rei's story or somethin

"(print: $sibling)! Are you there?" you call, the tremor in your voice relatively normal before the panic sets in. You wait for a response for a bit, then recieve none-- it puts you on edge. You get up out of your bed, placing your feet on the weak wood that supported your home. The entrance to your room was only covered with a thick cloth of straw that stopped just short of the floor. You peek past it, looking outside into the hallway that led into your family's living room. It's empty. [[Leave your room.->exitroom2]]

You are usually used to the buzz of chatter among your family, but the silence was definitely //odd.// [[Call for someone's name.->call]] [[Quietly leave the room and explore your house.->exitroom]]

You get up out of your bed, placing your feet on the weak wood that supported your home. The entrance to your room was only covered with a thick cloth of straw that stopped just short of the floor. You peek past it, looking outside into the hallway that led into your family's living room. As you creep through your home towards it exit, you look around cautiously for any sign of life. Your heart began to sink further and further as the silence truly began to set you off. As you stand in front of the wall of straw that obscured the view from the inside to the outside, reluctant to open it. [[Go.->proceed]] [[Don't.->don't]]

Something in your stomach tells you to go. [[Go.->proceed]]

As you notice its hostility towards you, your senses come back to you and they urge you to split. Your legs sprint and drag your upper body away from the scene, not even realizing what you were doing. Glancing over your own shoulder, you see the thing sprinting after you at an alarming pace. You shriek at the top of your lungs as the thing tackles you and pins you to the ground. Your brain guides you to slap it across the face. So you do. Upon contact, your palm seems to heat up and emit a bright light. As you strike the monster's face, the impact seems to inflict so much more damage than you first expected. The thing's head snaps to the side, and it lets out a god awful screech as it hits the ground. You freeze up in a slight panic before getting up onto your knees to observe the fallen thing. "I didn't realize I was so tough!" [[What the heck is this thing?->observe]]

Your feet stay glued to the ground, your trembling arms balling its hands into fists as you ready yourself into a weak fighting stance. The thing that killed your family snarls and bares its sharp teeth at you before jumping at you with the intent to kill. You shriek, feeling the palms of your hand start to throb. You swing aimlessly at the thing, clocking it in the face with your weak arms. Upon contact, your hand glows in an overwhelming light and the impact of the punch feels to have done way more damage than you expected. The thing screeches and falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes. You blink a few times and shake your head as your senses come back to you once again. You creep up to the fallen thing and lean over it to look at it. [[What the heck is this thing?->observe]]

You hold your own tiny service for your members as you spend hours digging up the ground with your bare hands to rest them in it peacefully. The sun cascades across the sky, lowering in the distance to greet the arrival of the night. Your head hangs low, dirt trapped so deep underneath your nails you feel as if there is no point to get it out. You screw your eyes shut, and let the final few tears fall from your sore eyes, off of your chin, and onto the dirt. A wisping sound fills your ears, and a dim light glows through your eyelids. "(print: $name), open your eyes," a familiar voice says. Your eyes flash open and you pull your head up to see wispy and translucent images of your family in front of you. Their eyes were filled with so much empathy, sadness, and longing. "W...what is going on?" you ask, flabbergasted as you wipe your eyes of the tears. [["(print: $name), you've been spared!"->spared]]

"Sp...spared?" "Yes," your mother's spirit said, approaching you. "Look at your hands," she said, guiding you to show your palm to her. "I already know about those, they've been glowing ever since I killed that thing that killed you." "Do you not question why?" "Of course I do!" She chuckled weakly. "You're special." //I think I got that at this point... I wish I weren't though.// you thought. "It's obvious. You were granted with the ability to be able to physically fight these evil spirits, and in turn, these sigils on your hands ward you off from the dangers of these monsters." "Evil spirits?" She nods. "My sweet little (print: $name), I'm so sorry we had to leave you. But you are strong, you will survive. Please survive for us." "(print: $name)!" your younger sibling calls. "I'll miss you so much!" they said, crying. Their tears glowed like a mosaiac and sparkled." "(print: $name), we have to go," your father says. "But you're all here, please, stay with me! I'm begging of you!" [["We can't."->goodbye]]

"Your abilities have granted you with the ability to see us, before we pass on. But this time is limited. We have to go," your father affirms. "(print: $name)!" "(print: $sibling)! Mom! Dad!!" you cry, reaching out for them as their bodies begin to disappate. "We love you, sweetie," your mother says, before they all disappear, the light that radiated from their bodies fading off in the wind. You stare up into the sky as their bodies trail away into it, your eyes welling up once again to contribute to your now pounding headache. You drop your face into your hands, and cry once again. [[Continue.->wakeup!]]

