Chapter 23
"Odd Encounter"
Ah...
I'm... here again.
I am...
Familiar with this.
Too familiar with this...
Annoyingly enough.
I expect that hideous eyeball to reveal itself from the murky shadows any moment now... that obnoxious thing that prattles on relentlessly about its pitiful circumstances like a broken record...
The thought of such a thing desperately attempting to scare me almost makes me chuckle... If it weren't for the fact that whatever that thing was... A god it calls itself... was indeed something that could terrify even me.
How ridiculous.
A being unknown to me... A miserable one at that... And I fear it?
Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous...
...
...
...
How... odd.
...
...
...
Where... did it go?
It does not appear to be anywhere nearby...
Wherever 'here' is...
I could hardly tell. This murky blankness is as unending as I remember it...
Everything is so familiar...
And yet...
It all remains so odd.
Frustratingly odd...
...
...
...
Ah.
I see now.
...
It is silent.
...
Deafeningly silent.
There are none of those wretched screeches from beyond the murk...
Or the desperate cries of help from the tormented spirits...
Or the irritating whispers from malignant souls lurking within this unending space...
Yes. There is simply nothing.
This is...
Truly odd.
...
This silence, in its tranquility, unsettles me.
Despite there being none of those abhorrent noises or that overly sized eye... god... being... whatever...
None of this seems right.
...
This dreadful feeling of not being able to comprehend when this nightmare started... nor comprehend when the end is to come.
It's maddening.
I've been here for so long before... practically rotting away in the shadows until it was all that I know of. This place should have been anything but unnerving to me at this point.
So, why am I so... afraid?
Why?
Why do I fear this nothingness?
I growl in frustration. I want to at least hear something to send this nervousness away, even if it's from myself.
Still nothing.
No rumble from within my core...
No rattling on my hull...
Absolute nothing.
Absolutely maddening nothing.
This stagnancy...
Make it stop.
Make it stop.
Make. It. Stop!
...
I pause, my little tantrum interrupted by a sudden realization... The sneaky thought had been slithering in my mind for a bit, but it's only now that it finally decided to rear its head.
Since when did I dislike the darkness so much?
Of course, this deafeningly silent constance is something I'm not quite comfortable with. I'd rather the darkness be a roaring storm than a lazy breeze. The shadows I govern are aggressive and powerful... or were, rather. Nevertheless, shadows remain shadows...
I should be welcoming this.
And yet here I am... wishing to be anywhere else than here.
Wishing for a land painted by anything more than murk and shadow.
Wishing for the now familiar caress of wind on my hull...
The lazy dancing of grass as the breeze carried with it songs from distant lands...
The endless expanse of blue that was the sky that transformed into the autumn colors of red, yellow, and orange... and eventually pardoned itself for a night brimming with stars...
...
I shouldn't be tolerating such thoughts...
I am destruction and darkness incarnate.
How dare I dream of such peacefulness.
How unbecoming of me...
Thud.
I feel something hit against my hull, sparing myself from further chastising.
It doesn't hurt. It felt similar to whenever one of those plumbers would pat me from the back... but a small bit harder.
Thud.
It's uncomfortable... in a peculiarly comfortable way...
The stagnancy has at least been muted by this development...
THUD.
Or deafened by it, rather...
This hitting sensation is getting harder and harder. It's starting to rattle my hull.
Cease this.
THUD.
...
This is not part of the dream, is it?
Just what in all of this putrid world is going-
CRAAASHHHH!
...(3rd POV)...
"M-Mario... have we reached the top yet?"
"Not yet, Luigi. There's still... a whole lot more to go..."
On the face of a rocky cliff, several hundred feet above the ground, our heroes scaled up the rather challenging slope. For a while now, they've fought gravity by clinging on for dear life to ledges and cracks between the rocks. Luigi, the poor exhausted plumber, pressed himself against the cliff face, making sure the heavy-looking load strapped to his back wasn't going to fall off along with him.
"But... we've been climbing for HOURS. At least help me carry Scuro," the plumber in green pointed to the load strapped behind him, a sleeping Dark Star within the sack.
"Oh, save your breath, Luigi. You've done harder things in your life before. You can switch carrying Scuro with Mario once we get to that next ledge over there," Starlow pointed above them towards a solid rock formation that stuck out from the cliff face more prominently than the others. "It'll be a lot trickier to do something like that right here, right now," she said pointedly. "Now come on, let's continue on our way up."
