(align:"=><=")+(box:"=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX=")[Welcome to
<center><h1> Liminal Escape </h1></center>
A short, text-based adventure.
Enter [[Room 1]] to begin.
]
(set: $darkness to 'false')
(set: $raftkey to 'false')
(set: $lazyriver to 'false')
(set: $flowerkey to 'false')
You slowly open your eyes as you regain consciousness.
With no memory of how you got here, you begin to examin the room you have found yourself in. The only light source is a singular light bulb hanging from the ceiling that flickers from time to time.
In front of you is a wall with two doors. To your left, right, and behind you there is nothing but darkness.
Something about the darkness feels wrong.
(if: $darkness is 'false') [ [[Inspect the doors]]
[[Explore the darkness]] ]
(if: $darkness is 'true')
[ [[Inspect the doors]] ]
Feeling the need to escape the darkness as soon as possible, you walk up to the doors.
The door on the left is (text-colour:(hsl:180,0.8039,0.5,0.95))[turquoise] and smells a bit like chlorine. Behind it you can hear echoed laughter and splashing.
The door on the right is (text-colour:(hsl:0,0.8039,0.5,0.7))[dark red] and smells a bit like flowers. You can feel a draft flowing from the bottom of the door.
As you examine both doors, something behind you calls out to you from the darkness.
"(text-style:"blurrier","upside-down","fidget")[Ħɛߌøøǂʔ](text-style:"blur")[, wait for me]", the voice murmers.
//(text-style:"underline")[That is not your name].//
The voice is getting closer. You need to choose which door to exit through.
(text-colour:(hsl:180,0.8039,0.5,0.95))[ [[Turquoise door]] ]
(text-colour:(hsl:0,0.8039,0.5,0.7))[ [[Red door]] ]Despite any negative feelings, you walk away from the light towards the void.
The darkness feels infinate.
[[Continue]]
(set: $darkness to 'true')Determined, you continue walking into the darkness. You look back to the light, but it is gone.
Was it ever really there in the first place? How (text-style:"blur")[long] have you been (text-style:"blurrier")[walking]?
[[Keep walking]]As you continue, you feel the air around you getting colder. Just as you ponder the idea of turning around, you hear (text-style:"upside-down","buoy")[something] call your name in the distance.
The voice sounds familiar. Yet something about it isn't quite right.
You fear you may have made a mistake. The voice is getting closer.
[[Start running]](set: $darkness to 'false')
(set: $raftkey to 'false')
(set: $lazyriver to 'false')
(set: $flowerkey to 'false')
You decided to exit through the (text-colour:(hsl:180,0.8039,0.5,0.95))[turquoise] door. The voice is much louder now, calling out a name that isn't yours, and it's getting closer.
With seconds to spare you turn the handel and open the white door, quickly slamming it closed behind you.
You begin looking around at your new envirnonment. You realize it seems to be an indoor pool of sorts.
[[Explore the pool room]]You decided to exit through the (text-colour:(hsl:0,0.8039,0.5,0.65))[dark red] door. The voice is much louder now, calling out a name that isn't yours, and it's getting closer.
With seconds to spare you turn the handel and open the red door, quickly slamming it closed behind you.
You begin looking around at your new envirnonment. You realize it seems to be an indoor garden of sorts.
[[Explore the garden]].You start running away from the voice, but it echos throughout the darkness.
The longer you run the louder the voice becomes. Your lungs burn, the air is getting even colder.
You can feel its eyes looking at you.
[[It's behind you]]Oh no!
You met a terrible and unfortunate end :(
Retry by returning to [[Room 1]]
As you walk around the area, you realize that this new space is seemingly infinate.
There are long hallways and large open spaces, all occupied by lazy rivers, waterfalls, or large bodies of bright turquoise-blue water. The longer you explore, the stronger the smell of chlorine becomes.
Occasionally, you can hear laughter and splashing off in the distance. The sounds bouce around the white-tiled walls.
In the main room, there is a large pool. The ceiling in this space is made of glass, allowing bright white light to illuminate the area. The water is calm. It looks inviting.
Across the pool you can see a small platform with another door.
(If: $lazyriver is 'false') [ [[Look for a way across]]
[[Follow the laughter]] ]
(if: $lazyriver is 'true') [ [[Look for a way across]] ] You walk up to the edge of the pool. As you get closer, you realize there is a number of small platforms that you could jump across to reach the door at the other side.
To your right, you notice an inflated yellow raft. There is a paddle on the floor beside it.
[[Jump across the platforms]]
[[Use the raft to cross the pool]]Intrigued by the laughter you keep hearing, you decide to venture off down one of the hallways you saw earlier.
As you follow the flow of the lazy river, you spot a yellow floating tube drifiting on the water not too far ahead.
[[Get on the tube]].
(set: $lazyriver to 'true')Not trusting the raft or the water, you choose to jump across the platforms in order to reach the door.
As you make your way across the path of conveniently placed platforms, you notice that the light from the ceiling is slowly fading.
However, you quickly reach the other side of the pool and safely step onto the last [[platform]] with the door.Not trusting yourself to hop across the platforms, you walk over to the raft and use it to cross the water. As you drag it closer to the pool, you notice a small object in the raft. On closer inspection, you see that it is a key.
You place the key in your pocket and get into the raft. As you paddle your way across the pool, the light streaming in from the ceiling begins to fade.
After a while, you finally reach the [[platform]].
