I don’t have much time. At least I don’t think I have much time. But this everything that has happened and will continue to happen - you need to know about it. This is a warning.
At this point it doesn’t matter who I am, it doesn’t matter where I’m from, just proceed with caution.
No matter what you do, especially online, always proceed with caution.
It all started when I was mindlessly surfing the internet a few weeks ago. Hot summer day, nothing to do apart from rotting away. I talked to my family over the day, some friends, but otherwise, time passed in a blur of not moving around much at all.
Sonja, one of my closest online friends, suddenly hit me up again after a week of inactivity - rather unusual for her, really, so I was happy to have her back and opened the message immediately. First thing I thought: What the fuck happened to “hi, how are you?”
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From: Sonja [05. March 2024 - 01:01pm]
Your first task awaits: Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb
From: Me [March 2024 - 01:03pm]
bro?
.
She didn’t reply anymore.
But, well, like any bored dumbfuck does when they’re looking for a thrill, I eventually clicked on the link after several more minutes of just mindlessly staring at it. I know it’s dangerous territory, I know many accounts get hacked these days to send out dubious links, but that’s part of what makes it so exhilarating, you know? One might say, the summer heat melted away some of my braincells.
It was a basic looking webpage with just a black background and some vague and strange looking text about an “altering experience.” There were no other details besides a link to sign up. Obviously my curiosity was piqued instantly. What kind of messed up shit could this possibly entail? Worst that could happen was that I’d send out links to my friends as well, or subscribe to some newsletter, no?
Despite my better judgement and with some stupid, giddy excitement, I entered my email - they didn’t ask for more than that. In hindsight, I wish I never hit that fucking submit button.
It’s too late if you click on submit.
For a couple of days though, nothing happened. I already forgot about it and just went about my days like usual, until I got this… strange email.
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From: 𓄅@Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb **[08. March 2024 - 09:55pm]
**Subject: Participant #2713
Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb/participant#2713-1
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At this point - despite forgetting about it at first - I was starting to feel a bit scared. This was fucked up, really. What email address would ever look like that? I recognized the links, of course - but who was Participant #2713? Me? Did I sign up to do something?
Well, I decided that I was in too deep already. And despite the fact that my heart was racing out of something akin to carnal fear, curiosity made me click on the link because I knew I wouldn’t stop thinking about it anyways. Maybe I should’ve informed myself before doing anything at all. But at this point, I was already participating without even fully comprehending it.
Once again, the same minimalist website loaded on my screen. Dark background. And this time, there was a simple text. No buttons to click on, just this fucking text.
Exposure to violence, whether as a victim, witness or aggressor, can lead to changes in brain structure and function. Regions of the brain responsible for regulating emotions, processing fear, and forming memories may be affected, leading to heightened stress responses, emotional dysregulation, and cognitive impairments.
At first I thought it was cool that the World Wide Web provided me with some unsolicited knowledge, but unease flooded my senses the longer I was looking at it. What was that supposed to mean? And what was I supposed to do with it?
Shifting on my seat, the website suddenly reloaded on its own. What I saw made my heart drop on an instant and I wasn’t sure anymore if I was sweating because of the heat, or because of this one single word that appeared:
Bleed.
Bleed?
The word disappeared again and instead there was a number… counting down from 300.
299.
298.
What was I supposed to do now? I couldn’t move and just stared blankly at the countdown until the numbers blurred in my vision. It was just some joke, I told myself. Some kinda virus that wants to fuck with you a little.
Several thoughts were battling in my mind - this went too far, this was not something fun at all, what was I thinking? But then the sickening, overwhelming feeling of unease came back, stronger this time. A sense that if I didn’t comply, there would be horrifying consequences beyond my comprehension. This website shouldn’t exist, the email shouldn’t exist, no one should or could be talking to me like that. Understanding - maybe otherwordly - dawned. I had to bleed before it was too late.
42.
41.
Finally, with just a few seconds left, I broke down and grabbed the scissors on my desk. I almost pussied out as the cold tool grazed my flesh, but the invisible forces compelling me seemed too powerful. I pressed the sharp steel into my skin and made the one excruciating cut into my arm. Blood started trickling down. I cried out in agony, but fucking kept going like some sort of possessed ghoul, opening up two more parallel wounds even though, in the depth of my mind, I knew I didn’t have to do more. My cries of pain dissolved into anguished sobs.
I looked back up at the screen of my desktop again, panting - the countdown had stopped.
Congratulations.
The site closed on its own.
⌗
Two days had passed. Two days where I did nothing but pace around the small space of my apartment until exhaustion eventually got the best of me and I managed to sleep. I slept through nightmares, through the day. I watched the cuts on my arm heal ever so slowly and for a brief moment, when the itch on my skin underneath the bandage wasn’t too distracting, I wondered if this had been some fucked-up dream and nothing more.
But the next email came. Reminding me of my reality.
I opened it, knowing fully well that I should just ignore it, but maybe this time I would finally receive some overdue explanations.
