Arc 1: The Return
Chapter 3: The Lady of the Light
"And now to see your love set free,
You will need the witch's cabin key,
Find the Lady of the Light,
Still raving in the night.
That's how you reshape destiny."
Commander Jennifer Shepard entered the so-called Museum of Light, right as some sort of old folk-sounding song ended. Catching the last verse, or more-likely the last chorus, Shepard couldn't help but make the connection between the words of the song and the so-called Museum of Light that this supposedly was. The first thing the senior Spectre noticed was the absolutely obscene amount of lighting within the building, with countless lightbulbs and other such sources of light filling the ceiling and some of the walls. She wasn't the only one who noticed this.
"Damn…" Ashley whistled, "Guess we know why it's called the Museum of Light, eh Commander?"
"Really? I don't see the reasoning." James joked behind her as well.
Shepard shook her head and took several more steps inside, looking around for the possible owner of the building. Deciding it'd be best to announce their arrival, rather than spook the supposed PTSD-diagnosed Asari, she called out.
"Hello, anyone home?" Jennifer called out.
Seconds later, an Asari came running from a side room, stopping short of the group of three. Shepard took a moment to look over the newcomer, taking in her appearance carefully.
The Asari stood at about Shepard's height, holding herself in a perfectly straight posture. She wore what appeared to be a standard-issue black, form-fitting bodysuit, identical to the many Shepard had seen other asari commandos wear during conflicts. Over the armored suit was brown, human-made leather jacket lined with artificial fur around the collar, providing extra warmth as the days grew shorter and the weather grew colder outside. The heightened heels normally present in many suits of asari armor was not present, surprising Shepard, as they appear to be purposely worn down to provide a lower and more stable footing.
Herself, the asari's skin was a much lighter shade of blue than most of her species. Her face, like many others, was adorned with facial marking, appearing a bright yellow color. They stretched from where brows would normally exist for a human, and curved along the inner edge of her cheeks, coming back up to meet at the upper bridge of her nose. Her perfect white teeth were visible beneath her light smile as her light blue eyes locked onto Shepard's green ones. Her crests, however, were not as flawless as her face, as they bared obvious scars throughout the entirety of the back of her head. At her ears were a pair of simple earrings, with a hanging white gem for each, which seemed to glow lightly with some light source within proving the light.
After only a moment, Shepard made these observations, and the asari before her continued to hold her smile as she spoke.
"Ah, hello, and welcome to the Museum of Light." She welcomed them, "My name it Lesini N'Sinna." She introduced herself with a light bow. "May I ask what brings you to my humble establishment, miss…?" She asked Shepard, leaving her sentence to end in silence as she gave her a chance to speak.
"Shepard." She said, "Jennifer Shepard."
The asari's eyes widened as she realized who stood before her. "Commander Shepard?" She asked, to which her guest nodded. Lesini's smile increased, "I am honored to have the esteemed Commander Shepard in my establishment." She turned her head to look at the two humans behind her, "And these must be your crewmates?"
"Spectre Ashley Williams, ma'am." Ashley introduced herself.
"The name's James Vega." James said, smiling, "It's a pleasure."
She nodded at the three of them, "Excellent. It is nice to meet such famous humans. Though, I must ask, what has brought such esteemed legends such as yourselves to my museum?"
Shepard answered for them, "We have some free time, and wish to learn more about this town and its history." She replied, "I was told this place was the best for the history of Bright Falls."
Lesini nodded, "Of course, you've come to the right place, Commander." She waved them to follow her as she turned around and began walking deeper into the building. They followed behind her as she began to speak again, "This place was once a power station for much of Bright Falls, utilizing the nearby river and a dam to generate enough power for this town. Eventually, with new power sources discovered over time, this place became obsolete. When I found this place, it was run-down and deserted, before I brought it back to its former glory." She informed them.
They reached an area filled with exhibits. There were several glass cases holding various items with plaques nearby, a few old-school twenty-first century projectors displaying various films or videos, and even an area nearby with many long bookcases filled to the brim with actual paper books.
