Project "Again?"The darkness fades into a pleasant blue as the voice disappears. You can feel your body regenerating around you. As you become whole again, the encounter with Living Death fades into a hazy memory. All that's left in your mind is a question.
[[Do you want to try again?]]
(set: $loop to it + 1)Breath forces itself into your returned lungs, and your eyes adjust to the muted brightness of the morning. You are alive, by some miracle, and despite the experience of dying and getting set up to do it all over again, you're oddly grateful for the chance.
[[Wake up.]]It's raining and miserable outside. There's a lot of work to be done, but you can't help but feel like something's a little wrong.
[[Get dressed and leave your room.]]
(set: $hammer to false)
(set: $book to false)
(set: $money to false)
(set: $bow to false)
(set: $map to false)
(set: $turn_counter to 0)You get dressed in your usual attire, the same warm autumnal colors as would befit a name like yours. Once you've fiddled with your clothing enough that it's to your liking, you put on your hat and you're ready.
[[Go outside]].
(set: $turn_counter to it + 1)This town kind of sucks, if you were to be honest. There's not much to it, only a handful of buildings in the dust before the roads tail off into some woods. Now, today's a school day, (if: $loop < 1)[but with the sense of dread you're feeling, you're not sure you want to go.](else-if: $loop >= 1)[but after everything that's already happened, that doesn't feel like it should be a priority right now.]
(set: $turn_counter to it + 1)
(if: $turn_counter <= 14)[You have a few options for what to do from here. You can:
[[Go to the convenience store.]]
[[Go to the mall.]]
[[Go to your friend's house.]]
[[Go to class.]]
[[Go back home.]]
]
(if: $turn_counter > 14)[As the sun starts to set on the town, your breath catches in your throat. [[You see something terrible.]]]The convenience store is a dimly-lit shitbox, but there's always cold soda in the fridges and candy at the register. Behind the counter, a kid about your age nods in your direction by way of greeting.
There's something strange in the back of the store: a lifted tile with a glinting nail pushed up out of place.
(if: $hammer is true and $money is false)[Do you think it's worth [[messing with]]? If you don't, may as well turn back around and [[Go outside]].]
(else-if: $money is true)[You've already done this, there's no point in going back. Your best bet is to check if there's anything else you need and [[Go outside]].]
(else:)[You're not hungry or thirsty as much as you are nervous and starting to panic; soda's not going to help with that. You should just cut your losses and [[Go outside]].]
(set: $turn_counter to it + 1)Ah, the mall. You actually hate it here, but it's best not to say that out loud. You feel distinctly as though you should look around for anything that might help stave off the looming dread.
(if: $money is true and $bow is false)[Oh, that's right, there's a [[sports supply store]] here. They'll have something useful for sure. Hopefully. Maybe they won't, and you should just [[Go outside]].]
(else-if: $bow is true)[Sadly, there's no archery range in here, and you don't think the security guards would be too enthused about a teen wandering around the mall with a hunting bow. If you want to get a chance to put that thing to good use, you'd better [[Go outside]] fast.]
(else:)[You don't really have the money, and nothing you see appeals anyway. This is why you hate the mall, nothing but useless crap everywhere. Time to give up and [[Go outside]].]
(set: $turn_counter to it + 1)(if: $map is false)[Your best friend Mark lives next door to you, and as you knock on his door, he answers almost immediately. "Hey Fox! Skipping school too, huh?"
You nod sullenly, before asking if you can come in.
Mark grins. "Sure, come on in."
As you follow Mark into the parlor, he keeps talking. "I've been working on something. You know the woods outside town? I think they're hallowed."
You raise an eyebrow. "Hallowed how?"
"Hallowed like they ward off evil and protect good. Like there's a saint watching over you there. You know, that kind of hallowed."
(if: $loop >= 1)[Something huge occurs to you. "Mark?"
Mark raises an eyebrow at your change of tone. "Yeah, what's up?"
"[[Where are the woods hallowed?]]"]
(else:)["You and your cryptids," you tease.
Mark laughs. "Ah, it keeps me out of trouble, you know. Speaking of trouble, why are you here?"
"Just got a wave of anxiety for no good reason. Wanted to check in on you, make sure everything was okay."
"Yep, all good here, just doing what I do. Anything else you need from me?"
"Not yet. I'll let you know if I do," you say, preparing to [[Go outside]].
"You know where I'll be," Mark says by way of goodbye.]
