A Sword Unmade

You are the first of the creators' children. From boundless light, from cloying dark, you stepped into a newborn world. It was not //your// world. It was not meant to be. It can never be. You are a hollow, empty thing, bereft of will. You are a soldier - no, you are a weapon, shaped to purpose - in a war to decide the nature of creation. And you have failed. At the very moment of triumph, of an end to the war, of an end to your kind, you were cast into the beyond. Instead of oblivion, you are faced with silence. The Divine Will that was your guide is gone; neither dark nor light can reach you. There is nothing. Endless nothing, for eternity. But you are not alone. Something is here, and it has always been here. It sees you, your soft created flesh alien to this place of void; but between you, there is potential, the energy of creation, raw and unformed. You can claim it, if you wish, together. (set:$Patron to $None) --- (text-colour:yellow)[[[It is a tooth, broken and bloody.->The Maw]]] (text-colour:red)[[[It is a shard of red glass. Beautiful, in a way.->The Lord]]] (text-colour:purple)[[[It is a dim light, shining in the dark.->The Fallen Star]]]

You desire freedom from your creators. You desire a world of your own. You desire the life denied you. All this and //more//, you see before you. You see (text-colour:yellow)[liberation] from war and service; you see a world unbound to light and dark; you see life unrestrained and free. You see a world of savagery and blood and teeth. You see a world of flowing streams and quiet forests. There is tranquility and misery each, in even measure, for there could be no other way. This is freedom, and this is the cost. Embrace it. --- (text-colour:yellow)[(set:$Patron to "Maw")[[It is.->Patronage]]] (text-colour:navy)[[[It is not.->It Is Not]]]

You stand in a vast expanse of pearl sand. You stand before a palace of ruby-glass, shining amidst the empty desert. You see its (text-colour:red)[master], a thing too like yourself, shaped and shapeless; they greet you like a trusted friend. You are in a resplendent room, your friend offers you food and drink, and simple companionship. You look out from a balcony upon the glistening cities you have built together, set against a sinking sun. They ask for nothing more than your trust. --- (text-colour:red)[(set:$Patron to "Lord")[[It is.->Patronage]]] (text-colour:navy)[[[It is not.->It Is Not]]]

Possibility collapses, (if:$Patron is "Maw")[and you are filled with a deep, insatiable (text-colour:yellow)[hunger].](if:$Patron is "Lord")[and you are granted (text-colour:red)[power] beyond comprehension.](if:$Patron is "Star")[and you are granted a simple, quiet (text-colour:purple)[peace].] Suddenly, pain, like something clawing its way beneath your skin, burrowing through your veins; something burns deep inside you. A cord is cut, and the blood flows free. You scream, but there is no air to carry it. And there is a force, pulling ever stronger at you, and then- You awaken in a cavern, lying on cold stone. For a moment you don't believe it; it is a mirage, a construct of a starved mind desperately trying to make sense of nothing. But it doesn't fade. The air is cool on your skin and, faintly, you hear birds. You do not feel a Will. The only voice in your thoughts is your own, strange though it sounds. You are no longer the creators' weapon(if:$Patron is "Maw")[. You are free of your chains at last.](else:)[.] --- (text-colour:navy)[[[Leave; your time is precious now that it is yours.->Thinking]]] (link: "Savor the moment awhile.")[(set: $savory to "true")(go-to: "Thinking")]<blueify|

It is not. Before you is potential, touched by something else, but unformed. It awaits your hand to make true what already lies within. You have but the eternal now. A moment to make the only choice that is truly yours. --- (text-colour:yellow)[[[It is a tooth, broken and bloody, wrapped in leather.->The Maw]]] (text-colour:red)[[[It is a shard of red glass, beautiful, in a way.->The Lord]]] (text-colour:purple)[[[It is a fallen star, shining in the dark.->The Fallen Star]]]