"This is the main area of the museum, filled with the rich history of this town. As you may or may not know, Bright Falls is famous for its attraction and production of artists of all shapes and sizes, as you humans say. Musicians, writers, poets, singers, songwriters, authors, painters, you name it, we've had them. On display and in the library section are many of their works."
Lesini looked away for a moment with a frown, before shaking her head, "I apologize, I was in the middle of some research. Please excuse me, but feel free to look around and learn to your heart's content." She pointed over toward a nearby open doorway, which led into another room, "I'll be in there if you have any thoughts or questions, or you can simply find and speak with my Assistant, too." She smiled at the Commander, emphasizing the word assistant as she spoke slightly louder there.
On cue, another female voice rang out from somewhere else within the museum. "Partner!" She yelled out, before the new voice returned to silence. This response seemed to amuse the asari, as she laughed for a moment and shook her head.
"That's Monica. Feel free to ask her or me anything. And thank you for taking the time to learn about this wonderful town." With that, she walked away into the other room she'd pointed to. She paused in the doorway, however, and looked over her shoulder, "Oh, and please, do not turn off any of my lights. Thanks." And with that, she was gone.
The three of them watched her leave before they turned to one another.
"So, what's the plan, Shepard?" Ashley asked.
Shepard looked around at all of the displays, "There's a lot of information here. We can split up and look over what the museum has to offer, but make the legends and myths around the town your primary focus. Especially surrounding the so-called Cauldron Lake."
"You got it, Skipper."
"Of course, Lola."
Shepard smiled and nodded, "Good. We can go over everything we've learned later."
N7 James Vega wandered off toward the musical section of display, both surprised by the sheer amount of music and the fact that they were in several different 'ancient' formats.
There was an old-school jukebox filled with options, a record player with a shelf of records filled nearby, a CD rack and CD Player close by, and, of course, a more modern digital display which could be interacted with via an omni-tool. He saw many different plaques and displays near the music and music players that gave various pieces of information, too.
Shrugging to himself, he walked over to the old record player first.
There were dozens, maybe even over a hundred records of music on the shelf nearby, with one record already sitting in the record player, spinning. The needle had slide off of the black disk, signaling the end of whatever was playing, while a plaque sat nearby explaining the record player, and, apparently, the disk that was already in it.
He read the inscription to himself.
Anderson Brothers' Record Player
Owned by the late Anderson Brothers, this record player was custom made here in Bright Falls per their order back in the nineteen-hundreds. It has been maintained through the years perfectly, and continues to function even to this day. Within is what is considered one of the best songs they've written, titled "The Poet and the Muse". The song tells one of the most infamous legends of Bright Falls, for one Thomas Zane.
James read the text, his gaze focusing on the last sentence. Thomas Zane and the legend of Bright Falls? That was certainly something interesting. He'd have to look into that.
Taking a step back, he turned toward the CD player and the shelf of disks. There were several musical CDs, with the occasional recorded podcasts and audiobooks. One band featured grabbed his attention, named Starset. An odd name.
He looked over the albums and found a plaque for the band near their music.
Starset
An American-based rock band formed and famous from the early twenty-first century. In the middle of their height in popularity, the band took a vacation to Bright Falls to get away from the fame for a time. While vacationing, the lead vocalist went missing for two weeks, causing a large manhunt for the man, before he was found, unharmed. Upon resurfacing, the band immediately left Bright Falls and produced a number of songs in record time. It is rumored that the lead vocalist wrote several of the songs while he was missing.
[More information needed. Investigation pending.]
That was definitely odd, and weird. Was Lesini doing her 'research' on this band? And why? Were there some connections with them to the mysteries and legends here? Nothing made much sense, but James did have a special place in his heart for rock music. He had several ideas and interesting things to note, so he might as well check this out. To satisfy his curiosity, and to see how good this band was, James grabbed one of the disks, one that was specifically marked as 'important evidence', and played one of the songs.
It was titled: Unbecoming.