Exasperated, Luigi sighed heavily. "Easy for you to say... You're barely carrying anything. And you can FLY!"
Starlow huffed. "Hey, I'd be helping if I could too, you know! I don't have much on the way of carrying things seeing as I don't have any hands. We couldn't wake Scuro up again either. We already tried that several times. And we couldn't have waited until he wakes up. What if he just up and stayed asleep again for another few days?"
"Well, you could take us up there!"
"It's fine with just you and Mario, but with Scuro here, it's a different story..."
"You could fly us up one by one-"
"We're almost there, just move!"
Mario sighed, deciding it was time to break the bickering up before it escalated further. "Okay, okay, you two. Why don't we camp up where Starlow said we could switch our packs and rest for a bit. We could still make it to the top before night falls if we took a half-hour break."
"Is it even safe to stay up there for that long?" Starlow wondered casually.
Mario shrugged, or at least did something close to it as he latched on to the next ledge. "It's better than staying stuck on such a steep face like this..."
Starlow hummed in agreement.
Luigi was further down than Mario thanks to the cumbersome load, and it seemed like he was lagging further behind too. Taking notice of this, Mario peeked down towards his brother. "Are you okay down there, Weegee?!"
Luigi panted as he gripped the rocks tighter. "I'm okay! Just *pant* catching my bre- AWAWAWAWA!"
Both the ledges Luigi held on to suddenly broke off. The startled plumber flapped around in panic before latching on to another ledge. His grip had gotten tremendously tighter. Everyone else worried he'd crush the rocks under his grip and slip up again.
"I-I'm fine! I'm fine! I'm not dead! Yup! I'm still alive, hahaha!" Luigi spluttered.
Mario unclenched himself from shock and sighed in relief. "By Grambi, Luigi. Be more careful!"
Starlow would've been freed from the shock too if she hadn't noticed Scuro slipping out of the sack Luigi had, which must've loosened up during the panicked plumber's flailing. "Luigi! The sack! Scuro is-"
Luigi only had time to look over his shoulder as the Dark Star tumbled out of his restraints.
"Ah."
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The 3 of them watched wide-eyed as Scuro slammed into the rocks below them. Every time he bashed off a painful looking piece of rock felt like a sucker punch to the gut.
Crash...
A distant crash from the cloud of dust concluded the onslaught. None of them could get a clear view of the Dark Star but they sure as Underwhere hoped and prayed he wasn't too hurt... or aware of what had happened unless they wanted a Boss battle midway through scaling a cliffside.
"LUIGI, I JUST TOLD YOU TO BE MORE CAREFUL!" Mario screeched, his eyes practically popping off his skull.
"SCURO, I'M SORRYYYYY!"
...Scuro's POV...
CRAAASHHHH!
I jolted awake from the loud noise... And the disorienting ruckus it caused.
The entirety of my hull felt sore.
I looked around and saw only dust clouds at first. The dust had already started to settle at the least, so I didn't have to wait long before I could see more of my surroundings.
It appeared that I'm on the side of a cliff... A very steep one at that. An impressive collection of rocks, each ranging from the size of a fist to the size of a house, all stacked on top of one another. The cliffs spanned out far towards the horizon on either side, making something of a natural and intimidating wall. On the foot of it, a meadow— one that was lush and as green as it could get, stretched out far towards the horizon.
We were down there earlier, I recall casually, down in the seemingly endless stretch of plains devoid of any malevolent life. Down there were fields of grass as far as the eye could see. It was beautiful in its vastness, yet as time went on, marching through the same old plains had become dull. The sheer lack of action had lulled me to sleep, and deducing that I had no further use on the duration of the journey, I allowed myself to fall into unconsciousness. Other than the monotony, the fact that I still haven't completely recuperated since that encounter with that skeletal lizard didn't help me stay active either.
I suddenly grew more conscious of the crack that formed on my hull from being slammed into the ground so hard. I couldn't see it for myself, but I could sense it thanks to the updraft from the cliffside blowing into it.
I also understood that there's a good chance I'm leaking dark energy through it. Fortunately, it should only be leaking at an unimpressive pace. What's less fortunate is that I doubt a mere bandaid could hold back anything as abstract as dark power.
I sighed mentally.
