On September 22, 2011 at 10:07 PMswimblizz88 said:
I supposed I could have dreamt, but if I did I could not remember what about. After jumping through the chronostream, I was met with only darkness for timeless moment before I woke again. I took mental bearing before I tried to open my eyes. Something was securing my arms, but felt loose enough to be ineffective. I could feel my robes and my sabretache on my body, but they felt burdensome and misplaced on my body. I quickly reached out to my power and felt nothing. I growing sense of urgency forced me to throw the shades of my eyes wide I wish I hadn’t them, for when I did eight mechanical arms were looming imperiously above me with various surgical utensils. The angle was just right that it seemed as if they were indeed grasping, and only moments away from striking me. I quickly pulled my arms from the oversized straps and rolled over the edge of the table I was laying on. I fell a bit farther than I thought I would and landed in a heap with my clothes bundling around my ankles.
I sickly smooth voice echoed throughout the room “"Ah, looks like my smallest’s test subject has awoken, though you are looking even smaller than usual, Brevan. Though I guess, as you always say, ’you’re just a child.’"
GLaDOS. I shouldn’t have been surprised, looking back, but at the time I was sufficiently surprised as to encourage another quip from the twisted intelligence.
“I know you have no wish to see me again so soon, but I have the most interesting test that is perfectly suited to one of your stature.”
I was already tired of her games, “does the test involve me overloading your system with magic again?”
A very short pause, “empty threats will avail you nothing. Now please gather up your things and enter the next testing chamber.”
I figured it would be better to amuse her for a bit while I think of a way out. A part of the wall revealed itself to be a door, and was immediately drawn up into the ceiling. Her voice followed me into the next chamber, “This is exciting!”
I took off my robe and sabretache and discarded them for they were too large and would only impede me. I left only my shirt and belt on, which now doubled as a dress, to hold my few possessions. I had no spells at my disposal, but I still had a few wands, which I tucked into the band of my belt. The door slammed down behind me, and the darkness of the next room quickly retreated as lava started pouring in from vents. The light revealed a complex set of tiers, with small gaps between them for the lava to flow into. I wasn’t quite sure of what I was supposed to do, and then another door opened up quite a distance away at the other end of the room. I quickly used my wand to give myself protection from the heat of the lava and proceeded to make my way across the Lilly pads floating on the lava.
“Your confidence is admirable, similar to a child when he is amongst likeminded friends. But, sadly, you are alone, and indeed only a child.” I jumped the first few gaps before the lava could get to high, but now it was high enough to touch with my toe over the edge, if I was foolish enough to test it like one would test water. The heat was a non-issue as it stood, but if I fell in my wand would surely provide little protection. After a few more jumps, I noticed a pattern of increasing sizes in the gaps. Already I was getting close to the longest jump I was able and I still had a long way to go.
“You are doing well, but I feel I must extrapolate on what I said before. When I said you were alone, I meant to imply that your friends have failed this test as well, and their corpses litter the crevices of this room, though I am sure the lava already consumed their bodies. I suspected you failed to understand my meaning the first time, which is to be expected of someone of such frail intelligence”
In hindsight I shouldn’t have responded, but I couldn’t resist. “I caught your meaning but have already decided you were lying so ignored it. If you want to get under my skin you will have to show me some proof.”
“You will have it soon enough.” I chill ran down my spine despite the heat of the chamber, at the sinister tone GLaDOS portrayed, if a monotonous voice can be said to be sinister. In truth I was getting worried that I would soon be unable to make the gaps. It was hardly fair that I had to make the same jumps as those of my companions. Even if they were children as well, they would be just as big as my full grown size.
Maybe she can detect thought, it was a simple spell, or she was a good guesser, either way she spoke thusly, “I know, life isn’t fair. How can I possibly expect you to bridge the very gaps that defeated your companions? I suspect you will meet failure too, but I must test all circumstances equally.”
