Injustices of the Illuminated: The Game
an NM2207 project by Yong Jia Yu
"Wake up."
The small wooden box beside you rattles slightly.
You know Master's trying to get out of there.
"It's time for your final training. Are you ready?"
Did you really have a choice in this? You've been trained all your life to fight.
It's the only thing you know how to do.
"Yes, Master."
"Very well. Let's go."
The box's lid tilts open slightly.
Three wraiths, mere constructs of your Master's own darkness, float out.
"Well done. Let's head for that decadent palace now."
Closing the wooden box where your Master's soul resided, you sling it across your back.
You headed across the moor until you reach a dirt path and see the faintest glimpse of light.
Master complains all the way as you walk into the city.
"You can't trust the Brighters."
The voice in the wooden box makes it jolt up and down on your back with every angry word it says.
"They've taken our Sun, they've taken our water and that Emperor doesn't care for anything other than his city."
Not like you've haven't heard it a million times before, though...
You stride into the Brighters' city for the first time.
It looks nice, doesn't it? So many sights and colours, the noises, the people...
Until you feel a tug at your coinpouch. It's gone!
You pursue the thief, weaving through the streets, trying to keep up with her deft turns.
Yet, both of your luck runs out as you run into three guards on patrol.
As one handles the thief, the two others gang up on you...
"Bloody hell! You've made quite the mess here."
You can't help but feel annoyed at Master, as impossible as it may seem.
Did you not do everything he taught you? And did it not still fail?
"Come on, now, into the sewers. If we can't reach the palace through sneaking through the crowd, we'll get there in the darkness."
You spot a ditch in the ground and jump in.
The last glimpses of light fade away as you crawl through its dank depths.
Drip, drip, drip.
The moors were dark and comfortable. This sewer was just dark, hot and smelly.
"This is the only place which they cannot light up."
"The air in here will explode when exposed to flames."
And yet, in this otherwise inhospitable environment...
The roar of a foul beast? In here?
"Just look at them. They can't even keep the darkness from invading their own underbelly. They will be ours soon."
The sewer muck continues and your clothes are reeking of waste and death.
You soon reach a heavy wooden door.
You're about to open it, but...
"How curious, young man."
You whirl around to see a wiry man dressed in white, before you feel the light entering your mind...
Go to sleep. Let go.
You come to in a cage, nearly blinded by the light.
The room has a huge pedestal in its centre, the orb radiating sunlight.
You've never seen anything like it before, but you tear your eyes away from it and onto your captor.
That thin bastard smirks at you before turning around to Master's box, on his desk.
He's about to crack open Master's box...
Surely Master would die if he was exposed to that much light.
You won't let that happen.
"That was tough," you pant.
"You know precisely why we are here. Now grab the Sun Controller and smash it to the ground!"
You throw the orb onto the marble floor. The Sun, previously transfixed in the same spot above the sky, starts to move.
The streets below fade.
People who have never seen the Sun set before start screaming and stampeding each other.
Master slowly rises out of his box. It's finally dark enough for him to take corporeal form.
And yet, amid all the noise... you hear the clatter of footsteps coming towards you...
"Come, Brother. Let us end this conflict."
The Emperor himself stands at the bottom of the stairs. His regal robes and shining armour frame a wrinkled, tired face.
You struggle to believe it. How could two so diametrically opposite men be brothers?
"Don't act like you're the innocent one here! You accuse me of dark magic but you stole the Sun, not I!"
The Emperor turns toward you.
"Leave this room at once, young one. Do not die for the squabbles of old men."
"That choice has already been made," sneers Master.
You feel your body enriched with dark magic. There's no turning back from this.
"You have grown strong, young one."
The Emperor's sword clatters to the ground as he draws his last breaths.
"Now, fulfil your destiny."
But you remember the mistreatment...
You recall how Master would train you until you bled fighting against all his Wraiths.
You remember all the vitriol and hatred from him.
Was the Emperor... as difficult as it was to imagine... right?
"Come on, we don't have a lot of time! The world is ours!"
What you choose will immediately trigger a fight, and decide your fate.
Your Master's essence fading to the wind, you collapse on the floor.
As you vaguely hear rushed footfalls up the stairs of the tower, you are quickly hauled to your knees.
The guards' captain rudely interrogates you, but is satisfied to know that your actions were not (entirely) your own fault.
He lets you go.
And just as neither the Moors nor the Brighters' City will face eternal darkness or everlasting light,
You feel that for the first time in your life, you're free.
Your Master's essence fading to the wind, you collapse on the floor.
As you vaguely hear rushed footfalls up the stairs of the tower, you are quickly hauled to your knees.
The guards' captain rudely interrogates you.
You explain how you killed the most powerful dark magic user in the realm, but he is not convinced.
Perhaps it was something in your actions previously?
Whatever the reason, the captain saw in you the next most powerful dark magic user, and into prison you go.
The guard captain falls to the floor. That was the last vestige of the Brighters' authority.
Your Master revels in the newfound darkness, but he sees the glint of doubt in your eye.
Conjuring his own Dark Tendril, he throws you off the tower.
You just weren't strong enough for him anymore.
The guard captain falls to the floor. That was the last vestige of the Brighters' authority.
Your Master revels in the newfound darkness.
You and Master rule the world now. No one can stop you.
Thank you for playing!
If you're a speedrunner (which I'm not) read the time elapsed on the right.
If you're a 100% completionist, consider changing your actions to affect your aggression/pacifism, and the big choice you make at the end.
See you when I make it big as a writer!
You died!