“Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles…!” Sullivan tugged at his short hair, “It’s all puzzles! Everywhere I look is puzzles!”

Normally I would scoff at such behavior, but he was actually just saying what everyone in the party was thinking (safe from Marina). If you’re wondering why we were all frustrated, then I’ll have to start from the beginning.

After silently making our way to the next floor, we noticed something peculiar. Instead of the wide open spaces we were all too accustomed to at this point, we saw a somewhat smaller one. It wasn’t cramped by any means, just smaller than the others. In the center of the room stood a lone jigsaw puzzle piece which we collected purely because the Book told us to do so.

The next room was identical to the previous one, but the puzzle piece located in it was different to the one we had previously collected, and there was another one next to it. We quickly understood that after finding all of the pieces, we’d solve it and only then move on to the next floor. So, we collected one puzzle piece after another, going from one identical room to the next.

After a while, though, we started to doubt the finality of this floor’s nature. Of course, an endless labyrinth of identical rooms seems impossible, but then again we’ve seen some pretty weird stuff, so we didn’t let our doubts get the better of us. Even still, no matter how many rooms we visited, none of the jigsaws would connect to each other. They we’re all missing a linking piece, which only made our doubts rise with every new room.

And now that you’re well acquainted with all that’s happened up to now, this leads us to our current conversation.

***

“Should we just return back?” I suggested, still doubting the Book of Prophecies.

“Hell no!” Everyone unanimously shouted, saying stuff like You want to go back after we’ve made it this far?

“I think Big Bro’s right on this one.” Marina backed me up, “None of these pieces fit, I think it’s a red herring.”

“Just the fact that you’re agreeing with him is proof enough that we shouldn’t listen to his crazy plans.” Said Miss Lionheart, “Don’t you remember your mental state is in shambles?”

“First off: rude. Second: you’re not using your head at all.” Marina hissed at Miss Lionheart, “From what I’ve gathered, this Book is something you just blindly decided to listen to, but what if it’s a trap in and of itself?”

No one bothered to hear her out, instead opting to give her the cold shoulder and simply press on. Everyone except me, of course, who stopped them from advancing any further and forced them to hear her out.

“Think about it, even the Golden Apple I found turned out to be a trap. I lost a lot of brain cells just from consuming it, but I guess the effects are starting to die down after my body’s fully processed it.” She said, “Who’s to say that any and all artifacts found here aren’t traps? What if the Book’s been leading us further away from the exit all this time?”

Now that you mention it, you’ve got an amazing point there! Nice going, Marina, you get a hundred gold stars!

“Bah!” Old Man Linus dismissed the thought, “Mystical artifacts aren’t sentient, kid! Each one exists to grant you something, and there has never once been a reported Trap Artifact.”

What the Old Man said almost immediately debunked her entire case, sadly. This was irrefutable evidence, as well, since every adventurer guidebook, exam question and practical situation pointed to this hypothesis being true. I say hypothesis because just because we’ve never seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist somewhere.

“Let’s just turn back and look for another way, please? Must we bicker at every step of the way?” I asked, grabbing myself by my temples.

“Aww come on,” Miss Lionheart nudged me, “Just five more rooms and then we’ll go back.”

“Fine, but ONLY five more rooms.”

-26 rooms later-

Fuck. FuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK!

“Come on guys, the linking piece is in the next room over. I can feel it!” Said Miss Lionheart, hopelessly trying to save face as she pushes us from one room to the next.

“Fuck this!” I finally scream out as I call forth a vote, “All in favor of turning back?”

After raising my hand, the people that followed my example were Marina, as well as Old Man Linus, surprisingly. The people who didn’t wanna turn back yet we’re just Sullivan, who was obviously just trying to appeal to Miss Lionheart.

“Old Man? Why are you on their side all of a sudden?” Sullivan inquired on his sudden team change.

“Simply put, my legs hurt.” He said plainly before continuing, “You kids are young, time flows by slower for you, but as for me I don’t really feel all too thrilled about wasting the precious time I have left betting on the slim chance that we’ll find this linking piece.”

“Oh come on, you old fart! You’re saying you wanna defy the Book’s prophecy purely because of your weak legs?” Miss Lionheart hissed back at him.

“The way I see it, if the Book was truly alluding to us finding the exit this way, then it’d account for my ‘weak legs’. To me, that only proves that we should turn back and reassess the situation.”

The Old Man’s words were as irrefutable as ever. He was a scary foe to go up against when tongues clashed. His ability to weave the story however he wants is both useful and scary. If I ever got pinned up against him, I’d probably get persuaded into joining his side or something (at least that’s how it feels to me).