"I lost myself into the night
And I flew higher,
Than I had ever.
But I still felt small.
I clipped my wings and fell from flight
To open water
And floated farther
Away from myself.
"And I swam in the wakes of imposters
Just to feel what it's like to pretend.
There no dreams in the waves, only monsters,
And the monsters are my only friends.
"They're all that I was
And never could be.
"Eyes in the dead still water
Tried but it pushed back harder.
Cauterized and atrophied.
This is my unbecoming.
Knives in the backs of martyrs,
Lives in the burning fodder.
Cauterized and atrophied.
This is my unbecoming.
James continued listening to the song, unable to take the smile off of his face as he enjoyed the music. It was certainly not bad, in fact it was actually pretty good. Though the symbolism was surely running rampant, here, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Rather than continue attempting to analyze the song, James calmed his thoughts and listened to the Rock music.
'After this, I'll go find Ceniza…' He told himself, before losing himself in the music once more.
Ashley Williams, humanity's newest Spectre, decided to test her luck in the library, surrounding herself in hundreds, if not thousands of books. Oddly enough, some of them were kept individually within several shoeboxes, which confused Ashley to no end. Looking at a mounted plaque on the wall, she read a warning.
'When you are finished, put EVERYTHING back where you found them! Especially the works from the shoeboxes. If you do not, you WILL be prosecuted accordingly!'
Ashley narrowed her eyes at the sign, but didn't say anything. Instead, she walked around the bookshelves as she browsed what there was, looking for history books or something of a similar nature. Eventually, she discovered there wasn't really anything like this, so she looked back over what she'd seen already to look for anything useful. Her eyes eventually set on a seemingly ordinary shoebox.
There was a name on the shoebox, written in marker. It was inscribed with 'T. Zane.'
Reaching inside gently, Ashley grabbed a single piece of paper. It was a poem. A poem? A single box on the shelf for only a poem? And who was T. Zane?
Activating her omni-tool, Ashley searched the extranet for a 'T. Zane', only to find zero leads, especially once she added 'poem' to it. However, after searching 'Bright Falls', she found a few odd pieces of information.
According to several conspiracy sites, T. Zane was short for Thomas Zane. Apparently, the man was a famous poet from Bright Falls in the late twentieth century. He was said to be one of the best poets of all time, but also a lover of diving. According to these extranet sites, Thomas Zane had a girlfriend, or wife in some cases, who went insane… or she went missing, only for a doppelganger to take her place… yeah, this was weird. From there, apparently, he physically cut her heart out, before using some form of magic to write himself and his lover out of existence…
'Yeah, like this was helpful and believable…' She thought to herself incredulously. Though, to be fair, she WAS looking at non-credible sites.
She finally decided to read the poem in her hand. It was of a short length, and the imagery made her mind wonder what the meaning behind it could be.
For he did not know,
That beyond the lake he called home
There laid a deeper, and darker ocean green
Where waves are both wilder and more serene.
To its ports I've been,
To its ports I've been.
An odd poem, this certainly was. Ashley starred at the hand-written nature of the poem, the handwritten appearing slightly scratched and slanted, indicating a quick transcription. It was as if written in one take, without any sort of corrections or edits after the fact. Was he in a rush to write this poem?
Ashley shrugged and continued looking around, attempting to find something that may be important to Shepard's so-called investigation.
That's when a voice called over her shoulder, "Oh, are you interested in his works, too?"
Caught off-guard by the sudden voice, Ashley turned around to find its owner. Standing before the Spectre was a young woman with the most dazzling emerald green eyes she'd ever seen, with long, flowing brown hair. She wore a heavy, light brown coat and a pair of jeans. The unknown woman's gentle smile captivated Ashley for a moment as she leaned forward slightly, with her hands behind her back.
"Ahaha, sorry for spooking you like that." She apologized with a kind smile. As Ashley relaxed, the woman extended her hand after standing straight up. Ashley soon took it and shook hands with the unknown woman, "Hi, I'm Monica." She introduced herself, "Lesini's partner." She emphasized.
