Inhalt

Copyright

Contents

The Nether

Upside Down

Demogorgon

Flayer

Tactics & Tips

Surviving An Upside Down Crisis

Miscellaneous

References

THE NETHER

Hugh Everett III (1930–1982) was the first physicist who proposed the many-worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum physics - which he termed his "relative state" formulation. The theory suggests there are a very large — perhaps infinite — number of universes where parallel versions of our world might exist. The concept of a multiverse or alternate dimensions is not quite as fantastical as it sounds at first glance - though our true understanding of this field of study is still sadly and hopelessly limited to say the least.

The concept of alternate dimensions has been a staple of science fiction for many years but the general population would doubtless be astonished if they knew that parallel dimensions really did exist in reality (an alternate reality that is). It will not surprise the reader to learn though that the proven existence of a parallel dimension (which you might aptly describe as a dark echo of our own world) has been vigorously and at times ruthlessly suppressed by covert government authorities and the shadowy intelligence agencies. This is a secret that only those with the highest scientific and military security clearance have been informed about or have any awareness in regard to its existence.

Many scientists had always believed in the possible existence of dark matter alternate dimensions (or at the very least considered the concept to be plausible) so it was perhaps - to the scientific community at any rate - not quite as outlandish as it might seem when evidence for this theory finally appeared to be established and verified in 1983 (as we shall see though, it could be that intimations of the mirror realm date back ever further to 1979). It was in that year that a puzzling and nightmarish dark mirror dimension was discovered by scientists in Indiana. The discovery of this dimension was by all accounts purely accidental and proved to be highly dangerous and troublesome to put it mildly. Many lives were lost during this baffling scientific crisis.

They say you should never meddle with things you don't understand and that adage would certainly be applicable to the dark mirror dimension. The scientists in question had opened Pandora's Box but putting the lid back on proved to be a complex and dangerous task at the best of times let alone the worst. The mirror dimension proved to be a puzzle beyond our understanding and we are fortunate that the crisis was eventually quashed before it got completely out of hand and threatened the civilian population at large.

The rift or portal between our own reality and the dark mirror dimension was opened unwittingly. The scientists did not intentionally set out to find a mirror dimension but when evidence of this alternate reality began to become apparent to them it naturally became one of their main priorities - though they were still sadly engaged with other matters too which constricted their scientific exploration. The discovery of the parallel dimension was an unpredicted by-product of attempts by scientists to conduct remote viewing experiments with the aim of spying on the Soviet Union.

Remote viewing (RV) is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen subject, sensing only with the mind. The advantage of this ability is that one doesn't need to place a spy in enemy territory (with the attendant risks and complexity of such missions). The 'spy' can simply listen in on the enemy from a secure and safe location thousands of miles away. The scientific project in this case was dark indeed because there is plenty of evidence that the test subjects were being trained with a view to becoming 'remote' assassins. One can see how valuable such an ability would be to military and intelligence agencies at a time of high tension and a Cold War.

The mysterious, puzzling, and highly classified events which took place in a small Indiana town in the 1980s remain largely on a need to know basis. Documents were highly classified and in many cases shredded. Only a handful of civilians were aware of what was really happening. Some of these civilians died in the dimensional battles which took place and others survived. The one thing they had in common was that they all displayed great bravery in rising to meet the fantastical and frightening threat posed by the dark mirror world to their town. If you are to survive a dimensional crisis then you will need to be equally brave and determined and be well aware of the grave danger which will await. In the chapters that follow we shall endeavour to equip you with the information and strategies you will need if you are to have any hope of survival.

The mirror dimension was detected when a child test subject with special abilities made contact with an unknown creature in the 'void' (essentially an internal mental landscape akin to astral projection) during one of her sensory deprivation water tank Cold War remote viewing missions at the Hawkins National Laboratory. * I shall not dwell on the ethics concerning the exploitation of the test subject's powers and her general treatment - except to say that her confinement and allocated military duties would rightly not be considered acceptable for a child today. The scientists seemed to regard her as a highly dangerous weapon who needed to be kept away from the real world. This is what you might reasonably describe as a strategy at risk of becoming a self fulfilling prophecy.

