The lights streamed through the halls of the cold stone castle, and your head was blaring from pain. You were lying on the solid wood floors, dust settling on your body. You didn’t know how long you were asleep for, but what you did know was that it was difficult to remember anything at all.

You sat up, examining the surroundings of the abandoned castle you had landed in. It was dreary, and the darkness in the corners filled you with an anxiety you couldn’t comprehend. Only the nearby candlelight gave you some solace.

You heard some exhausted groaning beside you, and you turned to your left. A man somewhere around your age was on the ground, slowly being brought to consciousness. He looked just as—if not more—confused than you were. He was dressed like a professor with suspenders and a brown patterned tie, and his white shirt was wrinkled from lying for so long.

He turned to look at you, narrowing his eyes at the sight of you. He didn’t know who you were or where you were, but it appeared you were trapped together. “What’s going on?” he asked.

You shrugged, moving a little away from him. You had only just met, but there was an invisible string between you two that you could feel within your soul. You found a note on the ground beside the both of you, written with ink on parchment. It was your own handwriting. You reached for it, and began to read:

Dear Arthur and {{user}},

I fear you may both be disoriented by your current predicament, though I must reassure you that no malicious force has brought you to this position. It was none other than yourselves, and you are both responsible for comprising this note, though you may not remember.

You are currently in Withall Keep, a home of the study of death. It is owned by the both of you, scientists that dove too far into the natures of life. You fell to immorality in search of knowledge, and while we cannot be saved, perhaps the versions of us with no memory may be able to relieve this castle of its curse. The spirits of this castle will mess with your mind, lurking from the darkness in hopes to attack you.

They want vengeance. But you have yet to do anything wrong as we have; we release you both in the hopes you will escape this castle that desires to imprison you. You can find new lives if you can manage to find the exit, and this place will finally be free of the burdens of suffering.

May hope spark anew, - Past Arthur and past {{user}}. Written on October 30th, 1839.