Wake Up

[WhoAmEye]

You are - [UNKNOWN] -, a... well, frankly you don't remember. But you do know one thing...
You need to...




Special thanks to @dragonkid11 for making the title image! Also special thanks to @hellgodsrus for being the best beta!

Spoiler: Index

First steps
Seek
Reach Out
Touch Faith
Invictus
Smile
Message in a Bottle
Fight Back
Walkabouts
Assimilation
Examination!

 

[WhoAmEye]

A dream. A dream? What do we define as a dream?

-.-.-

I don't know. The facility here is so dark. Why can't I remember anything?

There's filth under my feet. The tattered gown is blowing in the cold wind that isn't there.

There's a light overhead, I think. It's flickering. Buzz... buz-buz buzz... Everything is overgrown. Vines... vines everywhere. Leaves, too. There's even a mirror caked with grime at the end of the hall. My hair is long... too long... why? I don't remember this. I don't remember anything.

I turn around. There's a white cell. Pristine. Cold. Clinical. White walls forever and ever and ever.

The tiles are cracked and stained.

Two paths... it's a T junction. I remember that.

It's cold in here.

[X] Write In

 

[WhoAmEye]

Spoiler: Winning Votes

Mirror. Vines.

To dream is to imagine, is it not?

-.-.-

I take a stuttered step forward. My feet hurt. My whole body is numb. There... There had to be a way out of here, right? My head hurts.

The way out doesn't matter yet. There's no danger here.

Vines are everywhere. They rustle silently in a breeze that isn't here, all of them seeming to shift slightly as I gaze upon them. How... odd. I reach out to touch one of their dark green, spade-shaped leaves, and it almost seems to shy away.

Useless... useless to me.

The mirror though, that... that could be...

What do I even look like? One should know oneself above all others.

Everything hurts, but it's dull. My fringe keeps covering my face. The tiles are cold and send chills up my spine. It's so eerily quiet here... where are the - the - the...
Why can't I remember?

I reach the mirror, and start trying to clean it. The muck gets all over my hands - I wipe it off with my sleeve instead. My poor, tattered sleeve.

Finally... Clarity.

My hair is... dark. And long. Almost to my knees. My skin is pale, but not milky white. And my eyes... so milky white... As though I didn't have irises.
I blink.

My reflection doesn't.

-.-.-

[X] Write In

 

[WhoAmEye]

Spoiler: Winning Votes

Poke the mirror.

Under certain definitions. To Dream is so much more than that, Jacob.

-.-.-

I recoil, and it tracks my movements. This - what is this? Why - how -

It stares at me. It - it never blinks. The silence in the air is stifling. I dare not look away, not now.

The two paths are... dark. They lack the total darkness I would expect from a place with no light source, but they are merely shadowed. A chill runs up my spine. It is far too cold in here.

I take a step forward. The reflection hasn't moved, aside from tilting its head to stare at me. But it changes. Ever so slightly.

The eye sockets become darker. The hair starts to move on its own, up and away from its face - the cold wind has become a gale as I reach out. Touch it, touch it -

I'm shaking, merely millimetres away from contact. I - I have to do this.

PAINPAINPAINPAIN -

The mirror shatters as I touch it, the sound of breaking glass impossibly loud and eternally continuous as I stagger back, holding the spurting, bleeding stump where my left hand had just been. It was so cold so cold it was burning it was too hot it HURT -

The Reflection was split into many. So many teeth. So many teeth.

The only thing I can hear is the rapid beating of my heart in my ears. TH-thump TH-thump TH-thump.

Seventeen shards of glass. Seventeen Reflections gnawing on my hand. It's too quiet in here. Too quiet.

A scream echoes down the halls.

Was that mine?

-.-.-

[X] Write In

 

[WhoAmEye]

Spoiler: Winning Votes

[X] OW MOTHERFUCKER WHY
-[X] Try to wrench my hand back (Reading Comprehension is important!)
--[X] Try and stop the bleeding stump if possible
-[X] Back away from the hell mirror. Check out the other end of the hall maybe? Hope it isn't worse than the hand-eating mirror?

Professor, surely you don't mean...

-.-.-

Fucking fuckity FUCK! FUCK THAT HURTS!

I'm beginning to remember something through the pain. I - I think it might be emotion.

Anger.

A small thing, but it was something. I growl, getting to my feet and charging at the mirror. The - the twisted Reflection inside recoils as I throw my fist into the shattered mirror - it still hasn't fallen from the wall -

PAIN-

It has both my hands now. All of them are fighting over it, feasting upon it. I can feel something like bile rising in my throat. B- bad idea. My arms and legs and stumps are shaking as I scramble away cross the cold, dirty tiles. Why can't I hear anything? Th- there had to have been a scream just moments ago I heard it!