The test subject at the secret laboratory had incredible abilities related to psychokinesis. Psychokinesis or telekinesis is a psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Little is known about the chief scientist at the lab who presided over the experiments relating to the test subject. Much of the information relating to his activities was burned and destroyed many years ago. The scientist is question was clearly (and understandably) intrigued by this remarkable (if baffling) new dimensional discovery and his scientific curiosity compelled him to investigate further. In mitigation, any scientist in his position would probably have done the same. One would feel justified in stating though that many of them would assuredly not have approved of his methods.

As a consequence of exploration, the test subject was asked to make further contact with the inexplicable and mysterious creature she had sighted in the void. Her terror at this fresh contact unleashed a tremendous surge of energy in the lab, overloaded the systems, and somehow opened a rift between our world and the mirror dimension in the form of a biological portal at the lab. As far as one can discern, this was the moment when we realised that a new field of science had been right there next to us all along. The existence of alternate dimensions was no longer merely a scientific theory of the speculative kind or pure science fiction. It was now a proven fact.

The dimensional rift which had opened appeared like a slime drenched fungus or decayed blackish vine around a lopsided doorway. In this case it was a most extraordinary doorway because it provided a passage to another dimension. The exact circumstances in which the rift opened were confined to top secret reports. It is believed that huge cracks in the lab walls began to appear before the actual portal became apparent. The human test subject generated incredible levels of energy in her terror and, as we shall discuss later, certain creatures of the mirror dimension appear to generate energy individually for the purposes of opening smaller portals. This surge of energy all somehow fused together and created a 'super portal' at the lab.

While the scientists involved in this specific mystery were intrigued and perhaps even excited by their unexpected discovery they had forgotten one important detail. They had discovered the existence of a portal to an alternate dimension but the creatures of this alternate dimension had now ALSO discovered our reality. This was decidedly not a welcome development because they were far from friendly. The entities and creatures native to the mirror dimension saw us as something to be destroyed and exterminated. They saw our reality as a place to hunt and terrify. The higher entity of this dark echo dimension wanted nothing less than to invade and conquer our world. In a worst case scenario, the scientists in Indiana had potentially placed us all in great peril and risked the end of the world. Little wonder then that they went to such great lengths to keep all of this fantastical activity a secret.

The scientists who discovered this dimension tended to refer to it as the Nether although, for reasons we shall later explain, it eventually became more commonly known as the Upside Down. Attempts by the scientists to study and explore this mirror dimension proved to near impossible. Their complete lack of knowledge concerning the mystery dimension was an obvious weakness and this strange realm turned out to be an unforgiving and coldly indifferent place of danger and despair. Hazmat suited scientists were swiftly killed when they ventured inside and instrument readings concerning the nature of this alternate reality were so unreliable they rendered any attempt to make sense of this new frontier frustratingly vague. The inhabitants of the mirror dimension did like uninvited guests. Any interloper in their reality could expect their odds of a long happy life to be considerably shortened the moment they set foot in the Nether.

The Upside Down aka Nether is a murky mist shrouded lonely dimension of gloom and despair where all is dark and decayed. One scientist was known to refer to it as the Nightmare World. Reading the data and examining the files on the Nether, one can see why. This was a Hellscape full of unfathomable bizarre science and unpredictable danger. The Nether's visual appearance is rather akin to what we would imagine a city to look like in the aftermath of a nuclear war. All is abandoned, covered in decayed roots and vines, and festooned with dirt, ash, and debris. There are signs of human life in that you'll see empty shops and ruined cars but there are no people anywhere. Only the monstrous creatures of the Nether. As we shall later see, this has given rise to nuclear theories concerning the origin of the mirror dimension.

Visibility inside the mirror dimension is very poor due to the presence of thick mist, dust, and spores. It is rather like being trapped in fog. Danger can lurk anywhere and everywhere and the poor visibility obviously makes detecting any potential danger considerably more difficult. The scientists who opened the rift soon learned that any attempt to explore this new dimension should only be undertaken with extreme caution. Your chances of survival inside the Nether will depend on how prepared you are for this decayed and grim mirror world. If you know nothing of the Nether and have no essential supplies nor a workable strategy then your chances of survival are precisely zero. The keys to your survival are your preparedness and tactics. You must maintain a high state of readiness during a Nether crisis and be able to cope with even the most extreme circumstances.