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From: 𓄅@Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb [10. March 2024 - 07:49pm]
Subject: Participant #2713
Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb/participant#2713-2
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Clicking on the link almost furiously, I watched once again how the website popped up on my screen, showing me a different text this time:
An altered brain is receptive for manipulation.
Don’t you want to know?
Don’t you want to know?
Don’t you want to know?
Don’t you want to know?
Cool, I thought. Give me the next task, so I could ignore it. Give me anything, so I could move on with my life and maybe also decide to simply burn my whole computer.
I watched how the site changed, just like two days ago:
Make one bleed.
A countdown popped up again.
21,000.
20,999.
And if I haven’t thought that all this was going too far, I was definitely thinking it now. Despite still knowing that consequences might occur, I shut down my computer, tense and breathing heavily. Too many thoughts in my head - I wasn’t even able to grasp any of them.
Instead, I opened the chat with Sonja on my phone again, head pounding and oh boy, I was mad while still nervously trembling like a dog.
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From: Me [10. March 2024 - 07:54pm]
you have some explaining to do
what the fuck were you thinking?
what is this mess?
.
I waited for hours, but once again, she didn’t reply. Somehow… I got the feeling that she would never reply again. That this link she had sent had been our last interaction.
Eventually, I wanted to confirm my suspicions and opened up several social media apps, just to see if she had been active elsewhere, if she had posted something. But what I found instead were posts from friends and family members.
Goodbyes. Condolences.
Posts that confirmed that she had died alone in her apartment the day where she had sent me the link. No, no, it was more fucked-up than that. It was the day before she had sent me the link.
She had left us sitting on a chair… seemingly just rotting away. No external forces, nothing. They believed her heart had just stopped doing what it was supposed to do.
Did my best friend really just die some days ago? Did all this really happen? I knew that the website was related to it, I fucking knew it, I felt it, though I couldn’t really explain how that was even possible. And though I should be sad, hurt, anything that would any normal human being feel in such a situation, there was just one emotion crawling through my marrow and bones:
Fear.
Later on, I bawled my eyes out like an infant while hiding under a blanket in my bed. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep. But I woke up again at the middle of the night when my computer roared to life on its own, the bright screen straining my eyes. A new email popping up on an instant.
Nausea hit me like a bucket of ice water and I was wide awake again, fumbling the blanket away from my sweaty, sticky frame and I stumbled out of bed so I could read.
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From: 𓄅@Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb [11. March 2024 - 03:02am]
Subject: Participant #2713
Bad idea.
[IMG-P#2713-PUNISH]
.
Nonsense. This was nonsense, right? None of this could be happening. For the first time in my life I felt dumb, so fucking stupid. Stupid for getting myself into this situation and stupid for being unable to explain anything. My fingers were shaking when I clicked on the attached image and I started to cry before even fully recognizing the person in the photo.
I won’t show you guys the image of my mother, staring at me through lifeless eyes, curled up on a blood soaked mattress.
⌗
The next day I promised myself to do whatever they wanted from me, I promised myself to just get over with this nightmare before anything else could happen to someone I loved. I promised myself to not ask them any questions, to not dig deeper. I didn’t only fear for my own life, I feared for the life of my family and friends.
People called me, texted me, but I just told them I want to grief on my own for some days. They understood. I just had to keep them out of the mess I created, no matter what it took. Isolation may be the only answer.
Did Sonja die because she didn’t do what she was told to do?
Dread flooded me when I got the next email in the evening.
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From: 𓄅@Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb [11. March 2024 - 10:27pm]
Subject: Participant #2713
Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb/participant#2713-3
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This time, there wasn’t any dubious text, no knowledge shared. Part of me was desperate to find a way out, to run to the authorities or my father and beg for help escaping this hell. I’d be lying if I said part of me also didn’t consider just ending it all right then and there myself. But that felt too much like a cop-out, an easy way to avoid this impossible decision. And there was also no guarantee that consequences wouldn’t follow even if I was dead.
Second chance.
21,000.
20,999.
I knew what I had to do.
Lurking outside my neighbor’s apartment in the darkened halls just an hour later, I could hear his TV through the walls even over my own frantic heartbeat - some old re-run laugh track mocking me with its artificial merriment. Part of me was still in denial that I would go through with this, manically hoping I’d wake up any second.
But the deadbolt wasn’t going to pick itself. Stay strong, I kept whispering through choked back whimpers. It has to be done if you don’t want them hurt.
With a couple clicks, the door swung open into the dimly lit living room. There was the old man, slouched on his recliner wearing a ratty bathrobe, distracted by the flickering light of his show on the screen. My breath caught in my throat as I strained to stay quiet, heart pounding out of my chest. Every step forward felt like wading through wet concrete, but I trudged on numbly. He must have heard something, because he whipped his head around just as I got within a few feet of him.
