Splinter Cell Conviction: Archer's Downfall

Splinter Cell: Conviction was a Stealth/Action based game that came out in 2010. The game posed several new controversial features centering around action. This proved to aggravate many fans of the previous titles, due to the fact that the Stealth in Conviction was not up to par with the previous titles. I remember getting my hands on this, and pleasantly opening the case and putting the disc into my Pc. This game blew me away, and then they introduced a co-op mode to Conviction which was said to be a prequel to the campaign. This in turn made me spend my spare time playing it with joy, and then beating it. It featured two new characters, Archer and Kestrel. Archer being an American Third-Echelon agent, and Kestrel being a Russian Voron agent. I loved Archer more personally. This may come as a spoiler to some, but unfortunately Archer and Kestrel received orders to take each other out during the final mission. I never forgot the look of confusion and anxiety Archer had on his face when he received the order before he sprung into action. Which then lead to his ultimate demise. Many years later until recently I found out that in the second mission of the campaign "Kobin's Mansion", Archers body can be found in the lobby of the mansion. Regrettably this was the start of my morbid adventure. Upon starting the mission, I quickly made my way down the city streets and traveled towards the mansion. As I jumped in through a window entering the building, I soon made my way towards the door in front of me overhearing the gangsters conversation. "So what are we suppose to do with these", "drag 'em to the back courtyard, let someone else dump them". As soon as those words entered my ears, I realized that the body must have been right there. I sat up straight intently on my chair knowing I would have to kill everyone in the premises in order to get a nice investigation going. Once that was said and done with, I sighed after a nice job well done while crouch walking down the stairs to the dead bodies. I then found Archer's body. He was covered in blood laid against a bunch of crates, in front of a statue. "Rest in peace Archer" I thought as I went to go use the bathroom. Upon coming back there was a black text prompt with red words which contained "Archer's Downfall" asking me if I wanted to engage or disengaged. This gave an eerie feeling as I slowly moved the mouse over to click engage. From there I found my self as Archer wearing the same clothes he did on the last co-op mission before he died. He even had the same bullet holes, that soaked his shirt in blood before he died. This of course baffled my tiny mind. "What is this"? My curiosity overpowered my lingering distrust for this. I was in a hallway, and the black/gray effect that occurs in the shadows was instead a tint of purple and red. Moving forward in a crouched motion another text prompt appeared that contained Archer questioning the situation. "where am I" he spoke. As I stood up and walked, the walls soon expanded and there was just a void of red and purple. Which soon faded into the normal shadow effect. After some time walking there was a cheap sound effect of crows cawing. This was most likely a reference to the first co op mission where crows could be seen flying in the air. Then as time went by there were the echoing sounds of Archer's cruel one liners he made during the course of the story line as he took the enemies lives. During that time a text prompt appeared where Archer asked, "What's happening? Am I in hell"? After walking for some more time in the dark void the darkness soon brightened up a tad bit revealing the dark outlines of the cargo boxes, stairways, and railings from the plane which was the setting of the last co-op mission. At this point I was legitimately spooked. I was beginning to worry what was at the end of the dark void or if there even was an end. From then on the game stopped making me walk, and forced me to run. Following that, there was a low ringing noise that caused minor pain to my ears, which lasted for a few seconds. Moving down further into the dark mist, past all the visible cargo boxes, it seemed like an endless void. The game to my dismay started playing the pre-death sounds which basically signified that you were close to dying. The sound of the heart beat was different in that it was echoing, and it would would take several seconds before the next beat could be heard. Second after second, foot step after foot step this continued until Archer came to a stop. There was a circle of light appeared Archer, and everything else was black. Archer slowly crouched down on one knee, as if he was in the cover animation and the game echoed his last words. "it is... as it is moi droog". Archer then slowly got up and the camera then zoomed way out. Archer was just an outline at this point, and in the darkness the words "Ascend into the light" appeared in the games classic white font. A black pipe took form, and I was then able to climb it. The camera from this far made it appear as if it was going to take forever to reach the top, but fortunately it only took about a minute. Beyond that the screen then panned to a cut scene in slowmotion, it was kestrel closing Archer's eye lids with no sound. The screen slowly faded to white, but it didn't painfully blind me. It was more peaceful than an annoyance. My pc restarted and went back to normal. I had so many questions "was Archer frozen in time in some weird purgatory, and would he have never reached peace if Kestrel didn't close his eyes"? Was this some sort of last minute thing secretly coded in by one of the devs? I refrained from all this confusion, and decided to just take pleasure in Archer having a peaceful end. All I could say now is rest in peace Archer, you may have been known for a short amount of time, but you will always be remembered as one of the greats.