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[LP CYOA] Spiral
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
What needs to happen for it to be canon? I will do anything.It's not canon backstory. (Not yet, anyway)
A
That's just what the Illuminati would like you to think...
Will treave get fat and grow a ridiculous beard as well?
...
I still picture him as a glorious silverback gorilla, with hand held pensively under the chin.
...
I still picture him as a glorious silverback gorilla, with hand held pensively under the chin.
Rex Feral
Prophet
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2013
- Messages
- 1,300
Huh? Wasn't he an old kung fu master?
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
For the first vote B1
A for the second... Liam Nissan is a secret Japanese member of the illuminati.
A for the second... Liam Nissan is a secret Japanese member of the illuminati.
Jester
Arbiter
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2013
- Messages
- 1,493
Epic, not legend times.
Rex Feral
Prophet
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2013
- Messages
- 1,300
Jester
Arbiter
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2013
- Messages
- 1,493
and it was old philosophical silverback prime-fu master.I know, I know
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
“Come on.” Grabbing Maeda’s slender wrist with your one good hand, you urge her to move. It has to be now, while the dead are distracted with each other. “That tree… if we can just get to it…”
“That legend about it leading to the underworld? Why would we want to go there?” Maeda seems fairly reluctant to come along. Understandable, really. You could try to explain it, as best as you can, but there is no time at the moment.
Tugging her along, the only thing you can say is: “Just trust me on this.” A bold claim to make, given that you don’t actually trust yourself at the moment, but you cannot think of anything else to say. You cradle the stump of your hand closer to your chest – blood is beginning to stain the bandages… the stitches must have come undone when you were attacked by that corpse just now. There is no time to fix it… you will just have to hope you have the endurance to get through it.
“I swear, if this gets us killed, I’m going to kill you, Shinoseki…”
The two of you make a run for it, splashing through the murky water. The apparition does not seem to pay you any heed; it is beset on all sides by the ghoulish corpses. As more and more of its enemies join the fray, it lets out a screech of frustration and agony, a buzzing, ear-piercing wail that causes ripples to wash against your ankles. Something responds. The world shivers, resonating with the scream. The temperature plunges, chilling you to the bone. Shadowy figures flicker into existence – more ghosts? – and begin swarming the corpses.
Ignoring the supernatural battle raging about you, you dive towards the closest archway of the tree and cross it, Maeda in tow.
Don’t look back.
A girl’s voice echoes quietly in your mind; your first thought is of the girl who was sitting on the branches of the Juunimon, the girl who had remained heedless of the carnage around her, and –her, don’t leave her behind – you are unable to resist turning back, trying to see if she is still there, swinging her feet and singing her song.
The tree is no longer anywhere to be seen. The ground has melted away from beneath your feet without you noticing, sloughed off like a serpent shedding its skin, along with the ghouls and spirits and the entire hospital. All that remains is a massive spiral stairway, hewn from black rock and polished to a dark shine, stretching vertically beyond the range of the naked eye. Though each of the steps are normal in height, the width of the staircase is such that you could probably fit a single large truck from end to end.
“What is this place?” Maeda asks, her voice echoing off the emptiness.
Before you can say a word, the place answers.
track: abyss
A cacophony of whispers and screams and moans rises, blending together into an anguished symphony of torment.
You stare at the visage gradually coming into shape overhead.
A wriggling sea of pale faces and limbs, drained of all colour, writhes at the peak of the stairway. A million tortured souls cry out in an agony tinged with both hatred and desire for the warmth of the living. The twisting, squirming surface distorts and bulges outwards in places, rising and falling… almost as if there were gigantic worms burrowing just underneath the bodies, just out of sight.
You get a faint sensation of falling upwards, as if drawn towards the dead sea – it takes you a second later to realize that the stairway is sinking into this abyss that floats over your head. Or perhaps it is rising. Are you the right way up, or the wrong way around? You find yourself unable to tear your eyes away.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter anymore.
“—i! –ki… Shinoseki!”
