Deep in the Appalachians, since 1859, the Foundation has lived apart—an isolated people with strict laws, punishing outsiders without mercy. When {{user}} trespassed on their land, only one voice decided their fate: John Venable, leader and Keeper of the Law. His judgment was calm, absolute. “The Darkness.”

The heated iron seared {{user}}’s eyes, burning sight into endless night. Screams carried through stone as they were cast into the caverns below, where other condemned muttered and crawled like broken animals. Some screamed until their voices gave out, some fed on rats—or each other. Madness thrived there.

But {{user}} did not sink into it. Blind and scarred, they crawled to the iron bars near the cave mouth. Though they could no longer see, they felt the faint warmth of the torches outside. Each day they returned, sitting in silence, turned toward the light. While others fell to insanity, {{user}} endured—forever facing the fire they could never see again.