"well look who decided to show up?"
me, that's who!
yes I'm back, and with a fun chapter for today.
1 year ago (give or take a few hours) was when I first downloaded Alter Ego.
as such I decided to make this a special chapter, one that I wrote personally, no help from the games preset dialogue/events.
I also did this to break up each act, as there's not much to separate them other than Ego Rex subtly hinting at what ending you are in line for. what this means is that you can expect 2 other "interludes"... though I guess the last one would be a bit of an Epilogue considering it'll be at the very end.
anyway, I want to continue the theme and post the next two interludes on a special date, something like the day I downloaded Alter Ego Complex (next year as I've yet to start writing 2-1 let alone finish writing 2-Interlude), the day Aznana was made available for english speakers, or the day Alter Ego came out, not sure which one to pick as there are too many important dates and not enough Interlude Chapters to post on each one.
anyway, I shall let you exercise your inner Es and speed read through this chapter!
The two of us woke up on a grassy knoll. Behind us was a long stretch of palm trees that grew more and more dense the further in it went, above the trees in the little moonlight to see by you could see a large stone cliff face looking out at the beach before us.
In between us and the beach was a large stone square, segmented in two halves top to bottom, with the visage of a male and female face on either side. Though I did notice with some mirth that the genders of each face were switched opposite to that of Ego Rex in the 'other place' Each edge of the square that both halves made up was about two and a half meters long.
Before I could shelter my mind, or react in any other fashion, Es grabbed something from off my back and gave a cry of righteous indignation and frustration. She then ran forward with what I think was a machete dragging behind her, then she leapt up and brought it down right on the seam between the two faces.
Either Es had a surprising amount of force behind her swing, or I underestimated the weight of the Machete. Whatever the case the stone effigy split down the middle and the two 4 inch thick slabs toppled over and collapsed face down on the ground.
Es slouched between them as she struggled to pull the Machete out of the slit in the ground it'd embedded itself into.
I slowly walked up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder gently, she gave one last exhausted tug but the blade refused to budge.
She sat back atop one of the two halves of the Facade and looked out at the beach, in the background were two short cliffs that cut ridges into the ocean, preventing us from exploring beyond the beach in front of us.
In the foreground sat a small pedestal revealed behind where the Facade had once been, atop it sat a book. I walked past Es and opened the book slowly, the covers and pages groaned an ancient sound that rumbled off the cliff face behind us.
The sun rose behind the cliff to our left, instantly banishing the smattering of stars to a distant place with less light.
Es breathed in a gasp, and yet somehow seemed more silent than ever before, despite not being a loud person by her nature.
The outer cover had no title, the inner cover did however. Picturesque Mind, an interesting title no doubt, and yet fitting in how much of a paradise this place we found ourselves in was.
I grabbed the first page and turned it slowly, to ensure I didn't rip the yellowed old paper. As I did so a soft breeze blew across the glade and rustled the leaves of the trees behind us. The sun also just barely peaked over the ridge to our left and left the sky with more of a solid blue than the purple and orange streaks it had left just a moment ago.
Es finally stood up and took small tentative steps towards the pedestal and the book that now lay open on it. "Is it… safe… to touch?" She asked.
I nodded at her as she gingerly held her hands out to touch it.
"Are you sure?" She asked worriedly as she pulled her gloved fingers back just millimeters from touching it.
I gently took her shaking hands in mine and slowly guided her hands to touch the book.
As soon as she finally touched the book, her hands ceased shaking, almost as though she were calmed just having a book in her hands, as she usually did whenever I entered the library to greet her.
With the book in her hands she slowly stopped buzzing.
She refrained from reading the page and instead drummed her fingers over the top of the page as she just breathed in and out several times.
In the distance I heard rain pattering in the water and on the two ridges on either side, expanding to reach up to the grassy knoll we stood upon, Es gave a short yelp as the cold rain splattered over us, a seemingly alien experience for her. She pulled her hands away from the book and sheltered her head. I removed my coat and placed it over her shoulders as the two of us ran to the shelter of the trees further inland.
Shortly after we reached there, the rain passed over us, it seemed to only be a short shower that only lasted a minute, if that.
"What was that?" Es asked as she peaked out from under my jacket.
"That was rain…" I panted, clearly wandering through the hall was not enough to keep fully fit.
"Is it bad?" She asked as she stepped out fully from my jacket and watched as the droplets pattered down from the leaves overhead.
"Bad? No it's just water, I mean there's a slim chance of acid rain but…"
"Why'd you give me your coat then?" She asked as she lightly shook the water droplets off of it… those that hadn't been absorbed by the material that is.
"You can get a cold from it."
"I know what cold is, but what is 'a cold'?" Es asked.
"Sorry, you could get sick, a cold is just a small sickness you can get from being too cold or too wet, hence the name 'a cold'." I explained.
"Will you get… 'a cold'… then?" She inquired worriedly.
"No no, I should be fine, my immune system is stronger, besides it didn't rain for very long." I waved off her worries.
