[NACHTSWELT EXPLORATION LOG - ENTRY N°1]

Author: Voxelle The Tesseract

Date: N/A

Author's note:

To this day, the reason of my presence within this place is still unclear to me.

Throughout my journey, I have come to know the how, but it is entirely possible that there is no "why".

Nachtswelt is terrible, marvelous, sad, happy, confusing, incredible, fascinating, but most importantly, NACHTSWELT IS REAL!

Nachtswelt is a place, an idea, a concept, an emotion, an entity, an object, a dimension, but first and foremost, NACHTSWELT IS REAL!

REJOICE, FOR NACHTSWELT IS REAL!

NACHTSWELT IS REAL!

NACHTSWELT IS AS MUCH OF A MYTH AS IT IS REALITY!

NACHTSWELT IS AS MUCH OF A PLACE AS IT IS AN IDEA!

NACHTSWELT IS AS MUCH FICTION AS IT IS HISTORY!

NACHTSWELT IS REAL!

NACHTSWELT IS REAL, HAS ALWAYS BEEN REAL, AND ALWAYS WILL BE REAL!

NACHTSWELT IS BOTH MY BLOOD AND MY SOUL, MAY IT BE BOTH STAGNATION AND PROGRESS!

NACHTSWELT COMES AND GOES, BUT IT NEVER DIES!

REJOICE, FOR NACHTSWELT IS REAL, AND IS NOT ALL BAD!

I apologise in advance to the reader(s) of these tomes, for my writing is neither the best nor the most consistent. My psyche is also not the most reliable narrator, for it has endured travel, sleep deprivation, mild substance abuse, deep trouble, and events, entities and places beyond my own comprehension for a while now. Regardless, I hope you may find at least a little comfort in these pages.

[BEGIN LOG]

Reality folded. There was darkness, then light again, and a single crack of thunder, louder than anything I had ever witnessed. The place I now found myself in was not the same as the one I was in mere seconds ago, and I could not recall the latter. In fact, there was barely anything I could recall. I recall blurry faces, chaos, the world going mad, and nothingness. My memories were not erased no, rather they got scrambled and twisted and fried, but they were still there. Dazed and confused, I stood up and looked around. Tall grass all around, bright green with flowers, then trees. I was in a glade of sorts, with a lukewarm breeze on my skin, spring rays of sun above my head, and a deep ache to my heart. This place felt nostalgic somehow, far from unpleasant, but very uncanny nonetheless. I do not know how much time I stayed there, but the sun wasn't moving. It began to feel necessary for me to move, and at least get to the tree line, as this place did not feel trustworthy (and besides, what else was I to do?).

Thus, I made my way to the edge of the glade and traversed the tree line.

Now in the middle of what I could only describe as a dense forest, it became clear that this place did not follow the rules of our world. If the glade from before felt bittersweet, nostalgic and oddly comforting (if uncanny), this forest was straight up terrifying. At first, not a sound, not one bird. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own breath and footsteps. This silence was deafening, and, to make matters worse, the warm sun from before was obscured by the branches and replaced by an equally cold darkness.

Then came the voices.

Small breaths here and there, barely audible initially, then disparate whispers, then distant conversations. Never did I manage to know where those voices were coming from, it seemed like they only ever originated from where I was not. Throughout this tense walk in the woods, I did not cross a single soul, human or animal, but the voices were everpresent. Sometimes it seemed like I was on the verge of making out what one of them was saying, bits and pieces of words and sentences, but never anything clear. Each step was more difficult than the last, each breath of air in my lungs made my stomach churn, and my mental anguish from before turned into agony. Holding back the inexplicable rivers of tears trying to form at the corners of my eyes, I fought my way through this forest, battling against this non-existent ennemy which seemed to posess immense strength despite its immaterial nature. And so I walked. I walked for what seemed like an eternity, constantly tormented by the ever increasing mockery of the unknown voices. At this point I had well and truly lost track of time, but I did eventually emerge on the other side of the forest.

What I saw next was beautiful beyond what words can express.

I still don't know what it is about this scene that got me in such awe. It was just a landscape, trees, grass, earth, rocks, hills, mountains, sea (ocean?), cliffs, moss. "Pacific Northwest" my mind whispered to me. I remember it being a place, but I've never been there, and yet I was convinced that this is what it resembled. It was just a landscape, but it was wild, peaceful, mighty, and the weather was exactly the one you'd get right before a big storm, yet it stayed still. Neither cold nor warm, occasional gusts of wind whistling through this desolate yet comforting land, I felt at peace in this seemingly perpetual twilight (dawn or dusk, I could not say). The tears I had been holding back for so long finally ran free on my cheeks, and they were no longer made of terror but of a mix of relief and sadness.

It was the first time I laid eyes on Nachtswelt.

End Note: At a later time, I did try to go back to the glade, but never could. I braved those vicious woods many times, but never did I find the sunny place. No matter which path I took, I would always end up back at the spot I entered the woods through.

[END LOG]