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<<masteraudio stop>><<audio "ancient" volume 1.0 play loop>><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Narrator">The <span class="NPC1">Mind’s Eye</span> is watching you once again.</span><<linkkey 'Press Space' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Lit from within by the radiance of death, their gaze emanates now from two points — </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>><span class="Narrator">familiar eyes in an unfamiliar face.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Well, now.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> It’s quite rare to see you in the flesh.</span> <<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They do not answer — not at first.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Does the burden of speech fall only on me, then?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I… would like to apologize.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Is that so?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I have kept the gate, you might say, when I ought to have held the door.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">We are all equals, now and for eternity.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I regret making you think otherwise.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Their expression softens, though their uncanny eyes continue staring.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Like a sculpture in motion, they step forward.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">If we are to weather eternity, it won’t be without trust.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> And you’re willing to trust me?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I am, Liratsos.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Adjusted to fit flesh without shaking it to pieces, their voice sounds different, more lifelike — but it has lost none of its immense power.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">The name the Egg bestowed on you sounds so exalted on their tongue, so natural.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I have been too wary, too... occupied with the unpleasant past.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But the past is done — you are the future.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<center><big><big>💬</big></big>
<a>PRESS 1 OR 2</a></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[There's still something you're not saying.|Dialogue 1a]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[Is the past truly done with if it haunts you even now?|Dialogue 1b]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">No, I suppose not.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>><span class="NPC1">
My past spans nigh on eight centuries.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Yes, so I've heard.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Nazaret the Haruspex once called them an old relic.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Though not unkindly meant, it hits the mark.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I would not ask that you unburden yourself of those many lifetimes in a single night.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But there are things I wish to ask, as your equal.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Of course. That is your right.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But where to begin, dear kinsman?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">What would you most like to know?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[What became of your siblings?|Siblings]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[Is this your true form?|Appearance]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><center><span class="gametitle">ELEUTHERIA</span>
<i>WHAT DO YOU SEEK FROM LIFE AFTER <span class="arrow">DEATH</span>?</i>
<span id="spaceAct">[[Press Spacebar to Begin|Dialogue 1]]</span></center>
<span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2">
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">... Yes, I suppose that's so.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Centuries passed between my rebirth and yours.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Much of that time is lost to me, difficult to place in order.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> So I've gathered.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I would not ask that you embark on such a task on my behalf.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But if indeed we are equals, let there be no further obfuscation.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I'm a man grown. I can countenance the truth.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Consider it done. But please...</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Give me somewhere to begin.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[What became of your siblings?|Siblings]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[Is this your true form?|Appearance]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background3" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">Writing & Illustrations</span>
<span class="arrow">➜</span> G.C. Baccaris
<span class="NPC1">Twitsy Template</span>
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Freya Campbell @spdrcstl
<span class="NPC1">Feedback</span>
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Greg Buchanan
<span class="NPC1">Music</span>
<span class="arrow">➜</span> "Ancient Winds" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — adjusted for length
<small>Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</small>
<span class="NPC1">Volume Slider</span>
<span class="arrow">➜</span> HiEv
<span class="NPC1">Special Thanks:</span> <span style="color: #f96854;">Patrons</span>
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Ben Bruce
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Cat Manning
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Hyacinth Nil
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Jesse Bradley
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Miranda Cornelius-Fisse
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Nessa
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Shae Rossi
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Stephen Granade
<span class="arrow">➜</span> aMadReason
<span class="arrow">➜</span> Greg Buchanan
<span class="arrow">➜</span> J Tuason
<span class="arrow">➜</span> and patrons of all other tiers. <span class="arrow">♥</span>
<span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center><<button "replay?">><<run Engine.restart()>><</button>>
🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><<set $siblings to "true">><table class="background2" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> The Ovum Mundi is crowded with your siblings’ voices. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> What became of them?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">We grew apart, you might say.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Might you?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">We were ten in number. I was the youngest.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You struggle to imagine Besarion as the youngest in any group.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Time broke certain bonds.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Feuds emerged among us.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You remember those voices within the vitellum: frayed and ancient, scorched with contempt.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">One among them was loudest and most hateful. Even long after their obliteration, some shred of consciousness remains, cursing their surviving sibling.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">That enmity takes its toll on everyone — even the Egg itself.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Cyrus the Devourer.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">It's his doing.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Besarion scoffs, a noise so rare and alien in their smooth voice that it seems to twist and shudder in the very air around them.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I opposed him, long ago, and he despises me for surviving his wrath.