(font:'ubuntomono-regular')[You are waking up, leaving the dark caverns of sleep. As physical sensation returns to you your face feels dry, crusty, and your throat aches. In your final few precious minutes of rest, you dream of a creation myth, which is a thing normal people dream of, I promise. --- Dots wanted to be closer to his (partner/lover/sister/sibling). He tried everything. They would fight. He would say "I want to understand you. I need to understand something inherent about you. We're not close. I need to understand you." So Dots toiled and worked for a gift. He wove an enormous carpet and put it in their home. He hoped that they could bond, so that he could finally understand someone's (inherency/bonemarrow/logic/motivation). The carpet was not recieved well. It was considered (mundane/boring/uninspired). Dots felt a rage looking into the eyes of (partner/lover/sister/sibling). There was an aloofness, a distance in them. In a rush of (adoration/rage/hatred/love/logic) Dots ran his arm through the stomach of (partner/lover/sister/sibling). Blood was all over the carpet, soaking in. And it left stains of shapes, lines, words. A (diagram/logic/plan). To Dots it made sense in a way nothing ever had before. He felt understanding and closeness. But it wasn't finished. There was more sense to make. So he kept going, in, out, in, out, until the world was soaked in logic. --- [[Cease to ignore the twitching in your eyes and wake up.->Wake up.]]](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[Every day at the speartip of the morning you drag yourself off your scratchy mattress. Your apartment is moldy and green. There's nothing in the fridge except some old cereal. Once you've eaten you leave to work with Chopper. At the bottom of your building is a large dark room made of stone. At its centre a tall man with grey skin cuts things into squares forever. He tells you what to do every day. [[Talk to Chopper.]]] (font:'ubuntomono-regular')[You both make an awkward exchange of greetings on top of eachother. You notice and he doesn't. "Hey," you say, trying to ignore the sound of his knife against the metal table, like a bell. He grunts. "Ah. You're not with me today." He looks up at you. "What?" "Ducks wanna talk to you." You blink at him. He looks into the dirty yellow of your eyes. In a secret part of himself, a gooey center of euphoria in the depths of his stomach, he imagines cutting into them. "Sorry," he quickly remembers himself and starts talking official, "NYXXYNYXN has requested your presence." [[Stand there, look at him, stunned.]] [[Fill the awkward silence.->Stand there, look at him, stunned.]]] (font:'ubuntomono-regular')[Before you can respond he clears his throat. "Anyway. See you tomorrow, yeah?" You're off to the top of the building to see the boss. You've never met them before and you don't even know what they look like. //TUTORIAL MESSAGE: You can click on yellow words to see the definition of them, and click them again to revert them. This is optional and the game will never necessitate you do it but it's worth learning the concepts so you can understand the work.// On the long lift up you reflect on this place. You're in (cycling-link:"Bricks", "Bricks (half-council housing and half multi-purpose working space. You're given an unpaid job in exchange for a place to live and food three days of the week)"), which is in (cycling-link:"Mund","Mund (a large village known for an aging and quiet population)") which is in (cycling-link: "Mound","Mound (a large hill made mostly of wet grass, and the poorest settlement)") which is in the middle-left of the (cycling-link: "World.", "World (a flat, rectangular celestial object bound to no solar system or planetoid).") Before you know it you're at the top. The lift dings. [[Enter the deluxe office suite.]]] (font:'ubuntomono-regular')+(css: "font-size: 100%")+(align:"=><=")[Chloranthy noun the abnormal development of floral parts into leafy structures.] (font:'ubuntomono-regular')+(align:"=><=")[Once you've finished with this work, please press the restart button in the top left to give the next person the best experience. [[Click here to start.]]] (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] (set:$izrentimer to 0) (set: $riverknightwounded to 0) (set: $aureate to 0) (font:'ubuntomono-regular')[It's a room with blacked out windows for walls and one swivel chair in the centre with a red circle painted around it. Nobody else is here, so you presume that the boss is going to communicate with you through your (cycling-link:"Logic.", "Logic (the basic fundamental principle the World runs on, and an internal organ in all People that governs the body's communication, thought, motivation and physical vitality. Without your Logic, you die.)") You sit in the chair and the call starts. A smiling voice reverberates through your body. "Hi. Hi, can you hear me? Hi. Hi. Can you see me? Hi." "Hi. I can't see you." You respond. "Oh, my camera's off, hold on." You hear a *click* and then an image forces its way into your mind. It's bright, shifting, multiple pieces clicking into place. Too many to look at all at once. (t8n:"shudder")+(t8n-time:3s)+(link-replace:"Try and perceive it all.")[<img src="chloranthyimages/duckies.jpg" width=1000px> You are stunned into silence by the imagery. Shapes, colours, letters orbit you. And at the centre of it all two ducks walk in sync.]][(font:'ubuntomono-regular')[The Meadow Of Warring Birds is a satellite planetoid once separate to THE WORLD which is now half-buried in its woven soil. Living on the unburied half are the Seven Aureate, avian creatures constantly flighting for territory. Their golden wings are as sharp as any blade and twice as ornamental. The Aureate are prideful, each of them laying claim to the entire territory of The Meadow yet only having true control over a section of it. Under each Aureate live their peasants, relying on them for protection and providing manual labour in return. Though the peasants must choose wisely the Aureate in which to put their faith, because an Aureate's fall likely spells doom for those who live under them. Pooling at the base of the ultramarine semisphere is crimson blood from which flowers and weeds have grown. The morning dew that rests upon their petals and leaves is known to gently whisper of another world, a realm of deep seas and bleeding leviathans coated in loose bulbous flesh and darkened eyes. --- Diagramfall is where calcified Logics go. In most cases, when a person dies, their Logic will quickly dry of blood and grind to bone meal, becoming nothing notable. But when one has achieved Entelechy, their Logic calcifies and begins to freeze the world around them. An Entelechied Logic is so far known to be unbreakable, and will eventually grow into a new society if left unchecked, cutting away all other possibilities. Given there is no more space for another major civilisation, there is an unspoken agreement between all civilisations to dispose of all new Entelechied Logics in Diagramfall, a designated dump-tower of unbreakable convictions. There are theories, however, that this many in one place will create something altogether new. --- Rivertower is the largest and most prosperous civilisation in THE WORLD. Its majestic maggot people each hold a piece of the Entelechied Logic it was founded on in their bellies as they billow around, taken by cooling wind to their next destination. Somewhere at the near-peak of Rivertower is one section of the core logic that the civilisation came from, stored in a high-security vault. The foundation of the tower holds the rest, bulging and fit to burst with the knotted mess of hard stone it guards, eternally in its third trimester. To acquire this logic would be to eat an ideology thousands of years strong, acquire its convictions, and become a civilisation more prosperous than any other. Thus all major civilisations vie for this invaluable power. To have it, in combination with their own ideology, would be to conquer THE WORLD. Because of this, 65 CHLORANTHY is right at the base of Rivertower.(font:'ubuntomono-regular')[You're tentatively following a group you don't want to be with, in a place you don't want to be, doing things you don't want to do. Two months ago you were at home in (cycling-link:"Arm Cutoff Mundus", "Arm Cutoff Mundus (the poorest region in THE WORLD located at the upper left corner of the map. Nobody knows why it's called that.)") with your scratchy mattress and empty fridge. You fell and slipped in the bathroom and broke a bone in your (cycling-link:"Logic.", "Logic (an internal organ in all people that governs the body's communication, thought, motivation, vitality, basic function and literal structure. Think a combination of bones, heart, lungs and brain. Every person's Logic looks different, and without your Logic, you die.)") //[You can click a yellow link to learn more information about something, and click it again to revert it.]