I would have been invincible had I still possessed the dark power. Well, I still indeed have it, but unlike before, it's not exactly being cooperative. I wouldn't be experiencing these nuisances, otherwise.
In fact, I highly doubted I would be going through any of this if I was still at full strength. This world would have already been consumed by shadows, forced to march into a future devoid of light and assimilated into nothingness. What I sought to achieve years prior would have been made true.
What feelings would I feel then?
Oddly enough, I felt disinterested about the idea. Even more so than I thought I should have...
No matter. Such trivialities can be acknowledged at a later time. Perhaps I'm simply too tired to be thinking straight.
What I should be mindful of was where the plumbers and star sprite were. They haven't left me behind, have they?
I scanned around me further until I looked up and my attention fell upon my traveling companions staring down at me in concern. Interestingly, they were at least a hundred feet above me. I also noticed chips and cracks on several ledges of the cliff face, as if someone had dropped a heavy object from the top. Looking down, I realized I was directly settled on a small crater.
...Those careless fools dropped me, didn't they?
No matter. I was still lacking in energy.
Pulling myself off the ground was harder than I imagined it to be. My body felt sluggish and heavy, as if a whole boulder were chained to my underside. It would have been a waste to expend this seemingly finite energy scolding imbeciles careless enough to drop a compromised vessel of dark energy.
"Scuro!" Mario called. "Are you alright?!"
"Yes," I lied reflexively.
I've already started to forget what it feels like to be at full power. Being at the mercy of physical limitations caused me to devolve from frustration into slight paranoia, even I'll admit that. I'm much more vulnerable than I once was. Matters that were once so trivial to me turned possibly life-threatening or crippling now. So, no. I wouldn't confidently say that I was alright.
I wouldn't admit it out loud, though. Not only would that be embarrassing, but I wouldn't want to worry- ahem. I wouldn't want to deal with more unnecessary attention.
"Are you hurt anywhere?!"
"I am not, as far as I am aware."
I groaned as I willed myself further off the ground and floated back towards them. "Continue your ascent. I require none of your assistance," I assured them. Whether it sounded aggressive or not wasn't something I particularly considered as I said it, but again, I'm still too tired to concern myself with it.
And so with the steep slope battling against us and the day ticking away, we continued scaling the cliffside without any more problems.
...is what I hoped to say.
No sooner than when I dismissed the group's concern did I feel an uncomfortable rumble from within my core.
Urk...
I felt something swell from deep inside me... like something slamming against my hull from the inside. The pain had started out dull and tolerable, but it only took mere moments before it became unbearable and crippling.
A large spike of pain coursed through my body, like a pulse.
I groaned in pain, and Starlow must've taken notice of it because she flew straight over to my side.
She was talking, maybe screaming, I couldn't tell. I didn't pay her much attention. It's not that I didn't want to, but also because I couldn't. Her voice sounded murky, like I was listening to someone having a conversation from another room while submerged in water. Everything was blurry too, with only the vaguely familiar shape of the star sprite in front me indicating that I was at least still afloat or conscious... although barely.
Another crippling pulse.
It felt like I was going to explode.
The world was turning dark again...
hehe...
hehaHaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
A laugh, one that sounded cold, malignant, and anything but pleasurable...
Unlike everything else, the laugh sounded awfully clear, as if something was gleefully taunting me from inside my head. It was distorted, constantly slipping in and out between a newly developed ringing in my head, and an interesting rattle akin to static.
That awful cackling... it sent shivers down my figurative spine and also made what little power I had left in me boil in anger. I realized what damned thing decided to show up after missing its dreamly meetings with me.
"You..." I managed to hiss out. I could barely hear my own words with all the distorted laughing.
The laughter only grew louder in response. Another pulse punched its way through my body. The shock almost blacked me out from the sheer amount of pain.
Another one of these pulses and I'd be comatose again...
Then, just as suddenly as it came, it stopped.
It all simply cut away. Everything went back to as normal as it could be. My vision slowly turned clear, and so did my hearing.
Starlow was still before me, panicked and screaming, calling my name among other incoherent babbling. Part of me expected her to start kicking me in panic. "Scuro! What in the world was that?!"
"That obnoxious... " I started before trailing off, debating whether to tell them of the dark god from my dreams. I've decided before that this was a personal issue. Part of me wanted to share it to them, before I get overwhelmed burdening myself believing I didn't need their help. Ultimately, I thought that if this being is affecting me even in the real world, then I might as well reveal its existence to my companions. Who knows? Maybe they're suffering from the same ill-mannered deity.
