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(live:1s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//You are a star, quickly running out of hydrogen.//(stop:)]
(live:3s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//With every static breath you take, you can feel your energy [[running out.]]//(stop:)]
]
<script> var audio = document.createElement('audio'); audio.src = 'https://jordanbeau.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/8/0/148023113/tidal.mp3' ; audio.loop = true; audio.play(); </script>(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[=
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(live:1s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//You need to make a decision soon.//(stop:)]
(live:3s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//[[Wake up.]]//(stop:)]
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//(live:1s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[Space feels so cold, but you burn brightly...(stop:)]
//
//(live:3s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[You awake [[slowly->Your core]]...(stop:)]
//
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(live:1s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//You're twenty miles from the dwarf planet Makemake- named after the Rapa Nui god of fertility, the creator of humanity. //(stop:)]
(live:3s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//Ironic, considering you haven't seen this so-called "humanity" anywhere. You feel like you're losing light by the second.//(stop:)]
(live:5s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//The core of your being pulses with immense pressure, pushing against your fragile surface. Each beat trembles with the knowledge that this is the end.//(stop:)]
(live:7s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//But is it the end, or merely a [[transformation?]]//(stop:)]
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//Time feels incredibly warped here, your vision growing worse.//
(live:2s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//[[Speed it up.]]//(stop:)]
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(live:2s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[ The rhthym of your existence grows chaotic as Makemake and the stars around you (text-style:"blur")[blur] and create (text-style:"fidget")[sparks] of great light. (stop:) ]
(live:4s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[ Flares of violet and blue arc through your outer layers, brief but beautiful, as the threshold of your own existence nears. The light you have emitted for eons flickers, (text-style:"fade-in-out")[dimming and brightening, like a pulse slowing before a final breath. (stop:) ]
(live:6s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[Energy gathers beneath your surface, as if the very fabric of your being is about to tear apart. The pressure is unbearable, and yet, your thoughts are focused—on what? (stop:)]
(live:8s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[ A single moment, [[a single choice.]] (stop:) ]
]](css: "text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px black;")[
(live:2s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//A supernova. You're becoming one of the universe's greats: an explosion so huge and violent it creates black holes.//(stop:)]
(live:2s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[Thankfully, you aren't big enough to create one of those.(stop:)]
(live:4s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[The turmoil you cause makes other stars notice.(stop:)]
(live:4s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[You can feel them watching.(stop:)]
(live:6s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[Maybe you aren't alone after all. In the blurry haze of your current state, you feel a pull towards them.(stop:)]
(live:10s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[ [[Listen to the stars.]](stop:) ]
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One star catches your attention. It seems scared. It's brilliant sparkling blue and greens flicker as it speaks:
''(live:2s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[(text-colour:#6bc016)["Please. Don't do this. The radiation could cause instability in some of us and kill others. Our binary system is too close together for this kind of supernova."(stop:)]]
''
(live:4s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[Another star, distant yet familiar, speaks to you across the black void:(stop:)]
''(live:6s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[(text-colour:magenta)["Do not let fear guide you. Embrace the explosion. With it, you will create a new nebula that seeds future stars and planets. Short term pain that creates longevity for millions of stars to come."(stop:)]]
''
(live:8s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[Where one difficulty ends, another begins. Who do you listen to?(stop:)]
(live:10s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[[[Green star; Altruism path->Altruism path]](stop:)]
(live:10s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[[[Pink star; Glory path->Glory path]](stop:)]
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(text-style:"buoy")[//Altruism and purpose. A conversation awaits.//]
The pink star falls silent, its plea unanswered. The other star speaks softly now:
(text-colour:#6bc016)[''"Your path is not the end, but a new beginning."'']
A quiet //thank you.//
You realize you may be fading still. Not a dramatic death, but a small, yet significant one.
As you reminisce, you notice a comet pass, hurtling toward an unknown path in the Milky Way.
[[Yell at the comet.]]
[[Whisper at the comet.]]
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(text-style:"buoy")[//Glory and chaos. May you never be the same.//]
You embrace your fate, exploding in a magnificent manner, a spectacle. One that is felt thousands of miles away as the shockwave spreads and ripples through the universe.
You feel euphoric as your energy is sent out, ignoring the twinges of guilt when you realize that the surrounding celestial bodies, stars and comets alike, are caught in your explosion and [[vaporized.]]
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You yell at the comet, suddenly angry:
//"What happens now!?"//
The comet is startled as it notices you.
(live:3s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"Hello, friend. What seems to be the matter?"''(stop:)]]
(live:6s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[You're startled yourself. You weren't expecting a response. What do you say?(stop:)]
(live:6s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//[["I'm just... I don't know, disappointed? I thought there'd be more to life than this."]](stop:)//]
(live:6s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//[["Nothing."]](stop:)//]
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You whisper at the comet, as if you don't really want to be heard:
//"What happens now?"//
The comet doesn't seem to notice you as it hurtles along through the black void. You eventually realize the path its on: Earth.
//Maybe that comet will become a shooting star as it is swallowed up by the atmosphere//, you think to yourself. //A beautiful, fiery transformation.//
Maybe it will have a quiet death as it plummets towards the ground, away from any life. If a meteor smashes into Earth and no one is around, does it really exist? Does it just become apart of the environment as life continues on without it?
Does it even matter?
[[You continue on.]]
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The comet continues its journey, potentially affecting Earth's inhabitants.
