2019.02.18 - Cutscene: Into the Black Lodge--Cold Night, Crimson Walls, Dark Shadows

**Emitter:** Merek

*Merek ventures into the Black Lodge.*

January 4th, Year Unknown; Evening

The Black Lodge

## The Cold Night

It was in the cold of night, snow falling upon the dark world. Merek has decided to travel into the Black Lodge, a place of no time, and of no space, at least to his perception. He walks through the darkness, unsure of where he's found him self, it was supposed to be a personal hell. He steps from the corridor into a room, the walls have moss growing upon them, in the center is a table, where a man shuffles some papers. He motions to a seat for the man, and the Wizard settles to it so that he can listen.

"Hello," the man starts, "I will be your guide to things that aren't but might be. You are an intelligent man, there's no... Deception to be had here, no. There is a different approach, you will be shown what could still be, you'll be faced with facts. This is not like your own world, but... You will see that." A smile plays on the man's features, while he motions with a hand, "Let's travel back, to when it all began, this dark path, that you walk."

The laugh echoes from the halls as the scenery changes, and it is a cold night in hills overlooking the waters west of San Francisco, where a woman stands with her black hair flowing in the wind. Merek looks around in confusion, then to the woman. "Hey, it's you, it's been," he then finds that he can't speak any more than that. She turns then to smile at him, and rains start to fall upon the hill. A crimson rain, the blood falls and begins to matte all in it. He looks at his hands, while the woman speaks, "You know, you could've saved me, you know exactly how you have failed... I blame you," he looks stricken, to the core. He can't answer her, he can just watch.

The magic and the swords come from all directions, the fight has come, and it takes her with them, as she melts before him, dissolving in detail while he must watch. He can't shout, he can't scream, he can't do anything, all that he can do is watch while his fiance' is taken from him. This scene repeats, rewinds, and replays. For what seems like an eternity it continues on, pulling him into the dark dream.

## The Crimson Walls

Drip. The sound of the blood hitting into a pool beneath his feet marks the change of scenery. Merek looks around, having noticed that through the endless dream cycle, he's come to a new and different one. In his hand is a sword, "What...?" He looks then, and upon the ceilings, on the walls, the floors. Those he knows, his family, his friends, those he met when he came to the Vale. All of them are slain, slashes in them seem to copy the exact details of the weapon he holds. He tries putting it down, he is afraid, but he can't. Nothing he does seems to work.

The voices seem to speak from the unseen, from the blood. "You did this, you failed us..." Hands reach up from the blood to take ahold of him from all places, "You killed us, you can't protect any one. You failed to protect her, to protect me, to protect us." The voice echoes. He speaks, he can, but his voice is scared, "What? I only wanted to protect everyone, I only wanted..." He tries then to run but can't, it's a field, endless... The blood is an ocean, and so begins anew this charade.

In the real world, he had just come to the Black Lodge. Within, it is clear that this has transpired for what seems like eternity, as though YEARS have taken him on. New nightmares, he sees... From the world in darkness to the Others coming from the home of theirs to destroy all of mankind.

## The Dark Shadows

Merek awakens, watching the scenery, he is broken. Not what he once was. He reaches with his bloodstained hand to try and throw away the sword, and he sighs as he looks up into the dark skies of crimson rain. "I am sorry, please hear me... I never meant for this to happen, I..." He sighs, while he looks to the blood oceans, made with countless sacrifices of those he knows. Will he escape? He doesn't even remember why he was there.

Something echoes from a life and time far away, and he feels as though he has heard a voice. He looks around, and lifts up his gaze while he speaks, was the man he met, all this up until now, was it just a make of his mind, was it real? But, if what they said was real, can he afford to stay here? The memories come back, "Maybe I could have acted differently, perhaps I could have saved all of them, but I can't change the past. I can change the future. I won't let my friends fall, if you hear me..."

The torrent of the waves seem to come upon the quiet shores of darkness to him. He had to awaken from the darkness, "I will change it, I understand it..." He repeats all his words, shouting them to the skies. Like a crescendo it resonates. This too feels like an eternity, but one of the release from all he has endured. And so, he awakens. Facing forward, with cherished memories to mind, he won't let this place keep him, and he has a lot to do. He won't be the same, he had to be broken to put it all back together, and it will stay with him. He must embrace all he is. Why was it he chose to take this task? Yes, to protect people. If this was the cost, he was willing to pay it. That was what he promised her, all that time ago, wasn't it? For love.