The door.

The door. Into the hallway. You open the door fully, and you see before you a hallway. It is a HUGE hallway. There are all sorts of works of art on the walls. Most of them are paintings, depicting what seems to be an epic battle.
The first one on your left is of an army gathering, rallying around a black-clad figure who you recognize as The Lord of the Realm. The soldiers look very similar to the guards you saw on the walls outside the castle, except their armour is larger and more suited to open warfare than their current uniforms. The impression is conveyed that they are cheering, which is interesting, seeing as how this is a painting. Alan is making a speech, that much is clear.

The first one on your right is of another army. This army is clad in hideous green armour. The sight of it makes you want to grab your own sword and slash the painting to bits. Whoa. Hold on there...It's only a painting. There is a leader in this painting as well, seated on a large horse, the likes of which you have never seen before. He is also giving a speech, to which his troops are responding by holding their weapons up in the air. The ugly green pervades the whole painting. Blech.

In contrast, the second painting on the left is beautiful. Alan is at the head of his legion, riding into a sunset of orange, with blue highlights still in the sky. The open plain looks similar to what you believe the plains outside the castle would look like on a clear day.

The second painting on the right is of the green army again, going away from an orange sunset, towards what seem to be the same plains as the army of the Dark One was riding towards.

The next painting is the same on both sides: A battle is raging, the green leader is slashing away at the Dark One's troops, and the Dark One doing the same with a large glowing sword that is obviously magical. The rank and file troops are fighting with a vigor and ferocity that you wouldn't believe possible. The Dark One's army is clearly winning.

The last painting in the series is on the far wall. This one is twice the size of the others, and the others are each 10 feet long and 5 feet high. It shows the aftermath of the battle between the green army and the army of the Dark One. There is

BLOOD

everywhere, along with the corpses of both armies. Alan is standing over the green leader. The green leader is in a submissive pose, clearly defeated. Castle Darkmist looms in the background, along with the Dark One's army, of which most are still standing. You wonder if this was a real historical event, just as you notice the sign underneath this last painting saying NO ONE INVADES THIS REALM AND LIVES!

You are glad now that you chose the peaceful route. There is another door in the wall on the right wall that you may enter. In fact, there is another door in the left wall, as well. You may also go back the way you came.

Thou mayest leave a message here which will get to the lord of this realm, via e-mail. You get an odd thought as you stand here: "This is all somehow related to or provided by Geocities."