The Box

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They say that the witching hour is at midnight, the time when witches dance and black magic rears up like an unholy beast. They say you should watch yourself, stay in bed, don't go out at midnight. The witching hour. Then why do you keep waking up at [[3 o'clock]]?

You awoke this time because, as you pull yourself out of your confused dreams, <<replacelink>>lights<<becomes>><<set $coloredlights = true>>colored lights, blue and red and green and purple,<<endreplacelink>> shine in your face. It takes you a moment to catch your breath, to realize what's happening. You sit up. Was there a [[police car outside]]? Were there fireworks? The night is so quiet, so still, the lights dancing through your window. You can [[hear nothing from your bed]].

You stand up, your feet heavy, reluctant to step onto the cold floor. You left the window open again, and the night has chilled off. Goosebumps rise on your bare arms as you approach. You've been waking up at 3 o'clock for the past four nights or so. Before tonight, you've always woken up just enough to realize you're awake, but then, warm and safe in your bed, you roll over and fall back asleep. You've never seen lights<<if $coloredlights eq 1>>, or colors,<</if>> or anything like that. It's funny. You're suddenly very scared. You [[finally reach the window]].

You strain your ears, listening for the sound of... well, anything. The silence is so loud your ears hear nothing but ringing. [[Back->3 o'clock]]

It's at that moment you realize you don't see lights. <<if $coloredlights eq 1>> You don't see colors.<</if>> There's nothing out there but the street lights and stars, thousands, millions of them. [[You scan left.]] [[You scan right.]]

Left is nothing but trees, a big pit of ink. You live out in the boonies, your mom having decided that long before you were born. Now that you're in college, it's much better than it was in high school. Everyone went home for vacation, and it's pretty restful to be here out in the quiet. You turn your eyes back to looking at the forest, but you see nothing still. No lights. <<set $forest = true>> [[You scan right.]]

Looking down and to your right is the driveway, your car parked just in front of the garage. The driveway snakes through the trees, where a few faux-Victorian gas lights line the gravel, something your parents had put in to spruce up the place when they thought they might sell the house. You think you see something moving in the shadow past your car. It's hard to make out. Your heart thuds in your chest as soon as you see it. Straining your eyes, you can't see anything anymore. Time to... [[leave your room and check it out.]] [[go back to sleep.]]

You open the door to your room and step out into the hallway. It's dark, the only illumination from the snowman-shaped nightlight plugged into an outlet a few feet away. Even though it's been months since Christmas, and even though it's technically spring, your mom hasn't quite taken down all the decorations yet. You hear a creaking sound coming from somewhere in the hallway. This isn't out of the ordinary though -- the house is old and you're used to this kind of thing. Besides, there sometimes are mice, especially in the colder months. So why are you so nervous? There are three doors in the hallway, including yours, and the stairs are at the end of the hall. You decide to... [[go back to sleep.]] <<if visited("check out the door across from your bedroom.") is 1>>[[check out the bathroom->check out the door across from your bedroom.]]<<else>>[[check out the door across from your bedroom.]]<</if>> [[check out the door to the right of your bedroom.]] [[go to the stairs.]]

You hesitate, looking at your bed. Something inside of you tells you that going to bed right now isn't a good idea. You have a twisting, awful feeling in the pit of your stomach, like something is watching you. You decide to... [[head back to bed]] [[go back to the hallway->You head back into the hallway]]

When you wake up the next morning, you don't remember anything from the witching hour. In fact, you feel strangely rested, as if your disturbed sleep for the past few nights has been erased completely. You head downstairs that morning to find the police here, talking to your mom. "What's going on?" you ask, your eyes flitting between them. "[[Go to the kitchen, sweetie]]," your mom says, her smile not reaching her eyes. "I'll be in in a minute."

It's the upstairs bathroom. It's a typical bathroom, with a toilet, a bathtub with a [[shower]], a [[pedestal sink]] with a few toothbrushes scattered across its rim. Above the sink, you see a [[medicine cabinet]]. You know your parents keep basic painkillers and other medicines in it. Nothing special.<<if visited("check out the door across from your bedroom.") is 1>> You hear a faint buzzing sound at the peripheral of your hearing. As you try to focus on it, it goes away.<</if>><<if visited("check out the door across from your bedroom.") is 2 and not $riddle1complete>> Something feels really strange about the bathroom. You realize the wallpaper is old and faded and peeling, in a way it didn't seem to be the case before. Well, maybe you had just been gone for too long to remember.<</if>> [[You head back into the hallway]]

It's your parents' room. Your <<replacelink>>mom and stepdad<<becomes>>mom and stepdad (you definitely consider your stepdad part of your family - he's been so good to you and your mom)<<endreplacelink>> are in there, sleeping. Pressing your ear to the door, not a sound comes from the room, and it's dark inside. You probably don't want to [[disturb them]].<<if $riddle2attempt>><<if $iconFound>><<else>> You know that inside on the dresser is a photo of your dad. Somehow you feel like you need this.<</if>><</if>> [[You head back into the hallway]]

<<if visited("go to the stairs.") is 1>>You head to the stairs, and the floorboards under your shoes creak. Pictures and portraits line the wall as you head down them. They are pictures of you and your parents - the time you won the spelling bee, Christmas when you were 13 and you had broken your leg a week before, several photos from your mom and stepdad's wedding, your starring role in the musical Oliver, your high school graduation with your mom and your stepdad. Nice photos. Photos that make you feel normal, despite the hairs rising on the back of your neck. <</if>>You reach the bottom of the stairs. To the left of you is the den, and to the right is the downstairs bathroom and the living room. Before you is the kitchen. [[Go to the den.]] [[Go to the downstairs bathroom.]] [[Go to the kitchen.]] [[Go to the living room.]] [[Go back up the stairs.->You head back into the hallway]]

<<if $riddle1complete>>There's nothing interesting about the shower. The shower curtain is white with patterned turquoise and pink fish all over it. With a decisive slash of your hand, you open the curtain to see the plain white, square tiles and the caddy stuffed with shampoos and soaps. Everything is <<replacelink>>clean and normal<<becomes>>clean and normal, or as clean as it ever got. Your mom and stepdad weren't exactly the neatest people ever, but they kept the place in completely tolerable order.<<endreplacelink>>. [[You check out the rest of the bathroom->check out the door across from your bedroom.]] <<elseif $riddle1attempt>>The shower curtain is back to being closed, but a feeling of nostalgia sweeps over you. You're ready again, aren't you? [[Open the curtain->No, you won't be defeated by such a riddle, let's try again.]] [[Forget it - go back into the hallway.->You head back into the hallway]] <<elseif $boxKnow>><<if visited("shower") gt 1>>The shower curtain is back to being closed, but you're pretty sure you left it open. Didn't you? <</if>>The shower curtain is white with patterned turquoise and pink fish on it. Something is glowing behind the curtain - colored lights, dancing in the side of your vision. [[Open the curtain->Open the curtain ok]] [[Forget it - go back into the hallway.->You head back into the hallway]]<<elseif visited("shower") gt 1>>The shower curtain is back to being closed, but you're pretty sure you left it open. Didn't you? The shower curtain is red with a strange black pattern that seems to move and shift before your eyes. Shadows move behind the curtain. Something repels you. [[Open the curtain anyway.->Open the curtain]] [[Forget it - go back into the hallway.->You head back into the hallway]] <<else>>There's nothing interesting about the shower. The shower curtain is white with patterned turquoise and pink fish all over it. With a decisive slash of your hand, you open the curtain to see the plain white, square tiles and the caddy stuffed with shampoos and soaps. Everything is <<replacelink>>clean and normal<<becomes>>clean and normal, or as clean as it ever got. Your mom and stepdad weren't exactly the neatest people ever, but they kept the place in completely tolerable order.<<endreplacelink>>. [[You check out the rest of the bathroom->check out the door across from your bedroom.]] <</if>>

The sink is a typical pedestal sink, with a place for toothbrushes. Three toothbrushes are on the rim, yours, your mom's, and your stepdad's. Next to the sink, an old painting hangs on the wall. It appears to be an old naval scene, with shipworkers going about their daily duties. The ship's captain stands by the wheel of the ship, looking at his compass. The compass points east. There's nothing else interesting about the sink. [[You check out the rest of the bathroom.->check out the door across from your bedroom.]]

You open the medicine cabinet. It creaks as it opens, showing three shelves of Tylenol, Pepto-Bismol, and other medicines. A rolled up tube of toothpaste is on the third shelf. The back of the medicine cabinet inside is mirrored, which is a little disconcerting. You shut the medicine cabinet again for a full view of your face. You look <<if visited("medicine cabinet") and $boxKnow>><<replacelink>>exhausted.<<becomes>>exhausted - more than you did earlier. Your eyes look red and bloodshot, and there are dark circles under them. Your face looks gaunt, too. You barely recognize yourself. You know you're running out of time.<<endreplacelink>><<elseif visited("medicine cabinet") is 1>><<replacelink>>exhausted.<<becomes>>exhausted. You hear something whisper something, but there's no one in the room with you, and you don't hear it again.<<endreplacelink>><<else>>exhausted.<</if>> [[You check out the rest of the bathroom->check out the door across from your bedroom.]]

<<if lastVisited("A small amount of movement catches your eye and you look over.") is 1>>Your heart beats wildly and your head throbs as the buzzing sound slowly disappears. You can't believe what you just saw. What if it kills your parents? You take a moment to catch your breath and your head starts to feel better too. Whatever it was you just saw, you definitely feel like you don't want to go back in there again.<<if $riddle2attempt>><<if $iconJustFound>><<set $iconJustFound = false>> But at least you have the Icon now. <<if $smokeFound>><<if $nameFound>>You have everything you need to perform the ritual. <</if>><</if>><</if>><</if>><</if>> <<if lastVisited("go to the stairs.") is 1>>You head back up the stairs. <</if>>There are three doors in the hallway, including yours, and the stairs are at the end of the hall. You decide to... [[go back to sleep.]] <<if visited("check out the door across from your bedroom.")>>[[check out the bathroom->check out the door across from your bedroom.]]<<else>>[[check out the door across from your bedroom.]]<</if>> <<if visited("check out the door to the right of your bedroom.")>>[[check out your parents' room->check out the door to the right of your bedroom.]]<<else>>[[check out the door to the right of your bedroom.]]<</if>> [[go to the stairs.]]

