If there was one thing I never liked about 'The Darkness' in Don't Starve (aside from the numerous times it killed me) it was that level's lack of personality. Other than being eternal night and having cool lights dotting the landscape, it was more or less a normal world. A bit anticlimactic in my opinion. I'm planning to add a bit more flavor to the mix in this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters

They say that when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares right back.

That cheerful thought slipped through Wilson's mind as his eyes struggled to peer into the impermeable wall of darkness that lay just outside their ring of campfires. At first he'd merely suspected that they'd arrived in this new world in the dead of night by mere coincidence. After several hours of waiting, he was beginning to understand that this wasn't the case. While the group had patiently sat back, keeping their sources of light burning with whatever scraps of wood they could find, the shadows hadn't dissipated in the slightest.

Put simply, he no longer believed morning was coming.

It was the perfect defense really. In a world of eternal night, they had no way of making steady progress. Any materials they gathered would be repurposed to making torches. They'd be working on a clock to ensure that their source of light didn't go out, and he was under no illusions that they'd be able to move forwards in the dark. That… thing… was no doubt waiting for them just out of sight. Wilson might have been able to keep it at bay once, but that had felt more like the retreat of a surprised attacker rather than an actual victory on his part. Now that it knew he could fight back, he wasn't at all sure that he'd be able to face it a second time.

The scientist let out a weary sigh. Where had this feeling of defeatism come from? He'd just taken down a spider the size of a small house. Who was to say that the beast in the dark would fare any different?

Even as he thought those words, he knew they weren't true. The creature out there just… felt different. That was the best way he could describe it. There was a sense of intelligence. None of Maxwell's other monsters had that. Oh, some of them were clever and all, but none of them felt smart. They were more like aggressive machines designed to kill off intruders. No matter how well you programmed them, they simply couldn't compare to a sentient mind.

Charlie was different. Wilson knew that for certain. He didn't know how he knew, only that it was a fact he couldn't deny. Part of him suspected it may be due to the shadows that had been invading his mind. Maybe they'd conveyed information about the malignant shade, or maybe he'd just recognized what it was to be hunted by something that could operate in a calculating manner.

That was the second problem of course. After his brief loss of control, all the old stigma about his weapon had come roaring back with a vengeance. It hadn't tried to force its way into his mind that time. It had instead magnified the emotions that had already been present to its advantage. He'd willingly let it take over, and that frightened him.

Even now, after having lived through the experience of having his mind reduced to a maelstrom of rage and anger, he still felt the dagger's pull. He wanted it but he didn't want it. He needed it but he couldn't stand it. He had to have it but he had to stay away. Just standing there, it was taking up most of his willpower to keep from leaping into the wall of darkness and sheathing himself in its embrace. He could feel how strongly this place resonated with the presence in his weapon, and it was making his life very, very, difficult.

He didn't turn as he heard the sound of footsteps drawing near from behind. Instead, he merely raised a hand to acknowledge that he heard the second party's approach.

"What do we have to work with?" He asked, relatively confident that they'd come to inform him of their current supply levels.

"Not a lot." Willow replied, drawing even with him and tapping the side of his head lightly. "You probably shouldn't be wasting your time staring out into the dark like that. It can't be healthy for your brain."

Though made in jest, her comment was somewhat closer to the truth than he'd have liked.

"How about a bit more detail?" He asked, trying to get back on the topic of their immediate progression. "If we want to make a plan, we'll need to know exactly how much supplies we've got at our disposal. I doubt that we'd just be able to wing it with this one."

The fire starter folded her arms, casting a cursory glance in the direction he was facing. Shaking her head at his statuesque staring contest with nothing, gave him the rundown.

"Enough tinder and grasses around to make about four torches. What's left on the fires should last about another half hour or so, but after that we'll be on our own. My lighter, as you may recall, is all out of fuel so that won't be helping all that much."

"That's probably fine." Wilson said absentmindedly. "I doubt the lighter would have provided enough light to keep all four of us safe."

"Maybe, but it would have been better than nothing." Willow replied. "According to Wendy, Abigail isn't going to be coming back any time soon. She can't feel her presence through the flower, and we don't exactly have all that much time to wait around for her to arrive, so that's another source of illumination gone."

"So do we have anything else?" Wilson questioned, growing mildly concerned by their sorry state. "Or is it time for me to start panicking yet? I feel like I'm really overdue for a panic attack at this point."

