"Congratulations and my thanks, young sir" an elegant voice echoed in Jacob's ear, waking him from another of his impromptu face-down naps.
Resigning himself to the fate of randomly passing out, Jacob rolled over and sat up. He searched for the voice's owner and got a decent look at the room as he did so.
What he saw shocked him, and for once, not in a negative way.
He was in the centre of a circular area. There were no walls, but the fog he saw outside the mansion formed a barrier he didn't want to try crossing.
It was surprisingly well-lit, an oddity since he couldn't find a light source anywhere. The whole place still radiated the same eerie stillness in which the rest of the mansion was enshrouded.
Around him were a total of 7 individuals, 6 of which were floating while hunched over and unconscious.
He recognised them from the paintings as the family of 4, the head maid, and the chef. The only one out of place was the butler standing with him in the circle.
The voice that had spoken earlier belonged to him.
"My apologies for not helping you to your feet, but as you can see, my corporeal form is no longer mine to command." The butler explained, showing the palms of his hands in a display of helplessness.
Jacob merely grunted as he got to his feet, too tired to play the good noble like with the chef.
His only concern was discovering if this was yet another trap or if he could finally leave this god-forsaken place.
A moment later, he stood before the butler, forming a striking contrast between the two.
The butler was the pinnacle of elegance. Everything from his stance to his clothing and even his expression oozed professionalism.
Jacob, on the other hand, looked worse than a hobo.
He was barefoot, showing off his lack of toe and fingernails and the cloth that adorned his body was more rags than clothing at this point. Not that they were in danger of falling off. His blood and sweat had soaked them, making them stick to his body like a second skin. His hair was in similar disarray, stiff and oily from his literal blood, sweat, and tears.
His skin could be observed from the many gaps in the nearly useless fabric, showing that he was covered in so many cuts, scratches, and bruises that the healthy skin he had started with had long since vanished.
And finally, there was his flesh wound and broken arm.
Neither were pleasant to look at, especially the arm, which had definitely not been set correctly.
"So, do you feel like explaining anything to me, or am I just going to get more clues and riddles?" Jacob asked with indignation, hoping to be given a concise and easy-to-understand answer before being sent on his way.
Preferably with tea and biscuits.
He was talking to a butler, after all.
"I believe it would be swifter if you told me what you know, and I will attempt to fill in any blanks. When satisfied, you can complete the final task and be on your way." The butler replied.
"Fine" Jacob groaned, sorting the information into the most reasonable explanation of events he could think of.
"Everything started when the madam of the house died after being trapped in the freezer. This sent the Master of the house mad with grief. In his madness, he decided to utilise his power as the historian or elder of knowledge of the country to find a way to bring her back, and the answer he arrived at was the occult. Am I on the money so far?" Jacob asked.
"Your explanation leaves a little to be desired in theatrics, but yes, that is more or less accurate depiction of events so far." Responded the butler dryly.
"So" Continued Jacob.
"The madam is dead, and the master turns to the occult, researches, and experiments for a bit before realising there was some kind of ritual to bring her back. A wild guess says that the head maid he had an affair with came in useful here because the ritual probably required a newborn or unborn baby."
"Unfortunately, the ritual gets messed up when the master's son sees what's happening and saves the head maid at the cost of his life, leading to the ritual being interrupted or otherwise disturbed."
"Because of this, a demon, devil, or whatever gets released, which finishes off the rest of the mansion's inhabitants."
"But because of the ritual, the resurrection magic goes haywire. It traps everyone here in some weird twisted form, creating the creatures that attacked me." Finished Jacob, wishing he could get out of this accursed place already.
"Once again, yes, that is more or less what happened" The butler commented, sighing as he did so.
"What I want to know is why you're different from the rest of them?" Jacob inquired.
"There was a short period before the demon was released, and in that time, the master managed to contain it within the mansion. He used not only his own spirit but the spirits of the others within the mansion as collateral, for lack of a better term."
"I was the only person nearby, so he made me the 'overseer' of the mansion. The master was a brilliant man and, despite his limited knowledge of rituals, managed to turn the mansion itself into the seal."
"The idea was that, eventually, someone could come into the mansion and reverse the summoning. My role is to guide anyone who can collect what is necessary and pass through the gate." The butler explained.
"Wait, what do you mean 'what is necessary'? I thought the 'hands' were all I needed?" Jacob asked, praying that he wouldn't be sent back into the mansion.