"The name's Ashley. Nice to meet you Monica."
"Ahaha, yes, same to you." She tilted her head as she saw the paper in the Spectre's hands, "So, what did you think about Zane's poem?"
Ashley's gaze turned down toward the page before she shrugged, "It's certainly short, but I know almost nothing about the author, so I wouldn't know where to start to analyze it."
"Ohh~ Are you a fan of poetry, too?"
At that, Ashley smiled lightly and nodded, "I'm a fan of Alfred Tenyson's works."
Monika chuckled and nodded at that, "He does have quite the way with words, right?" She said, "Do you write any poetry?"
Deciding the innocent girl before her was simply making conversation, Ashley shook her head honestly, "I Iove reading poetry, but I'm not so good at writing my own. You?"
"Yes, I love poetry. It's such a lovely way to share and describe my feelings, though I haven't had much time recently to make any new ones." She told her.
"So, what do you do around here as her assi-partner?" Ashley corrected herself.
"Ahaha, just about a bit of everything, I suppose." Monica tells her, "Lesini is normally so focused on her research that she hardly has any time to do anything else. Sometimes, I worry that she'll stop eating and lock herself in that office of hers."
"What kind of research does she do?" Ashley asked.
"Oh, mostly about the history and legends of Bright Falls and Cauldron Lake. There's so much history surrounding this place, and so much of it is unknown to us. Or, at least, it's hard to understand. For instance, she's recently found evidence that one of the most famous bands from Bright Falls may have also written and sung songs under a secondary name." She tells her.
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's all so fascinating. Especially if you're aware of the more supernatural aspects of this town's history." Monica told her, "There's a myth that the veil between dimensions is super thin here, leading to supernatural events. Isn't it funny how fiction and nonfiction seem to blend so easily with both myths and poetry?"
Ashley shrugged, thinking it over for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, I guess it is quite funny… So, you'd say you're quite familiar with these myths and legends?"
"Of course. Why, do you have any questions?" Monica asked, back to her earlier pose as she leaned slightly forward with a curious smile.
Shepard immediately made her way to Lesini's office, following after the intriguing asari. As soon as she entered the doorway to her office, her mind felt like bursting at the sheer volume of information presented throughout the room.
The office had physical papers scattered across the multiple tables, a few even spilling onto the ground. The walls had several bulletin boards which allowed even more papers to be stuck to the walls. In the back was a large desk with a holo-terminal, where Lesini was currently typing something. However, what caught Shepard's attention were the boards on the walls.
One such wall had pages of what appeared to be sheet music and lyrics, with two large, bolded titles pinned to the wall. One read "Old Gods of Asgard" while the other read "Poets of the Fall", with several strings and marks connecting the two and the various pieces of music. There were even a few physically printed out pictures of what must have been band members for each band.
It reminded Shepard of a conspiracy theorist's board, attempting to find connections between things that shouldn't or didn't appear to be connected.
Another such area had a large title with a subtitle, reading "Cauldron Lake" and "Touched by the Darkness." This board had many names and titles underneath the main title, with several news articles, pages of lyrics or poetry or the like, and photos. Some of the names listed and scattered around the board were 'Old Gods of Asgard', 'T. Zane', 'Starset', 'J. Fayden?', 'Poets of the Fall?', 'D. Kidd.', 'A. Wake' and many more, but the last of which was bolded and highlighted, giving it seemingly more importance than the others.
As Shepard was looking over the boards, Lesini cleared her throat, catching the Spectre's attention.
"Commander, I assume you have some questions… Does my research interest you?" She asked innocently, nodding toward the wall she'd just been examining.
Shepard nodded, "It does, I've been quite curious about some of the legends surrounding this town. I heard you'd be the best person to talk to about it."
"Of course, ask away."
"Well, first, I'd like to hear more on how you got here. It's not unheard of for other species to live here on Earth, but ever since the Reaper War ended, most have stuck to either the Citadel or their own worlds." Shepard asked, curious to hear her story.