// Paramedics had to register you on their records to help you, which meant they could see you had dodged conscription, and so the hospital had to inform the military. They gave you two options: Pay a fine or fight for four years. You didn't have any money, so you had no choice. [[In the present...]]](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[The people you are following are the squad assigned to you. One is quick, one is tough, and one is clever. You were all given a shotel for basic defence, not taught how to use it, and told to meet forces from Rivertower at a specific spot for a scheduled duel. Whoever wins wins territory. The spot is right on the edge of (cycling-link:"65 CHLORANTHY.", "65 CHLORANTHY, (the greatest site of battle in THE WORLD and the home of the oldest Entelechied Logic. While the person this Logic came from is forgotten, their legacy has calcified into the most important place for all global conflicts. There is no other possibility in 65 CHLORANTHY than violence; all potential for change has been frozen.)") You approach the duel, and see two elite maggot-knights waiting for you, each fat with muscle, clad in iron armour, easily holding silver greatswords in their offhands and able to swim through the air as if it's water. This is but two of an extremely prestigious order of knights which only the greatest warriors in Rivertower are permitted to access. Your group attempts to put up a fight, but they literally fly circles around you, soaring through the air and swooping through your group, once, twice, thrice. And on each swoop one of your teammates is cut down. [[Run!->Maggot]] [[Fight!->Maggot]]](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[Fear takes over your body and you run, the corpses of your squad silent but for the trinkling of their blood. You can hear them soaring through the air behind you, closer, closer, until you feel metal on your back. One of them pushes you, laughing, and you're off your feet, tumbling over the ground, down, down, down a hill - no, something much steeper. Down into the depths of fabric. [[Fall.]]](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[You smack hard against cold stone after a long fall. Surprised at the lack of death, you look around and see a wide cavern of black-blue rock with seven exits. Something in your memory stirs; you know where you are. At the beginning THE WORLD was a endless gray tapestry, and everyone's Logics were their own, in their stomachs. But a particularly strong conviction will grow, and grow, until it is too large for any one person to hold within them. This is called an Entelechied Logic, and it will kill its owner, tearing their body apart from within. Then it will continue to branch and grow and harden until it is a stone network of meanings and beliefs large enough to walk through. Every major civilisation is built in or on an Entelechied Logic, and so their respective peoples live using the principles their home was literally built with. When a part of the world is claimed by an Entelechied Logic, it hardens to the point of being near-unbreakable, and thus loses all potential of becoming something else. 65 CHLORANTHY is the oldest Entelechied Logic, a Logic that preached war and physical strength, so it can never be anything else. All armies war for this place because... it is a place of war, that's what you do. There is no escape from ancient meaning. You do as a place decrees. You realise now that you have fallen deep into the hollow branches of 65 CHLORANTHY 's Logic, an ageless mess of meanings, beliefs, and arguments frozen into the fabric of reality. It cannot be anything *but* violence, it has been calcified into a tree of blades, and so you are a draft dodger surrounded by a place that not only houses killers but is their reason for existence. There are seven paths out of the cavern. [[Pick the first path.->Pick the third path.]] [[Pick the second path.->Pick the third path.]] [[Pick the third path.]] [[Pick the fourth path.->Pick the third path.]] [[Pick the fifth path.->Pick the third path.]] [[Pick the sixth path.->Pick the third path.]] [[Pick the seventh path.->Pick the third path.]]](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[You pick the third path. As you walk you feel a sting deep in your shoulder, where you hit it in the bathroom before. And now that you think of it, this fall landed you on your shoulder too. How is it not entirely broken? Your thoughts are interrupted by a little man. A small sniveler and wriggler. <img src='chloranthyimages/sniveler.png' width=200px> You tentatively approach him and say hello at the same time he says hello. After a horrible moment of silence he speaks again, intense purpose burning in his eyes, "Did you know, that, you can, um, with my eyes, you can, um, you can see all the, uh, all sides, of the triangle? All vertices of it. And so, and SOOOO I know, that you, you'll be enlivened by this place. Almost any, any, any wound will, um, um, heal. Look." He stabs you in the leg with a sharp rock. It's agony for a moment, but the pain fades quickly and then the wound is gone. Then he scampers away on all fours like he's Gollum. You don't want to ponder on this. You want to find a way out of here. (link-goto: "Start searching for a way out.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You enter a section of the Logic where water is rising. It's a) already up to your ankles, b) freezing and c) has removed all dryness from anywhere nearby, so you speed up. (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'explore', 'play')(track: 'explore', 'loop', true) As you move you realise this is essentially a very long, damp corridor. Something cold starts to grow in your chest; emboldened by its environment, it gestates well and achieves consciousness on schedule. Frigid hands grasp clumsily, eyes of frost blink for the first time. Its gelid fingertips find purchase on a bunch of sinews, and it learns to climb by doing it, making its clumsy way up into your throat and out of your body. A cold breath leaves you. Soon after the water gives way to stone, and you take a moment by the water to wait for your boots to dry. Then you (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))] (after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (set: $aureate to 1) (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'battle', 'play')(track: 'battle', 'loop', true) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...After six uneventful days of travelling through caves-so-similar-they-might-as-well-be-the-same, in which you never once felt hungry, you see your reflection in a puddle and realise you're missing an eye. Fresh blood leaks down your cheek and fills the complex patterns carved into your stone face. You still don't feel any pain and you're only now noticing a lack of vision. What's going on? How long has it been gone - are you just deteriorating by nature of being here? Is that how that works? Then you feel a presence behind you. Before you turn to look you know you're going to be annoyed. Something between muscle and bone, but deeper, more primordial than tendon, wakes up and alerts you that every single bit of your ancestors that remains in you is also about to be annoyed. Your DNA is telling you 'fucking hell.' Your progenitors are saying 'I'm so sorry.' The last universal common ancestor sighs in solidarity. Behind you is a tall figure swathed in wings. <img src='chloranthyimages/aureate.png' width=500px> You know this is an (cycling-link:"Aureate.", "Aureate. (lords who war for farmland territory and control of worker peasants on the underground Langdonberry Nights. Aureates are extremely quick and strong warriors who have cut canyons into the ground with their wings. It's very rare for an Aureate to leave Langdonberry Nights.)")(if: $riverknightwounded is 1)[ You wonder if it's the same one that killed the maggot from before.] It talks: "Why are you down here? I took your calcifying capacity as tithe for talking with me." "I didn't talk with you," you say, "and I fell down here." "You talked to me again. Another tithe." It moves a wing so quickly that the air peels open for just one moment, revealing something purple and cerebral and pulsing, another layer. Then the universe closes its wound immediately, quickly hiding what it is ashamed of. And then your vision is completely gone. Darkness. You hear the Aureate walk away, its metal on stone, both your eyes popped like berries between its sharp feather-fingers. You are on the ground, cold, nothing around you. You lay here for a long time, and then you feel a spark in the back of your head. Slowly, light comes back to you; your eyes have reformed themselves atom by atom. You remember what I said: this place defies death - it wants you alive. And you wonder if you even can die. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Get up, keep moving, and never talk to a rich person again.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))] (after: 500s)[(restart:)]"Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"(font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (masteraudio: 'stopall') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You make camp after a stressful day. This mostly consists of finding a hovel to curl up in. It's cold to the touch, but it's better that than to sleep out in the open. Your dark stone head against the rock of the floor makes a scraping sound that keeps two hours of sleep from you, but eventually exhaustion takes over. ... (text-style:"Blur")[...] (text-style:"Blurrier")[... They are asleep. EXHAUSTED EXHAUSTED EXHAUSTED we should torment them again yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes- YES JUST LIKE LAST TIME YES EAT THEIR LOGIC YES GROW FAT YES YES Such sadism. poor child doesnt know they dont know they are not cogniferous NOT COGNIFEROUS NOT COGNIFERIOUS NOT-] ! You wake up with a start. Something's wrong. Someone's talking. Someone's here. Silence flanks you. You lay awake, watching, for a long time. Your hand slowly creeps down to your sword, always at your hip. But nobody comes. And now you're too scared to sleep, so you get up and (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))] (after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You encounter nothing notable for a long time, and then you find a treasure chest. Leaking from its old boards is alluring golden light. (link: "Open the treasure chest?")[You decide not to open the treasure chest. Could be dangerous. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...Before you make your next turn you smell something awful. Slowing your pace, you hold your weapon close before peeking your head around the corner. It's two (cycling-link: "Outstretched Knights", "Outstretched Knights (Untalented grunts who will fight for any army that pays them.)") burning a pile of bodies. The smell intensifies, filling your skull with death-air. One of them brings a huge axe down on a limp arm, and you gasp without thinking. (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'battle', 'play')(track: 'battle', 'loop', true) They both turn to look at you. "Ey, ey, that's another infected!" One yells. "No, no, I'm not - what do you mean infected?" You reply. "Too far gone." The other says. "What do you fucking mean??? We don't have to fight!" But despite your protestations they are coming closer. You (link:"can fight or run.")[choose to fight! Branching Sword in hand, you approach them. One is thin and quick, with two daggers, and the other hangs back to support them with magic. Knife-logic soars all the way from the backline and past your head as you break into a run. You (link:"can go for the magic user or the knife user.")[go for the magic user! Moving quicker than you thought you could, you soar right past the rogue to face the mage. In response she writes a part of her thoughts into reality, and her internal logic made external says "go back." So you are flung backwards, but not before you throw your blade at her. It hits her chest, and she falls limp, dead, another body not far from the pile. Unfortunately for you, this series of events has left you on your back, right next to the rogue, weaponless. If only you'd picked another option. But death does not come. Instead you hear your opponent drop their weapons and weep for their comrade. They are on all fours beating the ground. They don't even care to kill you. Life doesn't seem to be worth living to them. Oops, you think, and take your sword with you when you leave. You wonder what they meant by 'infected'. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Oh well, no use dwelling on it.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You find a golden head built into the wall. It speaks to you; "I am Azzerius and I, for one, know the way out of here, Oi, Oi, Oi! I implore you to drink of my wisdom!" A way out - it seems your trials have come to an end! Type what you want to say to Azzerius below! (force-input-box:"=XXX=","fuck off man. i hate preachy people like you. like nobody even wants to talk to you. can you shut up? i don't want your fucking wisdom. fuck off.") (link:"Click here when you're done talking to Azzerius!")["O-oh." He says. "You... why did you... I see. Well, if that's how you feel... No, actually, no, how fucking dare you talk to me that way! FUCK you." He's crying. "I'M WORTH MORE THAN THIS!" And then he's gone. Why did you say that? That was your way out! (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Ignore your feelings and move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')+(background: black)[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You find a clearing with multiple exits. At the centre of the clearing is a fluffy brown dog with a half-open stomach. You can almost see its Logic through the blood. It yowls in pain. The wounds are bad but you might be able to save it. //The dog can join your party, and will eventually help in battles when nursed back to health. It will take a long time and a lot of resources, but will be worth it in the end.// You can... (t8n-time:2s)+(link-replace:"Help the dog.")[Actually, you decide not to do this.] (t8n-time:2s)+(link-replace:"Put the dog out of its misery.")[This would be too much for you.] (t8n-time:2s)+(link-replace:"Leave it alone.")[You decide to leave it alone and (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]](after: 300s)[(restart:)] (font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (masteraudio: 'stopall') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...There's silence for a long time until a voice calls out. It's excited, but a little apprehensive. You pause to hear it better. (link:"Listen closer...")[(track: 'callout', 'play') The distant sound repeats itself. This could be dangerous, but it could also be someone genuinely looking for a friend. You can... (link:"Go towards the sound...")[You decide against this - it could be dangerous.] (link:"Walk away from the sound...")[This is the best option, you think. You (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "keep moving.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]]](after: 300s)[(restart:)] (font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'battle', 'play')(track: 'battle', 'loop', true) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...Something red blocks your vision. <img src='chloranthyimages/eggpog.png'> Suddenly you are dwarfed by a figure too tall for one set of eyes. It is half-entombed in the dark rock of the wall, as if there was an enormous excavation project here that had to abruptly stop. It has no eyes, but you feel it is looking past you to take in the lands it rules. It has no ears, but you know it wouldn't pay attention to you anyway. It has no mouth, but you hear a rumbling in the back of your head... I AM BEYOND YOU it says, too powerful for quotation marks to control. MY EYES ARE INVISIBLE KNIVES; THEY CUT AWAY USELESS DISPUTES AND ARGUE FOR THE GREATER GOOD. MY EARS ARE INVISIBLE KNIVES; THEY CUT AWAY INEFFECTIVE LOGIC AND ONLY HEAR PRAGMATISM. MY MOUTH IS A VERY REAL KNIFE; MY WORDS KILL THE STUPID. I AM BEYOND YOU. AND YOU, NARRATOR, ARE PLAYING A CRUEL GAME. Oh, you mean me? No, no. This is our nature, Imperator. Difference is I'm still around. Nobody alive today remembers you. YOU ARE SMALL, THOUGHTFUL. I COMMANDED ARMIES. I WIELD SIMPLICITLY. Just try to cut me down to a triangle. I am endle- oh, I am sorry, my friend, this must be so confusing for you. It's just an old work acquaintance. I CAN TALK TO THEM TOO. //YOU FEEL TEETH GRINDING IN YOUR HEAD, A CHURNING PIT OF ANGRY SOUND.// No, no you don't feel that, I'm the narrator, for fuck's sake, get your own toy. //I DRAW MY REASONABLE SPEAR. I AM PRAGMATIC; I AM SIMPLE. THE SIGHT OF IT// no no shut up about the sight of it this is mine stop fucking intefering //THE SIGHT OF IT ALONE CUTS AWAY THE COMPLEXETIES IN YOUR MIND// no it doesn't, you're not a war god anymore, you're a statue, don't draw the blade, don't- <img src='chloranthyimages/dustsettle.png' width=1500px> //DEATHDEATHDEATHDEATHDEATHDEATH// god fucking DAMMIT is he SHRINKING we're leaving. now. click the red button. i'm not going to pretend you have a choice this time. (link:"Run away!")[COME BACK CHILD DRINK DEEP OF WAR BECOME ONE LINE DON'T YOU WANT TO BE FREE //YOU FEEL AN URGE IN YOUR HEAD TO SLEEP TO THE CLASHING OF SWORDS, EAT THE LOGIC OF THE INTELLECTUAL// No, you don't. Click the button! [[Keep running!]]]