Aokigahara (Kuroi Jukai) “Isolated from everyone I ever thought I knew, I made my way to the forest of Aokigahara, but I wasn’t sure of what I was doing. All I knew is that’s where I needed to go, I needed to be away…” I. Lament Sometimes one must end his life. Amongst these trees many have gone to die. Silent voices ghosts weave into the air, they speak only of violence and despair. I’ll swim through the sea of trees and become nothing more than a memory. I mean nothing more to my family; would it be better to disappear? II. Descent (Instrumental) III. Repent Made a memory by those, who, in my life, filled me with hate and left me dead inside. I’ll be exiled from this world at last. I’ll join these souls; into my death I’m cast. Demon’s hand reaches out to me. In blind fear, I know not what I see. He promises to make this life of mine seem like nothing but a dream. The dream fades into total darkness as I drop into my desired death. Amongst the lost souls I’ll wait until the demon’s path for me is set. Their faces are but a blur. Their screams; deafening. I try to claw my way out, to no avail. Is this where the dead are destined to rest? The demons call to me, we have something to show to thee. You take this sorry life for granted and throw it all away. But on this day, you will change your sorry ways and learn to appreciate. So useless I am, left for dead by my family and without friends. No one even knows my god damn name. But destined, you are, to go far in the world and leave all of them behind. Would you like to see what you were never willing to find for yourself? The demon touches his hand to my head. Expecting dread, flashing images of an older me, shrouded by insanity. So you wished for an end? Three days, you shall spend, with these other lost souls. Three days of endless screaming, distorted faces forever streaming away into oblivion. Then the demons went away. Leaving me in darkness, with only the sound of screaming. Day the first, I knew this wouldn’t be the worst. After what seemed an eternity, the hour was not clear to me as I could not sleep with the sound of these screams and images of the damned in my head. If the demons did not come back to set me free, I would fear that I’ll be dead, however isn't that what I wanted? IV. Ascent With the pit walls contorted to a more climbable form, the demon says he will set the lost souls free. However I will be the only one alive. Three days without sleep. Three days, almost insane now. I climb for miles. As I see the blue sky. I emerge from the sea of trees, my new hell. They think this was me. I plead insanity. Made to spend my days in a padded room forever more…

"The doctor’s words echoed in my head as I felt myself falling into an abyss. This was not the same dream I’d been reliving for months. I was in a desert with a blood red sky, nothing around me for miles. It was surreal, the most peaceful yet strange place I’d ever been." Lost once more; inside my mind. I find myself in desert sands, staring at red autumn skies. Hours recall the painful moments of my past, on a journey through my nightmares I will find peace at last… I’ve seen visions of death. Illusions that the demons let me feed to my mind’s eye. My dreams mend and shatter the fragments of time, let now the demon speak to me. My mind knows not, images illuminate my eyes. My past I confront, blind to my struggle for freedom. I twist in the grasp, but I cannot think for myself… Hold me closer, I fear I’ve fallen into dreams again. When will this nightmare end? Mother hear me now, I feel these hands keep dragging me down, but you were not around the day I marched to die. They showed me something inside. Now they return again to tell me become fear and awaken.

"The demons truly were within him and they wanted free. With this deafening, inhuman roar; he awoke back in the asylum. He was burst into flames and the entire place was crashing down around him. Was it all in his head? He could hear screams of pain echoing all throughout this place even overtop of the demonic sound that was emanating from him. He knew this was the end of being haunted by these demons alone." Dragged through trees and ashes again, the demons were the ones to awaken something inside of me so inhuman. This is where my path to serenity begins. "You must destroy the young and the weak. Make terrors pale from restless sleep. Remember what they made of you, now let them pray to die." Some men pray to god as they die, others suffer through the pain of life. Mother, what di you expect of me? No love or compassion, just insanity. I guess it's time to start again. Appease these demons I've been sent. Just what the hell do I deserve, do I deserve to fall again? I've spent years abandoned by humanity at the cost of what was left of my sanity. Too many years behind these walls, feels like I've never known the human race. Anything inside remotely human is gone without trace. Once again, these are my demons to face...

"He picked up the half-dead man and threw him up against the wall, pinning him into it with shards of broken glass from the table. Two through the eyes, two through the wrists. One through the throat and one through the heart. Out of his own mind, Devin was terrified by what was happening to him. He heard what was clearly the demon’s voice in his head saying “run” As I awaken, I realize I've become something more. A deep burning pain, compelling. My sins empowering my soul.... Come forth, old man of the damned. Appease your hatred and understand; these scars on your soul; so empowering, you'll almost feel whole. Become the nightmare of the man who laughs at the suffering of others and those who have been defiled in the public eye. You'll laugh as you watch him die... Senseless conviction, abandonment, affliction. The years have been cruel. Left you frail, and filled with spite. They'll die by the hand of this blessed madman, become fear and make it right. I cannot remember a time I did not wish for the world to die. Now face your death beneath me. Entrails spattered against the floor, eyes stapled shut, throat nailed to the door. You'll die when I say you can surrender to agony's sweet embrace. Well done, there is blood on your hands. You have only begun to prove your worth. You've stepped through the shattered sands to the place where you shall vow rebirth. Prey on the families, the fearful and the weak. Nothing can stop you when blood is all you seek. But can you stand the sounds of their screams? Blinded, contorted, don't struggle, enjoy it. The pain will be slow but the end will be quick. To hell they were sent before their proper end, the sounds of their screams just made me sick. How will this end, how will I die? Have I been granted eternal life? My soul becomes scarred but I feel whole. Simple to laugh when you're only the witness, but when it becomes you begging for forgiveness... Deafened by your screams, for silence you'll bleed. Just what the hell have I done? You've done well, prophet of the damned, give your soul unto me. Leave them all behind and watch them burn...

