Devil in the Dark

Ever since I was a young child, I've always had an interest in Capcom fighting games, as did my older brother Greg. We always used to spend time together playing Street Fighter 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on our Sega Dreamcast.
My favorite character to play as was Morrigan Aensland, my brother telling me that she came from a series known as Darkstalkers, a sister series to Street Fighter that was very popular over in Japan and accordingly still was. Hearing that it was like Street Fighter, I really wanted to try to play it since I really loved that genre of game.
My brother told me that since the series was rather old, the best chance of finding a copy of the game would be at a store in our local mall called "We Got Games", this store accordingly selling games for all kinds of systems, even NES and SNES. If I was going to find anything anywhere regarding the game, it'd be at this store.
A few days later, I managed to stop by the mall on the way home from school, deciding to check out the store my brother had recommended to see if I could find anything relating to the Darkstalkers series. To my luck, there was a copy of Darkstalkers 3 available for the PS1, although the box did look like it was indeed used by someone else, seeing as the Darkstalkers logo had been scratched off of the main cover.
Other than that, the game looked in great condition for a used copy, so I decided to purchase for the cheap price of $10.00. Taking it to the checkout counter, the clerk looked at the game strangely for a few seconds before scanning it and handing it to me. I asked him what he was looking at but he didn't reply, giving me back my change as I left the store to head home. On the bus, I tried to think over what he could've seen, but I didn't let it get to me.
Arriving home, I pulled out my old PS1 from out under my bed and blew off the dust it had collected over the years I hadn't used it. It was still in a good condition and was more than capable of still playing games. I pulled out the Darkstalkers 3 box from the bag and opened it up to look at the disc, seeing a design that looked like a promotional poster for the game, but instead of looking fearsome and ready to fight, the characters on the disc looked...frightened, all of them wary and almost looking self-aware of their surroundings. Near the top of the group was a pair of large eyes with red pupils looking down on them, threatening them.
I didn't think too much of it, thinking it was just the design of the disc as I opened up the disc drive to the PS1 and placed the game inside. The game started up as the Capcom logo came up on the TV screen, the colors of the logo strangely being colored red and black instead of the usual blue and yellow. Usually the game would also show production companies that assisted in making the game, but there was nothing but the distorted logo. Within a couple of seconds, the logo faded out into a black screen which lasted for quite a while. Being impatient, I'm not sure how long it took, but it felt like it took minutes.
The screen finally began flickering as the opening video had started, showing what seemed like water dripping, the screen then flickering again as the dripping water changed red, changing into blood as it dripped and dripped into a large pool on the bottom of the screen.
As the blood continued to drip, a large figure rose out of the blood-filled screen, a strange figure with large appendages that seemed to include long fingers, a pair of wings on its back, and wearing what looked like a thick jacket. Its head rose up and stared straight of the screen, its eyes completely red as they began to leak out onto its coat, presuming it was blood.
The screen then cut to a woman with long green hair, Morrigan, sitting on the floor, curled up in a fetal position on the floor, wearing no clothes. She was crying softly as a girl with short purple hair tried to comfort and support her, all as strange images flashed in and out of the video, all flashing in and out seconds at a time. I could barely make out the images, but the images looked like some of the other characters I'd seen on the cover of the disc. With
The first picture was that of the Werewolf, Jon Talbain, being stabbed through the neck by a little girl wearing a red hood, her face wearing a twisted smile as blood poured out of Jon's neck, also holding a gun in her other hand. All of a sudden, a sound came from the TV, almost sounding like a young girl laughing. I was horrified to see this kind of picture from a video game like this, but my brother had told me that the series was rather dark compared to other fighting games, so I didn't put it past the game that it could have been real,
The next picture was that of a character I knew from Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Felicia the Catwoman, however, this picture was even more horrifying than the last, as I could see her being eaten alive by these bee-like creatures, her skin being ripped off of her back as she was stabbed in the stomach by a stinger. The laugh of the little girl then came back, this time much louder than the first time as it went back to Morrigan crying, slowly zooming in on her face more and more after every picture seen.