The door to your parents' bedroom creaks as you open it. From the faint moonlight streaming through the window, you see the corner of your parents' bed. Not a single sound comes from the room -- in fact, it's as if all the noise has been completely extinquished from the room.<<if $iconFound>><<else>> You spot the photo on the dresser. Lights dance in the peripheral of your eyes, but darkness is otherwise all around you. This place is not safe.<</if>> [[A small amount of movement catches your eye and you look over.]]

You didn't get out fast enough. The shadow moves towards you. It seems to grow bigger and bigger until it is so huge it engulfs the room. You can't see anything. [[Next->nextdead]]

You head back to your bed, the hairs on the back of your neck prickling with your goosebumps. It's not just from the cold, either. You definitely saw <em>something</em> out there. You just don't know what it was. The safest place for your to be right now is in bed. As you climb back under the covers, you see flashes of light out of the corner of your eyes. "It's nothing," you tell yourself as you pull the covers over your head. [[Next->in the morning]]

<div id="ticker-area">It's a shadow, a long shadow, stretching almost up to the ceiling. You gasp as you see it, and then you hear a buzzing sound in the back of your head. It's loud. It's so loud it feels like it's taking over your brain. The shadow moves.</div> <<if $riddle2attempt>><<if $iconFound>><<else>> <<click "Grab the Icon and run!">> <<if time() lt 9000>> /% The player clicked the link in under 5s, so they escape %/ <<set $iconFound = true>> <<set $iconJustFound = true>> <<goto "You head back into the hallway">> <<else>> <<goto "dead">> <</if>> <</click>><</if>><</if>> <<click "Get the hell out of there!">> <<if time() lt 9000>> /% The player clicked the link in under 5s, so they escape %/ <<goto "You head back into the hallway">> <<else>> <<goto "dead">> <</if>> <</click>> <<script>> // when the DOM is ready... var tickerIterations = 0; var currentTickerIteration = 0; var tickerItems; var tickerText; var c, i; createTicker(); $(document).ready(function() { createTicker(); }); function createTicker(){ if ($('#ticker-area').length == 0) { return; } if (typeof $('#ticker-area').attr('alt') != 'undefined'){ tickerIterations = $('#ticker-area').attr('alt'); } var tickerLIs = $("#ticker-area"); tickerText = tickerLIs.html(); c = 0; typetext(); } var isInTag = false; function typetext() { var thisChar = tickerText.substr(c, 1); if( thisChar == '<' ){ isInTag = true; } if( thisChar == '>' ){ isInTag = false; } $('#ticker-area').html(" " + tickerText.substr(0, c++)); if(c < tickerText.length+1) if( isInTag ){ typetext(); }else{ setTimeout(typetext, 28); } else { c = 1; tickerText = ""; } } <</script>>

The den is comfortable, with a large, overstuffed couch, a TV and a bookcase, and a heavy wooden coffee table. <<if visited("Go to the den.") is 1>>When you were 10, you hit your head on the coffee table and left a dent.<</if>> You glance around the den. [[Check out the bookcase.]] <<if not $boxKnow>>[[Check out the coffee table.->Check out the coffee table some more.]]<<else>>[[Check the box.]]<</if>> [[Check out the TV stand.]] [[Go back.->Go back to the stairs.]]

The downstairs bathroom is just a half-bathroom, so all it has is a tiny sink set into a cabinet and a toilet, and a closet for spare towels and sheets. Everything is meticulously clean, a testament to how neat your stepdad is. Your dad wasn't ever quite that neat. You avoid looking in the mirror above the sink. You're afraid of what you'll see there. [[Open the cabinet.]] [[Open the linen closet.]] [[Go back.->Go back to the stairs.]]

<<if $riddle3complete>>The bookcase is big and wooden, stuffed to the gills with books. They're stacked in overlapping vertical stacks to allow for more room in it, stuffed with your mom's old familiar mystery novels. Thick heavy books lie at the base. All is normal here. [[Look around the den some more.->Go to the den.]] <<elseif $riddle3attempt>>The bookcase lies before you, books scattered on the floor from when you were pulled into the hole behind it. The smell of must is thick in the air. [[Crawl into the hole behind the bookcase.]] [[Look around the den some more.->Go to the den.]] <<elseif $riddle2complete>>The books are old and peeling, unfamiliar. It's strange, you don't remember the bookcase being this ancient. You feel almost as if you recognize one of the books, cracked and crumbling cream-colored one. Or, at least, it used to be cream-colored - now it was grungy, dirty, and disgusting. But still, as you reach out and place your finger upon it, lights dance in your vision. Something is beckoning. [[Grab the book.->Grab the book good]] [[Look around the den some more.->Go to the den.]] <<elseif visited("Check out the bookcase.") gt 1>>The books are old and peeling, and warm to the touch, almost like touching human flesh. You don't see any books you recognize, and the bookcase fills you with a sense of dread. A book catches your eye, a red one on the second shelf. As you reach out to touch it, the spine crumbles a bit and you hear footsteps behind you again. Something repels you. [[Grab the book anyway.->Grab the book.]] [[Leave it alone for now.->Go to the den.]]<<else>>The bookcase is big and wooden, stuffed to the gills with books. They're stacked in overlapping vertical stacks to allow for more room in it. Your mom is a voracious reader, mostly mysteries, the kinds with names that involve food or cats. You used to read a lot, but since starting college you haven't as much. You sigh, running your fingers over the spines. You definitely want to make it a habit to read more. Some of the titles you see are: "When Death Comes Knocking," "The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murders," and "The Cat-astrophe." You roll your eyes. There are a lot of heavy books at the bottom of the shelf, but you don't even bother with them. [[Back->Go to the den.]] <</if>>

The coffee table is waterstained and old. On top of it you see a box of tissues, an entire basket of remote controls (seriously, how do your parents have ten remotes?), and a plain, charcoal-colored box. You have never seen the box before in your life. A cold chill passes through you as you look at it. You hear footsteps behind you, and a light out of the corner of your eye. [[Examine the box]] [[Turn around]]

The TV is one of those huge CRTs from ages ago. Your parents just never bothered to upgrade. You're pretty sure your mom wanted to, but your stepdad was always of the mentality that if it still works, keep using it. It rests on one of those giant behemoth stands that forms a frame around the TV and has plenty of cabinets for old VHS tapes and DVDs. Your parents even have a few blu-rays. There is a clock on the blu-ray player. It says <<if $riddle4complete>>3:55. You're almost out of time.<<elseif $riddle3complete>>3:45.<<elseif $riddle2complete>>3:35.<<elseif $riddle1complete>>3:25.<<elseif $boxKnow>>3:15<<else>>3:10.<</if>> [[Go back to the den.->Go to the den.]]

You head back to the bottom of the stairs. [[Go to the den.]] [[Go to the kitchen.]] [[Go to the downstairs bathroom.]] [[Go to the living room.]] [[Go back up the stairs.->You head back into the hallway]]

The kitchen is so very much the central hub of the house, it feels strange to see it cold and empty in the middle of the night. <<if $ritual2complete>>Outside, the wind howls with the storm, rain lashing against the windows. <</if>>So many days and nights spent here, seated at the kitchen island, doing homework, talking to your mom while she cooked, drinking lemonade in the summer. Now things feel vast and ominous. Is the kitchen bigger than it was?<<if visited("Go to the kitchen.") is 1>> Whispers echo in your ear. You swat at them like flies.<</if>> There's a refrigerator, the pantry, and the kitchen table. [[Open the refrigerator.]] [[Check the pantry.]] [[Look at the kitchen table.]] [[Go back to the stairs.]]

You don't know how long you've been floating in that darkness. You've tried to walk in every direction but nothing changes. It's nothing but black for as far as you can see, and it's been like this for a long time. You don't know how long. You don't know why you haven't died of hunger already. You don't know why you haven't collapsed from exhaustion. [[Next->nextdead2]]

<div id="ticker-area">you've gotten used to the buzzing sound in your ear. how long has it been now? you've been here forever. they say there are things worse than death, but you never believed them. never really thought about it. now you know. there is no</div> <<click "end.">><<goto "title screen">><</click>> <<script>> // when the DOM is ready... var tickerIterations = 0; var currentTickerIteration = 0; var tickerItems; var tickerText; var c, i; createTicker(); $(document).ready(function() { createTicker(); }); function createTicker(){ if ($('#ticker-area').length == 0) { return; } if (typeof $('#ticker-area').attr('alt') != 'undefined'){ tickerIterations = $('#ticker-area').attr('alt'); } var tickerLIs = $("#ticker-area"); tickerText = tickerLIs.html(); c = 0; typetext(); } var isInTag = false; function typetext() { var thisChar = tickerText.substr(c, 1); if( thisChar == '<' ){ isInTag = true; } if( thisChar == '>' ){ isInTag = false; } $('#ticker-area').html(" " + tickerText.substr(0, c++)); if(c < tickerText.length+1) if( isInTag ){ typetext(); }else{ setTimeout(typetext, 50); } else { c = 1; tickerText = ""; } } <</script>>

Something is really weird here, but you've already made your decision. You reach out, this time with hesitation, and open the curtain more slowly, as if something is compelling you. You have no control. [[Everything goes black.->nextdead]]

<<set $boxKnow = true>>You stand there, frozen, and hear the footsteps receed. Your parents, as far as you know, are back in the bedroom, sleeping, like you should be. There shouldn't be anyone else in the house. You hear a whisper in the back of your head and you feel compelled to open the box. You've never felt anything like it - you know you MUST open it. The whisper gets louder. You spin around, but no one is there. Your heart feels like it will race out of your chest. Hesitating, you glance around again, but all is still, so you [[turn back around to the box.]]

