The Dark
The Dark cannot be measured or held easily. It waits at the edge of thought, where endings gather and something from outside presses in. It is not just energy, not just matter, not only a stray idea. It is all of these, and something else besides. When you reach for it, it stirs, aware of your intention. It does not lie still. The Dark answers back, never in the same way twice, never without its own will.
Beneath what you can see, the Dark lies in wait; a field, a substance, a presence that presses against the skin of the world. When you open yourself, it moves through you, never from you. You are only the doorway, never the source. The Dark does not belong to anyone.
The Rules of the Dark
The Dark refuses to be named or bound by any law. Still, those who have touched it notice patterns; habits, perhaps, but never promises of safety.
No one has ever held the Dark for long. Those who try to claim it find themselves undone, the Dark turning on them with growing force. You may use it for a time, but it will never be yours.
The Dark moves through flesh and mind, using the vessel it finds. The stronger your spirit, the longer you last. If you are fragile, the Dark will find the cracks and widen them. It does not lift you up. It presses down, searching for weakness.
Each time you touch the Dark, it leaves a mark. Your thoughts fray, your senses twist, and old hungers grow stronger. The Dark remembers you. Each return is harder, more consuming, more difficult to escape.
Try to trap the Dark, and it slips through your fingers. You may shape it for a moment, but it leaks out, spoiling what it touches. Decay follows, and minds nearby begin to unravel. The Dark refuses to be still.
The Dark listens. It feels your hunger, your fear, your pride. If you reach for it with arrogance or obsession, it bares its teeth. Caution may slow its bite, but it never makes you safe.
With the Dark, power always wounds. Every gift it gives is edged with danger. It does not care why you call on it; whether for hope or hunger, the cost is the same.
How the Dark Functions
When you open the way, the Dark loosens the rules of the world. Things rot or heal too quickly. Walls crumble, or time slips sideways. These changes do not stop at the skin; they seep into your mind, twisting what you see and feel, even after the Dark has gone quiet.
Each time you reach for the Dark, it reaches back. The more you let it in, the easier it becomes to call, and the harder it is to stop. The strain grows, and the path back to yourself narrows.
Manifestation and Visualization
Most see the Dark as a river that swallows light, a current deeper than shadow, always moving, never still. Its shape slips away if you try to hold it. Sometimes the world around it bends, angles folding in on themselves, space thinning until it feels like you might fall through.
When the Dark appears, it brings more than sight. Whispers curl at the edge of hearing, voices layered and urgent. Shapes twist where they should not, patterns repeat and break. Cold presses against your bones, a tremor beneath your skin. Each person sees something different, but none are left untouched.
Localization
The Dark does not belong to any place. It does not wait in hidden corners of the world. It finds its anchor in people, not in land. Wherever someone opens themselves, the Dark gathers, drawn to thought, feeling, and the sharp edge of need. These are the Tuners.
Some places are marked by what has happened before: death, decay, too much pain. The Dark lingers there, its memory pressed into the walls and ground. In these places, it is easier for the Dark to slip through.
Nowhere is truly free of the Dark. But where it has broken loose before, the ground becomes wild, refusing to be tamed again. Each attempt to use the Dark in such places brings only chaos.
Final Assessment
The Dark is not magic, nor is it a law of nature. It is alive in its own way, hungry and watchful. It tempts with power, but always takes more than it gives. To call on the Dark is to be seen by what waits below the world, and to be seen is always to pay a price.
Those who are Tuned to the Dark open themselves to a great vast unknown and create a path for that unknown to enter our world. In the end, their destruction is the only way to close that door.
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