I thought but didn’t say “What about the circumstance where you remain in silence look a good automaton.” Despite the protection of my spell, I was further hindered by the sweat developing on the soles of my feet and the uncomfortable heat of the metal beneath me. I tried to quicken my across the gaps, maintaining a brisk pace to both speed up the process and to be able to jump farther. I raced to the next edge only to stop dead in my tracks. The next gap was simply impassable. But that is not what caused me stop. Someone was on the other side of the gap, but their body was submerged under the lava with only their shoulders remaining above and their arms looking for purchase on the sleek metal of the other side. They were not moving. No one could survive in the lava like that. He was indeed dead, at least I think it was a he, but the heat of the lava could have seared away any hair they might have had. The flowing lava eventually pried the body away as I looked in horror. Zerrick. It was surely Zerrick. He pitched back when his dead hands lost grip, and his dead face peered back at me for a short moment before he submerged completely under the lava. I failed to mask my… sadness. I thought I might not be that sad, for I truly hadn’t known him that long, and hadn’t had any real connection to him. Perhaps I was just depressed by the knowledge that if Zerrick failed to bridge the gap, I had no chance.
“He was so close to the end. They all were. But so are you.”
Take your snide comments and your god’s damned experiments and shove it up your arse!”
“That’s the spirit! In all of our time together, you have never struck out in such a manner!”
I paced back and forth, going over fledgling ideas in my head but none were good enough to attempt. The heat of the ground was an annoyance only, so I bided my time, trying not to do anything rash. After several minutes of thinking I was again interrupted by GLaDOS, “What kinds of thoughts are swirling in that little skull of yours? Are you being tormented by your mortality? Is your fate sinking in?”
“What’s the point of this damn experiment if we all just die?! What data will you have gathered?!
“I have access to your brain patterns and thoughts. I am currently studying the return of the brain to a more primitive state in those moments before a horrible death. It has been a revealing study so far. But you have mulled long enough. Death awaits, my subject.” As she said finished the lava in the first half of the room rose over the edges of the platforms and started rising, and consequently surging toward where I was located. I was slightly higher up on this side of the room, but still I had very little time to contemplate any further. I was beginning to panic, and despite trying to remain calm, I felt a very primitive fear overtake me, the knowledge that I was going to die a horrible fiery death. I cursed GLaDOS in my few remaining moments, and proceeded to take of my shirt and belt for what I was about to attempt. I hesitated still, knowing that my death was almost guaranteed, but unwilling to accept it. As the lava reached my platform I was forced to the edge of the chasm where Zerrick had died. I jumped as far I could toward the far wall, and closed my eyes expecting the plunge. My feet hit something solid and I put the other one in front and ran. I didn’t know what happened until I ran through the threshold of the next room. Looking back, I saw a plain white room, which shared only the length of the previous room in its design. Laughing and cursing together, I praised my continued life. “You whore!” was all I could muster and I kept moving through plain white halls until I found what I deduced to be a one way portal. Having no other options available I went in, having matured much this day despite appearances.
I supposed I could have dreamt, but if I did I could not remember what about. After jumping through the chronostream, I was met with only darkness for timeless moment before I woke again. I took mental bearing before I tried to open my eyes. Something was securing my arms, but felt loose enough to be ineffective. I could feel my robes and my sabretache on my body, but they felt burdensome and misplaced on my body. I quickly reached out to my power and felt nothing. I growing sense of urgency forced me to throw the shades of my eyes wide I wish I hadn’t them, for when I did eight mechanical arms were looming imperiously above me with various surgical utensils. The angle was just right that it seemed as if they were indeed grasping, and only moments away from striking me. I quickly pulled my arms from the oversized straps and rolled over the edge of the table I was laying on. I fell a bit farther than I thought I would and landed in a heap with my clothes bundling around my ankles.
I sickly smooth voice echoed throughout the room “"Ah, looks like my smallest’s test subject has awoken, though you are looking even smaller than usual, Brevan. Though I guess, as you always say, ’you’re just a child.’"
GLaDOS. I shouldn’t have been surprised, looking back, but at the time I was sufficiently surprised as to encourage another quip from the twisted intelligence.
“I know you have no wish to see me again so soon, but I have the most interesting test that is perfectly suited to one of your stature.”
I was already tired of her games, “does the test involve me overloading your system with magic again?”
A very short pause, “empty threats will avail you nothing. Now please gather up your things and enter the next testing chamber.”
I figured it would be better to amuse her for a bit while I think of a way out. A part of the wall revealed itself to be a door, and was immediately drawn up into the ceiling. Her voice followed me into the next chamber, “This is exciting!”