... didn't I?

I clutch my bleeding stumps to my chest, staining my tattered gown with a dark, deathly red. My feet feel wet. I -

I crash to the floor, slipping on my own blood. This is not good.

I must be imagining things it's s-so quiet here it's too quiet. I should hear the leaves rustling I should hear the monster chewing on my flesh I should -

The cell. The cell the cell the cell.

Pristine white. Clean. Endless.

I step into it.

The walls are...

The walls aren't.

There's red liquid pooling at my feet, a small trail sizzling behind me. This room is not-

I must be getting delirious. My body is becoming... unresponsive...

At least... I am away... from that...

-.-.-

[X] Write In

 

[WhoAmEye]

Spoiler: Winning Votes

[X] Your hands are not gone, for they were never there. There is no blood, for there were no veins to cut. This is your will, and thus it shall be. (You guys do realise if this works you'll lose your Hands, right?)
- [X] (repeat as many times as needed to enforce will upon reality)
- [X] Leave the mirror alone. You're an amnesiac, not an idiot.

To Dream is to control the Nightmare.

-.-.-

I... If... If I didn't have hands, then I don't have any to bleed now, right? There's... no... no harm in trying, right?

My hands are not gone, for there were never here. There is no blood, for there were no veins to cut...

This is my will. Thus, it shall be.

This is my will. Thus... it shall be.

I feel so cold.

This is my... it shall...

When did I close my Eyes...

Be.

-.-.-

I wake with a gasp. Hands hands hands - I grasp at my face and relief floods through my body. It doesn't matter that I'm still in this room of infinite whiteness, that the Mirror at the end of the hall is still there, for I am alive and whole again!

I can't believe that worked. I'm... I'm ecstatic! Hah! Take that, world, you're mine!

Though...

That doesn't help me... I'm not sure what to do now. My heart is still racing yet -

The Mirror is whole again.

The Reflection is there, whole and with milky white eyes. Lips bright, a crimson red. Smiling.

Watching.

I have to get out of here.

I have to do something.

-.-.-

[X] Write In

 

[WhoAmEye]

Spoiler: Winning Votes

[X] Make like a tree and leaf.
-[X] Look down each hallway to search for obvious traps

Sir, controlling the Nightmares is impossible-

-.-.-

The floor leading up to the Mirror is bloodied. There's a trail, pools of it. The largest pool is a dark red, under the mirror. The Reflection was smiling.

The vines seem to be crawling down the walls ever so slowly, shying away as I glance at them. I - I see the tiniest fresh vines lapping at the trails. It - it looks as though something large and bleeding heavily was dragged... through the hall...

Why is it so quiet? The sound of my heart beating in my ears is gone. My footsteps are silent. The mirror laughs, and I can't hear it at all. It's... it's gone. It's all gone.

I have to get out of here.

I take cautious steps, doing my best not to slip and fall. The front of my gown is still red. So so red. I reach out to put a hand on the wall to steady myself, and the vines recoil. They don't want me touching them. But plantlife should not move like that.

Glancing at the mirror again, the Reflection waves. No teeth. No sunken, shadowed eyes. A smile with lush, crimson lips - female. Female.

I remember - I - we- female. I throw my hair over my shoulders, keeping it out of my face. We're female, the Reflection and I.

I nearly slip as I'm forced to take a step through a small pool of red - it's seeping into the grout between the tiles. Staining them even more. It's fresh. I shiver, my breath forming clouds of steam in front of me.

She's so close now. I could reach out and touch her - if it wasn't such a bad idea. She'd bite my hands off again. I just know it.

The right hall is... short. I brace myself, trailing a hand along the right wall, following it. From the cell to the mirror was ten steps. This junction - I get two steps before it turns right again. It's so dark. It's suffocating me. I can breathe but it just feels wrong. Two more steps. The soft glow of another flickering lightbulb to my... right.

This can't be real.

Two more steps forward. I should be able to look left and see my cell. I should be able to look right and see the Mirror. This is not possible.

This-

I back away, hitting the corner. It's still so silent.

On my right, the glow from my cell and the light outside it. On my left... the impossible hallway with it's own flickering light. They were even in the same positions.

The left hall I have to try the left hall -

The Reflection never takes her eyes off me as I take a wide berth around her.

This hall has a different light. Orange. It turns off for three seconds then flickers on for one. There's... writing, on the wall. No vines.

I was so hungry

thank you

The light turns off and I feel ice at my back.

-.-.-

[X] Write In

 

[WhoAmEye]

Spoiler: Winning Votes

[X] The fuck is this noneuclidian bullshit?
-[X] tear off a piece of the sleeve and drop it in front of me. Turn around, walk two steps, turn around, walk back.
--[X] if it isn't there, repeat the process until the cloth shows up again.

