The Nascent Cave

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The Nascent Cave [[Start->Intro]]

There is a singular pathway, and you follow it. Your heartbeat syncs with the echoes of your footsteps in a steady, calming rhythm. There is something crisp in the air here, a far cry from the musty atmosphere you’d expected. It was right to come here. It was destined to happen. Down the path, you… [[hear the rippling of water->Path 1][$path to 1]] [[smell the heady smoke of a cookfire->Path 1][$path to 2]]

Here, at the precipice, is when you start to wonder why you’ve come. When the earthquake shook the village, your first thought was to ensure your mother’s safety. When she was secure and the broken crockery was swept off the cottage floor, your next thought was to check on your neighbors. When you saw them, safe, examining the crack that had opened in the earth behind their fields, your next thought was <i>not</i> to get closer to it. You don’t remember when you decided to slip out of your bed and come here. You can’t think of why you’d ever risk life and limb to clamber into the mysteriously well-hewn cavern that the crack revealed. [[You enter.->Paths]]

As you wander home, the impossibility of what transpired hits you. None of that should have been, but it was. You're not alone. You brought a new friend with you. The <<if $path is 1>>girl whispers to you constantly.<</if>><<if $path is 2>>cook you don’t see or hear, but you feel.<</if>> Every living creature you look at, she <<if $path is 1>>tells you, in gruesome detail, how it’s most likely to die<</if>><<if $path is 2>>guides your insight to make you feel exactly what that creature needs<</if>> right now. Perhaps it could be useful in <<if $path is 1>>diagnosing the sick?<</if>><<if $path is 2>>caring for the weary?<</if>> <<if $path is 1>>You are afraid of what she'll say if ever you catch your own reflection.<</if>><<if $path is 2>>You seem to have lost the ability to feel anything within yourself.<</if>> You'd never have pegged yourself as a traveling type. But now, changed as you are by a mysterious encounter, a journey just seems... right. Maybe it's your restless new friend, drawing you along just as you were drawn to the cave. It's time to set out.

You come across a <<if $path is 1>>bubbing river<</if>><<if $path is 2>>small campsite<</if>>. The <<if $path is 1>>river<</if>><<if $path is 2>>campsite<</if>> is <<if $path is 1>>vigorous<</if>><<if $path is 2>>quaint<</if>>. It's as if <<if $path is 1>>the very flow of life runs within<</if>><<if $path is 2>>a warm embrace settles around you when you enter<</if>> it. <<if $path is 1>>A girl’s whisper comes from the water. Although she died an infant and you never heard her speak, you know this girl sounds just like your sister. You can’t quite make out the words from here.<</if>><<if $path is 2>>A woman sits at the fire, stirring a pot of hearty stew. You didn’t feel cold until you noticed the fire’s warmth, nor hungry until you smelled the food. The cook smiles and holds out a bowl.<</if>> You <<if $path is 1>>lean<</if>><<if $path is 2>>step<</if>> in close. Her hand shoots out to grab your wrist and pulls. Everything goes dark. [[Then, you emerge.->Conclusion]]