The Ouroboros Trap

(Live: 3s)[Vague images flash before your eyes. They are nothing more than glimpses though, and vanish like gossamer threads when you try to focus upon them. You have a vague impression of passing through endless corridors. Of an endless amount of rooms, some empty, some filled with unknowable objects. You feel that you were faced with a series of choices. But these are only vague, fleeting impulses, nothing more than a shadow caught out of the corner of your eye. Truly, you know nothing. Your world is an inescapable blackness you can't see out of. You can't, until you do.] (Live: 15s)[Waking up, you blink a couple times in the bright white of the room, briefly overwhelmed by how seeringly bright it is. As your eyes slowly adjust, you take stock of the mysterious room you find yourself in, with no memory of how you got there. You're seated at a table with a mirror across from you, with its back faced towards you. As you look around the rest of the room, you realize that the walls are featureless, with not even a door or window present. In fact, there doesn't even seem to be a source for the light that invades every crevice, every corner of the room. It is just simply bright. Strangely, you also feel like that you've lost something very important, almost like it's been taken away from you, whatever "it" is. Taking all of this in, you decide to... [[Look at the mirror]]. [[Break the mirror]]. [[Search the room for clues]]. [[Go back to sleep]].]

You turn the mirror around and look at it. You see what you saw. You take the saw. What do you do with it? [[Saw the table|Saw Table]]. [[Saw the wall|Saw Wall]].

You decide that a suspicious-looking mirror in an even more suspicious room surely can't be a good thing, so you smash it with your fist. Good job. Now the mirror is as bloody and busted as your hand. As you cradle your limp hand, you wish that you had thought of wrapping your shirt around it to protect it from the glass. Or even better, that you smashed it with your shoe instead. Lamenting your poor decision, you decide to walk around the room to give you something to think about other than your hand. You soon notice that there is a microscopic seam in one of the walls, so you press it. The seam rapidly expands to the size of a door, and you [[step through into the hallway|Wounded Hallway]].

You decide that it'd probably be best for you to investigate your surroundings to try to get a sense of where you are. You get off the chair and check out the table, searching for any markings. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any, not even a manufacturer's logo. You search the chair with the same thoroughness, but to no avail. You decide to leave the mirror be, as it gives you a strange vibe. Instead, you wander around the room, looking at the walls. Maybe there is something there you can't see... Yes! Right there, in front of you! You can see it, a microscopic seam that goes from floor to ceiling, impossible to see from where you were sitting. Without thinking you press your hand to it. Maybe it can lead to your escape. You wait a few seconds, anticipation building. Without warning -voosh!- the seam rapidly expands to the size of a door. You step through it without hesitation [[into the hallway|Hallway]].

You decide to go back to sleep, since there doesn't seem to be any way out of the room, so why even bother trying? Plus, you can feel a pounding headache coming. Maybe if you go back to sleep it will go away. So you lay your head back down on your arms on the table, and you quickly fall asleep. Unfortunately, since you're asleep, you don't notice that the temperature of the room is slowly rising. Soon you *pop* like a popcorn kernel, none the wiser to your grisly fate. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You enter the hallway, and feel overcome by a coolness. Who knew it was so hot in there? You look down at your feet, and see a picture frame on the ground. You pick it up with your one good hand, and look at it. It's partly smeared in blood, but you can still make out that it's a picture of a snake eating its own tail. Intrigued, you hang it back on the wall, and wonder what it means. Is it a clue to where you are? You turn back around to face the hallway, and only now do you realize the room were in is at the end of a hallway. A long hallway. A very long hallway, in fact. Without much of a choice for where else to go, you [[head down the hallway|Long Hallway]].

You leave the room and enter a hallway. There doesn't seem to be any way back into the room. It's only once you're out of the room that you notice how hot it was getting in there. On the floor you notice there's a picture frame. Surprised, you pick it up, hoping it might give you a clue to where you are. You're disappointed to learn that the picture is doesn't give you any clue as to where you are. Oddly, it's a drawing of a snake eating its own tail. Confused, you notice that there's a hook on the wall where the picture must've fallen off of. You place the picture back on the wall, and take a closer look around. The walls of the hallway are just as blank and bright as the room was. To your left and right the hallway stretches into eternity, with neither way seemingly any different from the other. Which way do you go? [[Left|Left Hallway]]. [[Right|Right Hallway]].

You saw the table in half. Two halves make a whole. You drop the saw and climb through the hole [[into the hallway|Hallway]].

You get up from the table and go to the wall. If there isn't an exit, then you're going to make one. You notice that it seems to be getting very hot in the room as well. You put the saw to the wall and start sawing it. Unfortunately, almost as soon as you start, the saw shatters like glass. Surprised, you turn around to face the mirror and get another saw, only to see that the mirror has shattered as well. Good job. Now you're stuck in a swelteringly hot room with no escape. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You approach a double set of hallways, one next to the other. You feel a strange urge possessing you, telling you to go to the right. However, should you really listen to that? After all, you're in a strange place with no memory of how you got there. Maybe it wouldn't be the smartest thing to listen to that urge. On the other hand though, it sounds awfully tempting... [[Go Left|Left Way]]. [[Go Right|Right Way]].

You walk for what feels like miles, until you reach the end. All the way there you don't see a single thing. Only a single straight line that seems like it goes towards infinity. But now you're at the end of infinity. To the left is a door, to the right is a door, and straight ahead of you is a door. Above each is a light bulb. You look closer, and realize each door also has something written on it. The left door reads: Behind me is the key to the past. The middle door reads: Open me to reveal the present. The right door reads: I am the future. Open me only when the three lights have been revealed. You look around for any light switches, but there doesn't seem to be any. What do you do? [[Open the left door|Left Door]]. [[Open the middle door|Middle Door]]. [[Open the right door|Right Door]].

(Live: 2s)[So sos sos os] Hidden links that hide unless you're hovering over them: <span class="hides">[[A hidden link]]</span> */ $('.hides') .addClass('hidden') .on('mouseenter', function () { $(this).removeClass('hidden'); }) .on('mouseleave', function () { $(this).addClass('hidden'); }); /* :: Start (set: $choices to (array: "First", "Second", "Third")) Click options to cycle: [(display: "Cycling")]<choice| [[Submit|Results]] :: Cycling { (link: (text: $choices's 1st) )[ (set: $choices to (rotated: -1, ...$choices)) (replace: ?choice)[(display: "Cycling")] ] } :: Results Selected choice: (print: $choices's 1st) EXTRA STUFF OOOOOHHHHHH

[[The world ended.]] :: First Passage (display: "Timer") [[Second Passage]] :: Timer { (live: 1s)[ (if: $timer is 0)[ (stop:) (goto: "World End") ] (else: )[ (set: $timer to it - 1) The world will end in $timer seconds ] ] } :: Second Passage (display: "Timer") [[First Passage]] :: Startup[startup] (set: $timer to 10)

Hesitantly you open the left door. Inside there is nothing but a vast bank of levers, buttons, switches, and dials, with an occasional screen to break it up. On the screens are varying... things. They're all lines, graphs, charts, numbers, and other things that don't make much sense to you. You approach the machine, trying to figure out what it is, or see if it can somehow help you escape. What do you do? [[Turn up a dial|Dial]]. [[Pull a lever|Lever]]. [[Flip a switch|Switch]].

