I was going to say C, but  the person wouldn't know their way around the town. So I go for A maybe you'll get answers from the guy who ran off. Its better to follow him and see what happens. Who knows we might end up getting the answers that we need.

Lets go with A.

It's too late to turn back now, so might as well just go all out. I have a few theories as to why this is happening, but it's way too early to even make anything beyond a guess at this point lol

Eirinn : For all practical reasons, I would say B: Lie down and pray you wake up, from these crazy dreams. I mean, if the whole jaguar thing was a dream, that explains why your watch stopped working at 3:26 A.M (If you remember, you "woke up" at 4:00 A.M) You're obviously in either a different dream, or a dream within a dream. So waking up would be logical...However, that would be like me shutting off a video game because, it's all fantasy. If you know me, that won't happen even if pigs figure out how to fly and hell freezes over! 

So, without further discussion, A. You're in a strange place...it's dangerous to go alone.

(I promise I'll update more consistently now that this past week has come to an end finally)

esperwolf : (nice theories. Feels interesting being on the other end of the lore theories. Lol)
Eniitan : (Hmm... Interesting point. Good thing they didn't try!)
Mynamescox44 : (Let's just hope plot twists work out more smoothly here than GOA. )
FaithFighter : (Aye, but then most folks have clocks in their rooms, and it was never stated that the clock didn't work, so...IS it a dream? Also bonus points for the Zelda reference)


A.
After a brief moment of hesitation you realize that it makes the most sense to follow after the man. Unfortunately you're still new at this whole decision making process since you've been letting schedules and plans make all of your decisions for your entire adult life so deciding what to do comes a little more slowly to you than you suppose it does to most, and as a result the man is no longer in sight by the time you decide to follow him.

What a Bob move.

You could call out to him, but you reason that if your friend (he is a friend, right?) is rescuing a mutual friend from execution by the king and assuming you're privy to this plan, then you're probably wanted as well and drawing attention is not a good idea.

And so you do the only thing you can and run in the direction that you last saw the short man heading, hoping he doesn't take any turns before you find him. The fact that it's still so early (and now quite cloudy) that it's pitch black outside doesn't help your cause any, and your hopes are soon lost as you find yourself in a dead end alleyway - you'll miss the chance to save this mystery person, and for some reason that realization makes your heart sink.
You can't just give up, instead you turn back to the streets and look around for another path you could take. There are three roads you can take from here, but you've no clue which to follow. A strange feeling sweeps over you, and closing your eyes you feel something telling you to head East, so, foolish though it may be, you decide to follow your heart instead of your head and go East.


As you run East images start flashing through your mind of the jaguar and how he saved you, then how this man showed up calling for you to step up and save the stranger set to be executed. You feel a pang of guilt for hesitating to decide to act and save this person or die trying, just like your jaguar did for you. Your eyes begin stinging and you realize that tears are forming in them. Why do you feel so endebted all of a sudden?

You continue running at full speed down seemingly random streets, ducking through one alleyway after another, until eventually you look up and see a large structure of immense beauty and size coming into view. Before long you stand before what must be the palace. The short man is nowhere in sight but you feel a sense of urgency and direction leading you around to the next corner, and as you round it you see a rope hanging over the wall and the short man standing at the top.

"There you are." he calls out in a hushed tone "I was beginning to think you had backed out on us."

"Of course I didn't!" you reply with a bit too much volume, though you're unsure as to why you feel such conviction about this rescue.

After you climb up the rope you look to your left where you see the short man slowly walking along the top of the wall until he reaches what looks to be roughly the halfway point, where he anchors another rope and slides down. You follow suit, noting the impressive breadth of the walls as you do so -- they must be every bit of four feet thick.
Reaching the next rope you slide down and find the man prying a gate open. As you jog across the yard to meet up with him, you hear a man's voice shouting, and turning your head you see a guard charging you with a sword drawn.

You desperately try to reach the gate before this guard reaches you, but about two thirds of the way there it becomes apparent that you'll never make it. Still, having no other choice you muster all you have inside and try to add an extra boost of speed to your strides. However the extra boost proves to be beyond the physical capabilities of even your new and decidedly more impressive physique, and you stumble a few steps then fall just as the guard lunges for you, causing him to trip over you and fall face first into a stone statue beside a fountain, rendering him unconscious.

Well then, that was fortunate.

As you rise to your feet you see the short man walk around the corner of the gate he pried open. He supports another man who walks alongside him with his arm thrown around the short man's neck. At the sight of this new man your heart is flooded with emotion. You rush to his side and offer additional support.

"I see you've been hard at work." the short man says with a chuckle at the sight of the unconscious guard. "Thanks for watching my back while I saved Thomas."

You can't help but smile at the memory of just how hard you didn't work to defeat the guard, but these guys don't need to know that. As you reach the wall you ask whether Thomas will be able to climb up the ropes.

"I'll climb on up and you can tie the rope under his arms." the short man says. "I'll pull him up then and toss the rope back down to you."


The plan goes off rather smoothly and works well in reverse when letting him down from the second rope as well. Soon the three of you arrive at what you assume is your base, where you plan to hide Thomas until sundown the next night when you'll help the then rested Thomas escape the city. The city guards have different plans however and by dusk of the next day they're at your door trying to beat it down. You have a board in front of it held in place by a slot on either side of the door, it's keeping the guards out for now, but it won't last long.

You look around for a way out of this pickle and find a single window in the back, but this house is built on top of the town wall and as such your drop from the window would be a good twenty feet (six metres).
Alternatively you could climb through the window and to the top of the roof which -- as most buildings here do -- sports an almost bucket-like design meaning that if you stayed low they wouldn't be able to see you from the ground. The window having pegs above it made to support animal skin hangings as a sort of curtain could be used to aid you in the climb.
Finally you spot a sword on the table. Being from an age of computers, microwavable foods and other advanced technologies, you've never used a blade for anything but shaving, but you suppose your instincts or whatever led you to the palace earlier might make you capable of wielding a sword in battle...maybe.

What do you do?
A. Climb out and hope to survive the drop.

B. Climb to the roof and hide.

C. Fight.

Well, everything in me wants to go with "Fight", but I can almost guarantee that's going to end badly lol. I just can't imagine the character will do all that well against (Insert number here) guards XD

I would say go with B, hide on the roof, assuming they didn't actually see you go inside. I mean if they know you're there, hiding on the roof won't do much good. Although I guess you could tie a rope to something, hang it out the back window (making it look like you went down) and hide on the roof, but that's assuming you still have the rope from before lol. Meh, I'll stop trying to write the story now

Hmm this is a tough one.....for me would be either A or C. I'm going to go for A I just hope, that I didn't make the wrong decision by doing this....there will be some rather tricky chapters with ruff chooses to make for. XD

Mynamescox44 : (pick up that sword! What could possibly go wrong... *loses head* On second thought... lol)
Eniitan : (Good, I want to make the "preferred" choice less obvious. :3)

(Since we have a tie, the first answer is used)

B.
"Psst" you call to your friends who turn to look at you, swords drawn and ready for a battle. You gesture toward the window "Let's climb to the roof. They won't see us."

"You want to run from a fight?" Alex (you finally bothered to learn the short man's name) asks sounding both shocked and incredulous.

"No, I want to live." you reply. "There are too many of them, and this place is too small. We're trapped if they get in here." The banging at the door continues.

"I won't run." Alex answers "I'd rather die the death of the brave than live the life of a coward!"

"And what good exactly does a dead hero do anyone?" you fire back with a stern tone. Alex seems genuinely surprised by the question as though he hadn't considered the full ramifications of death on your cause, whatever your cause is.

"Can't argue with that logic, Alex." Thomas says and sheaths his sword. Reluctantly Alex follows suit.

The three of you head to the window, Alex climbs up first, then Thomas. The board in front of the door begins splintering from the pressure being placed against it with each hit on the other side. You start to climb up but get an idea first: a red herring would go a long way toward saving your hide. With this in mind you tie together a few sheets made of some sort of rough material and anchor it to one of the pegs above the window to make it look as though you climbed down -- now you're ready.

You step up into the window and try not to look down as you slowly turn your upper body to face the pegs above you. Grabbing them you use all of your strength to pull up. Somehow you manage to get enough height to latch on to the roof edge and place your feet on the pegs. As you pull yourself up onto the roof, you hear the door finally give way with a loud crack and the guards storming in.

"They climbed out of the window!" one of them shouts.