]
(if: $map is true)[Mark's sitting out on his porch as you come by, and he waves to you expectantly. "Any luck?"
"None yet," you reply, holding out the map. "Got anything else that might be helpful?"
"I wish I did," he says, shaking his head. "I think you're just going to have to go for it at this point."
"I can go for it from here. You've already helped so much," you say gratefully.
"Pleasure's all mine," Mark smiles. You smile to match, before turning around to [[Go outside]].]
(set: $turn_counter to it + 1)School isn't terribly fun for you. You don't find any of the material intellectually challenging, meaning you inevitably start ignoring the classes and doing terribly on the assignments, then acing the tests to make it so the teachers have to begrudgingly give you Bs in classes that, by every right, you should have failed.
(if: $book is false)[On this specific day, you need to go to the library, so instead of actually attending your classes, you decide to [[visit the librarian]] instead.]
(else:)[With your library visit taken care of, you're not about to waste any more time here than necessary. You jump the fence and [[Go outside]].]
(set: $turn_counter to it + 1)Your home isn't that much to look at. Both your parents are away at work, so you have the place to yourself.
(if: $hammer is false)[There's a shelf you can't quite reach. On that shelf is a precariously-dangling hammer that you really wouldn't want coming down on Mom or Dad's head.
(if: $book is true)[If you set it up right, you could balance on your textbook to [[reach the shelf]]...]
(else:)[Whose idea was it to put something like a hammer somewhere only the tallest person in the house could barely reach on a good day?
Probably the hammer's owner, who rarely uses it but doesn't want their irresponsible kid getting a hold of it and screwing it up.
That was a dumb question.]
]
(else-if: $hammer is true)[You mentally apologize to Dad for stealing his hammer, and promise him it's for the greater good.]
Once you're done lounging around at home, you should really [[Go outside]].
(set: $turn_counter to it + 1)(if: $map is true and $bow is true)[The map leads you to a small clearing in the woods where the moonlight comes through in beams. You rush into the clearing with the Abyss right at your heels, and as the enchanted light Mark had told you about begins to slow it down, you spin around and fire an arrow straight through it.
The menace is clearly wounded, but it charges at you with all its strength, screaming as it attempts to bring you down with it. You jump away, feeling its unnatural claws tear a piece out of your coat, and you fire another arrow that goes straight through its head. Immediately the figure explodes, bathing you in blinding [[light]].]
(else-if: $bow is true and $map is false)[You ready your bow and start to fire at the figure, but it's far too fast for you. There's nowhere for you to run, and as the figure is on you, you can feel yourself descending into an overwhelming [[darkness]].]
(else:)[With no way to fight this thing, it's only a matter of time before it overruns you and drags you into the [[darkness]].]In the expanse of the void, a voice echoes within you, its tone deep but soothing.
(if: $loop < 1)["Hmm. Fox Wilson?"
You have no body to move, but if you did, you would do a double-take. "How do you know my name?"
"You are Fox Wilson?" the voice continues, not about to answer your question. "Why are you here?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're dead."
You knew you were dead the second the strange figure had engulfed you, but it's still depressing to get confirmation. "Yes, I'm aware."
"But you aren't supposed to be."
"Huh?"
"You don't die for a very long time. Why are you here?"
You don't have a head, but you do remember. "I was engulfed and killed by something. It was fast, had no shape and long claws, and looked to be made out of the night sky."
"The Abyss, Fox Wilson? Then... no, you aren't dead, and I am truly sorry."
"You didn't kill me," you try to supply to the voice.
"But I fear you will die again. Perhaps you will die several times." You can feel the voice round on you. "Fox Wilson. I do not bargain with mortals lightly, but for you I have a Request."
"Will I come back to life if I accept?"
"You will. But you will return to this morning. You will wake up again, you will be pursued by the Abyss again, and you may die again, repeating this very same cycle."
This seems deeply unfair. "When will it end?"
"It will end when you are able to kill the Abyss. No longer will it threaten those before their time, and you will experience your life as you were always supposed to."
"Why should I kill the Abyss?"
"For yourself, for Us, and for all mortal life. The Abyss will stalk you to the ends of the earth, and if you give up, it will not stop with you."
There isn't really a choice to make here, but a request is a request. "And if I kill it?"
"The pleasure of the rest of your natural life, Fox Wilson, and the gratitude and favor of Living Death, the keeper and cataloguer of all spirits."
"I accept."
"Very well."]
