Chapter 25: The Artistic Spread
Excerpt from the diaries of Edgar Wilmore:
"Sometimes death is the greatest work of art, understood only by those who read the shadows. Art is a weapon, and words are blood… and everyone who understands me becomes a soldier without knowing."
Edgar began sending public artistic messages across London:
Small paintings appeared on walls, carrying cryptic symbols.
Hidden notes were found in libraries, on park benches, and inside abandoned mailboxes.
Eliza noticed that every message was directed at her personally—yet also meant for everyone.
Every symbol tested her intelligence, her intuition, and her courage.
Every painting was a subtle psychological analysis of anyone who saw it.
She felt that Edgar was controlling the entire city… while watching her from the shadows.
In one of the alleys, Eliza found a strange statue of a woman standing, holding a red rose—it was a symbolic version of herself.
On the ground lay a carefully written note:
"The whole city is a stage… and you are its heroine. But do you know who writes the ending?"
She felt frustration and fear, yet also a strange passion to discover what Edgar was planning.
With every painting and every message, London began to divide:
Some people praised the "genius," the artist who saw the world in a new way.
Others felt terror and panic, especially as deadly symbols sometimes appeared near victims.
Eliza realized the public itself was becoming part of Edgar's psychological theater.
Edgar was no longer just a killer… he had become a symbol and an artist at the same time.
In her apartment, she sat writing in her notebook:
"Every painting, every message… brings me closer to him. Is this the game, or am I choosing to be part of it?"
Then she heard Edgar's voice in her mind:
"Every step you take… every analysis… is part of my art. You are not escaping the game… you are now displayed within it."
Eliza felt confusion and fear, yet also a flicker of strength—she was beginning to understand the game more deeply.
Edgar began preparing the grand masterpiece—a massive artistic message to be left in the heart of London:
It would contain symbols for all his previous victims.
A powerful piece of symbolism that would make anyone who saw it feel both fear and admiration at the same time.
The ultimate goal: to deliver a message to the world—and to Eliza—that the game had reached its peak.
Eliza sensed that this step would be the greatest test for her and for the entire city.
While examining one of the new messages, she felt Edgar reading every beat of her heart—every fear, every curiosity.
Hesitation. Fear. A sense of mutual obsession.
Each new symbol opened a door in her mind she never knew existed.
"If you want to survive… you must understand that the mind is stronger than the body, and that the shadow may be the greatest prison—or the greatest art."
As night fell, London grew dark, and the rain washed the streets—but the symbols, the paintings, the messages… still filled the city.
Eliza looked around her, realizing the game was no longer mere observation or riddles—it had become a full stage where souls and ideas moved.
She felt that Edgar was moving everything, and that everyone who saw or read his work had become part of his dark art.
"Art has become crime, and crime has become art… and I, Eliza, am merely a painting moving within it."