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">He is fading, even now, but until the last scrap of him has withered…</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">He will persist.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[What was his nature?|Brother]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[What came between you?|Conflict]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><<set $appearance to "true">><table class="background4" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> What is this new disguise?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Do you grant me the privilege of knowing your true face?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Oh, it is a very old disguise.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">This was my skin when I was alive, you see, though I have refined it for centuries.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Now, this body this suits me far better than it did when I lived.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But you don't often use it.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Besarion emits a small, nasal huff which you recognize belatedly as a chuckle.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Not recently. It is... a sentimental thing.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I have taken other shapes, at times, or more often remained within beyond the living realm, unseen.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> You're a shapeshifter, then?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">That ability comes with a price of pain, that it will not be misused.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I cannot feel it, and so I excel at it, but it is only temporary.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> My, that’s a most intriguing talent.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">It has its uses, to be sure.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You and Nazaret have different tastes, different skills.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Your memories of life are more vivid.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You make more convincing humans.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Well, I feel quite owed a new life, after the pitiful waste of the last one.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Indeed, take what you are owed.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Reinvention is the core of our nature.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[Then why have I remained unfinished?|Unfinished]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[But how am I to achieve that?|How]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background2" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">A creature of hunger and ambition.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">He died a starving child, and though he grew to manhood as an undead thing, he scarcely matured.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">The fear of animal starvation, the allure of ruthless ambition, the desire to do cruelty unto others at his whim —</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They pause. With no need to breathe, they do not catch their breath, but they must restrain their racing thoughts.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">He only ever desired more for himself.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> All humans do, I'd wager.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You are hard-pressed not to think of the Marquis, your former master.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Of his grasping self-absorption, of his damning selfishness which consumed your life.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Perhaps, but nothing satisfied <i>him</i>.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Life after death was not enough.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">The world was not enough.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They look away, somewhere far beyond you and your citadel.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> You were not enough.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">He wanted minions, not siblings.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Not equals.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Pain was the root of their coldness to you, then.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">No blow or blade can hurt them, such is their gift, but a cruel word — or an interminable lifetime of them — can.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">It has warped you both.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player">
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[Pain can make monsters of us all.|Pain]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[Sometimes there is much to be gained from pain.|Gain]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background2" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">What didn't?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">For a moment, their mouth twists into a scowl, but they quickly restore their composure.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I impeded his hunts.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Hunts, you say?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">He felt himself owed too much from the living. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Their love first, then their tribute and wealth.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">When nothing else satisfied, he sought their flesh and blood to satisfy his hunger.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Gruesome, to be sure.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Yet it comes as no great surprise.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">We have all taken life.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I have killed many living things.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But he expected the dues of a god, and gods we are not.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Their ordinarily piercing gaze has gone hollow.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Please, pay him no mind.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I tire of the pain he causes.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> It seems he caused you more than your equal share.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">His actions reflect badly on us all.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">A disgrace.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Fleetingly, they close their eyes.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Something squirms beneath their skin, contorting their features — and then it is gone.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I did not want to burden you with such things.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I’ve lifted heavier burdens in my time.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Pain was the root of their coldness to you, then.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">No blow or blade can hurt them, such is their gift, but a cruel word — or an interminable lifetime of them — can.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">It has warped you both.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player">
