Welcome to SNOWBOUND, a new interactive fiction story on Steemit.
Did you miss the first installment? Click here to find out what the hell is going on.
We return to our intrepid protagonist being stared down by a file of murderous children.
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You have idled out due to inactivity. Initiating Narrative Progression Protocol NPP-1701.
>neglect acting opportunity, use table as shield and look for means of escape
Bah, now isn't the time to work on your acting! There's an entourage of bloodthirsty children not three meters away!
Thinking quickly, you grab the underside of the table by its decorative edging and flip it upright, hoping it will act as a shield while you scan the room for a means of escape. Your unconscious companion slumps down onto the floor as the children recover from their shock and open fire.
It turns out wooden furniture is not as bullet-proof as Hollywood has led you to believe.
Bullets whiz past your head as the rifles blow holes in the table behind you. You crouch as low as you can and look around the room frantically, hoping to find another mysterious door. Unfortunately, the room seems to be completely sealed. There's no doubt that you are going to die.
That suddenly gives you an idea. You look over at your companion, who seems to have been completely ignored by the children. Perhaps you could use him as a human shield to...
No, what are you thinking? That would be monstrous. He's an ally -- a brother in arms. You can't sacrifice him so easily.
A bullet flies through the table and hits you in the shoulder. Damn, that smarts. But it gives you another idea. Based on what you've learned, you should be able to return to the Records if you're killed. The thought of taking some hot lead to the face does not fill you with joy, but it is a sure-fire means of escape. At least, you hope.
You hazard a glance back over at your companion. Ian said he was an Avatar of Mind. Would he also travel to the Records upon dying? You're not so sure about that. Ian did something to him when he knocked him out. He may have sealed his ability somehow. Or, perhaps, he is not aware of his own ability. Would he even be able to make use of it, then?
Several more bullets hit you in the back while you think. The hot lead tears through your chest cavity like a human-shaped gelatin mold. You cough, a smattering of blood erupting from your mouth. There's no hope of escape now -- the most you can do is save your ally in the only way you know how. At least if you commune with him, he'll be spared a violent death.
You hurl yourself out from behind the table with the last bit of your strength, your hand falling onto your companion's arm. He briefly luminesces as the energy surges from your hand into his body, then you feel his essence pulled into yours.
Special Ability Recovered: 「TRANSLATE」
The children simultaneously open fire upon you. In a word, you decide that you would describe the experience as "unpleasant".
You have been killed by some children.
You feel yourself surging through the heavens. There is no evanescence this time -- no consuming darkness; you feel only a white-hot, searing pain that numbs your mind and makes your body cry out in agony. The horrible torture seems to last an eternity before it suddenly halts.
"I think you understand why I built these doors, now."
You are on the floor of the Akashik Records. The Traveler stands over you with a grin, hand extended to help you up. You gladly accept it.
"It's like that every time. Bodies aren't meant to travel here, and the trip can be too much for some people. Many an Avatar of Body has gone mad trying to reach this place. The only mercy is that, with no sane mind left to consciously direct their power, their physical form dissipates and they pass on to the afterlife."
The Traveler walks on ahead, motioning for you to follow him. You begin to speak as you do so, but he cuts you off.
"I'm sure you have many questions. I'll be happy to cover the ones I can, but first, we must make our way to the Nexus. We aren't safe here."
You look around curiously and ask what it is that you are not safe from.
"Grues."
You hear a noise above you like the eons-slow clash of tectonic plates. You look up to see a tenebrous mass of what-the-hell-is-that seeping in from minute fissures in the ceiling. Terrified, you shout as much to The Traveler.
"I told you, they're called Grues. It would be best for your sanity if you didn't look at them. I'll explain what they are in a moment, but we have to reach the Nexus first. We'll be safe in there."
The Traveler barely finishes his sentence before you bolt past him, making a beeline for the Nexus. You spot the door and reach for the handle only to see the Stygian collection of sweet-merciful-heavens-what-nightmare-is-this seeping from it. You wrench back your hand in terror. The Traveler grabs you by the arm and yanks you away from the door before you can collapse into a fit of hysteria.
