The Human Game: A Shrine for a Fake God

A decision entirely up to you.

That’s easier said than done. Truth is a weird thing, really. Truth is needed, it always is, but it can be abused if it’s in the hands of someone who knows how to use it for their own selfish needs. Truth can help, and truth can hurt.

Really, what it comes down to is “who would use the truth for the right reasons”?

There’s some discussion among you on how to proceed. Some immediately step out from being considered for the position of a receiver of truth- Joe averts his eyes and coughs, Daniel shakes his head with an apologetic gesture. Thalia brings up another consideration – who is likely to share it, and who is likely to keep it for themselves? And what of the nature of this truth?

Camilla scoffs. She doesn’t believe that anything that Cancel is sharing is worth knowing. She’s out. Connor is interested in hearing it, claiming he will be impartial, as he is a scientist. There’s a sound as if someone is stifling a scoff. Thalia lowers her hand from her mouth and says she’s willing to receive the truth, as well. She has a level head, after all. Thinking about it, you, Kate Greenwood, would very much like to hear what Cancel has to say but…if you have to be perfectly honestly, you’d probably spend half the time trying to punch Cancel’s face on the monitor to make yourself feel better. So you’re probably out. So, is it going to be Thalia, or Connor…?

And then someone speaks up. Someone none of you had been expecting to even consider being the receiver of wisdom.



The discussion is done. Cancel seems pleased enough. Though none of you ever wants to hear Cancel being pleased by anything, at this point.

You are KATE GREENWOOD and you make your way down the hallway after the weird Cancel robot. Wasn’t this the same hallway that Seth went down? You don’t even need to think that hard about the answer, because suddenly your sneaker trods upon something hard and flat.

You look up, only to see an incredible mess. Pieces and torn limbs of what was a robot, strewn apart as if the thing was a piñata at a birthday party. Cancel’s robot turns its head.

CANCEL: …Ah. What a pity!

Is all he says, the robot sliding around the parts, whirring, before moving on down the hallway. Most of you stop and stare at the destruction.

CONNOR: Seth…
THALIA: It has to be.

That robot is made of metal, isn’t it? That thing is made of METAL. And Seth ripped it apart.

What if he had gotten hold of any of you?

Would you now be wandering around the organs and body parts of a human being?

…

You feel sick to your stomach. You swallow, and move on.

You’re thankful it’s just a robot.




Finally, the hallway ends, and you come into a…very strange room. It’s circular, for one. And there are three doors around you.

You really can’t pay attention to the doors yet, though, because it’s what is in the door that is catching your eye.

A sculpture of some kind, of the head of, surprise surprise, an angel. Though this one’s gruesome to look at. Pieces of it are missing, cracks in it revealing something…strange underneath. A watchful red eye. Rows of gray squares that look uncomfortably like teeth.

You don’t like it. You really don’t.

KATE: What the hell is that…?

You say, pointing to the thing, while noticing that, out of the corner of your eye, there’s two heads just like it, each on its own door. Cancel clicks his tongue.

CANCEL: That is the mechanism to open the door, you see!
CANCEL: The very thing that you must submit your toll to.
CANCEL: Placing a coin in the mouth of the angel to be allowed to proceed onward…
CANCEL: Not unlike placing a coin underneath your tongue so that you would have passage to pay Chiron at the gates of the Underworld…
CAMILLA: Please stop talking.

You have to agree with Camilla on that one.



Now that you’ve all entered the room, you have the chance to really take a moment to take it all in. You thought the ceilings on the previous room were pretty high up.

This…this is a HUGE room.

And not only that – while the three doors are big enough for any regular guy to walk through, they’re framed by what seems to be far larger doors. Are they really doors? Maybe it’s just the small ones that count, not unlike how those doors work to the entrance of some churches you’ve seen. Like, the big ones have to just be for aesthetic, right?

Cancel positions himself near the entrance of the door straight across from the entrance to the room, folding the robot’s hands behind it in a seemingly polite manner.

CANCEL: Now then.
CANCEL: Are we ready to proceed?
CONNOR: No, actually.
CONNOR: Before we go anywhere, answer this.
CONNOR: Where is Seth?

Oh.