You begin to accept your fate.
The star's words from earlier echo in your head:
//[["Your path is not the end, but a new beginning."]]//
]
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make sure your audio is on before beginning. headphones recommended.
(text-colour:#86d0d0)[//⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆ last words of a star ⋆｡°✩//]
[[>->Beginning]]
]
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You watch as the star that had urged you on was swallowed by your wake.
You had made the decision //so quickly.//
[[How?]]
]
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No violent end, no spectacular supernova.
Your light, while fading, allows for a subtle cycle of rebirth.
Your energy spreads out, returning to the cosmic universe you were born in.
A thousand millennias you have lived, and for a thousand millennias more, your quiet death will ensure a [[nebula is formed.]]
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Your very being gives life the space to be created, dust and cloud made of brilliant blues, violets, pinks, whites, oranges.
Exhalation.
(live:3s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[[[New stars begin to form.|End]](stop:)]
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(live:2s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//[[End.⋆｡°✩|Start Page]]//(stop:)]
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Suddenly, you feel another seismic pressure burst, and it feels so loud, but the space around you just silences it.
No atoms, no molecules to carry a sound wave across the vast universe. It all dawns on you that you are carrying this weight alone.
Dying alone, in a brilliant explosion, crushed under the weight of overwhelming gravity.
(text-style:"shudder")[Complete and utter //[[core collapse.]]//]
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In all your haze, you see Makemake's moon making its orbit. A slow journey, sure, but at least they have each others company.
Searing red hot temperatures continue as your outer layers shed and reach out furthur into space.
You then see a comet pass by.
[[Yell out to the comet.]]
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You shout,
"Where are you headed?"
The comet, to your surprise, hears you.
You both look scared.
(live:3s)+(t8n:"dissolve")+(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"Hello child."''(stop:)]
(live:5s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[//[["I'm not a child."]]//(stop:)]
(live:5s)+(t8n:"dissolve")[ [["Please, stay."]](stop:)
]
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"Thank you. I don't know what to say."
The comet does not seem to hear you as it continues on its path, destination unknown.
You gaze at the stardust in your possession, sweet and bright. An ancient token.
[[A reminder.|hold the stardust.]]
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(text-colour:#cf5941)["You’ve illuminated countless lives, but have you ever touched something so ancient, so far beyond your reach? This stardust holds a secret even you might not understand."]
"I've //taken// lives, too. I don't deserve it."
(text-colour:#cf5941)["Yes, perhaps that's why you should take it. This stardust has seen destruction and creation, endings and beginnings. It's not about deserving—it’s about understanding. Stars like you don’t just destroy; you transform the universe. Let this be a reminder and take comfort in that."]
You hesitate before you [[hold the stardust.]]
]
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(text-colour:#cf5941)["Please, take this. As a reminder."]
The comet hands out a small shimmery thing. Stardust.
(text-colour:#cf5941)["From the galaxy Andromeda."]
You stare in awe. A beautiful gift from galaxy you'd never heard of, and this comet wants to give it to you?
[[Take it for luck.]]
[[Insist the comet keep it.]]
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As you clutch the stardust, something shifts within you.
Your core trembles, not with fear, but with finality and purpose.
With the stardust in hand, you //erupt// into brilliance, your light stretching across the void, touching stars unborn and worlds unimagined. Your final thought is not of destruction but of all that might grow from your sacrifice.
The universe holds its breath.
[[And exhales.|End]]
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(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"Poor child."'']
That stings. You aren't a child, you're a star that's existed for millions of years.
(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"I'm heading towards Earth, you know. It will eventually swallow me whole and I will plummet towards the soft dirt. Or the ocean. Who knows?"'']
"Oh... I'm sorry."
(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"Why should you be? I'm perfectly happy with that. My life as a comet will come to an end, and my brief experience as a meteor will begin. Change is natural."'']
A beautiful, fiery transformation.
"I suppose it is... thank you."
[[You continue on.]]
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(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"Surely there is something. You look troubled."'']
"How can you tell?"
(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"I'm heading towards Earth, you know. It will eventually swallow me whole and I will plummet towards the soft dirt. Or the ocean. Who knows?"'']
A slow death. A painful death.
Or a beautiful, fiery transformation.
(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"I can just tell when a fellow celestial might be facing the unknown."'']
"You're right. I am scared. I don't know what will happen to me."
(text-colour:#cf5941)[''"A transformation."'']
You try to reply, but the comet is too far away now.
[[You continue on.]]
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(text-colour:#cf5941)["'My apologies. I do not mean to offend. You are a supernova, correct?"]
".....I think so."
(text-colour:#cf5941)["Ah, I see. A new one?"]
"How could you tell?... besides the radiation."
(text-colour:#cf5941)["Well, I've existed for a while. Seen a thing or two out here. Been around my fair share of them. You look... troubled."]
[[You wince.]]
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(text-colour:#cf5941)["I cannot stop my course. It is not determined by me, child. I am sorry."]
A comet accepting its own fate. Why can't you accept yours?
(text-colour:#cf5941)["Here, take this. As a reminder."]
The comet hands out a small shimmery thing. Stardust.
(text-colour:#cf5941)["From the galaxy Andromeda."]
"Oh, wow." A piece of your fellow celestial being, a galaxy you have never heard of.
[[Take it for luck.]]
[[Insist the comet keep it.]]
]