Instead of answering, the fire starter gestured back towards the pile of supplies they'd organized in the middle of the campfires. At first, Wilson wasn't at all sure what she was alluding towards. Other than the divining rod, her staff, and some basic materials they still had left, there wasn't much to see. Their food supplies were also dangerously low, but he'd worry about that after the immediate threat of-

Oh. Wait a minute.

Her staff.

He shot the woman a quizzical glance just to be sure, and she nodded in confirmation.

"I can use the staff you gave me to give off a fair bit of light." She explained. "I'm thinking that'll be what we have to use first. Only light the torches if we have no other choice. We'd go through things way too quickly otherwise."

"Can you keep something like that up?" The scientist questioned. He wasn't aware of the intricacies of using the jeweled rod, but he doubted it was as simple as thinking flames into existence. There had to be a price behind it. Nothing in Maxwell's homicidal playground came free, not even the stuff Wilson had invented himself.

She shrugged.

"Don't really have much of a choice now do we?" She offered, putting on a brave smile to show she wasn't concerned about the tax behind her tools. "Besides, if ever there was a time to put forth extra effort, I'd think now would be it. This is the home stretch, remember? One more world and we get to all go home!"

Her last words were punctuated with an almost girlish strained giggle. The kind of noise that didn't quite fall under into any one category, but was instead a mixture of excitement, trepidation, relief, and anxiety.

"Home…"

Wilson's voice was so soft he couldn't be sure it had been heard over the crackling of the fires behind him.

Home.

He hardly even remembered what that meant anymore. How long had it been since he'd first opened that blasted doorway? Months? Years? It felt like a lifetime ago. He wondered how things would have changed. Would someone have noticed his absence and cleared out his equipment? Would they have left it the way it was, expecting him to return to it at any time?

Home.

It had seemed like such a far off goal when they'd begun. Five worlds. A dream to chase through each of them. But now… now it wasn't a dream anymore, was it? This was a real, tangible reality. It was within their reach.

"Yeah." He agreed at last, offering his own shaky smile in response to hers. "Let's finish this."

No more words were spoken. No more were needed. Together, the fire starter and the scientist turned their back to the looming wall of shadows and headed back into their camp to make their final preparations.

It was time to go home.

Wolfgang didn't like this place. Not one bit. Admittedly, he hadn't liked most of the worlds they'd fought through, but this one in particular really didn't agree with him.

Put simply, it was dark!

There were times when the strongman knew he wasn't the bravest of people despite his incredible strength. Monsters frightened him. Spiders scared him. Heck, even the trees unnerved him a fair bit after their encounter with the living forest way back when.

More than any of that though, he really, really, didn't like the dark.

Even if he was scared of a monster, he could fight back. He could hit it, or stomp on its foot, or just throw things at it in order to do something productive. Before the darkness however, he was utterly helpless. He couldn't fight back. He couldn't drive it off no matter how hard he tried. It had no form, but it didn't need one in order to drive his terrified imagination wild with images of what could lurk behind every shadow.

That was why he hated the darkness. And that was why Wendy was having a very bad day today.

"EEP!" A significantly-less-than-manly squeal erupted from Wolfgang's throat as movement flittered past his vision. For the fifth time since they'd started heading out, the massive strongman instinctively dove behind the nearest form of cover.

Which happened to be a certain blonde haired child in this instance.

"Wolfgang, if you touch me again, I'll gut you and leave your body in an unmarked grave!" Wendy snapped, thoroughly annoyed at having her personal space violated for the umpteenth time in a row. Her little outburst caused Wilson and Willow to pause, letting the light from the fire starter's staff settle on their surroundings.

"Is something wrong?" The scientist questioned, raising an eyebrow at the odd sight that was Wolfgang trying to cower behind someone less than half his size.

The strongman started to reply, only to have his words cut off with another shriek as the darting object shot back into view. In his haste to back away from it, he ended up tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground. This only served as a momentary delay. No sooner had he struck the dirt than he began frantically scrambling away as the drifting continued its flight directly for him.

Before the object of his fears could reach his fallen form, Wendy's hand shot out and deftly snatched it out of the air. With a meaningful gesture, she held the object forward so that he could get a better look at just what had been causing his distress.

A leaf.

In his defense, it was a rather big one.

The girl's fingers closed around the tiny piece of foliage with slow, calculated movements. She ground it to a fine powder in the palm of her hand before opening it back up again and letting the crumbled remains scatter into the eternal night. Never once did she speak a word during the process, and never once did her glare leave Wolfgang's sheepish face.

Several awkward moments passed before Wilson decided they'd paused for long enough.

"Okay then…" He said, coughing lightly into his hand. "If that's sorted out, how about we get going again?"