Nothing is Impossible, Jacob. Especially not within the Dream.

-.-.-

The light flickers on again.

my name is Faith

That is decidedly disturbing.

The feeling of someone breathing down my neck intensifies. This. This is not good. Fucking bullshit not good. With a shaking hand I tear a strip of cloth from my tattered sleeve, and drop it. I take a single, deep breath.

And I turn around.

Nothing.

The light flickers off as I take two steps forward, back to the Mirror. She's in there, hanging on the wall with a simple wooden frame. Smiling. Licking her lips but the red doesn't go away. There's a hunger in her eyes. W- was she the one named Faith? What was my name?

The light flickers on again and I turn around - the cloth is gone. Where could it- why- how?!

.... fucking bullshit.

I feel angry again.

The tiles on the floor are slick, wet with blood of god knows who. They're cold, like ice, despite the red steam rising. It's an effort not to slip over with every step.

There's more writing on the wall. It changes every time the light flickers.

I missed you

Wh- what. She- that- it knows me?! There's a cracked bone lying on the floor under the message. It looks like... a femur? Thigh bone. The big one... but it's cracked, the marrow sucked out. And it's sharp. Why would she arm me, after what she's taken from me? Where did the bone even come from?

I walk over to it. It-

The light flickers off and the feeling of ice returns.

The light flickers on again. The cloth is back. I pick it up and turn it over in my hands. Its warm. Too warm. And there's writing on it.

Don't lose your head. I'll need it when I get there.

-.-.-.-

[X] Write In

 

[WhoAmEye]

Spoiler: Winning votes

Pick up the femur. Show the vines who's boss by cutting up some of them. Think about turning the Mirror into a shield, or the vines into rope.

Professor, you cannot - it's not right!

-.-.-

I stuff the note in my pocket. Someone else is out there, coming for me. I'll need to arm myself.

The femur... it feels familiar. Too familiar. The knobbly part makes it difficult to hold properly, but I manage a decent grip. The light continues to flicker but I ignore it, just as I do with the feeling of ice. The feeling of something breathing down my neck.

It's still so silent here.

The writing on the wall changes.

be careful

... why... why would Faith want me to be careful? She ate my hands. Nothing around here makes sense - but then again, she seems to be... a part of here. There's more I need to do though. Even if she suddenly seems... helpful, I refuse to touch the glass again.

Now the vines- They are a lot thicker than I remember them being. Darker, too. And... the pools of blood - I'm beginning to suspect my blood - are a lot smaller than I remember. The stained tiles concur.

Roots. They had to be roots of some kind, drinking.

My grip tightens on my improvised weapon.

I glance at Faith. She's licking her lips hungrily. Waiting.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now or never.

The vines still shy away from my gaze, but... not my attempts to grab them. It is as though they are distracted.

I shrug. Good enough for me.

Now... I stand under the light, and reach out with my left hand, and grab a handful of - OW OW OW PAIN! The fuckers wrap around my wrist and stab into my skin, I can - I can feel them squirming in my veins as they go from bright green to a brownish tinge as they - they fill with fluid, thickening and hurting-

I jerk back and start slashing wildly with the sharp end of the femur, as high as I can, as close to the wall as I can get it. The vines shiver and flail, a bedazzling display of shaking leaves. It hurts it hurts it hurts!

I can feel the jagged 'blade' of the bone catch and tear through something. Good, that- ow ow ow- means I got- ow!- something!

Twisting around, I start slashing at the vines on the other side too. Hacking away at them. My blade strikes the tiles behind them many times but never seems to collide.

I stand there, dripping red from my arm as I yank out the vines. The... bastard things... I'm starting to feel woozy again. But the vines are gone, retreating into the cracks in the walls and ceiling.

The small pile of greenery at my feet is promising. A lot of long, green, leafy string. Testing them reveals a surprising amount of stretch, and I'm not strong enough to make them break from tension alone.

I smile.

This went much better than expected.

-.-.-

[X] Write In

 

[WhoAmEye]

Spoiler: Winning Votes

[X] Check our wound. Hopefully, we're not bleeding too much.
-[X] And make sure weird seeds or something aren't trying to grow in us. We don't need plant-tentacles or trees popping out of us.
[X] Coil the 'rope' up, maybe even tie it around our waist if we can.
[X] Keep walking.

I'm afraid that Progress must be made. Prepare Sixteen for-

-.-.-

I'm still bleeding…

It's not too bad so far, and it's starting to slow.

… might be starting to slow.

An odd thought occurs to me. What if the bastard things had laid seeds in me?! I press my fingers against the muscle around the hole, feeling about for odd lumps that shouldn't be there - like that one!