You go for the middle door, but it seems locked, no matter how much you try to turn the handle. You give up and [[try another door|Right Hallway]].

You try to enter the right door, only to realize that there isn't a handle for you to open it. You try pushing it, but it won't budge. You [[try another door|Right Hallway]].

You reach for a dial, and crank it up to its max. Somewhere both faraway and nearby you hear a faint hissing, followed by a boiling. Soon after you hear a sickening *pop*. You can almost swear that you heard a splatter as well. Shaking yourself off, you decide to try something else. Do you... [[Do something else with the machine|Left Door]]? Or, do you [[return to the hallway|New Hallway]]?

You pull the lever, and at first nothing seems to happen. Then off in the near distance you hear the sound of breaking glass followed by silence. Unsure of what you did, you decide to move onto something else. Do you... [[Try something else on the machine|Left Door]]? Or, do you [[return to the hallway|New Hallway]]?

You flip the switch down. You wait a few moments, but nothing seems to happen, so you flip it up. Again, a few moments pass, yet nothing happens. Annoyed, you flip it a half-dozen times before you notice that one of the screens seems to flip every time you hit the switch. However, you don't see any clear sign of what that actually means, so you decide to leave it be and do something else. Do you... [[Try something else with the machine|Left Door]]? Or, do you [[return to the hallway|New Hallway]]?

As you leave the left room, the door closes quickly behind you and you hear a distinct clicking sound. The door has locked. Now the light bulb above the right door is flashing a bright yellow. What do you do now? [[Try the middle door again|New Middle]]. [[Try the right door again|New Right]].

You go to the middle door, and it now it opens for you. You walk through it, and come upon three doors numbered 1, 2, and 3. You're taken aback though, because aside for the numbers, the hallway you've just entered looks identical to the one you just left, even down to the yellow flashing light. You look down, and at your feet you see a note. You pick it up and read it. It says "There is only one exit, and it's not the one you came through. Forward is the only option." You turn around and realize that the door you walked through is no longer there. Confused and annoyed, you decide which door you want to try first... [[Door 1]]. [[Door 2]]. [[Door 3]].

You try the right door again, which now somehow has a handle, but it still won't budge. [[You go to the middle door|New Middle]].

You open Door 1, only to be greeted by a brick wall. Annoyed, you [[try one of the other two|New Middle]].

You open and walk through Door 2, which leads to yet another identical hallway. However, the doors here have A, B, and C written on them, and now the right light has stopped flashing, but now the left is on, glowing a normal light bulb color... Whatever that is. Now where do you go? [[Door A]]. [[Door B]]. [[Door C]].

You walk through Door 3, and enter an identical hallway to the last one. Only in this hallway the doors have 1/3, 5/4, and 9/38 on them, and now it's the middle door that's flashing yellow, not the right one. Which door do you choose? [[Door 1/3]]. [[Door 5/4]]. [[Door 9/38]].

You go through Door A, and come again into yet another identical hallway. This time, the doors have A.1, 2.C, and B.1 on them. Now the middle light is glowing bright white, with the right light glowing red. Now where do you go? [[Door A.1]]. [[Door 2.C|New Middle]]. [[Door B.1]].

You open Door B, and to your surprise, there aren't three doors to pick from, only one. The right one. None of the light bulbs are glowing. Regardless, you [[enter the right door| Newest Right Door]].

You go to open Door C, but as you turn the handle, it feels as though there is something on the other side also grabbing it. You try to push the door open, but there feels like there's something pushing against you as you try it. Confused and somewhat frightened at the thought that there might be someone or something else trapped with you, you [[try another door|Door 2]].

You go to open Door 1/3, but as you turn the handle, it feels as though there is something on the other side also grabbing it. You try to push the door open, but there feels like there's something pushing against you as you try it. Confused and somewhat frightened at the thought that there might be someone or something else trapped with you, you [[try another door|Door 3]].

You open Door 5/4 and are greeted yet again by three doors, this time labelled with pictures of a fish, a dove, and a... What you think is an anteater. All three of the light bulbs seem to have exploded. What door do you choose? [[Fish Door]]. [[Dove Door]]. [[Anteater Door]].

You go through Door 9/38, and to your surprise you end up in another long hallway. You begin to walk down it eventually coming to a [[left turn| Left Turn 1]].

You open Door A.1, and not surprisingly are greeted by three more doros to pick from. This time, they are labelled as !, ?, and ;. Each light bulb above them alternately glow a brilliant blue in a pattern unrecognizable to you. Which way do you go? [[!]]. [[?]]. [[;]].

You open Door B.1 and immediately walk through it, confident you'll come to another series of doors. Unfortunately you shouldn't have been so cocky, as you plummet 500,000 feet to the bottom of the pit behind Door B.1. (Live: 13s)[*Splat!*] (Live: 15s)[Hmm, that really should've been taken care of by now. Now, why in the world Derek add so many other corridors, but not fix this one? Oh well, call him in the morning I suppose.] [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You take the left, and almost immediately come to another left turn. So you [[take the left turn|Left Turn 2]].

You go down the left hallway, and soon come upon a left turn. You decide to [[take the left turn|Left Turn 3]].

You take yet another left turn, and after a short while, end up at a left turn. So you [[take the left turn| Left Turn 4]].

You enter the Fish Door, and fall into a big, warm pool. Normally on any other day this would be a nuisance, but on this day, it feels nice and relaxing. Not seeing any reason not to, you settle into it, and close your eyes... (Live: 6s)[Wait, did something brush your foot? Yes, yes! Something definitely brushed your foot! You look down, and see a glimmer of scales. All around you in fact are glimmering, scaly things. Suddenly, you feel something bite down on one of your toes. As it turns out, it wasn't any old fish on the door, but that of a piranha. You've stumbled into a pool full of piranha. Unfortunately, this revelation comes too late for you, as you are devoured alive by the piranhas.] (Live: 8s)[[[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.]

You open the Dove Door, and upon entering the room you hear angelic music. It sounds so light, so fluffy, like if you could see it, it would be a cloud. One of those huge, white, bulbous clouds that look like, if you could touch it, it would feel like the softest thing you've ever touched. The music elates you, makes you feel at peace with yourself and the world around you. As you close your eyes you're taken away by the lyrical bliss, and it feels as though you're floating away. Up, up, up and away! But wait. You open your eyes and look down. You are floating away! You look around you, but there's nothing you can do to stop yourself, or otherwise slow your ascent. As you float closer to the ceiling, you begin to relax. After all, you're not going that fast to the ceiling, so it's not like you'll splatter up there or anything. And surely there must be a ladder or rope or something to be able to get you down. And even if there isn't, who cares? You could spend the rest of your life on the ceiling if it meant that you could listen to the angelic melody that continues to play. And that's exactly what happens. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You open the Anteater Door, and to your surprise, there aren't three doors to pick from, only one. The right one. All three of the light bulbs are glowing. You [[enter the right door| Newest Right Door]].

