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<h1>Lost World</h1> A short, interactive, text-based story. [[Click here to start.->intro]]

Unfortunately for you, His Majesty the Emperor has called upon your services one last time. He is thankful for the glory and land advancements you have brought to his empire, the Emperor begins, and he believes you have solidified in history an example of a true hero. He will deify you, the Emperor promises, if you accept his one last (link-reveal: "request.")[(transition:"fade")[<br><br> There is another great region of land that the Usipuidel Empire has yet to conquer: the (text-colour:#a27b5c)[''Graedland'']. It's notorious for being nearly completely uninhabitable, it has been for *centuries*, but it cuts directly through the southern border of neighboring Drustelia. The Kingdom of Drustelia had been a reliable trade partner for the last few decades, but they've shrinked back on their partnership in response to your crusades. <br> The pressure of impending invasion may push Drustelia to rethink their decisions.](transition:"fade")[<br><br>So? <br><br>[[Accept his offer. -> accept]]]] [[Decline his offer. -> reject]]

You reject the Emperor's proposition. (after:1s)[(transition:"fade")[At first, the Emperor is taken aback. He stammers through his terms again — deification, eternal glory, statues of your figure erected everywhere —]] (after:2s)[(transition:"fade")[You stand firm.]] (after:3s)[(transition:"fade")[The Emperor appears slightly dejected, but reluctantly sends you away. ]] (after:5s)[(transition:"fade")[You bow deeply to him, before rising and turning on your heel to stride out the palace doors. The doors thud shut behind you, then you tip your head up to gaze at the perfect, blue sky and take in the crisp, clean air. Relief floods your body. At least your retirement is guaranteed. ]] (after:7s)[(transition:"fade")[Fin.]]

You accept the Emperor's proposition. The Emperor's face lights up in joy. “Very well,” he says. The travel arrangements and reconnaissance will be arranged for you in a fortnight. You have two weeks to prepare yourself. As you walk down the steps of the palace leading back down to the streets of the capital, you begin to plan out your next 14 days of preparation. What will you do in this time? [[Research the Graedland.->research]] You should at least know what you’re getting into. [[Wait for your summons.->arrive]]

(set:$knowledge to true) You head to the capital’s library for more information on the Graedland. As General Commander, you have full access to the library’s contents, including the restricted and classified sections. Lucky for you, the Graedland is considered restricted material as to dissuade the common person from thinking they could have a chance at venturing into it alone or with meager commoner supplies. You slide a heavy, leather-bound book out from one of the shelves. Blowing the dust off, it reads the title, “Assorted Maps of the Northern Territories.” The librarian’s assistant gives you a look over when you check the book out, but she says nothing. For the next two weeks, you pore over any information related to the Graedland. You learn of the civilization that inhabited the land before the empire, of its gods and sparse culture. By the end of it, you feel ''thoroughly prepared''. [[Continue.->arrive]]

(set: $chance to (random:1,100)) (if: $chance is >= 50)[ (set:$food to $food + (a:"ration") + (a:"ration")) [You and your team have collected rations for two days.]] (else:)[You and your team couldn't find any food, no matter how hard you tried.] [[Return. ->init]]

It is Day (print:$time). You have (print:$food's length) days worth of rations. What will you plan to do? [[Explore->explore]]. We were sent to uncover the mysteries of this land. [[Scavenge->scavenge]]. We can't do anything without food.

(set:$event to (a:1, 2, 3, 4, 5)) (set:$display to $event's (random:1,$event's length)) (if:$knowledge is true or $find is 5)[ You make your way to the next location; you can't explain it, but you know that this exploration mission will be different. You make your way [[onwards->encounter]].] (else-if:$display is 1)[(set:$random to it -1)(set:$find to $find +1)[You and your team found the remains of a great building.]] (else-if:$display is 2)[(set:$random to it - 2)(set:$find to $find +1)[You and your team encountered a weathered figurine. It has no face or any discernable features.]] (else-if:$display is 3)[(set:$random to it - 3)(set:$find to $find +1)[You and your team found some shattered pottery.]] (else-if:$display is 4)[(set:$random to it - 4)(set:$find to $find +1)[You and your team discovered old scraps of clothing.]] (else-if:$display is 5)[(set:$random to it - 5)(set:$find to $find +1)[You and your team found troughs of earth dug into the ground.]] [[Return to camp.->init]]