The final picture seen was that of the same being from earlier, its red eyes dripping as its mouth slowly opened itself into a demonic-looking smile, the screen cutting to black as the laugh came once more, this time the laughter was mixed with what sounded like someone screaming in agony. This scream didn't sound like an in-game scream either...it sounded, no, it felt like it real.
The screen then showed Morrigan for the last time as her eyes opened, looking up as she murmured something in Japanese, the subtitles on the bottom of the screen reading "I won't lose you...not again...dear sister". With that, the title screen finally appeared, reading "Darkstalkers 3" in large letters.
For a moment, I just stared at the letters, trying to contemplate what I'd just seen, and what kind of sick bastard would ever put such images in a game like this. It had to have been edited or hacked by the previous owner, there was no doubt in my mind. Pressing the start button, I was sent to the main menu, and everything looked normal, giving the option for arcade mode, 2P mode, customize mode, and options. Clicking on Arcade mode, I was taken to the character select screen, and I could already tell that something was off.
The characters were mostly normal in both their portraits and the sprites underneath them, all except for the fact that like the disc cover, they were all terrified of something, all of them seemingly looking at an empty spot on the character select screen at the very top, a place where the supposed "Boss character" was supposed to be selectable to play. Not thinking too much of it, I selected Morrigan and I was taken what looked like a map of who I'd be facing in each match, my first match being against a character by the name of "Hsien-Ko".
As the versus screen came up to show both characters, the screen froze for a few seconds before flickering and jumping to an arena that looked like a small pond of water surrounded by hills and mountains, a large cherry blossom tree leaning over the right side of the screen as two beautiful Japanese maidens stood next to a wreckage of a Japanese junk. At that time, Morrigan and Hsien-Ko appeared, both standing in their basic poses as the announcer voice said "Get ready, Fight!".
The first round was very normal and just what I'd expected from a game so similar to Street Fighter, enjoying myself as I let loose some of Morrigan's most famous moves, including Soul Fist and Shadow Blade. Within a minute Hsien-Ko was down and I'd won a round, an almost Godzilla-like cry coming from the TV to signify my win. I'd almost forgotten about the creepy intro video since I was so into it, but that didn't last much longer as the game then froze as the second round was about to begin.
All of a sudden, the ringing sound of a bell could be heard, just like the one that could be heard when you enter into the main menu from the title screen. It continued to play over and over, getting deeper and deeper each time until it was almost impossible to make out. I was horrified by what came on the screen next, for the background had been sucked out of all color...all except for one...the color red. The twin maidens had disappeared, both of them replaced by a pair of tombstones where they'd once been standing, the water was a crimson red, and the Cherry blossom tree was stripped of all its buds, leaving nothing but barren branches that had mostly been snapped in half.
Hsien-Ko had also been stripped of her color just like that of the stage, only her eyes were completely black with what looked like tiny red pupils. Hsien-Ko stood motionless on the other side of the screen, staring at Morrigan as a text box appeared on the bottom of the screen. The text started to read:
"It's too late for me...the devil in the dark has already found me. Save yourself Morrigan...save yourse-."
As the text box cut off, the ground around Hsien-Ko's feet opened up and hands reached up and grabbed her, pulling her down into the blood-colored hole as it sealed up upon her disappearance. The results screen then came up, all the categories (Time, damage, bonus) were categorized at "222", adding up to a total of "666" in score. The winning portrait then came up of Morrigan, but unlike the one I'd seen of her on the internet, this Morrigan was huddled up in a fetal pose as she cried, a solemn eye looking off screen as the text screen read "Why are you doing this? Why are you putting us all through this nightmare?"
Throughout each of the next matches, the opponent character's bodies were considerably more and more mutilated than the last. B.B. Hood's face had been partially torn away as the other half continued to wear an incredibly dark smile, Demitri's outfit had been mostly torn and his face was almost completely red like it'd had been stripped of its skin, Jon Talbain had been missing chunks of flesh from his body while his fur was almost completely gone, and even Huitzil had parts of his circuitry pulled out, his robotic limbs hanging by wires as he struggled to move around the stage.