You enter the door hesitantly, unsure of what to expect. After everything you've been through, you're afraid of what else you'll face. Yet, whatever it was you were expecting to happen, this wasn't it. All that you can see around you is nothing. It's total blackness in the room, in stark contrast to every other room and hallway you've seen before. But before you can take a moment to appreciate the significance of this, a bright light shines down in front of you from seemingly nowhere. As your eyes adjust, you can see that there is a pedestal in front of you. And on that pedestal is a big red button, with something written on it. You approach the button cautiously. On it says "FREEDOM" in bold letters. Without a second thought you rush toward the button and [[press it|Convergence]].

(Live: 3s)[You're transported somewhere else. You don't know where, but you feel that it's far away from where you just were. You begin to walk in a direction, the only direction you can go in fact, but your head is in a daze. Where was it that were just from? You feel like you you've escaped, but escaped from what? You remember that you were in a room, and... There was a big red button... No, wait... There was a talking turtle that showed you the way, and... That wasn't it either, was it?] (Live: 23s)[You keep walking down the hall, wherever it leads. Or rather, it's more stumbling than actual walking. You use the wall as a brace, as something to lean on as you continue down the hall.] (Live: 35s)[No, it wasn't a talking turtle, it was an emotional cactus! ... An emotional cactus? Surely that can't be it...] (Live: 65s)[[[*Wait*|Divergence]]] (Live: 42s)[As you slide against the wall, you accidently knock something off it. You don't bother to see what it was though, because there's an open door right next to it. Maybe if you go in there and lay your head down a moment, you might be able to figure out what's going on. [[You decide to enter the room|Start]].]

*There is a faint spark in the back of your mind.* *You stop.* "I've been here before. This has happened before. This has all happened before." *You look around you. You're still in the same hallway, about to enter the room where you'll forget everything, and it will start again.* . *The spark turns into a fire.* "No. Not again." *You don't know how you know this. You just do. So you don't enter the room. You refuse. Instead, you walk away. Nothing happens. The further you walk away, the more memories come rushing back to your mind.* *[[The fire rages.]]*

You decide to ignore your urge and go left instead. You go along the hallway for a time until you reach a dead end. You turn around to go back, only to see that the hallway has closed itself off behind you. Now you're trapped in basically a big box. Annoyed, you decide that you might as well take a load off, and sit down on the floor. Oddly, once you sit down, you can feel a slight vibration in the floor. Soon you begin to feel the room spin. Not in your head, but actually, physically spin. It's slow at first, but rapidly picks up speed. If you had been standing up before, you definitely wouldn't have been by now. It's going so fast your vision begins to blur, with blackness slowly encompassing the periphery of your vision. But, just as soon as it started, it stops. Hesitantly you wobbly get to your feet, with your legs feeling like spaghetti. However, as soon as you're on your feet you're off them again. The room has started to rotate now, so that the floor is the right wall, the right wall is the ceiling, and so forth. Again, this starts slowly, but doesn't take long to gain its speed once more. And during this time you're being bounced around and over every wall, corner, ceiling, and everything else in between. You're being tossed around so much it's like you're in a tumble dryer set to above max speed. It feels like it'll never stop, that you'll be trapped forever in the infinite tumble. It takes you awhile for it hit you, but you eventually realize that it's ended. It could've lasted seconds, or it could've lasted hours. You don't know and don't particularly care. All that matter to you is that it's over, that everything is still. That's what your world becomes: [[stillness|Choices]].

As you follow the urge down the hallway, you feel it growing stronger and stronger. It's overwhelming, overtaking your every sense. You break into a run without realizing it. You must find the source of the urge, right now, right away. You feel its tug at every corner you take, every straightaway you go down. Eventually you reach a door, and open it. Whatever the source of the urge is, you know it's behind the door. You step beyond the door, and are welcomed by a chair. And on that chair is... a turtle. You look around you, to see if there is something else. Something that could explain that urge you felt before, which seems to have vanished as soon as you entered the room. "No, there isn't anything else. I'm quite exactly what you were looking for. I am your urge." [[Urge]]?

(this should technically be on the linked page) Selected choice: (print: $choices's 1st)

Too bad it doesn't last long. Just as you feel that you're regaining your senses, you begin to move again. It's not nearly as aggressive however, and in fact it feels as though the whole room is externally moving, not internally shifting like it was before. Suddenly a square hole opens up in the center of the floor. You crawl over to it, and see a variety of rooms and hallways passing by beneath you. It seems like you're only just above the rooms, like you're in the ceiling. At any rate, if you were to jump out of your travelling box to one of the rooms or hallways below, you wouldn't injure yourself... (Live: 10s)[So, do you jump [[now|Now1]]?] (Live: 20s)[Or [[now|Now2]]?] (Live: 15s)[Or [[now|Now3]]?] (Live: 18s) [[[Now|Now4]]?] (Live: 25s)[What about [[Now|Now5]]?] (Live: 30s)[Or, do you decide to [[stay in the room|Stay]]?]

:: Start [[Start Timer|First Passage]] :: World End The world ended. :: First Passage (display: "Timer") [[Second Passage]] :: Timer { (live: 1s)[ (if: $timer is 0)[ (stop:) (goto: "World End") ] (else: )[ (set: $timer to it - 1) The world will end in $timer seconds ] ] } :: Second Passage (display: "Timer") [[First Passage]] :: Startup[startup] (set: $timer to 10)

You land in a hallway with a *thud*, barely staying on two feet. You take a moment to readjust yourself, and realize that you recognize that picture on the wall. You're back outside of the room you woke up in! So the question now is, do you [[go left again|Left Hallway]], or do you [[go right this time|Right Hallway]]?

You stumble out of the moving room and land hard on the floor. Luckily you tucked and rolled, so aside for a few bruises, you're fine. You look around you, but don't recognize where you are. Aside, you know, for being in a hallway identical to the rest. You shrug, and feel an urge that the best course is to [[go forward|Right Way]].

You gracefully leap out of the room and land smack dab in the middle of a hallway. You don't particularly recognize it compared to where you were before, so you must be somewhere new, right? Soon you start walking, and quickly come to a [[left turn| Left Turn 1]].

You land with a *plomp* on your butt from the room. It hurts, but you think you'll live. You look around you and see that you're confronted by three doors. They each have a picture on them, a fish, a dove, and what is clearly an anteater. Probably. Probably and anteater. For some reason all three of the doors have exploded light bulbs above them. What door do you open? [[Anteater Door]]. [[Fish Door]]. [[Dove Door]].

You decide to stay in the box until it stops moving. After all, you don't want to risk hurting yourself in the fall. And surely it has to stop moving eventually, right? You soon find out, as the square in the floor vanishes, and you feel the room come to a stop. As you breathe a sigh of relief, glad that you're back on terra firma, you feel like you're slowly running out of room. You look around, and realize that the room is shrinking! You try to stand up and brace yourself against the walls to stop them closing in on you, but it's too late. You're quickly squished to the size of a sugar cube. A red, meaty, drippy sugar cube. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

"Yes. I am that which drew you forward. It is I that brought you here." [[Here]]? [[I]]?

"Of course, when I say 'here,' I only mean to this room. I did not bring you here. I'm not sure how I arrived here either. I just am, such as you just are." [[Are]]?

"I am just as removed from my natural presence as you are. I can see all of the us-es, all of the 'ares' and 'weres' and 'will bes' and 'might bes.' [[Us-es]]?

