Bonus Halloween content said:
Dear readers, are you confused? You have a right to be.
While I'm no psychologist, I'm going to hazard a guess that you're feeling some loss right now. It's quite all right. Think of this as an MTV special, or one of those psychological studies they do in college. You are a subject in an experiment. You have been pre-tested to elicit certain reactions.
Do you feel depressed? Anxious? Confused? I'm not asking whether or not you feel those emotions. I'm asking -- do you FEEL anything at all? Are you numb? Cold? Dead inside?
This is the human condition.
You might be wondering, where are the instructions on how to escape this book? They're not here. This isn't a choose-your-own-adventure. You can't escape. You can't fight. You can't win. You can't get a happy ending.
Welcome to your new life.
You pause, and look around. The darkness is still there. The sky rumbles. Your head itches. It's not safe here, but there should be time for a short conversation, and you have questions you need to ask. This woman isn't the one you're here to rescue, but why does she remind you so much of Ai-chan?
You decide it'll be easier to ask.
"I'm looking for my friend, Ai-chan," you say. "Can you help me find her?"
Ai-chan, or K23, is still looking off into the distance. She doesn't look at you. The sky above you grows darker still, and a faint smell of ozone reaches your nose.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know her," she says.
"She looks a lot like you," you insist. "She's younger, and she has green hair made up into buns, and red eyes."
"I'm not that familiar with my own face... I don't think..." She frowns. "I think I'd remember someone like that. Who is she to you?
That's a good question. Who is she to you, really? The ship's AI, for sure, but she's... more than that.
"She's my friend," you say.
K23 looks surprised at that, then smiles weakly.
"Then I'm sorry. I'm not your friend. Not anymore."
Her voice sounds hurt, lonely, but accepting.
You hear some noise coming from above you. K23 twirls around, and stares up into the sky. You follow her gaze.
From above, a beam of light shines down through the sky. It's... Well, it looks beautiful. Much like the aurora over the skies of Japan, way back when you lived there. That's probably what this is... An aurora, in conceptual space.
You gaze in wonder at the shifting colours and patterns. The sky itself seems to be tearing open, as what seems to be a solid pillar of light comes through the fabric of reality. You shield your eyes from its brilliant glare.
Something, or *someone* is here... but not *here*. Whoever it is, exists in real space, or... in what passes for reality, now. What you're seeing is the barest hint of their existence, where it overlaps with concepts of restriction.
Whatever they are, they're not human. They're even less human than you.
Kot-Inakubara is a codex of the written and spoken language of the Youkai. In other words, it's their bible.
Yukikaze is the name of a legendary sword. Literally meaning "snowstorm", this blade is said to be able to cut through anything, and never lose its edge.
Both of those concepts are manifesting in front of you, inside this pillar of what seems like light. It might be dangerous, is what you'd say, if you had a painfully weak sense of danger. You can sense Velonia wanting you to run away, but...
You're drawn towards it. You're not sure why, but you can't help yourself. These concepts aren't real, aren't made from anything real, but they're so beautiful.
You want to reach out and touch them.
Velonia is screaming at you to not go forward, but you don't listen. Why should you listen to some voice in your head? If you want to go forward, then it's what you want to do. Isn't it?
You expect the voice in your head to get angry, maybe smack you upside the head. Even if it doesn't stop you physically, it usually manages to convince you not to go through with something, but it doesn't. She doesn't. It. She. No--
You throw yourself back, away from the monstrosity.
"Vel?" You say, nearly panicked. Something's wrong with your head. You want to rip it off and throw it away, or better yet keep throwing it until you reach the sun, and then keep going until you reach hell itself--
Velonia materializes behind you, her arms around your waist. She strokes your face slowly, with the care someone might give to a wounded animal.
"It's alright, Seele. It's alright, just... shhh."
Velonia looks up at the pillar of light. You follow her gaze. Inside it you can see... something. It looks like... a galaxy?
"Vel," you say, your voice shaking. "What... what are we looking at?"
Vel looks down at you and smiles. It's not her usual one that she flashes at people-- a smirk, a little teasing but showing off her pearly whites, even if everyone but you sees only a shadow.
This one's real. She smiles at you with concern, but warmth.
"The future, unfortunately. Come on. We need to get out of here."
You stare at the pillar of light. It's beautiful, in a haunting sort of way. The galaxy inside is moving and shifting, alive in some impossible way. It looks familiar... doesn't it? A little like Kiana, a lot not like Kiana, and far harsher than she should be.
Vel helps you move away, and the light folds in on itself and disappears as you leave that section of configuration-space.
"What... what was that?" you ask, shaken.
"Well, that was a problem," Vel says, frowning. "Come on, let's go."
"Where?" you ask, helplessly.
"Anywhere but here," she says.
You shake your head. "That was Kiana, wasn't it?"
"It wasn't."
"It was! I saw it, I felt it!"
"You didn't see anything. We're nearly in the quantum sea. Your senses are untrustworthy to begin with... that wasn't Kiana, Seele."
You stand up and take a deep breath, calming yourself. And what about K23? You think she left, but you didn't see her leave.
"Alright. Thanks, Vel," you say. "Let's go."
"Don't mention it," she replies, pulling you by the hand.
You let her lead you, all the way from the piece of possible-realities you turned into dust, through the nightmarish maze of corridors and back into the normal, physical ship. Even Vel doesn't protest -- you need it, and you'll be much safer if you can find your friends here. As much as it might be safe-ish to set off on your own, you'd go insane from loneliness in a hurry, and you think she knows that.
That, or maybe she's worried about them as well. Larger miracles have happened.
It's to that happy thought that you turn a corner, and stop, looking at an open security door. Why is that odd? Well, it's open. Why is that odd?
You slip out of touch with reality slightly, like a geartooth glitching. The door is closed, a bar of red light across it indicating it's locked down for whatever reason.
This is a door, so it's open.
It's closed and locked, but it's open.
You step through it, looking at the other side. Nothing useful, just some ammunition and an open door leading to a crew quarter. If you were to guess, you've broken the concept of locking in general. There's no-one there, though.
"Seele, this isn't funny. Stop messing around."
You giggle, as you step back through it. The door closes, and the lock closes with it. The door remains open.
"See? There it goes," you say.
Vel swears at you, which is amusing in its own right. This, of course, leads to more giggling from you.
"Okay, but what do we do about this?" you ask.
"We need to tell someone. This is important for... Well, survival."
"Fine," you sigh. "I was hoping to find someone else anyway. At least it'll be easier to move around now."
= = =
I don't even.
[ ] Go to the crew quarters
[ ] Go to engineering
[ ] Go to the bridge
[ ] Write-in
