Title: “Awaken the Guardians”
Story Map:
Complex Passage:
Proofing Copy:
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--
{ambient sound: 'Water'}
--
**"It's time to wake up child,"** whispered an angleic voice in your ear, however you couldn't place who it belonged to.
[after 4 seconds]
You eyes opened to unfarmiliar surroundings. Trees that dwarf your small frame loom over you, their branches blanketing the night sky.
[after 8 seconds]
Many of the pearl-colored stars are hidden, unlike back home, where the night sky can be for miles in every direction.
[after 12 seconds]
_Where am I? Who spoke to me?_
[after 18 seconds]
There is no one near you, and there are only the sounds of crickets and other insects. You aren't in your village. In fact, you have no idea where you are.
[after 28 seconds]
Fear slithers from the recesses of your mind. It whispers warnings of what happened to those who ran away from their masters. You hadn't meant to venture from your home, even though its cruel rulers often gave you the idea. Something told you, there were no masters here; their foreboding presence was absent.
[after 34 seconds]
Rising to your feet, you examine more of your surroundings as your eyes adjust fully to the darkness. You stood on a meager trail; it is old and partially overgrown. Only animals appear to use it now. Up ahead was a fork in the path—one towards an open field, the other towards a dark mountain in the distance. Which do you choose?
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* ~~[[Path to Field]]~~
* ~~[[Path to Mountain]]~~
* ~~[[Try and Go Back Home]]~~
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--
You decide to take the path to the field; perhaps you can get a clearer idea of where you are. A slight breeze blows through the trees, almost whispering, telling you to turn back.
[after 6 seconds]
Telling yourself that you're paranoid, you continue down the path. It goes down a hill and opens to a field, as you saw from the fork. However, what it holds was not something you expected.
[after 12 seconds]
From the path's split, you thought there was a multitude of rocks in the grass and bushes, yet the Moonlight showed the truth. Strewn across the field is a mass skeletal graveyard, discolored bones inside rusted and broken armor, next to weapons.
[after 18 seconds]
There are hundreds of people, if not thousands, spread across the plain. The thought of going through a field of dead sends ice into your veins. What do you do?
* ~~[[Go Through Grave Field]]~~
* ~~[[Turn Back and Go Down the Path to the Mountain]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
Perhaps the mountain would help you get a higher vantage point to try and find your way back.
[after 7 seconds]
Your family would be worried, not just about you but also about the consequences of one of the master's workers going missing.
[after 14 seconds]
Continuing down the path, you notice the little night animals scurrying around, safe from the predators that hunted during the day.
[after 21 seconds]
As you get closer, you realize that the mountain is not a mountain. It's a massive ancient fortress. Its heavy walls stand over three hundred feet tall at the shortest parts, at the largest point, which appeared to be the entrance, the walls are close to 500 ft.
[after 30 seconds]
This fortress holds authority, it reminded you of the barracks your masters and their soldiers live in, yet this fortress is far more ancient.
[after 37 seconds]
Getting closer, you see how ravaged the walls are. There are holes larger than three grown men standing on each other shoulders in them. Yet the walls still stand unpenetrated.
* ~~[[Go in]]~~
* ~~[[Explore Outside of Fortress]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
Your curiosity defeats your fear as you step out on to the field of bones and metal.
[after 5 seconds]
You weave around the bones and rusted weapons that still appear to be as sharp as the last day their owner used them. The skulls seem to peer at you from their resting places.
[after 12 seconds]
_What type of battle occurred for such a vast army to perish?_
[after 16 seconds]
They weren't ordinary workers of slaves like you and your family were.
With every skeleton lay a weapon and a full body of armor.
[after 20 seconds]
No slave or common person owned such things; to own armor would be seen as a threat to your master's rule and an insult to the Empress.
[after 25 seconds]
The moonlight strikes a breastplate, lifting the image of a symbol on the rusted metal.
[after 30 seconds]
You stop in your tracks.
[after 33 seconds]
Your grandmother had drawn that symbol numerous times in the dirt that made up the floor of your home. They were a myth. Your mother had told you thousands of times that they were nothing but a legend. A source of false hope.
* ~~[[Experience Flashback]]~~
* ~~[[Dismiss the symbol]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
Even though the people have been dead for many years, you can't get yourself to walk through the field they took their last breaths on.
[after 10 seconds]
Hastily you turn back, the images of the skulls seemingly staring at you, pleading for something was almost too much to bear.
