Lucas crouched in the dark corner of the hallway, hidden in the shadows. Through the small gap of the slightly ajar door, he could see three men sitting around a round wooden table. They were drinking. Bottles of liquor were scattered across the table. The air reeked of alcohol and sweat.
The three men appeared relaxed, but their conversation made Lucas's blood run cold—especially when their topic shifted to the crazed woman he had seen not long ago.
"…That crazy woman's been dealt with?" asked the bald man, leaning back in his chair.
"She has," replied the skinny man who had just entered through another door. His tone was casual, as if it was no big deal. "I buried her out back, near the stables. She talked too much. Could've been a problem if someone heard."
"Safer that way," muttered the third man—the oldest among them. His face was pale, eyes dull. "We can't risk scaring the guests."
"So, we're doing it at midnight tonight?" the skinny man asked, seeking confirmation.
The old man poured himself a drink with steady hands, then replied with a thin smile.
"No… we've already started."
A sinking feeling gripped Lucas's chest. He took a slow breath, trying to steady his heartbeat.
'What are they planning?' he thought, unease crawling up his spine.
As the men began to rise one by one, Lucas knew his time was running out. He had to leave before they noticed him.
Carefully, silently, he backed away from the door and retraced his steps down the hall. He needed to return to the inn and check on the rest of the group he was traveling with.
Once outside the inn, Lucas climbed back up to the second floor using an old iron pipe and uneven bricks jutting from the wall. When he reached his window, he opened it quietly and slipped into his dimly lit room.
But the moment his feet touched the floor, something shot out from his blind spot.
Instinct saved him. Lucas twisted his body to the side, but the object still grazed his neck. A nearly invisible metal needle embedded itself into the wall behind him.
He reached up to his neck—there was a shallow cut, stinging and warm.
"Damn… it's poison," he muttered, breath beginning to grow heavy even though his body hadn't gone numb just yet. He moved quickly, scanning for his attacker.
From the right, as if waiting for him all along, a man burst out from the wardrobe and hurled a second needle. Lucas dodged it easily. Before he could react further, a second attacker came from behind, swinging a machete overhead.
Lucas jumped sideways—his body felt sluggish, but he was still fast enough to avoid the blow.
'Two of them,' he thought quickly.
His mind raced. His body was weakening fast. The poison wasn't meant to kill, but to paralyze. Still, as long as his heart beat and his legs moved, he wasn't done.
With one swift motion, he grabbed the leg of a chair and flung it at the hanging lamp. The glass shattered, plunging the room into deeper darkness. In that chaos, he dashed toward the first attacker and punched him square in the chest.
The man was thrown back, tumbling across the floor before crashing into the wall.
Lucas knew that if he wanted to survive, he had to end this fight quickly—before the poison could fully take hold.
The second attacker, disoriented by the dark, swung his blade wildly.
"Stop! Are you trying to kill him?!" shouted the first man from the floor, struggling to rise.
The warned attacker dropped his machete and lunged at Lucas with bare fists. But Lucas easily dodged each blow. Judging by their strength, he guessed they were both Mages with only a single magic circle. Compared to the beasts he'd fought—or Simon—they were nothing.
A swift, heavy punch slammed into the man's face. He was thrown back, nose broken, instantly unconscious.
It all happened in less than five seconds.
Lucas turned to the man who had poisoned him. The attacker's eyes widened in fear as he saw his companion fall with just one hit.
"Give me the antidote." Lucas pulled out his dagger and, without hesitation, stabbed it through the man's hand and into the floor. The man tried to scream, but Lucas clamped a hand over his mouth and gripped his jaw tightly.
"Quiet! Give me the antidote now, or I'll skin you alive," Lucas hissed coldly.
The man could only nod, tears streaming down his face from the searing pain.
Lucas yanked the dagger free. Blood poured from the man's hand as he writhed and trembled.
"T-There…" he whimpered.
Driven by pain and fear, the man pulled out a small glass vial and handed it to Lucas, saying it was the antidote.
"If you're lying to me, even a little, I'll ram this dagger into your skull," Lucas warned. His head was spinning now, and sleep tugged at the edges of his mind. The poison had spread deeper.
"I-I wouldn't dare," the man stammered.
Lucas stared at him for a moment, then uncorked the vial. He had no choice but to trust him.
"Who are you, really?" he asked before drinking.
"I… I'm a doctor… in this village…"
Strangely, the man's voice sounded farther and farther away, as if drifting into the distance. Less than a second after drinking the antidote, Lucas's body swayed. He collapsed into unconsciousness, not even having the chance to carry out his threat.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" the so-called doctor wept, sobbing like a man forced into betrayal.
---
When Lucas woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was chained. Thick iron chains wrapped tightly around his body, securing him to a metal pole in the center of the room. As he looked around, he saw the rest of his group—his traveling companions—also locked in the same room.
But unlike him, they weren't bound so excessively.
Mark—the loudest and most talkative of the bunch—rushed over the moment he saw Lucas stir. But before he could ask anything, Lucas spoke first.
"What happened to all of you?"
Mark blinked, clearly confused. To him, the question felt backward—they were the ones wondering why Lucas was restrained like some kind of dangerous monster. That same confusion was visible on everyone's faces.
"Uh… before I answer that, maybe you should explain first," Mark said, pointing at the chains wrapped around Lucas. "How did you end up like this? What exactly did you do to those people?"