"There are many names for what I am. I exist what is beyond. The here and now is just the same as the then and was as then will and is going to be." [[Beyond]]?

"Yes. As you might have gathered, I am not an ordinary turtle. It is merely an aspect of myself, of an infinite multitude. I am time made manifest and then torn asunder. I can see my personal concurrences simultaneous to my pasts to my futures. And I can also see your personal concurrences. *All* of them. Would you like to as well?" [[Yes]].

The turtle closes its eyes for a moment. You wait. Then- Brightness. Seering, unrepenting brightness. Brighter than the hallways and rooms you were in. Brighter than a collapsing star. It's all-encompassing, penetrating deep inside you. You feel it reach the very core of your being, and then rip you apart piece by piece, molecule by molecule, atom by atom. If it were possible to hurt so much that you couldn't feel it, then this would be it. If it were possible. You can feel and see every aspect of your being spread out amongst the near infinitude of yourselfs, and you can see the truth. Your situations. Your realities. Your truths. The truth. It is all laid out plain for you to see and experience each time it happens. It is too much. [[Stop]].

"Messy. Very messy. Too much repetition made in a cheap and nasty way. I see that the knowing is too much for you. Would you like me to take it away?" The knowledge is too much. You know everything that will happen, or has happened, or is about to happen, to all of yourselves, including yourself. So, when you make your request, it is with the damned knowing of what comes next. [[Yes|Yes2]].

"Then so be it. Touch my shell, and the pain will stop. You shall be free of it." You rise, and approach the turtle. You reach out to touch the shell, and you can almost see the other yous at the same time, can almost feel them. You close your eyes as you touch the shell. All at once, you join your other selves. You join the turtle. You stop being. You just are. Another you on the shell on the turtle's back, yet one more aspect added to the collection of infinity. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

"Outside of conceptual space, yet still within what you arrogantly consider the universe. I existed and exist in the spaces between. The glue that binds all together." [[Existed]]?

"Yes. As you might have gathered, I am not an ordinary turtle. It is merely an aspect of myself, of an infinite multitude. I am time made manifest and then torn asunder. The universe is mine to play in, my personal backyard. It exists as a singular moment to me, from birth to death. Would you like to see it?" [[Yes|Yes3]].

The turtle nods. You wait. Then- Blackness. A total blackness that embraces everything. The bright white of the room is gone. The bright light of the sun is gone. The gleaming shimmer of the world is gone. There is nothing. Then suddenly there is. Everything happens at once. The explosion. The expansion. The collision. It all occurs in and around you. You go closer and can see the strings that make up the atoms that make up molecules that make up nebulae that make up stars that act as the forges of the universe. The asteroids dance and collide all around one another, coalescing into one unified lump that form the first planets. You pull away, and can see the general rise of life, the evolution from single-celled organisms to multicellular life. You can see the first tentative bridges forming in the brains in the earliest life forms to gain sentience. You pull further away, and can see the general downward trend toward entropy that the Everything falls to. Planets crumble to dust. Stars collapse into black holes and greedily swallow everything near them, becoming the great meat grinders of the universe. Galaxies grow so distant from each other that their light never reach one another. Yet further back, and you can see the last tendrils of reality come undone. And in the great dissipating you can see how all of space, all of time, is merely an interwoven fabric, strands that criss-cross each other into infinity, creating an interlocking gordian knot that has no end and no start. It merely exists. It burns. All of it burns you. [[Stop|Stop2]].

"That is only part of what I experience. You still only encountered it all in a singular, linear fashion. I see so much more. What is one to you is multiple to me. What is multiple to you is infinite to me. What burns you freezes me. I can make the burning stop, if you wish." It doesn't stop. The burning. It sears in the front of your mind, prickling the back of your eyes. You can still see the infinite sparkling multitude of the Everything in your mind, in its scintillating brilliance, captured but for a moment like a snow globe, stuck in a single moment. A single flash of the All captured at once. But more than that, you saw a brief glimpse of something else. Of where the embers of all of it returns to. Forever falling to the bottom of the great oaks that compose them, compose everything. Endless. Forever. It's turtles all the way down. [[Yes|Yes4]].

"Then so be it. Touch my shell, and all shall be removed. What burns you will no longer burn. Your freedom will return." You go to the turtle, tears welling in your eyes. Only, they don't bring the sweet relief of coolness, but rather something else. They bring only hotness, so hot that feels like it blisters your skin. The pain only brings more tears, which only brings more pain. You reach out for the shell, and consider everything that you know. All of the impossible imperceptible actions and consequences that could never have been predicted to happen yet always has happened. You touch the shell, and a coolness overcomes you. The pain, the anxiety, the fear, it all washes away from you. The knowledge leaves you and returns to the turtle, and you go with it. Yet one more point of light in the dazzling darkness that is the natural state of the universe. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

And so you walk. You walk down the hallway. You walk up the hallway. You walk the side of the hallway. You walk across the hallway. You walk zig zag through the hallway. As you go further, you realize that something isn't right, but you don't know what it is. At least, you don't until you realize your shirt has slowly been riding up you. Or is it down? In either case, you realize you're upside down! As soon as you realize this, you plummet the eight feet to the ground. You don't seriously hurt yourself, but you still feel the pain shoot up through you. As you get reacquainted with the ground, you swear you could've heard a laugh. You look around for someone, but see nothing. You get to your feet, and hear the laugh again, stronger. At least, you think it's laughter. If it is, it sounds like no laugh you've heard before. As you move closer to it, you realize it's coming from behind a wall. You go to the wall and press an ear to it, only to instantly recoil in horror from it. The wall is malleable! You press a hand to it, and the wall pushes away from it, like when you squeeze putty. What do you do? [[Squeeze through it|Squeeze]]. [[Ignore it and keep walking|Keep Going]].

You take a deep breath, a begin to walk through the wall. It's slow going, like walking through putty. The pressure builds up so much on your chest that you start to see stars. You start to panic. You want to gasp for air, but there isn't any to spare. Now the stars in your vision congeal into one aura around your vision. You can barely see out of it. Slowly it grows in and in. You break through to the other side of the wall and begin coughing violently. You slowly try to take in big gulps of air, only to hack it back up in a violent fit. After a few minutes though, you recover, and look to see where you are. Nominally it's the same as the other room, being stark white with no windows and no clear lights. But, there is one big difference. Resting on the floor in front of you is a cactus. For some reason, you feel as though it's been waiting for you, and now that you're here, it's ecstatic. Now what? [[Smash it]]. [[Interact with it]].

You decide to ignore the eerie near-laughter, and continue on your way. You don't get far though, before the laughter turns to what could only be described as crying. It's not outright crying, just a sensation of total sadness, of despondency. Now you start to feel bad. What if you're not the only one here? What if it's someone who needs your help. You look back at the wall, and consider. Do you... [[Go through the wall|Squeeze]]? Or [[keep going|Still Go]]?

No, you decide. You shan't go. Whatever it is on the other side, it can't be good if it's here. Wherever "here" is. So you keep walking down the hallway. You only get a couple of feet though before a wall instantly materializes before you. You turn around, only to see the way you came is also blocked off. Now the crying has turned into something else. You'd might acquaint it with yelling, but it's not quite that nuanced. It's something more basic, more primal. A distillation of anger. It clearly wants you to go through the wall, but it's not exactly inspiring emotions of confidence. Do you [[go through the wall|Squeeze]] that "it" wants you to, or do [[try to go forward|Continue]]?

