Dreampost continues

[oi_theoi]

[Continuations/new threads for the Dream post go here]

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[hyanaimne]

[well, I'm certainly not going to choose anything]

[overclocking]

[Minutes tick by until it seems most of the other groups have chosen. You feel the room crackle with energy, briefly]

Make your decision, Blank.

[hyanaimne]

[starts, just a bit, looking around for the voice's source]

And if I do not?

[overclocking]

[It seems to come from all around you, the room throbbing with the type of energy that could only come from a god]

Then every life here is forfeit, including your own.

[hyanaimne]

Forfeit? Surely you cannot be serious -

[overclocking]

[Within the gems you can see that the other rooms are slowly receiving the same response-- the walls crackle with energy and people jump back, alarmed]

[hyanaimne]

[. . .

her expression levels, and reaching out, chooses the pink stone]

[overclocking]

[Abruptly the divine menacing stops, and the torchlight flickers into darkness. Several very long moments pass with little indication of what's happened.

Eventually the light flickers back, only several of the gems have gone dark, as if their inhabitants had never been there at all.

The remainder examine their own pedestals, faces grim.]

[hyanaimne]

[. . .]

[overclocking]

[Five gems remain.

Surely it's easier, the second time.]

[hyanaimne]

[. . .

peers into the gems, to see how the others are fairing]

[overclocking]

[One group is in heated debate-- someone yells, another lashes out, a third intervenes; one seems to be having a somewhat more calm, perhaps calculated, conversation; one seems to have already made a decisions, the occupants not quite looking at one another; one seems to be in the process of selecting; the last is gathered around the scroll, perhaps trying to find some manner of loophole]

[hyanaimne]

[she selects the second gem, with the group making the most calculated decision]

[overclocking]

[Just as before, the torchlight flickers into darkness for several long, excruciating minutes. But nothing happens to you.

At length, the light returns. Two gems remain.]

[hyanaimne]

[she almost - almost chooses at random this time, but decides to look instead, first]

[overclocking]

[If you look closely, the strange faces begin to look familiar; until you realize that Ptou stands in one, talking animatedly to someone near him, face oddly serious-- and Chrono in the other, jaw set, eyes closed, not making a decision one way or another]

[hyanaimne]

[wait, but -

but -

She turns away from them and yells up to the ceiling]

What manner of trickery is this?! They were not there before!

[overclocking]

[The walls thrum with energy again]

Your decision, Blank.

[hyanaimne]

Take them back out!

[overclocking]

[No amount of yelling seems to move your faceless game master. The electricity crackles dangerously, and you can see the others in the other two gems huddle into the center of their rooms nervously]

[hyanaimne]

[deep, shaky breath, and a glance back at the gems . . .

Her expression hardens a bit as she reaches into her cloak]

. . .

And if I choose another option?

[overclocking]

[Lightning arcs across the ceiling]

There is only one option.

[hyanaimne]

[there's a soft click as she takes out the switchblade she's taken to carrying on her and opens it - she waits a moment or two longer, to make sure that if the others are watching, they see what she's doing - before a grim smile spreads across her lips]

So you think.

[hyanaimne]

[and without hesitation, reaches up to slit her own throat]

[overclocking]

[The others' eyes widen--not just shock, but fear.

You hear the lightning fall before your consciousness slips away, followed by the booming echo of just one word- penalty- as the other two rooms are snuffed out, just like that.

You seem to have been left to ponder your final seconds however you choose.]