~ The Count has won. He has used the power of the Chaos Heart to bring darkness and destruction to all worlds. The heroes had failed to stop him. Dimentio was still nowhere to be seen. Every dimension known has fallen to darkness, with no hope of escape. Everything was destroyed. ~

"Mr. L,
It seems now like a lifetime since we've worked together. Time really tends to slip through our fingers like grains of sand, doesn't it?
If you're around, why don't you come visit the old castle? There's something I need to show you.
Your best pal, 
Count Bleck."

I stared at the letter I was holding, standing just inside the castle. Behind me was a large set of doors. In front of me, nothing but long, dark, empty hallways.

If you asked me, I wouldn't have been able to tell you where I was a second ago. What was even weirder to me was the fact that I didn't really care about where I just came from. 

"Alright, Count. I'm here," I breathed.

Everything seemed familiar, yet so different at the same time. Instead of being black, the walls were a dull yellow color. Black ink slowly dripped from the ceiling. It reminded me of rain leaking through an old roof, only this rain was dark black and had a strange, creamy texture.

I stepped forward. Next to a few posters were big, bold black letters that said Dreams Come True.

Sounded like a basic inspirational message. Words like that didn't mean anything to me anymore.

The castle looked quite messy. Small puddles of ink pooled on the yellowish floor. The lights were dim. Everything around me lacked color. I felt like the green of my bandana really stood out compared to the world around me. 

I made my way down the long halls, out towards the inner sanctum where we used to meet. My footsteps echoed in the empty hallways. Castle Bleck had always felt far too big for the number of people who lived there. Even when Nastasia had armies of goombas and koopas hypnotized, the castle still seemed far too massive. 

I hardly noticed all the posters of "Inky the Devilish Troublemaker," plastered across the walls. One did catch my eye, but I didn't pay it much mind. 

I wasn't sure why I felt so calm. This was a rather odd situation. I had no idea what was actually going on or why the world felt so... weird. But I didn't really care enough to question anything. It wasn't like there was anyone I could ask.

I walked by a small table with a small radio-looking device on it. Curious, I stopped and pressed play.

"At this point, I don't understand Merlon's plan for this group. Bowser's hardly helping at all anymore, I'm constantly worried about losing Peach, only Grambi knows what Luigi's doing right now, and I certainly don't see why we need to follow these...prophecies. It's inconvenient, it's messy, and who's got enough time to read through them all anyway? Also, get this: Merlon had each one of us "donate" something. We put them on these little pedestals. "To help appease the gods", Merlon says. "Keep things going". I think he's lost his mind, but, hey, he's the ancient. But I tell you what, if one more inconvenience shows up, I'm outta here."

- Mario

I frowned. The tape was labeled "Mario." Weird. Did he record this at one point in time? When? And why? Did he just want to vent to someone about how much Merlon and the prophecies annoyed him? If he didn't like that kind of stuff, then why did he choose to be a legendary hero?!

Well, I suppose he didn't really choose to be a legendary hero. But he did choose to save Peach practically every other week. Honestly, doesn't he ever get tired of that?!

I wondered what he meant by the items donated though...

Meh, the recording is probably just useless information. Why would a recording of Mario's voice even be in Castle Bleck? He never lived here!

I passed by my room. The door was slightly cracked open, so I could see the inside. I spotted my old desk where I used to work on blueprints for my machines.

So much time was wasted at that desk.

I shook my head, then walked past the abandoned room, making my way to the inner sanctum. Or, what used to be the inner sanctum. It looked much different than I remembered. Instead of all the platforms, there were only three small pedestals. Curious, I walked over to one and picked up a small piece of paper.

"Locate the objects to begin the ritual, please," I read, shivering slightly.

Ritual? What ritual?! I didn't want to do anything weird like that. I was just there to find the Count. Nothing more. 

Was this a note from him, perhaps? No, the handwriting didn't look like his. It looked slightly neater. The letters were smaller and in cursive. 

"... whatever," I muttered. There was a painting behind each pedestal, so if I had to guess, that would be the item I'd have to find.

A wrench, a parasol, and a spikey choker. 

Weird. Such random items.

I let out a small groan, then started searching the castle for these things. I was sure I could find a wrench somewhere in my room, so I decided to focus on searching for the other two items first.

This honestly seemed like much more work than it's worth. However, I didn't really have anything else to do. I had no idea what I was doing before I received that letter, so I couldn't really go back to that. It was like I was trapped.

Being trapped was never a pleasant feeling. 

It reminded me of when Dimentio had me trapped in that execution box...

I searched Mimi's room for a parasol first. I didn't know if she had one or not, but if anyone in the castle did, it would have been her. 

Her room didn't look like I would have expected it to. The walls were also a dull yellow color. Wooden planks seemed to be slowly rotting away. Black liquid slowly dripped down onto the floor.

Even so, there was an open parasol right on her sloppily made bed. It was all black and white as if the colors had been drained from it. 

For some reason, when I picked it up, it didn't feel like Mimi's. It wasn't really her style. Yes, she loved pretty things, but it almost seemed too regal. It reminded me less of something Mimi would have and more of something owned by Princess Pink-and-Frilly.