You find Maeda’s hands firmly clasped on both sides of your face. She is screaming at you.
“Snap out of it! We need to run! Now!”
But where? You are about to ask that, when she speeds down the stairs – now she is the one dragging you along behind her. You stumble for a while before you find the correct pace, one that matches hers. The both of you fly downwards hand-in-hand, racing away from the encroaching abyss.
There is something nostalgic about this. Somehow.
track: worldend
“Look, there’s a light at the bottom of the stairs!” Maeda shouts out excitedly, pointing at the white glow far below, bathing the end of the black stairway in a brilliant pool of light. “Hurry up!”
It’ll be okay.
Your head begins to spin.
It’s the wound. You are bleeding out. The constant exertion has not helped. Your feet turn sluggish. In a moment of weakness, you take a step too fast, too hurriedly. You trip and fall.
“Shinoseki!”
Instinctively, Maeda moves to support you, but the unexpected force of your tumble causes her to lose her balance too. Even so, she refuses to let go of your hand. Cradling you, she teeters over the steps and falls forward, the both of you tumbling down several flights of stairs.
-snap-
You hear it. The sound of her ankle fracturing. It manages to jolt you back into alertness, your sleepiness temporarily chased away. “M-Maeda-san, I’m so sorry!” Looking at the swollen, badly distended ankle, you realize that there is no time to fix it or make it more comfortable.
“You better be, losing your concentration like that. You owe me one for this. We are supposed to make it out together, alright?” She grits her teeth, refusing to let out any shout of pain. Blood streams down the side of her head… she must have hit it on the steps while she fell. Maeda blinks weakly. She seems disoriented – her attempt at standing up works for half a second before she almost falls over. “S-Strange…” she mutters. It’s probably a concussion, you think, but you say nothing. There’s no need to get her worried.
You decide that helping her limp on one leg would be too slow. It would be faster to do this. You squat down in front of her, offering your back. Hesitating only for a while, she throws herself around your neck and clings on tightly like a baby monkey. “Glad to know you can be a gentleman when the time calls for it,” she remarks. You raise your hand and grab one of her arms to make sure she is secure. Taking a few deep breaths, you stand up shakily, trying to muster up enough strength to make it to the end.
You begin running down the stairs again, Maeda holding on to your back while calling out words of encouragement.
You run, until you lose track of all time. With every step you take, the white glow seems to dim, and the wailing of the dead becomes louder. You can sense that you are gradually drawing closer to the foot of the spiral stairway, but your heart is pounding madly in your chest from your effort, your legs are beginning to refuse your orders, and there seems to be not enough air in the entire world to fill your burning lungs. Behind you, Maeda has long become silent – she seems to have fallen unconscious.
Your knees buckle. You stagger, unable to bear Maeda’s weight on your back any longer, and come to a halt, just a few dozen paces away from the white light. The downwards incline of the stairs has flattened out, and your destination now lies in front of you rather than below.
Just a bit more.
Maeda stirs, and she finally speaks up again, her voice quavering and weak. “That’s enough.”
“What’s enough? It’s… it’s just a few more steps. Hold on… just a bit longer…” you say weakly. Gritting your teeth, you get back to your feet with a yell. You manage to only move forward one more step before you collapse to your knees again, weighed down by Maeda. Your clothes are entirely soaked with blood – if you looked back, you had no doubt you would see a long trail of red leading all the way up what is left of the stairs, into the abyss that is even now bearing down upon you… the pressure of its existence is now almost tangible, a dark, suffocating mass that you can sense is dreadfully eager to swallow you up. Behind and above you, the stairway has almost completely vanished into the sea of the dead.
“Shinoseki, that’s enough!” Her embrace loosens – she is letting go of you. You tighten your grip on her arm. What is she doing? Is she giving up, so close to the goal? She finds enough strength in herself to shout in your ear petulantly. “You can’t make it there dragging me along. Look, I can get there myself if I crawl, so just let me go! I don’t need you to help me out anymore!”
