Undoing the spider's web

Chapter 1:

Alois couldn't believe what he was reading yet he was holding it in his hand. 'This can't be true...' He thought, rereading the text for the second time but as said before, it was right there. What he was reading was a to-do list of sorts that spoke of obtaining two souls with just one body, but the method that one of the two was going to have to die before having their soul transferred to the other person and it was clear by the opinions of him on the sheet of paper made by the butler that Claude has already decided it was going to be him.

He came upon this list while searching his butler's room, his almost childish longing to understand what was going on through his butler's head was what led the young earl to enter the room and since Claude had just left it would make things a little more easier for him. After what seemed like half an hour of searching and finding no more than what seemed like a clean guestroom Alois came upon a locked drawer, the fact that it was locked made it clear that Claude didn't want him in there which meant he had to know what was inside. Getting a good grip on the handle he placed his heel on the drawer below and began pulling, the first attempt was unsuccessful, he tried harder on the second but failed as well, the third time pulling he used all his strength and heard a snapping sound before he fell back along with the drawer, getting back up he pulled out it's contents and read what was inside, most of it were things he considered boring like letters about recent crimes, the economy, etcetera. What caught his eye was a sheet of paper at the bottom of the locked drawer, it seemed like any other sheet of paper yet at a small glance it had his name written in it's text, grabbing it and reading it he discovered was a ritual that was going to end in his demise if he hadn't read the sheet at all.

And now here he was, emotionally unstable, enraged that the person he begged to stay by his side would want to betray him like this, saddened that that he was never really loved by the one he so loved, but most of all, he felt the will to live again, he felt fear of death, he felt as if eight hands were slowly closing in on his heart, ready to devour it once they had a hold of him.

 He wasn't going to wait for his butler to return to confront him for the contents of the paper, it would be a foolish move that would have only sped up the ending of his life, no, he knew what he needed to do, running up to his room he grabbed a bag and filled it with clothes, a bag of money, some blank papers and a pen, making sure the other servants never saw him he exited the manor, he didn't want to be seen by the ones who seemed more loyal to his butler than to himself. Grabbin a horse he began making his way towards London, it was going to be a painful road ahead but he was going to do what was needed to survive, he needed to leave, to escape the hands before they could get their deadly grasp on his heart, he needed to break the spell that was set on him by the one he loves, he needed to undo the spider's web.