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[Pain can make monsters of us all.|Pain]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[Sometimes there is much to be gained from pain.|Gain]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background2" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">Some would call us monsters already.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">There are ancient grudges in this world against our kind.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But there is no shame in what we are.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> And what are we, truly?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Human.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> No escaping it, eh?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">No.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I have tried.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Every lich was once human. Suffering transforms us.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">To suffer death and rebirth is what remakes us as we are now.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|But it never ends, does it?]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background2" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">Perhaps.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Pain is a harsh teacher, but an educator nevertheless.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Even so… it ought not to be given undue glory.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Pain is nothing to aspire to.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Oh, I tire of suffering.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But I cannot deny that it has shaped me.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Perhaps for ill, but even so.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They make no reply, but you sense that they understand. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">It is a burred, raw feeling between you, an understanding shared without words.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">… Suffering transforms us.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">To suffer death and rebirth is what remakes us as we are now.</span>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Power, at a price.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Like glass tempered by flame.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|But it never ends, does it?]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background4" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">It's difficult to say.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Your life was cut short, and cruelly at that.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You must have unfinished business among the living, for our abstract realm seems to trouble you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Things that bring me agony <i>do</i> tend to trouble me.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Your prim, snide tone will not hold beneath the weight of your fears. It crumbles.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> ... Am I unfit?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Of course not.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Death is not easy.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">The membrane you have come to know in dreams cannot yet permit you to pierce it...</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Not if you are over-encumbered by concerns you held in life.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Your essence is still tied to this realm.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">This, too, will change with time.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> My “essence” must be little more than rot.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I’ve lived a verminous life.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You think unkindly of yourself.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Is that it, then?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> That is why I suffer?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You were not created to suffer. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But it can be painful, yes, when one is left with loose ends.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Why must the Egg punish me until I resolve them?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">It neither punishes nor rewards.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">The trauma of death is what often impedes us most. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">No doubt that they speak from experience.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Well, for now, I much prefer to exist this way, among the living.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I don’t relish being powerless and wretched.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Don’t disparage yourself so. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Rebirth is a beautiful thing. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player">
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[Is that what you truly believe?|Believe]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[Please do not presume to flatter me.|Presume]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background4" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">It is different for each of us.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">For some, remaining incorporeal is the most freeing. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">For others, the thrill of embodiment is everything.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I can’t give up this body, this life.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">No one would ask you to. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">It is yours. I am glad that you treasure it.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I feel young again, vigorous, healed.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Yet … I cannot enter that place you call the Ovum Mundi. In dreams, I remain at the membrane’s edge, miserable and powerless. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> You all are whole, perfectly monstrous, while I still writhe in my afterbirth.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Your essence is still tethered to this living realm.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Well, that explains it.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> My essence is verminous and foul.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You have unfinished business among the living. That is the cause.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> That is why I suffer, then?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Because the naïve hatchling failed to tie up his loose ends?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I said no such thing.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Their voice takes on a hint of of its usual ethereal basso force.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But I implore you not to treat yourself unkindly. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">The trauma of death takes a great toll.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I simply tire of being weak and wretched.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I do not see that in you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">One’s first incarnation is always difficult.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But rebirth is always a beautiful thing.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player">
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[Is that what you truly believe?|Believe]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[Please do not presume to flatter me.|Presume]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background4" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">I know it to be true.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">No matter how rough, it is miraculous. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Tell me, what did you long for when you were remade?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Pardon me?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">What motive formed you thus?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I see the resemblance to your former self.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> … This is the man I was twenty years ago.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Less weather-beaten, however, for I am vain.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You willed the gray from your hair and the lines from your face, but your body is as it was when you were a young man: lean and hungry, all cruel angles.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But all who would recognize that man are long dead, and so I…</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I wanted him back.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> To be him again.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">There is no hint of judgment or pity in Besarion’s fathomless eyes.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> And what did you long for?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">To be more of myself, I suppose.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">To recognize myself at last.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> And do you, now?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Well enough.