However, all the characters seemed to share a similar trait with one another, completely black eyes along with red pupils along with the mentioning of a character called "The Devil in the Dark" before being killed by unexplainable causes. The quotes Morrigan said at the end of each fight also changed as well, going from "This is all hopeless, I'm not meant to survive" to even "I'm only living to keep my sister safe, he will never touch her". I couldn't explain what it meant for I knew next to nothing about the series itself, all I could do was continue to play through the horror, hoping by the end I'd be gifted with the answers I was looking for.
I'd had come to the second-last fight of arcade mode, my fight being against Felicia on a stage called "Iron Horse, Iron Terror". The stage was that of a large train running through a blood-red tunnel, a skeleton smoking and driving the train. It all looked normal compared to the other stages I'd seen, but that was until I saw Felicia. Her sprite looked battered and broken, her mouth dripping blood as she smiled sickly at Morrigan.
Her eyes were completely black with red pupils, her fur being stained red with her own blood as she suffered from many different cuts and scrapes, one of her paws missing as her hand was replaced with a metal-coated paw with much sharper claws than she originally had. It was horrifying to see such an innocent and sweet character this way, causing me to pause the game for a few moments as I held back my tears, but I had no choice, I had to carry on.
The fight began and Morrigan began to attack Felicia, but Felicia didn't fight back, all she did was laugh, laugh at every hit that struck her as the blood flew off her body and splattered onto the ground. The laugh was one of the most realistic laughs I'd ever heard, it certainly wasn't something a 90s fighting game could pull off, causing me to shudder at every chuckle coming from her sickening character sprite. With her not fighting back, the fight back went by incredibly fast, the fight finishing as Felicia fell to her knees, starting to cry mournfully as the TV emitted a horrid-sounding noise, sounding like a mixture of crying and the scraping of a chalkboard. As she sobbed, another text-box popped up on the screen, this time reading, "You've reached your end, soon your fate will be just like mine!" Felicia's sprite then started to laugh maniacally once again, but not for too long, as a strange long-nailed hand came through the ground and ripped her body in half, holding in its hand her soul as it disappeared back into the ground.
I watched as the screen flickered back to the main screen and showed that the final stage was about to start, the only difference now was that now...there was no sound, only the feedback of the speakers on the TV. The bottom of the screen only read "Devil in the Dark", the screen starting to distort as I clicked the X button to try and move the scene along so I could start the final fight. It was then that I saw a familiar face appear on the screen, the same short-haired girl from the intro video that had been supporting Morrigan, her name reading as "Lilith". Her outfit was similar to that of Morrigan's, only it was incredibly torn and damaged, her face incredibly sad as she cried a long stream of tears. As she cried, the same formatted textbox came onto the screen, this time reading "Save me sister" over and over again.
I continued to click the X button to pass each part of text, but it went on forever, the letters starting to change color from aqua blue to blood red as time went on, but that was when I noticed...the picture was starting to distort itself, the letters in the text were spelt backwards as Lilith's tears began to turn red. Eventually the text started skipping on its own, Lilith's eyes starting to turn black just like the others, her crying getting louder and louder as a strange music started to play in the background.
I was horrified, for the music almost sounded like demonic chanting, the text continuing to pop up on the screen. I wanted to shut the game off, I wanted to forget about this nightmare, but as I went to pull the plug of the PS1 out of the wall, the screen went pitch black.
I relieved myself into thinking that the nightmare was over...but that all changed as a strange deep laugh came from the TV's speakers. I slowly walked back to my chair and picked up my remote, the laughing coming once again, but this time it was of much higher pitch. It wasn't long before the screen faded into a disgusting sight, a strange room that looked like that of someone's internal organs, presumably something like the stomach or liver. That was when I noticed a disgusting creature in the background, the creature covered in blood as it seemed to laugh and smile, almost looking like that of a demonic fetus.
I could then see Morrigan come into frame, her face horrific as she looked down on a body on the floor, the body of the same short-haired girl that I'd had seen just before the screen cut to black. She laid there...lifeless...no blood around her, but it was presumed that she was indeed dead. Morrigan was crying uncontrollably, screaming out.
"Why?!" consistently.
Her vision then turned to me, looking at me as she cried and continued to ask, "Why?! Why did you do this?!"