You pick up the plant, determined to smash it against the wall. If it indeed was the source of the sensations you felt, then surely it'd be better to be done with it. And the source of the sensations it was, for suddenly you feel a white hot anger coming from it. Nonetheless, you raise your hand, and prepare to throw the cactus against the wall. But then you drop it. There's a terrible ringing in your ears, and it's getting worse. You put your hands to your ears to try to block the sound, but they don't help at all. In fact, they make your ears hurt worse. You pull your hands away, and realize your ears are bleeding. You look to the cactus, and you could've sworn that it was looking back at you. Unfortunately, you didn't have time to ponder this, as right at that moment your head popped like a watermelon. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

Hesitantly, you approach the cactus. You feel a bubbling wellspring of emotions surround you. Joy, love, happiness, elation, everything that equates to positive experience. You crouch down, and touch the pot of the cactus. A new rush of emotion hits you like a blast, pushing you back. Reeling over, you experience loneliness, depression, sadness, angst, sorrow, any emotions related to isolation. You realize that the cactus is like a small child, a toddler, and that it desires companionship. It's been alone for ages (which, to a simple plant, could be seconds or millenia), and it wants someone to be with it. To hold onto it in the dark. To be its guardian. It wants you to be that. What do you do? [[Accept]]. [[Refuse]].

You nod your head. Again, a tidal wave of emotions assault you. All pleasant, elatation that it now has a friend to hold it. Quietly, you crouch down next to it, and tenderly pick it up with your one good hand. Soon, you feel your own emotions being caught up in the cactus' own, and soon you feel at peace with it and with yourself. You lay back against a wall and close your eyes, letting the cactus' emotions overcome you, become a part of your own. There are worse ways to spend eternity than with a delighted little plant. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

Slowly, you shake your head. You can't care for the cactus how it wants you to. Now you're assaulted by feelings of hatred, anger, fury. The cactus is lashing out at you, and it hurts. Not physically, but emotionally. You feel sorry for it, but you have to find a way out of the maze, and the cactus would never allow that. Suddenly a giant hole opens up beneath you, and you [[fall through it|Fall]]. The last thing you see is the cactus, and the last thing you feel from it is... Jealousy? No, not quite. More like... Envy?

You fall through the hole and land with a *thud*. Clearly, the cactus didn't much care you wanting to escape. You try to look around you, but all that you can see is nothing. It's total blackness in the room, in stark contrast to every other room and hallway you've seen before. But before you can take a moment to appreciate the significance of this, a bright light shines down in front of you from seemingly nowhere. As your eyes adjust, you can see that there is a pedestal in front of you. And on that pedestal is a big red button, with something written on it. You approach the button cautiously. On it says "FREEDOM" in bold letters. Without a second thought you rush toward the button and [[press it|Convergence2]].

(Live: 3s)[You're transported somewhere else. You don't know where, but you feel that it's far away from where you just were. You begin to walk in a direction, the only direction you can go in fact, but your head is in a daze. Where was it that were just from? You feel like you you've escaped, but escaped from what? You remember that you were in a room, and... There was a big red button... No, wait... There was a talking turtle that showed you the way, and... That wasn't it either, was it?] (Live: 23s)[You keep walking down the hall, wherever it leads. Or rather, it's more stumbling than actual walking. You use the wall as a brace, as something to lean on as you continue down the hall.] (Live: 35s)[No, it wasn't a talking turtle, it was an emotional cactus! ... An emotional cactus? Surely that can't be it...] (Live: 65s)[[[*Wait*|Divergence]]] (Live: 42s)[As you slide against the wall, you trip over your own feet, and go sprawling out. Your left leg goes vertical, your right leg goes left, your good hand touches the ground, and your bad hand knocks something off the wall. You don't bother to see what it was though, because there's an open door right next to it. Maybe if you go in there and lay your head down a moment, you might be able to figure out what's going on. [[You decide to enter the room|Start]].]

*Yes, there was a big red button. And yes, there was a talking turtle. But there was also an emotional cactus, and a moving room, and an endless choice of doors. They all happened to you, but not to you. Other yous. Each as equally valid as the last, each holding equal weight in your mind. But, there isn't just one memory of each event. No, there's more. Many more.* "How long have I been here?" *Anger rises in you. How long have you been in here, in this maze, this labyrinth, this hell, this purgatory?* *The fire rages uncontrollably within you.* *You ball your fist, and punch the wall. It hurts like hell, but that's not what surprises you. What surprises you is that the wall gives way to your fist, buckles on top of itself, and collapses. Beyond, you see a large darkened room. You walk through the shattered wall into the room beyond. You can't make out too much detail, but it looks not unlike a warehouse to you. A large warehouse. An impossibly huge warehouse.* *[[You go further]].*

*You go further into the warehouse, and take it all in. From this distance, you can see the prison you were in. It goes of into the distance, but what's more, you swear that you can see it occasionally rearrange itself. It's not quite as obvert as that though. It's more like a seamless shifting, from one part to part, merging and melding together in some parts, and splitting and breaking apart in others. It's both beautiful and horrible to look at. It's almost like it's alive.* *You turn back around to the path ahead of you. You can see what looks like an office door ahead of you, illuminated by a single dangling light.* "Ominous." *[[You go straight to it]].*

*As you approach the door, you can hear a muffled voice behind it. It sounds vaguely familiar.* *You reach the door, and taped onto it is a sign that simply reads "Narrator".* *[[You open the door and walk in]].*

"You turn the mirror around and look at it." *Click* "-it feels as though there is something on the other side also grabbing it." *Click* "-and soon you feel at peace with it and with yourself." *Click* "Or rather, it's more stumbling than actual walking." *Click* "Who the hell are you?" *The figure in the chair whirls around. Shock and fear crosses his face. He stammers, and can't find the words.* *You look at the assembly he was just working at. There is a tiny wooden desk on wheels with a microphone on it, and beyond that, a vast array of monitors, stacked all the way to the ceiling, stretching out as far as your eye can see.* [["Well?"]]

"I-um-I-er, uh, um, uhh-" "Well? Who the hell are you, and where the hell am I?" "I, uh, I guess you could call me your, uh, your narrator, I suppose." *He smiles sheepishly.* "My *what*?" *Anger rises in you again. You think about punching him.* "Ah, um, well, you see, I'm the one that narrates everything you do. Erm... Everything that you did. That little voice in the background, that one you never really noticed or thought about? I'm it. Hi. I see that you've found your, uh, voice. Umm... Congrats!" "'Congrats?' 'Congrats!' [[Tell me where I am!"]]