I sighed. "I will tell of it later."
"Later? But you- ugh," the star sprite groaned, rolling her eyes. She shook her body, much like someone shaking their head to calm themselves. "Alright... Alright, fine. We'll talk about it once we get to someplace safer."
Her face turned from an exasperated yet concerned frown into a stern one. "You're not gonna be flying. You're obviously not okay. Luigi will carry you again."
'And I should trust you all to carry me up again despite dropping me so carelessly?' I thought to myself. Well, in defense of her proposition, there's no telling when that crippling headache will return again. I would just slow everyone down if I were to lose consciousness mid-flight. They'd all have to clamber down the cliff to retrieve me, and we'd waste precious time. That, and the ringing in my head hasn't completely subsided. I felt even groggier than before, and it still felt like I was flying through syrup.
"Fine," I agreed reluctantly. "But only until we reach the top."
Starlow nodded and lead me back to the two plumbers, keeping her eyes on me until we reached them. Both brothers looked concerned if not a little bit spooked.
"Hey, you alright, Scuro?" asked Mario. It was a dumb question, but I acknowledge his courtesy.
"For now," I answered. Starlow helped me slip back into the sack I had fallen out from.
"Don't worry, I'll be more careful," said the green plumber as he tightened up the sack, making sure I wasn't going to fall off again.
'You better be...'
The rest of the climb went by without a word save for the occasional verbal call-outs, checking if I'm still alright or if anyone needed any help. For most of the trip, I closed my eyes, thinking it could help with the slight dizziness. Even still, I could feel Starlow's eyes on me, scanning me for any little injuries or new developments. The attention was almost suffocating, if it wasn't just a little bit sweet.
How curious. For them to be so concerned over something that wanted to kill them and plunge their homes into oblivion at some point...
No matter. More pointless musings from a tired mind and a defective body. If they wanted to express their worries toward me and think of me as their own, then so be it. It's been established before that they were more than just acquaintances to me now, after all. Still, I can't help but feel... warmed up inside. It felt as if a fire was being stoked inside my body. Unlike the painful cold, this particular feeling made me content and maybe a little bit accomplished. It wasn't the first time I felt it around these careless fools, but... it's still a welcome feeling.
From within the sack, I felt Luigi slip off a ledge again, followed by cursing and scolding, and finally disgruntled muttering. It's a wonder how these bumbling idiots managed to save the world several times over...
If I didn't know any better, I'd start to think these fools were trying to kill me or damage me further.
Speaking of which.
It was probably just me and the recent attack on my head, but the crack on my hull felt... bigger.
Meanwhile, several hours later back at Dimble Woods, night had already fallen.
For a relatively powerless citizen of Toad Town such as Dr. Toadley to be wandering in a zombie-infested Dimble Woods at this time... It basically meant assured death.
...Or an incredibly low survival rate, if Dr. Toadley was to be optimistic.
The night had blanketed the forests in a darkness the doctor didn't expect. It all happened so fast that by the time the sun had kissed the horizon, Dr. Toadley only had a few minutes to decide whether to venture on in search of the Miracle Cure or to run back to the safety of his clinic in Toad Town. Unfortunately for him, time had run out just before he finally decided he wanted to go back home and continue the search on another day.
The doctor cursed himself as he stumbled around the pitch black darkness, constantly tripping over roots and getting paranoid whenever he felt grass brush his legs. Even with his trusty Crystal Ball glowing like a torch held out in front of him, he barely saw anything he ran into. It was unnervingly dark, even more so than what he recalled from walking home at night from gathering rare medical herbs in the same forest several weeks ago.
By the minute, the doctor felt like he was going to go insane.
Now normally, the doctor was a calm and collected individual. Barely anything spooked him, especially when he had a Crystal Ball. A certain degree of clairvoyance definitely helped steel his nerves. It uncovered events before they even had a chance to scare him out of his wits. He always expected the unexpected.
This time, however, the Crystal Ball proved itself useless. Ever since he heard news of the Dark Star returning, it was constantly unable to provide definite answers.
'Am I astounded by how powerful this darkness is that it can blind even potent objects like my Crystal Ball? I certainly am,' he found himself thinking.
