This is technically the beginning of where the Night King's kingdom is, called the Nightmare Vale. It is open to all Stygians, and even Treats alike, and is tied to the powerful miasma of the Nightmare Tree. The Nightmare Vale has two visible layers: a treehouse layer that upon ascending its branches through convoluted ladders and simplistic pullies, has shops that sell anything from shadow tokens, to daydreams, to cards, to practically anything a Stygian can imagine. It is rumoured that at exactly 3 am on the 3rd moon of every 3rd month, a mysterious vendor shows up that sells Floresce for exactly 500 token - what a steal! The base layer of the kingdom has become something of a vacation resort. Glowing lights litter the area, and often large Stygian conventions (like the Floresce-con) are held here, along with sometimes sporting events, sometimes gaming events, and sometimes junkyard events since visitors love leaving stuff in the nightmare vale without taking things with them. You never know if you'll find a large rubber duck in one of the twisted alleyways, or just a literal duck wandering around.

The Night King can sometimes be seen in the Nightmare Vale - it is rumoured if you say his name three times... he still won't show up.

The underground is a twisted series of massive tree roots that you can follow in tunnels beneath the Nightmare Vale itself. You may follow a tree root from one place and end up entirely in another place, accidentally in someone else's Nightmare Kingdom, if you're not careful. These roots were meant as an emergency way of going from point A to point B very fast, and randomly, but clearly because this was not a well thought out idea, half the tunnels go nowhere, and the other half just lead back to themselves. For those who venture further and get unlucky... (see the Labyrinth below)

... Beneath the deepest roots of the Nightmare Vale's tree (and the Nightmare tree by extension), there is sometimes a stray tunnel that glows red. For any Stygian that follows that tunnel, they will begin to hear voices begging and pleading for them to turn back, and the uncanny sense of something watching them. Continuing further will lead them to the first floor of the labyrinth. Whether it was a structure that the tree created, or something even older, it remains a mystery to most. Here, the roots of the nightmare tree disappear, leaving endless corridors bathed in red that shift and change from time to time, sometimes growing claustrophobic and narrow, sometimes twisting and turning into a nonsensical upside-down room. The first floor of the labyrinth is mostly benign, as the deeper a Stygian goes, the more likely they will descend into madness. Occassional twisted bookshelves line the walls of the labyrinth but they do not make much sense. A strange, heavy thudding noise can be heard all throughout the first floor, slow and steady. The walls are oddly warm. A Stygian could get stuck here for days, hours, before finding their way back.

(( OOC: IF YOUR STYGIAN has/had the "LAB7" tag or "ELDER" tag on their cert:)) Denizens created specifically within the Labyrinth are in a consistent state of flux - able to hear the maddening whispers of the labyrinth regardless of where they are. It may be a voice, some voices, their own or familiar one, a stranger or their conception of what a god is, and the voices always betray their own darker promises and hopes. Those from the labyrinth may always feel closer at "home" to this place, sometimes found wordlessly wandering each hall, listening to "whispers" and "promises", heads faced into the wall, motionless - though a truly sane explanation as to why these phenomena happen is still to be explored.

What was once the a forgotten keepsake of the past has now resurfaced as a grand library. It is not just a library, but the only place capable of restoring old, or artifacted nightmares that fell to obscurity centuries ago. The Aetheneum now has become a grand repository for browsing archives of nightmares of the past, though a lot of the records seem to be illegible at best. While the curator of the Aetheneum does their best to try to create new books and archives with better writing for all present day Stygian to access, Stygian themselves are welcome to also contribute to the Aetheneum records as it is not just a respository for history but for the actions, deeds, and fancies of all nightmares. You may even find books created by fellow Stygian here, for better or worse. Nothing like reading a 5000 page text on how to evolve a Floresce!