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You settle down to rest after a long time of walking through nothing-hallways. The ground here is rough and scratchy, but it's going to have to be fine. (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'battle', 'play')(track: 'battle', 'loop', true) After laying down for a moment you feel a mild discomfort in your lower gut. You touch it instinctively and recoil when you feel movement. Something round is right under the surface. You freeze for a moment, your hand like a crane as it hangs in the air uselessly. You could cut it out, but your sword is much bigger than your stomach, not precise at all. And that's not even considering the pain. You bash at it uselessly, unsure of what to do. But it does pause for a moment, and you hear a muffled noise. All you can do is bash again, which prompts something to burst out of you. It's flying like a hummingbird, and in fact it has a hummingbird's head and wings, but the rest of it is a convulsing, writhing worm, yellow-white like a tiger and so long you cannot see all of it; most of its body still seems to be in you. Under your screams you hear it ask what's wrong. "Everything alright? Am I making too much noise?" "What the fuck are you doing," you say, "you're digging around inside me!" "It's my job. I'm scheduled to replace this wall with pebbledash." "Wh-what? I'm not a wall." "I'm scheduled to... I told you, this is my job. It's government orders." He shows you a slip of paper: (b4r:"dashed")+(b4r-size:1)+(b4r-colour:white)[Mr. M. WORMBOY is hereby ordered to replace the intestines of any enemy soldiers found in 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59 with pebbledash walls. Any qualms can be sent directly to WORMBOY himself to be ignored.] "See," he folds his wings, "I'm authorised! So if you'll excuse me-" He stops talking because you have cut what little there is of him in two with your sword. It is a painful endeavour to pull the rest of him out, but he is gone from you, eventually. Soon after you can walk on. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Keep moving.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You find a tiny, quiet flower. Its petals are a deep blue with highlights of golden code. It's whispering something and you want to lean in to hear. (link: "Lean in.")[Are you sure? (link: "Yes, I want to lean in.")[Are you really sure? (link: "Yes, motherfucker.")[Don't get so upset. Fine. You get down on one knee and lean in to hear the flower. With no mouth, it's coughing. Hard. Like it's really, really sick. But whatever needs to leave can't. "Are you alright?" You ask. It speaks into your mind. "Calcifying dust fills my lungs... the end of time associates itself with me like venn diagrams slowly overlapping. My Logic is failing..." "Why don't you have a mouth?" "Do most flowers have mouths you fucking dumbass?" And then it dies, wilting dark grey. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Ignore your feelings about this moment and walk on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]]]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...Something balances atop water ahead of you. You know from its headgear that it is a priest of (cycling-link: "Gentle Sunlit Purton","Gentle Sunlit Purton, (an enormous but mostly empty stretch of palimpsestuous waterways carved through an ancient junkyard. Most of its people live in a huge half-beached copper ship with a magnifying lens for a mast, basking in its gentle focus of the sun's light.)") and so will probably be hostile. ^^There is no light!^^ He says. ^^There is no light! There is nothing to bask in, nothing to see with, no warmth on warm bent wood.^^ Then he sees you. ^^You! You! Stone! Do you see, I have the water, the canvas, but not the warmth, the paint? Can't you help me? Can't you show me the way out?^^ He hops off the water, slithers up to you and wraps himself around your body. His robe is sweaty and dirty, his pupils dilated with a confused rage. ^^Show me back to the sunlight, heathen!^^ Then his small voice mellows. ^^I used to dance on the waters... I used the dance on the waters... I used to dance on the waters...^^ His little hat falls off, and his grip on you loosens. Then he slithers away into the darkness, repeating himself again and again. ^^I used the dance on the waters... I used to dance...^^ Then you're alone. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You turn a corner and there's a furry mass with teeth blocking your way. Whatever is in front of you, you're only seeing a part of it, because it's bigger than the tunnel you're in. What you do see looks sort of like a bulbous, hairy blue stomach, but it could also be a face because it has the curves, formation and indents that you would expect on a face. It's only that it lacks all basic features save for the teeth. The thing is silent and gently moving up and down, like it's sleeping. A video-game-protagonist-urge rises in you - to hit it. And then to find two other pieces of this creature, and hit them, too, which will dislodge it and make it vulnerable to be fought as a boss. And then you can't resist anymore, and your sword is deep in it. It bleeds red, and doesn't react to you. You try to pull the sword out, but it's stuck on some bone or something. It won't budge. You are forced to match the creature's gentle movement to keep hold of it. You move up, down, up down... [[Breathe.]]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'explore', 'play')(track: 'explore', 'loop', true) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...Jimp Wimpton is here! You don't know what that means, you don't know who that is, you don't know where you are, really, or even who you are, to be honest, but that's ancillary, because JIMP WIMPTON IS HERE! A striped humanoid comes bounding down the path ahead and stops upon seeing you. You notice immediately his cartoonish demeanor, her extremely sharp blade, and most notably don't sense a logic inside them. Before you can ask about any of this, he says: "Are you the protagonist? I would LOVE to join you, because then I can anti-isekai myself back to Woenchfarre." (link: "Stop trying to pretend you understand that and take a look at Jimp.")[(text-style:"buoy")[//Jimp wants to join your party!// <img src=chloranthyimages/heroofheroes.png width=500px> Jimp's stats: VIT: 999 / ATT: 9999 / DEF: 999 / AGI: 9999 CHA: 999999999 / ARC: 0 / LOG: 0] It seems she will be a great boon. You just have a few questions to ask first, so (link-reveal: "click here to start writing what you'd like to say to Jimp!")[ (force-input-box:"=XXX=","look, you seem like a great person, and you're really powerful, but it seems like you're already someone's sidekick, and i really don't want any more drama, like i realise you're probably far from home but i think you're more of a cameo appearance than a main character.") (link:"Click here when you've finished talking to Jimp!")["Oh, okay, see you later hun!" They bound past you and effortlessly cut a hole in reality with his arm, and then she's gone. Huh, seemed really powerful, don't know why you wouldn't want their help... up to you, I guess. (link-goto: "Move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]]]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font:'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59// (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] You pass a (cycling-link:"grimy figure", "grimy figure (a partly derogatory term for someone from Grime, a network of sewers connected to Water King which drips rain down onto the underground meadows of Langdonberry Nights. Refugees from Langdonberry or nomads who left Sickly Heart-Hamlet founded a mess of villages in the sewers ages ago, and one day the world started calling anything in their vaguely defined borders Grime.)") sitting with their legs folded, their back against the wall. You want to ignore them but they call out to you to get your attention. "Ehhyeonedayeinesewersannanextureinda BLOODY CHLORANTHY!!!!" You stare at them. "N'owhaImean?" "Sorry, I didn't catch that." "GRIME FOREVER. GRIME FOREVER. GRIME FOREVER OI OI OI OI." You (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (set: $riverknightwounded to 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...There's an elite knight from (cycling-link:"Wriggling River-Tower","Wriggling River-Tower (home of the world's largest army. River-Tower's elite maggot-knights wear spotless silver armour, wield enormous greatswords and swim through air like it's water.)") bleeding out in the clearing ahead of you. Her armour is torn like fabric, and beneath each tear is blue muscle leaking red blood. Her blade is *bent.