You had been thinking of Seth earlier, with the robot murder before. But you’re now just realizing that you hadn’t even been thinking of where Seth went. The hallway doesn’t go anywhere else. Did he go the other way, backtrack perhaps? Is he going to come here?

CANCEL: Oh, him?
CONNOR: Yes, him. Where did he go?

Cancel laughs.

CANCEL: Don’t worry your silly little heads about him.
CANCEL: I let him through one of these doors, you know.
CONNOR: Which. One.
CANCEL: My, so demanding. You’re getting almost as bad as Camilla.
CANCEL: Don’t you know how to ask things in a far more polite manner?
CONNOR: WHICH. ONE. I won’t ask twice.
CANCEL: The second one. The way to “Truth”.
CONNOR: …Okay, sorry then, we can’t allow this. We have to switch things around.
CONNOR: I won’t let her go down that road, truth or not truth, I won’t abide by it, I-
ABIGAIL: Stop!!!

> Abigail as truthbearer



Abigail shakes her head.

ABIGAIL: Just stop. I still want to go.
ABIGAIL: I want to hear the “truth”. I said I would, right? And everyone agreed.
JOE: But…but Abigail…
ABIGAIL: Seth might be there? Is that what you’re worried about?

All of you are silent. She didn’t see what Seth did to the robot. She has no idea what she might be up against.

ABIGAIL: So what! I’m glad if he’ll be there…we left him behind. It’s really unfair!
CONNOR: Cancel might be leading you into a trap!
CANCEL: Why would I?
CANCEL: I said I would give her a statement of truth. I never said I would lead her to her death.
KATE: I wouldn’t put it past you, you jerk!
ABIGAIL: I don’t want to trust Cancel at all. But I’ll have to.
ABIGAIL: I want to find out what happened to Seth. I want us all to escape from this place.
ABIGAIL: You just…you can’t just keep treating me like I can’t do anything!
ABIGAIL: I’m not helpless!
JOE: Abigail…
ABIGAIL: …
ABIGAIL: I’m not.

Your name is ABIGAIL FAUST, and irritation is rising in you like water from a bubbling fountain. You’re tired of this place. You’re tired of everything. Seth is still out there suffering, and everyone else just wants to argue about how you have to be sheltered from everything else.

You take a deep breath. You can’t be mad. You have to be good. You have to be a good girl…

CANCEL: Well done, Abigail. Making such a case for yourself…
CANCEL: Now that that’s been settled, shall we go on?
CANCEL: Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting any of you to send the blind girl, of all people…
CANCEL: I would almost call that heartless, haha!
CANCEL: Anyways, Ms. Faust, I shall offer you guidance. Not out of kindness or anything of the like.
CANCEL:I merely don’t want you wandering off somewhere so that you can’t hear my words.
CANCEL: Shall you take the hand of this Major to hold as we proceed?
CANCEL: I’m holding it up near your face. Do reach up to grab it.

You really hate his voice.

You hate his voice, because it’s reminding you of what happened to Seth. So dark and empty. The millions of knives just there, waiting in the dark for someone to wander too close. Any ghost you’ve talked to barely comes near how afraid you feel when you hear Cancel speak. You’d take a million ghosts any day over him.

But you have to go on. You have so many questions to ask him, and you want to hear the truth, whatever it is.

Can you really put your trust in a monster like that...?

Author's note

SpoilerShow

(Abigail and Cancel are totally going to become best buddies forever after this upcoming talk)

LONG TIME NO SEE...gently rests on Eagletime, dies a little

Real life has been BEATING ME UP but finally, FINALLy I've managed to get back on the update ball. I apologize for everyone who's been waiting for an update, thanks for sticking with me through these tough times!!!

And a note, the last panel is !symbolic!, Cancel isn't a ghost or anything - merely how Abigail sees him, kind of visualizing him as a human figure with his weird voice quirk applied to it. That's all! (PROBABLY...)

Also you can put in questions you'd like Abigail to ask Cancel or say to Cancel or the like, TIME FOR TRUTH TALKING

KEEP HAVING FUN EVERYONE, The Human Game is ALIVE. IT'S ALLLIIIIIIIIVEEEE

(don't make me regret this Friday, I love my ghost child)

8)