"Well, I was part of a large force during invasion day on Earth during the end of the Reaper War." She informed Shepard, "Have you heard of Operation Yakshi?"
Shepard shook her head, "It sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't remember any specific information about it."
Lesini chuckled lightly, "I'd imagine your focus was elsewhere on invasion day. Well, when the fleets invaded the Sol System, Operation Yakshi was designed to split the Reaper forces on Earth. A large force of huntresses and Justicars would land in several designated drop points on the North American Continent, attempting to rescue civilians on the ground and divert Reaper forces from congregating in Europe." She informed her, "My task force was paired with Justicar Marniana, and our target was actually Bright Falls. Intel had shown that large clusters of civilians were hiding out here in the remote mountains."
"Interesting, how large was your force?"
"Originally, there were just over a hundred of us, along with the Justicar. Almost a third of us died before reaching the ground, but those were still better odds than I heard London was." Lesini remembered with a frown, "For some reason, the Reaper presence was exceptionally high around Bright Falls, as if looking for something. Anyway, I was the only surviving member of my entire team, and after helping the survivors down here, I…" She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I decided to stay here, my work is far from over with everything else going on around here."
"Hold up, you were the only survivor of your team?"
Lesini cringed but nodded sadly, "Yes… they'd…" She hesitated to tell the story but did finally speak, though Shepard could almost sense something wrong, "Most of them died slowly as we tried to help the civilians, but the rest of us prepared for a final push against them, attempting to take a prisoner camp by the edge of Cauldron Lake. Something… something went wrong and they were all killed, all except for me…"
"I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sure you were close with many of your squadmates."
"I was… but I'm over it now. I have a new family, and new people and problems to worry about… oh, I'm sorry, you're here to talk about the legends of this town though, right?"
Shepard didn't like how she tried to change the subject, but let it go, and nodded, "Yes, I was wondering specifically about the legend of a writer here in Bright Falls. I'd heard there's a myth from the twenty-first century…"
At the mention of those details, the asari's eyes lit up like Christman, "Oh, oh! You're talking about the legendary Alan Wake!" She said, a smile creeping up her face, "His works are some of my favorites. Did you know he worked on the hit supernatural TV series 'Night Springs'?"
"Right… I'd like to know his story."
"Of course, I'd love to regale you with his tale." Lesini said with a smile, "Now, I can give you the synopsis, but if I were you, I'd read his final manuscript." She said, turning around and searching for something on her desk before finding it. She held up a hardback paper book with a simple title inscribed on the front. It was titled 'Departure'. Slowly, she extended her hands toward Shepard, giving the novel to the Spectre.
"Departure?"
"Yes, it contains his story of what happened in the final week or so before he vanished. It's a good read, and keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Are you an avid reader?"
"When I have time, I like to read a bit… I could probably read most of this in a few hours." Shepard remarked, examining the thickness of the book.
"Excellent, this would contain almost anything you'd want to know about him and his 'myth'." She replied, emphasizing the final word, as if she were only using the term to humor her.
Shepard's gaze darted to the bound stack of paper in her hand, not used to such weight in a document considering her upbringing. Would this really answer any and all of her questions? She doubted it, but considered the possibility. "You say this was written in the 21st century by this man, Alan Wake?"
Lesini nodded, "Yes, Commander. His final written work…"
James followed the dual female voices in the distance as he navigated through the maze called the Museum of Light. After only searching for a moment, he finally found his Ceniza, along with another human woman.
"Can I hear?" He heard Ashley say.
"It's embarrassing… and I haven't played in a long time…" The other woman, presumably Monica, said.
"C'mon, I'm sure you're fine."
"…Alright, fine…"
As he rounded the corner, he heard the sounds of a piano being played, the melody unknown to the N7. He saw an unknown brown-haired woman playing the piano as Ashley watched her, standing right nearby. Said piano looked dusty and unused, appeared as if it was merely decoration up until this point.
James came to stand by Ashley, preparing to speak… until he was interrupted by the unknown woman when she began… singing?