"Fear not, young sir. You have already collected everything you need, allow me to explain the final task" The butler assured him before gesturing to the floor as a familiar pentagram with 6 slots appeared.
"As you guessed, each person within the mansion became part of the seal. However, they were also turned into the creatures that attacked you."
"Nevertheless, they are needed to reverse the summoning, but of course, they can't be allowed in this area as they would destroy it to free themselves of its binds. That is why objects related to their past must be used."
"These objects are linked to their spirits and can therefore act as a proxy for the ritual."
"Of the objects you have collected, 6 have a connection to the past of each member of the house. Through this connection, they can be used to rewrite the ritual without bringing the creatures here."
"You should have collected them while completing the trials around the house" The demon remarked.
"Yeah, I also want to ask, If the only thing that the ritual did was bind people, why did it end up making those weird puzzles, and how in the hell was anyone supposed to complete them as well as I did? Honestly, it was a miracle I survived most of those the time, much less solving them properly." Jacob commented.
"Yes, well, I mentioned that the inhabitants had become a part of the seal, and the mansion had become the seal itself. When I said this I'm afraid I was being quite literal. The only real benefit of such rituals is that Everything in it must follow certain 'rules.' The individual parts of the ritual are no exception, even if they are mutated horribly."
"That was the only reason you ever stood a chance, and your actual performance may differ somewhat from what you believe. On many occasions, you made the wrong decision or didn't respond correctly."
"The only trial you passed with 'full marks' would be the one in the hallway, and even then, you never discovered the extra hint from the additional aging of the cabinet."
"The freezer trial was solved correctly, but the time it took you was far longer than necessary. The chef's poison test wasn't even completed correctly. If you had not negotiated for the 2 out of 3 deal, he would have had no choice but to concede to you. then he would have given you the guitar pick as an apology. But because you changed the 'rules' of the puzzle, he was given some liberty to do the same. Then you made the additional mistake of trying to run instead of simply finishing the game."
"The rest of your performance left much to be desired. You consistently reacted slowly or idiotically. For the sake of your ego, I won't mention your lack of stamina or physical ability. However, you are the first to reach here alive hence my congratulations despite your performance."
"Now, if you would please take out your items, I will tell you which is needed." Concluded the butler as he gestured for Jacob to reveal the 'loot' he had found along the way.
Jacob was a little disgruntled at his evaluation in the butler's eyes but honestly too tired to care. He emptied his pockets and tidily placed all his items on the floor for the butler to inspect.
"First is the most obvious. The diary belonged to the head maid."
"The guitar pick that now makes up part of the key belonged to the chef".
"The oil flask originally stored a stiff drink for the father."
"The lantern was the property of the boy."
"The mirror, the girl."
"And finally, the mother initially owned the doll attached to this hand before she gifted it to her daughter."
"Now I'm sure you remember the hallway pentagram. Each paper from that pentagram represents one of the people in this area. We must simply recreate the pattern." The butler explained.
The butler then dictated which symbol corresponded to who, gently guiding Jacob through the process.
"Joy, Death, Life, Madness, Despair, and the Opposite. You may have already guessed some of these, but the others are a little tricky."
"Joy, Death, Madness, and Life go to the chef, the mother, the father, and the head maid, respectively."
"The Chef brought joy with his music."
"The mother was the first to perish."
"The father went mad."
"And the head maid brought new life"
"Despair and opposite, however, go to the boy and the girl, which seems a little tough to understand, but I'm sure you don't want me to prattle on more than necessary." Said the butler.
Finally, Jacob had placed 5 items into the pentagram and was about to place the last one, the mirror.
But he stopped.
Something had been nagging at him, so he decided to ask one more question.
"Hey, what's your name?" Jacob inquired.
"A good butler's name is of no import." Responded the butler a little too quickly.
"Then the master's name. I saw that his last name is Ashling in the dining room, but the first name was broken off, seems only fair to tell me since I'm helping you out of a mess that I have nothing to do with after all." Jacob asked, hiding his suspicion.
"Pierre" Replied the butler.
This response sent shivers down Jacob's neck. It was done without hesitation and with complete confidence, but…
"No." said Jacob.
"What do you mean 'no'? That was his name." replied the butler, confused at Jacob's reaction.
