1. The Beginning When you come to, you can barely sit up. Everything hurts. Especially your side but everything hurts. You try to feel it. It's liquid and sticky and your tunic feels wrong against your skin. And every twist makes it chafe and hurt even more. You finally manage to gather the strength and the resolve to sit up. You hold your side and press down on the wound, instinctively. Your skin strains against itself and you feel like your gut is being rended again. Around you, the battle field stretches as far as the eye could see. Smoke rises from the ground which you can barely see from all the corpses, some even piled three or four men high. Fires still burn somewhere but it's almost eerily quiet. Not completely, though. You hear a crunch and slide behind you. A trip and a trap, a squelch and another crunch and although you can't completely turn to look, a strange looking man in a dark heavy cloak steps into view. "Oh, there's a live one," He says, slight surprise evident in his voice. "Didn't expect that. So, eh... how are you doing?" Although the pain threatens to do your speaking for you. You manage to utter a few words. 2. [["Get away, old man," You wave your hand in dismissal. "Go plunder the actual corpses."]] 3. [["What the hell happened?"]] 4. [["I have a gaping wound in my side. What do you think?"]]0. Introduction The End is an experiment in storytelling/gaming/roleplaying. It is, as you can see, based on the Twine framework and, as such, will be built like a "Choose Your Own Path" adventure gamebook. But its development will be different. The idea is that as people read it, come across a passage with no choice or one where they feel the choice they really want is missing, they should let me know at s-runner at geek dot co dot il. If you came here through my personal blog (eran.geek.co.il) then I prefer you comment there but email is fine too. And so, as more options are requested, as each reader plays out their own story and paves their own path, the story will grow and... we'll see where it goes. I already have a lot planned and this is a big world to explore so I think I can carry this for a long time. If I have readers, that is. So please read, and comment or email. Thank you. 1. [[The Beginning]]2. The aggressive gesture takes all your strength and all the air in your lungs. And using your other hand makes you lose your balance and you tumble back, hitting your head on a soft spot of another body. At least it doesn't hurt a lot more. You breathe deeply, trying to regain you strength, looking up into the darkening grey sky. As you try to contemplate what your next desperate action might be, the stranger leans into your field of vision. "Are you feeling well, friend?" He asks, with what might actually be concern in his voice. "Do you require assistance?" 4. [["I have a gaping wound in my side. What do you think?"]] 5. [["Are you a healer?"]]3. "Lots of people died for a completely irrelevant reason," The man says and crouches beside you. He surveys the scene with a disapproving glance. "From your uniform, it appears you were on the winning side. Or, should we say, the side with more people who could walk afterwards. Though, judging from your condition," He bends over you and looks at your side, "I presume you don't feel like much of a winner." 4. [["I have a gaping wound in my side. What do you think?"]] 5. [["Are you a healer?"]]4. "Well, that's not very nice, is it?" The man asks and the produces a canteen from with in his robes and hands it to you. You are unsure at first but, considering you might still die today and water will feel very good right about now, you take it and drink several long sips before handing it back. You drop on your back, to tired to do anything else. Luckily, you land on a soft spot of another body. 5. [["Are you a healer?"]]You look to the stranger and see that he is contemplating his answer, something you would expect a person to know quite quickly. "Not quite," The stranger says. "There is something of a similar nature I might offer you. It comes with certain conditions, though." "Which are?" "Well..." "Is anyone still alive down there?!" You hear a shout from far away. You tilt your head towards the sound and can barely see a few of your comrades in arms, heading back down to the battlefield, searching for survivors. "Well, maybe I don't need your..." You start telling the stranger but as you turn back to look, the stranger is gone. You stare for a second, not believing your eyes. There is no possible way for someone to disappear in this open space so quickly but the stranger seems to have dissolved into thin air. Nothing remains but the shouts of your fellow soldiers. "Over here!" You shout at the top of your lungs which feels like molten flame is poured down your throat but your comrades notice and quickly head your way.