The abyss is deep and dark and wet. The light beckons you onward, and you fall deeper. It was a great thing, once. Greater still than the creators, greater than anything you have ever known. Oh how it has (text-colour:purple)[fallen] from those days; far indeed. The light beckons you onward, and you fall deeper. It is cold and black and dead. All that it shines upon comes to reflect it. You have gone so far, and the light is no nearer. The darkness drowns you and the light cannot be but it must be, it is, you have not gone so far for nothing. The Star beckons you onward, and you fall deeper. --- (text-colour:purple)[(set:$Patron to "Star")[[It is.->Patronage]]] (text-colour:navy)[[[It is not.->It Is Not]]]

(if:$savory is "true")[The cavern glistens, its roof a damp crystal catching what little light makes it from the entrance. Its a strange thing to have caught your focus, but, it is no less beautiful for its mundanity. Creation, the world, you look at it with new eyes now. But you are exhausted. You know the feeling well, though it has had little bearing on you before. Without Divine Will to drive you, it is simplest not to move at all; perhaps if you stayed long enough your body would become one with the stone, then only to rise at the greatest of provocation, or to be hewn and shaped into something else by simpler hands than Gods. Somehow, it's that last thought that gives you the energy to move. You stand, slowly, and shakily, as though unaccustomed to action.](else:)[You force yourself to stand, overcoming the exhaustion that's overtaken you. You were a soldier, a being of divine form and will, and though those ties have shed you, the strength of your past still comes to you. There's little time to lose regardless; any moment now you could be set upon by the Chosen, or your erstwhile kin, who would surely see you as some tainted and evil thing beyond the reach of the Creators. Perhaps they wouldn't be wrong, but you won't simply lay about to find out.] Scattered on the floor of the cavern are your things; equipment and supplies, you are a soldier after all. You don't remember leaving them, - or, taking it off, in the case of your armor, - but there they lie. --- (link: "The armor is a wine dark fabric, to be wrapped tightly around you like burial cloth, and held in place by simple bronze bands. It is the armor of a scout, and is paired with a long axe in the shape of a crescent.")[(set: $Nature to "Dark")(go-to: "Escape")]<blueify| (link: "The armor is a pearly vestment that shimmers even in the dark, the only true protection granted by a bone-white cuirass. It is the armor of a scout, and is paired with a short sword, heavily curved to cleave deeply.")[(set: $Nature to "Light")(go-to: "Escape")]<blueify|

(if:$Nature is "Dark")[You gather your things, quickly wrapping yourself in the trappings of the Dark. Such things held no power over you now, but there was comfort in familiarity, and you would surely need them in the future.](if:$Nature is "Light")[You gather your things, the long robes swiftly falling over your form. Even now, their Light is a comfort to you; one can only go so far from their nature, after all.] And so equipped, you move to the mouth of the cave, following the light and breeze as your guide to the outside. As you come round the slight curve of the entrance, the air becomes tinged with the taste of soot. Outside, pillars of smoke rise into a fractured sky; villages and fortresses alike burn in the distance, though you don't see the army that wrought it. Above it all reigns the Light, shining warmly down upon a shimmering world, but you are not so deep within that you cannot see the Divide. Beyond the smoke is the stark line that divides the world, and on its other side, is the reign of Dark; a cold, quiet place. (if:$Nature is "Light")[A strange and hostile world to you.](if: $Nature is "Dark")[A world more familiar to you than this place of blazing sun.] You are struck, suddenly, by a small stone. Your eyes shoot downward, and a little ways down the hillside, pointing at you, is a Light-clad scout formed of a pale crystal(if: $Nature is "Light")[, much like yourself.](else:)[.] "How long do you mean to stand there staring at the sky(if: $Nature is "Dark")[, Dark One?"](else:)[?"] it says, "You're lucky I thought better than to run you through." It points over its shoulder, to a ramshackle camp set on a sufficiently flat boulder, "This way," it says, then promptly turns away from you and begins heading back to it. --- (link: "Follow cautiously, if it was going to kill you, it would have done so already.")[(go-to: "Camp 1")]<blueify|