"I mean, every other name on the wall was weird as hell, but never a French name, not to mention I haven't seen anything even vaguely resembling French in any of the books."
"Whenever you've mentioned someone who lives here, you never said their name. I could understand the mother and father, but the staff would have a lower standing than you, and you've been here for at least 10 years!"
"Also, what do you mean it 'was' his name? If this was really meant to free him and the rest of you, then you would be using the present tense!"
"And suddenly you don't want to prattle on? The only thing you've done since I got here is prattle on!" Jacob had started quietly while kneeling over the middle point of the pentagram, but by the end, he was standing. Looking the butler straight in the eye, his suspicion rampant.
"It matters not, young sir. Just place the last item, and you will be free to leave." The butler hurried him, acting more suspicious by the minute.
"Now that I think about it, there's a lot of elements here that are suspicious" Jacob thought aloud, a new explanation of events forming in his head.
"First of all, there are clues everywhere pointing directly at you. I may not have had time to look in the basement, but I'm pretty sure there was a literal target directly on top of you in the painting of you and the mother."
"Now that I think about it, you and the head maid would be the only people outside the family besides the chef with access to the freezer, not to mention the mother's trust."
"And the maid couldn't have been the one to do it. The stuff in that diary isn't the kind of thing you can fake."
"What are the chances that the father would select you as the overseer instead of himself?"
"Every other ghost was a person once. You said it yourself!"
"The cold was the mother who froze to death. The chef was, well, the chef, the head maid literally appeared in front of me after the repeating hallway."
"The father was the knocker coming to get his children. Considering the item most tied to his past is a lantern, I'd wager the darkness ghost is the boy!"
"The only ones left are you and the girl."
"I'm going to make a wild guess and say that you were the 'breathing ghost'. Mainly because when I saw your shadow in the hallway you were in the same position behind me as you were in the portrait with the mother in the basement."
"But why was the girl different? She should have also been turned into a monster."
"What could be missing…"
"The ritual!"
"The Latin words!"
"The opposite in the middle, and death at the top."
"If the documents on the father's desk are correct, then the 'target' or 'bound one' is in the middle, while the 'purpose' is at the top."
"This ritual won't reverse the formula..." Jacob trailed off, his expression becoming vacant as he put his mind to the test. Mere seconds later his eyes snapped back into focus.
"It'll kill the girl." He declared, certain, despite his lacking information.
"But why would you do that? She's already dead" He questioned aloud.
"Isn't she?"
"…Unless there's something else." Jacob paused his monologue, looking directly at the butler whose face had gradually grown stiffer.
"Ohhhhhh. I get it."
"The father DID manage to alter the ritual but not in the way you tried to get me to believe."
"The only way he could do so was to protect his remaining child. But you knew that if he succeeded, the demon would be bound, so you tried to kill her before he could finish, which is why her throat was slit."
"But that explains why she is the opposite. She is the centre of the ritual because she is its core. She is pure, while the world around her is corrupt."
"The father did everything he could to ensure the demon couldn't harm his last remaining family member."
"Which is why you can't harm her directly and need someone else to do it for you."
"If she's alive, you're still bound here." Jacob was on a roll. The clues were lining up in his mind, forming a picture that painted a far more intriguing series of events.
As he continued, it did not escape him that the butler's face had grown completely still, and the once peaceful lighting of the area had grown more sinister.
"Now that I think about it, that pregnancy was pretty convenient."
"And she never mentioned her baby's father by name, only calling them sir."
"Let me put forth an alternate series of events."
"A long time ago, you joined this household, a member of some cult or something along those lines."
"After gaining the trust of the master and madam of the house, you spend a lot of time searching the vast library of the Ashling family. Which I'm going to guess is the only place with forbidden occult records and ritual documents. You were planning the perfect way to summon your favourite demon into the world."
"All you needed to do was kill the spouse of the master. Then while he was grieving, you could 'reluctantly' suggest the occult to bring her back in a bid to ease his pain."
"All the while keeping up the role of a devoted servant."
"Once he was too deep into his research to go back, you would once again 'reluctantly' reveal the maid you had impregnated and suggest using your unborn child for the ritual."
"Of course, you changed the formula, dooming the father's attempts to failure. Instead, the ritual would bring a demon into this world using the life of the mother and child as fuel."
"But things didn't go to plan when the boy interrupted the sacrifice."