(set:$time to $time + 1) (set:$food to $food - (a:$food's 1st)) (if:$food is an empty)[ (goto:"starve") ] (goto:"main")

You encounter a temple in significantly better condition than the ones you've already seen. A patch of green grass sways innocuously in the wind, as if unaware of the poisoned brush and cracked earth just adjacent to it. Of course, seeing such life in the Graedland should be cause for alarm, and you *do* feel the first shivers of dread climb up your spine, yet the temptation of life in a desolate wasteland is too much to bear. (after:2s)[(transition:"fade")[You and your team head inside. Ukhosa and Raescin flank your sides, while Hearnata and Alekyhe trail behind. The two Sergeant Minors are white-knuckling the swords tucked into their belts.]] (after:4s)[(transition:"fade")[Upon entering, you are first greeted with low flickering light from the four oil lamps posted in each corner of the temple. The structure is quite simple, a grand staircase marks the temple's only ascent onto an elevated floor. The steps are quite rough, except for the shoe-shaped grooves where thousands of feet made their tracks. Your own boot slides perfectly inside the grooves.]] (after:6s)[(transition:"fade")[A towering statue dominates the rest of the empty temple space, its painted and cracked face smiling up into the distance, the light from the lamps casting ghastly shadows on it. Its cupped hands are raised up and out, the remnants of whatever it held crumbling through its rotten fingers. [[Continue.->talking]] ]]

The day has come. You and your compatriots, (text-colour:#a27b5c)['' Brigadier Lieutenant Ukhosa''] and (text-colour:#a27b5c)[''Captain Major Raecsin''], along with two other (text-colour:#a27b5c)['' Sergeant Minors, Hearnata and Alekyhe''], are tasked with exploring the Graedland and reporting your findings back to the Emperor, the first reconnaissance mission the Graedland has had in centuries. Your departure is quiet and covert, unlike the huge military parades you have become accustomed to. The sound of trumpets and drums from decades ago rings in your ears. You’ll never forget your first military campaign, and you doubt you’ll ever forget this survey either. You’re first carted onto the empire’s major railroad line. The train you’re taking will bring you to the northernmost city. A part of you wants to feel honored by the occasion, but you can’t shake the feeling that the Emperor has just sent you and your compatriots to your deaths. You are taken from the train station onto a carriage for the duration of the trip. You are told that this will only take you as far as the farmland adjacent to the empire’s northern border. Ukhosa sneers and whispers something about "incompentent bueraucracy". The rest of your compatriots look just as haggard as you feel, so you elect to not berate her for her insubordination. The horse-drawn carriage you’re in slows to a rough stop. The cabin curtain is lifted and you get a good view of the place you’ll be stranded in for the foreseeable future. [[Continue->departure]] (set:$food to (a:"one","two","three","four","five","six","seven")) (set:$time to 0) (set:$event to 0)

The first thing that you notice is the silence. There is no noise in the Graedland, apart from your footsteps crunching on the crumbling, long-dead grass. Not even the chatter of rats or the suggestion of a bird flitting through the cracked, gnarled trees. The Graedland is cold. It is dark. And damp. It feels like all the misery in the world was taken and consolidated in this place. Your group sets up camp wordlessly. You look up at the sunless sky and inhale deeply. This is where you will call home for the foreseeable future. [[Start.->init]]

A horrible groaning noise fills the temple, the vicious squeal of rock grinding on rock fills your ears. You look back up at the statue and it looks back at you. Its stone eyes are dead and cold. It speaks, the sound of its voice like glass shattering, reverbrating through the enclosed space: "Speak, mortal. Why do you seek my counsel today?" [[Ask for the statue's name. -> ask]] [[State your intentions. ->truth]]