<<set $boxKnow = true>>You spin around, but you see no one. Glancing right and left, you see only the familiar den, but you keep seeing lights and colors out of the corners of your eyes, no matter where you turn. It's like the light is happening in your eye, not in the room. You hear a whisper in the back of your head and you feel compelled to open the box. You've never felt anything like it - you know you MUST open it. The whisper gets louder. Your heart feels like it will race out of your chest. Hesitating, you glance around again, but all is still, so you [[turn back around to the box.]]

You go. The light is piercing from outside. It's never seemed so bright to you before. Why are the police here? What happened? Your mom is okay, you just saw her. But you can't even think. You remember having strange dreams about lights and shadows, and you realize you haven't seen your stepfather yet today. [[You wait.]]

The police and your mother come into the kitchen. Your mother sits you down at the table. "Your stepfather is dead," she said in a hollow voice. "What?" You can't believe it. The news hits you like a truck. <<replacelink>>You and your stepfather had become quite close.<<becomes>>You and your stepfather had become quite close over the past couple of years. You hadn't always gotten along, but he was family now - he took such good care of you and your mom.<<endreplacelink>> "It's awful," your mother goes on. "They found him... he's..." An officer takes over, gently, from your mom. "He's in the den, he's been torn apart. We're trying to figure out if there has been bear activity, and how a bear could have gotten inside." You nod, and the officer nods back. And you figure that's the most probable explanation, right? I mean, bears in the spring in the mountains are very common. You know that. But. You can taste blood at the back of your mouth. <<click "End.">><<goto "title screen">><</click>>

<<if $riddle4complete>>The box still lays on the coffee table. You reach out to pick it up, your fingertips tingling with an old electricity, something deeper than you or anything you have ever known. The box is so familiar to you, you remember it so clearly from a dream you never had. You know how to open it now. [[Place your palm on the box.]]<<elseif $riddle3complete>>The box still lays upon the coffee table. You pick it up and turn it over again, and it feels sturider and more knowable than ever. Something is teasing at the edges of your knowledge. Still, you don't know how to open it quite yet. [[You set it back down and step away.->Go to the den.]]<<elseif $riddle2complete>>The box still lays upon the coffee table. You pick it up and turn it over again, and you feel somehow like something has been lost in return for the box. A feeling of sorrow washes over you. You still don't know how to open it. [[You set it back down and step away.->Go to the den.]]<<elseif $riddle1complete>>The box still lays upon the coffee table. You pick it up and turn it over again, and you feel somehow like you've seen this box before. Maybe in another life? Maybe in a dream? You still don't know how to open it. [[You set it back down and step away.->Go to the den.]]<<else>>The box still lays upon the coffee table, not a single mark or crack or anything else that identifies the box as anything. You pick it up and turn it over again. It seems maybe heavier than the last time you picked it up. You still don't know how to open it. [[You set it back down and step away.->Go to the den.]]<</if>>

You reach out and touch the box. As you do, your fingertips tingle with some kind of electric hum. It doesn't hurt, though, so you lift the box. It's a dark grey, and completely plain. You turn it over in your hands, but every side is exactly the same. In fact, you're not even sure where it opens because it's so completely smooth. If something wants you to open this box, you have no idea how, but you have a feeling you'd better figure it out and fast. [[You set the box down and step away->Go to the den.]]

<<set $riddle1attempt = true>>You tentatively slide the curtain back, mentally preparing yourself for a reverse-Psycho moment, but you're met with a light so bright it almost feels blinding. You close your eyes against it, but it still burns through your eyelids, and all you can feel is pain. Then, all at once, it subsides, the light dims, and you open your eyes. Before you is an enormous deer in the bathtub, so large it barely fits even under the tall ceilings. Its antlers glow with an indescrible light. [[You can barely look at it.]]

But you force yourself to meet its gaze, and the otherwordly strangeness of it all nearly makes you pass out. It seems to glow and shimmer all at once, and the eyes are too numerous to count. They seem to open and close in different cadences and from different places, a blink from where there was nothing before, a flutter of an eyelash that seems to move position. You don't know what to do, but all at once you seem to feel something, not words exactly but almost knowledge. All at once, it seems something like this: "After the rains come, a strange house appears on the edge of town. It was not there before, but is curious and run-down. The children throw rocks through the windows and the babushkas pause in front before hurrying onward with their baskets full of herbs. You must decide what to do." [[Enter the house.]] [[Recite the incantation.]]

"The words you recite are ancient and you forget them as soon as they pass your lips. It's a primal knowledge, buried deep in your blood, so there's no need to remember. Now you may pass through the door." [[Open the door to the Inside.]]

"You attempt to open the door, but it is shut as if it were bonded to its frame. The knob does not even rattle. You must find another way." [[You must try again.]]

"No no. That's simply not it. Let us begin again. "After the rains come, a strange house appears on the edge of town. It was not there before, but is curious and run-down. The children throw rocks through the windows and the babushkas pause in front before hurrying onward with their baskets full of herbs. You must decide what to do." [[Enter the house.]] [[Recite the incantation.]] [[Leave the shower.]]

"Instead of the inside, you are in the moors, with fast-moving clouds threatening rain above you. A house is not truly just a house, now is it? You can see the Ancestors in a line before you, stretching back farther than you can see, all under a common lineage. You remember another word that unites family with nature and earth... You have all the knowledge you need... now what could it be?" Yes, you remember, it's <<textbox "$riddle1" "" "riddle1" autofocus>> [[No, you can't remember.->Leave the shower.]] <<if visited("Open the door to the Inside.") gt 1>><<replacelink>>Hint<<becomes>>One word that can be used in the context of both nature (of the earth) and of ancestry.<<endreplacelink>><</if>>

<<if $riddle1 is "tree" or $riddle1 is "Tree">> "Yes, of course. The Tree. The Ancestors contort and twist into a gnarled tree, reaching their limbs up to the sky like arms and hands. You remember how it's not just the sins of the Ancestors that pass on, but also the grief. Above you the moon shines red. And before you, at the base of the tree, something is there." [[Step towards the tree]] <<else>> <<goto "You must try again.">> <</if>>

You can't remember - it's too fleeting. [[You head back into the hallway]] [[No, you won't be defeated by such a riddle, let's try again.]]

You pull back the curtain again, determined this time to remember. The deer being gives you a calm, measured stare, no judgement in its many blinking eyes. You feel unnerved but not afraid. The thoughts come again. "After the rains come, a strange house appears on the edge of town. It was not there before, but is curious and run-down. The children throw rocks through the windows and the babushkas pause in front before hurrying onward with their baskets full of herbs. You must decide what to do." [[Enter the house.]] [[Recite the incantation.]]

A memory: Everything was so different since you hit the coffee table when you were 10. Your head made a crack sound, a deafening sound and then all was numb and black. When you came to, your dad was clutching you to his chest, crying. He said, "You're here, you're okay, you're okay." You were okay. But were you? [[Reach for the object under the tree.->Reach for the object.]]

You're back in the bathroom, and the shower curtain is shut. All seems normal. [[Look around the bathroom again.->check out the door across from your bedroom.]] [[Head back into the hallway.->You head back into the hallway]]

As you pull the book from the shelf, it crumbles into black smoke. Something dark is breathing on your neck, something is forcing you forward, suffocating your face against the books, the floorboards creaking as it shifts closer to you. There is a vastness of space, and you fall fall [[into it.->nextdead]]

The living room is a bit more formal than the den - there's no TV here, no stacks of VHS tapes. Only a very stiff couch, a floral area rug draped across the hardwood floor, some chairs and tables. All matching wood, bought as a set from some furniture department store. Nobody ever spent much time in here. <<if $ritual2complete>>The wind howls against the heavily curtained window, making it scream and shake.<<else>>The wind whispers across the heavily curtained window, making it rattle.<</if>> [[Check under the couch.]] [[Investigate behind the curtains.]] [[Look at the old china hutch.]] [[Go back.->go to the stairs.]]

You've always been a little bit afraid of the dark. Deciding to check underneath the couch for anything interesting isn't helping your fear. Your heart thunders in your chest as you slowly kneel, then lower your head to the ground. You hear drumbeats, softly, faintly, as you lower further and further, until your ear is resting on the area rug. [[You look under the couch.]]