(( OOC: IF YOUR STYGIAN has/had the "AETHENEUM" tag or "CELESTIAL" tag on their cert:)) Denizens created specifically within the Aetheneum are ones that fell to obscurity centuries or even millenia ago. They perhaps were once powerful, or in the case of Celestials, even worshipped, though as time passed by, a lot of their accomplishments became forgotten by the nightmares. In their forgotten state, they faced a half-living existence, where they were at most, mildly aware that they existed, without memory or coherence. After the revival of the Aetheneum in the present time, they've finally been able to restore most of the memories, and power that they had lost, once again reunited with power of the Nightmare Tree. The Aetheneum however, continues to restore the forgotten, even those recently so. Unlike figments, or guardian Stygian, these Aetheneum restored would be considered "repaired" as opposed to "created". Sometimes these repaired Stygian may talk about the "good old doomsday days" when gods walked the earth and the nightmares were at dire war and so on so forth, but most modern Stygian just chalk it up to "ok doomer".

In the ??? Floor of the labyrinth is a strange occurrence: a perfect blend of nightmare and ??? filled with equal parts chaos and drab. The nightmare itself evokes a feeling of an abandoned theme park, if a theme park was constructed of massive castle and nonsensical pathways leading absolutely to nowhere. Vicious foliage and tiles blend into walls and forests, cloaked in grey. Denizens stare at you from the murky depths -however as you approach something shifts from the darkness.

Everything lights up.

Music starts to play from seemingly nowhere, slow to pick up at first. The tiles one by one begin to emanate colour, the foliage bloom to life, the castle itself unravel into a monstrous white and red creation. Banners unfurl, the denizens slowly peer out from the grey, shedding their fog-like appearance. Finally, at the gates where you start, a sign lights up, half-working, illuminated by a thousand lightbulbs.

Welcome to W?nd?rl?nd!

W?d?rl?nd is equal parts theme park and attraction. It was created by the ??? ??? and is technically located inside the Labyrinth, but when you're having so much fun, who cares what kind of unusual labyrinthian entities will consume you! W?nd?r?l?nd has both the creativity and imagination of the nightmare world, and the chaotic nothingness of the labyrinth beneath it. The divide has created an unusual rift in W?nd?r?lnd - while exploring its nightmare world components, the components that look visually appealing, colourful, and fun - one may accidentally also get sucked into the chaotic true nature of the place by mistake. Instead of bright colourful trees, fun rose hedge mazes, and exciting tea parties, one instead may find themselves peering right into the edge of the abyss, as something follows them, continuously chasing them-

- Once again,this is normal. Completely nothing to worry about.

IF YOUR STYGIAN HAS THE "WONDERLAND" TAG: Stygian created from W?nd?rl?nd are basically nightmares that were lured into this floor of the labyrinth. They retain all structure and semblance as a Stygian, their nightmare kingdoms themselves are completely normal and in the nightmare tree/world, but their prolonged exposure to W?nd?rl?nd has created a sort of... W?nd?rl?nd syndrome. They both fear it and crave to return to it, now freed.

IF YOUR STYGIAN IS A W?ND?RL?ND LEGENDARY: All W?nd?rl?nd legendaries are Elder Stygian, Stygian half assimilated by the primordial nature of the Labyrinth. Once the ??? floor of the Labyrinth, this floor developed a sort of awareness, a consciousness. It began to split itself, contradict itself, and desire more. From its core, its shell existence, W?nd?rl?nd itself was created, and the Elders that reside within it, the guardians of W?nd?rl?nd. It is to be noted that they themselves did not create W?nd?rl?nd - this labyrinth floor has always existed, the floor itself both an entity and entities. W?nd?rlnd Legendaries do not own or belong to any specific part of this labyrinth, but instead, exist to nuture it all, and build upon it - though they may favour certain areas more than others. Equal parts Nightmare and Labyrinthian abyss, they freely travel between the two parallel sides of W?nd?rl?nd, belonging to both, as is their nature. For every moment they crave colour and happiness and light is another moment they seize to drag others deeper into their own madness.

Did you know that the critically acclaimed [ DREAM-ONLINE ] has a free trial, and includes the entirety of Dream-Online AND the award-winning Corrupted Nightmare Tree expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime? Sign up, and enjoy today!