* ~~[[Path to Mountain]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
Walking through the entrance you see more marks of battle on the doors and the inner walls. Burn marks, cracks, collapsed parts of the wall with rubble strewn across the ground. Your sandaled feet scrap against the floor, the only sound in this eenormous structure. As you expllore further you find more skeletons. _Why hadn't anyone buried them?..Perhaps there was no one left to bury them?_ Beside you is a short sword in the death clutch of a forgotten warrior. Do you take the sword to defend yourself, just in case? Or do you leave it to rest with it's owner.
* ~~[[Take short sword]]~~
* ~~[[Leave short sword]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
"Grandma! Grandma! Tell us a story! PLEASE!" you exclaim, jumping up and down. Your grandmother turns towards you her long gray hair in a tight braid falling down her shoulder.
[after 5 seconds]
Her face was like the walls on your village home, cracked and worn from the sun. Although her face. was worn, her eyes were bright, glinting with amusement.
[after 10 seconds]
"What story would you like to hear?" sh easked, leaning down to your level.
[after 15 seconds]
"The warrior story! The warrior story!"
[after 20 seconds]
"Alright, get your brother, and sit near the fireplace," You nod and run to get your younger brother, who shrieked in surprise, before sitting down, barely able to stay still.
[after 27 seconds]
"Many years ago long before you two were born, the world was a different place. It was dark and barren like today, it was bright and noisey and filled with people,"
[after 35 seconds]
"How many peeople grandma?"
[after 38 seconds]
"Many, many people, moree than a hundred of our villages,"
[after 41 seconds]
"Woah,"
[after 43 seconds]
"Sometimes these people fought amoungst themselves, war would break out, but many times peace would be found once again. However, there was a far worse enemy,"
[after 47 seconds]
"Mother, you shouldn't be saying such things," said your mother while she cleaned the few dishes your family owned. Her face was seet in a grim fashion, graying hairs falling in her eyes.
[after 53 seconds]
"Hush, the children want to hear a story," stated your grandmother, ignoring your mother's wishes.
[after 57 seconds]
"Now, where was I?....Ah,yes. A far worse enemey loomed in the darkness, waiting to take over. Yet, hope still remained for where there is an enemy, there is a hero too, heroes infact,"
[after 63 seconds]
"Who were the heroes grandma?"
[after 67 seconds]
"Guardians, ancient beings with the life purpose of defending mankind," she began to draw a symbol in the sand. The swooping motions of the symbol brought peace to your racing heart.
[after 73 seconds]
"What were they like?" asked your brother, sucking on his finger.
[after 76 seconds]
"They were strong, and merciful. They gave us free will while defending us from our oppressors.."
[after 80 seconds]
"Do they still exist?"
[after 82 seconds]
Your grandmother leaned forward and smiled.
[after 85 seconds]
"Not many remember they existed, many believe they're just a myth. What do you think little one?"
[after 90 seconds]
"I..." you gaze at the symbol in the sand.
[after 92 seconds]
"I think they exist,"
[after 94 seconds]
"Enough!" yelled your mother, moving her feet through the symbol, erasing the design. Your mother and grandmother conitnued to bicker, but your eyes stayed glued to the blank spot where the symbol once was.
* ~~[[Exit Flashback - To Field]]~~
* ~~[[Exit Flashback - To corridor]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
You dismiss the symbol,it couldn't possibly be what you though it was.
[after 7 seconds]
They were a myth, just a bed time story your grandmother would tell you. Shaking your head at your own naivity you continue through the field.
* ~~[[Continue through Field]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
You decide to explore the outside of the fortress.
[after 5 seconds]
It's easy to navigate thanks to the clear sky and the moonlight that showered the land and fortress.
[after 10 seconds]
There doesn't appear to be many entrances besides the main one, where the gates are wide open.
[after 15 seconds]
Even though the world seeems to be absence of life like you, vines have scaled the walls and hang beautifully in the light.
* ~~[[Go back to entrance]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
You look around you trying to find a landmark or place you regonized.
[after 5 seconds]
All you see is the forest and the enight sky filled with stars, nothing more.
[after 10 seconds]
The trail doesn't start where you found yourself, so you decide to find where it leads in the other dirction.
* ~~[[Path to Field]]~~
* ~~[[Path to Mountain]]
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
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--
You go back to the entrance.
* ~~[[Go in]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
Your memory fades and you once again stand in the moonlite field.
[after 5 seconds]
_Could this be? Could this be where the guardians existed?_
* ~~[[Touch the breastplate]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
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--
You continue through the fortress and see a torn and singed sigil hanging above the entrance to a long dark corridor.
* ~~[[Sit down and rest]]~~
* ~~[[Go down corridor]]~~
* ~~[[Experience Flashback]]~~
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--
* ~~[[Go down corridor]]~~
* ~~[[Experience Flashback]]~~
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--
* ~~[[Go down corridor]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]~~
* ~~[[Restart]]
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--