<<if $riddle2complete>>The curtains sway slightly under the breeze from the heater. The window outside rattles against the storm. The curtains are as they've always been, heavy and warm. [[Look around the living room some more.->Go to the living room.]]<<elseif $riddle2attempt>>The curtains sway slightly under the breeze from the heater, causing the light from behind it to dance. It's beautiful - you don't know if you've ever seen something so beautiful. The goat must still be waiting. <<if $nameFound>>You have the Name. <<else>>You are missing the Name. <</if>><<if $smokeFound>>You have the Smoke. <<else>>You are missing the Smoke. <</if>><<if $iconFound>>You have the Icon. <<else>>You are missing the Icon.<</if>> [[Pull back the curtains.->Open the curtains.]] [[Look around the living room some more.->Go to the living room.]] <<elseif $riddle1complete>>The curtains sway slightly under the breeze from the heater. It's so quiet you can hear your heart pumping in your chest. Lights dance on the peripheral of your eyes - you turn, but again you see nothing. There is something on the other side of the curtains. [[Open the curtains->Open the curtains.]] [[Look around the living room some more.->Go to the living room.]] <<else>> <<if visited("Investigate behind the curtains.") gt 1>>The curtains sway slightly under the breeze from the heater. The window outside rattles against the wind. Is it just your imagination or is there something - no, some//one// - there? You feel it in your bones - an ache. You feel it in your blood - a grief. Whisperings tickle your ear, shadows dance. Something repels you. [[Open the curtains anyway.->Open the curtains bad]] [[Look around the living room some more.->Go to the living room.]]<<else>>The curtains sway slightly under the breeze from the heater. The window outside rattles against the wind. You imagine something big and dark lurking, but you shake it away. Just ghosts in the dark, your imagination running wild. Anyway, it's the same curtains they've always been, no reason to think there's anything wrong with them now. [[Look around the living room some more.->Go to the living room.]] <</if>><</if>>

The old china cabinet is somehow dusty on the inside as well as out. Your mom never pulls out the china anymore - there's just no point. Your family never has guests over anyway. In fact, you can't really remember a time when you ever used these dishes. To you, they've just always been there in this exact position. What had your mom and dad used during extended family dinners? You can't remember at all. [[Open the hutch doors.]] [[Open the hutch top drawer.]] [[Open the hutch bottom drawer.]] [[Step away.->Go to the living room.]]

<<if $riddle2attempt>>The goat creature gazes at you warily. You gaze back at it, and your heart palpitates. You feel a strange sense of longingness for something you've never known before. <<if $nameFound>><<if $smokeFound>><<if $iconFound>>[[Present the offerings.]]<</if>><</if>><</if>> [[Close the curtains.->Go to the living room.]] <<else>>You reach, pull back curtains for a second time. And, as before, a great light, piercing, this time with dancing blues and greens. They dance faster, a fervor, spinning. You're overcome with the light, it seems to flow inside of you, your eyes and heart and blood are full. You can't keep your footing and you crash to the ground. A moment later, it stops, and you vomit, sour and bile violently leaving your stomach. Wiping your mouth, [[you stand.]]<</if>>

You reach out, your fingers tingling as if an unseen energy has just injected its way into your body through your hands. The curtains feel heavy and wet as you grasp them, pull them aside. Instead of a window, it's nothing but a deep, haunting black. You start to scream as dozens of hands grab you from behind, cover your mouth, pull you down, slamming against the floor, and across the living room faster, faster. Above you, the lights go dim, go dark, and you're enveloped. [[You can't escape it now.->nextdead]]

<<set $riddle1complete = true>><<set $riddle1active = false>>"At the base of the tree, you see a small doll. Its eyes are made from two small polished stones, its mouth sewed with red thread. The hair, titian in color, is so soft it seems to be real human hair. You meet its gaze, lingering, and hold it for seconds. But when you recover your senses again, the moors are dark, the tree is gone, and you know something you didn't know before." And with that, the deer creature closes all its eyes in a flutter and fades from your sight. You press fingers to eyes, a throbbing in your head finally subsiding. You feel more complete somehow. [[Shut the shower curtain.]]

Before you is a great horned creature, with so many horns you can't count them, twisting and weaving their way to the ceiling. It looks at you with soft eyes, glowing with a velvet intensity. A goat? A sheep? You're not quite sure what this is. The light shines behind it, backlighting it so that you can barely make out its features. You know that something beautiful, and terrible, will happen. It bows to you. [[You bow back.]]

<<set $riddle2attempt = true>>As before, you're overcome with a new knowledge you had never known. "A spell that may create Home in the face of Evil goes thus. One who works the spell, at the Witching Hour from three o'clock in the nighttime, is to walk through the stormy halls, to find three Objects of Power. One, a Name, carved upon wood, and gently raised above the head. Two, Smoke, captured in a jar - the Smoke must be fresh. Three, an Icon, the one who Destroyed. "Upon obtaining these objects, release the smoke upon the Name, then hold the Icon close to your chest and walk three paces backward. Say the following Incantation: "The evil I contain within, I now release it to the Mourn, To the one who created, To the depths of the vastness of shadow." [[Well...]]

That's it. You narrow your eyes in thought. A Name, Smoke, and an Icon. Where on earth could you begin to find these objects? You figure you'll have to look around the house a bit. You look back at the goat creature. It continues to gaze at you levelly. It seems it won't leave until you've satisfied the ritual. [[Head back to the living room->Go to the living room.]]

You have the offerings. Now, it is time to perform the ritual. As if on cue, the rain begins outside - you can hear it drumming against the windows, an accompanyment to what comes next. You spread everything out on the floor in front of you, then light the candle and hold it over the jar, capturing the smoke and sealing it. The drumming sound on the windows gets louder, more fervent. Thunder crashes, illuminating the window for a brief moment, and the deer god seems to grow larger, lighter, more. You release the Smoke upon the Name, then hold the Icon close to your chest and walk three paces backward. The evil I contain within, I now release it to the Mourn, To the one who created, [["To the depths of the vastness of shadow!"->incantation]]

Opening the glass hutch doors with a snap, you see the dishes, a thin layer of film covering them. Plates, bowls, serving dishes all stacked up neatly. Your mom's decorative plate that your stepdad brought her back from India. Martini glasses, wine glasses of all shapes and sizes, all in a row, like little soldiers. [[Shut the doors.->Look at the old china hutch.]]

The hutch drawer sticks as you open it, jerkily shaking the hutch and causing the dishes above to clink into each other, a strange song. Inside you see napkins neatly folded, some tablecloths and party supplies<<if $hasCandle>>.<<else>>, including a few birthday candles.<</if>> [[Rummage through the napkins.]] <<if $hasCandle>><<else>>[[Check the candles.]]<</if>> [[Shut the drawer.->Look at the old china hutch.]]

The bottom drawer of the hutch is stuffed chock full of old nature magazines from a popular publication. You don't remember anyone in your family ever reading these. It's wild that certain parts of the house you've lived in all your life can be so unfamiliar to you. [[Check out the magazines]] [[Shut the drawer.->Look at the old china hutch.]]

You see dust, a few rubber bands and hair ties, and an old dog toy from ages ago when you even had a dog. <<if visited("You look under the couch.") is 2>>Something breathes on your neck. You jerk upward, hitting your head on the nearby coffee table. Clutching at your head, you look around, wildly. Nothing is there. The house is silent.<<else>>(A golden retriever, dumb as a rock but so eager to please and friendly - his name was Frankie.) There's nothing else there. You feel a little silly.<</if>> [[Stand up.->Go to the living room.]]

You leaf through the magazines - photos of birds and tigers peer back at you. The pages are glossy, they feel smooth and sticky under your fingers. You pause on one passage. "Do not forget! To know is to ascend: upon drinking from the cup, you have been created. You must now kiss the foot, and the ritual is complete." [[Shut the drawer.->Look at the old china hutch.]]

<<if $hasLighter>>You already got what you came for. Nothing more of interest here. [[Shut the drawer.->Look at the old china hutch.]] <<else>><<if $riddle2attempt>>You leaf through the stack of napkins, seeing an old lighter wedged in between. This feels like it will be useful for creating Smoke. <<if $hasCandle>><<if $hasBottle>> Now you have a lighter, candle, and jar. You're ready to go for this part of the spell.<<set $smokeFound = true>><<else>> Since you have a candle, you could use this to create smoke... but the spell called for smoke captured in a jar of some sort.<</if>><<else>>Now maybe if you had something to light that won't result in the fire department getting called or waking up your parents.<</if>><<set $hasLighter = true>> [[Grab the lighter and shut the drawer.->Look at the old china hutch.]]<<else>>You leaf through the stack of napkins, all mismatched and discolored over the years. So many family dinners, so much warmth. You see an old lighter wedged between the napkins, but there's nothing else of interest. [[Shut the drawer.->Look at the old china hutch.]] <</if>><</if>>

<<if $riddle2attempt>>A pack of old birthday candles. You could use this to create Smoke. <<if $hasLighter>><<if $hasBottle>> Now you have a lighter, candle, and jar. You're ready to go for this part of the spell.<<set $smokeFound = true>><<else>> Since you have a lighter, you could use this to create smoke... but the spell called for smoke captured in a jar of some sort.<</if>><<else>>Now maybe if you had something to light the candle with, you'd be able to create the smoke that the spell called for.<</if>><<set $hasCandle = true>> [[Grab the candles and shut the drawer.->Look at the old china hutch.]] <<else>>A pack of old birthday candles. Half of them are burned halfway from all the celebrations, the other half are barely touched. Looks like your mom was intent on using half the box up before using the other half. [[Shut the drawer.->Look at the old china hutch.]] <</if>>

You're hit with a wave of cold as you open the refrigerator door. The light is almost blinding. Inside, in rows on the shelves, are tupperwares, jars of salty olives and peppers, milk, cream, and so on. A comfortable sight. A normal sight. Nonetheless, you shiver in your pajamas. A two liter of cola catches your eye. [[Examine the cola.]] [[Close the refrigerator.->Go to the kitchen.]]

<<if $riddle4complete>>The pantry door squeaks as it opens, and you reach out to flick the light on. But nothing happens - the bulb must be out. You strain your eyes into the darkness and see rows and rows of cans, boxes, and jars. Typical pantry. [[Leave the pantry.->Go to the kitchen.]] <<elseif $riddle4attempt>>You're out of the dream, in front of the pantry door once more. Something was wrong. That wasn't the way the story went. You draw deep within yourself to find the meaning. [[Enter the dream.->...and up...]] [[Leave the pantry.->Go to the kitchen.]] <<elseif $riddle3complete>> The pantry door squeaks as it opens, and you hesitate as you realize this is not the pantry you knew before. Gone are the stacks of boxes and jars, and instead you see an otherworldly portal, like some sort of beckoning liquid made from light and color. A mournful sound eminates from the portal. [[Step through the portal.->Step into the pantry good]] [[Leave the pantry.->Go to the kitchen.]] <<elseif visited("Check the pantry.") gt 1>>The pantry door squeaks as it opens, and you hesitate as you realize you cannot see inside. Tendrils of shadow seem to curl up, caress your face. Your heart aches with loss, a loss of something that you have never known. You feel as if you are sinking into the floor, your eyes staring straight into the haunted darkness. Something repels you. [[Step into the pantry anyway.->Step into the pantry bad]] [[Leave the pantry.->Go to the kitchen.]]<<else>> The pantry door squeaks as it opens, and you reach out to flick the light on. But nothing happens - the bulb must be out. You strain your eyes into the darkness and see rows and rows of cans, boxes, and jars. Typical pantry. Your spine tingles as you peer inside. [[Leave the pantry.->Go to the kitchen.]] <</if>>

The kitchen table is tucked in a little breakfast nook - it was one of the things your mom loved most about the house. The windows above the table are black holes, you lean close to them but you can't see outside. Something sends a shiver down your spine. <<if visited("Look at the kitchen table.") is 2>> You squint, see movement. Look again. No, nothing. <</if>>On the table, you see some pens and old receipts, dark green placemats to protect the pine. <<if $riddle2attempt>><<if $hasBottle>><<else>>On one of the placemats is an old mason jar, recently holding jam but since washed and dried. You could use this jar for the ritual. [[Look at the jar.->Take the jar.]]<</if>><<else>><<if $hasBottle>><<else>>One on of the placemats is an old mason jar, recently holding jam but since washed and dried.<</if>><</if>> [[Move away.->Go to the kitchen.]]

Your mom makes jam sometimes, the most delicious jam you've ever had. The last batch was strawberry, you finished it off on toast, scraped from edge to edge. You can use this jar now to capture Smoke. <<if $hasCandle>><<if $hasLighter>>Now you have a lighter, candle, and jar. You're ready to go for this part of the spell.<<set $smokeFound = true>><</if>><</if>><<set $hasBottle = true>> [[Take the jar.->Look at the kitchen table.]]

You open the sink cabinet to find the plumbing, stacked toilet paper, and some bins full of <<replacelink>>shower supplies.<<becomes>>shower supplies - spare soap, razors, shampoo.<<endreplacelink>> Your fingers are so cold. [[Look through the bin.]] [[Close the cabinet.->Go to the downstairs bathroom.]]

You reach out and open the linen closet door. Footsteps sound in the hallway but you do not turn around. Inside the closet are neatly folded towels and sheets. On the lower shelves are some spare cleaning supplies, water filters, and a box of decorations. There are some documents in folders, too. [[Examine the documents.]] [[Look through the box of decorations.]] [[Close the closet.->Go to the downstairs bathroom.]]

They appear to be a mishmash of old bank statements, letters, utility bills... all in your dad's name. Why are they here? You shuffle through them, unsure of what you're even looking for. A buzzing sound rings in your ear, you don't realize your shoulders are so tense until they begin to ache. You stop suddenly, a piece of paper catching your eye. It's a scrap of a thing, torn from a notebook of some sort. Nondescript, with blue pen scrawled upon it. "The inky night pulsed outside, weary and dark, threatening to break through the door. She took the dagger and chimed it upon the bell, and the sound that rang out was the most pure tone. The darkness slowed, squirmed, retreated. The boundary was restored." [[Put the documents back.->Open the linen closet.]]

The decorations are a mishmash of Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and who knows what else. Tinsel lies tangled with orange lights and eggs are stored inside a plastic pumpkin. Something broken at the bottom of the box is sad, lost. A fleeting thought comes to you but... no, it is lost. [[Put the box back.->Open the linen closet.]]

The bin contains spare shampoo, soap, and razors. There are a few other things left in here, lost long ago. You don't even remember these things. An abandoned Lego figure, a few dozen hair ties, a comb, a crumpled up shopping list<<if $riddle2attempt>><<if $nameFound>>. [[Close the cabinet.->Go to the downstairs bathroom.]] <<else>>, a wooden keychain with your name on it from a vacation at Yellowstone. A moose head adorns the top. You exampine the wooden keychain, turning it over in your hands. The name. You barely recognize it, but it's your own. Looks like you found what you needed. <<if $smokeFound>><<if $iconFound>>In fact, you have everything you need now for the ritual. Finally.<</if>><</if>> <<set $nameFound = true>>[[Grab the Name and close the cabinet.->Go to the downstairs bathroom.]]<</if>><<else>><<if $nameFound>>.<<else>>, a wooden keychain with your name on it from a vacation at Yellowstone. A moose head adorns the top.<</if>> [[Close the cabinet.->Go to the downstairs bathroom.]]<</if>>

[["Blinding light..."->incantation2]]

Colored dots fill your eyes as your vision slowly clears. You are lying on your back, flocks of birds beating silk-soft wings overhead. A lingering energy crackles in the air. The grass beneath you is dry, cracked, scraggly trees lining the horizon as you look left, then right. There appears to be nothing else. [[You sit up.]]

A memory: Your father, footsteps on the hardwood floor in the black of night, when he thought you and your mother were asleep. Sitting on the stairs, peeking between banisters, you watch the door open, whispered conversation with something too tall, too unknown. Roaring, it was too distorted to understand. When you awoke, a willow branch lie on your nightstand. [[Pick up the willow branch.]]

<<set $riddle2complete = true>><<set $riddle2active = false>>As you touch the willow branch, ornate patterns weave in and out, the branch blackening and crumbling to ash. You realize tears are streaming down your face. The bargain was made... and much was lost. And with that, the goat creature steps back through the black windows and fades from your sight. You press hand to stomach, a throbbing in your gut finally subsiding. You feel more hopeful somehow. [[Shut the curtains.->Investigate behind the curtains.]]

You grab the book and the ground seems to shift. You lose your balance and fall forward, into the bookcase, behind it, where the air is thick with rot and there is a ringing sound in the air. Light overwhelms you once more, surrounding you in the comfort and pain of its glow. The edges of your vision fade and the next thing you know, you're sitting on the ground, head in hands, your body weak and frail. Fur sprouts on the ground before you, inky black fur, spreading over the floor, over your hands. You pull away, scream, try to brush the fur off them. The fur before you shifts, contorts, grows, until you are staring eye to eye with the largest wolf (or dog?) you've ever seen in your entire life. You stare. It stares back. [[You can't move.]]

As you step through, you are expecting piercing light but instead you arrive at your destination in a second: it is the open field again. Above you, clouds hurtle by, rolling and tumbling. The grass and dirt beneath your feet are stiff with cold. Scraggly trees line the horizon, but you see nothing else. The horizon feels so far away. You feel so empty inside, as empty as the land you stand within. The sound of rustling behind you... [[You turn to look.]]

You've chosen your destiny, and you step further into the darkness of the portal. Inside, your mind and body scream, try to pull away, but you cannot. You can only walk further in, as the darkness envelops you and pulls you into it. [[Walk further in.->nextdead]]

The wolf says to you (yes, in a voice spoken aloud, strange and wrong), "Look before you." You look. First, your hands. They're normal, fleshy, as regular as they've ever been. No fur, no terror. Then beyond them, a shrine of some sort. You're through the bookcase, in a hole behind it in the wall. The shrine appears as if it has been there for a very, very long time. [[You look at the wolf.]]

Its voice is full of sorrow. "My shrine is damaged. The power is fading. I am changing as a result, into something wrong." You examine the shrine before you. There is a book, a crystal, a dagger, and a chalice. These objects all lay on a cloth of deep wine, which is growing mold on the corners. You feel so weak - something about this shrine is unknowable and evil. You must make it right again.<<set $bookState = "upside">><<set $crystalState = "north">><<set $daggerState = "pointed">><<set $chaliceState = "upright">><<set $riddle3attempt = true>> [[Examine the book.]] [[Examine the crystal.]] [[Examine the dagger.]] [[Examine the chalice.]] [[Crawl out of the bookcase and into the den.->Go to the den.]]

<<if $bookState is "crystal" and $crystalState is "east" and $daggerState is "bell" and $chaliceState is "kiss">><<goto "shrinecomplete">><</if>>The book lies flat, a thick tome with gilded edges. Touching it makes you nervous, fills you with new thoughts that you immediately forget. You are overwhelmed with the feeling of mystery, a mystery you cannot solve. <<if $bookState is "covered">>The book has been covered with the bird feather. <<link "Cleanse with the rose." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "crystal">><</link>> <<link "Open the book so its pages may breathe." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "open">><</link>> <<link "Flip the book upside-down." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "upside">><</link>><<elseif $bookState is "crystal">>The book has been cleansed with the rose. <<link "Cover with the feather." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "covered">><</link>> <<link "Open the book so its pages may breathe." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "open">><</link>> <<link "Flip the book upside-down." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "upside">><</link>><<elseif $bookState is "open">>The book is open, its pages pulsing with breath. <<link "Close and cover with the feather." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "covered">><</link>> <<link "Close and cleanse with the rose." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "crystal">><</link>> <<link "Close and flip the book upside-down." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "upside">><</link>><<else>>The book is lying upside-down. <<link "Flip upright and cover with the feather." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "covered">><</link>> <<link "Open the book so its pages may breathe." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "open">><</link>> <<link "Flip upright and cleanse with the rose." "Examine the book.">><<set $bookState = "crystal">><</link>><</if>> [[Leave the book alone.->Crawl into the hole behind the bookcase.]]