If you have the right equipment and tactics then - contrary to most available evidence - it is possible to survive the Nether but it certainly won't be easy in the slightest. There will variables that you can't account for and even the most prepared and brave person will need some luck to be on their side. Take heart though from the fact that a trip to the Nether doesn't necessarily have to be a death sentence. In the document that follows we shall discuss some of the ways in which you can survive and vanquish Nether related trouble in your vicinity. This will naturally include tips on survival in the mirror dimension.

An important thing to remind one of straight away is that a gung ho approach to Nether related trouble is not advisable. There are times when you will have to fight or go on the offensive but in order to survive you must equally use stealth, strategy, and even tactical retreats. It is intelligence that will ultimately defeat the threat of the Nether rather than brute force. The military have attempted to engage the creatures of the Nether in direct combat (most notably in 1984) but this skirmish did not go well for our dimension. Suffice to say the soldiers who took part in this limited action did not live to tell the tale.

If you find yourself in this strange and unsettling dark mirror dimension the most immediate problem you will face is the hazardous and toxic atmosphere. All scientific data collected on the mirror dimension indicates that the flora and atmosphere of the Nether is toxic and harmful to humans. You will be able to breathe but as the air is fetid and filled with dust, each hour you spend in the Nether will affect your respiratory system and make you feel progressively more sick and weak. The atmosphere inside the Nether will extract a heavy toll should one be exposed to it for an extended period. This is decidedly not a place that you want to be in for very long. Your main priority then should be to avoid this fate and spend as LITTLE time in the Nether as possible.

If you find yourself in the Upside Down, finding an exit as soon as possible is the most important thing to do but your very first task should be to find something to cover your face with. Ideally you would want a hazmat suit but this is hardly practical and something the general public are unlikely to own or get hold of easily. It is advisable to carry a scarf or a bandana as these make suitable makeshift face coverings. A medical face mask (and replacements - as face masks are small, light, and easy to store in pockets) would also be an excellent item to have on you if your town faces Upside Down trouble. The important thing is to have some sort of face mask (be it professional or improvised) so that you can restrict the amount of polluted air going into your system and lungs.

Gloves are also highly recommended in the Nether because you want your skin to touch as little as possible in the Upside Down. Another useful item to carry into the Nether would be a pair of goggles. The Upside Down is toxic and full of spores and dust. Protecting your eyes in this environment makes very good sense. With a pair of goggles your vision will be better because you won't get dust in your eyes. With a face covering and goggles you presence in the Nether will be less taxing - though still difficult and fraught with risk. The important thing is that you'll be able to last for longer in the mirror dimension without harmful side-effects as you won't be taking so much polluted air and dust into your nose, mouth, and eyes.

The atmosphere of the Upside Down is very debilitating if one is exposed to it for a number of days. We know little about the toxins and fungi of the Upside Down but it is safe to say that exposure to these elements is not recommended. Quite the opposite. You must restrict your exposure to these elements by covering up as much of yourself as you can. Think of the environment in the event of a nuclear war. The world around you would be devastated and the air would be laden with invisible fallout danger. The Nether presents a similar sort of scenario.

There is no precise medical or scientific data concerning survival rates in the Nether but it has been calculated that a human being (one without a hazmat suit at least) would only be able to last for a matter of days before the atmosphere and toxicity became too much for them. The longest that anyone has spent inside the Nether and survived is believed to be one week. By the end of this period the person in question was seriously ill and greatly fatigued and no longer had the energy to move. When they were rescued they had been incapacitated and connected to a tentacle like tendril native to the Nether dimension. As we shall discuss later, it could be that this tendril was keeping the human (which in this case was a male child) alive for a specific purpose. Such a fate is obviously one that you should seek to avoid at all costs.

Due to the poor visibility and dense mist in the Nether it is of vital importance to use markers to trace your route if you have to venture inside this mirror world. It would be logical to - if at all possible - make these markers luminous or phosphorescent so that they may be seen clearly even in the gloom of the Upside Down. This should make sure that you don't get lost and will find it relatively easy to (should this be necessary) trace your steps back to the way you came in. This does run the risk of attracting Nether creatures but it is probably a risk you may have to take because it is of vital importance that you do not become lost in the Nether. If you end up going round in circles then you are simply going to waste much needed energy and be far less likely to find any dimensional portal.