//"We ask for your name, my lord."// You think you can see the statue straighten ever so slightly. “I am Oleus. I command the land and bless it with my harvest. The only mortals who inhabit this land are my people, yet... you know not of me and waver not in my presence. You are not from here, am I correct? I would prefer if you remained transparent with your intentions, //invader//.” Ukhosa and Raescin exchange an uneasy expression. [[Lie to Oleus. ->lie]] [[Admit the truth.->truth]]

*We are the Exploratory Platoon of the Usipuidel Empire, here to traverse your lands,* you say. *We mean no ill will.* You're not sure how long that last statement will hold true. "Yes!" Hearnata pipes up behind you, and you glance down to see her hand creak further on the hilt of her sword. "Yes! We are only here to--to assess the land! We will not harm you!" Raescin, Ukhosa, and Alekhye murmur in accord. Oleus mutters, seemingly deaf to your explanations. "But my people... you are not (link-reveal:"//them.//")[ <br> "You wouldn't understand, or would you?" Oleus' eyes are possessed with a novel frenzy. "You've done something to them, haven't you? That's why they haven't spoken to me... I have been silent for *centuries*. Why should I believe you, you foreigners who trample upon this holiest land?"] [[Continue.->bad2]]

"*We are your people,*" you say. It's wholly unconvincing: a group of strange people in strange garb all armed to the teeth? But maybe Oleus was a peacetime god, maybe he was not familiar with the tribulations of war. You think you can hear Oleus' breath stutter in its marble vessel. However false you sounded to yourself, Oleus seems to not have caught on it. "I don't believe it. They have been silent for centuries. Even I am not so foolish to assume that mortals have discovered immortality." (if:$knowledge is true)[[[Explain yourself.->good]] You silently thank the research you did before this mission.] (else:)[[[Remain silent.->bad2]] What do you say? You weren't hinging on this possiblity.]

"//Yes//," you reply, "//it was... harsh.//" Your words pass through with difficulty. You were shaped into a warrior, not an orator. "//Our Lord had forgotten about us. The land became infertile and we were forced to leave. I... We have returned to pay our respects.//" "Yes..." Oleus breathes, nodding his head with a faint creaking noise, "Yes... yes, of course. Of course. It was my fault, wasn't it? I was... negligent in my duties. I have failed you, all of you." He crinks his head to look up at the temple's high, arched ceiling. You follow Oleus' gaze and strain your eyes to see faint inscriptions carved into the stone. "I am but a shell of my former self, unfortunately. I cannot aid you in the manner I wish, yet... [[Continue->end1]]

"I // can't// believe it," Oleus says, his voice creeping into hysteria. "No... no, I //shan't// believe it. You... you are all devils and--and tricksters here to poison my land after you poisoned my people!" As Oleus' rage reaches its limits, the lamps all extinguish, leaving behind the scant smell of ozone and plunging you in darkness. Suddenly, a raucous scream cuts through the stale air, its inhuman noise sharp to your ears. All around you, the temple shudders as the earth underneath your feet warps and twists. You grunt as you try to maintain your balance. "General Commander!" Ukhosa shouts over Oleus' shrieks, gripping your arm to steady you, "We should be leaving! The entire building will collapse on us!" "//Come on!//" you roar to your party. "//Come on! We will die if we keep standing here!//" Your instincts take over, turning you on your heels as you race down the steps, Oleus's wailing following you the entire way. Your boots catch on the rough, uncut edges of the steps, but you manage to make it to the bottom, barreling into the darkness Your fingers grope around blindly in the dark, until your fingernails catch on the lips of the shut doors-- shut? When were they shut?-- before you-- [[Escape!->escape]]