Even still, I’m glad he finally decided on siding with the logical squad, no matter his motives. Since the majority of the party agreed to turn back, the others had no other choice but to do so as well-

“Fine! You go back! Come on, Sully, let’s show them that the next room is the final one!” Miss Lionheart started dragging Sullivan by the arm.

“Where are you going? You’re not seriously thinking of splitting up, are you?” I asked as if to egg them on.

“Shut it! Every damn time we act like a real party, you keep messing things up with your own crazy ideas!” She glared back at me, “Don’t follow us!”

And just like that, they went into the next room, leaving us befuddled at what exactly we should do now. Thing is, if we turn back, then if either side encounters a threat, they’ll be in trouble. On the other hand, splitting up might actually help us find the exit faster. It’s a high risk, high reward, spontaneous type plan.

“… Let’s turn back for now.” Marina tugged on my sleeve.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Yeah, maybe some space would do everyone good.” The Old Man reasoned, “Our goal is to survive and get out of here alive, being on good terms with each other isn’t necessary for that to happen.”

But… I guess they’re right. Maybe I was completely missing the point this entire time. I had treated them as friends instead of colleagues, and had high hopes for them to treat me the same way. Thinking back, I really was being overly chummy with them. I probably crossed some boundaries with how I acted around them…

As such, we headed back to the start.

-Infinite Jigsaw Puzzle-

-Lune’s side-

Walking back to the start of the floor, we had expected to find the staircase leading up to the previous one, but there was no such thing in sight. This started to weigh heavily on us.

“D-Did… Did anyone count back how many rooms we’ve traversed?” The Old Man said with a shaken, weak voice.

“I did. We’re currently on 54… Out of 52.” I said with a disappointed tone.

“Could we have made a wrong turn somewhere?” Marina asked.

“Impossible, the floor is linear in nature. From the moment we entered this labyrinth, there hasn’t been a single fork in the road. This settles it, the rooms move, infinitely keeping us from both leaving through the exit or entrance.” I said.

It’s hard to believe, but this seems to be the only explanation. That, or I miscounted, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t. I was the best cashier in all of Arthur’s. No one could best me in speedy arithmetics, I’d ring you up faster than you could say “Check please!”

We have no idea how long we’ve been in Shaid’s Lair, but our rations are slowly but surely disappearing. We need to hurry up, otherwise we’ll starve before even making it to the end.

“Has anyone… tried breaking out of the room through forcible means?” Marina suggested.

We both looked at her with a face that showed intrigue. Certainly, we considered this place to be a treasure trove, so it seems we, who looked at this place with greedy eyes, subconsciously blocked out even the mere idea of blowing a hole in the wall to check for hidden passages. Since Marina’s ‘Greed-o-meter’ was factory reset when she partook in the Golden Apple, it seems she had no qualms about doing so.

As such, Linus took out a stick of dynamite from his backpack and I lit it with Spark. The rooms echoed from the shock of the explosion, and what emerged behind the hollow wall was, in fact, a… pitch black room?

…………….

…………………..

…………………………………………………………..

“What was that sound?!?” Miss Lionheart suddenly entered the room.

We were shocked by her appearance. Her clothes were bloody, and her hair was a mess. We had no idea what had transpired on their side, so all we could do was offer her help.

“Never mind us, what happened to you?” Marina cried out, “Where’s Lil’ Bro?”

She refrained from answering, instead she quietly started sobbing as she gradually broke down. We had immediately expected the worst, so we started interrogating her on the matter.

“H-He’s… I don’t know.” She said, “We got separated after the fifth room in, something growled from behind us. I immediately dashed back here, but I don’t know where he went. Oh God, please let him be safe…”

Looks like he didn’t die, thank goodness. But even still, his safety could still be in jeopardy. We need to hurry back, we’ll leave this hole here for now.

-Infinite Jigsaw Puzzle-

-Sullivan’s & Genevra’s side-

Sullivan and Genevra had just parted ways from the other three, and were now headed for the next room. This now familiar feeling of entering the nigh-identical room had a sense of safety to it, but also a sense of dread. Sullivan was starting to feel like he made a mistake in moving forward instead of going back with the rest of the group.

He had asked Genevra to check the Book once more to make sure they were doing the right thing, but what she did next surprised him. She completely ignored him, almost as if she hadn’t heard him, despite his rather loud voice. So he repeated his request.

“Um, Genevra? Could you check the Book once more?” He asked her.

“… Just. Just wait a bit, okay?”

This answer struck him as odd, as well as suspicious. After all they’d been through, doubting her seemed like the worst idea imaginable, but one couldn’t help but be wary. They pressed on in silence for a while longer, which was interrupted by their growling stomachs soon after.

“Hahah, looks like we’ve been here for a while. I’d sure like to eat that meal you made back at the lodging. What was it called again?”