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">A wry smile touches their lips.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|But it never ends, does it?]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background4" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">Do not presume me that frivolous.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Their eyes flash. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I would not make such a mockery of my regard for you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Then it is appreciated.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Though I cannot share your optimism.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Tell me, what did you long for when you were remade?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Pardon me?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">What motive formed you thus?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I see the resemblance to your former self.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> … This is the man I was twenty years ago.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Less weather-beaten, however, for I am vain.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You willed the gray from your hair and the lines from your face, but your body is as it was when you were a young man: lean and hungry, all cruel angles.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But all who would recognize that man are long dead, and so I…</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I wanted him back.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> To be him again.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">There is no hint of judgment or pity in Besarion’s fathomless eyes.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> And what did you long for?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">To be more of myself, I suppose.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">To recognize myself at last.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> And do you, now?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Well enough.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">A wry smile touches their lips.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|But it never ends, does it?]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But it never ends, does it?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">… No, I think not.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Even the living remake themselves day after day.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But we differ in our motives.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Even for the living, the mind and body beget horror.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">In death, you hope to revel in horror — to make it your own.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">It is your right as a lich-king, exalted and accursed.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Your circumstances, of course, are rather unique.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Yes. I had no choice.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Imagine, a dead man resurrected, strutting about with all the same ink and scars his flesh once bore in life.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> It’d put a target on my back anew.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I’d only be killed again, were I that much of a fool.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">And you wanted the ink erased.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">The signa, those aging marks of ownership on your body — how you hated them.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Each one was a pledge of fealty to a lord you despised.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Signa]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">You are no fool, Lirat.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I know this, as your kith.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">It's odd, hearing them use the simple sobriquet Nazaret gave you, but not unwelcome.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> What are you to me, truly?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You approach them, and it comes as a surprise to find that you exceed their height by several inches.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They had once seemed so distant, so untouchable.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I was born from a different egg.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">We are not “related,” as you are to your sisters; I cannot be your sibling.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They tilt their head up to meet your eyes.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But I can be an ally.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">A friend, if you will have me. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player">
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[I would like that.]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[Time will tell.]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><<set $friendship to "true">><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">As would I... very much.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Thank you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Despite the uncertainty in their voice, it is heady with sincerity. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You suppose they have not made a friend in a lifetime or more.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> No — thank you, for suffering my company.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I do not suffer it.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You... intrigue me.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Question]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><<set $friendship to "maybe">><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Narrator">You are not prepared to accept that possibility. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They are still too unknown to you, too uncanny.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You see? You are wise.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I understand why you guard yourself.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I’ve long had to do the same. Even now…</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">There is no undertone of hurt or offense or condescension in their voice or on their face.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">A being as ancient as they are does not fret about things that take time — not when they have all the time in the world.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Question]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">May I ask you one final question?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I would not begrudge you that.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">What do you seek from this life after death?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player">
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: [[I want revenge.]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: [[I want control.]]</div></span>
