To Light a Candle

To Light a Candle is the first Fear Mythos blog written by Proxiehunter. It revolves around Jcarlson (real name: James Phillip Carlson), an elementary school teacher who struggles with the responsibility of teaching an entire classroom of third graders by himself. As one of the people who watched television show known as Candle Cove during his childhood, he is shocked to hear that such a dark show is still airing on TV and decides to catch a few episodes out of curiosity. However, what starts out as a trip down memory lane quickly becomes a nightmare when one of his students goes missing.

Candle Cove
The story starts off as a run-of-the-mill blog where James Carlson gripes about the difficulties of being a teacher. However, after overhearing a student talking about Candle Cove, he decides to watch the show for the first time since his childhood. After several days of searching, he finally discovers new episodes of the show on a channel called Tower TV. At this point, he uses the blog to provide short synopsizes of each episode, which are all part of an ongoing storyline where Pirate Percy is searching for a brand new Janice after the last one went missing.

In order to find her, Pirate Percy visits the Lords and Ladies of the Realm and asks each one where he can find a replacment Janice. The episodes introduce a variety of new characters to the show, including The Triangle Man, The Frozen Prince, Mr. Bird Man, and Mr. Smiles. In the final episode, a battle breaks out between Percy and the Skin-Taker over Janice that is ended abruptly when Horace Horrible accidently hits his master with a club. With both of his opponents distracted, Percy takes this opportunity to escape and comes across The Birch Man, who gives him a modern day map marked with a strange symbol, indicating the precise location of the new Janice.

A few days later, Jcarlson reveals that one of his students, Janice Jasinski, has gone missing from her home without a trace. Pirate Percy comments on the blog shortly afterwards in order to assure Jcarlson that Janice is safe and is currently with him. Carlson immediately dismisses Percy as a troll and threatens to call the police on him. Later that day, Carlson receives an SD card in the mail with a video that shows Janice being forced to go aboard Laughingstock by The Wooden Girl's invisible strings. Carlson later uploads the video onto YouTube, which turns out to be nothing more than static to anyone who watches it besides him, including the police.

Omega
Determined to find Janice at any cost necessary, Carlson learns about the Fears existence through the links given to him by his followers and starts researching the production history of Candle Cove. He decides to start his investigation in Ashland, Ohio where he has a chance encounter with Omega in a grocery store parking lot, who saves him from being murdered by a Doll. The two of them decide to stick together and Jcarlson finds his first substantial lead in the form of a biographical book called Candle Cove Experiences: Tales of the Laughingstock. After several failed attempts, Carlson manages to contact Jodie Lewis (one of the actresses that played Janice) and convinces her to meet him at a coffee shop for an interview. Unfortunately, the interview is cut short when Jodie leaves due to the terrible memories associated with the show before Carlson can learn anything new.

Jcarlson returns to his hotel room after watching a Tower TV broadcast involving Janice and the Cold Boy, only to discover that Omega has been killed by The Skin-Taker. He is then forced to dismember his fallen ally even further when the Wooden Girl assumes control over Omega's corpse. Knowing that his emotions have been compromised, the Skin-Taker goads Jcarlson into a fight through a note he left at the crime scene. Fueled by his desire for revenge, he goes to the address Skin-Taker provided and is ambushed by a swarm of Dolls in a building called The Geppetto Corporation. After making sure each one is dead, he escapes and drowns his sorrows in alcohol. Carlson suspects that the trap was meant to break him, which appears to have succeeded.

The Crossroads of Trials
In an attempt to get over his guilt over his previous actions, Jcarlson continues his search for Janice. He gets sucked into The Crossroad of Trials as he drives and ends up wandering the strange domain until he find four signs pointing in four directions: Hardship, Tribulations, Woe, and Ordeals. He picks ordeals, resulting in vision of Janice scolding him for not doing enough to save her. In a last ditch effort to get him to give up, The Crossroad tempts him with more alcohol. In spite of his tremendous guilt, Jcarlson successfully resists his desire to drink.

As Jcarlson proceeds to find a way out of the Crossroads, he makes his way to a psychiatric hospital called Shady Lawn and is quickly institutionalized by the orderlies working there. As the latest patient of Dr. Beakman, Carlson is told that his journey was merely a fantasy he created in order to deal with the guilt he felt from harming Janice during a psychotic break. After meeting another inmate that is aware of their imprisonment, he stops taking the medicine his doctors prescribed him and the two of them start developing an escape plan. The two of them start a riot during lunch hour that distracts the orderlies long enough for them to get weapons. They escape in the ensuing chaos and start traversing the Crossroad of Trials in search of a way back to Earth. Despite Carlson's warnings, his newfound ally decides to give in to the Crossroads temptations and gets burnt to death.

Finale
Having overcome every obstacle the Crossroad had to offer him, it deems Jcarlson to be worthy and helps him in his quest to save Janice by sending him to The Screaming Tower. There he finds Janice being held captive by The Wooden Girl, who orders the Candle Cove cast to attack him. Using what little free will he has left, Percy kills Horrible Horace and sets Janice free. Meanwhile, the Skin-Taker and Carlson engage in a short swordfight which Carlson manages to win thanks to the Skin-Taker being too consumed by his anger to think straight. Unable to control Janice due to Pirate Percy's interference, The Wooden Girl takes control over him instead and attempts to kill her. Carlson quickly intervenes and realizes that his battle with Percy is distracting the Wooden Girl long enough to give him back some control over his body. With this in mind, the two of them prolong the battle long enough for a Door to The Empty City to manifest. As Janice enters the Empty City, Carlson finally defeats and kills Pirate Percy with one final blow. Enraged at the loss of three servants, the Wooden Girl punishes Carlson by making him the new Pirate Percy and forces him to search the world for yet another Janice, repeating the cycle.

Trivia

 * To Light a Candle indirectly crossed over with The Jeanette Experience during the Candle Cove story arc in What The Fuck Did I Just Watch, where Jeanette Cotton and Chelsea Balisong watched an episode Jcarlson missed that involved The Smiling Man telling Pirate Percy to ask The Slender Man for assistance.