(else-if: $loop >= 1 and $loop <= 5)["Ah, Fox Wilson." Anticipating your frustration, Living Death softens their voice. "Did something go wrong?"
"//Did something go wrong//," you bark out. "I died, that's what went wrong. You've never fought the Abyss, have you? You've never felt what it's like to be killed by something like that?"
"...No." Living Death makes a sound that could pass for a sigh, if it were to coincide with a rumble of thunder directly overhead. "I do not die, and I cannot die. I am not mortal, nor human. All I am is the cataloguer."
"Then why make me do it? Huh?"
"Because... this is the weakest the Abyss will ever be again. If you give up, it will grow more powerful. Powerful enough to destroy all of Earth. Perhaps powerful enough... to kill me, and then my masters and my masters' masters. You are the key, Fox Wilson. I am sorry that you must be."
You can tell that Living Death is afraid. "I'm sorry, too. Why couldn't it have been someone more capable?"
"There is no one more capable of fighting off the Abyss. All you can do is keep trying." You can hear Living Death smile slightly, and your anger and fear evaporate.]
(else-if: $loop > 5)["Oh, Fox." Living Death's voice is sadder now. "I hoped this would be the time. You're getting very close, you know."
"I hoped that would be the time, too," you mutter.
Living Death picks up on it. "You need to keep going, Fox. You're as close as you've ever been."
"And what good has it done me? Huh?"
"..."
"Christ, today wasn't even a good day before the Abyss! If I weren't the only thing between the Abyss and eating the world, killing the gods, killing //you//..."
"You are very brave to keep going, Fox."
"I shouldn't have to be."
"...No, you should not have to be. And you never should have had to be. But you are."
"..."
Living Death's voice is as soft as you've ever heard, much closer to you than before. "You will get it right, and you will save us all, and you will be free, Fox. All you need to do is get up. The rest is all right there for you."
"I will get it right. For me, for you, for the world."
Living Death's voice smiles with relieve. "Then, there's no time to waste."]
Living Death's final words ring around the space: "[[Now, do you know what you are doing?]]"You've done it. The Abyss is dead, and you were its killer. The Earth is saved, and its guardians will hold you in their favor forever. All you have to do is survive the rest of the night.
As the adrenaline rush wears off, though, you become aware instantly of a terrible pain in your side. You sit down shakily and inspect it, to find a wide gash running straight across your hip. You drop your bow in the grass, unwilling to die again now that you're finally free but unable to think of anything to do to stop the bleeding. Even in the hallowed area, where the saints are supposed to watch over you, you still falter, desperately thinking of something to keep you from bleeding out now, on the other side of fighting something so terrible and surviving.
Your vision starts to fail, and you topple over onto your other side. The last thing you see is Mark running toward you with a flashlight and a first-aid kit, and as he reaches you and tries to say something, [[everything goes dark.]]When you come to, you see Mark's worried face hovering over you in a bright room. As you bolt up, he springs back, getting his head out of the path of yours. "Hey, you're awake! Is... is it tomorrow for you?"
As you look around what you recognize to be your bedroom, you start to notice that it feels nothing like the experience of being in the loop. Things aren't strange, the looming dread is gone, and as you scrabble around for your phone, Mark hands you his. Sure enough, it's the second today. "It's tomorrow for me." You look down at your side to see it bandaged well; Mark clearly took you to the doctor overnight.
Mark exhales with a force that briefly threatens to knock him over. "God, I'm glad you're free."
You smile, even though your head still hurts a lot from yesterday's events. "All thanks to you." You lay back down and look at the wall, and for a second, the light through your blinds forms the image of a quill pen drawing a skull. You blink, and it's gone, but you know what it was. //All thanks to you, too//, you think.
Congratulations! You've defied fate, defeated the Abyss, and escaped the time loop intact!You take your hammer and carefully remove the nail from under the tile, revealing a false panel in the floor. Sliding it aside, you find yourself staring at a wad of cash--not nearly enough for you to buy your way out of trouble, but certainly enough that you can afford to gear up. You carefully slide the panel closed and set the tile down, pocketing the money and nail both as you saunter out of the convenience store and [[Go outside]].
(set: $money to true)You walk into the sports store and immediately head to the counter with the hunting supplies. After a brief look over what they have in stock, your eyes settle on a massive hunting bow that looks like it has tremendous stopping power... and also a tremendous price tag. It's a lucky thing you found so much money, because even if you are $1000 richer, you're about to be about $800 poorer.