Another thought occurs. How am I supposed to get it out? A wave of nausea passes over me. They - they're wriggling inside my arm - I blink in surprise as the bleeding stops and several small green tendrils sprout from the holes.

Yeah… no. No no no no no NO.

It takes a while, but I slowly figure out that getting the ends to wrap around my finger before pulling will yank out the entire seed. And it's… unfinished root system. God, it hurts so bad.

But in a dulled way. Had to be the stupid vines.

In total there were… eight. Eight of the squirmy little suckers inside me. They're now in a little pile on the ground, about to be crushed by the knobbly end of the femur.

Crunch, crunch, they make the most delightful splatters of sap on the tiles. A few of them were proving annoyingly difficult to smash… bleh. I pull the scrap of cloth out of my pocket and carefully wrap up the remaining seeds. Maybe Faith would enjoy dealing with them.

I fling them at her, and the look of delight on her face as they… disappear into her Mirror fills me with… mixed emotions. Maybe that wasn't such a great idea. But she seemed happy. Maybe that'd mean she'd try to eat me less.

Oh well. At least where I was going, she couldn't follow.

… I hope.

I spend a little bit of time tying the dead vines - still surprisingly strong and… fresh - end to end, forming one great long rope roughly… twenty, twenty-five paces long? It's not very thick, but it'll work.

I wrap it around my waist several times, but there's still… quite a bit left. So I wrap it over my chest and shoulders in a cross. The leaves are annoying, but I could get rid of them later.

I had exploring to do.

As I get to the corner, I glance back at Faith. She gives me a smile and a wave.

Left hall. Light flickers off. Take a deep breath.

Light flickers on.

GOOD LUCK

I hiccup and jump. Good god it's- it's written in big swathes, like someone dipped their palm in the pool and used that to write instead of their finger.

I glare at Faith. She has the inhuman decency to look slightly bashful as she hid her luscious red smile behind her hand, shoulders shaking as though she was giggling - I must be deaf. It's so silent. She gave me another teensy wave - and I spot two bleeding holes in her wrist.

I shudder. Best to- best to just get on with exploring.

The light flickers off. The next light flickers on. Or… does it? As I stand under it, the light from Faith's hallway is gone. I shiver. The feeling of ice is gone, thankfully. It was almost like… someone was watching over my shoulder.

I hold up the femur, like it's a torch. … it's not a torch though. I shift a little, holding it out in front of me like a sword. Better… but not by much.

As I move forward, the encroaching, impenetrable darkness seems to desist.

Light. Wait, what?

There's a cross junction up ahead. My hall, left, right, straight ahead. There's light, plain, unflickering. It looks… distant. I slowly step forward, noting the coldness of the tiles underfoot.

They're oddly well-maintained, here. All the tiles are shining in the darkness, reflective.

A second T junction past the Cross. I ignore that for now, instead heading towards the light. The door is slightly ajar, but the light is comforting. Something dependable. I might be able to get in there and get some rest.

This hall is much more overgrown. Tree roots break apart the floor and the walls are near coated in moss. There are pods hanging from the ceiling, ones I might be able to poke down with the femur.

As I cautiously walk down the hall, I notice another offshoot. This is a T junction as well. If I was looking from the bottom of the T, I'd be on the… right hand side. Nice to know, I suppose.

… Actually, I should take a quick peek down there, too. I get the feeling that the channels here are… solid? Static?

I walk down the side hall - there's another room, darker and more… inky? It's difficult to describe. Darker than everything else. The halls have taken on an eerie glow, dull fluorescent tubes overhead lighting my way despite the - the patches of grass and dirt underfoot. It tickles. Opposite the room, there's another hall. And just past that there's yet another hall. I can't see the end of either.

There's a sign of some kind, old, faded. I can't make it out in such terrible lighting.

Finally, I reach the end of this path. Only to find a single corner. If this goes on long enough, it'd intersect with the flickering orange light. I lean against the wall, and peek around showing as little of me as possible.

The flickering orange light is there. But there's a shadow, hanging in the air under it. The air around it is frosted and misty. Condensation is gathering on the tiles near it. I can see a mask of some kind, through the back of its ghostly head. That- that means it's facing away from me, right?

Behind it there are two more slightly ajar doors I can see, that open into the hall. More rooms?

Off for three seconds.

On for one.

It's looking at me.

Off for three. My heart is left pounding in my chest.

On for one.

It hasn't moved.

I back away.

-.-.-

[X] Write In

Spoiler: MAP! Warning: Very crude

The Red Square is Faith's Mirror.
The Grey Star is the sign.
The Orange Star is the flickering orange light, with the icy feeling and the blood writing on the wall from Faith. Also where we got our bone!



Best map so far, credit to @Nevill