***
--:--
A. She’s right. The two of you, moving separately, might be able to make it. It's the only logical choice to make, the only one where one or both of you have a chance to survive. You let Maeda go and stagger towards the light yourself.
B. You desperately try again to get to your feet and move forward. She's lying. She won't make it by herself, and she knows it. Surely you must have enough strength left to escape together with her, no matter what your body is telling you.
C. You let Maeda go. Then, you push her towards the light, with whatever left you can muster up. You are bleeding out anyway. As long as she makes it… As long as you can ensure that she manages to escape... then that'll be just fine.
“That legend about it leading to the underworld? Why would we want to go there?” Maeda seems fairly reluctant to come along. Understandable, really. You could try to explain it, as best as you can, but there is no time at the moment.
Tugging her along, the only thing you can say is: “Just trust me on this.” A bold claim to make, given that you don’t actually trust yourself at the moment, but you cannot think of anything else to say. You cradle the stump of your hand closer to your chest – blood is beginning to stain the bandages… the stitches must have come undone when you were attacked by that corpse just now. There is no time to fix it… you will just have to hope you have the endurance to get through it.
“I swear, if this gets us killed, I’m going to kill you, Shinoseki…”
The two of you make a run for it, splashing through the murky water. The apparition does not seem to pay you any heed; it is beset on all sides by the ghoulish corpses. As more and more of its enemies join the fray, it lets out a screech of frustration and agony, a buzzing, ear-piercing wail that causes ripples to wash against your ankles. Something responds. The world shivers, resonating with the scream. The temperature plunges, chilling you to the bone. Shadowy figures flicker into existence – more ghosts? – and begin swarming the corpses.
Ignoring the supernatural battle raging about you, you dive towards the closest archway of the tree and cross it, Maeda in tow.
Don’t look back.
A girl’s voice echoes quietly in your mind; your first thought is of the girl who was sitting on the branches of the Juunimon, the girl who had remained heedless of the carnage around her, and –her, don’t leave her behind – you are unable to resist turning back, trying to see if she is still there, swinging her feet and singing her song.
The tree is no longer anywhere to be seen. The ground has melted away from beneath your feet without you noticing, sloughed off like a serpent shedding its skin, along with the ghouls and spirits and the entire hospital. All that remains is a massive spiral stairway, hewn from black rock and polished to a dark shine, stretching vertically beyond the range of the naked eye. Though each of the steps are normal in height, the width of the staircase is such that you could probably fit a single large truck from end to end.
“What is this place?” Maeda asks, her voice echoing off the emptiness.
Before you can say a word, the place answers.
track: abyss
A cacophony of whispers and screams and moans rises, blending together into an anguished symphony of torment.
You stare at the visage gradually coming into shape overhead.
A wriggling sea of pale faces and limbs, drained of all colour, writhes at the peak of the stairway. A million tortured souls cry out in an agony tinged with both hatred and desire for the warmth of the living. The twisting, squirming surface distorts and bulges outwards in places, rising and falling… almost as if there were gigantic worms burrowing just underneath the bodies, just out of sight.
You get a faint sensation of falling upwards, as if drawn towards the dead sea – it takes you a second later to realize that the stairway is sinking into this abyss that floats over your head. Or perhaps it is rising. Are you the right way up, or the wrong way around? You find yourself unable to tear your eyes away.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter anymore.
“—i! –ki… Shinoseki!”
You find Maeda’s hands firmly clasped on both sides of your face. She is screaming at you.
“Snap out of it! We need to run! Now!”
But where? You are about to ask that, when she speeds down the stairs – now she is the one dragging you along behind her. You stumble for a while before you find the correct pace, one that matches hers. The both of you fly downwards hand-in-hand, racing away from the encroaching abyss.
There is something nostalgic about this. Somehow.
track: worldend
“Look, there’s a light at the bottom of the stairs!” Maeda shouts out excitedly, pointing at the white glow far below, bathing the end of the black stairway in a brilliant pool of light. “Hurry up!”
