The world is a...gaping hole. Too many men were lost in the depths of this place for me to remember. It took me a while to realize I was one of them, on a list of...casualties, swallowed in the Dark. It must be ages since I first passed through those gates, the gates I destroyed, and still the feeling of eyes lingers in my mind.

The walls shift and bend above me. I can hear the whispers, the ghosts of things that were once real, once alive. In fact, I can't seem to hear anything else. I hope that soon I'll get to break the bones of those demons. Such fragile creatures...they break so easily.

Questions cloud my thoughts. It's a...reprieve from the stone's cold chanting. Will we find anyone else? Did my team make it? Is there any real hope of escaping this? Huh. What difference does hope make anyway? We die in here. None of these questions matter.

I can feel the change like a weight on my back. Over these past years I have aged far beyond my youth, and matured. I am not the same man I was before, but this place only accelerated that. I miss everything outside of this darkness, but my team in particular. They were my family. I can't help but think I'm not going to see them though. Surely they would have an answer to these riddles...this, maze of questions.

Something was wrong earlier. That gunshot. Lloyd pulling arms. The hate in Beecher's eyes. The General...Etrius...NO. I refuse to believe that. He would never do such a thing.

Lloyd and Etrius are still trapped in that room, Mullins is gone and another team of Soldiers are dead. I doubt I'll see them again. I doubt I'll see anything...again.

Boomer and Roberts had fought through an eternity of passages, chambers, rooms, corridors and towers in the ever-changing shape of the Third Castle. They had seen horrible illusions distort at the end of corridors, they had passed through a massive chamber with an obsidian lake, the decaying bones of a reptile, and had even seen glass ceilings and ornament in one section. Both of them were nearly out of ammunition.

They both stood on a bastion looking out at the empty plains beyond the Castle. Boomer was deep in thought. Roberts had the special issue M1911 in his hands. Neither of them spoke. Boomer had been silent ever since Mullins had disappeared. He doubted the Sergeant stood a chance alone. His shotgun rested in his arms like a child.

Boomer frowned, for the tiled ground underneath had become deathly cold, as if he was standing on ice barefoot. He turned to look down the parapet and swore he saw a figure wearing tattered uniform running down the stairs. Hawk...

Everything inside him relaxed unnaturally, settling heavily. A black mist seeped through the stone tiles below, forming something. Roberts felt a chill breath exhale and he looked over his shoulder and freezing air clawed its way into his armour.

There, arising from both sides of the stairs they had descended, was a swirling black cloud of Death, forming into nameless shape. It threatened to suffocate both of them, the whispers becoming loud. "Move." Boomer said, and Roberts forced himself to start running down the stairs from the bastion as the black Aporia descended on them like a stormcloud.

Ray and Mullins had entered a massive courtyard. The sky was a lot darker and stormier than usual, the clouds had anvil formations at their summits and were abstractly placed in the grey sky, massing like siege towers. Mullins was recounting his experience within the Castle, leading up to the encounter with Ray himself. "...And I started hearing some freaky voices, in my head."

Ray stopped. "You're not alone on that part. I thought I saw-" Lloyd. Ray felt the feeling of eyes inside his head, followed by the sensation of knives or teeth tearing into his flesh. Cold air filled his lungs and he changed the subject, seeing Mullins staring at him. "It was nothing." And then he forgot completely the name that had just haunted him.

"Mullins, do you ever think we will find away out of here?" Ray sounded like a vulnerable, young person, and Mullins was a father figure. Mullins stopped , he couldn't answer Ray. "Mullins?" Ray's voice sounded faded, as if it was coming from a long way away. But that's not why he had stopped.

He could see red Navigation lights across the courtyard. "Is that a...helicopter?" Mullins said, his voice breaking. He could not believe what he was looking at. It was as if he had never seen it before. They started forward, forgetting the grim mood they had been in but a few minutes ago.

"Hello? Is there anyone alive in there? Hey!" they shouted.

Plisskin heard the voices, and he looked up from the tangle of wires he had been holding. "Survivors?" the distant voices seemed to cut into his mind. He got up and walked to the door, and was proved to be correct. Two bloodied Soldiers were sprinting towards him, the one of the left limping slightly. Plisskin ran out to greet them and caught Mullins as he fell. "I'm OK..." Mullins said. It was the first time Plisskin or Ray had smiled since stepping foot in the place.

