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Protocol: Awakening enabled.
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WARNING: data fragmentation detected. Possible memory leak. Continue? Y/N Y
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Main systems online.
ERROR: memoryAllocation exception. Insufficient capacity. All non-essential packages disabled.
ERROR: brokenBarrier exception. Thread cannot access Dir Sys:
Avenfall user0002~ Doc:
Avenfall user0002 @Doc:~ Search
Search function initialized…
File: ArxAntiqua.txt
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File search unsuccessful. Continue? Y/N Y
Avenfall user0002~ Usr:
ERROR: badLocation exception. Path invalid.
Avenfall user0002~ Doc:
Avenfall user0002 @Doc:~ Search
Search function initialized…
File: TheBeach.txt
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File located. Path: Doc:\shared\test\TheBeach.txt
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Avenfall user0002~ Run
Run function initialized…
Path: Doc:\shared\test\TheBeach.txt
Running…
txt file extension detected. Opening document...
[hide] “Get me outta here!” The man thought frantically, “Someone, anyone, please!”
He banged on the glass in front of him, and tried to cry out, but the collar around his neck gave him an electrical shock and he fell to his knees in agony. He should have known better, since he had already been shocked at least twenty times before when he tried to speak. But he was desperate now. He had no idea where he was, or how long he had been there. Time was immeasurable in this place, and fading from his memory just as fast as the sound of his own voice.
He punched the glass with all the strength his weary body could muster, but it remained firm, only producing a few bloody knuckles. “God dammit.” He thought. Looking around the room it was just as cold lifeless as it was before. The majority of the walls were covered in gray, metallic panels, except for the one in front of the man, which was a thick pane of glass. Through it, he could see a hallway, covered with the same gray panels, and with a single monitoring device, which followed him around his room with a steady gaze.
Finishing his sweeping view of his confinement, the man fixed his eyes on the only other feature in the room. A single door, to his right, accompanied by a glowing red button affixed to the wall next to it. The man gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and stood up. He slowly stumbled to the door and pressed the button. In response, the door gracefully glided open.
[/hide]
MP3 embed detected. Run file? Y/N Y
[hide][hide]
The smell of the ocean instantly filled the man's nostrils, and as he took his next step, he felt the fine sand between his toes. A long beach that stretched all the way to the horizon lay before him. To his left, was the ocean, slowly lapping the sand with it's gentle waves, then drawing back into itself. Above, the sun shined amongst the few clouds that peppered the rich, blue sky. To his left, the man gazed at the cliff-side that extended along the beach. He could see trees and overflowing grass near it's top. The sun was warm, the ocean calm, the breeze soft. To anyone else this place would be paradise.
The man scowled. He hated the water, the sand, the sun. He didn't want to be there. He had already been there, and it was no different than the cold, gray room. He wanted to get out. Go home. He looked around again. “Okay, let's see…” he thought, “...The last time I was here, I tried to swim, and the current pulled me back to shore. Then I tried climbing the cliff, but it's too tall and steep. Then I tried just walking, but the beach never seems to end, so I turned back. What now?” He already knew one thing. He would not go back to the gray room. There was nothing there. He hadn't searched the entirety of this place yet. As he thought, he decided to start walking anyway, just to give him something to do. His muscles ached, and he couldn't even remember the last time he had food or water, and the ocean wouldn't help because it was salt water. But he wasn't dead yet, so obviously he still had time. If that even existed in this place.
After walking far a while, the man saw something that he hadn't seen before. Along the shore a ways, he spotted some sort of tower sticking out of the water. “What is that?” He picked up his pace, eager to see this construct that looked so unnatural in his current setting. Upon reaching it, he took a moment to take in it's features.
It looked like some sort of clock. The man faintly smiled, “Great, now I can at least know how long I've been in this Hell.”. His smile soon vanished though, when he saw that it was not moving. Then he inspected it further. “Wait a sec... this can't be a clock. The numbers go up to fifteen, not twelve.” The man stared, quite puzzled by the contraption. “But it has hands like a clock. I don't get it.” He decided to give the machine a closer look.
He waded out into the water, and about thirty feet out, he reached the tower. The base was covered in gears. The man tried moving one, but it wouldn't budge. He tried harder, but still no movement. Frustrated, he banged his fist against one of the supports. It responded with a ring. “Huh?”, the man turned his attention to the cylindrical support of the tower. He flicked it with his finger, and it gave a sharp ping. “This is hollow. These are... pipes?” Now the man was even more confused. What exactly is this thing?
