Welcome to the Constant
Everything hurt. Wilson was starting to get used to everything hurting all the time, but it still wasn't pleasant. He had just fallen through a portal much like the one that had brought him to this horrible place originally. How had this happened though? After first finding Maxwell's Door, he had decided not to enter, thinking it was a trap set by Maxwell to cause him even more pain. But after dying a few more times, he decided he wasn't making any progress and that he might as well see what was behind the door. He opened it and was pulled in by a night hand. He opened his eyes to see... Maxwell standing over him. He said, "Oh, you found my portal did you? You'd think you would have learned your lesson by now." With that he vanished. After much trial and error, Wilson was able to assemble all the pieces needed to escape, and was once again grabbed by a night hand. He repeated this over and over again, dying many times and having to restart, with Maxwell becoming more and more furious each time he managed to progress, even offering a truce if he stopped. Wilson didn't listen, knowing it was another of Maxwell's tricks, and easily created another portal. When he awoke, everything was pitch dark, except for the dim campfires and fire pit. Maxwell appeared and cursed him out before disappearing again. Wilson knew that this was likely the final hurdle before Maxwell and was determined to create another portal to move on. He slowly progressed, almost dying many times, but he managed to barely hang in and assemble the portal. When he opened his eyes, everything was dark again. The floor was covered in fancy carpeting. He followed what looked like a path as torches turned on as he got close to them and turned off when he got far away. As he continued along the path, he heard something that sounded like upbeat ragtime music. The music got louder and louder, before eventually he saw the source of the music. It was a phonograph, its handle spinning wildly and it played the music. Wilson looked to the right of it and saw... Maxwell. Except, he didn't look like the Maxwell he knew. The Maxwell he knew was handsome (conventionally), wore nice clothes, had a cocky personality, and radiated power. This Maxwell looked sad and pathetic, wearing a tattered outfit. His hair was unkempt, and he looked like hadn't slept in years. He was sitting in a jet black chair, and his arms and legs were bound, likely meaning he hadn't been able to get out of the chair in a long time. "Well, this is it." He said. "You found me. Now, what are you going to do?" Wilson was expecting some final showdown, with him eventually defeating Maxwell and getting back home. But it seemed like Maxwell had already been defeated in some way. The music was making it hard to think, so he decided to turn the phonograph off. "Thank you, I've been listening to that song for an eternity." said Maxwell. "I bet you couldn't stand it now could you?" said Wilson. Maxwell did not look amused by the pun. Wilson then noticed what looked like a keyhole in the ground. He had earlier noticed that the divining rod he had was shaped like a key at the bottom. He wondered if he should free Maxwell. Wilson hated him, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Plus, maybe if Wilson helped him, Maxwell would owe him and return him to the real world. Wilson inserted the divining rod into the keyhole, and the shadows binding Maxwell receded back into the chair. Maxwell stood up looking overjoyed. Then, Maxwell started screaming. Wilson looked in horror as Maxwell's skin began to disintegrate. Maxwell fell to the floor, his arms reaching out for Wilson, before all that was left of Maxwell was a skeleton, which promptly fell apart and crumbled to dust. The night hands shot out of the chair and grabbed Wilson, forcing him onto the chair as the chair bound his arms. Wilson saw one of the hands reach out and turn back on the phonograph. Wilson struggled, but no matter what he did, the chair wouldn't let go. He sat there for what felt like days. All of a sudden, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He saw a woman he had never seen before emerge from the shadows. She looked a bit odd, but seemed friendly enough. "Do you think you could help me get off this chair?" asked Wilson. The woman said nothing. She then extended her hand and the shadows trapping Wilson disappeared. Wilson was just about to thank her when her appearance drastically changed. Her hair stood up and began moving wildly as if on fire, her eyes were pitch black except for two white pinpricks of light in the center. One of her hands had turned into a huge monstrous claw that looked like it was made of pure shadow. Wilson tried to run, before she quickly grabbed him and zapped him with shadow magic before creating a portal which he fell through. Now that we're all caught up, let's see what Wilson does next. Wilson was furious. All that work. All that suffering. Just to be back to square one. He tried to take his anger out on a nearby tree by punching it, but that only caused him pain and gave him no satisfaction. Wilson then got an idea. Maybe he could escape on his own via the powers of science. He had built a portal into this world, perhaps he could build one that exited it. Granted, Maxwell had helped him, but he still retained most of the information he had been given. He immediately began to set up a new base. After a few days, he had gotten an alchemy engine and a prestihatitator set up. He then began thinking about what he should use to make the portal. He would definitely need gears, meaning he would have to kill some clockworks, but he knew where some knights were and they were easy enough to dodge and defeat. He would also likely need nightmare fuel, as shadow magic seemed to be the strongest magical force in the constant. He would need some cut stones and boards. Finally, in order to prevent the shadow magic from going out of control, he would need something to counteract it. What was strong enough to resist the darkness. Wilson then remembered something, whenever the Moon was at its brightest, all darkness on the surface ceased and he didn't have to worry about the night monster. He knew that there was a quarry nearby where he had seen some meteors fall from the sky and crash there. Maybe they contained some power from the cosmos. Wilson quickly rushed over, and using his pickaxe, started mining some of the boulders. After breaking them open, in addition to the normal rocks and flint, Wilson also found some bluish gray stones that seemed to radiate a small but noticeable energy. Fascinating. Wilson was just about to leave, when a boulder caught his eye. It was substantially bigger than any of the other boulders in the quarry, and something about it made Wilson want to crack it open. After striking it with his pickaxe, he broke it open to find a ton of the bluish gray stones alongside a bright white sphere. Curious, Wilson reached out towards it, but when he got close to it, the sphere began levitating and glowing. Startled, Wilson jumped backwards, expecting something to happen to him, but nothing did. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the sphere was laying on the ground again and it wasn't glowing. Once more, Wilson stepped towards the sphere, causing it to levitate and glow once more. Because he had backed away so quickly, he hadn't originally noticed, but now that he was looking at it properly, he noticed that the sphere had a semi-visible aura around it. It seemed like a much stronger version of the energy the other strange rocks he had found were emitting. He reached out his hand and touched the sphere. The sphere was cold, but not cold enough to be unpleasant. Wilson realized with a start that there were voices speaking to him. It was hard to make out exactly what the voices were saying,but he understood enough to realize that they were supplying him with information to make something. "Perhaps this could help with the portal," he thought. He grabbed the sphere and put it in his backpack. After returning to camp, he chopped down some trees for boards and killed some clockworks for their precious gears. After working for an extended period of time, his sanity was slowly starting to slip, and soon enough, shadow creatures began appearing. Wilson was able to barely fight them off, and was able to collect the nightmare fuel they dropped. Now that he had all the materials, he began work on the portal, he relied on the voices from the orb to help with integrating the special rocks he had named "moon rocks" into the portal, and was able to work out the part utilizing nightmare fuel thanks to the forbidden knowledge Maxwell had given him. Eventually, the portal was finished, equipping himself and putting the sphere in his backpack. He threw the lever. At first, nothing happened, but then the portal began shaking, the parts made of moon rocks glowing almost blindingly, and the parts made from nightmare fuel pulsing ominously. Wilson stepped hesitantly towards the center of the portal. There was a bright flash of light, and then there was darkness.