"Every day, I imagine a future where I can be with you…"
She began, captivating the N7 Marine with her voice. She must have had Ashley captivated, too, as she didn't dare interrupt her. He'd never heard such a song before, but the lyrics almost felt genuine. Did she, perhaps, write this?
"In my hand, is a pen that will write a poem of me and you…
The ink flows down into a dark puddle,
Just move your hand, write your way into his heart.
But in this world of infinite choices…
What will it take just to find that special day?
…what will it take… just to find… that special day?"
She played the piano a bit longer, before her gracefully gliding fingers halted, stalling out and falling onto the ancient piano's keys. The immediate sound ended the song as the woman froze up, stiff as can be.
"Hey, are you alright?" Ashley asked, putting a hand on Monica's shoulder. She turned to look at the two of them, tears appearing at the edges of her eyes.
Monika gave a weak smile, before lightly nodding, "I-… I'm fine, just emotional is all… Haha… sorry, it's just… that song brings back so many memories… Sorry for ruining the mood…"
"It's fine." James said, finally speaking for the first time since coming across the two of them, "So, did you write that one?" He asked softly.
Monica nodded, "Y-yeah… but that was a long, long time ago. I'm not the same person I was back then. Everything's different, everything's changed… You must be James, right?"
Vega nodded, "Yeah, that's me."
"Spectre Ashley's spoken highly of you… She figured out I knew how to play, and asked me to show her a bit of my skills at piano…"
"I didn't realize you wrote a song. It sounded beautiful."
"It did." James agreed.
"Thanks." She said with a warm smile, the sadness beginning to disappear, "I wrote it for my first true love. Or, at least, who I thought was my first true love…" It went unspoken that she was rejected, which neither of the two soldiers chose to state or ask her, "But I'm fine now…" She shook her head, "Anyway, since you're both here, do either of you have any questions I could answer for you?"
Both Spectre and N7 looked at one another and had a silent agreement. Together, the two of them began asking questions to the only other person in the building who knew about the myths and legends surrounding the town. Hopefully, they'd learn something interesting that could help Shepard's investigation, or shed light on the odd behavior and atmosphere that sits upon this strange, rural town.
After the conversation finished with Lesini, Commander Shepard smiled and nodded at the odd Asari, "Thank you for your time, Miss N'Sinna. We must, however, get going." She said as she led the Asari out of her office into the main room, where both Ashley and James stood, talking to one another until they arrived. Apparently, they'd finished their investigations.
The Lady of the Light nodded, "Of course, Commander Shepard. It has been an honor to speak and guide you, today. If you have any further questions and concerns, feel free to contact me." She assured her.
Shepard nodded, waving the book around in her hand, "Alright guys, let's go."
"Aye aye, skipper."
"Yes, Ma'am."
With that, the Commander left the Museum of Light, filled with curiosity burning within her, focusing on the manuscript held in her right hand. It was titled "Departure", and was written by a man named Alan Wake, someone she'd heard only about through hearsay and rumor thus far.
She had several hours until she would begin investigating Cauldron Lake and the scene of the attack, and looked forward to reading something by this odd legendary man. Perhaps it would hold some answers pertaining to the strange rumors and legends of Bright Falls. The one thing she was certain about, however, was that something was happening. She didn't know where, or why, or what, but she could feel it deep within her, a subliminal warning from her gut.
The Spectre had no idea what was going to happen tonight, nor the chain of events that would occur as a result.
As her guests left the museum, Lesini let out a sigh of relief as she turned back to her research. She looked over sheets of lyrics, pages of her theories, and so much more, before deciding that Shepard's visit was bothering her far too much to be normal, something was very, very wrong.
