Ostium part 1 - Maxwell's Decision

Maxwell's Decision
(After the epilogue / ending of Adventure Mode - Lot's of SPOILERS and WILD THEORIES included)

A very long time ago I had certainly had my reasons to come to this place.
Of course things hadn't gone quite as planned on my part and I may have been terrified of the unexpected change for a while, but a path had been revealed – and then lost. But all that happened ages ago and time had long since lost its meaning.

But in some ways I had always wanted to escape that other world and maybe that was exactly what ended up pulling me here. Maybe it was for the power and recognition. Or perhaps it was to gain freedom..
There were other things too, but most of them have already been lost to time.

It's been such a long time that all my reasons have indeed faded away and I've come to understand the harsh truth; there is no such thing as absolute freedom, and everything comes with a price.

To be fair, anything would feel like freedom after spending countless years on that cursed throne.

When I was released from its grip and woke up in this wilderness again, I was thrilled.
Being able to finally walk around and make my own decisions was a wonderful thing, even in this solitude.

However, there was no longer a reason for me to stay in this dangerous world. For as much as it may have offered, it had taken away much more from me, and it was time to leave this madness behind.

Having had an eternity to think about this, I'd come to the conclusion that in order to break free and escape, this world itself would have to be destroyed, and no matter what, that's not something I'm able to do alone.  

Yes, I had been able to restrict the shadow realm mostly underground on my own earlier, but that had cost me too much. Way too much... There is no way I could live with that sacrifice a second time.

That's why there is something I have to retrieve.

As much as I hate the idea, I have to go back to that wretched throne again.
This time I will not allow it to take me though. No. That's not even an option.

Finding a person with the kind of intelligence that would help me with the plan wasn't easy. Letting that kind of potential go to waste would be foolish.

That person was certainly not perfect and I hadn't expected much of him at first, but he had already proven himself capable enough by overcoming the obstacles of many harsh environments, and in a way he had exceeded my expectations by even releasing me from that throne.

There was a price for everything though.
That scientist had to take over the throne in my place and was now bound to it by the tendrils of darkness, unable to escape.

Personally I can't find it in my heart to care about the man or whatever happens to him.

All the years I've spent in this cruel place have changed me, and there isn't much empathy left in my heart.

However, there is still use for that scientist, and that's why I need him.
And even when I still have my doubts when it comes to his skills as a scientist, it's the best I've got in this place. It will have to do.

These thoughts in my mind, I pick up my my equipment and walk to the teleportato machine, a relic from the past I'd likely regret if I could still care enough.

The machine springs to life.

I need to choose carefully as there is not much I can take, but I'll be needing many things over there.

”There is nothing to lose,” I remind myself and activate the machine.

This is the door to the darkest corner of the world, a place that I would never want to see again, not even in my worst nightmares.

As the portal activates, the shadow arms raise from the ground and I hear myself laughing coldly at the thought when they pull me down into their dark realm once again.

The next thing I can see is the familiar corridor of pillars in ”my world”. I can already hear that detestable music from the phonograph playing in the distance as if I had never even left.

Picking up the divining rod – the key that's able to unlock the throne, I follow the road surrounded by the lights that I built back when I lived here.

Finally I reach the room with the nightmare throne in the center.

Over there I can see the scientist - Wilson Percival Higgsbury - sitting on the dark seat, bound to it by shadow restraints.

For a moment I simply gaze at him from the other side of the room.

The scientist is squirming and shaking in fear. He is staring into the distance with wide eyes, and as I walk closer to him, he doesn't even look back at me.

The man is clearly too scared to speak, and I have nothing to say to him.

I turn around to walk away. As much as the scientist has suffered, it's nothing compared to what I have gone through.

”Better him than me,” I say out loud as the memory of those countless, lonely years resurfaces in my mind.

However, what I'm going to need is his intelligence, ”the power of his mind” that he used to be so confident about. I had never thought highly of it, but while I would never admit it, the scientist had proven more resourceful than expected.

I glance back at him one more time, hoping that he is not beyond repair already.

To destroy this world and the dark forces residing in it, I must get rid of the throne first, since that's what connects Them to the world above, and I know that destroying the throne is impossible as long as there is someone sitting on it.

With the divining rod I could unlock the throne and release the man, but there are two problems with that.

First of all, if I open the lock and let Higgsbury go, the throne will just capture me instead.

I also need the scientist alive, and that's easier said than done, since the thing keeping the man alive right now is the throne itself and nothing else. As long as he is sitting there, nothing can harm him, not even cold or starving, as the dark tendrils of the throne keep constantly injecting nightmare fuel into his system to sustain the ”host”.
If he was released, that would change, and all the effects of those things would hit him at once.
People tend to die if they spend months out in the cold with no food, and that's exactly what Wilson has been doing with only the support of the throne. He'd die instantly if he was released right now, and without anyone on the throne, it wouldn't be possible for him to be resurrected either, not even on the surface world.

I check the contents of my pockets again and take off my coat.
The coat has gotten quite ragged during my adventures, but it's still the warmest piece of clothing I have.

I walk back to the younger man.

”Say pal...” I start without bothering to finish the sentence.

For a brief moment I seem to catch Wilson's attention, but he turns his gaze away quickly.

I feel slightly irritated by his silence, but I shrug it off.
Being calm is essential when approaching the throne, or else They are going to attack me and unfortunately I'm not healthy enough to survive their attacks, so I need to be very careful.

I lean forward to wrap my coat around the scientist.
He stops shivering for a moment and looks up at me with his eyes still full of fear.

I can't feel any warmth from him, but I know that he doesn't notice the cold as long as he is on the throne.

While I'm at it, I also place my winter hat on his head.

