|title>[aʻā]
|definition>[Aʻā (noun, pronounced "ah ah") is a kind of lava, characterized by a rocky surface. It translates into English as "stony rough lava", but also as to "burn", or "blaze".]
[[Start->Second Start]]
(set: $score to 8)The sun is hot, and you can feel the warmth of it deep beneath your skin. In the distance, it glitters as it reflects off the lapping waves that surround the atoll. Gulls cry out, perched and huddled closely together on ancient basalt rocks dropped haphazardly into the ocean. The unmistakable taste of salt is heavy in the air.
[[Continue->2]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The atoll, also known as The Atoll of Ashes, is a ring of jagged coral and sandy beaches, and life here, for the most part, is peaceful. In the middle of the ring is a prized lagoon, and once upon a time, many moons and summers ago, it's said that a volcano stood there. Now long since sunken, the water still occasionally bubbles and froths - the only remaining vestige of a once towering inferno that spewed lava and built the land around you.
[[Continue->3]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]There are a few dozen who live here, and you are their Village Elder. Such a title mostly means that they look to you for guidance when things go wrong - when the crops bear little fruit, when the taxes aren't paid, and when a quarrel needs settling.
[[Continue->3b]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The beach is littered with crab cages, and ropes woven from coconut fibres. Where the sand meets the water, myriad seashells are repeatedly washed by gently foaming waves.
Footsteps left on the shore tell stories. Raftsmen dragging in fish, children playing, and lovers loving, all as regular as the tide. But some of the footsteps today are blackened and turned to crumbled stone.
[[Continue->5]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]You follow these strange footsteps, and drops of scoria, until you come upon him: a man made of lava, with blazing fire for eyes. Molten rock drips from his fingertips as his vermillion skin seems to churn. He's stood facing the ocean, looking towards the horizon. As and when the saltwater reaches his feet, it hisses and crackles.
[[Say "Hello"->6a]]
[[Say "Halt, beast!"->6b]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]His head turns towards you briefly, then back towards the sea.
[[Say "Can you talk? I just want to talk."->7a]]
[[Draw your shark-tooth dagger->7b]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]](set: $score to it + 1)
(goto: "7")(set: $score to it - 1)
(goto: "7")"I can speak. But I do not know if you will listen," says the creature. His voice sounds deep and otherworldly, like it comes from deep beneath the ground and rises through him.
[[Say "I will listen."->8a]]
[[Say "I haven't got time for this. You need to go home."->8b]]
(set: $score to it + 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]
"There's no need for that," the creature says. His voice sounds deep and otherworldly, like it comes from deep beneath the ground and rises through him. "I will die and leave you in peace, but first I should like you to listen."
[[Say "I will listen."->8a]]
[[Say "I haven't got time for this. You need to go home."->8b]]
(set: $score to it - 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]"Thank you," the creature says.
[[Continue->9]]
(set: $score to it + 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]"You will listen," the creature decides. "I will have that much."
[[Continue->9]]
(set: $score to it - 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The creature speaks again: "I have come here to die."
[[Say "Let's talk a little first."->9a]]
[[Say "I won't stop you."->9b]]
[[Say "I have come here to return you home."->9c]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]"What would you like to know?" asks the creature.
[[Say "What are you?"->10]]
[[Say "Why do you want to die?"->10]]
(set: $score to it + 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]"Isn't there anything you'd like to know?" asks the creature.
[[Say "What are you?"->10]]
[[Say "Why do you want to die?"->10]]
(set: $score to it - 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]"Isn't there anything you'd like to know, first?" asks the creature.
[[Say "What are you?"->10]]
[[Say "Why do you want to die?"->10]]
(set: $score to it - 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The creature speaks. "I am a Summon. The Fisherman's Widow conjured me, using the magic of the old gods. I have been her servant ever since."
[["The old gods?"->11]]
[["How does that work?"->11]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]"She called upon the gods of the volcano, and, I appeared..." says the creature. "She is my master, and my work is never complete, unless she says it is. Are you familiar with such sorcery?"
[[Say "Not like this."->12a]]
[[Say "I hate magic."->12b]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]You continue speaking... "My mother spoke of evil spirits that arrive on moonlit tides. Salted monsters in the deep beyond the shallows, that come ashore at night and kidnap children from unprepared villages. But I've never seen anything like you."
[[Continue->13]]
(set: $score to it + 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]You continue speaking... "My mother used to scare me with stories about spirits like you."
[[Continue->13]]
(set: $score to it - 1)
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The creature slowly turns to face you as you speak, and his focus remains upon you. You feel the heat radiating from him, and can see the way air around him vibrates and shimmers where his body ends and your world begins.
[[Say "Your master is the one who sent me."->14a]]
[[Say nothing->14b]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The creature replies: "I knew she would send someone, when she realised I was gone."
[[Say "She asked me to find you."->15]]
[[Say "She asked me to return you to her."->15]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The creature speaks again: "My master sent you, didn't she? I knew she'd send someone, when she realised I was gone."
[[Say "She asked me to find you."->15]]
[[Say "She asked me to return you to her."->15]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]In response, the creature says only: "I do not wish to return to her. I wish to die."
[[Say "Why do you want to die?"->16]]
[[Say "Why don't you want to go home?"->16]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The creature considers his response carefully, then says "The widow has grown too attached to me."
