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There is a forest that likes to pretend that it's ordinary. It isn't, it's quite bizarre. Every night, in fact, zombies and other horrible monsters swarm this place, looking for people to kill. Not that they've found anyone, the forest itself is quite empty of residents. But they search anyway, during the night, shambling and groaning and occasionally leaving body parts lying around. Those disappear pretty quickly, but it still happens. Then the day comes, and they depart to who knows where, swearing (if mindless monsters could think, or in fact swear to anything in particular) that they'l be back the next night. Repeat ad nauseum.
It's currently in the day portion of this cycle of directionless attempts at violence. Maybe this day will be different from all of the others.
But then, probably not, it's a very boring island without anyone here.
greatestgift
And...
...a girl appears out of thin air just above the forest floor, cutting herself off mid-scream when she thumps onto the grass.
"Absent gods," she mutters to herself, drawing a knife from a sheath strapped to her leg and looking around warily. No blight sign she can detect - it might be safe to open her groundsense... but she remembers what it felt like last time she did that, and shudders. Ordinary senses will have to do for now. Not that she thinks anything could adequately explain a giant snake popping up out of nowhere and swallowing her whole, nor how it transported her to this... vaguely unsettling forest.
...a girl appears out of thin air just above the forest floor, cutting herself off mid-scream when she thumps onto the grass.
"Absent gods," she mutters to herself, drawing a knife from a sheath strapped to her leg and looking around warily. No blight sign she can detect - it might be safe to open her groundsense... but she remembers what it felt like last time she did that, and shudders. Ordinary senses will have to do for now. Not that she thinks anything could adequately explain a giant snake popping up out of nowhere and swallowing her whole, nor how it transported her to this... vaguely unsettling forest.
It is a forest! There are trees, and hills.
An observant person might note that there aren't any fallen trees. Or, in fact, fallen limbs or twigs or leaves. The forest floor is soft and grassy, and nearly bare of bushes and ordinary foliage, except for a bush, over there. There are berries on it. There are birds, too, up in the branches. Also a rabbit, sniffing at a flower. It looks quite unconcerned with her. Hop, hop, hop.
An observant person might note that there aren't any fallen trees. Or, in fact, fallen limbs or twigs or leaves. The forest floor is soft and grassy, and nearly bare of bushes and ordinary foliage, except for a bush, over there. There are berries on it. There are birds, too, up in the branches. Also a rabbit, sniffing at a flower. It looks quite unconcerned with her. Hop, hop, hop.
greatestgift
...um.
Wincing preemptively, Sable stops veiling.
It doesn't hurt any more than usual, but... "Have I gone mad?" she wonders. "Am I dead? Is this some strangely geometric hell?"
Because the whole landscape divides into cubes. Even the trees with their round but strangely regular trunks fit neatly into cube-shaped spaces, and all the dirt and stone under her feet is a seamless pattern of cube-shaped parts, their borders invisible to the eye (and intangible to the feet) but clear as day to groundsense. Nervously, she shifts until she isn't standing on any borders.
She expands to her full half-mile range. Cubes, cubes, cubes - also pain, ow, back down to ten feet in every direction, there that's better. The cubes seem to be just about two feet on a side. She crouches down to peer at the grass. It doesn't seem to have any trouble growing right across the borders, and the surface of the earth doesn't match up precisely with the flat level surface of the invisible cubes.
Wincing preemptively, Sable stops veiling.
It doesn't hurt any more than usual, but... "Have I gone mad?" she wonders. "Am I dead? Is this some strangely geometric hell?"
Because the whole landscape divides into cubes. Even the trees with their round but strangely regular trunks fit neatly into cube-shaped spaces, and all the dirt and stone under her feet is a seamless pattern of cube-shaped parts, their borders invisible to the eye (and intangible to the feet) but clear as day to groundsense. Nervously, she shifts until she isn't standing on any borders.
She expands to her full half-mile range. Cubes, cubes, cubes - also pain, ow, back down to ten feet in every direction, there that's better. The cubes seem to be just about two feet on a side. She crouches down to peer at the grass. It doesn't seem to have any trouble growing right across the borders, and the surface of the earth doesn't match up precisely with the flat level surface of the invisible cubes.
The strangely geometric forest has nothing to say on its hell status. It may or may not be hell. It's impossible to tell.
Hell or no, there are procedures to having someone present on the island. The first of those is: now there is another someone present on the island. He walks towards Sable. Walk, walk, walk.
There is something very wrong with him.
Hell or no, there are procedures to having someone present on the island. The first of those is: now there is another someone present on the island. He walks towards Sable. Walk, walk, walk.
There is something very wrong with him.
greatestgift
Her first thought when he steps within range is 'mud-man', and she scrambles away, but that isn't quite right - his shape is all human, and his mind isn't any familiar kind of strange, it's not there at all.
