This is more about the game's prototype, rather than the full version of the game.
UPDATE: This is going to remain a one-shot. I just can't continue writing it.
Combust
It feels like a day since I woke up in the small wooden boat, silently floating in the sea of blood that was accompanied by the thick mist that hung over it. Needless to say, I was completely disoriented at the time, immediately bombarding myself with questions that I couldn't answer. Where was I? How'd I get here? Why is there a sea of blood? How is this boat moving on its own? Where is it going?
Who was I?
I eventually stopped asking said questions, knowing that they'd only make things more difficult. I started waiting for the boat to arrive at…wherever it was supposed to arrive at. It wasn't pleasant: there wasn't a lot of space, a disgusting smell hung in the air (probably from the blood) and I was constantly on edge. Despite the mist (probably) hiding me from sight, I was a sitting duck.
I was so relieved when I saw land. The boat's speed had increased moments before, and it practically flew to the shore. It went so fast that it completely broke upon impact, but I didn't care. I was free, I thought.
How wrong I was.
The boat was only meant to transport me to my new prison. And now I'm here, looking at a goldish light that shone in the distance. Somehow, it completely disregarded the fog that obscured the majority of the place. Knowing I had little choice, I started going towards it, hoping that it'd help me in some way.
Pain rose up in my legs when I began walking. It had been a while since they had been active, and there had been little room to put them in that tiny boat. I managed to ignore the pain and continued on, slightly bothered by the ominous environment. Dead trees with sharp branches emerged from the mist, their still figures looking ghostly and threatening. The hard ground had a few patches of grass on them, some of which were crushed by fallen tree trunks.
Still following the light, I climbed a hill that looked about as bleak as the rest of my surroundings. When I made it to the top, I finally found the light's source: a fire, resting on a neatly stacked bunch of wood. I barely winced when I saw that the wood was surrounded by a collection of what appeared to be human skulls, placed in the shape of a double ring around the fire.
I just stood there, attempting to make sense of this odd situation before something in the distance caught my eye. I looked over to see another light reaching out to me through the mist, this one having a bright green color. Not knowing what this meant, I quickly came to the realization that, again, little choice was present. I continued moving, heading to the light once more.
It took little time to reach my goal, which appeared in the shape of a green, radiant sphere that floated a few centimeters above a large rock. Despite my amnesia, it seemed to have a certain familiarity to it, one that I could not quite place.
I walked to the other side of the rock, where an easy way to get up presented itself. With my hesitation gone, I immediately took a step towards it.
That's when I felt something bump against my foot. I looked down, and flinched when I saw an arm rising up from the ground. Its flesh was almost completely gone, revealing its bones underneath.
The disturbing part wasn't its lack of flesh, however. Because despite it being almost completely skeletal, the arm was moving. Its hand made a grabbing movement towards my leg, causing me to back off.
It retreated back into the ground when it realized I had gone out of its reach, leaving me to think about what just happened. I had lost my memory, but I was knowledgeable enough to know that skeletal arms are not supposed to move or bust out of the ground – and this one did both.
Am I insane? I asked myself, again getting no answer.
When I finally regained my senses, I decided that I had to get to that green sphere one way or another. I was unsure as to why, but I knew I had to try – meaning I had to get past that hand.
To do so, I again took a step towards the now inactive hand. It immediately reappeared, clawing at my feet, but one jump and a few steps were enough to get past and away from it. However, right when I was about to congratulate myself for accomplishing this seemingly easy feat, I felt something else get a firm hold on my ankle. I flinched and looked down to see that another hand had grasped my foot.
More disgusted than actually scared, I managed to lift up my foot before attempting to stomp on the skeletal limb. I missed. With effort, I was able to get my foot off the ground once more. I stomped again, this time successfully subduing the arm. I hadn't won yet however; the hand refused to let go, causing me to add more pressure to it.
A sickening snap was heard.
I looked at the piece of the arm that had broken off thanks to the strength I had put in my leg. The arm stopped moving, and the part that was still connected to the ground retreated. I decided to continue up the rock, quickly reaching the green sphere.
Upon closer inspection, the sphere seemed to appear like a bundle of thick green smoke that tried to hide a white light at its core. I blinked. Again, this was not something I would consider to be physically possible. And yet, unlike with that hand that stuck out of the ground, it felt normal to me. As if I had seen it countless times before, possibly even before I knew anything about physics.
I felt…drawn to it. I could not explain why, but I wanted to touch it. In fact, it almost felt imperative that I did. I even felt excited, as if I would obtain massive power by simply making physical contact with the sphere. Or as if I would meet a friend I had not seen in years.
Hesitantly, I raised my hand. I held it in front of the sphere, froze for a second, and stepped forward.
My hand closed around it.
A surge of energy went through my body and mind, causing both to be energized and stabilized to optimal levels. I felt my physical and mental strength return to me, along with something else.
I looked at my hand to see what that something else was: a green, radiant sphere with a white core had appeared in it, looking immensely similar to the one that floated above the ground in front of me mere seconds ago. It felt as if it was specifically meant for me, as if I was the only one capable of using it.
While absentmindedly admiring the energy glow in my hand, my vision was once again drawn to something else in the distance: a light. This one had a distinct orange color, and was definitely smaller than the one the fire had radiated.
At first, I sighed. Another light, huh? When was this going to stop? What was the point of following these lights?
But then, I realized: more power. What if that light would lead me to another source of energy like the one I just…absorbed?
That thought motivated me to go. I started to go towards it, to find out that this light source was only a few meters away from my current location. It quickly became apparent that it was another fire, albeit a much smaller one than the first, on top of a thin wooden pole.
Along with the fire, three other things stood out.
