• Part One
    Dark Dreams On Melancholy Hill

    "You have to destroy them Jim, we need the energy to survive" Akia said as she looked out the castle window over the melting land of the Garden of Ice. The world first started showing signs of decomposition just a few months earlier. Akia spent all her time discovering why, she eventually discovered that the Abyss was the world's life force. Destroying it doomed her whole world.

    "I'll do what I can Akia, but I'm not promising anything." Jim said as he disappeared.

    Jim had been replaying the events of the conversation in his head ever since he started his quest two weeks earlier. In that time, he had destroyed countless worlds and countless lives. The killing was taking a toll on him, he had never been the violent type, but now he was tearing worlds apart without thinking twice. The madness brought him to a former place of discovery, now an abandoned, dying heap of dirt.

    As Jim climbed higher up the decrepit hill, the ground crumbled behind him. As he reached the top, the hill tapped into his mind and he fainted. He was suddenly in the world of his mind, but something was off. The world presented to him was The Garden of Ice, but all was not well. The buildings were burning and all the citizens were dying, what had happened here?

    Out far into the distance, Jim saw a dark force traveling toward him at great speeds. As it moved everything around it dissolved like dust. His only chance was to try to outrun it, but soon after starting off he tripped, leaving himself defenseless. Before he knew it, the force was directly in front of him. As it destroyed the world around him, he noticed something familiar about the energy, but everything went dark before he could piece it together.

    Jim sat up, scared and covered in sweat. A dark force was coming to the worlds and he was the only one that could stop it. Getting up off the ground, Jim discovered Melancholy Hill was in pieces, covered in darkness. Knowing this was bad, he finished his climb to the very top of the hill, to retrieve the life force.

    On the hill was a lonely tree, sitting next to it was an ax. Jim picked up the ax and proceeded to chop away at the tree. After a few minutes of work the tree finally fell down, out of it's stump poured the world's life force. Jim placed his hands on the stump as the energy drained out. With his hands on the stump, he absorbed the life force of the dying world. Once all of it was gone, the world collapsed and Jim fell through the darkness between worlds.

    Part Two
    The Nightmares of the Carnival

    Jim drew in a deep breath as he woke up in The Carnival, traveling through the darkness was like experiencing death. In the past weeks, he had felt death more times than he could count. The pain would drive a normal person insane, when a normal person falls through the darkness they go insane and end up in The Carnival. This place was used to keep these warped people from harming the balance of the other worlds. Now, of course, just like the others this world had also gone to hell.

    The buildings had been burned down, and the people freed from their cages. This world had always made Jim sick, now without a reason for it's existence he had a chance to destroy it. Before he could make it to the world's core, Jim heard shouting and quickly dove into some bushes. A few hundred feet away, a man with a megaphone was shouting orders while a large group of people closely marched behind him.

    'Someone is preparing an army' Jim thought as he stepped out of the bushes, "I have to stop this for the sake of the kingdom!" he shouted. After thirty minutes of following the group, he was lead to a dark twisted factory. Inside, was a horrible machine that infected the people with some sort of dark power.

    "Guards! Intruder!" someone shouted as they noticed Jim. The guards came quickly and overwhelmed Jim, they dragged him toward the machine.

    As he was strapped in, a man walked over to him. This man was completely bald with sixty percent of his face scarred from burns. "Well, Well. Hello Jim, my boss told us to be on the lookout for you. Now we have you, you'll soon be one of us." the man said as he fiddled with the machine's controls.

    "Who do you work for?" Jim yelled as the machine started to buzz with energy.

    "Oh Jim, I think you've always known who is returning.", the man laughed as he walked away.

    "No, not Jaython" Jim said as the was being filled with dark energy. The darkness seeped into his brain, altering the way he thought. It made him feel like murdering, and in a blind rage he broke free from the restrains.

    Jim jumped up and murdered three guards that came to restrain him, he then ran over to the controls and pressed some very specific buttons. Soon after, the machine started shaking and humming. Knowing what was about to happen, Jim quickly fled from the building. As he left, the machine exploded and the factory collapsed upon itself destroying the unholy army that was being crafted.

    The dark explosion was too much for the crippled world to take, and soon it was falling apart at the seams. Jim, mind clouded with darkness, ran as fast as he could to the Carnival's Big Top. The Big Top contained the life force of the world, Jim just had to retrieve it before it was gone.