<<if $bookState is "crystal" and $crystalState is "east" and $daggerState is "bell" and $chaliceState is "kiss">><<goto "shrinecomplete">><</if>>You can't figure out what type of crystal it is, because the colors within seem to shift and pulse. It is slender in shape, roughly the size of a finger, with one end carved to a point. <<if $crystalState is "east">>The crystal points east. <<link "Point the crystal west." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "west">><</link>> <<link "Point the crystal north." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "north">><</link>> <<link "Point the crystal south." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "south">><</link>><<elseif $crystalState is "west">>The crystal points west. <<link "Point the crystal east." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "east">><</link>> <<link "Point the crystal north." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "north">><</link>> <<link "Point the crystal south." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "south">><</link>><<elseif $crystalState is "south">>The crystal points south. <<link "Point the crystal west." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "west">><</link>> <<link "Point the crystal north." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "north">><</link>> <<link "Point the crystal east." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "east">><</link>><<else>>The crystal points north. <<link "Point the crystal west." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "west">><</link>> <<link "Point the crystal east." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "east">><</link>> <<link "Point the crystal south." "Examine the crystal.">><<set $crystalState = "south">><</link>><</if>> [[Leave the crystal alone.->Crawl into the hole behind the bookcase.]]

<<if $bookState is "crystal" and $crystalState is "east" and $daggerState is "bell" and $chaliceState is "kiss">><<goto "shrinecomplete">><</if>>The dagger is a fierce implement, the edge glinting in the dim light. You sense a history within it, a history of battle, a history of pain. The handle feels as if it were made for you. <<if $daggerState is "stone">>The dagger's stone has been removed. <<link "Put the stone back and polish it with the lambswool." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "lambswool">><</link>> <<link "Put the stone back and use it to chime the bell." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "bell">><</link>> <<link "Put the stone back and drive the dagger deep into the table." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "pointed">><</link>><<elseif $daggerState is "lambswool">>The dagger has been polished with lambswool. <<link "Remove the stone from the hilt." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "stone">><</link>> <<link "Use the dagger to chime the bell." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "bell">><</link>> <<link "Drive the dagger deep into the table." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "pointed">><</link>><<elseif $daggerState is "bell">>The bell still rings softly after being struck by the dagger. <<link "Remove the stone from the hilt." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "stone">><</link>> <<link "Polish the dagger with the lambswool." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "lambswool">><</link>> <<link "Drive the dagger deep into the table." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "pointed">><</link>><<else>>The dagger rests upright, stabbed into the table. <<link "Remove the stone from the hilt." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "stone">><</link>> <<link "Polish the dagger with the lambswool." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "lambswool">><</link>> <<link "Use the dagger to chime the bell." "Examine the dagger.">><<set $daggerState = "bell">><</link>><</if>> [[Leave the dagger alone.->Crawl into the hole behind the bookcase.]]

<<if $bookState is "crystal" and $crystalState is "east" and $daggerState is "bell" and $chaliceState is "kiss">><<goto "shrinecomplete">><</if>>The chalice was once lustrous, but now is tarnished with age. It is heavy and sturdy, of an unknown metal that is freezing to the touch. You sense that it is older than the oldest thing existing. <<if $chaliceState is "upside">>The chalice is upside-down. <<link "Turn the chalice right side up." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "upright">><</link>> <<link "Kiss the chalice." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "kiss">><</link>> <<link "Fill the chalice with the flower petals." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "flower">><</link>><<elseif $chaliceState is "kiss">>The kiss still glows on the chalice. <<link "Turn the chalice upside-down." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "upside">><</link>> <<link "Polish off the kiss." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "upright">><</link>> <<link "Fill the chalice with the flower petals." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "flower">><</link>><<elseif $chaliceState is "flower">>The chalice is full of flower petals. <<link "Turn the chalice upside-down." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "upside">><</link>> <<link "Remove the petals and kiss the chalice." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "kiss">><</link>> <<link "Remove the flower petals." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "upright">><</link>><<else>>The chalice rests normally on the table. <<link "Turn the chalice upside-down." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "upside">><</link>> <<link "Kiss the chalice." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "kiss">><</link>> <<link "Fill the chalice with the flower petals." "Examine the chalice.">><<set $chaliceState = "flower">><</link>><</if>> [[Leave the chalice alone.->Crawl into the hole behind the bookcase.]]

Before you is the shrine. There is a book, a crystal, a dagger, and a chalice. These objects all lay on a cloth of deep wine, which is growing mold on the corners. You feel so weak - something about this shrine is unknowable and evil. You must make it right again. [[Examine the book.]] [[Examine the crystal.]] [[Examine the dagger.]] [[Examine the chalice.]] [[Crawl out of the bookcase and into the den.->Go to the den.]]

The cola is two-thirds full of dark, carmely liquid. Your taste buds ache just thinking about the sweetness. You turn the bottle around, and on the back you see the nutrition facts on the label. Next to them is a small lineart icon of a book with what appears to be a flower of some sort on it. That's strange, you've never noticed that before. [[Close the refrigerator.->Go to the kitchen.]]

The wolf thing appears before you once more, its shrine now at peace. You no longer feel the sense of dread and pain. All that once was has been put back as it should. The accomplishment feels as great as if you had just fought a war. The wolf thing raises its head and howls, a low, mournful sound that echoes throughout your bones. [[You close your eyes.]]

A memory: Strange shadows lurk, memories gone that should have been. Your mother cries at night, wondering what could have happened to you. She and your father fight. The only words you can make out from their arguments have to do with "protection." Your father grows weaker by the day, thinner. He can no longer work in the garden. His eyes retreat deep in their sockets. One day, he is gone. Your mother cries. Before the funeral, she gives you his old baseball cap, and you clutch it as if it is armor. [[Hold the cap to your chest.]]

<<set $riddle3complete = true>><<set $riddle3active = false>>The wolf speaks to you once more. "Wars fought, lives lost. Breathe deeply. Try to recognize yourself. Know where this has begun and where it will end. Blood has been shed." And with that, the wolf creature's fur retreats into itself, closing smaller and smaller until it fades away. You wrap your arms around yourself, a throbbing in the tips of your fingers and toes finally subsiding. You feel stronger somehow. [[Retreat from the hole.->Check out the bookcase.]]

[img[colored lights|http://tinydiorama.com/games/thebox/familiarshadowsanimation.gif]] [[Begin.->colored lights]]

On a small, dead tree, perches a huge black bird, its feathers so black you cannot distinguish one from another. It is a yawning blackness in the shape of a bird. Its eyes, full of light, gaze directly at you. You hear the drumbeats, coming from deep within your soul, loud over the sound of the wind. You're struck by the mystery of it all. The creature before you, glowing with light and with darkness, feels so close to you. At last, you have come upon the last one. The most terrible and great one of them all. [[Ask it what it wants of you.]]

You ask. The air is cold; it's sinking deep into your bones. The raven extends a single wing upward, to the sky, and you can't help but move your gaze to follow the feathers up, up, up... into the sky, into the roaring clouds, shifting and terrible, up further past them, into the depths of the sky and the stars and the cosmos... up and up... [[...and up...]]

<<set $riddle4attempt = true>>You wake from your bed. It is hot in your apartment, sticky with sweat, filmy with midsommer. You've kicked the sheets off sometime in the night, but now the dawn beckons you, the edges of it peeking around your blinds. Your room is comfortable but modest. [[Get up for breakfast.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You get up and put some simple clothes on and head out the kitchen in search of food and coffee. Your kitchen is bright and cheerful, the morning light seeming to make it glow. Outside on the balcony railing, a Thing is perched, watching you. You look at it. [["You've been following me for awhile now. Why?"]] [[Say nothing, continue to watch.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

The Thing continues to stare at you from its perch, but it moves suddenly. Its movements are static, jerky, disarming. Things don't move like that in nature. You step back - you get the feeling that you pissed it off. Or maybe you scared it? It moves toward you, impossible limbs. It's so warm - your face is drenched in sweat. Your hair sticks to your forehead, sticky, syrupy wet. But there's a glass door between you and the Thing, so you're safe, aren't you? [[Get out the door and run.]] [[Hold your ground.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You watch the Thing. It watches you back. It has been following you every night for the last week. You could hear tap-tap patterings, scratching on stone and pavement, as you walked back from work, or headed to see friends, or went on your nightly walks. But you haven't seen it yet in the daylight until now. It seems to want something from you. But you also wonder what it wants, in return. [[Offer it nothing - it's too risky.]] [[Offer it words.]] [[Offer it food.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You feel it's best not to offer it anything yet. You don't trust it, it doesn't trust you. Trust must be built. The Thing doesn't move, continues to watch you. You wonder if any of your neighbors will be able to see it. You decide to continue going about making breakfast. [[Scramble up some eggs.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You decide the best offering to make is an offering of words. It doesn't seem like the sort of creature that would care about anything else. So you grab a poetry book and tentatively slide the door open. The Thing moves. You freeze. [[Wait.]] [[Read from the poetry book.]] [[Move forward.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

It looks pretty lost, kind of sad. You decide to offer it some kind of food. What sort of food do spooky Things enjoy? You're not quite sure. You try to think back to the spells or tales you've read before, but nothing comes to mind. You decide to offer it... [[fruit.]] [[grains.]] [[meat.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You immediately turn and bolt for the door. Whatever that Thing is, you're not sticking around to find out what it wants. You seemed to have pissed it off, and you don't want to know what that Thing does when its pissed off. As you fling open your door and dart out into the hallway, you hear the sound of glass breaking. [[Run!]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You hold your ground, trying desperately not to look away as it hurtles toward you. It comes up to the glass door, hits the door with a sticky, wet sound, but the glass holds. You breathe in a shaky breath, still watching it. It seems confused almost by the door. [[Don't move.]] [[Back away, out the door.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You turn to your stove, ignoring the goosebumps on your arms. Crack a few eggs into a pan, add some butter. Stir and add a bit of creme freche. Crackling and popping sounds, delicious smells filling your kitchen. You allow yourself a glance out of your peripheral vision. The Thing is still there, no closer. [[Eat your eggs.]] [[Sing.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You decide to eat your eggs without giving the Thing any. After all, you still have no idea what it wants. Better to be safe than sorry. You glance at the Thing out of the corner of your eye as you eat. It is still there, watching you. You clean up the dishes, get ready for work. Glance out to your balcony. The Thing is gone. Strange. You go to sleep that night, and in the morning you feel more hollow. Something inside you is missing. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You glance up at the Thing out of the corner of your eye and are surprised that it isn't perched on your balcony anymore. You walk to the door and open it, but it's gone. You glance right and left, but you don't see it anymore. You wonder if you will ever see it again. [[Later, you sleep.]]