* She swings at you instinctively as you step closer, her wounded arm making a limp slash that gets nowhere near you. "Fucking stoneskin," she grunts, "here to gloat, shitfuck?" So many curses, you think, and you say "Are you okay? What did this to you?" "A fucking Aureate. I'd never seen one before. Fucker was so fast!" (if: $aureate is 1)[You wonder if she means the same Aureate that took out your eyes before. In that case, you sympathise.] You stare at her for a moment, unsure what to do. "Fucking stoneskin." She says again. "Fuck off." So you (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "fuck off.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...There's nothing notable for a long time. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')+(background: black)[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You see a crack in the stone leaking light. Could you be near the surface? You peek through... And see a limitless meadow before you. The sun is bright, the wind is cool, and green stems give way to bulging red berries. You try so hard to reach through the crack in the wall but it's not even big enough to fit your arm. So you start to bash at the rock with your sword. You manage to shift a few tiny rocks, but carving this thing out would take days. Fortunately you have nowhere else to be. So you start to carve, severly blunting your sword. Then you carve. Then you carve some more. Time passes. You feel more and more of the cool wind as you progress. After a while you hear a rustling. It gets closer, closer... Until it's peeking through the crack, looking back at you. It's a humanoid made up of a hollow branch-like structure, like the trees in lungs. It's filled up with shiny red liquid like a water balloon. You stare at eachother for a long time. The creature doesn't have eyes but it does have a head-like shape. And then you say: "What are you, sorry?" "I'm a, um, I'm from (cycling-link: "Blood Clot Meadow.", "Blood Clot Meadow (A secluded place where your arms always feel heavy. Closed in by huge trees and mostly untouched by war, it is presumed to be uninhabited. Its flowers grow wet fit-to-burst fruits filled with blood, the dew on its leaves is always tinted red, and there is a brutal glint in the eyes of the bugs and birds who rest there.)") "Oh. I didn't know people lived there. Is this Blood Clot Meadow? Can you help me get out of this cavern?" "No this is um this is um... you're still in 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59. I fell down here too, so I just started gardening." "What do you mean you started gardening? There's a sky. It's open air." "Idiot doesn't understand gardening." It hisses under its breath. "You're not allowed in our garden." "Wait wait wait-" You say, but it cuts its arm open, and blood comes out, pouring extremely fast and making the plants at the foot of the crack grow. They become huge almost immediately, covering the crack with bark, shrub and, eventually, stone. Soon the crack is gone entirely, and even your sword is reverted to its unblunted state. You fucking hate this place. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'battle', 'play')(track: 'battle', 'loop', true) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You hear a million footsteps each a yoctosecond after eachother. A (cycling-link:"BATTLEGROUND TIGER", "BATTLEGROUND TIGER (The apex predator of the streets of the Deathly Cluster of Decadent Cities. A BATTLEGROUND TIGER can wield logic-magic, and is amphibious. They are - rarely - tameable, so this one might have been brought here to fight for an army.)") crosses your path, its locks of knife-hair partly being used to walk but partly holding up an arc of metal talons, arranged in three ovals. <img src=chloranthyimages/TIGER.jpg width=1000px> Its eye-stalks wobble for a moment as it pauses to look around. It's only twenty or so metres away from you and you don't have time to hide before it spots you. It clashes its talons together like gnashing teeth, and then charges at you. A maelstrom of stomping feet is approaching. You... (link-reveal: "Reach for your sword!")[ But it's stuck in the scabbard...] (link-reveal: "Try to run!")[ But your legs are frozen in fear...] (link-reveal: "Give up on life!")[ But a part of you holds close to hope despite the impending trampling... The TIGER is inches from you, and you've managed to: (text-style:"expand","buoy")[S T A N D T H E R E ] and (text-style:"expand","buoy","shudder")[S T A N D T H E R E ] Well done! You're shit. Fortunately for you, some writhing thing has tackled the tiger by the neck. I could've tried to seem more excited about that, but I thought it best not to lie to you. The TIGER writhes in confused pain on the ground, its captor's folding jaws warm on its throat. It seems to have been attacked by a (cycling-link: "WYRM.", "WYRM (The apex predator of the deep sea-swamps between 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59 and Wriggling River-Tower. The Helion Orb held between its jaws gives it mastery over plant life.)") <img src=chloranthyimages/WYRM.jpg width=1000px> The Wyrm and TIGER wrestle for dominance, but eventually push away from eachother. Now they stand on opposite ends of the cavern, staring at eachother silently. There's a tense silence. Like warm plastic. Then it's torn to shreds as the standoff ends. The TIGER shoots first; it sends all three of its Talons spinning through the air at the Wyrm. They're all intercepted by the spontaneous generation of a tree, which the Wyrm then directs towards the TIGER. The tree uproots itself and starts slowly walking towards its master's foe, and as it advances the Wyrm duplicates it into two, and then again, and then again, until an army of trees is advancing upon the Tiger. But it does not falter or flee, and it poises itself to strike. Its thin, thin eyes scan each tree slowly, carefully. It knows, intuitively, that every structure has a weakness. There are spots of bark which are infinitesimally thinner... It pauses to think for one more second, then roars, and its sound is a logic-knife, and the minions are bark and leaves in the air. The sharp sound snaps you out of your enamourment. You think you should probably go. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Turn and leave as they pounce on eachother again.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')+(text-style:"outline")[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:) (font: 'ubuntomono-regular')+(text-style:"outline")[Scroll | V]] ...You find yourself becoming more and more tired with every passage you pass. Your shoulders feel dense and full like big awkward pillows, while your hands and arms hang off them limply, weakly, uselessly like string. As you walk further you find your legs heavy too, then your feet, then the deepest parts of your chest. There's a democratic election in your lungs between the Pass Out party and the Fail Not To Pass Out Party. The Pass Out Party's candidate, Himthly Jemps, is arguing at the last debate before voting: "What my opponent is arguing is simply offensive. A dog, used as metaphor for this country, reduces our great people to simple animals. I would be honest with all of you: there is simply no future for us without passing out immediately. And passing out has various economic benefits, it makes air production cheaper and more reliable, it-" The Fail Not To Pass Out Party candidate Bob Murdercabin cuts back: "Now, I hate to interrupt, sir, I do, but I simply cannot abide you lying to the general public like this." Jemps groans performatively but Murdercabin continues. "It is simply more economically viable to resist the Sleep Dynasty. A war will make strong countrymen who know how to survive in the hardest of times, and so our economic value will increase." "Now this is simply untrue, it is simply untrue -" One of them says, but you can't hear them anymore, because you've passed out. But you are still conscious in sleep. You are awake, not to move, not to touch, not even really to percieve, just to experience. Associated with this is some kind of confusion, but you're too drowsy to really be worried or to do anything about it. But you know something's wrong, you know that there's something you need to do or protect or stop happening. The feeling encroaches upon more of you, exemplifying, when you realise you don't have the capacity to wake up. Or even move. You are horrified. This is the source of the concern - something in your brain strong enough to warn you but not strong enough to do anything about it. So you are stuck. And you're laying there. And you're laying there, scared. And you're laying there, which is not correct, really, because you don't feel physicality anymore.] (colour: black)[PLEASEHELPPLEASEFUCKINGHELPFUCKINGHELPMEFUCK PLEASE I'M SO SCARED PLEASE GOD PLEASE GOD PLEASE FUCKING STOP IT I CAN'T MOVE I CAN'T MOVE I CAN'T MOVE I HATE IT HERE I WANT TO ESCAPE PLEASE STOP IT WHYIS THISFUCKINGHAPPENING TO ME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT I DIDN'T WANT TO BE HERE] (font: 'ubuntomono-regular')+(text-style:"outline")[You are grass after a while. Existence is a kind of waiting. You only feel like a little million things, all one thing condensed but visually different. It has been nine years. You mostly manage to feel dead but you are set back by months when the extremely rare rush of air reminds each blade of you that you are physical, and suffering, and screaming helplessly. Death is silent and long. And then you feel a footstep on your chest, a pressure, and you jolt awake. Nobody is there, and you have physicality again. You're shaking, screaming, crying, grasping at your hands to remind yourself you exist. You exist, you exist, you can move. The lack of sunlight in this place makes it impossible to know how long you were out for. But you feel older. And you're still tired.] (font:'ubuntomono-regular')+(transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Rub your eyes and keep moving.