Fire
You jump into the fire and die...
Just kidding. You actually don't die. You just wish you had. Instead, you remain suspended in midair, in the middle of the flames. The pain is unbearable at first, but after a while, you find that either you've gotten used to the pain or you're no longer vulnerable to fire. You look down and see the answer--your body, while still vaguely human in shape, is decidedly no longer human. You're a glowing mass of molten rock. Upon that realization, you tumble unceremoniously out of the flames.
You find yourself in a large cavern. Your now-magma body cools impossibly quickly, and hardens and cracks into a new stone "skin" for you. A conveniently but improbably placed mirror tells you that now, only your eyes glow. At first you thought you were alone, but you begin to see glowing lava eyes like yours around the cavern. One by one, their owners step forward, until they've enclosed you in a large circle of rock people. Their apparent leader steps forth, and speaks:
"You seek the key to the Western door, do you not?" Before you can answer, he goes on: "We are all players like you. We all asked the right question, and we all seek the way westward. Legend has it that the Western Door is the way to round 3, and one step closer to freedom. The Creatures of the East have held it in their sub-world for far too long. So the Rock Creatures of the South and the Air Creatures of the North have allied against them. There's a war coming, my friend! A war, with this accursed mansion as our battlefield! There will be dangers, though. Nobody has ever been down the Eastern Hallway and returned, so nobody knows just what players become when they go East. Still, we probably outnumber them, and perhaps we can use that to leverage a peaceful sharing of the Key. At any rate, you've chosen the right side to fight for. Will you join us?
Written by Zodiac on 13 December 2007
The end (for now)