Dream-Online promises more future expansions, patches, and content update as it progresses, thanks to its incredibly successful and completely non-bugged launch! Boasting a massive, immersive online game where Stygian feel like they are COMPLETELY INSIDE the game (almost a little too realistic!), featuring realistic fantasy game settings, customizeable skills, crafting, gathering, fishing, and job classes tailored to your Stygian's personality/perferences, there is nothing this online-VRMMO cannot accomplish! There have been rumours in the past of something that happened recently, but it has been fixed, so that is thankfully water swept under the rug! For now, Dream-Online continues to be THE premium VRMMO for Stygian to visit, level up, and explore new zones and raids. Why have a Nightmare experience when you can have a VIRTUAL Nightmare experience?

IF YOUR STYGIAN HAS THE "DREAM-ONLINE" TAG: Your Stygian has somehow snuck itself outside of Dream-Online. While they may have had modest origins as an NPC in the game itself, something in the last Dream-Online update caused them to gain sentience and awareness, and with that a need to discover, and explore the Nightmare Realm for themselves, both inside and of course, outside game.

IF YOUR STYGIAN IS A DREAM-ONLINE LEGENDARY: As the sensational MMO [ DREAM-ONLINE ] was released in the Nightmare World, users began to demand more powerful and interactive bosses to fight. Thus, [ DREAM-ONLINE ] itself as a framework took sentience and created the perfect series of NPCS, labelling them [ RAID TIER BOSSES ]. Each raid boss was given their own raid location, a prison in which they were eternally summoned to be defeated over and over again by adventurers. Each was created into Dream-Online with lore; their past origins int the Dream-Online universe, how they were once heroes, and how they now must be defeated for crossing unspeakable boundaries as punishment. Created to be defeated by others over and over, through time, their data from so many resets became corrupted, their own thoughts unstable. Why must they repeat the same cycle over and over? Do they even exist or are they simply... bits of nothingness, a null existence?

Her Majesty has opened her domain to all visitors, no longer a kingdom but a irreplaceable part of the Stygian nightmare. Immediately you see in front of you a castle. It is made of pure ivory with gold winding spires, and blue flags waving all directions in the wind. It is resplendent, it is glorious, it defines structure and beauty. You cannot help but feel a sense of - is it intimidation or respect? - as you enter along the halls, light spilling all directions from long windows. The same fine craftsmanship outside is reflected inside the great hall that you arrive at. A large banner is draped at the end of the hallway, outlined by stained glass: the order headquarters sigil. There is a throne below the banner, but it is empty, and seems as if it has been long untouched. In front of the throne is a large circular table, but that too has no seats and seems to have been abandoned.

Athro has opened his domain to all visitors, no longer a kingdom but a irreplaceable part of the Stygian nightmare. The path ahead of you winds deeper and deeper through the fog and you eventually hit what is undoubtedly a forest. It starts off as several trees, roots, seemingly extending further than your eyes could ever imagine, and then further and further. You have become part of the fog around you, and your body feels heavy, foreign, and it feels like an eternity plodding forward. One step at a time, you see it: lights in the distance.

One, ten, and then thousands of lights, flickering through the fog, clearing the way as above you is a massive, sprawling forest. There is something about the atmosphere that makes everything feel a little more enchanted, mystical, almost as if you are in a sacred place. For a moment, you feel like you see a shadow loom past you, and then, nothing. Nothing but eyes all around, watching you.

For the highly adventurous Stygian still looking to visit more kingdoms and even help out a guild, they can check out the Explorer's Guild. Here, Stygian have the option of opening their own Kingdom to other visitors (tourists), or doing some tourism themselves and visiting the kingdoms of their fellow Stygian. Please note: a Stygian cannot visit a Treatling's Castle.

For the highly adventurous Stygian still looking to conquer untameable pocket nightmares attached to the labyrinth, check out the Merchant's Guild. Here, your Stygian will have to overcome a series of challenges within a dungeon before they can leave, though sometimes they may even get lucky and get treasures. For more information, please check out the information elow: