Twilight Forums

[Special thanks go out to Cristiona, Mad Hamish, TenKPlus, Squirrel Girl and Dingo. Thanks, though not as special [but still special!] go out to Dorian Grey, Poetfox, the Kinky Bots, and other people who I don't exactly remember the names of (Not cause you didn't help, but because my memory sucks for names.)]

[For all you TL;DR types, screenshots can be found here: http://www.isccomics.com/Valera/randomness/TH/. I forgot to check for the badge at level 50, so I really fucked up bad.. it'd be nice if Ryme would confirm/deny that there is no badge for going from 25 to 50 in one jump, but I don't expect it... That and it's really my own fault for fucking up that badly.. *deep sigh*]



Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I liked to take a minute
Just sit real tight
I'll tell you how I became quite trapped in a city called Twilight.



Life is not fair to all of us, but this is only fact. Some of us have rough times always, others born into luxury, and still others toyed with by a malevolent being intent on destroying what little sanity we have left. I happen to be of the latter group, being transported, weakened, thrown about, taunted, by a figure, sometimes on a near daily basis, sometimes only once every few months, or even years... *sigh* What I wouldn't do for such a time again... or for my R41.. but alas, that's not going to happen.

This is really more information that you all would care about though, and I'm sure it makes so little sense to you, having not a clue really of who I am, where I came from, nor do I intend to explain. All you really need to know is the following: My existance in this place is not natural, I have lived here for several months now, and that I possessed no super powers, until very recently. Maybe one day I shall get around to informing you of my particular situation here, but I wouldn't hold my breath on it.


This day, a frayday, was really quite normal, at least, at first. Get off job, dress up, help try and fix the corruption of this fucked up city, in a hope that maybe I can turn it into some place I'd like to stay. And that's where normalcy ended. As I was about to leave my little apartment, a thought occured to me. Maybe the reason was to help this shithole of a city. But how could I communicate with -it-? Only one answer came to mind... Don Carlos.

"Spirit energy." He answered before I could even really ask my question. I had spoken to him in the past, and I suppose it was possible to determine my question based on that and my current eagerness.
I took a place across from his fire, "Spirit energy? And how would I gain that?" I looked at him, my eyes pleading far more than my tone revealed.
He smiled at me. "Not gain. Replenish. The spirit grows stronger all the time, but the energy present diminishes." He made some gestures that seemed mostly at random to me.
I rolled my eyes, "Alright, let's try this a different way, what do you want me to do?" To this, he frowned.

And so he began to show me. His exercises seemed pointless at first, but slowly, steadily, it began to build up. I felt a strange power welling inside me, one that I had not felt for years. Surely this would grab that.. that thing's attention. I nodded my approval to Don Carlos, and began to stand up, though at that moment the ground beneath me, and the world as a whole decided to melt away, surrendering to the darkness that had became a familiar calling card.

Within the darkness, a being began to pull itself together. First the torso, and then the rest of the body accumulated from the darkness. Finally, complete with a disturbing 'pop' sound, the head appeared, eyes blazing with rage. After all this time, I had still not figured out who this devilspawn was, but I had never seen them show any negative emotion before.

"You, Purple! Where did you acquire such power? Why did you gather such power? Have you -not- learned your lesson? You know you cannot defeat me." It reached out with one finger. I cringed, not sure what to expect. It thought I was trying to challenge it, and that did not bode well for me.
"No! I am not here to fight you! I -have- learned, many things... Including, I think, the lesson you sent me here for." And with those words spoken, it slowly pulled back it's finger. "You sentenced me to this place to learn to help and aid the society that exists as a whole, didn't you? All the places you have forced me to have been similar in such a way. Corrupted, sometimes obviously, sometimes not, but always people working together." Something about my words ringed true to me. Perhaps I was getting yet -another- wrong message... My heart stopped for a moment. I had been wrong so many times before, and what if I was wrong once more? Would I be wretched off to another place, one worse than this?

But my fears weren't realized, for the figure nodded it's head, almost approvingly, another aspect I had not seen before. "You do seem to have learned... It's been many months now since you last thought about stealing, and years since you have. Perhaps the punishment can end early." My hopes soared! "But.. let us make it interesting, shall we?" And immediately sunk.
"I've played your game for long enough... You haven't even told me -why-, or -how-, or -where-. Can't you just make things easy on me, for once?"
"No. And I'll answer one of your questions... Do choose wisely." I could sense it grinning at me, even if no lips, no teeth, were visible.
"Then... I would like to know where. Where have you been moving me to each time?" I wasn't sure what good it would do me to know the where... but neither could any other question that came to mind. In retrospect, I should have asked something different...
"No where. You've never once moved. This is all just an illusion. Now, as per the deal, I will let you free, if you can rid this city of it's crime infestation... within, oh say... 3 days. But! To make things fair, I am going to remove your toys, your gadgets." And just like that, the world returned, though this time I was in my apartment.

"Never moved.. what the hell?!" But I didn't have time to contemplate it. I hastily checked my watch... 6 PM, exactly. I didn't have time to lose, and in my current state, I wasn't strong enough to even make a difference in the city. I flipped open a cell phone, and began to dial friends, and allies, that I had made here. I quickly created a story about how I was going to make a concentrated attempt to take out crime, and would need all the help I could get. It wasn't long before aid started to pour in.

Without missing a beat, I rushed out, with my newly equipped gear, to the university. Several reports have spoken about a 'black knight' terrorizing the place as of late. Lucky for me, it wasn't long before I encountered the scoundrel. He showed impressive combat prowess, especially against me in my weakened state. I found myself clumsy, tripping over my own feet as I tried to dodge, and always 'just too slow' as I took swings at him.