Feeling the burning sensation of the blonde girl's eye's boring into the back of his head, Wolfgang hastily nodded in an attempt to change the subject from his latest mishap. Without a word, the group began to move forwards once again, listening carefully to the subtle changes in tone coming from the Divining Rod in Wilson's hands. For his part, the strongman clutched his oversized hammer closer to his chest while directing suspicious glances into the forest on either side of him. That one might have just been a leaf, but you could never be too careful.

It was hard to tell where they were going to be honest. Very little stood out against the inky blackness that surrounded them, and the only natural light seemed to come from passing groups of fireflies. The ground was rough underfoot, and there was a slight chill in the air, but that was about all Wolfgang could hope to tell about this place. For all he knew they could be in the middle of a rolling plain, or a rocky quarry. It all looked the same when you painted it in shadows.

It was for that exact reason that he failed to see the unsteady footing ahead until it was too late.

Without even realizing it, the group had been walking parallel to a drop in the terrain. Wolfgang, who'd drifted off to the side slightly with his meandering stride, had the misfortune of taking just one step too far, and upsetting the loosely packed soil.

When his foot came down and the dirt shifted beneath him, several things happened at once.

First, the sudden loss of support caused his weight to land improperly on the limb, robbing him of balance and driving him towards the edge.

Second, the low hissing of falling silt filled the air as the edge of the rise began to tremble in a chain reaction caused by the unsettling movement he'd started.

Third, a sharp cry issued from the strongman's throat as he felt himself lurch inexorably towards the unseen drop that he'd unknowingly wandered towards.

Forth, and perhaps the very thing that saved his life, the others paused at the sound of his distress. Realizing too late that the ground beneath their feet was moving, they were pulled towards the gap as well. Had they kept going, they'd likely have been able to escape the miniature landslide, but doing so would have left Wolfgang plunging into the dark alone with no source of light. Thankfully for all of them, Willow's grip on her staff never faltered, even when she herself was tipping over.

Of course, Wolfgang wasn't all that aware of the details. He only had enough time to figure that something wasn't right before the disturbed land dragged him away from safer ground.

With mixed shouts of surprise and fear, the group fell with a moving blanket of soil guiding their descent. The strongman struggled to gain any sort of purchase in order to right himself and stop the painful tumble, but each grasp for solid dirt only came away with crumbling debris. That very same substance quickly filled his mouth, sending him into a fit of coughing as he was thrown about and preventing him from calling out to the others.

The head over heels descent came to an abrupt halt as they reached the bottom of the hill. Wolfgang, Wilson, Wendy, Willow, and several dozen pounds of loose gravel all landed together in an ungainly heap.

The strongman struggled against the mound of dirt that had buried half his body, freeing himself with a mighty heave whose force sent him falling flat on his rear end. Coughing up pieces of soil and struggling to see in the eerie glow of the fire staff's light, he squinted in an attempt to locate the others.

"Friends? Where is friends gone?" He called. "Don't worry! Wolfgang will save you!"

Had he stopped to think, he might have realized that the light-giving staff, sticking out of the ground like some kind of grave marker, would have to be held by Willow in order to work. That would of course mean that the fire starter, and likely the other two as well, would be right below it.

Sadly, Wolfgang was not a thinking man at the best of times. Particularly not after having tumbled down a steep incline with nothing but the gritty feel of soil to carry him through. So, instead of investigating the area near the staff, he dove at the nearest pile of runoff and began digging with gusto, believing that his companions were slowly being smothered beneath it.

"Hah! Puny dirt not stop me! Stay strong friends! You be free soon!"

Despite its design, his club actually made for a fairly good shovel. With his immense strength making up for its lack of a scoop, he was able to ram it into the mound and forcefully wrench out large chunks of the substance. For every 'shovel-full' he scooped up and tossed away, at least two more were disturbed and slid off to the side. It wasn't long before his efforts bore fruit in the form of a limp hand sticking out of the freshly covered ground.

"Wolfgang has you! Grab hand now!"

Without wasting a moment, the strongman grabbed a hold of the exposed limb. His mind unconsciously registered the texture of it as soon as his fingers wrapped around its wrist. It was thin, bony, and generally unpleasant to the touch.

Definitely Wilson then.

Much to his alarm, the scientist didn't respond to his grip. Instead of returning the gesture, his cold and scratchy fingers hung limp and lifeless. Wolfgang felt a surge of worry enter his system as the implications of his unresponsive companion settled in his mind. Wilson might have been knocked unconscious during the fall. He might be slowly fading away beneath the earth. How long did it take someone to suffocate?