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred", "i'm not sure"))(after: 400s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')+(background:black)[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'explore', 'play')(track: 'explore', 'loop', true) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You find a scared, jumpy figure shivering against the arc of the ground. Her body has been modified and partly replaced so you can tell she's likely from the (cycling-link:"Deathly Cluster of Decadent Cities.", "Deathly Cluster of Decadent Cities. (A golden republic of eight similar cities all literally built on top of eachother. War runs through the Cities moreso than any other place; its inhabitants have eaten war and not regurgitated it, kept it in their stomachs for themselves. This has made a society of ruthless businesses and gold-clad warriors who all idolise one uniting figure, The Soak Of Blood, a knight-businessman who seems to be unable to die or lose money.)") Her forearms are both golden glass, and her crimson teracotta armour seems to be part of her. You approach her carefully. Her one eye is ringed in gold, but is mostly a deep red. She stares at you with it and you feel like you're inside the sun. She doesn't talk, but instead sends concepts into your mind. You see imagery of military contractors, long animalistic feet being smashed to pieces, huge red triangles stepping in place. "I don't understand," you say, "did you build something for the Cluster-Cities?" You get another image. A hulking figure who walks like a swordfight. A blood-red sword at his hip, a cigar between his fingers. He says MAKE THE SHOES BIGGER. BITCHES LOVE BIG SHOES. AND YOU. He points at a memory of the person shivering in front of you. YOU'RE IN THE KNEE. You catch up to the sprinting understanding that has previously outrun you. She was ordered by the Soak Of Blood himself to pilot part of (cycling-link: "Goldman.", "Goldman. (The pride and joy of the Cluster-Cities, a collaboratively made battle-contraption designed to fully dominate 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59. The creation of mechanical Logicless weaponry seems to be a rising trend in war, and it seems Wriggling River-Tower is working on their own.)") You have to wonder how many people she's crushed just by walking. And how is she here now? Did Goldman fall? Did Rivertower cut it down? But you can't ask these questions, because something mechanical in her has stopped serving its function, and her bright eye is dark now, and her heavy skin is silent now. You (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "keep moving.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You find a merchant sitting as if she's not in the most dangerous place in the world. "I'm Rainburn," she says. "Been hurting here for a long time. But I get by. Want anything?" "What?" You ask. "Why are you selling things?" "Why not?" "You're... who's buying from you? And who's... who's gonna... like, what do you buy with the money you even get?" She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You stare at her. She stares at you. You (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "leave.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] (colour: grey)[...It's suddenly difficult to see.] (colour: grey)+(text-style:"expand")[Perceptive ability deteriorates... Arms reach into your mind in waves like neat hair. There's three orbs you have to grab to start damage phase. Each of them solar, flowing, like a mural made real, and a million tiny white lines coming from each join to make a perfect circle.] (colour: grey)+(text-style:"blur")+(text-style:"flat")[Perceptive ability deteriorates... The crinkle of packets crawls up your neck and into your ear and with it comes a million tiny creases. Your Logic is under assault by an army of sound, and in defending itself it forgets to give troops to the visual processing department.] (colour: grey)+(text-style:"blink")+(text-style:"flat")+(text-style:"mirror")[Perceptive ability deteriorates... Two gods fight over control of the intersection between your cognition and sight. One infuses the air with fulgur knives and kills eight billion with a swipe of their hand, and the other spits levin trowels at the ground and raises nine billion with a kick of their leg. Eventually they wipe eachother out.] (text-style:"mark","double-strike","subscript","blurrier","expand","upside-down","shudder")[Cognitive ability alters... Politicians debate over border lines, arguing over which of their countries should have control over your body. One debates harshly, making digs and mocking their opponent and the other tries to appear rational. The third says "I'm funded by a fucking oil company." And] (colour: grey)+(text-style:"blink")+(text-style:"flat")+(text-style:"mirror")[then] (colour: grey)+(text-style:"blur")+(text-style:"flat")[you] (colour: grey)+(text-style:"expand")[snap] (colour: grey)[out of it.] (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Keep moving.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] (after:1s)[(css: "color: red; font-size: 250%")[|amount>[$counter]] (live: 1s)[(set: $counter to it - 1)(replace: ?amount)[$counter]](set: $counter to 33) ...A timer appears in your head!] (after: 5s)[Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god] (after: 7s)[What's it counting down to what's it what's it counting down to] (after: 10s)[Is something nearby doing this to you?] (after: 12s)[You frantically search the area!] (after: 14s)[You frantically search the area!] (after: 16s)[You frantically search the area!] (after: 17s)[You frantically search the - YOU CAN'T FUCKING FIND ANYTHING] (after: 20s)[Surely you're going to explode? Surely. Surely.] (after: 23s)[You start to think about the path of your life.] (after: 25s)[Childhood...] (after: 26s)[Adolescence...] (after: 27s)[Adulthood...] (after: 28s)[Being drafted.] (after: 31s)[And that's gonna be the end of-] (after: 35s)[Oh.](after: 36s)[ Oh it's just a...](after: 37s)[ it's not even...?] (after: 40s)[(transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Oh.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))] (after: 300s)[(restart:)]] (font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'explore', 'play')(track: 'explore', 'loop', true) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You pass through a battle already won, and already lost. Corpses are frozen in an unpredictable dance at your feet, limbs splayed out every which way. The motion of death compelled them to dance; the stagnancy of the end was the coals at their feet. Most of the bodies are calcifying but you can see through the blackness that these were likely two armies; one from (cycling-link:"Wriggling River-Tower","Wriggling River-Tower (home of the world's largest army. River-Tower's elite maggot-knights wear spotless silver armour, wield enormous greatswords and swim through the air like it's water.)") and one from the (cycling-link:"Deathly Cluster of Decadent Cities.", "Deathly Cluster of Decadent Cities. (A golden republic of eight similar cities all literally built on top of eachother. War runs through the Cities moreso than any other place; its inhabitants have eaten war and not regurgitated it, kept it in their stomachs for themselves. This has made a society of ruthless businesses and gold-clad warriors who all idolise one uniting figure, The Soak Of Blood, a knight-businessman who seems to be unable to die or lose money.)") It is unclear which side won. These are THE two competing armies; nobody else wins a major engagement against either, it just doesn't happen. While Rivertower has much more territory and people, it's never won against The Soak Of Blood. He doesn't always show up, though. All you can do is (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "step over the dance of death and walk on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')+(background:black)[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...Two sausage dogs come from nowhere, leashed to eachother rather than to the hand of a master. They stare at you but never stop moving, as if they know exactly where they're going. They pass you quickly and then they're gone. Nobody follows them. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Keep moving.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You find a fellow (cycling-link:"Mundite", "Mundite (Someone from Arm Cutoff Mundus, the poorest civilisation in the world. Mundites have dark stone skin, bright yellow eyes, and their bodies are marked with complex glowing diagrams from birth.)") leaning against the wall! You notice eachother with a nod and immediately you feel tension release in your shoulders. "Hello," you say. "Stuck down here too?" He says. "Yeah." You nod. He nods. For some reason you thought you'd have more to talk about. "...I didn't want to fight," you admit. "Me neither." He says. There is a small crack in his head. "Can only hope that (cycling-link:"Dots", "Dots (A philosopher-monarch from Arm Cutoff Mundus's history who posed that Mundites were puked upon the tapestry of the world by a great extraterrestrial sea monster named Noby, and that when a Mundite dies, they return to the great heaven in Noby's writhing intestines. Some theories say that the world itself is Noby.)") was right, yeah?" "Yeah." You say. He rubs his eyes. Something unspoken and unnerving is forming in the conversation. The shared understanding that he wants to be left alone, that travelling together would only delay the onset of madness you both know is coming. That you need to start walking now before he tells you to go. "I should go," you say. He looks away. "My name's Deneb. Nice to meet you." "Vega." You say, although this is not your real name, and you (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "force yourself to walk away.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))] (after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')+(background: black)[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You find a wounded (cycling-link: "Outstretched Knight.", "Outstretched Knight. (Untalented grunts who will fight for any army that pays them.)") "I have no quarrel with you," they say, placing a bloodied hand up as you approach. "Same," you reply. "What happened?" "You know," they say, "I have been down here a long time, and I think I'm about to go fucking insane. I think I'm going to unravel. I keep seeing a fucking flower-thing talking to me." You feel an urge to ask about the flower thing, but something in your throat catches. "And I keep trying to die, but... it just doesn't come." You don't know what to say. "Before I came down here I followed the (cycling-link: "Aquila Hypothesis.", "Aquila Hypothesis. (A theory posed by some Mundites - your people - that there is some kind of sentient cruelty woven into the invisible nature of the world.)") And now, I know, I know it's true. We are evil creatures," they snarl at you, "And this place -" But blood catches in their throat, and they cough, and splutter, and then they lay dead. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))] (after: 300s)[(restart:)]battle: ./chloranthymusic/chloranthydanger.mp3 explore: ./chloranthymusic/chloranthyexplore.mp3 callout: ./chloranthymusic/heyhey.mp3 izren: ./chloranthymusic/complication.mp3(font:'ubuntomono-regular')[You heard a crack when you fell. (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] Now you carefully sit up in a place you don't understand. Dim light leaks in from above, but it fails to reach the terrain beneath you, which is dark and jagged, rejecting attempts to traverse it. I'm sitting there, on the air a few metres in front of you. I'm thin like a flower stem and pink like cosmos. I turn to look at you and in my eye you see a branching path frozen in time. You wince through the pain to call out to me. What do you say? (link:"Can you please help me?")[] (link:"Please, I'm hurt.")[] (link:"Nice to meet you.")[It's lovely to meet you too. It occurs to me you don't know who or where you are. Well, you're a failed draft dodger from (cycling-link:"Arm Cutoff Mundus", "Arm Cutoff Mundus (the protagonist's home and the poorest civilisation in the World.)") who fell down here - (cycling-link:"65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59", "65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59 (the site of the oldest Logic in the world, and a place of constant war. All civilisations send forces to fight here because that's what you do.)") - after you got seperated from your patrol. Oh, and you can click on yellow text to reveal more information on a specific topic, and then click it again to revert it. I saw you run from those elites... and then you were cornered, weren't you? With a bottomless pit ahead of you, and swords to your back... there was no choice at all, then, was there? And that fall, it hurt your poor (cycling-link:"Logic,", "Logic, (an internal organ shared by all people that pumps blood while also transmitting thought. A particularly strong conviction will make a Logic branch and harden on an enormous scale, killing its owner. It will continue growing until it is a stone network of meanings and beliefs large enough to walk through, while calcifying the world around it, which removes all possibilities and potentials but the ones the Logic favours. Every major civilisation is built in or on a Logic, and so their respective peoples live using the principles their home was literally built with.)") didn't it, honey? Well, I suppose you should be getting out of here, then, shouldn't you? Do you have anything to say to me? (link:"What the fuck are you talking about?")[] (link:"Please help me get out of here.")[] (link:"Thank you, that was all very helfpul.")[You're welcome - and you mean //helpful.// Click the last red link to start exploring. Oh, and I implore you- Try to escape this place. Try to get to the end. Exercise your choices for your gain. I promise it is worth it. You still have your (cycling-link:"branching sword", "branching sword (the standard issue weapon for most soldiers in the world, a blade that splits and branches like a lightning bolt.)") to defend yourself, and this place defies death - it wants you alive. So there's lots of reasons to keep persevering. And then I'm gone. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Get up, start looking for a way out.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]]]showControls: false startingVol: 1(font:'ubuntomono-regular')[You make it away from the enormous statue, and take a moment in a nondescript cavern to catch your breath. (if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...Ahem. I'm sorry you had to see that. If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them. (link:"Who was that - what are you?")[] (link:"Why could he control my actions?")[] (link:"Are you going to answer any of these?")[] (link:"No, I have no questions towards and no problems with what just happened. This is a fun game and I'm excited to get to its ending!")[That's great. Let's (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "keep moving.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]](after: 300s)[(restart:)] (font:'ubuntomono-regular')[In the next instant you're elsewhere, and I'm sitting there, like before. We start to talk... (set: $izrentimer to 0) (masteraudio: 'stopall')(track: 'izren', 'play')(track: 'izren', 'loop', true) (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] (if: visits is 1)[Nice to see you again. I am thrilled to find you here, my friend. Your triumphs and defeats are truly exhilarating to me. How's it going? Are you any closer to escaping? Have you fought a boss yet? You look into my arms and you see endless water. You look into my legs and you see an ice age. Anyway, our time is up. Back to it you go. (link-goto: "I'll see you again soon.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))] (if: visits is 2)[Welcome back. Do your legs hurt from all the walking? Have you had any sleep yet? You look into my elbows and you see a screaming child made of gears. You look into my knees and you see a wrench poised to strike. Just to keep you going I'll give you some "player-directed-gameplay" for a moment by actually answering your questions. But by nature of this place you will always be the limited one. (link:"What are you?")[Izren.] (link:"How do I get out of here?")[Such linear thinking.] (link:"Why don't I have free will? Why don't I get to do what I want?")[I'm unsure if you're referring to me or the world outside these tunnels.] (link:"Do I get to see a picture of you?")[Lots of people have tried that one in the past. And that's your free will quota used up. If you keep going you'll be back here soon. (link-goto: "Off you go now.