In the end, the buffalo that had been sent to help me, saved the day. With a defiant thunk of it's hooves, it charged forward, goring the black knight. He looked to be in pretty bad shape, singed from the fire around me, and now bleeding heavily from his wounds. I wasn't really sure if he'd survive, but I didn't have time to make sure he was going to be okay. He was out of commission, and that was good enough for me. 'Sides, I figured, he was the black knight... T'was only a flesh wound, right?

My weakness though, disturbed me. I went to see Don Carlos again, but he told me that it was not time yet, then pointed me to the Hero's Guild. I wandered in, looking around, and eventually finding an instructor. They told me to think over the past few days for a couple of minutes, and that everything would slowly come together. I mostly ignored their advice, and instead began to practice with the 'spiritual energy' that Don Carlos had awakened. It was really the first super power I could believe myself having.

However, I didn't stay long, and quickly drove off to the downtown. An attempted mugging and hijacking from some theatre nut told me everything I needed to know... The theatre was full of nut-cases again. *sigh*

Did I really have time for this, I wondered. I beat up upon the nutcases, one by one. At first, many of the fights were exhausting, almost deadly, even. I found myself, after only a couple of fights, needing to rest.
Returning to the guild, the instructor knew what was best

It was slowly becoming a pattern. Beat the snot out of some theatre geeks, train to fight better. Stop the crime against literature. Be Subjected to experimental testing.

Soon I was finding myself capable of taking on the weirdos of the theatre without the aid of the pet. It was still helpful, but utilizing my new-found powers, I was slowly gaining the ability to fend them off alone. Debris in the area became my greatest weapon, as I found myself capable of flinging it with deadly force, if I concentrated hard enough. Still, though, it wasn't enough. I returned to the guild once more, inquiring about how to increase my potential, about how I should focus to grow more powerful, faster. Her response is a bit weird... though it did work.

Trying it out, I was quite pleased. I wasn't really certain if I was causing intense mental anguish, or brain damage, to these people though.. but overall, it didn't matter to me... They were already literature folk, nothing I could do to them would be 'bad'. Still though, I did begin to feel guilty, and wondered if there was another way. My instructor nodded, and repeated the process, giving me a slight headache.

When the pressure in my head started to subside, I began to realize that physical damage could be exerted on the weak willed. The question though, was whether or not someone who wants to be in theatre is weak willed... That takes a lot of guts. Still, the results... seemed to be good.

I began to worry about how many theatre geeks there would be... It seemed the cycle was just repeating, again, and again, and again. It just kept going, although their numbers started to thin out. I began to get more ruthless in my fighting, bludgeoning several people into a critical state, before one such person cowered before me.

"Please," The king whined, "don't kill him! I'll tell you anything you want, just don't hurt me!" The kid couldn't be all that old... He clearly wasn't suited for that part either. What was that king's name anyway? Probably something stupid like Jacob.
"You don't want to die? Understandable. Tell me, why are you all doing this?" I glared at him, the power that had been steadily growing within me for hours now, was taking on a physical manifestation, terrifying the hell outta the kid.
"Th-th-these... f-fi-fish ro-robots... Th-they pr-promised u-us e-ev-everything." He crawled away, leaving behind a small pool. I took a step towards him, carefully avoiding his puddle, and raised my weapon. The kid stammered something that I couldn't make out, turned around, and jetted out of the theatre as fast as, if not faster, a bullet.

What did the aquassions want? Why were they stirring up -more- trouble. Those damn robot bastards were nothing more than trouble. With several loud swears, I sped back home. I gave a quick call to a friend, explaining to her that I'd need access to space. Before she could agree or not, I hung up, and searched for something decent to eat. It was past noon, and the stupid shops in the Galleria were never open.

With some nurishment in my stomach, I grabbed a quick drink, and began to spend hours upon hours at the Hero's Guild, preparing myself as best I could. Finally, I felt prepared.... I went to their home... their makeshift base. They were ready for me, either having watched me fight, or someone snitched... I really wasn't sure which, but I knew they were heavilly armed and prepared. I found myself pushing to the limit of my abilities, using everything I have to destroy them, to force them to stop. The usage of my abilities were starting to leave me feeling drained as well... Had I expended too much power? Not to mention, they seemed to be adapting to me, learning from every fight, becoming stronger, more powerful. Was I sure I could stop them?

My body was starting to give into exhaustion... How many hours had it been? Over 70 at this point, but not quite the 72 hour mark... I wasn't sure if I could give it much more... My motions were becoming sluggish, my attacks weaker and weaker... My opponents stronger... Eventually, deep within their base, I gave up. My body could not last any longer, and there seemed no end to them. The very last thing I could remember, before giving into the darkness was the water buffalo that had been my companion for all the night, start to drag me to safety. I think someone, somewhere, mumbled a quick "Pathetic" as well...


I had failed... Not only had I failed this city, but I had failed myself. My only chance to really understand what is going on, and I lost...

[Game Time Spent: 71 hours, 32 minutes.]

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Give unto me your soul.

It's like the text equivalent of a graphic novel. It works very well with the black and white pictures you see around town. (Truth be told, my first hope over the pictures was that they would be the beginnings of some sort of web com- er, web graphic novel)

_________________
Some problems can't be solved by violence alone.
Fortunately, Twilight has none of them.
(Think "Dominator", only more doom)