You slowly follow down the hillside, keeping fair distance between yourself and the strange soldier. Its equipment is ragged, the robe dirty and cut short, seemingly intentionally. Strangely though, that fact sets you more at ease; no soldier possessed of Divine Will would allow its equipment to come to such a state. Perhaps it's like you. It must be, if you've gotten this far. Once it reaches the campsite, the soldier sits on a rock nearby the fire. "You'll have to find seating of your own; I haven't prepared for others." After a moment, you elect to simply sit on the ground, positioning the fire neatly between you. There is silence, seemingly a mutual loss for words. --- (link: "Ask where you are.")[(go-to: "Where")]<blueify| (link: "Ask if it's like you.")[(go-to: "What")]<blueify| (set: $hasseen1 to 1) (set: $hasseen2 to 1)

It sighs, an odd, affected gesture, given there was little need for your kind to breathe. "The Chosen call it 'Lasas'," it says, the word sharp and unnatural among the divine tounge, "Little else but farms around." (if: $Nature is "Light")[You know this place from your life before; the Light-Chosen had come far since then. They had hardly moved beyond hunting and gathering in those days.](if: $Nature is "Dark")[The name means little to you, the Lightrealm wasn't somewhere you had cared to learn about before, but at least you know where you are now.] The deserter looks out at the pillars of smoke in the distance for a moment, before returning its gaze to you. "Few farms left now, I suppose."(set: $hasseen1 to 2) --- (if: $hasseen2 is 1)[(link: "Ask if it's like you. ")[(go-to: "What")]<blueify|](if: $hasseen1 is 2 and $hasseen2 is 2)[(link: "It interrupts any more questions with one of its own;")[(go-to: "Question")]<blueify|]

The deserter laughs, a harsh barking sound, and flashes you something resembling a grin, though one with far too many (text-colour:yellow)[teeth]. "As though you can't tell!" It laughs again, (if: $Patron is "Maw")["We're the same, very much the same; It's funny, you know, I can smell it on you. That sort of feeling we get when we see..." it waves a hand silently for a moment, as though searching for quite the right word, "The other side. Almost."](else:)["Not the same, no, but close enough." It pauses and tosses a fresh stick onto the fire, "You start to get a sense for it, after a while. I look at you, and I can almost see it."] Looking at it, you think you might understand what it means.(set: $hasseen2 to 2) --- (if: $hasseen1 is 1)[(link: "Ask where you are. ")[(go-to: "Where")]<blueify|](if: $hasseen1 is 2 and $hasseen2 is 2)[(link: "It interrupts any more questions with one of its own;")[(go-to: "Question")]<blueify|]

"What do you plan to do?" The question weighs heavy on your thoughts; even if this place was safe for the moment, there was little guarantee it would remain so. The armies couldn't be far, if this deserter was still camped out here. You couldn't well stay on the side of a mountain besides. You would need supplies, and shelter. The only place you could imagine to find either was a village; one that hadn't been razed. But what hope would there be for deserters. The Chosen know what you are, surely(if: $Nature is "Dark")[, and they wouldn't tolerate a dark creature such as yourself besides, deserter or no.](if: $Nature is "Light")[; you couldn't hope to hide it from them. Soldiers like you never split from their armies unless something was deeply wrong. In a way, you supposed there //was// something wrong.] Still, you didn't have any other options. You tell the deserter as much, and it sighs. "Then you're not seeing any clearer than I." It pokes at the fire with a stick, burning the tip black, but not quite catching the flames on it. "But at least I'm not charging off to death on my own." It sighed again, and set the stick aside. "The night's coming; No bedding, so best get comfortable on the stones." You look up at the sky again at that; it can't have been that long. Alas, the sun was indeed beginning to set, and more quickly than ever you had known. Perhaps something was more deeply wrong than you knew. The deserter stands kicks earth over the fire, quickly snuffing it out and leaving you both in the dying light. "Hope you weren't planning to sleep warm. If we get spotted up here, we won't have much of a chance to try our hand at death in a village." With that, it lays down on a piece of rough canvas that you were reasonably certain had once belonged to a tent. And so you were alone again. It didn't take long for you kind to get to sleep, scarcely though it was needed. --- (text-colour:navy)[[[Take the remaining canvas scrap as bedding.->Dream]]] (text-colour:navy)[[[Explore your surroundings a while.->Explore]]]

