[ TT ] After a long and difficult journey , you finally reach the Dark One 's citadel .

Before me stands the gate, `` with dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms''. 
 
 They are open, bent out of shape ages ago by being of ungodly strength. 
 
 I walk through them, and find a grey wasteland, not unlike the one outside. But while on the other side of the great walls I'd been overwhelmed by the absence of Life, here I am by the presence of Death. 
 
 Death, and Ruin. I walk the serpentine path through the once majestic structures, now the very image of decay. 
 
 Finally, I find it. The one trace of Life in the unholy place. The Tree. It stands tall, dark and leafless, an empty carcass. 
 
'Welcome, traveler' a voice comes from inside it.'What bring you to my grand kingdom?' I feel bitter humor in the words. 
 
'You will not find much to learn here. All things beautiful end. There. You've learned all this place will teach you. You can go now.' 
 
'I want to know what really happened.' I insist. The voice laughs. 
 
'Surely you've heard the stories. Hell is empty and all the devils are on Earth now. This place used to be much more interesting.' 
 
'This is n't Hell. It was never Hell.' 
 
'Was n't it? Is n't it? I am the Dark One, mortal. Is any ground I thread on not Hell? Is that not my curse? Is that not my blessing?' 
 
'Is this really it? The tree?' 
 
'My my. You really are a curious one, are n't you? Yes, this is it. Where it all started. Well, not really, it started long before that, long before mankind. But this was where I made my move.' 
 
'Why did you do it?' 
 
'To spite Him. To tarnish something beautiful. To see if I could. To see what would happen. I, too, am curious.' 
 
'And what happened to this place? After the Fall?' 
 
'It was abandoned. Left to its own wild devices until I made my way back to it. The gate was already broken by then, the ancient beasts either roaming the Earth or lost in the mists of Chaos that lie between here and there. I built. I had to raze it first, of course. Everything but this tree. It would n't burn.' 
 
 I walked to the tree and felt its dead bark. It was rough and cold. 
 
'I wanted to build my throne out of it, but I could n't cut it down either. Never say He does n't have a sense of humor.' 
 
'Why here?' I asked.'I've walked the path from the Mortal Lands, I've even seen Hell. The real one. The one where your armies fell after you rebelled. Why choose *this* place to wait out eternity?' 
 
'I do not see why I should answer, mortal.' 
 
'When else are you going to have a chance to talk to someone?' 
 
'Ha. Fair enough. I chose this place because... because I did n't want to be in Hell anymore. Because I did n't want to be in the Furthest Place from God. I chose the place because I missed Heaven, and the Garden was as close as I was going to get to it.' 
 

