I am Leo. Anyway, that’s what I believe my name is. Time is distorted here in Vialand, and the sounds of pain echo like unsettling music. In this world, dread looms large like a thick curtain, as dreams and reality collide.With each stride I take through Vialand’s labyrinthine lanes, I resist the want to give up and let my grief win. The buildings’ decaying facades, which loom over us like menacing ghosts, are testament to the decay that has allowed this abandoned place to fester.My footsteps echo across the empty streets, the only sound in this silent world. I have the feeling that there are unseen creatures hiding right outside of my sight.Eyes observing me from the shadows, just beyond my field of view. Still, I press forward, driven by some unknown power.
As I walk, memories dance across my mind like fragments of a shattered mirror. I see distorted features of agony; I hear cries that pierce the darkness like jagged knives. With every step I take, I feel like I’m getting closer to the heart of the horror that has descended upon Vialand.Then I manage to see it. The image that will haunt me forever. A person, their face covered with terror as they twisted and twisted in agony. It’s my own reflection on the distorted mental canvas, captured in time.I reach out as if to grasp the sight before me, but it slips away like smoke in my grip. I realize then that I’m not only observing.this situation, but it was me who succeeded. The canvas before me is more than just a painting; it is a reflection of the terror that is within me.
I get goose bumps and pick up my brush, attempting, with every swing, to portray the misery that fills me. The painting’s hues blend and swirl in a gloomy dance of anguish and despair. And with each stroke, I feel like I’m drowning in a sea of my own creating and going further and deeper into madness.After I’ve finally completed the painting, I stand back and assess my work. The guy before me is a grotesque caricature of humanity, a distorted image of the suffering that exists throughout Vialand. Its strange elegance and unsettling grace, however, transcend the atrocities it depicts.As I look at the picture, I feel a rush of catharsis. I’ve figured out how to face the evil that lives inside of me and find some kind of relief in this distorted reflection of myself. I know I’m not the only one who suffers from dreams about Vialand, even if I might never fully get over them.
As long as this artwork is in place, the echoes of Vialand will continue to exist.Keeping in mind the evil that we are all capable of. And although I may never be able to completely break free from its grip, I take solace in the knowledge that I’m not up against the darkness by myself.