(set: $raftkey to 'true')Catching up to the tube, you sit on top of it, continuing your journey along the lazy river.
As you float, the sound of the water and peaceful environment makes you feel a bit tired.
Before you know it, you've fallen [[asleep]].
Slowly, you begin to wake up.
You open your eyes and realize the lazy river is moving much faster now, directing you to the sound of the waterfall you are now rappidly approaching.
You franticaly look around for a way to escape, but you are too far from the edge of the river and the current is too strong to swim across.
[[You fall down the waterfall]].Oh no!
You continued falling through infinate nothingness for all eternity :(
Retry by returning to [[Room 1]] You look back to the other side of the pool, but it's so dark now that it's hard to see much of anything.
It is now completly quiet, there is no laughter or splashing resonating throughout the space any more.
Not wanting to stay much longer, you walk toward the door.
[[Open the door]].Cautiously, you open the door.
On the other side you're met with a somewhat nostalgic environment.
It seems like you've stepped back in time as you walk down the abandoned halls of an old school. The air is tinged with the scent of crayons, old books, and dust, evoking a sense of familiarity.
In the distance, you can hear children's laughter and scuffling feet. The distorted sound of a school bell rings overhead.
You continue walking down the [[hallway]].You find yourself standing at a crossroad. There are 3 paths, one to your left, right, and one in front of you.
Each path seems to lead far off into the distance, however, the most notable feature of this space are all the flowers.
In the hazy glow of soft red light that shines through glass domes in the ceiling, you can see rows and rows of bright red flowers that follow each path for as far as you can see. The floral scent from earlier is much stronger now, and a soft breeze makes the flowers sway slowly.
The entire garden is situated in what seems to be an old office of some kind.
(if: $flowerkey is 'false')[
[[go left]], [[go right]], or [[go straight]]]
(if: $flowerkey is 'true') [
[[go left]] or [[go right]] ]You resume your journey and take the path on the left.
As you walk, the scent from the flowers gets even stronger. It's beginning to give you a headache.
Not too far ahead, you can see a door. The smell from the flowers is overwhelming, making you want to leave as soon as possible.
You start running towards the [[door]] as the scent from the flowers continues to get stronger.You decide to follow the path that leads to the right.
As you continue to walk, the breeze from earlier becomes stronger. Intrigued, you start walking faster, wanting to figure out where the source for the wind could be coming from.
In the distance, you can see that the path leads to another door.
As you reach the door, you can feel that the wind is flowing in from the other side.
[[Open the door]].You decide to continue going straight.
As you walk along the path, the gardens on either side of the path become more and more unruly. The smell of flowers is overpowering.
Eventually, the path ends, leading into a small, circular greenhouse.
[[Enter the greenhouse]]Inside the greenhouse is an array of exotic plants and colourful blossoms.
Off to one side of the room there are an arrangment of gardening tools and gear.
In the centre of the room is a small table. On top of the table is a small pot that contains a singular bright (text-colour:red)[red] flower.
[[Take the flower]]
[[Leave the flower]]You walk up to the table with the flower and carefully pluck the flower from the pot.
Immediately the flower begins to glow bright red in your hand.
It has transformed into a key! You place the key in your pocket and exit the greenhouse.
You continue to [[explore the garden->Explore the garden]].
(set: $flowerkey to 'true')Not wanting to disturb anything in the greenhouse you decide to leave.
You exit the room and continue [[exploring the garden->Explore the garden]].
In your rush to escape, you push the door open step through the opening.
The door closes by itself behind you, blocking your only light source.
You're in [[comeplete darkness]].Oh no!
You end up roaming the dark for the rest of eternity :(
Retry by returning to [[Room 1]].As you walk, doors to empty classrooms have been left slightly open allowing you to see inside. Rows of desks and chairs have been left untouched in the space void of students, yet soft chattering voices and laughter can be heard.
You begin feeling a bit uneasy.
You continue walking, glancing at the colourful artwork and motivational posters displayed along the hallway. They seem to stretch infinitely, both welcoming and slightly eerie in their endlessness.
At the end of the hallway lies a large, ornate wooden door.
[[Examine the door]]The door, looking very out of place in the empty hallway full of children's artwork, is large. It stretches from the floor to the ceiling. It looks heavy and unmovable.
Suddenly, another distorted school bell rings overhead. The chattering voices from earlier can be heard moving toward you. They aren't as cheerful as they were earlier. The voices echo throughout the hallway with increasing agitation.
You turn back to the door and try pushing it open. It's locked.
(if: $raftkey is 'true' and $flowerkey is 'false' ) [You remember the key you put in your pocket earlier and use it to [[unlock the door]] ] (if: $flowerkey is 'true' and $raftkey is 'false') [You remember the key you put in your pocket earlier and use it to [[unlock the door]] ]
(if: $raftkey is 'false' and $flowerkey is 'false') [ You don't have a key.
You turn around to retrace your steps, but the lights at the other end of the hallway begin to turn off [[one by one]].
]
As you push the heavy wooden doors, you're met with blindingly bright light from the other side.
Your body feels as though it's floating, but for the first time in a long time, [[you feel at ease]].
As your surroundings get darker, you can feel your mind slipping into [[unconsciousness ->Room 1]].(align:"=><=")+(box:"=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX=")[Perhaps everything (text-style:"blur")[was just] (text-style:"blurrier","expand")[a dream.]
(text-style:"smear")[[[It's time to wake up->Home Page]]]
]