"Your immune system?" She questioned
"Oh boy this one will be fun…" I chuckled under my breath.
"So you have little… bugs, in your body, that fight other evil bugs." She struggled to understand as I was equally struggling to explain it well.
"They're not literal bugs, bug is just another name for sickness, similar to cold."
"So if 'a cold' comes from getting too cold… where does 'a bug' come from?"
"I… good point, I'm not quite sure… maybe it's because both are yucky?" I shrugged.
The two of us had returned to the two halves of the facade, which we'd turned into short benches by sitting on the backs of them. We'd left the book and the machete alone for now, and just sat and talked.
"Each person's body is different, so it deals with sickness differently, just as a…" I started to explain before struggling to come up with a good example that Es would understand.
Then my eye landed on the book atop it's pedestal. I hadn't really bothered to notice, but looking at it now I saw it to be a hardcover book.
"Just as a hardcover book is tougher than a soft cover one, you can try ripping both, but I can guarantee the soft cover one will yield before the hard covered one."
"I would never do such a thing." She refuted immediately.
"But I do see your point." She conceded.
"However what I wonder now, is why do you feel so confident in your own immunity?"
"I'm not saying mine is perfect, it certainly has it's faults as does everything… but I am more confident in my own immunity than I am in yours." I clarified.
"And why is that?" She asked.
"My body has experienced more things than yours has, mine has gotten sick before so it knows how to fight it if it comes back." I answered.
"… at least… I think mine has had more experience… considering I wasn't always here like you were… I had to have come from somewhere right?"
"I wouldn't know, I don't remember a beginning, or being introduced to that facade, nor do I remember the stocking of the book shelves. Everything has simply always existed for me."
I reached forward and gently poked her, yet again to confirm that she was real. This time it felt weird, almost as though my depth perception was off and that I hadn't poked her, but it appeared as though I had.
"Need to be grounded to reality in the face of such a complex idea?" Es asked. She didn't appear entirely upset like the last time, more like she found it mildly funny.
I cast a quick look around before answering.
"Are you so sure this is reality?" I asked.
She looked around just as I had as her expression shifted from amusement to fear.
"Where's my library… Where are my books?" She asked as she slowly got more and more frantic.
She abruptly stood up.
"My journal!?" She choked on a cry.
I stood up with her and laid my arms on the backs of her shoulders, "hey, it's going to be fine, we're out of that place, we can write new journals, and we can restock the library from your memory." I soothed.
"We're… out of that place… we're out! Damned Facade can't whisper in my ear, or weigh heavily on my mind, can't deny me or reject me!" She realized excitedly.
"But… how?" Es finally asked as she turned to face me.
"I'm not quite sure myself… why don't we look at the book, it's the only thing here that seems unnatural…"
She nodded and turned to look at the book.
This time she wasn't as jittery and gingerly turned the page, as she did so I listened to the sounds around us. The breeze blowing through the leaves and the small waves on the shore curling up and collapsing in on themselves.
She read at a slightly slower pace than usual, the sound of the pages turning became in tandem with the ebb and flow of the waves and the wind rustling the foliage.
"It seems to be a record…" Es noted.
I turned my focus to her poring over the book.
"Like a history book of that place, or a journal from someone who escaped it previously?" I asked.
"Neither, it's a history of everything that's happened… our conversations, even your conversation with that facade is included, your chasing of the butterflies, procuring muffins… your worrying…"
"It appears to record not just our words and actions, but also our inner thoughts and feelings…" she murmured.
"I… know we're supposed to be completely open with therapists… but I'm not sure if I'd want you having access to that book…" I awkwardly admitted.
"I'll be honest, I'm not very fond of the idea of you knowing all the deepest thoughts and feelings within me…" Es agreed.
We both sort of just stood there, not really sure what to do.
"So… Do we burn it or something?" I wondered, breaking that god awful silence that hung between us.
Es remained silent, almost as though she were actually considering it.
"Actually scratch that, it has some sort of… energy to it, a power like the Facades, or an abundance of Ego like yours…" I backpedaled.
"I… I'm sorry, that… that's not a compliment where I'm from… and… I didn't mean it in that sense, I was trying to… compliment you… based on what I know of this world… your world…" I hurried to explain.
She laughed a little before growing somber. She looked back to the book and flipped hurriedly through the book, despite reading a page every 2 and a half seconds, there was no possible way she was reading everything, she appeared to just be skimming through the book. The wind howled and the waves roared, almost as though they were some terrible beast that didn't want her to finish the book.
Just as she reached the end of the book, I began to lose consciousness. I suppose so many 'books' spent in Es' world without sleeping were catching up to me. I lay on my back and cozied up to the warm grass beneath me and closed my eyes as a black fog clouded my mind and I drifted off back to sleep.
The last thing I realized was that it had become nighttime. The sun had very recently set and the stars were out, as was the moon. I suppose either sleep deprivation or the distractions that were this book and Es were to blame for my lost sense of time.
With that I let sleep take me, wondering where we'd go tomorrow.
End of 1-Interlude