"So, in a desperate attempt to complete the ritual anyway, you went through with it despite the father's protests. Leading to the demonic summoning being slower and incomplete"
"And from there, the father realised your real objective."
"He tried to stop you by once again altering the ritual."
"He used his knowledge to bind the demon to the mansion "=using the only other suitable vessel, his daughter."
"But he knew it wasn't enough. The demon would just kill her and escape anyway. So he engineered the ritual again to make her unable to be harmed by the demon directly."
At this point, the butler's face had twisted into a glaring mask of rage, and sinister lighting coated the area like wet paint.
"It's probably why you couldn't follow me into the children's room while the father could."
"But he did more than that."
"He placed her just outside reality, making her effectively powerless, unable to interact with the material world. Her only method of contact was through mirrors. In exchange for her freedom, she was completely safe from you."
"Of course, when the demon descended, it took your body as its vessel and watched over the mansion's visitors."
"You needed me and anyone else who arrived to collect the necessary items and not question things too much."
"The method you thought of was to follow me as closely as possible, to become my shadow."
"Literally."
"From there, you could use your limited power to manipulate the spirits to keep me moving when I started to figure too much out."
"That was why there were no mirrors, partially to stop the girl from helping me."
"But the main reason was to stop me from revealing your existence."
"After all, a solid shadow not cast by any light source may not be evident at first glance, but given enough time, anyone would notice."
"It's also why you pretended to be just another ghost once I realised you existed. You could deal with being seen as another spirit, as long as it distracted me from your special nature."
"My guess is that despite your powers you're unable to change your vessel, meaning if I had managed to properly see you, I would have seen exactly who you are, making this stage of your plan much more difficult. "
"That's why you shattered the mirror in the study. I knew it was suspicious that the helpful advice I had gotten so far had suddenly changed from reversed finger writing in fog to broken mirror shards."
"You were using my trust in the mirror messages against me."
Jacob looked the nearly manic butler straight in the eye, defiance welling up inside him.
"You thought I'd never figure any of this out."
"That I'd just run around your little playhouse doing exactly what you wanted without even knowing it."
"But I did figure it out."
"And you've lost."
Jacob concluded his speech with his finger pointed at the demon.
The lack of theatrics the creature mentioned before was nowhere to be found as the worse-for-wear young man panted with a dry mouth.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
The demon applauded him as his entire stance changed, his expression morphing further into disdain and condescension.
"Very well, little lamb, you figured out the truth. But so what? You still need to complete the ritual. There's no other way to leave after all." The demon stated with smugness.
"I think you're wrong" said Jacob.
"I think the people here gave me everything I need."
Jacob took out the kitchen knife, it wasn't exactly 'given' to him in a friendly way, but he had undoubtedly received it.
Then he took out the paper slip the head maid gave him after he had escaped the hallway.
This finally earned a look of genuine concern from the demon.
"Where di-."
"It's funny. The word written here means jack shit to me. But pretty much everyone knows what a snake represents."
"If I were a betting man, and considering how many times I've gambled my life in the past couple hours, I would say that I am. I would reckon MALUM means something along the lines of 'traitor.'"
"And from the moment I got this knife, I've felt like the handle's grip was a little off…" Jacob monologued while wrapping the circle paper around the blade's handle.
"A perfect fit." Jacob smugly announced.
"Wait, wait, wait. Think about this. I am an all-powerful demon. I can give you a great many boons. Longer life, being irresistible to women, endless gold. Let's make a deal, and we can both walk away better off!" The demon tempted him.
Jacob paused, considering the benefits of making a deal with a devil.
After all, he didn't know the whole story.
Maybe the Ashling family was a bigoted noble family that condoned child slavery, and the butler was, in actuality, an agent of freedom.
Maybe they were supporting a kingdom of cannibals and psychopaths that did nothing but dance naked under the light of the full moon while being doused in orphan blood.
Maybe siding with this demonic creature was the right choice, and if he got an unimaginable fortune out of it, then that was that.
The problem was that Jacob had built up a staggeringly large amount of spite at this point.
Towards the mansion, the ghosts, his bruised, battered, and broken body, pretty much anything that occupied his thoughts was coloured in a heavy dosage of the stuff.
And the demon was in a prime position to be a receptacle of it.
"Nah, better luck next time chief." He answered jovially, a cocky shit-eating grin on his face as he stabbed the knife into the centre of the pentagram.
And then there was white.