The Human Game: A Shrine for a Fake God

Joe’s words of protest do nothing. He gets pulled forward, a fish on a hook, and his feet scrabble on the ground as he leans back to try to stop it. His hands pull helplessly at the wrapping of tendrils around his neck around his neck. But the monster is stronger.

He’s not.

JOE: A-ah! Please…!

The monster is quick – it’s only been a few seconds but its already slid over the edge and into the darkness, with no “bridge” in the way to stop it now. It doesn’t seem to care about you or Camilla. And the more it moves, the more Joe moves closer to the edge, inch by inch.

CAMILLA: It’s trying to drag him down along with it-!

And without even a second more, Camilla leaps forward, seizing the bundle of tendrils in her left hand – her other hand moves to Joe’s back for further support, and Joe gasps, eyes wide as his progress towards the edge is stopped. But its only for a single, victorious moment, and the tendrils grow taut again as a further tug from the monster sends both Joe and Camilla forward.

The girl might be strong, but it seems like even her strength isn’t enough for this.

CAMILLA: Ergh…
THALIA: Hold on!

You shift the rings to your other hand, and shift around Joe so you can take the other side. The tendrils feel strange underneath your gloved hand, like holding a bouquet of snakes that squirm and struggle under your grip. Even if you tighten your fingers as hard as you can, they shift so much that its hard to keep your hand where it is. Now you can understand why Camilla is having trouble with it. Still, you put your own strength into it, trying to spread your feet to keep yourself steady on the floor, but another lurch of the tendrils, and you feel yourself being pulled forward along with the other two.

THALIA: It’s still moving!
CAMILLA: I know!
THALIA: Can we cut it?
CAMILLA: Does it look like we have anything to do that?

There isn’t anything to use for that. There isn’t anything at all.

THALIA: What do we do?!
CAMILLA: Just! Keep pulling!

And yet, the monster progresses. You are all only about a foot from the edge, now.

> Camilla: The thing you did before, with your hands... Can you use that to sedate the Null via its tendrils long enough to escape?

Your name is CAMILLA LLOYD, and you have a decision to make.

You don’t have much time. Even with you and Thalia pulling, the monster is intent on getting its prey, and there’s nothing around that you could use to sever their connection. It’s not a battle you can win. Even if you somehow find a way to stun the thing again with the chest or something else, there’s no guarantee that its body will simply pull Joe along with it just from the weight.

But there is an option. One that could work. Your hand is on the beast, technically, and all you’d need to do is use what you have. “Calm it down”. Make it slacken its grip and let the man go. But this is different from what you did to some of the others before, like Daniel and Joe. 

This time, it would come with a price. Doing something to this Null is not like calming down a person who’s sad or anxious or too burdened with emotions.

Already, you feel the sting of regret prickling deep in your chest. You can’t simply let Joe to his fate of being swallowed up by a monster in the darkness, you can’t, but…

It hurts, to know what will come after.

You hope you can be forgiven.

You close your eyes, and breathe out an apology that you know won’t be heard.

CAMILLA: …
CAMILLA: I’m so sorry.

And you do it.

With the others, it didn’t feel like much. This time, it’s a feeling that courses through you, up your spine, feeling your head with something that’s almost like a thundercloud that bristles with energy that sings through your bones. Your hand tightens around the tendrils as you grit your teeth.

It doesn’t hurt. It never does. And yet the pressure builds up behind your eyes, like its threatening to make its escape, fly, be free, and all you have to do is focus that, shift it completely into the masked thing, and let the pieces fall as they may.

CAMILLA: LET-!
CAMILLA: GO!!!!

WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.

EXCESSIVE CHANGE IN WAVE AMPLITUDE NOTED IN GROUP (B). BRIDGE OF SIGHS. WAVELENGTH SHIFTED. WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.

…

REWIND. REWIND. REWIND.

RECHECK FOOTAGE AND DATA COLLECTION OF GROUP (A). SHRINE OF LIES. CHARTING WAVE AMPLITUDE. CHARTING WAVELENGTH. CORRELATING DATA……

COMMENCING REVIEW OF FOOTAGE OF GROUP (A) FIFTEEN MINUTES PRIOR TO WAVE AMPLITUDE CHANGE……

Your name is KATE GREENWOOD, and your head hurts.

Abigail already went ahead as truthbearer. The other three, Thalia, Camilla, and Joe, had gone ahead to their Bridge. And you’re here, walking along this corridor. Connor, walking steadily in front of you, and Daniel, walking so quietly behind you that you have to glance behind you sometimes to make sure he’s there.

You’re so frustrated. Now, you’re separated, and you’re pretty sure this is what Cancel wanted. Strength is in numbers, right? What’s going to happen if something happens to you or the other two? Like, if Connor was in trouble, do you really think you and Daniel are going to be able to do anything about it?

You don’t want to feel helpless. You don’t.

But what can you do…?

You twist your head slightly to look back at Daniel, who just blinks in your direction. For the last several minutes, you’ve noticed that Daniel keeps looking over at you nervously. He kind of reminds you of your little sister when she wants something like a whole plate of cookies for lunch but is too afraid to ask.

Seriously, what is it?? What does he want? Maybe you should just ignore him.

Author's Note:

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Spoiler
wakes up from my coffin, coughing up dust. how are y'all

ANYWAYS here is the deal: this is a lesson to me that doing BIG HUGE SCENES that can't be updated quickly is NO GO. NOT GOOD. So from here on out, I'm going to limit myself to small 2-3 panels per update unless it REALLY calls for it. That way, more frequent updates! NO SPENDING MONTHS IN A SINGLE ROOM. That's the plan!! It's good to be back, anyways, I missed these kids.

Also, the "rewind" thing is not actual time travel or reversing the events of what happened, its just footage of the event being rewinded of both groups so that we can see what the other group was doing at the exact same time (which is important, since the events that happened here definitely had an effect on the other group which we will see SO!! hope I could make that clear).