He didn't pause to think about it.

"I save you science man!" He shouted, hoping against hope that his skinny friend could still hear him.

With a massive heave, the strongman threw his weight in the opposite direction in an attempt to pull Wilson free. His efforts further disturbed the pile of fallen dirt, causing a cascade of dust and soil, but the scientist remained firmly buried beneath. Not deterred, he grit his teeth and firmly planted his feet. Taking a moment to collect his strength, the strongman let out a grunt of effort and yanked as though his life depended on it.

It was working. He could feel the earth starting to lose its grip on his friend. Feeling his muscles strain under the exertion, he redoubled his efforts. There it was. Just a little bit mo-

A massive snap filled the air and suddenly all the resistance disappeared, sending the strongman sprawling on his back with a surprised shout. His landing set up a puff of dust while he blinked in confusion at the unexpected turn of events.

"Science man?" He ventured, sitting up and looking back to the pile. No luck. It seemed that Wilson hadn't been pulled free. Wolfgang was just about to get up to try again when he noticed the object that he was still holding onto.

It was the arm.

From the looks of things, he'd been too successful. He'd pulled so hard that he'd literally torn the limb from its owner.

For several long moments, the strongman's mind simply couldn't process that information. He looked down to the arm held in his hands. Up to the pile of dirt. Down to the arm. Up to the dirt. Down. Up. Down. Up.

"I…"

A crushing realization bore down on him, driving him to his knees as mournful tears stung his manly eyes.

"I…"

He barely even registered movement as Willow and Wendy freed themselves from the heap, spitting out the nasty material and uselessly trying to brush themselves off.

"Gah! That was awful!" The fire starter exclaimed. Her hair and clothes were so saturated with earth that she looked like some sort of zombie rising from the dead. Wendy didn't fare much better, looking closer to an awakening spirit merely due to her pale complexion and careful lack of expression.

Wolfgang didn't even look up at them.

Noticing the motionless strongman, Willow turned to face him with a wave.

"Hey! Wolfy! Are you still in one piece over there?" Though meant as a friendly checkup, her words stabbed into his gut like an icy dagger, driving a whimper from his bulky chest. "What's wrong? You look like you-"

"I BROKE SCIENCE MAAAAAN!"

His heartbroken wail drowned out the rest of her sentence as he broke down entirely. She was stopped dead in her tracks by the sudden onset of blubbering tears.

"I TRY TO SAVE HIM!" Wolfgang cried, letting the entire world know of his grief. "BUT HE BRAKE INSTEAD! I WAS TOO HARD ON LITTLE SCIENCE MAN AND NOW HE BROKEN!"

"Wait, who's broken?"

The unexpected voice caused his wails of regret to cut off instantly. Looking up in bewildered shock, Wolfgang's eyes darted to the figure that had just pulled itself free beside Willow and Wendy.

"Is something wrong…?" Wilson asked, patting his clothes off while raising an eyebrow. "You're looking at me kinda funny…"

Two arms. The scientist had two arms. Wolfgang knew for a fact that two was the normal amount for him, so that would mean he hadn't pulled off one of Wilson's limbs by accident. But… if that was the case… then what…

For the first time, the he looked down at the thing in his hands and actually examined it closely. Several things became immediately apparent upon doing so.

The arm had no skin on it. Or any meat for that matter. It was with a detached sort of interest that he noted the only thing keeping the fleshless limb together was stringy ligaments that had yet to fully rot away. No doubt his efforts to 'free' the trapped being had torn it from its main body. Something that was, more than likely, in just as bad a shape as it was.

Right then, it dawned on him that he was holding the arm of a skeleton.

With all the grace and self-control of a terrified infant, Wolfgang hurled the arm as far away from himself as he physically could while letting loose a horrified scream that echoed far into the solemn night air. Had they remained undetected by anything nearby after causing the landslide, they'd most certainly lost the element of surprise at this point.

Jittering from the ghastly contact he'd unknowingly endured, the strongman took several unconscious steps backwards. His movements caused a light crunching noise to emanate from beneath his feet which very nearly caused his heart to stop. Just as it was inevitable for the ocean to wear away at an overhanging cliff face, Wolfgang found himself entirely helpless to do anything but look down despite knowing full well how much he'd come to regret the action.

As it turned out, he came to regret it quite a lot.

The light given off by Willow's staff was far from bright, but it was enough to give a spine-chilling glimpse of the ground they'd tread upon after falling.

Bones.

Tens, dozens, scores, hundreds of bones. Some big. Some small. Some broken and some intact. All bleached white and strewn about in the final resting places of those unfortunates who'd once possessed them.

