I will show you the dark. The true dark
The dark is not trite or contrived; neither is it lurid, nor ostentatious
The dark is subtle and deliberate. The dark is pervasive
It reaches out with a brumous tendril–gently caressing–and, like a siphon,
Drains you until you are nothing but a husk

I will show you the dark
I will teach you to fear again

I will lead you to the place where the brutal monarch, Agony, reigns sovereign
Where the shadows blanket the land uniformly
Where darkness, like a writhing miasma
Permeates your lungs and seeps into your bones
Those hallowed halls, resounding with the sound of praise for Darkness,
The Most High,
Infinite and Everlasting,
For ever and ever (Amen)

Surrounded by the weeping and the wailing and the gnashing of teeth,
You will curse the God who forsook you
You will curse yourself for squandering your brief moment in the sun
You will beg and plead for mercy
But by then, you will have moved beyond—
Into a realm where even Death himself cannot save you