BEN Drowned part 3

Being alone in a game is a normal occurence, even in Majora's Mask you are mainly alone as you cross the fields of Termina but then again you are usually with Epona (the horse). But for Alex Hall the isolation he felt in Clock Town, where we left him last time, made him feel personally threatened. How? That will be answered in a later post but for now his main concern was his mental state as things in Clock Town went from creepy to absolutely terrifying.

As Alex explored Clock Town the Song of Healing began to play, only this time it was backwards and on constant loop. Another sound that Alex noticed was the faint but undeniable laugh of the Happy Mask Salesman (an NPC in the game who sells the player masks). Alex decided to find the Happy Mask Salesman, hoping that he was not truly alone, he explored the entire town finding only missing textures. The Song of Healing was still playing as well as the distant laughing Alex tried to leave Clock Town but every time he tried to leave he was placed in another section of Clock Town. He then tried playing the Ocarina playing the Song of Soaring and the Song of Time but both times the same message appeared: "Your notes echo far, but nothing happens". Then Alex decided his only chance of leaving was to kill himself (in the game of course!). He tried to submerged himself in the Laundry Pool but the game had other ideas...

As Alex approached the Laundry Pool the screen faded to white and, for a brief moment, Link's face was that of the Happy Mask Salesman as the Skull Kid's scream played in the background. The screen faded to white once more and Alex was now staring at a statue of Link. This statue can only be summoned through the Song of Elegy of Emptiness (the statues which are summoned this way resemble the dead in the game). Alex ran towards South Clock Town but the statue followed Alex as he fled. As Alex got further away the statue kept teleporting behind him.

As he kept running Link's arms kept flailing and he kept experiencing spasms, the screen kept fading and the Happy Mask Salesman kept appearing and laughing as Alex fled the statue. Alex tried to hide Swordmaster's Dojo in the hope to find an NPC. All Alex found was emptiness but the statue began to follow Alex in the Dojo. He was cornered as the statue approached him. Alex gave up, he waited for the statue to kill him, to hopefully end his torment. The screen faded once more to the Happy Mask Salesman once again as the statue continued towards Alex. Only this time the Happy Mak Salesman's face was on Link's and Link turned to face the camera, to face the real Alex. Link copied the statue but Alex fought against it and fled the Dojo as the statue continued to follow. It was a hopeless situation for Alex, the statue was going to kill him.

This is by no means the end for Alex though, the game is not finished with him yet and for now we'll end the story. For Alex, his nightmare is far from over but what about Ben? Over the three posts so far his role in the story is still not clear. He had a file, the old man from post one knew him but where does he really fit into all of this? I also told you last time that we will meet him in this post and we did but his identity (if you can't already guess) will be revealed in a much later post. So what horrors could this game still hold? Find out next time!

#majorasmask #BENDrowned