“… It’s just a simple stew. Nothing special about it.” She replied coldly.

“I don’t think so.” He answered back immediately, “It’s special because it’s made by you.”

His attempts at cheering her up fell on deaf ears as she started getting more and more impatient.

“Is everything okay?” He asked her after noticing how antsy she’d gotten.

“It’s… I have to… use the restroom… Yeah…” She murmured that last bit.

“Oh, no worries! Can’t be helped, you can just go a couple rooms back, I’ll watch our stuff for you!” He raised his chest up high as if to reassure her.

“Thanks…” She said plainly as she entrusted her luggage to him.

But even though he promised her this, Sullivan couldn’t help but cast doubts in his mind about Genevra’s aversion to showing him the Book’s prophecy. So, he double-checked the premises before opening the Book himself. What he found was… different than what she had described.

First of all, the Book made no mentions of them having to grab all the puzzle pieces in order to progress to the next floor. In fact, for Sullivan, the Book stopped writing at the very end, suggesting his story is coming to a close. This further worried him, so he tried to check how it is that he meets his doom.

“The protagonist meets a rather pitiable end as his lover, in a state of dire hunger, turns to cannibalism as her only option.”

The passage he had read from this Book was so sickening, so hard to believe, but he had no reason to doubt it. If this Book is correct, then right now, Genevra is getting ready to kill and eat Sullivan in order to curb her hunger.

“I… I gotta go find the others quick-”

*thwoop, clang…*

The sound of a steel bar hitting the back of his head reverberated throughout the empty halls, and he soon fell on his face.

***

Sullivan awoke with a terrible headache. A delicious smell wafted from the room as he desperately tried to recall all the events that had transpired just now. The first to greet him was a smiling Genevra.

“Oh, you’re awake, dear.” She said, full of life, “I made you that meal you wanted. Eat up!”

He was glad she was safe, at least. Something had struck the back of his head, but looks like she took care of it. He went to reach out for a plate, but quickly realized his hand wasn’t moving. No, it’s not that it wasn’t moving, it’s that it wasn’t there to begin with.

A…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAaaarghh!!!” He screamed out in horror.

He tried to get up and run, but even that proved to be quite difficult. Indeed, he was missing his right leg as well, for it was bandaged at the breaking point, and from the corner of his eyes he found the remnants of his extremities chopped up with a bloodied knife. The stew that had suddenly appeared seemingly out of thin air now started to finally make sense as well…

He had immediately realized the situation he was put in. He was knocked out by Genevra, who had cut up his arm and leg to use for food. Even still, his first instinct was to laugh, as he genuinely thought he was just experiencing a nightmare.

“Hah… Haa… G-Genevra, t-this is…” He tried to speak through the pain.

“Oh don’t worry, dear. I only used enough to keep us fed. We’ll just have to get you some prosthetics, but you’ll be fine.” She said with an empty smile.

She’s gone insane! He thought, But does that mean she… still wants me to live? C-Could I… really live with prosthetics? Shit, it hurts it hurts it hurts…!!

He desperately tried to stop her from taking a spoonful of the stew, but all he could do in his current state was fall to the floor and throw up the little food that was still in his stomach.

“Oh, dear! This won’t do, you need to eat as well to replenish your strength.” She said as she started forcibly feeding him the stew she had made of him.

He did all he could to keep his mouth shut, to which she gave him a dejected response.

“What’s the matter, dear? Won’t you try my stew?” She said as she tried to feed it to him, “This has always been on my mind… Y’know how animal meat tastes better the more muscular the animal is? Well, I had always wondered if humans were the same… and wouldn’t you know? They are!” She started laughing maniacally.

“Mph! Mmm!” He tried to scream through the tears as his mouth got opened wide by his very lover.

Immediately after, he felt a strong cramp in his heart. It couldn’t have been anything other than a heart attack from the shock of eating one’s self.

“Sully? Sully!” The crazed woman stopped her jolly laughing upon realizing his time was up, “Sully… I had really hoped you’d live through this, but what a shame… Guess you couldn’t even handle this much… Not manly at all…”

Upon finishing up her meal, she didn’t even have the decency to bury him, instead grabbing their luggage and hauling ass to the rest of the party.

There the surviving members recouped and hastily started looking for the deceased Sullivan Streits. But alas, his whereabouts where never found, and the party had to leave him behind after another hour of investigating.

In the second deepest floor of Shaid’s Lair, sitting propped up against the walls of the Infinite Jigsaw Labyrinth, stood the body of a hopeful young man who had wanted nothing more than to be loved.

He now rests for all eternity, for he has gotten his wish fulfilled. The Lair giveth, and the Lair taketh away…