It’ll be okay.
Your head begins to spin.
It’s the wound. You are bleeding out. The constant exertion has not helped. Your feet turn sluggish. In a moment of weakness, you take a step too fast, too hurriedly. You trip and fall.
“Shinoseki!”
Instinctively, Maeda moves to support you, but the unexpected force of your tumble causes her to lose her balance too. Even so, she refuses to let go of your hand. Cradling you, she teeters over the steps and falls forward, the both of you tumbling down several flights of stairs.
-snap-
You hear it. The sound of her ankle fracturing. It manages to jolt you back into alertness, your sleepiness temporarily chased away. “M-Maeda-san, I’m so sorry!” Looking at the swollen, badly distended ankle, you realize that there is no time to fix it or make it more comfortable.
“You better be, losing your concentration like that. You owe me one for this. We are supposed to make it out together, alright?” She grits her teeth, refusing to let out any shout of pain. Blood streams down the side of her head… she must have hit it on the steps while she fell. Maeda blinks weakly. She seems disoriented – her attempt at standing up works for half a second before she almost falls over. “S-Strange…” she mutters. It’s probably a concussion, you think, but you say nothing. There’s no need to get her worried.
You decide that helping her limp on one leg would be too slow. It would be faster to do this. You squat down in front of her, offering your back. Hesitating only for a while, she throws herself around your neck and clings on tightly like a baby monkey. “Glad to know you can be a gentleman when the time calls for it,” she remarks. You raise your hand and grab one of her arms to make sure she is secure. Taking a few deep breaths, you stand up shakily, trying to muster up enough strength to make it to the end.
You begin running down the stairs again, Maeda holding on to your back while calling out words of encouragement.
You run, until you lose track of all time. With every step you take, the white glow seems to dim, and the wailing of the dead becomes louder. You can sense that you are gradually drawing closer to the foot of the spiral stairway, but your heart is pounding madly in your chest from your effort, your legs are beginning to refuse your orders, and there seems to be not enough air in the entire world to fill your burning lungs. Behind you, Maeda has long become silent – she seems to have fallen unconscious.
Your knees buckle. You stagger, unable to bear Maeda’s weight on your back any longer, and come to a halt, just a few dozen paces away from the white light. The downwards incline of the stairs has flattened out, and your destination now lies in front of you rather than below.
Just a bit more.
Maeda stirs, and she finally speaks up again, her voice quavering and weak. “That’s enough.”
“What’s enough? It’s… it’s just a few more steps. Hold on… just a bit longer…” you say weakly. Gritting your teeth, you get back to your feet with a yell. You manage to only move forward one more step before you collapse to your knees again, weighed down by Maeda. Your clothes are entirely soaked with blood – if you looked back, you had no doubt you would see a long trail of red leading all the way up what is left of the stairs, into the abyss that is even now bearing down upon you… the pressure of its existence is now almost tangible, a dark, suffocating mass that you can sense is dreadfully eager to swallow you up. Behind and above you, the stairway has almost completely vanished into the sea of the dead.
“Shinoseki, that’s enough!” Her embrace loosens – she is letting go of you. You tighten your grip on her arm. What is she doing? Is she giving up, so close to the goal? She finds enough strength in herself to shout in your ear petulantly. “You can’t make it there dragging me along. Look, I can get there myself if I crawl, so just let me go! I don’t need you to help me out anymore!”
***
--:--
A. She’s right. The two of you, moving separately, might be able to make it. It's the only logical choice to make, the only one where one or both of you have a chance to survive. You let Maeda go and stagger towards the light yourself.
B. You desperately try again to get to your feet and move forward. She's lying. She won't make it by herself, and she knows it. Surely you must have enough strength left to escape together with her, no matter what your body is telling you.
C. You let Maeda go. Then, you push her towards the light, with whatever left you can muster up. You are bleeding out anyway. As long as she makes it… As long as you can ensure that she manages to escape... then that'll be just fine.
Last edited:
C
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