Prologue

~Descent into Darkness~

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~Sleep~

Sleep is blissful ignorance. Sleep is safety and security. To not be awake, and not facing the harshness of reality. Sleep is
wondrous. Sleep is paradise.

Here, you need not worry about anything. Not the truths, nor the lies. In sleep, it is all the same, and none of it matters. Dreams
are dreams, and what happens in a dream stays in a dream.

Would you abandon this sleep, this unchanging, unmoving existence? For what purpose? For what reason? To learn more?

There is so much you could learn.

The ground seems to be giving out. This peaceful sleep is interrupted. The ground breaks away beneath you.

~Falling~

Deeper and deeper, down and down.

In the center of the darkness, there is a light, and in the center of that light, waits another darkness. And it repeats, again and again.

How far does it go?

How deep will you dive?

As you draw closer to the light, a dark shadow creeps upon you.

Your own shadow.

In that shadow, two shining eyes gleam. They are not like yours. They are different. Cold, distant, so far from the eyes you know
so well.

You long for the safety of sleep once more.

The shadow now changes. It is no longer human, but it is not completely inhuman. Is it still your shadow? Or is it the shadow of
someone else?

Gaze upon the shape of darkness, for that is your true form.

And you continue to fall.

~Vision~

It is the end of the world, the end of time, the end of your sleep. Your sleep has been interrupted, and now you begin to awake.
Or do you?

Deeper and deeper into the abyss, you fall. Strange visions of worlds long gone, of stories already told.

What is this place? Is it the end, the sum total of all the others? Can such a thing truly be real?

Descend deeper and deeper into this dream. Is it still a dream? Perhaps, but how can you still dream if you are no longer asleep?

What does it mean to sleep? What does it mean to dream?

If this is not a dream, what is it?

You have grown so much, yet you've learned nothing at all.

~Nightmare~

A dark shadow creeps upon you. Not the one from before, but something else.

Large, glowing red eyes; sharp, knife-like antennae; a face like nothing you have seen before. You feel cold, afraid, alone. It is the
aura of this shadow.

The shadow surrounds you, oozing around you like some sort of dark oil, pulling you in to its dark depths.

And it surrounds you in the darkness, covering you completely. The darkness spreads, the darkness covers. Deeper and deeper
you sink into this terrifying darkness. You struggle to break free, but it is all-encompassing.

Everything begins and ends in the shadows. It is pointless to think otherwise.

Just when you seem to be completely eclipsed, the darkness vanishes, and you find yourself falling once again.

~Mask~

It is but a temporary face, something we hide behind when the grief in our hearts is too much to bear.

Light shines from above, like a stain-glass window.

And light shines from below. Is it merely a mirror image of the above?

No, different.

For it is indeed a mirror image, but one of your heart.

The light from above is but a temporary thing, like a mask.

The mask covers. It hides your true self, your thoughts and your feelings. Just like the darkness, it covers.

The light from below is fixed, yet it is ever changing, just as your heart is always changing. What will your heart be like now?

And suddenly, perhaps because of that mask, you see yourself as many different people.

One who wears a mask of shame.

One who wears a mask of anger.

One who wears a mask of ignorance.

And one who wears a mask of indifference.

~Paths~

Just as every darkness disappears, so does every light eventually fade.

Between life and death, those who walk the many paths that lead to many different destinies.

There is the road through the day, a path covered in the warm light.

There is the road through the night, a path shrouded in the deepest darkness.

There is the road through the dawn, a path full of opportunities that are yours to choose.

And there is the road through the dusk, a path of great mystery and reluctance.

What path will you choose? What road will you walk? What mask will you wear?

~Awaken~

And suddenly, the glass shatters. And once again you fall. Deeper and deeper, into despair. Deeper and deeper, back into the
darkness.

But don’t despair. Don’t be afraid.

For you have the power to shape your own destiny, be it one in the light, the darkness, or in between.

Awaken now. Your sleep has come to and end. Awaken and rise to the truth.

Awaken…to your destiny.

***

Fragments of a shattered wish, like the pieces of a puzzle. How do they all fit into one? Memories that come like
dreams, premonitions that come like nightmares. Where do the lies end, and where does the truth begin? Questions
posed by the mind, answers deep within the heart. Let's find them...together.

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