I was terrified to do anything else, backing away from the controller and huddling up on my chair as I continued to watch the screen. I felt guilty, the way she called out to me like it was my fault made me feel horrible, making me start to cry as well. All of a sudden, the same kind of laughing returned to the speakers, Morrigan's face instantly changing from that of sadness to that of extreme fear. She got up off of the ground as the area around her began to flash black as a large beam of red light appeared from above the screen, shining down on Lilith as a figure slowly descended from the beam.
From the background could be heard what sounded like cult-like chanting, it getting louder and louder as the figure descended lower and lower to the ground, silencing as it touched the floor. This figure...it was the same one I'd seen before in the intro video, the one who emerged from the blood and wore the sickening smile. He picked up Lilith by the head and held her in front of him, saying something in Japanese that I couldn't make out as I didn't speak the language.
As he said his line, Lilith's body began to melt within his grasp, melting onto the floor until only a small blue wisp remained, her succubus soul. Opening his jacket, he sucked the soul into his body, laughing as he did so. As he finished, he then turned his attention to Morrigan.
Morrigan fell to her knees in fear as she looked upon the figure, its face completely black as if it were hidden in shadows, wearing the same outfit I'd had seen before. Its body consistently dripped blood from its eyes and parts of its jacket, consistently smiling as it looked down at Morrigan. A match had then started between Morrigan and the figure, being called "Jedah".
I stumbled to pick up my remote and try to fight back, but Jedah drove his hand straight through Morrigan's stomach, causing her health to instantly hit zero and a K.O. sign coming across the screen, Morrigan's body then being thrown through it, causing it to break into pieces as she fell onto the ground.
She was reluctantly still alive from the attack she'd taken, trying to crawl away from Jedah as she left a trail of blood behind her. She seemed to be getting closer and closer to the screen as Jedah floated behind her. She was now very close to the screen, looking directly at me with teary eyes as my eyes connected to hers.
Within seconds, she started pounding on the screen, like she was literally trying to get out of my TV, screaming and crying as Jedah loomed over her. It didn't even last ten seconds, Jedah sending his hand straight through Morrigan's head and out her mouth.
Gritting his fist, he pulled her head right off of her neck, the screen then fading out into the results screen that showed a shot of Jedah holding Morrigan's head by the hair. The winning text read in a grim style of text, only reading, "There is no Savior". I wanted to puke, for it all looked so vividly real, especially since this was supposed to be a bunch of pixels packed together.
I couldn't take it anymore, I wanted to end this horror show, and I wanted to be free of the madness. I got up and ran over to my television, unplugging the PS1 and pulling open the disc drive by force to get the disc, only to see in my horror that the cover of the disc had changed. The cover was now almost completely black with the Darkstalkers title seemingly dripping down the disc as the eyes that were in the background now looked up, almost feeling as if they were looking directly at me. The disc also read on the bottom in small red letters "You're next", an evil smile then forming on the disc, in the facial shape of that of Morrigan, the character I had to watch die a brutal death.
I screamed as I threw the disc across my room huddled up in the corner of my room, too terrified to even move. It wasn't long before my brother barged into my room in a panic, asking me what was wrong. I tried to open my mouth to talk, but fear had entangled my throat, nothing coming out. All I could do was point over to the disc on the floor near my brother, shaking my head violently as I stood up and went over to my bed.
My brother looked at my disc for a few seconds then chuckled, saying he was amazed that I managed to find a copy. I wanted to tell him, I wanted to show him the horrors I'd seen...but I didn't even want to bear the thought of having to put him through the same experience. Since I couldn't catch my voice, I had no choice but to use force, finally getting up and swiping the disc from my brother's hand, slamming it down on the ground and crushing it with my foot until it was in pieces.
My brother looked at me with confusion, asking me why I would do such a thing to a game series I wanted to play so badly. I finally was able to regain my voice, only replying with the phrase "Devil in the Dark". I couldn't say anything else, I didn't want to tell him for I knew he wouldn't believe me. With that, my brother slowly backed out of my room, closing the door behind him. I couldn't sleep, for I knew for sure those screams would follow me there, all I could do was stare at the shattered pieces of the disc, trying to lament the images in which I'd seen.
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