Body exhausted, you stumble across the blades of grass crunching beneath your feet. At first, you think that’s odd, but you immediately dismiss it. Too many important things to worry about now. The moon is bright overhead, but it barely peeks in through the harsh trees surrounding you with branches lifted up to the sky like claws.
In the distance, you hear screaming and wailing and cringe. People are dying, you think and in that moment, you know:
It could be you.
To stay ahead of the Hunters, you have to keep moving. Either that or you could find a biome and hide there.
What is your choice?
[[Run]]
[[Hide]]Your first and only thought is of water, but you don’t have time to try to stop and look now. You immediately take off running through the woods until your tired muscles can’t take you another step.
Pausing to catch your breath, you look and see towering mountain plateaus in the distance.
Maybe… Maybe if you climbed high enough the Hunters wouldn’t find you. Or should you keep running?
[[Run|Run2]]
[[Climb]]Now, you have to pick a biome to go to. There are only two you can see from where you are through the thick trees: Well, technically, there are three, but the cliffs far to your right don’t look promising. There are caves to your right, pretty close to the gate. And then there are the volcanoes, to your left. It would be difficult to breathe, but maybe the Hunters would avoid you if you got to the other side.
Where do you go?
[[Caves]] or [[volcanoes]]?
Your body has rested long enough, so you continue through the woods. All at once, the woods seem to darken all around you. Shadows form in every direction and when you turn around, you can’t even see the path where you had been going.
Where are you? What happened? Did you run too far?
Before you have a chance to answer, you hear a whistle. You turn to try to figure out where it came from and –
Flick!
Pain erupts in your chest and looking down, you stare at an arrow in shock. It’s protruding out of you as you fall to your knees and another whistle echoes.
Your thoughts blacken.
The rocks cut and slice the flesh on your hands and your limbs violently shake the entire way up. Finally, at last, you reach the first plateau and realize there are several more shaped like that: a rock wall to climb and a plateau to land on above it. You aren’t sure how high up this really goes, but in your mind, the higher the better.
Just as you force your exhausted limbs to move toward the next rock wall, a shape looms from above you.
A man with wings hurls himself at you faster than you can fully comprehend. He slams against you and your back pounds into the rocky ground beneath you.
“Well, I’ll enjoy this,” he says with a sneer as wings as black as a starless sky unfurl behind him.
You grab your sword and try to clang with his, but a single strike from him sends your blade sailing down the mountain. “No…” You murmur as he holds a sword to your throat.
“Pathetic,” he mutters as he slices open your throat.
The caves are dark, almost too dark to see anything. Eventually, you place your hand on the wall to start feeling your way through it. It branches to the right or left, so you choose right and continue following it.
When you tire, to sit to rest and realize that you’re nearly dehydrated. From what you felt on the wall behind you, the walls are damp. Carefully, you feel the wall again, this time with your fingers, then sniff it. It doesn’t smell dangerous.
Should you try it or not?
[[Yes]]
[[No]]
Your limbs are tired from the hike, especially as the volcanoes became steeper and steeper. Ash falls from the sky like rain, pelting your skin, which is hot to the touch. The very air itself seems to burn you, but you continue onward. Blasts of fire shoot from the mouth of the volcano. When they land, they shake the ground, which doesn’t make it easy for you to keep yourself balanced.
A cough forms deep in your chest and forces its way out your throat. You collapse on the ground as more ash piles on top of you in heaps. Your throat is dry, you gasp for air that won’t come, and you vision starts to flicker and fade.
When another breath won’t come, the darkness finally closes in on you.
You place the strange liquid to your lips and try a taste.
Sure enough, it’s water!
You can’t believe it and after all this, you’re so relieved that you laugh and drink more. Eventually, you know you’ll need food, but for now, you can survive in here with plenty of water and no Hunters in sight.
Congratulations, if you’re reading this (and not redoing this more than once), then you’ve won.
You can’t see what type of liquid it is. For all you know, it could kill you. No, you should just keep going. And that’s exactly what you do. You walk until exhaustion takes over, then you sleep and walk some more.
This time, as you continue trekking through the cave, your limbs tremble and you seem to stumble over every rock. At last, you collapse, your throat parched and your tongue try.
You close your eyes and sleep comes to you. It stays with you, forever.
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