The sun hits your face once again, waking up once more. You almost wish it hadn't, but it's to be expected when you fall asleep outside. Luckily, the temperature as of late was merciful to those who did not have homes. The night was not cold, and you slept //almost// comfortably on the generally uncomfortable ground. You gaze over the graves you made for your family and sigh. //I have no idea what to do with myself.// [[Wander in the mountains.->mountain]] [[Check on the nearby village.->village]]

(set: $fruit to (either: "apples", "peaches", "cherries")) Getting up to your feet, you talk a slow and staggering walk away from your home, and far from any populated areas towards a cold and isolated barrage of mountains. You had no rush to get there, so you travelled and travelled, ignoring the pain in your legs and settling hunger in your stomach. Darn it, why didn't you pack some stupid food! It's far too late to head home now. Around the mountain's foot settled a ring of forest to pass through. You could spot some vegetation growing on the ground and in the trees deep in the forest. Your eyesight felt surprisingly more enhanced despite having a 12 hour-long breakdown along with crying your eyes out, you wondered how you could see that far. Regardless, you sprint towards it hungrily and desperately. It's a tree of (either: "apples", "peaches", "cherries")! In fact, it's a grove of it. Wow, it's just like heaven. [[Pick some!->pick]]

As you wallow in self pity, a blaring thought occurs to you. //Crap! If there's more things like these monsters in the village-- Oh no.// You kick up dust as you sprint through the woods around your house as you try to recall the directions to the large village that you family lived away from. After a few minutes of sprinting, you slow to a jog as you exit the forest, seeing tiny homes in the distance down a hill. You couldn't see any activity from where you were, and that put you off again. You take a deep breath and sprint again. [[Then your foot gets caught in a root.->trip]]

You scramble to climb the tree and pick some of its' delectable fruit and practically devour it. It's pretty good, but something about it tastes kind of strange. "//**HEY!**//" a sharp voice pierces through your ears that seems to rattle the tree around you and makes you fall off of its branch. [["Who?"->who]]

You slam onto the ground badly on your front, scrambling to sit up on your back. A blur of a body skips through your peripheral vision and suddenly you have the most distorted looking sword being held up your neck, and a foot on your chest that's holding you down. "Name, now," the affirmative voice says from beneath the mask that covered their mouth. It had neon teeth painted onto it, looking cool but almost a bit intimidating. "Holy, //god!// It's $name!" Their faded blue eyes pierced into yours, the omnious softness of their irises coming off as more hostile than you would've expected. "$name? Explain why you're here. Now." "I just wanted some food!!" you shriek, your hands raised to show you were no threat. Their eyes glanced at the palms of your hands briefly before actually looking at them and taking in what they were seeing. [["Your hands."->hands?]]

"My hands? What... about them?" "What in the hell do you mean 'what about them'? Don't you know anything about yourself?" You kind of just stare at him a bit offended, not really knowing how to respond. Of course you knew yourself but the palms of your hands always. remained to be an anomoly to you. "You're one of them," they stare at you, waiting for a response. [["I already know!"->bluff]] [["One of what?"->confusion]]

The determination in your voice was not enough to be played off as believeable. "Oh yeah? You know what you are, huh? Yeah?" they taunted. You sputter. [["That's what I thought."->confusion]]

"I knew you wouldn't know," they scoff. Then they pointed a very accusatory finger right at you. "You, you little vile thief, are a guide." "Guide?" "Yeah, you heard me." "Are you... gonna explain?" They groaned, rolling their eyes and facepalming. "Do I have to babywalk you through all of this?" You blink at this very rude person, waiting for them to continue. They groan again. "Guides are very special people who have the ability to fight off beings known as the Festerers." "Festerers is kind of a weird name." "I know, I made it up myself." "Don't you know the actual name?" "Probably, I just don't care to remember," they said, digging in their ear. You sigh. "Can you let me go now? I got what I needed, so..." "Leave? Hell no." [["Why not?!"->why]]

The momentum from your running sends you flying down the hill, tumbling for what seems like an eternity. You keep your eyes closed but you can't help but continuously yelp as you kept taking more blows to your body from the nature around you. It wasn't much longer before you reached the bottom-- and the mouth of the village. You groan and open your eyes, being met face to face with another bloodied corpse. Your eyes widen and your heart sinks again, shrieking as you scramble away from it. There was no doubt that those things had been here. You race into the village, seeing more bodies everywhere, but no monsters anywhere. You gag, and want to throw up from the nauseating smell of decaying bodies. [[Search for survivors->search]]

You run through the village, looking for any sign of life but continue to see more dead bodies. You freeze up and almost trip again when a sharp voice calls. "HEY!" Two people jump in front of you, sharp weapons in hand. "A survivor?" one of them asks, perplexed. "Where'd you come from? Last we checked here, everyone was dead!" the other one says. Another person sneaks up behind you, breathing heavily. //Oh crap, I'm surrounded.// "I don't pose any harm! I used to live with my family on the way outskirts of this village," you say, raising your hands to prove you are no harm. The two in front of you gasp, almost dropping their weapons. "Wait, what are you gasping about?!" The one behind you asks. The two who gasped gaped at each other, looking at one another before back at you. They stammered and pointed, saying, "Your-- your hands!" "W-- what about them?" Suddenly all three of them swarm you, hoisting you off of your feet. [[Scream.->scream]] [[Accept your fate.->accept]]