Monica joined her in her office and looked at Lesini with a combination of confusion and unease. It seems like she, too, felt something odd. "I feel like I'm forgetting something…"
Looking over her research for another moment, a sudden thought suddenly resurfaced within her mind, reappearing for the first time since the memory's conception. Almost in a panicked rush, Lesini N'Sinna threw papers and small, fragile books out of her way as she searched frantically. "What's wrong?" Her assistant/ partner asked. However, she ignored her as her mind was buzzing insistently. She prayed she was wrong… praying to her goddess that her memory was flawed… unfortunately, ever since coming to this place during the Reaper War, her memory has been nothing but flawless. A true curse, she thought.
Finally, after searching, she finally found what she'd been looking for: a single piece of paper, seemingly unremarkable in every way. In fact, one could easily confuse it for simply another page of her theories, or a page from one of her books, but no… Instead, unlike everything else in the room, this piece of parchment contained power.
Monica froze in shock as she saw what her dear friend held in her hands. "I-Is that…" She paused, to which Lesini simply nodded.
The parchment contained words inscribed by an old human instrument called the typewriter, and did not contain much. However, simply holding and focusing on the paper resulted in a shadowed image of a man in her mind, easily visualizing the author for her within her subconscious. It wasn't simply a piece of paper or parchment, though. No, it was a page from an unknown manuscript, written by a long-dead author… or someone who should be long-dead.
Her frantic eyes darted down to the paper, rereading the page for what must have been the hundredth time, though it'd certainly been a while since she'd last read it. After all, for some unforeseen reason, she'd completely forgotten about this page, despite its obvious importance… Perhaps this, too, was the work of the page's author, though the power behind it clearly laid on another page.
'With that, the Commander left the Museum of Light, filled with curiosity burning within her, focusing on the manuscript held in her right hand. It was titled "Departure", and was written by a man named Alan Wake, someone she'd heard only about through hearsay and rumor thus far.
She had several hours until she would begin investigating Cauldron Lake and the scene of the attack, and looked forward to reading something by this odd legendary man. Perhaps it would hold some answers pertaining to the strange rumors and legends of Bright Falls. The one thing she was certain about, however, was that something was happening. She didn't know where, or why, or what, but she could feel it deep within her, a subliminal warning from her gut.
The Spectre had no idea what was going to happen tonight, nor the chain of events that would occur as a result.'
Alan Wake's Reference Pages:
The Nature of Fiction and Reality
Reality and fiction are more closely connected and related than most people believe. Under certain conditions, it can be reshaped into almost anything. When these sorts of changes occur, almost nobody notices it, because once the change occurs there is nothing to remember. Only those directly affected or touched by the forces of darkness and powers that change reality actually notice these things. Many are often driven mad by the reality shifts and powers of darkness; some cope with it. I use this to my advantage.
I am one of those who have been touched by these powers, and one of the few who know how to wield the power to rewrite reality. To change it, you have to nudge it in the right direction. Your version of reality is already there, it wants to come true. You just have to help it achieve its potential. The true difficulty is in the details. Using some of my work, I can use the details to match reality to the page. When this happens, when the absolute is reached, reality will shift, overriding the existing course of events.
"The lie, no matter how outrageous, is now the truth."
A/N:
Another chapter finally out for this crossover. I have big plans for this story, in my head at least, and I hope to continue slowly working on this, as well as my other story/stories. Hope you enjoyed it.
There were several hints and/or red herrings within this chapter, and not all is as it seems... or is it?! Anyway, I do plan to have a slight crossover with one or two other videogames/works of fiction, so if you care about it and this story, feel free to leave a suggestion for a videogame and character that you would like to see here, possibly.
As a slight hint, 'D. Kidd' is an OC who may or may not have been involved in events at Bright Falls between Mass Effect and Alan Wake, bringing other things works of fiction to life (more will be explained/alluded to later on). Maybe he brought someone you care about to life, too... The only rules are that the character is human/human-like/human-ish, and that they aren't some overpowered character. (Won't accept someone like Superman) Who knows, maybe if they're good enough, they'd tag along for part of the adventure...
Anyway, this story isn't my highest priority, as most of my focus is on The Pinnacle of Evolution, but I figured I'd finally update this one with what I've been slowly doing with it. Hope it was half decent. Thanks for reading.
-swrWriter