"Whoa…"

Wilson's eloquent remark voiced the thought that had been growing in all their minds. They'd known for a while now that they weren't the first people to find this place, but the sheer number of skeletons dotting the ground was far more than any had previously expected.

"Willow…?" Wendy asked lightly, her normally airy voice sounding like a gunshot in the silence of the atmosphere. "Could you make the light a bit brighter…?"

Too shell-shocked to do anything but obey, the fire starter's brow creased in concentration for a brief moment before the glow of her jeweled tool increased twofold. The ring of light that had surrounded the humans began to expand, spreading across more and more desiccated remains. The farther it went, the more skeletons were revealed, and the more densely they were packed together.

Wolfgang's mouth went dry as ice cold phantom fingers danced across his spine. So many. So very many. Each one had been a person at some point. Each one had been alive, but something had changed that. His senses screamed at him to turn away, to flee before it was too late, but a larger part of his mind, fueled by the same morbid desire that pushed people near the edge of a sheer drop, held him rooted to the spot.

Little by little, the source of the bodies was revealed.

A lake. The light given off by Willow's staff could only stretch so far, about six or seven yards from the banks. In all that distance, it became immediately clear that this body of liquid was far different from those used for recreational fishing.

To call it water wouldn't have been entirely accurate. The inky substance was more akin to melted shadows. It was still as the dead, not even a ripple of movement disturbing its smooth surface, but had the unmistakable texture of something that wasn't quite solid. At the same time, it was both pitch black and semi-transparent. A paradoxical description if ever there was one, but those bodies half submerged in the substance where it met the shore could still be seen just barely in its depths.

In direct opposition of all things logical and sane, a single rickety wooden bridge stood among the darkened liquid, stretching off into the unknown.

"Uh… Wilson…?" Willow didn't even have to finish the sentence. They could all hear the sound of the divining rod reacting more strongly that it had been before. Though the remains of numerous others were strewn about the path, it was almost certainly the one they were meant to take.

"Maybe there's another way around…?" The scientist ventured halfheartedly. It was clear that he didn't truly believe those words, but common sense demanded he voice them none the less. "I vote we look for some other path before risking the murder bridge."

"…Murder bridge…?" Wendy questioned.

"Yea. It's a bridge. Filled with murder. I thought that was kind of obvious given all the skeletons."

His explanation elicited a whimper from Wolfgang, who's eyes had yet to diminish from the saucer-sized gaze of total fear that had been present ever since he'd become aware of their surroundings.

"…That actually sounds interesting." The bereaved girl commented thoughtfully. "Maybe I should look into acquiring one."

"I'm agreeing with Wilson's idea!" Willow added quickly, seeking to change the subject from the morbid topic. "Anyone else disagree? No? Good. Let's get out of here!"

Though she offered no chance to dispute the strategy, neither Wolfgang nor Wendy made any move to question the choice. The idea of walking across the bridge surrounded by the deceased did little to hearten the group and, slim though the chance might be, finding another way across would be much better.

As the group rather hastily drew away from the grisly landmark, a sudden thought entered the strongman's mind. That alone wouldn't have been enough to give him pause despite popular belief, but the fact that it pertained to their current situation did.

In short, Wolfgang was starting to see a pattern.

He'd fallen here, dragging the others down with him and landing among the skeletons. It had been a pure accident, and yet it had somehow driven them closer to their goal. He might have been able to chalk it up to chance, but similar things had been happening ever since they'd started out.

Being taken to the camp of the pig king. Sheltering in the cave in the snow-coated world. Finding the path hidden in the twists and turns of the labyrinth. Running towards the spider nest in the swamp. Now this. All seemingly random occurrences which pushed them further along than they had any right to be. Things that might have taken months or years to find, instead took only days or weeks. Paths invisible to the naked eye were walked with unerring accuracy. By now it had gone far beyond simple luck. Things like that didn't simply happen by accident.

In another time, another man might have been struck speechless by such a revelation. He may have been reduced to a gibbering wreck as his mind struggled to understand what unseen force had been working him over. His paranoid eyes may have strained to their breaking point in an attempt to see the being that guided their footsteps.

Wolfgang was not such a man.

As quickly as the realization of the pattern had come, he shook it off and made to follow his friends once again. His mind didn't work on such complex levels. When he saw a problem, he struck it head on. When he saw a path, he took it, not giving any concern as to who had set him on it in the first place. It simply wasn't in his nature to look so deeply into such things.

Without giving the idea another thought, he hurried to put distance between himself and the unburied fallen behind him.