"Quickly men, give chase! They mustn't escape!" Another voice commands. A murmuring follows among the men as you try to stifle a laugh at the response. "What seems to be the problem? I said climb down!" The man shouts angrily.

"That cloth scarcely reaches past the top of the wall Captain." a third voice replies "And it hardly looks strong enough to hold someone half the size of any of us."

"Did I just hear you volunteer to be first?" the captain asks. "Permission granted." a brief silence follows. "Do it or be fed to the lions we had prepared for the escaped traitor!"

"Y-yes sir."

You're not bordering on laughter anymore.

A few moments pass, and it seems those inside are holding their breath as much as you are. Finally you hear the sound of the wood creaking under the weight of the man. A few seconds more and a gasp follows, then a loud scream that fades away and ends with a distant thud followed by more silence.

You feel like throwing up. That was your fault.

"Well then I guess we know they didn't climb down after all." the Captain says finally. "But they were definitely in here. They must be here still."

"Now would be a good time to run, I'd say." Thomas whispers, and the three of you inch your way to the edge and drop down to hang a few feet above the wall before letting go and landing softly. Unfortunately one of the guards spots Alex as he lands and shouts then begins charging him. Out of instinct you drop down on top of the guard, climb to your feet and run as fast as you can behind Thomas and Alex who took advantage of the opportunity you gave him to flee. Down the stairs the three of you run, a shouting army in pursuit. Through the streets you continue your little escape, then down the alleys. Now back up more stairs you go, running up onto a different wall this time. After reaching the top of the wall here Thomas and Alex jump. Running to the edge you stop and look down to see that there's a river at the bottom. Seriously? There is no way you're going to jump down there. No way. Turning you see the guards nearly within sword length.

You jump.


________

It's been several hours since the jump and you still refuse to speak to either of the two idiots that you're traveling with through the woods.

"I don't see what you're so upset about." Alex complains for what you guess to be the tenth time.

"Because you idiots nearly got me killed!" you finally break your silence with a shout. "Couldn't you have found a better way out?"

"You've never had a problem with that jump before." he replies calmly. Before? How many times had they done this? They truly were idiots weren't they? A couple of Bobs. "Besides" Alex adds "if you hadn't had that great idea to make it look like we'd climbed down they probably would have just assumed we sneaked out some other way."

The comment doesn't settle too well with you, but you hold your tongue. The last thing you want to think about is that death trap you made. You shudder at the memory and try to erase it from your mind.

"What on Earth is that thing?" Alex exclaims as he draws his sword and your mind comes back to the present. Looking up you see a jaguar standing still with it's eyes on Thomas. He's back?

Thomas readies his blade, the jaguar shows it's teeth at the gesture "I've never seen a wild cat like it." he says. The cat lunges at Thomas who narrowly escapes. It then turns toward him again and readies to strike again. This won't end well for one of them.


What do you do?
A. Attack the jaguar. Thomas must be protected. Seems that's the whole purpose of your being here after all.

B. Stand back and let happen what will.

C. Stop the men from fighting it. This jaguar won't hurt them, it's just defending itself.

Something in me makes me think that maybe the Jaguar (the first one) sent you here to actually kill Thomas for whatever reason, and the story is just misleading us into believing he should be protected. I mean the Jaguar is obviously recurring with a purpose behind it, or at least some symbolism, but it's too early to do anything but makes guesses. Eh, I've always been mistrusting of what I think I'm supposed to believe in general.

Also, I really have no idea where to go with this answer, so hopefully someone else replied before me if it ends in a tie again.

I would say go with C. It seemed the Jaguar wasn't aggressive until the men unsheathed their swords first. If it really wanted to take him out, you would think the Jaguar would've tried to sneak up on them like most cats do. 

Wow what a read......anyways looks like he is back. I say go for C since Thomas took out his sword first, and the Jaguar is only defending for himself. cox is right I think its the first one that sent you. But, this story is taking a rather off spin turn here....

Mynamescox44 : (What? Would this narrator try to trick you? )
Eniitan : (Uh-oh. Hopefully it isn't losing your interest with it's weirdness.)

C.
The jaguar lunges at Thomas who leaps out of the way again. Alex creeps around to the other side of the cat placing it in between them. The jaguar is aware of Alex' presence but can't very well watch both sides of himself, and so seems keen on staying committed to slaying Thomas. Alex takes the chance afforded him by the animal's preoccupation with Thomas and draws back to take a slice at it.

"NO!!" you shout as you quickly tackle Alex, knocking the sword from his hand. The commotion draws the jaguar's attention and it turns to look, giving Thomas a clean shot at it which he takes. The damage done isn't fatal but it certainly slows the jaguar down.

"What the heck are you doing?!?" Alex yells and throws you off of himself then goes for his sword again. You start to try stopping him again but seeing the jaguar already injured, you run to it instead. As you place a hand on it, the two of you lock eyes, it looks panicked and angry. Before the sympathy can set in you feel it's giant paw deliver a sound blow to your chest, barely missing your face. The impact knocks you to the ground and your vision blurs slightly, still you manage hear Thomas and Alex shouting and see the cat coming up close. Just as it reaches you it falls over with Thomas' blade dealing the killing blow.

You manage to climb back to your feet and go up to the dead cat.

"You okay? it's Thomas talking.

"Why did you do that?" you ask.

"What? No thank you?" comes the answer.

"He was only protecting himself!" you shout with tears in your eyes "You didn't have to kill him!" You look up at Thomas as your rage builds, and as it comes to a head you can no longer control yourself. Before you know it you somehow have Thomas pinned to a tree with his own sword held to his throat. Silent, you stare into his eyes and what you sees takes you by surprise... Those eyes. They look familiar even though this is the first time you've really looked at them before. You lower your blade and slowly step backwards.

"ALEX, NO!" Thomas shouts, but he's too late: you feel a sharp pain in your back which causes you to crumble to the ground. Looking up you see Alex standing by you, blood -- your blood -- dripping from his sword. He and Thomas are arguing, Thomas looking irate and Alex seeming surprised at his friend's reaction. But what are they saying? You can't hear them. You can't hear anything. You notice at this point that your vision is growing weak too, everything becomes dimmer until you can no longer see at all.

Silence and blackness all around. Are you dead? Your question is soon answered as you feel someone lifting you up. You're not dead, not yet. The movement stops, and everything is calm again.


_______________
"Créachta leigheas. Ar ais beatha. Teacht chugainn arís." the soft chant of a woman's voice. "Créachta leigheas. Ar ais beatha. Teacht chugainn arís." your eyes flutter open. You're lying in the shade of a large tree, the boughs hang so low that they nearly touch the ground. The leaves are an almost unearthly shade of bright green, so bright they almost glow. Pink flower petals float by on the breeze, and a bright, almost golden light, spills over the grass just outside of the tree's shade.

"You're awake." it's the same voice that was chanting moments ago. "Welcome back." Back? You've never seen this place before. The beauty is so striking that you're sure you would remember it.

"Where am I?" you ask. Turning your head toward the voice you see a woman clothed in a flowing white robe, a wreath of pale blue and yellow flowers atop her head, eyes the color of a coffee bean and a skin tone that nearly matches them, her black hair is so long that it spills down her back and lay on the ground behind her as she kneels beside you. Sitting up you look around at the beautiful surroundings. "Am I dead? The last I remember I was...or I think I was. Is this heaven?"

"No, but this is the spirit realm. I know you're wondering what all of the happenings for the past few days have been about, so I will tell you this: there are many realms that coexist within the same space. The reality from which you came is but one of them. All of these realms are separate yet they are linked so that they are reflections one of another, and this realm, the spirit realm, is the true realm, the one from which all others originate and which all others follow, so that all which you have seen has been real, but it has all merely been shadows."

"So... Pretending for just a moment that I understand that" you begin "why am I of all people going through these different realms?"

"All beings live in all realms at all times." she answers matter of factly, as though that should explain it all.

"In English?"

The woman laughs "Everyone lives all of these existences, they are, after all, parallels one of another. Think of it as standing in front of a mirror: everything you do in front of that mirror you also do in that mirror, only backwards."

"So does that mean I know all of the people I've encountered? Even you?" you ask, finally starting to understand.

"It means that the inhabitants of the realm you call home are also in each of the realms you have seen and will see, yes. Saving myself. I abide here and only here, at least visibly. In your realm I am what you might call a spirit."


You have so many questions, but the air around you is beginning to grow cold much like the way it grew warm when you were nearing the switch from your home realm to the last one. You will be leaving soon. Your eyes begin burning profusely but you refuse to close them in fear that you might be transported to the next realm before you can ask the question burning in your mind. The question that you must ask: What is that question?


A. Ask about the jaguar. What is he, and why is he following you? And why is he always in the same form unlike everyone else? Is he indeed dead now?

B. Ask about Thomas. What did he do to get arrested to begin with? He killed the jaguar: is he friend or foe?

C. Ask about Alex. Was he good and simply defending a friend? Or was he an enemy pretending to be good until the opportunity for treachery arose?

Eirinn : I had an idea for escape on the last one, but it seems that I missed it. Oh, well. Anyways, for this situation, there is no doubt that I would go with C. After all, the jaguar only growled after the others threatened it by taking out their sword.

P.S. I'm assuming that, given your description of the place, the buildings would have been made from a sort of clay or sandstone. I feel like we could have used the sword to slide down the side of the building and get away safely, leaving the guards dumbfounded and looking around the place for hours thinking that you were still there. Just a thought.

This is hard.....there are like 3 possible choices to choose from. I want to choose all 3, but that's not always the case I did enjoy reading this chapter even though it got a bit sad in a way. I choose A you need to know why, and it only makes sense to choose this one. The answers you seek to do with that jaguar after all it did bring you to another world. Its only reasonable you know about that more than of Alex, and Thomas. We can know more about those two later on.

Well, I'd like to pick A, but considering how there were two Jaguars in the beginning, I'm not sure how straight of an answer we'd receive. There's no guarantee the Jaguar that appeared in the second world was the friendly one, or the one who attacked you / "your" Jaguar.

My second choice would be B, but that would probably end in a tie meaning we'd go with choice C lol. I mean I'd much rather learn about Thomas over Alex personally.

I have to pick A. I want to learn more about the Jaguar, and I'll take my chances with the answer we actually get lol.

Eirinn : It seems that I had missed a bit more of this story than I thought. 

A. Forget the people! I want to know what happened to the cat! 

FaithFighter : (I was hoping you guys would choose that. I already had part of it written up. Lol)
Eniitan : (I may or may not have nearly cried when the cat was killed. )
Mynamescox44 : (I like how you didn't buy into it without proof)


"So...what about that jaguar? Why does he keep the same form in each realm?"

"He does not." she replies, her voice taking on a much darker and ominous tone.

"But he was in the last two"

"Not as you thought he was." she cuts you off "Listen traveler: not all have the abilities to see all realms as you. But those who do have immense power. Power to save the realms, or power to enslave them. You jaguar is indeed in all realms and will find you in one form or another, but the cat that found you last was a dark one. A deceiver. It was not the one you befriended, but the one that you were saved from by your jaguar twice."

"Twice?" you think over it for a moment "So then that means...Thomas was...?"

"Indeed. You will meet him again in each realm, as your paths are intertwined. You two together have the power to overcome the dark one."

You feel the air growing cold quickly, much like the warmth that came before you wound up in the last realm and you know you'll be leaving soon.

"But how will I know him?" you ask looking for one last bit of guidance.

"You will know." is all she says in return.

Your eyes start to burn profusely, you try rubbing them hard to remedy the discomfort and when they finally stop burning you quit rubbing and look around: you are in a camp, people scurry about you, some carrying supplies to a sled nearby, some forging weapons.



"Talyn!" a gruff male voice calls out as you continue looking at your surroundings, trying to take them all in. "Talyn!" he calls again. You turn to see the man that the voice is coming from: a tall man, extremely muscular -- perhaps a bit too muscular as it borders gross -- short lifeless brown hair sits below his cap made of some type of fur. He's more than a little intimidating, so you turn back to look around and roam about the camp in hopes of learning what you're here for. "TALYN! Are you ignoring me??"

"Me?" You turn to look at the man.

"No, the other Talyn." he replies, his voice thick with sarcasm "Of course you! This is no time for silliness, the general is lookin' for ya. Best not let him catch you looking around for more staff to harass. They got their own work to look after without you gettin' in the way gawkin' at the new help."

"Right...sorry about that." in truth his words irritate you to no end, but you don't intend to talk back to a man that looks as though he could rip you in half with his bare hands. "And where is he about now?"

"In the consultation tent with all of the other top brass of course. Probably all wonderin' why you ain't there."

Top brass? Consultation tent? Apparently you're someone important in this realm. You head in the direction the oversized man pointed, and on your way contemplate all you've seen the past few days: you've gone from a white collar worker in a leading tech company, to a street running wanted rebel, to a high ranking military officer. You can't decide if that's humorous or ridiculous, or perhaps a bit of both. Before you can make up your mind on it (you really need to get better at the whole decision thing) you find yourself in front of a larger tent with a star on the front. As you approach it a man with a spiffy looking military hat pokes his head out.

"Ahh, Lieutenant-General Talyn!" he says with obvious respect "There you are. The General has been waiting for you. Can't very well make an attack strategy without you here."

Attack strategy. You're not sure you like the sound of that.

As you walk into the tent you see seven others seated at the table, and two empty seats: one by the end of the table, and one at the very end by a map and some charts. You can only assume the General will sit at the head so you take the one next to it instead. Besides, you're probably the second highest ranking officer in here so who's going to tell you where you can and can't sit?

"Lieutenant-General Talyn, do you mind?" a man behind you speaks up. Turning around you see a man with an even more decorated uniform than yours. Instincts tell you this man is the General.

Good for you, TalynBob. You took the General's chair.

"My apologies sir." you say quickly as you rise and move to the head of the table. Why wasn't he sitting here? He's the leader after all.

"Now ladies and gentlemen," he begins "Officer Talyn will be directing this strike." your jaw drops and you feel the blood drain from your face. "Now don't be so modest Talyn," he chuckles "you've consistently shown yourself to be our best covert-ops strategist. I trust you're a better suited choice than even I in this setting."

Oh boy. How on Earth are you going to pull this off? You aren't a military genius, you're just an ordinary person. Or are you? You call to mind what the woman in the spirit realm told you: this is indeed you only in a different realm. In this realm you are a military genius. You are capable of this task, or the General wouldn't have put it on you. You decide to let instincts take over and before you know it you're spouting off words you don't even understand and issuing commands to everyone at the table -- except the General of course. By the time you've finished, the entire room seems to be in complete agreement with your plans and all mutter approval.

The rest of the meeting goes smoothly and in what seems like a few short minutes you're back out and meeting up with the group you determined you'd join. The plan was simple enough: divide into three groups, each group handling a different aspect of the mission.

The Alpha group feigns a full frontal attack on the enemy settlement to trick them into sending their main forces to the gate in defense. They then fain defeat and retreat, drawing the enemy after them.

Beta hides a few yards away in a nearby cave. When the enemy comes past, they emerge behind them and attack. At this point Alpha turns and begins fighting as well, thus surrounding the enemy.

Gamma takes up a sniper position and offers support fire from the nearby mountain. After they have sufficiently weekend the enemy forces, they head to the settlement and gather any useful intelligence and supplies.

Afterward all three groups rendezvous at your camp and prepare to set out for the next objective point.


Which group did you join?
A. Alpha. Feigning retreat will be dangerous and you refuse to ask others to take the risk that you won't.

B. Beta. Hide out and ambush the enemy. This is the most crucial move and you must be a part of it to ensure it goes smoothly.

C. Gamma. Support is more your style. Also you need to make sure all needed Intel and supplies are found. You are a covert-ops specialist after all.

So, I just thought of something... 

If the Dark One(s) can follow you, or even just your "Partner," don't they also to some extent have the ability to at least move their consciousness between realms as well? I mean if nothing else, the Jaguars in each realm that are evil all have the same objective, meaning they are taking orders or communicating in some way.
( Also, I get the feeling Your Jaguar in this realm is going to be a soldier / civilian of the opposing army / country, which can cause plenty of issues lol )

I would say go with C. First, if you made your way this far into the ranks, you've spent your fair share of time in danger getting there. Second, it'd be a real Bob move to take any unnecessary risks when you're a covert-ops specialist.

Boy....this is starting to get confusing lol, I'm not going to ask questions yet its just the beginning of the story. So when I need too I'll say my piece of this weirdness. I would go with C as well the story is getting rather.....interesting lets see where it will lead ending wise.

Mynamescox44 : (That is correct sir. The dark ones can indeed move between realms. Also I've been very careful with my exact wording throughout this story, so if anything seems to stand out for whatever reason, know it isn't a coincidence, though I did fail to use proper capitalization on The Dark One as I'll explain later)

Eniitan : (Sorry about that. I'm planning to explain some more things soon)


C.
You feel as though your presence in support fire would be more helpful than anywhere else. Besides, this form you're in may be you still, but you still have the consciousness of your tech employee self, so you're a bit unsure of whether you trust your abilities in close quarters fights.