"There's another entrance down the hall. We'll make it if we hurry."
The two of you rush down the hall as more of the fuliginous aggregate of what-in-God's-most-holy-name appears around you. You feel yourself on the brink of tears when The Traveler kicks open a door and pulls you inside. You turn and look to see the threshold utterly consumed by absolutely nothing.
"Well, it looks like we'll be okay now. That was a close one. So, where should we begin?"
Considering the only thing on your mind right now is the horror you just escaped from, you ask The Traveler to explain what a Grue is. He crosses his arms and paces back and forth.
"Well, it's complicated. They technically aren't anything. If you want, you can think of them as the things that consume the non-realities."
The sheer puzzlement on your face is unrivaled across the multiverse. The Traveler taps his foot a couple times in uffish thought.
"Okay, it's like this. Each universe behaves like a closed system. All the matter and energy within that system is a constant, fixed amount. However, each universe is not actually a closed system, as the Avatars prove. When an Avatar of Mind travels from one universe to another, it creates an instability between the two universes: the universe that the Avatar travels to suddenly has more matter and energy than it did before, while the universe that the Avatar traveled from suddenly has less. A similar effect is produced by an Avatar of Spirit when we commune with someone, and by an Avatar of Body when we assume a new physical form. Each of these instabilities has to be resolved, or the universe will collapse. That's what the Grues are for. What they basically do is feed on the potential energy created by these instabilities. This ensures that the balance between universes is kept in check. However, should a universe become too unstable, it will begin to break apart, and the Grues will consume it in its entirety. That is what we just experienced."
An entire universe dropping out of existence is quite a serious matter. You ask The Traveler why it became too unstable.
"A number of things all conspired to cause the massive instability. Your communing with the Avatar of Mind and subsequent death were contributing factors, but they were merely the straw that broke the camel. What pushed that universe to its edge was the sudden disappearance of Ian from it."
If Ian's disappearance from the universe is primarily what caused its destruction, you wonder if it could have been prevented. You ask The Traveler if he knows what happened to him.
"The simple answer is that I entered his original universe and communed with him. Now, before you say anything, let me explain. I'm afraid I did not have any other choice. If I had allowed him to kill you, he would have intercepted you on your way to the records. In doing so, he would have annihilated your soul. You would have completely ceased to exist. I simply could not allow that to happen. Thankfully, with his consciousness divided between two universes, I was able to get the drop on him. It was unfortunate that it had to happen this way, but in any case, he is no longer a threat to us."
If The Traveler holds your life more precious than an entire universe, he had better have a good reason why. You kindly ask him to tell you what in the multiverse it is.
"It's because you're the Avatar. Not an Avatar, but the Avatar. You are the single most important being in the entire multiverse."
This has been bugging you for some time. You ask The Traveler what exactly the title of 'Avatar' is supposed to mean.
"I wondered that myself when first I learned of the Avatar states. After coming into possession of all three states, I came here to the records to make study of them. I traveled across the multiverse, studying each universe's version of the Records. Each one held subtle differences -- little fragments of information, like a puzzle made up entirely of negative space. I studied them for so long that I thought I would go mad, but then I started to see a pattern. Each iteration of our soul across the universes was connected. What confused me was that I could see how they connected, but I could not see where. It seemed that each of them was connected at a single, mutual point, but I could not see what it was. I thought I might never find it, but then I saw it: I saw you. Your soul was the key. I still did not understand how, for you did not exist yet when I saw you in the Records, but I knew that all I had to do was wait. I passed the time by constructing the various portals across the Earth. I used the extensive knowledge I had gained from the Records to do this. When I finished the portals in one universe, I moved on to another. It took me nearly three-hundred years, but I finally finished every last one of them. All I had to do then was wait until you were ready to fulfill your destiny as the Avatar. Unfortunately, Ian got wind of me and my plan somehow. That's when he started setting up the Avatar Hunters. He annihilated several of us before I noticed what he was doing. Afraid that you would be among them, I came to your universe and sent you through the Nexus into a universe with an Avatar of Body. I did not realize that the avatar in that universe was already dead, but you successfully communed with him despite that. I wasn't expecting you to appear in Death's Domain when you did, but I saw what had happened in the Records. I knew that you would be annihilated if I left you alone, so I came to get you. After something...quantum happened, you followed me into the Records and, well, you know what happened from there."