The creaking and cracking that echoed in the dark expanse didn't help Dr. Toadley feel any better either. More often than not, he'd hear creaking that sounded like it came from just a few feet away. The doctor was tempted to just break into a full sprint, but he at least had the capacity to stay rational. If he were to start running, he'd be making much more noise than necessary, and whatever was out there would be made aware of his whereabouts.
crack...
That sounded way too close, thought the doctor. Deactivating the Crystal Ball and tucking it under his robes, he decided he was much safer without any light. He didn't care that it had gotten even darker... it's not like the Crystal Ball was of any real help in illuminating his surroundings anyway. If any, the damned thing would just serve as a beacon for hungry monsters.
crack!
Another unnervingly close sound.
By now, the doctor was confident these weren't normal monsters roaming around. He knew of Treevils and how the tree-like creatures made similar sounds to the ones he's hearing now, but these ones sounded much larger. That, and he hasn't encountered any Treevils during the day. Those botanic beasts weren't exclusively nocturnal either. The doctor thought it was odd that the forests, once swarming with those particular monsters, felt like it never even had them in the first place with how empty it was.
'The Treevils were in hiding' was his only conclusion.
From what? The answer was as obvious as a thumb sticking out of a person's forehead.
creak...
crack...
snap!
The doctor stifled a grunt as he tripped over an exposed tree root and nearly fell. The root had snapped from him tripping over it, and it was a little too loud for the doctor's liking.
He didn't like how everything had quieted down either.
The doctor steadied himself, and stood as still as possible, holding his robes as close as he could so they didn't rustle against each other. He listened into the void intently, mindful of any creaks, cracks, or snaps from the trees near or far.
Nothing. Just the ominous rustle of leaves as a cold haunting breeze blew past.
Dr. Toadley was a smart man, and he knew better than to think it simply meant the trees had settled or that whatever monsters were out there decided to call it a night. No, he understood he had messed up REALLY bad.
He sensed multiple hollowed out eyes on him.
Run, doctor.
Dr. Toadley sprinted like never before, throwing all prior carefulness in the wind. He heard thundering from behind him and several crackling noises that sounded like tree trunks slamming into each other, tearing apart from the ground and running.
It had only been a minute since he started scrambling away, but he was already panting from exhaustion. If he could see, his vision would've looked blurry. His feet began to feel like jello, and his robes felt heavier than he remembered it to be. In his defense, he wasn't the kind to run, even as a kid. He had all the time in the world back then. Running was another triviality he'd rather not indulge himself in.
The doctor cursed himself for not being fit enough, now that running had become the only obvious solution to prolonging his life.
Multiple times, he tripped over unseen roots and rocks or whatever dotted the forest floor again and again. Each time he picked himself off the ground became harder and harder. At some point, he had discarded his beloved robe to unburden himself and hopefully make him go faster or last longer.
The cacophony of rumbling and thundering behind him never let up, and right now, primal fear was the only thing keeping him from stopping to regain his breath. He didn't want to die now. Not before he finds the Miracle Cure and even more so once he gets his hands on it.
He just had to live. He just had to get out of this damned forest.
The doctor had no clue where he was headed, but he didn't care. If he were to run dead straight, he'd eventually emerge into either the lake, the beach, or the plains. It didn't matter, as long as it got him away from these things chasing him.
For a brief moment, he saw a small flash of fire in the distance through what felt like several lines of trees. It was but a small orange dot, but in this blinding darkness, it felt like a singular star amidst an ocean of black.
It flashed again. Then again, this time lasting longer and never dying out. A beacon of hope.
With little hesitation, he gunned towards it.
His breathing had gotten rougher, and his lungs felt like they were burning, but he was suddenly washed with a new sense of vitality. He was on autopilot at this point, putting one foot in front of the other instinctually and barely breaking pace. The adrenaline had kicked in the moment he caught sight of the small fire, and he found himself running even faster.
Just then, the light simmered out, along with what vigor he had.
His pace stuttered in shock and he tripped over a rock.
His numbed mind barely processed that he had fallen over and was rolling down what felt like a hill.
The twigs and pebbles that bit into his skin on the way down barely registered. A particularly sharp twig snagged him and scratched him bad enough for him to feel something hot and wet oozing out of his skin.
He tumbled and tumbled, until he finally rested in what felt like a closed clearing, leaning into a large rock that stood tall in the middle of it.