“What the…” was all he sputtered out before locking eyes with me, filled with mortal terror. “I’ll give you whatever you want. Just don’t hur—”
His pleas were cut short when I pounced him, muffled under my trembling hands clenched around his face and neck as I started squeezing. That vacant look of pure panic will be seared into my mind forever, his eyes growing wider and wider until the moment the life faded away.
Mustering all my strength, I slammed his head backwards into the wooden arm rest with a dull crack, ensuring the deed was done. Blood, blood, so much blood— In that moment, it was like I had blacked out everything except the depraved act and my sick mantra - I’m so sorry, so sorry, I’m so fucking sorry.
Whoever these psychopaths were, they had stripped away any remaining shred of my humanity within just a few days.
⌗
Congratulations.
I didn’t feel like celebrating at all. My eyes were fixated on my computer screen and I tried to blink away my tears. I felt too empty to even wash off the blood. But unlike the last time, the website didn’t close on its own. A new text appeared:
The internet has become our most powerful conduit into your realm. Designed to strip away every last shred of your humanity. Degrading and perverting your consciousness beyond repair. Systematically undoing your sense of identity and ethicality bit by bit. A language we understand.
I felt nauseous, dizzy even, as my gaze remained on the display. The full, terrible realization was setting in that whatever plane of existence I had been operating on previously… no longer applied. They had pushed me across a point of no return into utter depravity and madness.
You are
ready*.*
That last word twisted and distorted in a way that made my eyes strain, like it was fighting to take form in three-dimensional space. A cold, alien feeling washed over me - the distinct sense I was but a mote of insignificance in the midst of vast, unknowable entities. Every traumatic horror one had to endure was meticulously designed to unhinge the psyche - not through delusions, but by fundamentally rewiring my entire identity at the subatomic level. The perfect mind virus for them to hijack - if you weren’t already fucked-up enough from the start.
In a panic, I frantically tried to exit out of the website, to no avail. Every window I opened and closed was overwritten by scrawling lines of indecipherable text swirling into a dizzying fractal array of nightmarish symbology. All-consuming nausea overwhelmed me as I slumped back on my chair, unable to tear my eyes away from the cosmos taking form on my display.
Then, suddenly, it stopped. And all that was left was another email.
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From: 𓄅@Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb **[12. March 2024 - 01:11am]
**Subject: Welcome
Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb/participant#2713-welcome
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Every instinct that was left inside of me screamed to not click on the link. I could feel my body shaking, I could feel myself recoiling from moving my hand even the slightest. But eventually, I couldn’t stop myself.
Terror.
The last sound I can fully remember was my own, ragged breathing while I was sitting there.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could feel remnants of the life I once knew slipping further away, replaced by a cold indifference to mortal life and all its trivialities. This shadowy realm was breaking me, remaking me into a new form of consciousness I was never meant to become.
Everything I had done under the guise of following that website’s twisted demands - it was all a calculated effort to open my own inner gateways. The arduous toll to gain entry into this eternal, nightmarish… scape beyond the veil of our insignificant mortal realm. I was not a victim of foul play, but a willing inductee all along on the path to true understanding of the cosmic cyber-reality.
I tried to move, I really did. I wanted to scream and cry for help, but not a single noise left my throat. I could no longer contemplate what was real or not, as my environment seemed to glitch and warp into unfamiliar geometries all around me. Reality itself began slipping and morphing through my fingertips like I was trapped in a lucid nightmare.
I understand now how Sonja had died. I understand now what she had done in order to protect herself, to protect her loved ones. I understand now what forces had been at play, that made her body rot away slowly. I understand where her consciousness is now.
I see myself, my very own body, on the same chair I’ve been sitting on just some seconds ago. Or minutes ago? Days ago? I don’t know, I don’t remember. But time passes. And the more time would pass now, the more I would feel my consciousness and will slip away, so, so slowly.
I can feel them wanting to take control.
Do you now understand why I’m here? Do you know understand what they will try to make me do, just as they had done with Sonja? I’m scared, terrified even, of what will happen when I’m just one of many - spreading the virus online.
The virus can’t spread. The virus can’t ever spread.
DO NOT. CLICK ON. ANY LINKS.
I don’t care about your morbid curiosity. I don’t care about the thrill-seeking adventures you have in mind, please stay away, just stay away, I BEG YOU TO stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away,yy;STAY AWAyou fucking poor, clueless reader…
Even now, you feel it creeping into the outskirts of your awareness like a looming sense of dread. A quickening pulse, watering eyes, and a rising unease in the pit of your stomach with every scrolling line drawing you further in. Do you feel that copper tang lingering on the tip of your tongue as you mouth the words silently? Omnia Tenebris.
Part of you likely wants to shut this all out, to refresh the page or close the browser window and return to blissful obliviousness. But our bonding has already taken place on a molecular, subatomic level. The cycle of awakening marches on for the newest batch of acolytes, harvested from this very forum like souls reaped from a cruel cyber-blight. I know you want to know what all of this feels like.
Your first task awaits: Omnia!Tenebris.deepweb