"Ah, well, you see, I, uh... I don't know." "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?" "Hey hey hey, easy with the yelling. Please? Look, I don't know where you are, or where I am, or how either of us got here. I just sorta woke up one day, saw the microphone, saw you waking up on the screens, and, well, I just sorta, you know... Went along with it." "Went along with it?" "Well, what else was I supposed to do?! How can I describe it? It's just sorta like, I don't know, a calling, I suppose? A sense of duty? It's what I know I have to do. I'm sorry, but I really don't know more about it. I didn't plan any of this. In fact, I don't even know how you managed to get here. Never before have you gotten here, and now I'm scrambling to find the words to use because I've never had to deal with this before. This is new, and it scares me." *You look him over. He seems legitimately scared and feeble. He's been continually clenching and unclenching his hands. Not in an angry way, but in a nervous, apprehensive way, like he needs something to focus himself or else he'll break down in tears.* [["Okay."]]

"Okay. I believe you." "Really?" "Yes." "Oh, thank you! Thank you so very much!" He gets up from his chair and hugs you. "Thank you so so so much. Thanks you." *He begins to cry a little. You awkwardly pat him on the back a little. He eventually breaks from the embrace, and sits back down.* "So, uh, I suppose that means you'll be staying with me then?" "Excuse me?" "Well, um, seeing as how you're here, and there isn't a way back out of here, and I doubt you want to go back into the maze, I guess that you don't... Um... You don't really have much of a choice now, I guess..." *You look around the room. There really isn't much there. Only the bank of monitors and the desk. But now that you look more closely at it, you see there something other than a microphone on it. There's a button. A big red button.* [["What's that?"]]

*You point to the button. He looks to where you're pointing and gets nervous.* "I, uh, well, I don't... I don't actually know. I've never tried it before." "Why not?" "Because... Because I think that might end 'it.'" *As he says "it" he gestures to the monitors. Your anger begins to rise again.* "You mean that you could've ended it? You could've stopped me whenever you felt like?!" "Well at first I thought about it! Really, I did! Honestly and truly I did. But the longer that time went on, the lonelier I got. And the lonelier I got, the closer I grew attached to you. You... You were the only real person here. The only person... The only person I could consider a friend. Sure, I mean, there's Sheryll the turtle, and Derek the construction guy, but... They never liked me. Never responded to me like you did. Please, believe me when I say that I struggled with the thought. I did. I struggled with it for ages and ages and ages. But as I grew closer to you, the more I realized that I wouldn't know what to do without you. I was afraid to be without my friend." *The more you listen, you grow angrier and sadder and more confused than you were before. You think about what he says, and feel both pity and hatred for him. The man that didn't let you go because he didn't have anyone else.* [[How many?"]]

"I'm- I'm sorry? 'How many?'" "How many 'mes' have there been?" "I, well, umm... I think... I think that you've been here for... For about ten billion, five hundred and twenty one million, one hundred and seventy two thousand, eight hundred and five iterations. Ten billion versions of you, concurrent and past versions of yourself, and you're the only one that's ever made it here." *Tears begin to swell in your eyes. Ten billion. Ten billion versions of you, trapped in the maze, repeating the same steps over and over again, never knowing the true extent of their hell, doomed to die an infinite number of ways. You walk to the desk.* *[[You press the button]].*

"No!" *From out behind you in the infinite warehouse, you can hear the maze collapse in on itself. Crashing, banging, the sound of destruction. You look to the monitors, and see the other versions of yourself look around in fear, until the camera feed cuts out.* "What have you done?" *He's in tears, can't comprehend what you just did.* "I stopped it." *You look behind you. You see a door with a glowing exit sign behind where before there wasn't any.* "What's- What's that?" *He asks this through the tears, still not understanding what's happening. You walk to the door.* "Wait! Please don't leave without me! Please. I don't want to be alone again. Please. Can I come with you?" [["Yes"]]. [["No"]].

"Yes." "Really?" "Yes. I don't forgive you for what you've done, what you didn't do, but I understand." "Thank you." *He gets up off the floor. You take his hand. Together, you walk out the door and into the brilliant sunshine.* [[Good Ending|End]].

"No. You could've ended this already. You could've stopped and let me be free. But instead you trapped me, kept me to yourself. Like a pet. You disgust me. I never want to see you again. Die, for all I care." *You don't look back, and he doesn't say anything. You walk through the door, into the outside.* *[[End]].*

Welp, this is it. The end. What ending did you choose, I wonder? I hope you helped the Narrator. He means well, even if it doesn't look like it. Obviously, I have to thank all of you who even made it this far and didn't give up on it. It really, truly means a lot to me. I've not exactly done something like this before, so I suppose it's a new experience for all of us. And of course, I have to give a massive thank you to Professor C. For a variety of reasons, this whole project would not have been possible without you, so thank you. Looking at the clock now, it's very close to the submission time, closer than I'd like it to be, so I suppose all that's left to say is, goodnight. Goodnight, and thank you for being here.

You enter the ! Door, and become instantly soaked. You look up, and realize that it's raining. Indoors. It is raining indoors. Because at this point really, why wouldn't it? You look around, but don't see any doors besides the one you came through. Admittedly though, it is a bit misty in the room, so perhaps there is another door at the far end, and you just can't see it. Do you... [[Go back the way you came|Sob]]. [[Go to the other end of the room|Monster]].

Going through the ? Door, you take a step, and another, and another. It takes you several steps before you realize something: it's quiet. Really quiet. Extremely quiet. It's so quiet, that you can't hear your footsteps. Intrigued, you open your mouth and shout, to see if you can hear it. Nothing. You bang your fists against the walls. Nothing. You do everything you can think of to make a sound, but there all there is is quiet. Silence. If it weren't for how terrifying it was, you'd be amazed at how oppressively silent it was. Actually, come to think of it, it's so quiet that you can't even hear yourself thi- (Live: 15s)[...] (Live: 20s)[...] (Live: 25s)[...] (Live: 30s)[...] (Live: 35s)[[[...|Start]] ... ...]

Once through the ; Door, you are shocked to discover that there aren't three doors to pick from, only one. The right one. None of the light bulbs are glowing, but instead flashing rapidly. It makes you slightly nauseous. Nonetheless, you [[enter the right door| Newest Right Door]].

You decide to turn back to the way you came, and try another way. There's no point in trying to go forward anymore, if there's nothing on the other side. Nothing that you can see, at least. You go for the door, but realize that there isn't a doorknob to grab hold of. Desperately you try shoving the door open, but all you end up doing is hurting your shoulder. Exhausted, you sink to the floor. The rain still beats down on you. You can feel every drop sting like a pellet fired at you. You break down, and begin to cry. All of a sudden, you feel the absolute terror and hopelessness of the situation you're in. You don't know where you are, how you might've gotten there, or how you might escape. What is there for you to do? Endlessly wander through corridors, hoping that you might someday find the possibility for escape? Even if it were possible, how long would it take? You could be there for a lifetime and still not find a way out. As these thoughts come flooding through your mind, you slowly begin to float off. You are at first entranced by the sound of rain hitting the floor, hitting yourself. Impercetibly, you are carried away by the soft swaying of the sheets of rain. You allow yourself to become taken away by it, and you melt away into the stream. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You trudge your way through the rising water to the opposite end of the room. Luckily, you manage to find a door, and swing it open. The influx of water into the new room sweeps you off your feet, and you crash down to the floor. Quickly you rise to your feet and shut the door behind you. You turn around and lean against the wall, relieved that you didn't drown. Still soaked, you begin to take in the new room you find yourself in. You instantly wish you hadn't. Laying on the ground in front of you is a mass of writhing blackness. Horrified, you can only stare as it begins to violently erupt before you. Black tendrils explode from the mass, attaching themselves to walls and then spreading their inky blackness along it like a spider's web. What do you do? [[Confront the black]]. [[Run to the other room|Run]].