Marker flares may also be valuable inside the Nether. In short, anything that can mark your route will be a vital mapping tool in the mirror world. To state the obvious, it would be a disaster to become lost inside the Nether. You must therefore keep track of your bearings and mark your path. One advantage is that the mirror dimension (as that term implies) appears to be a facsimile of our reality. This means that prominent landmarks or buildings in our world should also occur (that is to say be PRESENT and exist) in the mirror dimension. One can therefore use local knowledge to maintain a sense of bearings.

The buildings you are familiar with in our reality will be decayed and derelict in the Nether but they will still essentially look the same and they should be located in the same place. If you should ever find yourself inside the Nether then make use of any buildings you are familiar with to maintain a sense of your exact location. This might require a bit of exploration but even if you are transplanted to a parallel version of your home area where there are few buildings you should eventually be able to find something familiar with you can then use as a focal point in deducing where exactly you are.

Once you've done this you can attempt to draw up a logical plan for where the nearest portal might be. A government facility (which you should be able to locate if you know where you are) or the last known location of a dimension hopping Demogorgon (a Nether creature we shall discuss in depth in a later chapter) would be the most plausible locations for any portal back to our own reality. If a strange murder has occurred in your town in our own dimension then this may also lead to a dimensional rip opening. Go to the place in the Upside Down where this murder happened to check for a portal. If you stay calm and apply logical thinking to your situation (however fantastical and alarming that situation might be) then you will be able to cope much better with the awful circumstances of Nether related danger.

If you ever find yourself in the unfortunate and dangerous position of being inside the Nether then your main priority will be to find a way to get back to our own reality as quickly as possible. This is not a task that is guaranteed to be easy though. Field studies indicate that your escape from the Upside Down may well be affected by the circumstances of how you ended up here in the first place. Secret government files indicate that in 1983 a female teenager in Indiana entered the Upside Down through a tree stump portal in the woods. She thankfully managed to get back to our reality again through this portal in relatively quick time and so spent only a matter of minutes in the Nether. You must be prepared for the eventuality that you might not be so lucky as regards the amount of time you spend in the mirror dimension.

The female teenager in question was aided in escaping from the Nether by her friend pulling her back to our reality through the tree portal. She was also fortunate that the portal through which she entered the Upside Down was still open and close at hand. As we shall see, many portals do not stay open indefinitely. They are essentially like wounds in our dimension and, as any doctor will tell you, wounds eventually close and heal over time.

The female teenager is believed to have gone through the portal because she was searching for a friend who had been missing for a number of days. While you might describe her behaviour as foolhardy and not terribly sensible one can understand that she was desperate to find her friend and so seized the chance to go through the portal - despite the obvious risks and unknown factors. You may have a similar difficult decision to make should you find yourself in the middle of a dimensional crisis.

There is some vague evidence that a boy who was trapped in the Upside Down at the same time distracted a creature who was about to attack the female teenager in the Nether. The boy apparently distracted the creature with a rock - which he threw as a diversion. She was unaware of this intervention but it could well be that the boy's actions saved her life that day. She had a degree of luck that day which you can't expect to enjoy yourself. Portals between our world and the Nether vary in size and are not always consistently uniform in appearance. Sometimes they will appear to glow and pulsate - which could obviously be of assistance in trying to find one. Reports indicate that portals are sometimes reddish and usually have black roots or vines.

One common factor with mirror dimension portals is a preponderance of slime and an icky organic residue around the portal rift. Fungi like growth and tendrils may be apparent. The mirror dimension portals can be quite disgusting if one is being honest and sometimes a thick membrane will have to be broken in order for you to get through the portal barrier between our reality and the mirror dimension. You can not afford to be squeamish when it comes to the icky biological reality of portals. If you find one you will have to accept that you are liable to end up covered in slime and unpleasant Nether matter. It will be a very small price to pay though for a quick passage home to our reality.

The important thing to note is that portals do not come in one standard design. You never quite know what you are going to get or where they might appear (there has even been an instance of a portal appearing on a ceiling in a trailer park). You must quickly learn how to deduce what might be a portal. Look for a slime drenched doorway (of sorts - this doorway will obviously be of an irregular shape) or anything that appears to present an exit from the shadow dimension.