[[Say "What do you mean?"->16a]]
[[Say "Why does that matter?"->16b]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]](set: $score to it + 1)
(goto: "17")(set: $score to it - 1)
(goto: "17")"As you know, her husband set out to fish and never returned. A week later, she summoned me from nothingness, and since then, I have performed chores for her. But the more time goes by, the more her behaviour towards me has changed."
[[Say "Can you explain more?"->17a]]
[[Say "I don't see why that matters."->17b]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]](set: $score to it + 1)
(goto: "18")(set: $score to it - 1)
(goto: "18")"She treats me as her husband. Calls me by his name. She's even burned herself by touching me, and acts as if she will again, despite the pain. I cannot stay there."
[[Say "She sounds troubled."->18a]]
[[Say "She sounds like an idiot."->18b]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]](set: $score to it + 1)
(goto: "19")(set: $score to it - 1)
(goto: "19")"Her fixation on me is making her insular, and she rarely sees others in the village. I worry that if I stay, I am a danger to her. It would be best if I removed myself."
[[Say "I guess it's up to you."->NON INFLUENCE ENDING]]
(if:$score > 9)[|good>[[[Say "You should live, but be free."->GOOD ENDING]]]](if:$score < 10)[|disallowedgood>[Say "You should live, but be free."]]
(if:$score < 3)[|bad>[[[Say "I don't care. Go home."->BAD ENDING]]]](if:$score > 2)[|disallowedbad>[Say "I don't care. Go home."]]
|helptext>[Some options above have been disabled or enabled depending on your score]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]The blue is bordered in orange, as the sun starts to descend beyond the edge of the world. Above you, little glints of starshine, from the very brightest constellations, have begun to appear. It's grown quiet, and the soft sound of tumbling waves is now the only sound.
[[Continue->NIE2]]
(set: $score to 5)The creature ponders this for a while. The blue is bordered in orange, as the sun starts to descend beyond the edge of the world. Above you, little glints of starshine, from the very brightest constellations, have begun to appear. It's grown quiet, and the soft sound of tumbling waves is now the only sound.
[[Continue->GE2]]The creature frowns, which until now, wasn't something you realised it could do. "But... What about everything I said? It isn't healthy for the widow."
[[Say "You're her property..."->BE2]]
[[Say "Alright, I'll pretend I never found you."->NON INFLUENCE ENDING]]The creature looks up at the early evening sky, then out to sea. "Goodbye," he says. "Thank you for listening, at least."
With that, he begins to take strides into the surf. The water rises around him swiftly as he pushes further out, and each step slows him, as his joints and limbs solidify against the unending cooling of the sea.
[[Continue->NIE3]]He finally stops moving when it reaches his neck, and the fires in his eyes snuff out, leaving only wisps of fine grey smoke. His skin turns carmine, then fades to basalt grey as he turns fully to stone.
Water flows around his statued remains. You take in a deep breath. The air remains warm, but it is colder now.
|helptext>[Final warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]
[[Back to title->Start]]"What would I do?" the creature asks, breaking the hush.
"Whatever you want... Nothing. Everything. Somewhere in between. All of us spend our lives how we choose, and you should too."
[[Continue->GE3]]The creature takes a few steps back from the tide, and sits on the sand. He invites you to sit with him, and you watch the moon rise together, until all the summer's heat has been chased away by the night.
You think to yourself that, should the tide not erase them, your footprints today would tell quite a good story.
Until he leaves in the morning, he keeps you warm.
|helptext>[Final warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]
[[Back to title->Start]]You continue... "... And I'm here to see that you're returned. What she does with you is none of my business."
The creature considers this.
[[Continue->BE3]]"I understand," says the creature. "You would have me serve her regardless. Perhaps because she is lonely, and needs the help. Perhaps because you do not see me as worthy of independent thought."
"Whatever the reason, I will trust your judgement, and return to her. And I'm sure she will thank you. Perhaps pay you handsomely, in rubies or whatever else she has to spare."
"But I hope that one day you reflect on our conversation here today, and think about what you asked of me."
[[Continue->BE4]]"There's a saying, which I know sounds strange coming from me," the creature says, as he walks away.
"You shouldn't have to set yourself on fire, to keep other people warm."
|helptext>[Final warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]
[[Back to title->Start]]|helptext>[This is a short work of interactive fiction, composed entirely in text. Based on the decisions you make, you'll receive a score, visible below from here on out. Your score is a measure of whether you are warm and kind, or cold and ruthless. Whatever you choose, your score will determine what happens next, and what future paths are available to you.]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]
[[Continue->1]]
But, the job has some benefits. When black-sailed ships and their pillaging sailors come calling, on the rare occasion that they do, local boys with swords and spears are quick to defend you. You are guest of honour at every meal you attend. When people from the mainland come to visit, you are given gifts - exotic spice and fine wine, and the occasional tchotchke. You are respected.
[[Continue->4]]
|helptext>[Warmth score:]
|scorebar>[(hook: "score-"+(text:$score))[]]↶↷aʻā Aʻā (noun, pronounced "ah ah") is a kind of lava, characterized by a rocky surface. It translates into English as "stony rough lava", but also as to "burn", or "blaze". Start