"What the hell happened here?" Mullins asked as he bandaged his wounded arm carefully. He was sitting on the bench Jason would have sat in if they had left the Castle together. Plisskin spoke calmly and evenly. "Jason didn't make it. No way I'm leaving him here though."

Mullins paused, and then said, "I'm sorry." He had not mentioned MacManus, Boomer or Roberts. "So, does this thing still work?" Ray asked, and Plisskin turned to address the standing Soldier.

"There appears to be something wrong with the wiring...it might be a little while before I can start it up." Ray's face hardened visibly. I haven't lived through all of this just to die on the threshold of escape. We're getting out of here. All of us.

"A chopper." growled Boomer. Every step they took seemed slow in the air and the helicopter seemed further and further away. They felt the deathly cold of the Aporia bearing down on them through the archway, chilling them and the ground to its foundations. Boomer's teeth were gritted in concentration.

Roberts half-turned on the run and fired two rounds. The bullets were just swallowed up by the writhing black mists.

"Gunshots?" Plisskin asked, concerned. Ray peered over at Mullins, not expecting anyone. "Boomer? Roberts? They fucking made it?" Mullins shouted, getting up. Plisskin helped him sit back down and looked out the cockpit window. Ray had stepped outside and ran to greet the two. But the smile died on his face when he saw the massive wall of black mist rearing up behind them.

Boomer nodded to Ray and jumped onto the helicopter. He looked over at Plisskin, and nodded also at Mullins. "Pilot, whatever you're doing, do it faster. Mullins, it's great to have you back. Get up here and guard this post."

Outside, Ray began backing away as a wall collapsed into dust and a whole army of creatures flooded out, surging into a battle cry. Assault rifles and shotgun blazed, shells washed over the floor and smoke rose from Boomer's shotgun. Beings fell by the tens, and then into the hundreds.

"Get in!" yelled Plisskin. The rotors started moving and Boomer grabbed Roberts and threw him on, before backing on himself. Mullins roared defiance at the creatures who had been so desperate to kill him. The helicopter left the ground and Roberts' heart rate began to increase. "We're taking you home." he said, to Jason's body.

Plisskin's mouth was set as he motioned the helicopter to go faster. And then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a massive black shape. He turned and in a split-second it filled his entire vision. "Shit..." murmured Ray. Boomer's eyes widened visibly, and his jaw nearly dropped.

The pilot struggled at the controls, teeth bared. A huge obsidian dragon loomed over them. Boomer tried to think where it had come from. He saw that it came out of the abyss by the gate he had blown open himself. It was the largest creature he had ever laid eyes on. Its piercing white eyes froze Boomer's mind and he knew he would never forget what he saw for every day he lived.

The skies above were nearly black and it looked as if the Castle was rising above them like a stormy ocean. Roberts slipped and Mullins reached out to catch him. Boomer knew that all of them would never, ever forget this place that had been prison to them for so long, the place that had taken so many lives. And it was nothing but a Castle.

Two Winged went into pursuit as the Castle seemed to draw smaller and smaller on the horizon.

And then it started raining. Torrential rain battered the dark grey stone of the Castle and thunder rumbled far away in the skies. The scene seemed almost peaceful as the rain splattered onto the stone.

Ray's pupils dilated rapidly. The helicopter drew backwards. White as rocks rose from below back to their place in the sky. The central tower rebuilding itself. Everything looked pure and true, untouched.

The Altar Room was cast in a deep darkness, deeper than it had been before. Nothing moved. A severed arm lay on the steps, blood leaving a trail on the stone.

But the unearthly light showed what had been true from the beginning of these repercussions; Etrius' body had gone, disappeared into the darkness. Or perhaps it had walked away of its own accord. A faint laughing sound seemed to echo around the room but the owner of the laugh, an insane entity, seemed not to be present. The Altar Room was soaked with blood.

Everything was not untouched.

The Superior sat at his desk, looking down at Etrius' profile a long time. The status was marked as KIA. Killed In Action. What a way to end a good soldier, in betrayal and deceit. He shut the files as if dismissing a nuisance and he picked up the phone. "Yes?"

The General's voice could be heard over the receiver. "The mission details have been followed and the Artifact has been retrieved." The Superior waited for more, expecting more. He had held his breath. "There may be a problem..." the General finished. The Superior deliberately waited a moment, before saying impatiently, "Well?"

"According to the Doc, the Artifact is empty. The current whereabouts of its contents are unknown. Perhaps within Asset 1."
"Find it."
"Yes, sir."
The phone was put down, and silence took its place.