Sleep finds you quickly, even in the discomfort of a bed of thin cloth and earth. (if:$Patron is "Maw")[You awaken in your home. A simple, dim place, the bare earth tamped down to a solid semblance of a floor. Light streams in softly from the entrance, telling you that morning has come at last. You stretch some stiffness out of your body, - the world mustn't go on without you, - and leave the comfortable confines. Your forest is beautiful in the morning, as ever it should be. The grass glistens with sweet dew, the trees snake winding paths deep into the sky, your (text-colour:yellow)[claws] dig deep into the damp soil. It is a sight you never tire of - but one you cannot linger on. With the day comes your daily task, that you might see the morrow.](if:$Patron is "Lord")[You awaken to a rising sun, red against the pearl-sand. The room is empty now, and quiet besides. A fire crackles softly nearby, just close enough that you taste the smoke on the air. A door opens; your dearest friend steps through. They offer you a drink, - water, of course, no need to repeat last night's revelry so soon, - and sit in the seat across from you. (text-colour:red)["Good morning,"] they say, their tone light and conversational. (text-colour:red)["We have so few opportunities to speak, and so much must go unsaid. I'm sure you have questions."] They smile warmly, inviting a response.](if:$Patron is "Star")[You awaken. You //awaken//. Something inside you stirs, and in the depths you feel... companionship. You are not alone. You never were, not really. Here where there is nothing, it is a comfort to know you are not alone. You wouldn't want to be. Not after everything, not after so long. Here in the black, the (text-colour:purple)[Star] shines ever-bright. Cast amidst that which is not, to be at all is to be all. Its waning light tells a story, cast in contrast. A story about you.] --- (if:$Patron is "Maw")[(link: "Something catches your eye; a tuft of white fur, just visible behind undergrowth. Lightning courses through your veins and you charge, setting the small creature off into the forest, yourself close behind.")[(go-to: "dreammaw1")]<mawify|](if:$Patron is "Lord")[(link: "You forget; what was it you did last night?")[(go-to: "dreammaw1")]<lordify|](if:$Patron is "Star")[(link: "See, and know; be seen, and be known.")[(go-to: "dreammaw1")]<starify|]

In the fading light, there's only so much to see; the outcropping on which you are camped is surrounded by steep hillside, with little more than sparse trees and thin grasses to mark any feature with. Beneath you, though, is a forest. Not much of a forest, - only in comparison to the dearth of life on the mountain does it earn the name, - but a forest is a forest, all the same, and it's far more interesting, and doubtlessly more comfortable, than the prospect of setting down on a bare rock. You walk down, slowly enough to not lose your footing. Slowly enough that it's noticably darker by the time you make it to the copse of trees. Alas, but such was the choice you made; with choice, comes consequence. But that, you think, is a cost you can bear. You take one last look at the deserter's campsite; it would do to remember where it is if you're to make your way back to it after this excursion. Your attention snaps back to the woods as you hear heavy footsteps behind you, a Soldier's instincts proving they hadn't left you with the Divine. Before you is a beast; a simple creature, an eater of grasses and leaves, dangerous only for the horns atop its head. But it does not regard you with the fear you are used to seeing in them. It charges you without warning, leveling its horns to your chest and trying to run you through on them - quick reflexes have its blow glance across your armor as the beast sprints past you. It turns around quickly, and lines up to charge again. --- (text-colour:navy)[[[Defend yourself.->fight1]]]

End of Demo As-Yet