"Cuz, you're gonna work for me now!" The statement takes you aback, what the heck did they mean by "You're gonna gonna work for me now"?! [["No the heck I'm not!"->refuse]] [["What do you mean?"->huh]]

"I'm not giving you a choice," they glower, grabbing your ankle and dragging you away. You freak out and start wailing, tossing your arms around and trying to kick them so they'd let you go, but their grip just got tired. "Quit freakin' or else I'll kill you. And it'd suck to lose a valuable resource for me now." You freeze and let them drag you around until you're brought into a house. They toss you into the middle of the room, and sit in front of the door. "Are you gonna EXPLAIN ANYTHING TO ME?!" you shriek. "When my comrades come back, I'll tell you stuff. For now, shut it and wait." [[And now, you wait.->teamup]]

"I need a guide on my hands, your abilities will be helpful for what I'm doing," they say, grabbing your ankle and start dragging you around. You sputter, and almost start to freak out. "Cool it, I ain't gonna kill you." For some reason you just... don't freak out. They drag you into a tiny house, and fling you into it and sit by the entrance of the home to ensure you don't escape. [[And now you wait->teamup]]

You start to scream and thrash around in their arms. You continue to create a loud fuss, and the trio holding you up stop in their tracks. Then they toss you onto the ground as hard as they can, knocking you out. After a while, your senses begin to come back to you and you wake up on the ground. Your eyes flash open and your scream again, flailing at the 4 people surrounding you. A sole of a boot connects with your chest, pushing you down onto the ground. "Cool your jets. What's your name?" "It's (print: $name)!" you spit. [["(print: $name), my lackeys are telling me you're a guide."->whaaa]]

You don't bother to yell, you just let yourself be carried. Your family is dead, this entire village is destroyed, what //else// could go wrong? The three people hoisting you carry you out from the village, past near where your prior home was, and through a grove of trees filled to the brim with (either: "apples", "peaches", "cherries"). It was mesmerizing, and you wanted to pick some off and eat it right there. But they all passed by it, and approached a really small house. "Boss!" the first one yelled. //There's another?// The three dip you down then all three of them threw you into the house, letting you roll on your side to someone's feet. They looked down at you with apathetic eyes. Then they looked back up at the three who brought you here. "Who the hell is this?" "We found a guide at the village we were surveying." "Hi," you said, waving. Their so-called boss grabbed you by the wrist and looked at your hand. "What's your name?" "It's.... (print: $name)," you say, a bit nervous. [["(print: $name), huh? You're a guide."->whaaa]]

"BOSS!" an unfamiliar voice yelled from outside. Quickly, three people burst inside, all frantic. "A nearby village was completely slaughtered! We killed all the Fe-fester-Festerers but we couldn't find any survivors! Who's that?" they asked, pointing directly at you. "Eeuuuhh, this is (print: $name). They're a guide." "A guide?! Where the heck did you find them?" "Found 'em stealing my fruits. Anyways, since we're all here, let's introduce ourselves to this twink." [[All four of them positioned themselves in front of you.->introduce!]]

You creep through your home towards it exit, you look around cautiously for any sign of life. Your heart began to sink further and further as the silence truly began to set you off. As you stand in front of the wall of straw that obscured the view from the inside to the outside, reluctant to open it. [[Go.->proceed]] [[Don't.->don't]]

"I'm Amari!" the tallest lackey exclaimed, smiling brightly. She was dressed in heavy armor, and carried around a long spear. Her armor made her head look tiny, and the rest of her body intimidating, but her pleasant expression made her hard to be afraid of. "I'm Kast," the second said. He looked a bit younger in comparison to Amari, wearing a long cloak and carried two large machetes on their back. "Lea," the third, and tiniest lackey said. She wore a bit more casual clothes, but rocked a huge sword on her back. "And I'm Bastille," their boss said. Bastille pulled down the mask over their mouth to reveal that around their mouth was significantly scarred and torn up. They smiled down at you and said, "Welcome, (print: $name). You're joinin' our team." [[End of Part 1->demo]]

"A what?" you ask. They groan. "Guides are very special people who have the ability to fight off beings known as the Festerers." "Festerers is kind of a weird name." "I know, I made it up myself." "Don't you know the actual name?" "Probably, I just don't care to remember," they said, digging in their ear. "Boss, shouldn't we introduce ourselves?" The tallest of the three asked. "I guess," they said, standing up and sighing. [[All four of them positioned themselves in front of you.->introduce!]]

Thank you for playing! I hope you enjoyed my story thus far.