Not that it mattered. I closed the parasol and started forward. I had no idea where I would find a spikey collar, but I luckily happened to come across one in O'Chunks' room. His room also wasn't really what I expected it to be. It looked practically identical to Mimi's. The collar was also black and white. Though, it seemed like practically everything besides me was that way. The whole world was only composed of blacks, whites, and yellows. 

Odd, but I didn't really care enough to ask why the world seemed so odd. Again, there wasn't really anyone around I could pester for answers anyway. 

Last item. A wrench.

I went to my room to search, only to find that there were no wrenches, which was odd because I specifically remembered having multiple at one point in time. Had someone stolen them? It seemed like an odd thing to steal.

I frowned, then walked past the few rooms I had yet to check. Nastasia's was empty. Not that I would have expected her to steal a wrench. If I had to suspect anyone, I would have guessed Mimi did. Only, when I checked her room earlier, there were no wrenches. Maybe the count needed it for something?

...Nah. I really wasn't comfortable with going into the Count's room. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like if I did I would be breaking some sort of unwritten rule. He was the Count after all. He was basically the boss of the entire operation.

So, that only left Dimentio's room. I carefully walked past his mirror hall, noting how different it looked.

All the mirrors had disappeared, being replaced with posters and cardboard cutouts of Inky. When did all this redecorating happen?

Why was I so calm about it? Inky was MY design, right? So why was it all over the castle? 

I paused in front of Dimentio's door, then slowly pushed it open. He usually kept his door locked, so I was slightly surprised to see the door move. 

Inside, the room looked exactly the same as Mimi's and O'Chunks.

Aside from a few major details.

In big, bold black letters, the words, Who's laughing now? were written across the wall. Ink dripped from the bottom of them, making the words look like they were melting.

I don't really think anyone was laughing... but whatever Dimentio.

I shivered slightly, even though I wasn't really cold. Followed the dripping ink to the floor, where there was a single wrench covered in ink. I kneeled down to pick it up. Some of the black ink bled onto my gloves, but I didn't really mind. I could wash them later.

I made my way back to the inner sanctum and placed each of the items on their pedestals. Then I stepped back and waited silently for something to happen.

The room slowly turned darker, as if the world's brightness was being turned down. I crossed my arms, feeling slightly annoyed. It was already dark enough. I needed to find a flashlight or something.

I let out a sigh and turned around myself, heading for the east exit doors in the inner sanctum and reaching for them, when suddenly a large, black creature with two devilish horns swung the doors open, reaching out for me with black, claw-like hands.

I jumped and scrambled backward. The creature was at least ten feet tall. It looked distorted and ugly. Ink dripped from it, pooling at its feet.

Ink began to quickly pour from the ceiling, flooding the room. I scrambled back, feeling the substance seep through my shoes. Without thinking, I got up and started sprinting towards the west exit, where I first entered from, not daring to look behind me. My heart accelerated, and I could hear the beat loudly pounding in my ears like drums. 

There were animalistic growls coming from behind me. I could tell that the horrifying ink creature was chasing me, and I was not about to find out what happened if I got caught.

The ink quickly flooded into the halls, rising up to my ankles, then my knees. I continued running, finding myself a mere few feet from the exit doors. I could see the light of day shining beyond them through the cracks. 

I was almost free.

Then, the floor beneath me gave out, and I fell.

I let out a cry of shock. I couldn't tell how far I had fallen, but it had at least been a few floors. It was a miracle that I wasn't injured. OR dead.

I coughed and stood up, covered in ink now. Luckily, these bottom floors weren't flooding, which didn't quite make sense. After falling like that, I would have expected a waterfall of ink behind me. Yes, the floors were still covered in various puddles, and there were small leaks from the ceiling, but it didn't look nearly as bad as the upper levels of the castle did. Looking around, I couldn't recognize any of the hallways surrounding me. I didn't even know that Castle Bleck had such large underground areas. They looked similar to the hallways I was familiar with, but I was certain that I had never been there before. 

My bandana and hat had been stained black. I had no idea how long it was going to take to wash those. Ugh, I felt so gross being covered in the sticky black substance. 

I rushed into the nearest room I could and found a flashlight. I smiled to myself and flicked it on. Yellow light flooded from it, and the room became instantly brighter. I felt a small wave of relief, only for that wave to be broken the second I saw what was written on the wall.

THE CREATOR LIED TO US

I furrowed my eyebrows and cocked my head to the side

Who was the creator? 

I was beginning to feel more concerned about the strange situation I was in. I wasn't sure why all the worry was starting to hit me just now. Perhaps it was the strange ink demon thing chasing me. Or maybe it was falling through the door into a part of the castle that I didn't even know existed. 

I took a deep breath, then slowly stepped out of the room with my new flashlight, walking down the mysterious hallway when I found myself being led to a new room. I stopped in the doorway, gawking at the sight.

There was a black circle on the ground with a star drawn in the middle of it. Candles were neatly placed on each of the star's corners.

Behind the star were coffins. Five coffins. I couldn't tell if they were empty or full, but the sight of them made me want to be sick. 

"Wh-what the heck?!" I cried, taking a step back. 

No, no, NO! I was not going to get involved in whatever demon-voodoo-possession-ritual stuff was going on here. Absolutely not-

I suddenly felt a cold hand on my shoulder. Ink seeped through my sleeve. I could feel the cold substance make contact with my skin.

Then everything went dark.