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]] (if: visits is 3)[Wow, you've been in there a while, huh? You look into the creases of my toes and see the last two technocrats fighting over the ashes of a dead world. You look into the stem between my petals and see glass branching its way out of sand from the sparks their blades make. Here's a deal. Come back here one more time and I'll tell you the secret to this place. Oh, and just to motivate you, I'll give you another crumb of free will to gobble up. I know you love those. (link:"Are you just toying with me, Izren?")[Absolutely.] (link:"Is there any point to this?")[Umm, yes, I think so.] (link:"Am I ever going to get out of here?")[I can absolutely guarantee that you will. It is a 100% chance. Okay, that's enough for now. Remember our deal - get back here once more and I'll tell you what's happening. (link-goto: "I hope to see you again!", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]] (if: visits is 4)[You're back - congratulations. I truly did not think you would be sane right now. What do you think of what you've seen so far - the journey you've been on? Have you meted out justice? Have you saved lives? Are you capable of slaying gods yet? Well, I'm here at the end of your journey, hero. I've been waiting for you to come home. You look at my hips and see a once-spotless tiled floor, now abandoned and cracking. You look at my shoulders and see a lithosphere of stars shift slightly and then never move again. You look at me and see a soundless civilisation beset by a trillion apocalypses. Screams made silent by ice, fulgur, crystal, ash. You see endless possibilities converge and die in my bosom. You see a beautiful, lovely person with their whole life ahead of them clutch their chest and collapse. You see them turn stagnant, musty, dead. Would you like me to hold you? Would you like to feel my calcifying touch? =|= (link:"NO THANK YOU")[] (link:"NO")[] (link:"NO")[] (link:"NO")[](link:"NO")[] (link:"NO")[](link:"NO")[] (link:"NO THANK YOU ")[](link:"NO")[] (link:"NO")[](link:"NO")[] (link:"NO")[](link:"NO")[] (link:"NO THANK YOU")[](link:"NO")[] (link:"NO")[](link:"NO")[] (css: "font-size: 1000%;")[(link:"THANKYOU")[]](css: "font-size: 450%;")[(link:"NOTHANKYOU NOTHANKYOU")[]] (link:"THANKYOUTHANKYOU NOTHANKYOU NONO NONONONO NONO NO NO")[] (link:"NONONONONO NONO")[](link:"NONONONONONONONONONO")[](link:"NO NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO NO")[] =|= (css: "font-size: 1000%;")[(link:"NO THANKYOU YOU")[]] |==| (css: "font-size: 500%;")[(link:"NO THANKYOU YOU NONONONONONONO")[]] (link:"NO NO NONONONONONO NONONONONONO")[] (link:"NONONONONONONO NONONONONONONO")[] (transition-depart:"shudder")[[Yes.]] (link:"NONONONO NO")[] =|= (link:"THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOUTHANKYOU")[](link:"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU")[] (link:"THANKYOU THANKYOU")[] |==| =========|||||========= (link:"NO THANK YOU NONONONO")[] (link:"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU")[] (link:"NONONOTHANKYOUTHANKYOU THANKYOUNONONOTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU")[] ] (if:visits >= 5)[Potential is frozen. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Back to it, right?", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]] (after: 400s)[(restart:)](font: "ubuntomono-regular")+(text-style:'fidget')[(replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ================| YOU PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND ME |==| ==|==== YOU PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND ME |==| ========|||====== (text-rotate-z:90)+(text-style:"expand")[YOU PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND ME] |==| =========|||====== YOU PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND ME |==| (align:"=><=")+(box:"===============XXXXXXXXXXXXX====================")[Your possibilities collapse. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Keep 'moving'.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]] (after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')[You are breathing in cadence with the being. All you can do is wait.(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (masteraudio: 'stopall') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] (after:2s)[In...] (after:4s)[Out.] (after:6s)[In...] (after:8s)[Out.] (after:10s)[In...] (after:12s)[Out.] (after:14s)[In...] (after:16s)[Out.] (after:18s)[In...] (after:20s)[Out.] (after:22s)[In...] (after:24s)[Out. And then it shakes itself awake, wriggles away and doesn't mind leaving some blood with you. And you're free to (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "move on.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))]](after: 300s)[(restart:)](font: 'ubuntomono-regular')+(bg:(gradient: 0, 0, black, 0, white))[//Deeper into the folds of 65 CHLORANTHY CHLORANTHY 59//(if: $izrentimer is 7)[(go-to: "IZRENIZRENIZREN")] (set:$izrentimer to $izrentimer + 1) (track: 'izren', 'stop') (replace:?sidebar)[(icon-restart:)] ...You find yourself becoming more and more tired with every passage you pass. Your shoulders feel dense and full like big awkward pillows, while your hands and arms hang off them limply, weakly, uselessly like string. As you walk further you find your legs heavy too, then your feet, then the deepest parts of your chest. There's a democratic election in your lungs between the Pass Out party and the Fail Not To Pass Out Party. The Pass Out Party's candidate, Himthly Jemps, is arguing at the last debate before voting: "What my opponent is arguing is simply offensive. A dog, used as metaphor for this country, reduces our great people to simple animals. I would be honest with all of you: there is simply no future for us without passing out immediately. And passing out has various economic benefits, it makes air production cheaper and more reliable, it-" The Fail Not To Pass Out Party candidate Bob Murdercabin cuts back: "Now, I hate to interrupt, sir, I do, but I simply cannot abide you lying to the general public like this." Jemps groans performatively but Murdercabin continues. "It is simply more economically viable to resist the Sleep Dynasty. A war will make strong countrymen who know how to survive in the hardest of times, and so our economic value will increase." "Now this is simply untrue, it is simply untrue -" One of them says, but you can't hear them anymore, because you've passed out. But you are still conscious in sleep. You are awake, not to move, not to touch, not even really to percieve, just to experience. Associated with this is some kind of confusion, but you're too drowsy to really be worried or to do anything about it. But you know something's wrong, you know that there's something you need to do or protect or stop happening. The feeling encroaches upon more of you, exemplifying, when you realise you don't have the capacity to wake up. Or even move. You are horrified. This is the source of the concern - something in your brain strong enough to warn you but not strong enough to do anything about it. So you are stuck. And you're laying there. And you're laying there, scared. And you're laying there, which is not correct, really, because you don't feel physicality anymore. (colour: black)[PLEASEHELPPLEASEFUCKINGHELPFUCKINGHELPMEFUCK PLEASE I'M SO SCARED PLEASE GOD PLEASE GOD PLEASE FUCKING STOP IT I CAN'T MOVE I CAN'T MOVE I CAN'T MOVE I HATE IT HERE I WANT TO ESCAPE PLEASE STOP IT WHYIS THISFUCKINGHAPPENING TO ME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT I DIDN'T WANT TO BE HERE] You are grass after a while. Existence is a kind of waiting. You only feel like a little million things, all one thing condensed but visually different. It has been nine years. You mostly manage to feel dead but you are set back by months when the extremely rare rush of air reminds each blade of you that you are physical, and suffering, and screaming helplessly. Death is silent and long. And then you feel a footstep on your chest, a pressure, and you jolt awake. Nobody is there, and you have physicality again. You're shaking, screaming, crying, grasping at your hands to remind yourself you exist. You exist, you exist, you can move. The lack of sunlight in this place makes it impossible to know how long you were out for. But you feel older. And you're still tired. (transition-depart:"shudder")(link-goto: "Rub your eyes and keep moving.", (either: "Spiked Consciousness", "Dripping Myth", "Godheadgift", "Noxious", "Lochmuinne", "When's it coming out", "When's it fucking coming out", "I DON'T WANNA GO", "RATHER KEEP MY MONEY", "Disgusting", "But who's supporting them?", "Outlast", "Amnesia", "Bugs in the Basement", "Mutlast Oultiplayer", "Grungnir Mythos", "Shiva", "Consult THE COMMUNITY", "Hopefully you're here", "Scallywag", "Undying", "Blacksmith", "Godslayer", "Enlightened", "Sword in gut", "Riven", "Rivet", "Hatred"))](after: 300s)[(restart:)]