Calm down, collect your thoughts, catch your breath. You're scared. You're frightened. You've just fallen down a long passageway leading to a surrealistic universe full of nightmares ready to rip you apart. I know this and I know how you're feeling because I've been there, because I've experienced it. I know who you are. And I'm going to help you.

There's no time for small talk, there's no time to hang around. You have to follow my instructions, and you need to follow them quickly. There isn't much time before Darkness unleashes his full devastation across the land.

Grab your lunchbox and flashlight. These are the weapons that you're going to use to banish Darkness to Hell (yes, there is a place far worse than the land you're trapped in. Trust me, I've been there). Yes, I know you have a mask. Ditch it, you don't need it.

Because they already know who you are.

Run, not walk, through the path that is before you. Careful, you'll see a rope laying in the middle of the road. That is a trap the Devil Trees have set up to capture you and skin you alive. Sidestep it and look for the purple tree. She is sentient as well as the other trees, but she's on our side. Tell her the passcode "i sum destinarat purgandis mentibus praepositam mortis." She'll pass you a trench knife: it's the best self defence you're going to find out here.

Before you lies three paths, but only the first one matters. To the left lies a bloodthirsty minercart who desires to feast upon your mortal flesh. To the right lies a trecherous raft who will lure you out to the sea like a siren--then brutally drown you. Head north and enter the castle. You're going to race up the steps immediately. Do NOT talk to any inanimate objects that attempt to talk to you; they are only attempting to distract you so that their comrades may come up from behind and slit your throat.

You should find the top after a few flights of stairs. Do not stop moving. Kick down the door and be faced with a locked door. I wish I could tell you there's a key, but I used it and it vanished within my grasp. You'll need to use the knife to pick the lock, a skill I so dearly hope you possess.

Once the door to the closet is open, it's time for the final confrontation.

This is it. There is no turning back. Turning back means to give up on your life as you value it, and to accept and succomb to death.

Shut the door behind you and immediately turn on your flashlight. The coward, Darkness, will be cowering in the corner. Do not let this appearance disarm you; he is a treacherous demon. He will try to reason with you, attempt to persuade you that he's a friendly ghoul who no one wants to play with.

Don't think.

Just act.

Shine your flashlight upon his striking features, immoblizing him. Run up and plunge your knife into his very being, his soul. He will start to unleash an ear piercing scream, but it isn't that of someone who is in pain, but a rallying call. He is alerting his legion that he is in danger.

Keep advancing. Open your lunchbox and capture him, suck him in. He should be trapped. I know he's trapped. Kick down the closet doors to meet a wave of hostile enemies. Brandish your knife and slice through them, ALL of them, and never stop. Do not think of the murderous atrocities you're committing. Just keep killing.

Once you're done, trek back to where you first fell from grace. Look upwards and open the lunchbox, exposing Darkness to true light. His soul will evaporate, his being will disintegrate. He will be free of the shackles that held him.

And for this, I am so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

To defeat Darkness, one must sacrifice their life. This is how the cycle has always gone, it seems. I don't know how long the cycle has been running, and I don't know how to stop it, but I trapped you in this cycle and I owe you an explanation.

Moments before I spilled Darkness's blood, he admitted to me everything. That to escape this place, I would first have to become Darkness. I would have to trap him in my lunchbox and unleash him to the heavens where he would finally be free, but I would be trapped on this desolate wasteland until the next hero came along, and that I was to do the same exact thing so that I may be free.

And now I am free. I have you to thank, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

But I understand your anger now, and you probably hate me. As you read this, you've probably noticed that your feet no longer exist and that instead, you're starting to turn into a phantom, almost. You're becoming the next Darkness, and you will be banished to the castle, awaiting the next hero. As we speak, the hordes of undead nightmares you slaughtered are now rising once more from the dead, ready to serve you in stopping the next threat to your rule.

It's all waiting from here. You have to wait for another player. And when that happens, you'll be free.

I am...


I am so sorry.

Please forgive me.