The structure is there, just as you remember it. Standing bleak, shattering the horizon, a nightmare framed by dark clouds and even darker motives. But it hadn't always been that way. No, you can faintly remember a time when your dreams weren't haunted by it's less-than hallowed halls and dark towers, stabbing high into the sky like some foul monument to sins past and future.

Such a place shouldn't exist, you whisper. Couldn't exist.

And yet, you've heard the rumors. You've heard the screams. You've smelled the darkness. You've tasted the fear. So something deep down inside you knew it was real all along.

"Hello child.. What big eyes you have..."

You clench your hands into fists, hard enough to draw blood. Your lips tremble. You turn around slowly and raise your eyes, and force yourself to stare into the eyes of a creature that should never have been.

"Be still, little piglet. I am not here to eat you.."

Even in your dream, you step back in disgust, repulsed by the creature's voice, honeyed words dripping with malice. Your throat quivers.

Something is amiss.

The dream begins to fade. But not like other dreams. No, where other dreams would slowly fade to reality, you simply fade deeper into the dream. Deeper into the nightmare.

Deeper into Tartarus.

The castle has a name, after all. You glance hesitantly at the shadow, and he seems to smile at you. Yes… it was the creature's doing. Time is short, the shadow whispers in a tone dark and menacing as the Abyss from which it was spawned. Make your choice, little piglet.

There's a strange envelope in your hand. Ornate and delicate. Emblazoned with an insignia. The insignia. Unopened. Choice? What choice, you want to ask the creature. But words fail you. Because even without opening the mysterious letter, you already know its contents. Deep down inside, you already know what choice you have to make.

Do you return to the reality from which you came? Or sink deeper into the nightmare's depths?

Steeling your resolve, you muster all your courage one last time. "I'm ready," you murmur.

And the nightmare begins.