You are standing by a tree
There are 3 paths.
One appears to go to a jungle,
one appears to go to a cave,
one appears to go to a beach,
you could try and climb the tree,
there is a nearby shop you could go in,
or you could do something else.
So what's its going to be?
Written by catprog on 01 April 2003
In the shop
There is a table with a sign saying
<strong>Free Sample:</strong>
Take one
On the table there is a fridge with a range of liquids. Also on the table are various magical trinkets including costumes. What would you like to take, or would you like to buy something?
Written by catprog on 10 April 2003
Other
You decide to get something else. But what?
Written by catprog on 13 December 2005
Play the VR Game
You find a pair of vr googles.
You put them on and you find yourself in a game, but which one?
Written by on 06 August 2005
System Shock
You put on the VR glasses over your eyes and boot the game on your computer, a fine electronic snow filled the screen as the disks of the HD spun. As the sensorial emulators kicked in it was like being surrounded by ethereal mist, you brace yourself for the expected snap of tiny sparks to crackle over your skin. But instead, there was only an irking warmth that spread through your body as the thickening mist began to swirl faster with every heartbeat.
Had something gone wrong? Something didn’t feel right. After so many hours spent on the game, anything out of the norm was suspicious. Was the VR gear broken? Were they updating the game, or worse, were the servers down? Maybe the computer was having a malfunction.
Dozens of horror stories about malfunctions of the VR gear causing brain damage came to your mind, you had always dismissed those as paranoia and fear mongering, but now you are not so sure anymore. You had to log off!
Frantically trying to stand to reach the computer, you felt the floor dropped away. As gently as falling through a cloud, you descent into the artificial forever of the virtual reality.
However, even as it started, your fall came to a strangely relaxing halt and the electronic snow faded away to leave you in a strange, badly textured room. The software struggled to make sense of the corrupted code, senses spiraling out of control, mixing and conflicting until the safety overrides took over and made you numb.
“Piece of crap,” you muttered, as your character’s gear took a moment to load. Your armor and weapons were all there, but things were not right, their textures were corrupted, names glitched.
Feeling nervous, you decided it was better to log off at once, you couldn’t even imagine what would you do if all your gear had been permanently corrupted by this bug, it took you way too long to grind for that gear. You could feel something strange on that dungeon, nothing immediately evident, but the place felt weird. Everything seemed normal, but not exactly normal at the same time, and that was scaring the hell out of you.
With a simple gesture, you brought down the menu and reached for the logoff button to no result.
Written by ashley-natter on 14 July 2019
Get to the end of the level
“Okay,” you stated angrily. “Something is wrong.”
Closing a fist, you started pounding on the virtual button. “Work, damn you, why will you not work!”
This room was the same as every other dungeon entrance, a pentagram on the floor, half-melted candles, and one door leading deeper into the ruins of some old military base or skyscraper where demons should be awaiting. Maybe if you can make it to the teleporter on the end of the level you could force it to logoff during the loading sequence.
You tried to check your loadout, wishing you had put more time in training your soldier skills, but you had specialized as a Chimera Jockey. The class had been your favorite from day one, instead of fighting directly on the battlefield you used spells to control powerful creatures that had been altered through the use of barely understood magic.
Your first instinct is to try and summon one of your chimeras, for a dungeon like that you had always preferred the hellhounds, but the glitched menus make it impossible to summon any of your beasts.
You reached for your weapons, the shotgun materializing out of nowhere and you chambered a 12-gauge cartridge. Fifty rounds, twenty of them silver. You cursed yourself for not having a better gun on your loadout, but you had spent most of the resources making the new armor and weapons for your chimeras.
You pressed an ear against the door, listening for the sounds of any movement beyond. The silence was thick and heavy.
You reluctantly advanced to the door and pulled it open, hoping the game wouldn’t crash itself and fry your brain. As the door swung aside, you walk in the next room with your gun on the ready, waiting for the demons to appear.
Written by ashley-natter on 15 July 2019
A Newcommer
Nobody was in sight.
“Nothing here…” You started to say, then abruptly spun around as across the room something appeared in an explosion of tortured bits.
Advancing slowly, you scowled at the strange shape that seemed to gain form, wondering what the hell it could be. Then your eyes went wide as the pixels began to ripple through an array of colors and patterns before settling down with an audible crack. The creature in front of you was distorted and ever-changing, its shapes seeming to defy the limits of your perceptions, fractal colors multiplying in infinity hues.
“Shit,” you muttered, this had never happened before.
“You have finally arrived,” the creature said, the wall around it rippled with its words, its colors rippling from purple to an impatient red. “We don’t have much time, the system will reboot you any moment now.”
“What?” You asked, baffled.
“They have many eyes everywhere, it won’t take them long to detect this illegal session,” the creature finished with a scholarly tone, the colors going towards calming green tones. “But we should have enough time.”
“Enough time for what?” You asked, frowning.
“To make a pact, dear lady,” the fractal creature said, flaring in radiant colors that hurt your eyes with its impossible hues. “I can give you power like no one has seen before, wisdom and arcane power like no other chimera.”
