Periphery

Flashing lights. A noise. Something is happening. It's nearby, but not right next to you. [[Move towards it]] [[Move away]] [[Try to identify it without moving]]

The noise gets louder. You can't quite tell what it is. You are struggling to focus on the noise even as you approach it. It's almost like there are several noises competing for prominence. The light is still flashing, not in a clear pattern but very brightly. [[Move even closer]]

You shuffle backwards awkwardly, trying to put some distance between yourself and the noise. It isn't very effective. It carries pretty well in this space. The light is fading a little though. Maybe if you keep retreating you'll be able to make out something by sight, soon. [[Keep moving away]] [[Move back towards it->Beginning]]

Tilting your head, you angle towards the best guess you have of where the noise is coming from. But you still can't make it out. It seems to be composed of multiple distinct sounds, each at a different frequency level - so that the result is almost, but not quite, white noise. There is enough of a pattern (or patterns) there that you can tell this isn't simply random electronic hissing. The flashing is too bright to make out anything useful, though. [[Listen more closely]] [[Move away]]

Now you've got almost as far as you can away from this sensory overload, you can finally make out something visually inside all of the flashing - a humanoid shape. Crouching, or perhaps hunched over. [[Approach the figure]]

You take a step towards the hunched, or possibly crouched, figure. Your eyes narrow against the light, which is still harsh and flashing. But the figure isn't moving, so you can use your spatial sense to keep moving even when you can no longer keep looking directly at it. As you move closer, the sound becomes almost deafening - after all, the figure seems to be close to its locus. So you end up pushing forward on vague spatial awareness alone. [[Reach out your hand]]

It's not music. Well. It might be music. It's definitely pulsing and regular at times, but it is also several patterns competing for the small audible spectrum. [[Move towards the sound]]

The closer you get to the apparent source of the light and sound, the harder it is to see anything. You are effectively blinded by the light, and though you can still make out small gaps in the noise, the patterns are now totally lost because everything is so loud. You are just pressing forward towards where you think the source is. It's become hard even to know if you're going in the right direction. It feels almost as though you are surrounded by both the light and the sound. Soon you start to see vague flares of light as though reflecting off a smooth surface somewhere ahead of you. This is strange since the light is utterly blanking out everything else, so there shouldn't be a way to see those reflections. As you keep moving towards it, you can make out a rough humanoid form somewhere in this sensory maelstrom. [[Approach the figure]]

Groping vaguely, you continue to move forward until you feel the hairs on your hand start to crackle with electricity. Dare you keep going? [[Push on, try to touch the figure]] [[Stop, try to see the figure]]

The hairs on your hand continue to crackle, more intensely now. You feel the hair on your head and even your eyebrows start to prickle as it responds to the intense charge in the air. You're definitely moving in the right direction. Soon you can feel a warmth quite close to your palm. The sound and light have become almost suffocating. There is a smell which is almost like petrichor. It fills your nose until you wonder if you have ever been able to smell anything else. You find yourself taking huge gulps of air in an effort to feel less constrained by your lack of senses. Finally your hand comes into contact with something. Something surprisingly smooth, but warm. You can tell it's not a material that is naturally warm, like flesh, but rather something artificially heated. In fact it feels like a heated tile floor, if a tile floor could also feel like a human shoulder. It does not move in response to your touch. What should you do next? [[Call out to the figure]] [[Try to find a face with your hand]]

You raise your head from its bowed position and squint in the direction of the the figure, based on your memory from that first glimpse. The light is incredibly strong. Rather than any kind of distinct shape, you can make out a very gentle edge here and there, a few feet away from where you thought it was. The curve of an elbow, or maybe an outstretched shoulder? It seems quite low to the ground, as though sitting or kneeling. But you can't tell. [[Push on, try to touch the figure]]

You try to call out, but your voice is snatched away by the all-consuming roar of whatever the noise is. For all you know, no sound came out of your mouth at all. You couldn't even hear yourself in your own head. But it doesn't seem to matter. The strange not-flesh under your hand shifts slightly as the figure seems to notice your presence. It lowers the arm whose shoulder your hand landed on, and grasps your upper arm gently but firmly in its hand. [[Pull away]] [[Hold its arm the same way]] [[Hug the figure]]