If your town experiences an Upside Down incident then you should hope that portals in the vicinity are limited in number. If there are many portals then you shall be exposed to more danger and your task will be more complex. A multitude of portals might give you more options in escaping from the Nether but this also means that more Nether creatures will be present in the vicinity and (alarmingly) our reality. The government authorities (which in this case naturally tend to be clandestine branches of the political system and highly covert) go to great lengths to contain these portals and keep their existence as secret as possible.

This secrecy is, in the case of the Nether, allegedly done in the interests of public safety. ** Those civilians who were involved in the initial Indiana incidents might regard that claim with some degree of cynicism. There is certainly evidence that the local authorities did not seem to have public safety as their overwhelming priority in the Indiana incidents we have alluded to. There is worrying evidence too that secret government agencies were prepared to kill to keep the dimensional rift a secret. Such actions obviously can't be condoned - even if the government figures in question might argue they were acting in the greater good. The safety of the public should always be the number one priority of the government.

We will discuss these matters in later chapters but you should always be aware that government agencies are to be regarded with a generous degree of suspicion in a Nether crisis. You should be wary of them and only have dealings with government figures you feel you can trust. Not all covert government officials will be obvious villains. Some of them will be decent and concerned with public safety. It is up to you (should you be placed in a situation where you have contact with a government body) to work out who can be trusted and (most importantly) who can't be trusted.

It has proven to be highly dangerous even for heavily armed soldiers and trained scientists in protective suits to enter the Nether and so the risk factor would obviously be even higher for a civilian with no military training and no protective or scientific equipment. The body count concerning the Nether and scientists and soldiers is classified and not on any official records but we suspect it might run into the dozens. The question of whether these deaths could have been avoided is beyond the scope of this document to accurately assess. Only the respective chief scientists and military officers involved in these tragic incidents would know the true answer to that.

It is therefore, given the grim statistics concerning fatalities relating to the Nether, advisable not to enter one of these dimensional portals if you can avoid doing so. The Nether is a place you must only go as a last resort. Clearly though, there are circumstances where civilians have ended up in the Nether through no fault nor intention of their own. If this happens to you one key piece of advice is not to panic. One must remain calm and clear headed. You need to be able to make logical and rational decisions and one can only do this if you remain calm. You must also conserve your energy.

If you MUST voluntarily enter the Nether (you may, for example, regard it to be the only way to save a friend and so feel that you have no choice but to enter the mirror dimension) you are advised - if possible - to do so only when you have assembled a team which has adequate protective clothing and face coverings. You should ideally make sure that your team is armed and contains members who have some weapons training and first aid knowledge. A first aid kit is also an essential - as is some water. The dangers of the Nether can never be eliminated but they can at least be mitigated somewhat with the right tactics and teamwork.

One must concede though that there is a strong possibility you may end up in the Nether alone with your colleagues left back in our own dimension. This is not ideal but it is not necessarily the end any hopes of survival. There have been lone survivors in the Nether before. You must be prepared for this scenario because during a dimensional crisis there is always a chance that it may arise and you may find yourself alone in the mirror world. There have been at least four cases where people ended up in the Nether alone. Three survived and one perished. While these are encouraging statistics one should remember that in two of these cases the survivors were only in the Nether for a matter of minutes.

It appears that finding oneself in the Upside Down is more problematic if one is zapped (for want of a better word) there in the manner that the girl test subject at the lab and the boy in Indiana were in 1983. The test subject was fortunate in that she was able to quickly locate the portal which the Demogorgon had used to enter the school (the school in OUR reality that is) in the Indiana town where all this trouble took place. She, as far as we can tell from the resulting structural damage report filed by the middle school in question, used her powers to dislodge brick and rubble - thus making the portal easier (though still not especially pleasant) to access as a means to get back to our dimension.

This was the second instance in which someone had entered the Nether but been fortunate enough to not be there for very long at all. As we have noted, it would be a mistake to assume that you might have an equally brief stay in the Nether. One would hope this is the case but you can't take it for granted that this will transpire. You must be prepared for all eventualities. It is believed the young girl with a mastery of telekinesis ended up

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