<span id="choiceCAct"><div class="button">👁️ 3: [[I haven't decided.]]</div></span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background6" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I will avenge myself, and my son, and the few friends who met the same fate.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Your son?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I did not sire him, but I raised him.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> He was the scion, the heir of the Marquis.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But it was I who he knew as his father.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">He called you papa with his last breath, just a scared young boy — </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">and then that breath whistled out from his open windpipe, and the hand at his throat sawed until nothing connected his head to his body.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Your son, that dear, gentle child— only a trophy now, a mounted skull— </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I am sorry for your loss.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> As am I.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Every day.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Grief and anger seize your mind, and you clench your jaw until new, feral molars bite up through your gums.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Steadying the pace of your lifeless heart, you will them away.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">If you find that man, the wretch who did this thing —</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Please make him known to me.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> He is <i>my</i> quarry, I’ll remind you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">And I would not dream to take that pleasure from you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But I would help you seize it.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> That is kind of you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> And charmingly cruel, as well.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> … I know that taking his life will not restore the boy’s.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> But I want my dignity back.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You have always had that.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Though you find that difficult to believe, the conviction in their voice strikes you hard.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Eye]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background6" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> My life was not my own.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I owed the Marquis a life debt, and he used it to the last.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Even my skin was his — marked with his ink.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Signa were a custom of his dynasty, you see.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">So I do.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I see now why you embraced your agonies so willingly.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You are proud, <<if $friendship is "true">>my friend<</if>><<if $friendship is not "true">>sir<</if>>, and there is strength in that.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">The harm done to you …</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You have every right to your anger. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Your hunger.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I want to taste the liberties I never knew in life.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You can.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I want my dignity back.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You have that already.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">It never left you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I felt it living even as you died.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">A tremendous spark — so vibrant, so resolute.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Your voice catches in your throat, choked with sudden emotion for but a short moment.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Eye]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background6" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I have yet to divine that.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I will remain here, as the Duke, until it no longer behooves me.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Other than that...</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I yearn for something — for blood, perhaps, but not only that.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I wandered aimless for many a year when I was newborn.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I ...</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I yearned for my family.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But time passed.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Unscrupulous, as it does.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">In death, I outlived them.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Time so often steals things entire.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Yes — but I treasured my new family.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I honed my abilities.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">There is meaning to be found in our existence, strange as it may seem. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">We do not cease to love or to hurt or to heal.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">We do not even cease to live.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Therefore… do not be too hasty.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> No, I do not plan to.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I’ll relish the duchy, to be sure.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> What a thrill, to be the lord at last, and not the servant.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I’ll have my dignity again.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">You never lost it.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But you do seem happy.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I believe I am, most days.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> More than I once was, at any rate.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Then I am glad of it.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Eye]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background3" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
<td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I suppose we see eye to eye now, do we?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">A small smile touches the corners of Besarion’s lips — </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>><span class="Narrator">and the stitch of their chest begins to split, flesh parting bloodlessly into a cavernous hollow.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Framed by the diaphanous fabric of their gown, <span class="NPC1">a massive amber eye</span> blinks open. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">It is the same great eye you have seen in the realm of the undead, now fitted to a human vessel.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Yes, I would say so.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Could it be that they have a sense of humor after all?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player">
<center><big><big>💬</big></big></center><span id="choiceZAct"><div class="button">👁️ 1: <i>[[Gaze into their eye.]]</i></div></span>
<span id="choiceXAct"><div class="button">👁️ 2: <i>[[Look away.]]</i></div></span>
<<if $friendship is "true">><span id="choiceCAct"><div class="button">👁️ 3: <i>[[Reach for their hand.]]</i></div></span><</if>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background5" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
<td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Narrator">It focuses on you, the dense void-black pupil constricting to the size of a marble.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">When you glance up at their face, it is still and placid, but their eyes crinkle with a subtle smile meant only for you.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">If you could see yourself as I do…</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Their eye turns in its socket, glistening, still fixed on you. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Where once you shrank from their stare, thinking it critical, you now find yourself welcoming their gaze.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Limitless potential, puissant as any of our ancestors.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Your rebirth was a marvel.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I am privileged to know you.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Heaven]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background5" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Narrator">Their eye seems to twist in its impossible socket, glancing around the room... </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>><span class="Narrator">before the flesh around it seals shut as if it were never there.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">When you glance back at them, their lips are drawn into a thin smile that does not quite meet their eyes. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Forgive the intrusion.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Nothing to forgive.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Though I’ll admit it was unexpected.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I view things best in that manner.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> And you wished to view me thus?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Of course.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">I am ever glad to see you thrive.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Heaven]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><<set $hand to "true">><table class="background5" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Narrator">Initially, they seem at a loss for how to respond.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You remember that they cannot perceive sensation any longer: a trade made long, long ago in exchange for their other exceptional gifts.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They cannot feel the warmth of your hand.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They will scarcely feel the pressure of your fingertips.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Yet, with great care, they press your hand between theirs all the same.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Forgive my coldness.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Perhaps they only mean the death-chill of their flesh.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">But perhaps they mean something else.</span>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I won't dwell on it.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You are willing to forgive.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Hands]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Narrator">Under the judgment of their eye, you feel reborn again. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You can understand the trajectory of their gaze, now. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Their wariness has eased and melted away, shed like so many tears. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They view you only with wonder, with acceptance. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">There is great liberty in death.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">In being what we are.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> To death, eh?</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You lift <<if $hand is not "true">>your hands<</if>><<if $hand is "true">>one hand<</if>> as if proposing a toast, posture proud and rigid, <<if $hand is not "true">>palms<</if>><<if $hand is "true">>palm<</if>> turned heavenward.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Nazaret’s words echo in your mind: “Heaven’s not real.” </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Heaven is yours to pull from the wreckage of your death.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Heavenly horror. Sanguine salvation.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> To death.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">To dignity.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> To eternity.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">It stretches out before you, and you are not afraid of it.</span><<if $friendship is "maybe">><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Credits]]</span><</if>><<if $friendship is "true">><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Promise]]</span><</if>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><<set _bgm = setup.SoundPath + "Ancient Winds.mp3">>
<<cacheaudio "ancient" _bgm>>
<<set $siblings to "false">><<set $appearance to "false">><<set $friendship to "false">><<set $hand to "false">><table class="background6" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Narrator">You skinned yourself gladly to be rid of <span class="cycle"><<cyclinglink "the crest that burned on your back" "the collar of ink pierced around your throat" "the sigils adorning your face and hands">></span>.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Every part of you had been claimed. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">The Marquis had called it an honor, and for some time, you had believed him.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You commemorated the birth of <span class="cycle"><<cyclinglink "his" "your" end>></span> son with ink that spanned much of your chest, proudly designed.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">But even this could not remain.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You removed them all, peeled the flesh from your bones and rejuvenated it.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Now, you are the man you were twenty years ago — and without the trappings of servitude.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Gone, too, are the streaks of gray through your hair. Gone are the lines deeply etched into your face. Gone are the old injuries: <span class="cycle"><<cyclinglink "the broken nose never-healed" "the torn ligaments" "the spine twisted with age">></span>.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Now, no one will recognize you as the Marquis' right hand.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">No one will torture you because of a crest you bear on your back. </span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You skin is new again, and it is yours once more.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">No one can take it from you.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|You are no fool.]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background5" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="Narrator">You can feel the warmth in their voice, now.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Their cold hands are rougher than you expected, callused. Perhaps that is their own holdover from a former life, some physical remnant of nostalgia.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I am glad we could speak this way.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">As am I.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">Touching them is surreal.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">You would not have presumed to do such a thing until now. You would have expected them to turn to smoke at first contact and fade away.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">But they are here.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They are real.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">They have chosen to sit beside you, and talk with you as equals, and touch your hand as though you matter.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">As though your abject death, your agonizing rebirth, your many indignities do not weigh upon your merits.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator">As though you could be cared for.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> I am glad to have your trust.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">And I yours. I will treasure it.</span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Heaven]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center><table class="background1" width="512" height="512" id="screen2"><tr>
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<td class="dialogueCell" width="448" height="224" style="vertical-align: top;" id="current" ><div class="dialogueText"><span class="NPC1">And... to trust.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Player"><span class="arrow">➜</span> Hear, hear.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">Ours is not an easy existence.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="NPC1">But it need not be lonely.</span><<linkkey '✦' 'spaceAct' rpl>>
<span class="Narrator"><<if $hand is "true">>Their fingers intertwine with yours, a silent promise.<</if>><<if $hand is not "true">>Their eyes do not leave yours: a glance wreathed in flame, a silent promise.<</if>></span><span id="spaceAct">[[✦|Credits]]</span><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><</linkkey>><span id="seeMe"></span></div></td><td width="32" height="224"></td></tr><tr><td width="32" height="32"></td><td width="448" height="32"></td><td width="32" height="32"></td></tr></table><<focusCell>><center>🔈<<volume>>
<<button ↩>><<run Engine.backward()>><</button>> <<button ↪>><<run Engine.forward()>><</button>></center>