He panted and panted, sweat trickling down his forehead. His breathing was ragged and heavy, only barely able to supply him with enough oxygen to keep him from passing out. He couldn't feel his legs, having been rendered numb from stress.
CRASH!
Something large landed right in front of him, kneeling. Dr. Toadley couldn't see it, but he knew it was right there, only a good few feet away from him.
Another crash alerted him of a second creature landing next to the first one. They both creaked and cracked as they stood up. Hollow growling and rumbling followed it.
The Macabre Trees trudged closer.
The doctor's Crystal Ball had rolled out of his clutches at some point in his fall, and it had landed between him and the undead trees. Sensing the doctor's instinctual thought of wanting to see in the dark, the Crystal Ball glowed in response to the unspoken command, illuminating the faces of two heavily malformed trees, each with two hollow sockets for eyes and a gaping hole on their trunks for mouths.
The tree closest to him creaked and contorted its face, almost like it was smiling.
"Has this... *pant*...been one... *pant*...really shitty night...? *pant*... Indeed... *pant* ...it has..." The doctor rasped out through pained breathing, the vision of the two undead trees gradually getting closer and closer.
The doctors closed his eyes, thinking exasperatedly how these repugnant trees should just be off with it and finished this quickly.
FWOOOSH!
Just then, a massive column of fire blasted one of the trees from behind, causing it to screech in both pain and annoyance. The blast had set its backside on fire, illuminating more of the forest.
The other tree looked towards its flailing companion in reflex and was greeted by a punch that shattered its face.
Dr. Toadley looked on in confusion, expecting death but instead receiving light. The doctor continued to watch, his vision getting less and less blurry as his eyes acclimated themselves to the new brightness.
The attacker was about half the size of either tree, but it was apparent that it could hold its own pretty well. In fact, the trees had a difficult time dealing with their opponent, slashing at nothing and getting whole chunks blown off of them. If the undead trees were aggressive, their attacker proved to be even more relentless. The trees roared as their feet were set ablaze, crashing down as their main method of locomotion snapped and buckled under them.
The attacker tackled them both at the same time, sending them quite a few ways back and spraying bark and twigs everywhere. The doctor could only see his savior's spiky back as it reared up and charged another breath of fire.
Dr. Toadley swore his eyebrows were going to singe off when the tree killer unleashed the devastating eruption. The trees, dazed from being tackled so hard, had little to no time to dodge the blast of fire. Their haunting wails carried throughout the forest as they were violently reduced to ash.
The tree killer's figure, illuminated by the fires around him, put his hands on his hips in a victorious pose that emanated power and arrogance.
"FWAHAHAHAHA! You stupid trees think you can get in my way? Serves you right for standing against me!" Bowser declared as he stood over the burning remains, his teeth reflecting the fire around him intimidatingly as he grinned.
Hey, hey! It's me again after *checks calendar* one... two... three... what the hell? Three years? Three years?!
But yes, yes! I'm back along with a new chapter for Into the Darkness! As to why I've been gone, I was crossing a road called "writing a long fanfiction for your first fanfiction." And then, halfway through crossing the road, I get hit by a truck going over the speed limit called "lack of motivation." The hit broke my legs and shattered my hips, and so I get sent to this hospital called "taking a break." The doctors and the nurses told me I didn't really have to stay for that long, and I could start writi- ahem, walking again even if I gave my knees 15 extra joints. And so I started crossing the same road, only for that godforsaken truck to slam me into the next 3 years.
Other than that, I'm also back because this whole quarantine thing going on gave me nothing better to do. Oh, that's a lie. I actually forgot about the story for a while and it's just now I remembered to write the next chapter. Now, be warned, I won't be updating very often, but I'll still try my best to get them out. I got college to deal with too, after all. So I won't be making promises this time, I hope you guys understand.
And of course, I couldn't forget about the reviews I've been getting on here. It's unbelievable how positive they've all been, and reading them all after being gone for so long is... it's pretty heartwarming!
So thank you! Thank you to all your support of Into the Darkness, my little forgotten child. Your support means a whole lot.
One last disclaimer. It's been a big fat minute since I last wrote on here, so there might be some formatting errors or grammatical inconsistencies throughout the next few chapters. That's all.
Read on, folks. And you all stay safe out there, okay?
See you in the next chapter!