You can feel the arm you're touching is stretched up and away to the side, as though the figure is reaching for something above its head, or maybe holding something. It hasn't moved in response to your touch, so you gently feel around for other identifying features. Your fingers brush over a neck, with tendons standing out in apparent effort, and an ear, and then a bald head. You still can't really see what's in front of you, but there is certainly some kind of face there. But still it doesn't respond. [[Call out to the figure]] [[Walk away]]

You stagger back from the figure, unsure quite why in the moment. But you're sure you wanted to get away from that grasping hand. You shudder. The figure doesn't follow you. It remains there with one arm outstretched to its side, and the other frozen in the pose of gripping your arm. The sound, which you notice now had faded slightly, redoubles its crashing cacophony. The light, which had dimmed enough to allowed you to see the figure's entire pose, grows brighter even than it was before. Within seconds, the figure is almost entirely obscured by the light again. As far as you can tell, it has not moved or changed position. A powerful fear takes hold in your stomach. What is happening here? The light is so bright now that you have to shield your eyes with your arm - your eyelids aren't enough. You feel a pressure on your whole body, like a strong wind, but coming from above. It shoves you down with such force that you collapse and hit your head a ringing blow. Your mind grows foggy and the world falls away. [[You wake up]]

You take hold of its upper arm just like it is holding yours. Nothing happens for a moment, then the hand holding yours pulls gently. It seems to want you to come closer. You step forward, following. Now you're chest to chest with the figure, though you can just barely make out its shape even this close. It pulls on your arm again. You can't really get any closer. [[Hug the figure]] [[Pull away]]

If you're going to engage, you decide to engage fully. You throw your arms around the figure, fall to your knees and hold its chest close to yours. You can feel that warmth more strongly now. As soon as your chin settles on its shoulder, the figure slowly stands up, shakily, as though lifting something huge above its head. You scramble to follow, sensing something has changed. Once its feet are firmly planted on the ground, it stops shaking. The arms lower, and move gently to hug you back. There is a deliberation to this, as though it's afraid of scaring you by moving too quickly. You stand there for ten, twenty, perhaps thirty seconds. Your eyes close. The world seems to fade away. The light no longer pulses through your eyelids, the noise's volume is reduced, even the smell no longer seems relevant now that you're in this embrace. Abruptly, the figure holding you is gone. No warning, just a sudden absence. You don't even see it disappear, because your eyes are closed. You stagger forward, but don't fall or bump into anything. [[Open your eyes]]

Your eyes open to a blinding light- But no. It's just regular light, it only seems blinding because you've been out for a while and your head is already throbbing from the fall. You're just where you remember being before seeing the figure. You don't remember what you were doing, then, but you will probably figure it out. You turn and walk away, leaving the figure's mystery behind. **THE END**

You step back from the figure, unsure quite why in the moment. Something about the figure is making you uncomfortable. The sound, which you notice now had faded slightly, redoubles its crashing cacophony. The light, which had dimmed at the same time, grows brighter even than it was before. You take unsteady steps backwards, wishing to get away but not willing to turn your back on the figure, although at this point you can't see it anymore. The light is so bright now that you have to shield your eyes with your arm - your eyelids aren't enough. The noise is making your ribcage vibrate. You feel a pressure on your whole body, like a strong wind, but coming from above. It shoves you down with such force that you collapse and hit your head a ringing blow. Your mind grows foggy and the world falls away. [[You wake up]]

You're just where you remember being before seeing the figure. You don't remember what you were doing, then, but you will probably figure it out. Your heart feels lighter somehow. You turn and walk away, leaving the figure's mystery behind. **THE END**

It's terribly hard to see here, but as the sound gets louder you start to see vague flares of light as though reflecting off a smooth surface somewhere ahead of you. This is strange since the light is utterly blanking out everything else, so there shouldn't be a way to see those reflections. As you keep moving towards it, you can make out a rough humanoid form somewhere in this sensory maelstrom. [[Approach the figure]]