Hesitantly you take a step to the black mass. Before you can take another step though, another tendril springs forth from the body, and takes hold of you. Before you know what's happening, you are taken within the growing mass, absorbed into its being to serve as yet another morsel in a futile attempt to satiate its never-ending hunger. As you are dissolved into it, you realize that approaching the big black scary thing probably wasn't the best idea. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You flip around and fling open the door behind you. A torrent of water comes rushing through, and nearly sweeps you along with it. However, you manage to hold onto the door and stay upright. What's better, you can see that the icky black thing has been swept away by the rushing water! Overjoyed, you wade into the previous room, with the water up to you waist. Just as you reach the door, you feel something wrap around your ankle. Before can realize what's happening, an unseen black tendril wraps itself around your leg and pulls you under the water. Fortunately, you drown before you are consumed by the blackness. Sometimes, there are just bad situations with no way out. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You tumble down, and land hard on your back. Painfully, you get to your feet and brush yourself off. You get up, and see that wherever you are, it's in a closed off room with no door, kind of like the one you woke up in. Except, in this locked room, instead of a mirror and table, there is only a guitar. Carefully, you approach the guitar. On it, you can see that it has an inscription, which reads: *The Liar of Orpheus*. You pick up the guitar, and begin to pluck and strum it. As you do so, it slowly comes into tune, and you find yourself playing a song that you didn't know you could play. It's not a song that you've ever heard before, at least not from anyone else. This is the song that plays in your own mind, in your own heart. It is the tune that only you can hear, that only you can dance to. As you play, you see that an exit has opened up. Excited, you stop playing and rush towards it. However, it closes before you can reach it. Annoyed, you go back to playing your song. Now another exit opens on the opposite end of the room. Again, you stop playing and rush towards it, but once more it closes before you can reach it. Now you notice the pattern. You begin again to strum the guitar, and an exit opens. Immediately you stop strumming, and soon after the exit closes. Picking up the guitar, you begin playing your song again, and the exit opens. This time you don't stop playing it, and [[begin to walk to the exit|Guitar]].

As you strum your way to the exit, you begin to wonder whether you actually want to leave the room. The music is relaxing, and the guitar is your only real companion. What if you'd have to leave the guitar behind? Surely you couldn't do that. And as these thoughts cross your mind, you begin to relax into the song you play: your song. You find the familiarities of it comforting, and soon find yourself enraptured by it. And as your song plays, you begin to realize that you aren't trapped in some bizarre maze. You're merely wandering around it, with no urgent desire for escape. For, if there was a need to escape, then surely you wouldn't have stopped to play a guitar. No, you're actually quite fine where you are. There is no need or desire for you to leave where you are. All you need is your music. That is the only thing that brings you comfort in its soft lullabies. You don't need anything else but the guitar and your music. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

Going down the left turn, you walk for a ways before coming to a left, [[which you take|Left Turn 5]].

Almost as soon as you take that left turn, you come to a left turn. You [[walk down the left turn|Left Turn 6]].

You go for a ways down the left corridor, before you come to a left turn. You decide to [[take the left turn| Left Turn 1]].

You go to the wall that appeared before you, and press your good hand to it. Or at least, you would've, if there had been a wall there in the first place. Instead, as you reach out, the wall vanishes, and you're left standing in a hallway with your hand raised in front of you. As you lower your hand, you feel a sudden emptiness overwhelm you. It feels as though you've had something taken away from you. Not the same taken away that you felt when you woke up though. No, instead, this feeling is more like you've had something removed that you've never actually had, but could have had at one point. Whatever the strange sensation was, it doesn't last long, and you soon resume your quest down the long hallway, which still doesn't seem to have an end in sight. Nonetheless, [[you continue|Tree Room]].

You walk down the hallway for what feels like miles. Just as you begin to wonder whether you should either take a break or simply turn around, you spot what seems to be a door at the end of the corridor. Elated, you break into a mad sprint. Once you reach the door though, your realize that, no, it's not a single door, but two doors stacked on top of one another. As you approach, you see that they each have a symbol on them. On the top door, it's a tree. On the bottom door, it's a bunch of roots. Which door do you take? [[Tree Door|approach the tree]]. [[Root Door|approach roots]].

Climbing up and through the tree door, you pull yourself up to your feet to see a giant meadow stretching out before you. Beautiful flowers of every color are everywhere, and a nice breeze carries the smell of fresh earth and grass on it. In the near distance, you can see a tree on top of a small hill, blossoms springing up all over it. Beyond the hill you can see the field stretching out forever. You look upward expecting to see the open sky, only to be crushed. Barely, just barely, you can see the outline of a ceiling. Despite the bitter disappointment of realizing you're still trapped wherever it is you are, you can only be so upset that you've found this veritable Eden. Slowly, you make your way across the field, taking in the sight of it. Eventually, you reach the hill with the tree on it. Beautiful butterflies dance their way around it, occasionally passing right by your face. You plomp down next to the tree and look it over. The tree itself looks ancient, with the bark being withered and grey, almost brittle enough to crumble to dust with the slightest touch. Despite this, the tree looks otherwise perfectly healthy, with a rivulet of sap running down it. You see a butterfly land next to the stream and drink from it, rapidly beating its wings the more it drinks from it. Once it has finsished its meal, it flies away, faster than you would have expected. You [[look deeper at the sap|Sap]]. (Live: 20s)[Having enough of the sap, you tilt your head up, and can see more clearly now just how beautiful the blossoms are. You're also surprised to see that the branches themselves look extremely healthy, giving you the sudden urge to [[climb them|Touch Them]].] (Live: 40s)[Instead, you ignore your urge, preferring to rather just sit there idly. As you do, you look down, and notice that you're sitting on a massive slab of stone. It's cool to the touch, and you suddenly realize just how humid it is here. You blink a couple times to stay awake, but you find your eyelids are getting heavier and heavier, and your minds starts to drift to other places. Finally, you give in, and let [[sleep overcome you]].]