You are the esteemed General Commander (text-colour:#a27b5c)[''Deavhudin''], top and senior general of the (text-colour:#a27b5c)[''Usipuidel Empire''] and singlehandedly responsible for your current emperor's great reign. (after:2s)[(transition:"fade")[Your (text-colour:#a27b5c)[''military strategy''] and (text-colour:#a27b5c)[''battlehardened nerve''] has blessed your empire with sprawling swaths of land, and you are proud to recall your thirty years of service to the empire. You used to fear stepping down from your position, but knowing your impending retirement is creeping over the horizon, you want nothing more than to finally be at peace.]] (after:4s)[(transition:"fade")[The glory of war was a myth you took as gospel, worshipped and revered it and threw away your youth for it. Your body kept the score: your left arm has trouble bending past a certain point, you're nearly blind in your right eye, you're kept awake at night by phantom pains and aching joints — you've aged past your prime and it shows.]] [[Continue->intro2]]

It is Day (print:$time). You have (print:$food's length) days worth of rations. (after:1s)[(transition:"fade")[You have been hungry for longer on the battlefield, yet your stomach begins to twist with the first signs of starvation. Your limbs feel heavy, even with your lightweight leather guards and your empty pack. ]] (after:2s)[(transition:"fade")[You should've known that this could happen. It was a madman's proposal to explore the Graedland, filled with infertile land and devoid of life. If there was no food now, there wouldn't be any for a long, long time.]] (after:5s)[(transition:"fade")[You take a step forward.]] (after:6s)[(transition:"fade")[Maybe this is divine retribution for the unchecked greed in your youth, always hungering for the next battle, the next victory. You would fast on the battlefield, then return home to gorge yourself on the emperor's praises. Yes, maybe this is divine retribution, for your gluttony and his.]] (after:9s)[(transition:"fade")[There would be no report sent back to the emperor after your expedition. There would be no one left to send it. Fin. [[Try again?->reset]] ]]

(set:$food to (a:"one","two","three","four","five","six","seven")) (set:$time to 0) (set:$event to 0) (goto:"main")

Your fingernails slip and nearly lift off with the force of prying the doors open. They creak and groan, but refuse to budge. You're ready to give up hope until the barest sliver of light passes through the crack between the doors. You rear back and send a mighty kick right to the center, cleaving the doors open. [[Run! Leave the temple!->falseend]]

(text-colour:#a27b5c)[''"I suppose I can accomplish this final deed."''] With his final words, Oleus falls silent. His arms are still out stretched, reaching for the unattainable outside and his face pointing skyward. Nothing happens. Perhaps it's good that nothing happens, but soon enough, your team is just standing awkwardly in the middle of the temple. There's nothing left for you here, so you leave to go back outside. [[Continue-->trueend]]

All around you, the land has turned lush and green, waist-high grass and reeds skimming against your leather armor. The silence that blanketed the Graedland still lies heavily over the landscape-- not even the whisper of wind graces the grass stalks-- but the recesses of life have revealed themselves. (after:2s)[(transition:"fade")[Raescin falls to his knees, clawing madly at the ground. The dirt he dredges up is a rich black.]] (after:4s)[(transition:"fade")[Yes, in the matter of years, maybe months, the Graedland would be hospitable once more. You inhale deeply, taking in the smell of fresh soil. ]] (after:5s)[(transition:"fade")[The emperor will be pleased when you return.]] (after:7s)[(transition:"fade")[ Fin. //Achieved True Ending// //Thank you for playing!//]]

You and your team stumble out into the grass. It snaps, dead, under your weight. Wasn't this... alive before? (after:2s)[(transition:"fade")[You look up and around you, stifling a curse under your breath.]] (after:4s)[(transition:"fade")[The entirety of the Graedland looks deader than before, the once brown grass now tainted black and the dirt underneath blanched pale. A sickly sweet smell festers in your nose, its foulness reminding you of an infected wound. The earth has been poisoned.]] (after:6s)[(transition:"fade")[You turn around to face the temple, only to find it reduced to a pile of rubble.]] (after:8s)[(transition:"fade")[Well. The emperor won't be happy about this.]] (after:10s)[(transition:"fade")[Fin. //Achieved False Ending// [[Start over?->intro]] ]]