It's an even luckier thing that you got Dad to take you to get your hunting license renewed with the right name, because it would have taken so much unnecessary time to deal with it now when you're trying to buy a bow.
Your pockets are lighter when you leave the mall and [[Go outside]], but the bow in your bag makes you feel like you have a fighting chance to survive now.
(set: $bow to true)Mark's face lights up, and he practically drags you to his office, which is actually a pretty impressive operation: rather than the typical rat's nest of scattered papers and conspiracy theories that most amateur cryptozoologists work in, Mark has a very neat filing cabinet where he stores the insane things he finds and comes up with. In a matter of moments, the benefits of keeping things neat are made clear, as Mark quickly rifles through a folder before pulling out a quickly-sketched map of the woods. The quality of the map is bad enough that you wouldn't recognize any of it if you hadn't grown up here, but luckily you already know the woods like the back of your hand. You recognize the area Mark's highlighted as the hallowed space, and thankfully it's not far from the edge of the woods.
"Thank you," you say as you put away the map. "What else do I need?"
"Why are you going there?"
You decide that if anyone would believe you, it's your cryptozoologist best friend. "I'm stuck in a time loop and being hunted by a supernatural killing machine. I'm hoping the hallowed area will slow it down long enough for me to destroy it."
Mark blinks, sensing no sign that you're messing with him. "...Say 'sike'?"
You shake your head.
"Well, damn. Uh..." Mark sits down and thinks for a second. "Look, it sounds stupid, but bring a first-aid kit. If it grazes you before you kill it, you'll want something to keep you from bleeding out."
"I can't carry a first-aid kit with everything else I've already got, though," you protest.
"I'll do it."
"You would?"
"Of course." Mark smiles. "Just let me know when you're going, and I'll come find you a few minutes later."
"Thank you, Mark!" You hug your friend tightly, and he returns it.
After staying that way for some time, you separate, deciding that he should return to his studies and you should [[Go outside]] for more preparation.
(set: $map to true)A figure stands in front of you. Well, "figure" is generous: the entity is a barely-morphous blob of humanoid shape, featureless, and the color of the sky on a stormy night. It has all-wrong anatomy, strange sticklike limbs where its legs should be, and too many hands all ending in horrible claws. It has no face, but you know it's staring at you; the cracking noise it makes clarifies that. It leaps at you, far too fast for something with its build, and it's all you can do to get away. The thing screams after you as it prepares to charge again, and all about you is suffused with the howls of the damned. It wants you to become one of them.
(if: $loop >= 1)[This is the Abyss, the monster that scares even the immortals. It has chosen you as its prey, and you know that it will not stop until you die and stay dead.]
You're not ready, and you'll never be ready, but there's [[nothing left to do but fight]].This is a really stupid idea, but you follow through on it. After standing the textbook up on its end and balancing it on a high stool, you climb onto the book with one foot and boost yourself up...
...by some miracle, you both get the hammer and aren't bludgeoned to death by the hammer, shelf, book, stool, or ground on your way down. You land on your feet, commend the stupid textbook for doing something useful for the first time since its printing, and [[Go outside]], hammer in tow.
(set: $hammer to true)You like Ms. Stokes, the school's librarian. She's very sweet, and you much prefer her company to any of the other adults here, not least of which because she actually knows and uses your name.
"Oh, Fox!" Ms. Stokes says as you enter. "I thought you had missed school today."
"I did, but I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to go to the library." You walk over to her counter. "You needed me for something?"
"Ah, yes I did. Pam told me that she was redoing the whole history curriculum this year because she was more comfortable with the old book, so she made me grab every copy of it we still had so she could hand them out to her classes." She goes over to a huge table of textbooks and grabs one of the books for you. "Careful, it's heavy," she says, her words straining as she lugs the book over to the counter.
"I can tell," you deadpan as you take it from her; you were going to make a big show of "buckling" under the weight of the textbook, but the damn thing almost actually buckles you and you have to set it down. You start cackling, and Ms. Stokes joins in. "It's a circus around here, isn't it?"
"Tell me about it," Ms. Stokes says as she starts to calm down from the laughter. "Now, I can tell you've got a lot on your mind. I think you should go home and take today for yourself; if you want me to, I can make an excuse for you in the system."
You smile. "That would be lovely, thank you."
"Take care now, Fox. Don't let this place dim your brilliance," she tells you as you turn to [[Go outside]].
"And the same to you, Ms. Stokes."
(set: $book to true)