You close your eyes and furrow your brow. After a moment's reflection on everything The Traveler told you, you realize that he still hadn't explained why you're called "Avatar", an or the excepting. You ask him to clarify this point.
"Instead of telling you, why don't I show you?"
The Traveler walks towards the center of the room and motions towards a sigil on the floor.
"Stand here."
Assuming that The Traveler would not betray you after sacrificing an entire universe for you, you decide you may as well trust him. You stand and walk to the center of the room. The sigil begins to glow as you step on it, and a florid array of ethereal lights surrounds you. The walls and floor seem to dissolve away until you appear to be standing at the center of a large iridescent sphere, a plethora of patterns shimmering and shifting through the color spectrum around you. You stand and stare at the spectacle wide-eyed, and momentarily reflect that mere words could never do the sight justice.
"What you are seeing are the many gateways through the multiverse. This is how the Avatars of Mind are able to travel from one universe to another, though you have the distinction of being one of only two people to actually lay eyes on it. However, this in itself is not what I wished to show you."
The Traveler walks towards one of the patterns, distinct from the rest. It appears to be a large archway with an unintelligible inscription across it. The Traveler extends his hand slowly as though to touch it, but restrains himself.
"I thought I might never see it with my own eyes. This is what makes you special, the Avatar for whom all other Avatars are named. This is the gateway to the metaverse."
You stand dumbly, a blank expression sitting comfortably on your face.
"Don't you understand? I have been waiting three centuries for this! This is the gateway to the reality that binds all realities! This is the entrance to existence itself! This is the threshold of the very mind of God! Do you not comprehend? This multiverse, these petty and small and insignificant realities that we so ignorantly call existence, they are but a drop in the ocean of the eternal! Surely you have some grasp, however feeble, of what I am saying? You exist solely so that this doorway may be opened! Do you not feel it? The inexorable tug, the irresistible command of a mind greater than your own? Yes! That is a look of enlightenment! Now you see! You are the Avatar of a being that exists beyond this realm! He controls you from across the cosmos -- from outside our own multiverse! It is here: through this door is the Metaversal Nexus. If we enter it, we will have access not just to every universe in this multiverse, but to every multiverse in the metaverse! We will touch the true Records, the sum of all knowledge in existence! We will finally have communion with the Almighty, the creator of this world! It is right here, within our grasp! All we have to do is open this gate!"
The Traveler turns, his eyes burning. His flesh seems to melt from his face as he approaches you.
"Can you feel it? Focus on it! Feel its pull! Let your mind seek the gate. Do not resist it!"
The Traveler reaches out a now bony hand towards you, the last of his muscle tissue having liquefied. A most imposing and plutonian scythe appears on his back. You stand frozen in terror as this visage of Death draws ever closer.
"Let it beckon you! Heed the call of God! Fulfill your destiny!"
The Traveler places his finger on your forehead. Your body quakes and your fists clench from the sudden shock. Every nerve in your body radiates a cacophony of pain. You open your mouth to scream, but cannot muster a single breath in your anguish. You collapse onto the floor of the Nexus as you suffer the agony of disembodiment.
You have been killed by The Traveler.
There is a portentous groan that seems to emanate from everywhere at once. On the fringes of the Nexus, the shifting patterns of light begin to slowly disappear. The Traveler throws back his head in laughter, then kneels down and places his hands on your body. It disappears with a flash, and he slumps onto the floor, dead. There is another groan as the lights in the Nexus are extinguished, utterly consumed by the Grues.