”That doesn't suit me anyway,” I remark and turn around.

I might as well light a fire around here, I think as I look around.
There was probably some firewood back there, I try to recall as I walk away from Higgsbury.

The next room, if you can call it that, has a whole lot of old chests.

They used to be full of useful materials that I had gathered and built back when I lived here myself.
Now most of the content has turned to rot, but I manage to find some dry wood and a torch, so I pick up the logs and return to the scientist.

To warm up the man sitting on the throne, I light a fire right in front of him.
It feels strange to go through all this trouble for him, but I know it's necessary.

This would take a while, I think as I sit down in front of the fire.

”I wish I had a heat stone or something,” I grumble while I add more logs to the fire.

After spending such a long time on the throne myself, I'd consider myself quite a patient man, but I certainly don't like waiting. I'm slowly getting hungry as well.

I made a whole lot of meatballs back at the camp before going through the portal. So many that I had a hard time trying to carry them all here, but none of them are for myself.

”Say pal, isn't it about time you ate something,” I suggest as I get back up on my feet.

Higgsbury turns to look at me again with a puzzled expression.
He opens his mouth to say something, but it takes a while before he finds his voice.

”Why..?” he finally asks with confusion and distrust.

”Who cares about that,” I retort and stuff his mouth full of food.

I force him to eat until there is nothing left.

”That should do it...” I say before we return to the awkward silence once more.

After a while Higgsbury speaks again, sounding slightly more like the man I remember him to be.

”What are you scheming this time, Maxwell?” he asks and frowns a little. ”I was pretty sure you were dead.”

”You really think I would just die?” I laugh coldly.

”I guess devils can't be killed then,” the scientist says in a low tone.

”Watch your mouth, Higgsbury. I might have just saved your ass, you know,” I scoff, but the other man turns his face away and won't answer.

”Fine then,” I bridle with an overly exaggerated shrug as I walk around the throne.

The fire I lit earlier dies out slowly, but the scientist has warmed up just enough by now.
It's time to get the man free from the throne.

I need to get far away from the throne so that it won't replace Wilson with me instead.

Now I'm going to need some assistance from an old friend.

I grab a hammer from one of the chests and destroy the lights from around the throne.

On the throne, Wilson can't help but whimper in fear when the area is covered in pitch black darkness. But there is nothing for him to worry about. Not yet, as the throne is still protecting him.

Me on the other hand... I am taking a huge risk and currently I find myself in grave danger.

I take my torch out, ready to light it.

It doesn't even take a minute before I hear the familiar, yet inhuman hissing voice from the darkness.

”Charlie?” I call out. ”It's me, Maxwell,” I continue, even though I know she doesn't remember me anymore. Or more like she doesn't want to. I can't blame her for that.

I can hear her move swiftly in the darkness, and I take a step back while lighting the torch.
Charlie hisses angrily one more time before moving further away from the light.

It's been so many years since I saw her beautiful face last time. She used to have such a lovely voice too, completely different from the feral sounds she is making now.

Sadness and anger start to build up inside me when I think about it.
I had brought her here, even if unintentionally. I had wanted to make everything perfect, but I didn't know enough. I didn't know that it was impossible to control Them, and in the end it was me who had made her turn this way.

It was supposed to be something amazing, but everything had ended up in a disaster. Charlie was turned into a monster, just like those stupid hounds and other creatures that had been corrupted by the darkness. The fuel was powerful and so useful, but using it definitely came with a cost.
It nearly happened to me as well, I recall as I look at my hands. They appear almost normal now that I'm no longer bound to the throne, but that wasn't always the case.

I wish there was a way to turn Charlie back to normal as well, but it's been so many years already that I don't hold much hope for that anymore.  

”It's all Their fault,” I growl in a low voice before I turn my attention towards the throne again.

It's impossible to see what's happening around the throne, since the area is in complete darkness now, but I can hear Higgsbury yelping in fear, and the attacks of Them as They are trying to fight off the intruder.

I know that Charlie will try to kill the scientist, but that's exactly what I want right now.

I also know that the throne won't let her hurt the ”host”, and even if Charlie herself would be considered a shadow creature like Them now, They will definitely retaliate and attack her.

There is a pang of remorse for using her this way, but I'm well aware that Charlie is no longer human and she won't be harmed by Their attacks. I also know that she'll definitely fight back and rip the throne into pieces, and imprisoning something like her is impossible, even for the throne.

What I need now is simply to time things perfectly.

Finally I hear it; the throne retreats underground.
I light the nearby trees on fire just fast enough to see Wilson slump to the ground face first.
Charlie vanishes with a hiss.

I can't get near the throne in fear of being captured myself, but in order to get the scientist out from there I have to work fast.

Without the shadows under my command, most of my magic tricks are only tricks now, but that doesn't mean they cannot be used for anything.

After living in this place for many, many years, I know how everything works, and moving Wilson is not much harder than pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

I work fast and Wilson disappears with a puff of smoke, just to appear behind the wall next to me.

Too bad I wasn't able to perform tricks like these when I was young. My life might be quite different if I did. But it's too late to think about that now.

The shadows are growing more and more restless on the other side of the wall, but the throne can't appear unless there is someone to sit on it.

I know that we are still in danger though.
The shadows will surely search for us and They won't be happy at all, so I lift Wilson's unconscious body up and start moving towards the east.

The man in my lap doesn't look like he'll live for long, but at least he is still breathing. I'll worry about his condition after we get to someplace safe.

I should have a teleportato machine somewhere around here, I recall and hope I can locate it before the torch burns out.

I wasn't able to use the machine for escaping before, as it always just brought me back to this place, but with the throne destroyed and the scientist with me, things might be different this time.