She holds her knife between herself and the stranger and watches him warily.
She holds her knife between herself and the stranger and watches him warily.
"Greetings, Sable," says the not-man. "I'm your guide."
He says this like it's the most ordinary thing in the world.
He says this like it's the most ordinary thing in the world.
"I am here to give you advice on what to do next. It is recommended that you talk with me anytime you get stuck."
greatestgift
"...why?" she asks.
He sounds almost reasonable. Maybe he's some sort of afterlife person and those just don't show up right to groundsense.
But she's not putting away her knife just yet.
He sounds almost reasonable. Maybe he's some sort of afterlife person and those just don't show up right to groundsense.
But she's not putting away her knife just yet.
"I'm your guide," he says, like that is an answer.
He shrugs, smiling at her a little condescendingly. "You'll need this." He produces a pack. "If you want to survive, you will need to create weapons and shelter. Start by chopping down trees and gathering wood."
greatestgift
"I'm not sure chopping down trees is that easy," she says, but she ventures close enough to grab the pack with her off hand. Without opening it to make sure, it seems to contain metal tools - is that pure copper? Feels like it.
It is pure copper!
The guide looks at her silently, smiling a little. Sort of vacantly.
The guide looks at her silently, smiling a little. Sort of vacantly.
greatestgift
Aaaaaaagh.
She retreats to put her back against a tree, sheathes the knife, and opens the pack. That's a tiny copper sword. And a copper axe and a copper pickaxe, each of ordinary size. O...kay...
Well, the creepy soulless man said to start by chopping down trees. She takes out the axe and puts down the pack and picks a different tree to experiment on and does her best.
She retreats to put her back against a tree, sheathes the knife, and opens the pack. That's a tiny copper sword. And a copper axe and a copper pickaxe, each of ordinary size. O...kay...
Well, the creepy soulless man said to start by chopping down trees. She takes out the axe and puts down the pack and picks a different tree to experiment on and does her best.
Chop! Chop, chop, chop - this is taking a while - chop, chop, chop, there it goes, just about done -
It doesn't fall over to one side or another, like an ordinary tree.
The cubes it's made up of become relevant. Each cube separates itself from the others, shrinks itself down to the size of a sugarcube, and falls to the ground harmlessly in a rain of little wooden cubes. Plop. Plopplopplopplop. The tree is now no longer a tree. There isn't even a stump left. Or, a hole in the ground where the stump would be. Just - flat grass, like the tree hadn't even been there at all.
It doesn't fall over to one side or another, like an ordinary tree.
The cubes it's made up of become relevant. Each cube separates itself from the others, shrinks itself down to the size of a sugarcube, and falls to the ground harmlessly in a rain of little wooden cubes. Plop. Plopplopplopplop. The tree is now no longer a tree. There isn't even a stump left. Or, a hole in the ground where the stump would be. Just - flat grass, like the tree hadn't even been there at all.
greatestgift
It finally occurs to her what was so intensely weird about these trees.
None of them have roots.
She kicks at the scattered cubes and turns to 'her guide'. "What do I do with these?" she demands.
None of them have roots.
She kicks at the scattered cubes and turns to 'her guide'. "What do I do with these?" she demands.
The scattered cubes, upon coming in contact with each other, get pulled together as if by very bizarre magnetism. Then all but one cube disappears. It's quite tidy.
"You use blocks to build structures," says the guide, helpfully. "Pick one up and you'll be able to place blocks."
"You use blocks to build structures," says the guide, helpfully. "Pick one up and you'll be able to place blocks."
It is tiny and cube-shaped and made of wood. There's a - something, in her mind, telling her that she can now place thirteen blocks of wood within a radius, at an ordinary size instead of the tiny version. She just needs to pick where the blocks go, and it all aligns to the cube system already present.
greatestgift
"I don't want to build structures yet," she says to the guide. And thirteen cubes isn't much of a structure anyway. She sticks the cube in her pocket and attacks another tree.
The tree is chopped! The cubes rain to the ground - a few land on her, but they then disappear. Her tiny cube total is now 18, not counting the cubes still on the ground. The cubes still on the ground form up and condense themselves to three separate cubes. Along with the cubes are little acorns, scattered around and condensing themselves like the cubes but obviously not cube shaped.
"If you want to survive, you will need to create weapons and shelter," says the guide.
"If you want to survive, you will need to create weapons and shelter," says the guide.
greatestgift
"Yeah? How do I create weapons, then?" she asks, collecting the cubes and the acorns.
"When you have enough wood, create a workbench. This will allow you to create more complicated things, as long as you are standing close to it."
greatestgift
"How much is enough wood?"
With all the wood-cubes and acorns consolidated, she starts on a third tree.
With all the wood-cubes and acorns consolidated, she starts on a third tree.