《Choices》3: The Third Choice
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You stare at the words for a few moments hesitating on which one you should choose. Magic would be awesome, you could shoot fireballs, fly, and teleport. On the other hand they say might makes right and it would be pretty cool to be super strong. Then there was the third option. A little vague, but knowledge is always important and that’s what it seems to be promising.
It takes you a few more moments before you come to a decision; Perfect Body. Your future looks uncertain and at least this way you’ll be able to rely on your own body.
You press the button and you feel … nothing. You don’t feel any different than you usually do. It’s like nothings change.
You let out a depressed sigh at your non-existent power as you take a look around the auditorium and see people begin shouting in joy after pressing buttons of their own. As you watch them you begin to notice that the charred bodies around you have begun to fade, disappearing as if they were never there. You stare in shock as the boy in front of you vanishes. You look to your right and take in the sight of your best friend as they too vanish. They are both dead. Gone.
Yet even as you watch people you’ve known for years vanish out of existence, you notice that none of the other people around you seem concerned. It is as if you are the only one that has noticed their disappearance.
Your classmates are thrilled, acting as if Christmas has come early. Is it that they do not care about the deaths of the people they had known? People they had spent years with? Are the powers they’ve received from the Voice so enticing they’re able to ignore what had just occurred? Is your lack of such an ability the very reason you aren’t?
Your thoughts are interrupted by the Voice’s words. “You will now be transported to Celtair. Do try to enjoy your new lives.”
With that you can sense the Voice disappear and you feel a tugging sensation in your stomach as everything around you spins wildly.
After a few moments the world finally rights itself and you find yourself lying face first on the ground.
You sit up and spit out a mouthful of dirt as you look at your new surroundings. You're alone in some kind of underground cavern. The walls around you are the dull gray-brown of earth covered rocks. The only illumination in the room is the light from a single flickering torch and you see it shine down the lone tunnel that leads deeper into the underground.
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While you’re apprehensive of your current situation, you manage to shrug it off and pick up the torch. This seems like as good a start for a typical adventure as any other and you might as well get on with it.
Your first step down the tunnel, however, gives you pause as another blue box appears and obscures your vision.
Mainline Scenario Initiated.
Tutorial:
Find the exit and survive.
Mainline Scenario? Tutorial? The box disappears and you shake your head. You’ll puzzle that one out later. The most important thing was the ending of that box. Find the exit and survive. That sounds rather ominous.
You now start to doubt the simplicity of the task and immediately raise your guard. Whatever the box was talking about, you’ll be ready.
Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself for the first few hours. Now? Now you’re just sick of the twisting and turning of the tunnel, paths branching off often enough that you wouldn’t be able to find your way back even if you tried. Your mouth is dry from thirst and the torch in your hands is on the verge of going out and yet you still have no idea how long you have left to go.
The alertness you felt at the beginning is gone now, replaced by an ever growing sense of dread and tiredness.
You’re actually surprised you’ve made it this far without needing to take a break, but your body seems to be reaching its limits and you really hope that being able to walk longer than normal without feeling tired isn’t all your power gave you.
You take a quick rest before you start walking again. You have no other choice but to continue if you want to get out of here.
Step by step, bend after bend, you move forward down the tunnel, hoping for something, anything to change.
And finally you hear something. It’s faint at first, barely recognizable from your own footsteps, but it gets louder as you get closer.
The noise sounds like a mix between a guttural barking laughter and a high pitched whine.
For a moment you feel a bit of hope. The noise is something different. Yet your apprehension returns as you remember the box at the beginning of your trek.
Still, despite your hesitation, you’re tired of the endless tunnels. At the very least you owe it to yourself to take a look at the source of the noise before deciding what to do next.
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The only problem is your torch. It’s faint, flickering light is the only reason you haven't been engulfed in utter darkness and yet you know it is on the verge of dying out at any moment. You’re not so much afraid of the darkness itself as you are of being lost in the dark. Especially if whatever is making that noise comes across you when you're unable to see. The torch continues to burn brightly for another few minutes, but you watch as the flickering light grows brighter for just a second before it finally goes out and all your left holding is a rather hot stick.
Now that the light is gone you realize that you were wrong. The darkness is so encompassing that you're scared of just being in it, never mind getting lost. Your panic grows stronger as you start to hyperventilate before you forcefully calm yourself. There’s nothing you can do about it now, and moving forward is really your only option.
You take a deep breathe to steady yourself before slowly making your way forward. You place your left hand on the tunnel wall, dragging it along the rough surface to ensure that you don’t get turned around in the darkness.
As you walk, the guttural, barking whine gets louder and begins to sends chills down your spine. Your parched lips and tiring feet push you forward regardless as you know now that there is no going back.
It seems like you spend hours walking towards the sound in complete darkness, but you know it is probably only a few minutes as you silently make your forward. As you go, you eventually begin to see a light ahead, dim at first, but becoming stronger with every step.
Your pace becomes quicker and more assured as you approach the light and it is only moments before you reach a bend in the tunnel where the light is bright enough for you to know that the its source lies just around the corner.
Taking another deep breath, you cautiously peak your head around and freeze at the sight before you.
You blink as you look at the two creatures standing in the middle of the tunnel as they converse in a strange guttural language.
Standing on two legs, only a slightly smaller than you are, are two dog-like creatures dressed in little more than rags. Where their faces should be are long snouts with sharp teeth that look more than capable of biting through bone with ease.
Whatever they are, they’re definitely not human.
Held in one of the creature’s hands is some kind of small object, the source of the light that currently illuminates the tunnel, but what really draws your attention is the person lying at their feet as a pool of blood spreads out on the ground around him.
You know immediately that these creatures are the cause as you observe the small, curved knives they hold. You want to leave before they spot you until a soft moan of pain draws your attention to the fact that the person on the ground is still alive.
Unfortunately the sound also draws the creatures’ attention. They look down as the person raises his head and you give a start as you recognize him as Derrick Vayne, one of your fellow classmates. While the two of you aren’t close, you’ve still known each other for a several years.
You watch in shock as Derrick’s eyes meet your own and he lets out a strangled “Help!”
You want to take a step forward to help, but before you can one of the dog-like creatures gives Derrick a kick strong enough to send him flying several feet further down the tunnel.
You watch horrified as the creature begins to approach Derrick, its knife raised for a final blow and you know that if you’re ever going to act now is the time.
What do you do?
1) You have to save Derrick! Draw attention to yourself so they leave him alone.
2) You’re not sure what you can possibly do. Wait and see what happens.
3) They’re too strong for you. Take advantage of their inattention to run away.
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