As you set up your equipment and prepare your camouflage, you can't help but feel a little queasy thinking of what you're about to do. You remember how disgusting you felt after rigging what became that poor guard's death trap in the last realm you visited, and here you are about to kill people directly and on purpose. Still you do what you know you have to, and hope that this whole ordeal of switching between realities ends soon...and well.

Before long you're in position, lying down behind a small metal prop that stands only a few inches off of the ground. Next to you is another sniper on one side and a spotter on the other. Alpha executes their plan perfectly and Beta follows suit. The time for action is now.
You raise your sights and take aim, but your hands are too shaky even with the prop supporting your rifle.

This will not do.

You close your eyes and reason with yourself: you've done this many times before in this realm apparently, you can do it again. The shaking finally subsides and after the first few rounds are fired by the sniper beside you, you open your eyes and try to put your mind in cruise control. It works well enough and soon you're acting without thinking about what it is you're doing. It's mechanical, and judging by the still hands and programmed movements of your comrade, it's mechanical for them too. Likely too traumatizing to dwell on and stay sane.

After emptying your rifle bullet pouch you stand up, gather your equipment, and walk off down the path to the right with the rest of your group as planned. You're halfway to the settlement before you come back to your senses and begin acting on more than programmed behavior again. What snaps you back to reality is what you hear, or rather what you don't hear: anything. Silence suddenly fills the air that was unbearably loud with gunfire only moments before: the enemy must all be dead. You march on in silence, hoping your stay in this realm is a short one.

You reach the settlement and follow your plan through, then turn to go back to your camp. As you near your destination however, you see a people scurrying about, carrying wounded soldiers. Instincts kick in and you rush forward, issuing orders and getting into the thick of the rescue effort. After all is said and done, less than two hundred of you remain where once an entire army stood. The enemy is clearly too strong for you, but you can't just give up now, can you?

You have the few remaining healthy soldiers carry the wounded to the cave that Bravo hid in and set up an emergency camp since dark is drawing on. Setting up a watch, you manage to keep everyone safe for the night and head out for the nearest town in the morning. It's a risky move since the emperor whose forces you're fighting rules over this town, but your recon says it's a mere farm community and as such keeps no military or political presence in it.


As you travel to the small town with only two soldiers at your side (in civilian clothing) so as not to draw attention to yourselves, your mind is flooded with thoughts of the attack on your camp last night: was this your fault? Did you leave the camp too low on defense troops? What if you had called all of the troops to go on the mission? Would they still be alive? You have the answers to none of these questions, all you know is that you miss your office with the nice soft chair and familiar computer that you work from. You miss your familiar home. You miss your neatly organized routines. You even miss Bob...well okay no you don't. You still don't like Bob. Some things just never change.

Arriving in town you head to the first shop you see to purchase some food.

"Can I help you find something?" a voice says behind you.

"No thanks, I'm just" you begin as you turn to face the man speaking with you. You stop speaking as your eyes meet his and the two of you stare at each other looking mutually confused. "Thomas?" you finally manage to say.

"No..." he says slowly "my name's Oliver. Do I know you?" You've found him...again.

"No. I mean yes." you answer "You do, but you don't know you do."

"What?"

"You just don't remember me. I need you to come with me though."

"I can't." he answers "I have to stay at the shop..." he's beginning to seem uncomfortable, whether because he senses something about you, or because he thinks you're a complete weirdo, you know not, though it could easily be either.

What do you do?
A. Convince him to come along. You can explain the connection later.

B. Force him to come along. No one lives nearby, and you could easily take him away without anyone being any the wiser for a while anyway.

C. Explain now. He can't think you're any weirder than he does already, can he?

D. Leave him.


NOTE: I made a mistake in the last entry. "the dark one" should have been capitalized as "The Dark One". Also, typing "the dark ones" as well as "The Dark One" was intentional. This will make sense shortly.

Oh wow....this is uh getting more harder. This chapter I found was intense to read looks like I am stuck for a choice for A or C I feel it makes sense to go for C, but he might go into shock and not being able to handle such information. So it would be wise to choose A so he can see for himself as of why.