"“You wouldn’t want to rule over these people? Cast their souls down to Hell and be in command? Why the hell do you think we let you out of the pit?” The demons were getting angrier by the day. Their ideas were almost starting to tempt him at this point. “We’re but scars on your wretched mortal soul. These scars are what have kept you alive all these years. Come forth, old man of the damned. These pithy humans made you this way. They cast you out, they let you become a statistic, a mere stain on their so called ‘perfect’ world. Why the hell do you hide yourself away from them? Are you scared of what you might do to them? Clearly, you are.” Devin was shaking at this point. “Your body ages on the outside but not inside, cast away these rocks that entomb you and become the nightmare to humanity you were destined to become from the beginning! Why not rule over their souls instead of hiding away like a feeble worm….” Everything they said made more and more sense to Devin over the years. “You can do so much more than you realize… Go forth and make them suffer…” Standing as neither cadaver or flesh, reborn in blood, become obsessed. Only the unborn are blessed, they'll die drenched in vomit and piss like the rest. My rejection, turned obsession. Destroying lives for my redemption. Killing in rapid succession, some might call this genocide. Neither monster nor man, I pray on weakened souls as mine frays. Demon's heart bleeds into me, yet somehow I've never felt more complete. Demon become me... Left afraid and isolated for years, I've become the future's seer. A martyr who bathes in fear, longing to unmake everything you hold dear. Now comes the time for your confession for forcing the weak into oppression. Death will be your final blessing, now let your past consume you from inside. Twisting, writhing, gripped with fear. Your world fades black when death is near, when greatest terror isn't losing life but when your past consumes you from inside. Your cries can only be heard by yourself. Reaping the sympathy of no one else. I'd rather leave you dead in the rain and become your soul's inflictor of pain... This is the sacred way of the flesh, this is the way our people are born. Give your soul to the weaver of death...

"Twenty years hiding away in a cavern, it felt beautiful to finally let go of all the emotion he had tied to this world. “Take hold of my soul, do what you have to. I want to be one with the demons, I want to feel alive.” Suddenly, he felt his entire being torn into a million pieces and reformed. The demons were no longer the ones making him do the evil things he once feared. He was the one with the power now." Rotted flesh drips from my bones, I watch future pass before my sight. So helpless and so alone, I fear the day when the damned are right. Restless appetite for blood and pain. I love to deceive the sick, insane. I loved, I lost but I gained control of everything I'll ever hate. Through years of isolation and pain, I can now control their fate. When did every single thing go wrong? All I've ever loved is gone. I've spent so many years reliving the only thing I ever feared. Opportune, present itself to me, the chance to dwell on their fears and sanity. I vow rebirth to you. Tale hold of my soul and do what you have to. I'll gladly leave everything behind. I never gave a damn about my kind.

“Do you truly feel as if you’re the one in power here?” Devin said, smiling. Though, it wasn’t his voice that echoed through, it was a demon’s. Devin raised his arms at his sides and smiled. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and an ear piercing scream echoed through the entire town. One by one, the people around him joined in but it didn’t seem as though they were willing. No, he was possessing each and every one of them to bend to his will." How can I remember love? I spent so many years alone and scared. A place inside, I was told I could be free, I was promised peace. Now they say become one with pain. Now they say become one with fear...

"This was Devin’s design and he wouldn’t stop until every living person on earth had killed each other or themselves. The demons appeared and began to help this come to fruition. The three of them cast an aura around the entire planet and in a few short hours brought humanity to it’s inevitable demise. “Their souls are yours to command now” the demon calmly told Devin. “This is what we had planned for you all along. It was just a matter of time before you gave in.” It seemed as though the man Devin once was or could have been was gone entirely. A young, timid man who had lost all hope in a cruel world had become the one to end it, to retaliate. He had truly risen up from the ashes and the trees and become humanity’s greatest nightmare." Where do we go when we die, do we fade away or follow the light, do we disappear from memory or mind? Do you feel me feeding on your mind, possessed, obsessed, tearing my way inside. This is where your journey ends and mine begins. Tear out your own heart and eyes for your sins. Kill the ones you love if you are innocent. To restore this world to a state of peace, I must erase everything that lives and breathes. The human race, corrupt from greed and hate will fall. I cannot end the world but I can end you all... Cast your gaze to the blackened sky, nightmares made flesh before your eyes. On this night, the whole world dies.