One of these things was the trio of bloodstained skulls that hung on the side of the pole. One of them still had a spine attached to it. I half expected my stomach to tie itself into a knot, forcing out whatever was in it in the process. Instead, nothing happened, making me wonder even more about what kind of person I used to be.
The second thing that caught my eye was another arm sticking out of the ground. This one didn't move however: it was completely frozen, and its color was a charred black. It was surrounded by a column of smoke.
Finally, something in the mist was visible. This was not a light, nor was it too far away.
It was a floating skull with a spine.
And it was heading towards me.
I jerked backwards. Reflexively, I raised my hand with the palm aimed at the thing. The green glow reappeared in it and ejected a green sphere to where I was aiming. It hit the skull straight in the face, causing it – along with its spine – to violently fall apart, leaving nothing but small fragments of whatever its body was made of.
I stood frozen, amazed at what just happened. I had annihilated something through the use of an ability that was beyond normal human power, completely reliant on instinct. It had proven itself to be quite effective, too. This was something I could possibly need in the future.
Through seemingly automatic concentration, I let the green sphere in my hand vanish before slowly letting my gaze be drawn to the black, skeletal hand that still stuck out of the ground next to the tall torch. I saw it remain there, tranquilly, frozen. Yet, somehow…it reached out, calling out for something, anything.
And I obeyed. Like a misguided fool, I walked up to the arm. I grabbed it, hesitated, and pulled it out of the ground with relative ease.
I felt a tremor going through the air.
Something had awoken.
I looked at the weightless arm in my hand. It still didn't move, but for whatever reason, I felt like it was more dangerous than the ones that did. Attempting to disregard this feeling, I hung the arm on my belt and decided to head back to the central fire.
I didn't see that the torch had mysteriously been extinguished.
However, when I was about halfway to said central fire, a sound from nearby erupted, drawing my attention. I froze, remaining silent to listen to what turned out to be…well…I'm not sure how to describe it. It was a continuous noise, not unlike some kind of buzzing…coming closer to me.
I felt the air sharpen.
A brief, inhuman roar filled my ears, and an image of a malicious, demonic face flashed before my eyes. Its rage filled eyes were black and empty. Its mouth held sharp teeth. Its skin was filthy and reddish.
I flinched and looked towards the origin of the buzzing sound.
I was horrified to see a figure, standing – no, floating in the fog.
The figure appeared like black smoke, a similar type of smoke I had seen around the black arm I collected earlier. The figure did not just look like an arm however: its shape looked like that of a human without legs, floating above the ground. Its menacing, bony arms were spread in a threatening gesture, and its hostility towards me was beyond obvious.
Somehow knowing that I could not defeat this thing – powers or not – I turned back to the central fire and ran.
Another inhuman roar. Another vision of the face. Not just the face. The tall torch where the arm was located. A bloody human torso being roasted above a column of flames.
I tasted a hint of iron in my mouth. I ignored it. I continued running.
Another vision. This one displayed the central fire.
The central fire.
My stomach began to churn and ache as I practically flew up the hill, towards the central fire. I heard the buzzing behind me weaken as the distance between me and whatever was after me grew.
When I finally stood next to the fire again, I frantically looked around for something, anything that might be helpful. The adrenaline that went through my veins allowed me to ignore the inexplicable pain that was inflicted on my body. Three more floating skulls with spines appeared from seemingly nowhere.
I raised my hand and quickly dispatched them, only to hear the buzzing return. I once again looked for a way out, freezing when I saw yet another light in the distance with the same orange color as the previous one.
I began to run towards it, but my attempts to reach it were quickly foiled by another arm grabbing my foot. I fell to the ground, but pain was of little importance to me. A green flash from my hand turned the skeletal limb into a bunch of small, smoldering pieces.
Another roar.
I quickly stood up and resumed running, not looking back. I ignored the…skull-spines and went too fast for other arms to burst out of the ground and grasp my ankles. I ran as if my life depended on it – which it probably did – not even bothering to spit out the blood.
I eventually reached the light source, the creature having fallen behind enough for me to briefly observe the disturbing setting in front of me. A burnt body, impaled on pikes and positioned above a fire. It had no legs, and its lower abdomen had several intestines sticking out of it. Some of them had already fallen into the flames below.
Next to the fire, a gleaming golden cross stood, about half the size of my arm. It didn't seem to fit in with the dark atmosphere of its surroundings, and once again I sensed that it was something I needed.
Still weakened by the entity's mental attacks, I limped to the cross and pulled it out of the ground. Despite it being gold, it didn't weigh much, and I felt a soft, pleasant wave of serenity go through my body when I touched it. I put it on my belt beside the arm.
Deciding that wasting time was not an option, I immediately turned back to the central fire and ran for it.
The face.
The roar.
The central fire.
The location of the arm.
The location of the cross.
I felt blood from both my nose and my mouth run down my chin. I was sweating heavily and my eyes began to hurt. My body felt weaker with each vision I saw.
But this did not deter me from continuing to run.
The hill was ahead of me now.
The location of the arm.
I made my way up as fast as I could, not looking back.
The location of the cross.
I could feel its presence nearby, the constant buzzing noise refusing to stop. The mental attacks relentlessly damaging my mind.
The face.
The roar.
I reached the central fire. My hands, despite my physical condition being far from optimal, moved speedily and grabbed the two items at my belt. Shaking, I put the golden cross in the skeletal hand, closed the latter's bony fingers around the former and threw the combination into the fire.
The two items were destroyed in an instant.
The fire went out.
Silence.
I looked around, listening for the buzzing. There was none.
…
Wait…
I sensed the creature reaching out. I sensed its rage. Its fear. I heard its furious voice screaming at me as it attempted to continue its assault.
But it was unable to do so. It was dying.
It was dead. I had done it.
But my time in this place was far from complete.