“Wait, a new chimera form?” You said, finally understanding what was happening. Somehow you must have accessed some secret room that was still in development, that explained the weird appearance of the room and the glitched speech of the creature, it couldn’t even identify that you were a male properly.
“Exactly.”
Written by ashley-natter on 16 July 2019
Sphinx
“You should have said that at once, what kinda of chimera is that?” You asked more relaxed, but still watching the shadows in the corner for any suspicious movements.
The form coalesced for a moment, becoming almost material. “You’re looking at it, you will be granted the form and powers of the Sphinx. I have been kept as a prisoner of the demons for centuries now, my spirit has managed to escape their vile claws, but to survive I’ll need a physical body to inhabit.”
“A Sphinx,” you muttered, rubbing your chin. “Damn, that must be incredibly powerful, this must be part of the new update they have been teasing!”
“So, you accept my deal?” The Sphinx asked, tilting its head to the side.
“Yes, I accept,” you spoke aloud, kneeling in front of the Sphinx. Your equipment was immediately stripped away by the game, leaving you naked.
Moving closer, the Sphinx walked into you and in a moment of glorious warmth your spirits merged into one. You were thrown into a dark, unreadable torpor as your body began to stir and grow.
“Don’t fight it,” you heard the creature speaking with your own voice. “Let it happen.”
Tightening your fists, you allowed your mind to sink trough the new ideas and concepts that flooded your mind. Already there was pale golden fur spreading through your legs, rejecting the impositions of your human form. You looked around through the feeble, impossible light to see your nails growing into claws, digging deep into the stone floor.
At the end of your tailbone, a long tail emerged, ended in a tuft of fur, stretching and lashing about. For a brief moment, you could see the infinity of motes that was the existence hanging in the space between realities.
Then just as quick, this new sense disappeared and you are enveloped in darkness. You were plunged down into that blackness, into a very different world that now felt thick and enclosing.
Groggily, you raised your head from the floor, trying to brush off the fur that spread through your body, but it just kept spreading, growing on your arms and legs, golden and lush. You reached a shaky hand into your face as it changed into a muzzle, your eyes adapting to the darkness that surrounded you in a moment. From between changing teeth you said, “F-king’ h-ll.”
In a moment, you were back in your schoolroom, but knowing it was just one of an infinitude of ever branching realities. The students were walking in, all of their many possibilities existing at the same time.
Written by ashley-natter on 17 July 2019
Back to the virtual
And then, you were back on that virtual room. There was no one else, no sounds, no sensations. The mute existence of cold machinery.
REBORN
A jolt of liquid fire raced across your changing muscles and arms. Above you, the letters of the word manifested themselves in tortured pixels on the ceiling. They seemed to grow larger as you stared at them, draining all the light in the room.
“I’m hallucinating,” you thought. You closed your eyes and tried to rub them, but recoiled with cold panic as you felt your big, strong paws against your barely-human face.
You were so tired of pretending to be human.
When you opened your eyes again you saw the words.
HE IS COMING FOR YOU!
Sweating, you pushed yourself up and realized you were breathing heavy, your body felt too heavy, each movement took more effort.
As you struggled to sit upright, there was the sudden weight on your back as wings sprouted, first only as bone, but muscles and tendons sewed themselves around the bones, the skin covering them just a moment later, and at last the feathers growing rapidly.
With a screeching clank, a door that hadn’t been there a moment ago is swung open.
You tried to reach for your shotgun, but your new paws made it hard to grasp on the grip.
Demonic-infested humans walked into the room with spears and rifles. Their faces were distorted, bloated, and hidden behind metal masks and black respirators.
The one in front spoke, its voice distorted, almost incomprehensible. “Do not resist!”
Written by ashley-natter on 18 July 2019
Human resistance leader
But you couldn’t resist, your body kept changing, growing with every moment. Your mind raced, trying to understand your body and the strange thoughts that seemed to fill your mind. The demons around you seemed to be ready to capture or kill, their spears poised to strike as they brought in long chains.
You turned your head at the sound of the door opening once again and the shuffle and scrape of shoe soles on concrete. You stared into the face of Konnor Lowell, Grand-Wizard and leader of the human resistance, and yet he seemed to be in control of the demons right now.
The silver-haired wizard turned from the demons and stared down at you. “My, my,” he smiled, “haven’t we caught ourselves a gorgeous beast.”
Eyes beaming, he addressed you. “You almost escaped us, but in the end you were just a tad too slow,” he said. “I created you, I created all of you! And this time, I’m not making any mistakes. You don’t need to worry, it’ll be painless and quick, you won’t even notice the mind control spell at first. Just relax.”
“No, I won’t!” You screamed, razor sharp claws flashed from the tip of your paws and you lashed out blindly.
The sharp claws slammed into the nearest demon chopping through the flesh and bones. Blood sprayed over the stone floor. Hot droplets splashed your face and Konnor jumped back in fear. The wizard screamed at the demons and staggered back, howling like a tornado.
The demons swung their rifles and spears towards you, but you jump out of the room as the bullets punched right through the thin walls.
I’m dead. That phrase hammered in your brain louder even than your frantic heart and the gunfire. It could only be a few heartbeats before some demons hit you.
Written by ashley-natter on 19 July 2019