You ignore the Thing and go about your day. Best not to look. You're not sure how it would react to your singing, anyway. You go to sleep that night, and in the morning you feel more hollow. Something inside you is missing. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

It comes to you that night, in the middle of the night. The air still hasn't cooled from the heat wave of the day, and you've kicked off all your sheets again. Your eyes snap open suddenly, out of the middle of a dream. It is above you, staring into your eyes. You stare back. You feel a sense of loss deep within your chest. How could you have forgotten? [[Embrace the Thing.]]

The Thing pours into you, and you don't notice your tears until a lot later, when all is quiet, and you have time to contemplate the meaning of it all. Something inside you glows with a stillness, a tranquility. A soothing, soft light. Something you had long since forgotten but has been returned to you. You feel this is all familiar somehow. Your hands move to your heart. It beats tenderly. [[You close your eyes.->closeeyes2]]

Slowly - so slowly - you open the poetry book. Nothing else moves. The Thing watches you. You begin to read haltingly from the book, glancing up every few moments to see what the Thing is doing. It continues to watch you. [[Keep reading.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You move forward again, slowly, oh so slowly. The Thing watches you. You feel the fear grow more and more as you haltingly take one step in front of another. The Thing does not move. Soon, you are so close to it you could reach out and touch it. [[Read from the book of poetry.]] [[Reach out and touch it.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You wait, seeing what the Thing will do next. It feels like a staredown, though you're not sure where the Thing's eyes are. The air washes over you, hot and unyielding. The Thing slowly movies, unfurls its many too-long legs. Your heart races in your chest, hammering like drums. You gasp as the Thing turns and climbs down the balcony column, skittering down the street until it's gone. You don't see it again. But the next day, you feel as if you've lost something dear. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You keep reading from the poetry book, lost in the words. They tell tales of loss and longing, of forest and soul. You feel tears stream down your face. This book has never moved you so much before. Finally, you finish the poem, but when you look up, the Thing is gone. When did it leave? You don't remember. [[Later, you sleep.->latersleep2]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You go to sleep later, the air still thick and fragrant with summer. You wonder briefly about the encounter you had earlier, the poetry book held between your two hands. Perhaps it was the romantic in you that assumed words would be the things to save. But perhaps words without trust are fleeting. When you awaken the next day, you realize the Thing is gone and you will never see it again. You feel like something has been torn from you. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You begin reading again from the book of poetry, but within moments the Thing moves. You look up just in time to see it skitter over the balcony railing and down the column, out of sight. You rush to the balcony edge, but it's gone. You narrow your eyes, feeling a little lost. If poetry was not what would soothe the Thing, that what was? [[Go about your day.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You reach out to touch the Thing - you don't even realize what you're doing until your arm is already so close to it. But before you can place your fingertips upon it, it jerks forward, and you suddenly can't see anything anymore. But you sure can feel pain. You scream. It feels like your skin is on fire, burning into curls and tendrils, char and hot flame. You keep screaming until you no longer can scream anymore, and then [[everything is gone.->Check the pantry.]]

You slice up some apple for the creature. Clearly it's hungry, what it needs is food. And nothing is more satisfying than food grown from Earth herself, fueled by sun and thick dirt and years of cultivation. The most primal of foods. You place the apple slices on a plate and open the balcony door, but upon hearing the noise, the Thing skitters down the balcony column and down the street until it was out of sight. [[Leave the apple for it.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You pour some oats into a bowl, consider but decide not to microwave them into oatmeal. Plain oats are best - grain had fueled your ancestors and so it would fuel the Thing as well. You look at the Thing. Best to be careful. Very quietly, you slide the door to the balcony open and place the oats on the ground. The Thing watches you. [[Go about your morning.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You decide meat is the best thing to give it. It's clearly something terrifying, and demons and the like always cosume flesh. You dig in your fridge and pull out a slab of raw steak you were planning to cook for tonight. You consider for a moment cooking the meat, but that doesn't seem right. After all, primal beings prefer raw meat, right? You place the steak on a plate and go to open the balcony door. [[Open it slowly.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You leave the apple for it, but it remains untouched until the flies get to it and it has withered and browned in the acrid air. Finally, you bring the plate inside and head to sleep. But when you wake up, the Thing is still gone. You must have scared it, somehow, with your offering. It seems that wasn't quite what it was looking for. You know you won't see it again. And a part of you is missing with it, too. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You begin to sing, a melody that is deep within your heart, that you have known always. Wordless humming, your tune feels charged somehow. You can still feel the Thing watching you, curious. You continue to sing and eat your eggs. Finally, you finish. It's time to get ready for work. Still not looking outside, you dress and grab your bag, wash up. [[A little while longer, you look at the Thing.]] [[Ignore the Thing.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You decide to go about your morning, leave it in peace to eat. You cook up some eggs for yourself, eat them without looking. Feeling as if someone is watching you still, hairs rising on the nape of your neck. You return home from work and the Thing is gone. The oats still lie there, untouched and uneaten. You wonder if it appreciated your kindness, even if it didn't appreciate the food. You're not sure when you'll see it next, but something inside you thinks it's gone for good. You head to sleep, but you feel like you've lost something deep within you. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You decide to open the balcony door slowly so you don't scare off the Thing. But as you do, something contorts, movement catches your eye. You glance up and it's crawling toward you, too many limbs long and askew. You drop the plate of steak with a shatter. You feel it hit your feet. Pain shoots up your legs, and you [[throw your hands over your eyes.->Check the pantry.]]

You go about your day, a typical day at work, long and weary. You return late, after night has already fallen, but the Thing is not following you anymore. You hope you'll see it again, but somehow you know you will not. With its departure, something inside you is also gone. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

Don't move. Silent. Holding your breath, lungs so full they want to burst. Heart racing, goosebumps on your arms. The Thing examines the door, or at least, that's what you think it's doing. Its tendrils explore the frame, then it begins pushing against the door. [[Keep still.]] [[Back away, out the door.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You slowly - so slowly - move towards the door, not breaking contact with the Thing. It seems to be feeling around the door with its long tendrils, looking for some kind of opening. You're hoping that while it's occupied you can escape. You grab the doorknob with your hand. [[Slowly turn it...]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You slowly turn the doorknob just in time to hear glass shattering. No looking back now. You slam the door behind you and run, realizing you're still in your pajamas, still barefoot on the apartment hall carpet. Down the stairs, fast fast fast. Your heart is drumming in your chest, sweat running down your face. You somehow manage not to trip on the stairs, and burst out into the apartment lobby. No one is there, just the silent mailboxes and front door awaiting you. But you don't hear anything chasing you. You stop, listen. [[Breathe.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

Footsteps on the stairs. Adreneline pumps through your body, but before you can even react, your neighbor appears. She looks at you quizzically. "Everything okay?" [["Fine," you say, your voice shaky. "Just getting my mail.]] [["No, it's not. Call the police, please!"]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

She eyes you warily, but moves past you and out the door. You stand for several moments, taking in shaky breath after shaky breath, feeling your energy and your courage return to you slowly. You don't know how long you've stood in your lobby, but you don't see any neighbors so it can't have been that long. Still, it feels like an eternity. Aftward, there's nothing else to do except [[head back upstairs.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

Your neighbor is so startled by your cry that she drops her bag, then frantically picks it back up again, rummaging for her phone. "Are you okay??? Are you okay?" she cries at you, then finds her phone and dials 911. You shiver under the breeze from the air conditioning. It's not cold, but you feel cold inside. [[The police arrive.]]

The glass shatters, spilling millions of glinting crystals on your kitchen floor. You flinch, but then hold your breath. The Thing sinuously worms its way inside, its many long tendrils exploring your kitchen. You... [[hold your breath, look away.]] [[say something.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You hold your breath, look away, clench your eyes shut tight. You smell something acrid in the air, something strange and terrible. Rustling sounds reach your ears as the Thing presumably explores your kitchen, coming towards you. You are sure death will come at any moment, but the sounds stop and the air smells normal. It is a long time before you [[open your eyes.]] [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You can't think of what to say, so you end up just whispering, "What do you want? Please..." There is a silence, an acrid smell. The Thing comes toward you slowly, strangely, all limbs and static and distorted terror. It shows no sign of stopping. You throw your hands up and [[scream.->Check the pantry.]]

A memory: You often caught your father watching you, a sorrow in his eyes. But when you looked, he would grin and call you "bud" and the two of you would go to a movie or play with your toys together. He taught you to use tools, to be kind. You miss him. After he died you had a dream about him once. He came to you, but his eyes were shrouded in darkness. He said, "You must do what I could not." Then he very carefully handed you your heart. [[Take your heart in your hands.]]

<<set $riddle4complete = true>><<set $riddle4active = false>>As you take your heart in your hands, you see it is not a heart at all, but a pile of ash. The ash swirls in the wind, dancing and twisting through the air past the trees, into the forest of darkness and night. You watch it until it is gone, tears stinging your eyes. The raven, perched upon your shoulder, leans upon you heavily as it takes to the air, swirling up into the sky, a black dot past the clouds. You press fingers to chest, a throbbing in your heart finally subsiding. You feel more at ease somehow. [[Check the pantry.]]