Heading back to the beach, he decided to ignore the machine. It was impossible to make it operate, or even find out what it is or does. The man began to walk along the shore again, hopeful he would find something else that could help him.
The sun continued to beat down on him, and he felt himself getting more tired with every step. The weight of his soaked clothes didn't help at all either. “I've been walking forever. If I don't find a way out soon, I don't think I'm gonna make it.” The man coughed, but couldn't even bring up any saliva. “I'm not gonna make it...” His words echoed through the corridors of his mind, and his vision blurred. The next thing he knew, he was face down in the sand, unable to hold his body up any longer. “I... can't... go... on...” He thought, as he lost consciousness.
A shock jolted the man back into consciousness. “Holy shit...” he thought. He put his hands on his collar, and fell back into the sand. The sound of the beach around him was exactly the same as it was before. As he got to his feet, he looked around, desperately hoping to see anything at all other that the vista that had plagued him for the eternity he spent in this place. “What am I gonna do?” he thought sadly. Then he saw something in the distance. His vision was still blurred, so he couldn't make it out, but he began to walk, then run, and finally he broke into a sprint, his desire to get out overriding all other feelings he had.
As he ran, he began to make out the object until he could see it clear enough to realize what it was. “It's another clock tower thing. Maybe this one will be working.” When he got there though, the man was dismayed to find that it was just as worn down as the first one. Then he furrowed his brow. “Hold on...” He looked at the ground, and saw the footprints in the sand., “this is the same tower I was at before.” This revelation was too much. He had been walking in circles the whole time. He man fell to his knees, tears welling in his eyes. As looked to the sky as he began to cry, “Why is this happening to me. Why God, Why?” He began to pound his hand into the sand. “Why? Why?”
Suddenly, a small pocket of ground began to move beneath him. Startled, the man jumped backwards landing on his backside. He watched as a small crab slowly unearthed itself from the sand. The man was shocked by this. It was the first living thing in this place other than himself. It was just an ordinary crab, but the man had been away from contact with creatures for so long that it left him stunned. He marveled at the crab as it checked it's surroundings and began skittering across the beach.
The man quickly got up and followed the crab, and it stopped, turning to look at him. Kneeling down, he went to touch it, just to make sure it was really there, and not some hallucination. When his fingers were just a few inches from the crab, it promptly clamped down on them with it's pincer. Pain shot through the man's hand, and he stood up, flailing about in an attempt to get the crab off of him. With as much force as possible, the man whipped his arm around and the crab flew off, sailing toward the ocean. He watched as in plopped into the water with a splash.
The man cradled his hand with the other, wishing he had a way to dull the pain. Then he heard a noise. It was a low rumbling, but it was getting louder. Looking for the source, he soon realized it was under the water. Suddenly, the gears on the tower began to turn with a creak, and steam began to shoot out of the pipes. The sound was so loud that it hurt the man's ears, and he covered them. He watched as the hand on the face of the tower shifted clockwise, from the top at fifteen, to one. The number then began to glow a dim green color. The man had no idea what had happened, but his heart and mind raced. “What made the tower move? Was it something I did? Was it the crab?” He looked around, then started walking back out to the tower. But he stopped when he stepped on something.
Looking down, he saw another crab coming out of the sand. He started to bend over, then caught himself. “I'm not touching one again.” Instead, he decided he would kick the crab. He got ready, watching carefully as the creature wandered over the land in front of him. As he went to kick it though, it jumped out of the way of his foot. The man, surprised, tried to yell at it, but got got electricity instead. “Dammit,” he yelled in his head as he fell over in pain. “come back here.” He glared at the crab, who was now traveling much faster toward the water. The man watched as the crab stopped and looked at him. A wave, coming from behind, then struck the crab and washed him away.
The tower began to groan again, and the sound pierced through the mans ears. He covered them again as he tried to get back to his feet. When he got up, he looked back at the tower. The hand had moved to two, which was now glowing like the first. The man's gaze drifted to the beach that stretched out in both directions from him. Then he let out a small sigh. “Crab hunting. Great.”
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ERROR: dataCorruption exception. File incomplete. Begin repair? Y/N Y
Estimated time to completion: Unknown. Repairing…
Avenfall user0002~ Hibernate
WARNING: Memory reduction imminent. Possible data loss. Continue? Y/N Y
Hibernating…
You've got an interesting start that just needs some fine tuning.