though not so loud that it would attract an unwelcome guest. It did the trick and his two fellows practically snapped their heads around in confusion.

  “Lucius? What the heck’s he doing here—”

  “Mister Thames, I know you are still in there, my friend!” Lucius took a step back so that he could be seen, but still kept a part of his body obscured, facing the other way as if he were talking to someone. “You must fight off the influence! Please, this isn’t like you. I do not wish to come to blows. I do not—”

  Marco and Mili could tell something was wrong. They quickly dashed towards Lucius, shouting his name and warning him to stay back.

  But in order to bring this tragic play to a satisfying conclusion, Lucius needed to die.

  He discreetly took out Jack’s spear, and then impaled himself in the chest. Again. It was in a different spot this time, and of course he made sure to stab at a non-lethal area, but from the duo’s angle… it would have appeared as if the gentleman was just fatally attacked by another.

  “No, Lucius!”

  Lucius slammed at the trap brick. In an instant, a wall came crashing down and blocked off the path. He could hear Marco and Mili pound at it, tear at it, anything to create even the slightest of gaps to fit through. But it was in vain. Not even the monstrous Horned Exile had succeeded in breaking the wall

  Speaking of which, a familiar roar bellowed throughout the halls: ringing from the opposite side where the duo laid.

  “Stop pulling on me, Marco!” Lucius could hear Mili’s voice seeping from the cracks. “We can’t leave him there with that crazy guy. We can’t…”

  “Ya think I don’t want to?” Marco shouted. “But for god’s sake, that thing’s comin’ any second now! I can’t lose you as well.”

  “Damn it… damn it!”

  Eventually, their words trailed off, and all that was left was the faint thud of their footsteps.

  Lucius also didn’t want to test his luck and ran away as well. Two whole stab wounds were, admittedly, a bit of a nuisance, but at least it wasn’t as bad as the time he was shot fifteen times in the chest after a particular scuffle with the Mexican Cartel. That experience proved a little too stimulating, just a bit.

  With his death so dramatically enacted, it was time to repeat it one last time.

  Lucius was really getting his exercise. Walking here, walking there, impaling himself everywhere… oh, the lengths he went for the sake of beauty. Such was the plight for one as passionate as he, but there would be no need to stab himself again. All he had to do was give a rousing speech.

  Lucius trekked back to just outside Jack’s room, and then he forcefully closed the exit by pulling on the pushed-in brick.

  “Huh? Lucius was that you? Hold on, I’ll try to open it on my end—”

  “Y-You musn’t, Mister Thames…” Lucius spoke in a harsh rasp, just barely audible enough for the man to hear. His tone was weak, pained, the last whispers of a man near his deathbed. For this act, he needed to convey very clearly that he was dying. “I am sorry, my friend, but it would appear that… that I have lied to you. Good news is not what I bring.”

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked, dread creeping into his voice. “Come on, just get inside. We can figure this out—”

  “You must not open the entrance, Mister Thames. No matter what you hear, no matter what anyone may say to you, promise to me that you will not open the entrance.”

  Jack sucked in his breath, body shaking so hard that Lucius could hear it from the other side.

  “Okay,” he muttered. “I won’t open it.”

  “Very good. It gives me great relief knowing that you… at least you will survive. All I ask is that you do not hate them. Marco and Mili—it is not their fault. It is not anyone’s fault. I truly cherish the three of you, so it is my hope that even when I am… gone, your adventures will continue onward. Forget about me, and live the life you have always deserved.”

  “Lucius…?”

  One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

  In the midst of the razor sharp tension, the gentleman gathered all his strength to his core, and then screamed the loudest he had ever done before.

  He screamed as if every drop of his blood had been set on fire. He screamed as if his very soul was being ripped apart shred by shred. He screamed, until his throat went hoarse and the halls shook with the unnerving echoes of his final death throe.

  “Lucius!” The young Jack yelled and begged for Lucius to respond, but all he was met with was silence.

  And the howl of a coming monstrosity.

  Alright, that was enough. Job well done, Lucius, but he had to go now. The gentleman lifted himself up and sauntered away, carefully ensuring his steps were soundless so that Mister Thames could not hear him. He needed the man to think he was still there, still outside the door, when the Exile inevitably charged through, obliterating everything in its path.

  It was complete. His death, beautifully done. The tragedy, wonderfully wrought.

  Now, he merely needed to watch. How will Jack react, left all alone? Will he seek revenge? Despair? Reveal a hidden card?

  Lucius couldn’t wait to find out.