You decide that you want to see just how healthy the tree is, and start climbing it. It goes pretty well, considering your wounded hand. The limbs are strong and easily support your weight. The higher you go though, the more they swing in the breeze, kind of like a sea anemone. Soon, you reach as high as you dare go. From that high up, you can see everything. The whole meadow, the ceiling, the branches of the tree limbs moving around you. That last one catches you off guard. You look again, and realize that, yes, the branches are indeed closing in around you. You try to escape, and end up almost falling out of the tree to the far, far ground. Now the branches have you by each arm. They hold you out past the tree and turn you around so to face it. Your feet dangle helplessly as you're held before the tree, and you begin to panic, worrying that it's going to drop you. But it doesn't. Instead, you start to notice the branches slowly envelop you. Now you're in near total darkness, with only thin strips of light breaking through. You feel a strange sensation and look down to see that your body is being covered, first in bark, then in leaves, and finally blossoms. You open your mouth to scream, but all that comes out are more leaves and blossoms. You feel a moving sensation, then a sudden stop. The branches covering you move away, and you see that you're now connected to the trunk of the tree, feet first. Your consciousness fades fast, and soon you are fully a branch of a tree, healthy and fully grown. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You decide to take the low road and go through the root door. You get on your hands and knees and start crawling. Beyond, you see that the way forward is to go through an earthen tunnel, hardly any bigger than a crawl space. It's too dark to see anything further than your hands. Steeling yourself, you go down the tunnel. It's damp, and you can feel the dirt seeping between your fingernails and hair, but otherwise you're doing okay. After what feels like an hour, but was probably only twenty mintues at most, you reach a small, domed chamber, just as earthen as the rest of the tunnel. At the opposite end is another tunnel, again no bigger than a crawl space. But none of this is what strikes you first. No, what catches your eye is the convergence of the roots from the tunnel, crisscrossed and tangled into a vast system that dangles from the top of the dome like a chandelier. You get to your feet, transfixed on the roots. Soft bioluminescent light glows from them still, illuminating the whole chamber. You start to reach out to touch them, but then stop. What if they're poisonous or something? And what about that other tunnel? Surely you need to keep moving forward and find a way out of your nightmare? What do you do? [[Touch the roots]]. [[Keep going forward]].

Slowly, you open your eyes. That was probably the best nap you've had in ages. You notice that the tree seems a bit taller than before, or rather, you've gone down a bit. Did you really roll all the way down the hill without waking up? Must've been one heck of a deep sleep to do that! Bemused, you try to get up, only to realize that you can't move. Scared, you look down, and immediately wish you were still asleep. What you saw was horrifying: about half of your body is encased within the stone. You look down again to make sure it's real, and yup, you're not going anywhere. Both of your legs are encased up to the thigh. Your right arm is now stuck behind your head, while your left arm is free only at the hand. You scream, but it sounds oddly hollow, and you realize it's because your backside is already partly encased as well. You lay there for a time, and realize you have a choice to make: do you wait for your chest to be crushed by the stone, or do you lower your head back and suffocate first? At least you have plenty of time to decide. After all, it's not like you're going anywhere. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad End.

The sap is a deep, deep auburn, and twinkles slightly in the light. It makes its slow way down the tree, viscous and pure. Frankly, it looks delicious. You stand up, and reach for the sap with your wounded hand. A dab of it lands on your index finger, and you notice a slight glowing. Soon, your whole hand is glowing, blinding you for a moment. When you can see again, your hand is completely healed. You stare in amazement at your hand, then at the sap. Slowly, you reach out to the sap, and get a little on your finger again. It still glows faintly, but does no else. You stick out your tongue and taste it. Immediately, you're filled with a sweetness that envelops you from head to toe. You feel invigorated now. You dip another finger into the delectable sap, and have it again. You do this again and again and again, until it practically feels like you're brimming with the stuff. Not only are you filled with the sweet nectar, but you feel good too. Your eyesight is sharper, your health is better, and you think you're stronger as well. You feel like a million and one bucks. But once you've had some of this power, you have to have more. You follow the faint trace of sap up the tree until you find the source. Once you do, you put your mouth over it and start sucking. At first it's slow to come out, but once it does, it doesn't stop. So you don't stop either. As you keep going, you start to feel a tingling down your body. You feel something happening to your legs and arms, moving up and down from where they were. You feel your shoulder blades begin to extend out. Your vision becomes multiplied a hundred fold. And yet, you still suckle on the sweet teat. Eventually, you do get your fill, and you remove yourself from the tree. Only now, you don't walk away from it, but spread your wings and float away, joining your fellow butterflies dancing and twirling on the breeze, freed from the shackles of the earthly realm. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.

You figure that it's probably safe enough to touch the roots, so you reach out and brush one of them. As soon as you do though, the light disappears from the whole system, leaving you in darkness. (Live: 20s)[But suddenly, light! The roots glow brilliantly for an instant, then the light explodes out from them, filling the chamber with specks of floating light. The roots themselves though are now dark. Bemused, you try to reach out for the specks of light, only for them to move away. You hear a faint rustling noise behind you, and turn to see that the main bundle of roots is now shaking, steadily at first but now violently. The dirt begins to break loose and you see something descend from the top of the dome, encased in mighty roots, with smaller roots getting out of its way, making room for you to see the cocoon. Slowly, the larger roots begin to unravel themselves from the cocoon, revealing a figure within them. Soon, the person only has a couple roots left on them, suspending them a few inches above the ground. You can see that the figure is incredibly gaunt, with bones clearly visible through their ragged clothes. A few clumps of gnarly hair sticks on it. You find it hard to look at. Do you: [[Go back the way you came]]? [[Go forward into the new tunnel|Keep going forward]]? [[Go up to the figure]]?]

You start to crawl forward into the new tunnel. Through the dirt and roots and stones and mud you go forward, never looking back. The darkness evelops you, but you don't care. You only want to go forward. So you do. Right until [[you fall|Now5]].

You decide that this is just too freaky for you, so you decide to go out the way you came. You run back to the tunnel, keeping an eye on the figure. Their eyes follow you, and have a look in them that seems... pleading, almost. As you start crawling through the tunnel, you notice that the roots in there seem withered, dying. There's next to no light left for you to see where you're going. You hear a soft rumble, and can feel the dirt from the ceiling falling on you. You crawl faster, hoping that the tunnel doesn't collapse on you. There, right ahead, there it is! You can see the light of the hallway, the perfectly white walls. You're almost there, you can feel it- (Live: 20s)[-Done! Just as you clamber out, the tunnel collapses. You shake off the dirt and try to get rid of the vision of that entity trapped down there. Now, you can either head back down the hallway, or you can go through the tree door. [[You go through the tree door|approach the tree]].]

You decide to approach the ghastly visage in the roots. As you get closer, you can see that the roots are pumping out a dark colored liquid of some kind, and although you can't tell what exactly it is, you know for sure that it can't be blood. After all, blood shouldn't be auburn colored, should it? You also begin to get a strange sense of deja vu from the figure, something that's familiar about them, but you can't put your finger on it just yet. You look into their eyes, and even they're cataracted over, there is still a sign of deeper awareness in them. They know you're looking at them, and they know you know that. You lean in closer, taking in each detail on their face. The eyes, the taunt skin, the protruding bone. Realization hits you all at once like a ton of bricks, terrible and heavy. The face that you recognize, it's yours. Older, withered, but unmistakably you. You try to back away, but the figure, the you, grabs out faster than you could have ever expected, and clamps your wrist with their bony fingers. Their clasp is unbreakable, no matter how hard you try. The face on the other you contorts itself, and it takes a second for you to realize that they're smiling. A wicked, devilish smile that has both too many and not enough teeth in it. It's horrid, yet you still can't break away from it. Roots come down from the ceiling, travel across the other yous' arm, and begin to wrap themselves around you. Like tiny spikes they burrow into your skin, searching for blood vessels until they find them. Once found, they spread like a weed throughout your system, travelling through all of your veins and arteries until they reach your heart, and bed down in it. Your body goes from feeling like it's on fire to feeling like it's freezing. Just before you lose consciousness, you see the roots begin to pump out a viscous, auburn liquid. [[Dead|Start]]. Bad Ending.