The police arrive but when you all go up to your apartment together, nothing is there. The glass door is intact. Nothing is amiss or out of place. The police chalk it up to a nightmare and give you a stern warning about wasting resources. You don't see the Thing again, thank goodness. But it's strange. Something inside you feels cold always. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You head back upstairs, but nothing is there. The glass door is intact. Nothing is amiss or out of place. You stare at the door again, wondering if the entire thing was some kind of dream or nightmare. But you swear you had seen it before on your walks. You swear you had been followed. You don't see the Thing again, thank goodness. But it's strange. You never quite feel like your same self after that day. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You open one eye, squinting as you look around your kitchen. But nothing is there. You open both eyes now, and you see that the door to your balcony is intact. Nothing had happened at all except that you are trembling. You don't ever see the Thing again, thank goodness. But you are more fearful now, as if the Thing has taken a piece of you with it forever. [[Leave the dream.->Check the pantry.]]

You run, your breath coming out in gasps, down the stairs, one after another, until you're on the last landing and you feel something push at you from behing - something has slammed against your shoulders so hard that you lose your footing, tumble forward. Before you can even think, you see stairs rising up toward your head. [[Everything goes black.->Check the pantry.]]

You place your palm on the box and it opens with a flash of light more quickly than you expected. The light stings your eyes. (You would think you'd be used to it by now.) Instead of being transported somewhere else though, when your eyes adjust you are still in your den, but in front of you is a familiar figure. It's your father. You can't believe your eyes. It's really him standing before you. You open your mouth to say something, gasp and choke on your words. You are not sure what to say. [[You reach out to him.]]

<<set $dadsympathy = 0>>You reach out to him but something about his expression makes you stop. You feel a knot in the pit of your stomach. Something's not right here. The joy you should be feeling looking at your father for the first time in years just isn't there. Instead you feel dread. Your father closes his eyes and says, "I'm so sorry." [["For what?"]] [["Don't be."]]

"For what?" you ask. You are confused. That wasn't what you expected him to say. He gazes at you for a long moment. Something about him is so familiar - he's your father, he's the same father you remember tying your shoes and grounding you after you lit the living room carpet on fire. But something inside you has learned and grown over the last hour. He finally says, "You need to know that it wasn't a dream." [[A memory.]]

<<set $dadsympathy += 1>>"Don't be," you say. "Don't be sorry." Your father doesn't speak for awhile. You study his face, lined and weary, just as you've always remembered. He doesn't look sick, the way he did before he died. He looks like your dad, back when he would help you with your science projects and make you soup on cold nights. You missed him so much. Then he finally says, "It wasn't a dream." [[A memory.]]

A memory. Everything had gone black after you hit your head on that coffee table, a sharp crack that sent you into an inky blackness of nothing. But you are now standing, your grown-up self, staring at your 10-year-old self, your father crying. Your mother rushing in, the air being sucked from the room as her face pales, realizing. [[Did you...]]

Something dark entering the room, eyes piercing from the smoky haze. Your father standing, moving towards it, just as your mother moves towards your body. A slow pool of sticky red by your head balloons outward, staining the carpet. Your father is talking in a low voice to the strange black shadow. [[Then all is movement.]]

Your father, lifting your body, ignoring the blood on his clothes. Your mother sobbing, grabbing at his shirt, at his sleeves. He ignores her, carries your body out of the room, and she collapses in a heap of shivering whimpers. She does not move. You hesitate. [[Follow your father.]] [[Reach out for your mother.]]

<<set $dadsympathy -= 1>>You reach out for your mother, but as your hands touch her, instead of soft warm flesh you touch something icy cold and your fingers move right through her, as if you are dipping them in a bucket of water. She does not see you. You recoil. There is nothing left to do. [[Follow your father.]]

He enters the kitchen, frantically swipes all the papers and salt and pepper shakers off the table with a crash, sets your body down. The thing of darkness hovers behind him, just over his shoulder. His hands shaking, he lights some old birthday candles from a box, dropping them into a mason jar and then shutting the lid, trapping the smoke. Your father turns then, walks straight through you and you shudder involuntarily as the icy cold of the feeling of it hits your bones. You spin and he's rifling through a drawer, pulling out an old family photo of you, cutting you out of the photo, writing your name on a scrap of paper. He clutches the scrap of paper to his chest and releases the smoke upon the photo of you. [[This is all so familiar...]]

Then he says, "The knowledge I contain within, Of the dagger, the crystal, the chalice, and the book, I now offer it to the Mourn, To the one who created, To the depths of the vastness of shadow!" [[No, this is all wrong...]]

Your father slices his hand open with a kitchen knife. You recoil backward at the sound of flesh opening and sight of the blood. The thing of inky blackness moves forward and seems to tumble over your father, swallowing him in night. You understand all too clearly that a pact has been made. [[You reach out for your body.]]

But you are back in the den, the memory is over. Your father still stands before you. "You see," he says, "I offered up myself. For you. To save you. But it was all wrong." You stare at him, unsure of what to say. [["You were only trying to help."]] [["You messed with something evil."]]

<<set $dadsympathy += 1>>"You were only trying to help," you say, but your words falter and come out as only a whisper. Your father shakes his head. "That's true, but... this deep magic... this isn't the way to do things. Your family... your entire family tree. This is the way they did things and I promised I would be different." You can't even comprehend this. He continues. "Growing up, I saw the effects of this firsthand. I saw the evils it brought. I knew my own shadow was waiting for this moment, lurking just out of view. It wanted this." [["Your own... shadow?"]]

"You messed with something evil," you say. You step backward. Your father looks at you, a pleading in his eyes. "You have to understand," he begs. "This is the reality of your entire family tree. I had no choice but to give in eventually. My shadow has been following me, waiting for this exact moment. Who knows, maybe my shadow was the one who made you fall against the coffee table at that perfect angle..." You stare at him. [["Your own... shadow?"]]

"Your own... shadow?" you ask. "We all have one, all the way back through the family line. You have one too. But mine only became more powerful that day and... well, now it seems it wants you to understand your choice." You feel a sudden dread in the pit of your stomach. Any feeling of happiness you had at the sight of your father has all but vanished. [["My choice?"]]

Your father's mouth sets in a grim line. "When I offered up my blood to my shadow, it took my life for yours. But that only fed it, made it stronger. It wants to bring me back. It wants to be whole again. But to bring me back... it needs you." [[You step back.]]

<<if $dadsympathy gt 0>>Your father steps toward you. "You have to understand, I never wanted this to happen. I sacrificed myself for you, and that bought you years you never would have had otherwise. But my shadow doesn't want to continue existing as half a being. Do you understand that?" He shakes his head, his eyes full of sorrow. "But I don't know. Only you can make this choice." <<else>>Your father doesn't move. "You have to understand, I never wanted this to happen. But don't you remember all our good times? You can't blame my shadow - it doesn't want to continue on as half a being. If it brings me back, then we're whole again. Think of someone other than you, please." You frown. He shrugs. "Only you can make this choice."<</if>> [[Ask what will happen if you choose yourself.]] [[Ask what will happen if you choose your father.]]

Your father frowns. "Well, then things will go on as they have before, but you will have to banish my shadow altogether. It can no longer go on as half a being. You understand that? You must fully kill me." [[You understand.]]

<<set $dadsympathy += 1>>Your father smiles, a sad smile. "Well, then you will restore me. But you can't go on, the balance must be restored. But this will be the most selfless sacrifice you could ever make. You understand that, right?" [[You understand.]]

Your father nods to you, and suddenly you feel a weight in each of your hands. In your left hand is a dagger, a beautiful crystal embedded into its handle. In your right hand is a chalice full of liquid, its surface inlaid with gilded scrolling in the shape of a book. Your father nods to you. [[You now must make a choice.]]

<<if $dadsympathy gt 1>>Your father's eyes fill with tears. "My child, my own child. Only you can make this decision. You must know how much I love you, how much I'm proud of you." Then he stops himself suddenly, as if remembering something, but says nothing further. <<else>>You feel suspicious, and your father tilts his head down, staring into your eyes. "My only child. Only you can make this decision. You must know how much I love you, how much I'm proud of you. I know how selfless you are, how compassionate. I know you'll make the right choice."<</if>> [[Now it is truly time.]]

You... [[Plunge the dagger into your father.]] [[Drink the poison from the chalice.]]

You step forward and with your left hand, plunge the dagger into your father. You have to close your eyes to do it. You feel cold inside. [[You open your eyes.]]

You drop the dagger, then lift the chalice with your right hand and drink from it. The liquid tastes foul and you choke against it, but continue drinking, its syrupy texture catching in your throat, forcing down. [[You've done it.]]

You open your eyes and your father is gone. The den is dark, the clock on the blu-ray player says "4:01." Everything seems still, even the storm outside has settled. You touch your hands to your face. You feel a warmth inside of you that you've never felt before. Something inside you is whole again. [[Nothing left but to go back up to bed.]]

You've done it. Almost right away, darkness seems to close around you. You stumble backward against the couch, landing on it. Your vision is blurry, your hands so cold. You see your father dissolve into smoke, and then the smoke shifts as if under wind, and then you see your father again, but something seems different about him. The last thing you see, the last thing you can make out before darkness over takes you, is <<click "his smile.">><<goto "title screen">><</click>>

Somehow sleep comes so easily to you. You drop off immediately, more exhausted than you've ever felt before. [[The morning sunshine hits your face.]]

You wake to warm sunshine and the smell of pancakes cooking downstairs. A low murmuring drifts from the kitchen, your mother and stepdad enjoying the morning. You sit up. You've never in your life felt so happy before. The dark dream you had in the middle of the night feels so far away. You only vaguely remember something about it... shadows and light, your father... was it? <<click "You don't think you will ever know for sure.">><<goto "title screen">><</click>>