Lucius uncorked a small vial and drank its contents, feeling the restorative potion surge through him, mending his wounds and replenishing his strength. With renewed vigor, he pushed open the gate and stepped into a dimly lit hallway. The walls were lined with images, like a twisted museum of his life's milestones.
He passed scenes of the Academy, where he had honed his mind; the theater, where he had once entertained dreams of a different life; friends who had been more like fleeting shadows; a medical practice, a noble facade for less savory pursuits. Each image flickered with an eerie, lifelike quality, almost mocking him.
Then, there was the bargain, struck at midnight under a blood-red moon, the moment where everything changed. And the downfall, a spiral into darkness, not truly his own but an echo of another's fate.