    Upon entering the Big Top, Jim was greeted by the shadowy figure of Jaython.
    "Hello Jim, I've been in your head and I know all about your quest to save the Garden of Ice. Now I wouldn't be an honest man if I didn't make true on my promise to destroy it, so I'll just have to take this energy for myself." Jaython said as he absorbed the Carnival's life force. Just before the world collapsed Jaython disappeared, taking the life force with him.

    Part Three
    The Garden of Ice's Salvation

    After the destruction of The Carnival, Jim spent the next week floating aimlessly through then darkness. He was deep in a fight with his inner demons, the darkness that infected his body was making the battle almost impossible to win.

    Inside his subconscious, Jim fell to the ground and spat blood. Standing over him was his mind's version of Tobi the serial killer. "You'll never be stronger than me Jim, you have always been too weak" Tobi said as he kicked Jim in the stomach hard.

    As Jim was being beat to a pulp by his own mind, something inside himself snapped. With a quick twist, Jim jumped up and embraced the power of the darkness. He punched Tobi so hard in the jaw, it shattered into many pieces. Tobi fell down to the ground as Jim yelled "Whose the strong one now? I embrace the darkness I've been suppressing! Nothing can stop me now!"

    In the darkness, Jim's eyes opened and he was back on his path, only this time with dark energy powering him. Soon, he appeared in The Garden of Ice and ran to the castle. There, he drained all the life force he collected into the castle itself, giving the world new life.

    Akia came out to greet Jim, but stopped in her tracks when she saw his eyes were blood red. "Jim, what happened to you? Your eyes their-"

    "I know what the look like" he hissed, "I've embraced the darkness Akia, it has made me stronger than I ever was before."

    "That is the worst path to travel down Jim, I'm afraid I'm going to have to banish you for your own safety" Akia said as she grabbed his arm. Suddenly, he was gone leaving Akia alone in the castle.

    Part Four
    Exile to Plastic Beach

    Jim got up off the ground, still a bit surprised that the queen had the guts to exile someone so powerful. As he looked around, he realized he was on Plastic Beach, but something was different about it. "This is impossible, Tobi destroyed this place while he was here." Jim said as dark clouds formed above the twisted island.

    "It's entirely possible Jim, it just took a little life force" a voice boomed from far above the island.

    "You used the life force from the Carnival to bring this place back? I'll just have to destroy you and this trash heap" Jim said as he ran across the island to a giant tower looming in the distance. The Plastic Tower, the piece of trash that kept the entire island together. Without it, the island would break up in the surrounding whirlpools.

    Just like before, the inside of the tower was coated in blood and gore. Jim ignored this as he ran up the stairs. Spikes started thrusting out of the walls, attempting to impale him, but he proved to fast and advanced to the top swiftly.

    On the top floor of the tower sat a crystal ball, the source of the Island's life force. Before Jim could grab it, a shadowy figure appeared and punched him in the stomach. "This is my world Jim! I'll have none of your meddling!" Jaython said as he shoved Jim to the ground. "Now be my slave!" He said as he filled Jim with more dark energy.

    "Never!" Jim said as he rolled out of the way and grabbed the crystal ball. Jaython acted just as quick and also grabbed the ball. The life force of the world drained into both of them as everything turned dark.

    The two of them floated through the darkness, fighting for control, equally matched. This was when Jim got a great idea. He grabbed Jaython's arm and started taking in his darkness. Since Jaython was a being of pure darkness, Jim absorbed him entirely. The multi-personality being then crashed landed on Earth in front of a familiar face.

    Part Five
    The Aftermath on Earth

    Jack looked down at the mess of darkness that was once Jim. "Jim? Is that you? What happened?" Jack said.

    "Quick Jack, you have to kill me...I've been possessed by Jaython, kill us before he gets away." Jim said as he dropped a knife in front of Jack.

    "No Boy, Infinite power can be yours again if you touch us instead of kill us...Embrace the darkness!" Jaython yelled as he took over the body.

    Jack decided against returning to evil and picked up the knife. Quickly and quietly, he stabbed the being in the top of the head. This action caused the energy from Plastic Beach to blast out of them into the air. Soon, there was nothing left but a dark spot on the grass.

    Jack felt he saved the world yet again, but did not realize that it was Jim's ultimate sacrifice that truly saved the world. But Jim wasn't really dead, not yet at least. His spirit escaped through the life force, out into the darkness. With the power of the life force, Jim destroyed the darkness. Doing this ensured the safety of the remaining worlds from foreign evil. Never again would anyone leave their own world. With the life force gone, Jim's spirit quickly fell apart in the emptiness he created.

    The End