I took off my robe and sabretache and discarded them for they were too large and would only impede me. I left only my shirt and belt on, which now doubled as a dress, to hold my few possessions. I had no spells at my disposal, but I still had a few wands, which I tucked into the band of my belt. The door slammed down behind me, and the darkness of the next room quickly retreated as lava started pouring in from vents. The light revealed a complex set of tiers, with small gaps between them for the lava to flow into. I wasn’t quite sure of what I was supposed to do, and then another door opened up quite a distance away at the other end of the room. I quickly used my wand to give myself protection from the heat of the lava and proceeded to make my way across the Lilly pads floating on the lava.
“Your confidence is admirable, similar to a child when he is amongst likeminded friends. But, sadly, you are alone, and indeed only a child.” I jumped the first few gaps before the lava could get to high, but now it was high enough to touch with my toe over the edge, if I was foolish enough to test it like one would test water. The heat was a non-issue as it stood, but if I fell in my wand would surely provide little protection. After a few more jumps, I noticed a pattern of increasing sizes in the gaps. Already I was getting close to the longest jump I was able and I still had a long way to go.
“You are doing well, but I feel I must extrapolate on what I said before. When I said you were alone, I meant to imply that your friends have failed this test as well, and their corpses litter the crevices of this room, though I am sure the lava already consumed their bodies. I suspected you failed to understand my meaning the first time, which is to be expected of someone of such frail intelligence”
In hindsight I shouldn’t have responded, but I couldn’t resist. “I caught your meaning but have already decided you were lying so ignored it. If you want to get under my skin you will have to show me some proof.”
“You will have it soon enough.” I chill ran down my spine despite the heat of the chamber, at the sinister tone GLaDOS portrayed, if a monotonous voice can be said to be sinister. In truth I was getting worried that I would soon be unable to make the gaps. It was hardly fair that I had to make the same jumps as those of my companions. Even if they were children as well, they would be just as big as my full grown size.
Maybe she can detect thought, it was a simple spell, or she was a good guesser, either way she spoke thusly, “I know, life isn’t fair. How can I possibly expect you to bridge the very gaps that defeated your companions? I suspect you will meet failure too, but I must test all circumstances equally.”
I thought but didn’t say “What about the circumstance where you remain in silence look a good automaton.” Despite the protection of my spell, I was further hindered by the sweat developing on the soles of my feet and the uncomfortable heat of the metal beneath me. I tried to quicken my across the gaps, maintaining a brisk pace to both speed up the process and to be able to jump farther. I raced to the next edge only to stop dead in my tracks. The next gap was simply impassable. But that is not what caused me stop. Someone was on the other side of the gap, but their body was submerged under the lava with only their shoulders remaining above and their arms looking for purchase on the sleek metal of the other side. They were not moving. No one could survive in the lava like that. He was indeed dead, at least I think it was a he, but the heat of the lava could have seared away any hair they might have had. The flowing lava eventually pried the body away as I looked in horror. Zerrick. It was surely Zerrick. He pitched back when his dead hands lost grip, and his dead face peered back at me for a short moment before he submerged completely under the lava. I failed to mask my… sadness. I thought I might not be that sad, for I truly hadn’t known him that long, and hadn’t had any real connection to him. Perhaps I was just depressed by the knowledge that if Zerrick failed to bridge the gap, I had no chance.
“He was so close to the end. They all were. But so are you.”
Take your snide comments and your god’s damned experiments and shove it up your arse!”
“That’s the spirit! In all of our time together, you have never struck out in such a manner!”
I paced back and forth, going over fledgling ideas in my head but none were good enough to attempt. The heat of the ground was an annoyance only, so I bided my time, trying not to do anything rash. After several minutes of thinking I was again interrupted by GLaDOS, “What kinds of thoughts are swirling in that little skull of yours? Are you being tormented by your mortality? Is your fate sinking in?”
“What’s the point of this damn experiment if we all just die?! What data will you have gathered?!
“I have access to your brain patterns and thoughts. I am currently studying the return of the brain to a more primitive state in those moments before a horrible death. It has been a revealing study so far. But you have mulled long enough. Death awaits, my subject.” As she said finished the lava in the first half of the room rose over the edges of the platforms and started rising, and consequently surging toward where I was located. I was slightly higher up on this side of the room, but still I had very little time to contemplate any further. I was beginning to panic, and despite trying to remain calm, I felt a very primitive fear overtake me, the knowledge that I was going to die a horrible fiery death. I cursed GLaDOS in my few remaining moments, and proceeded to take of my shirt and belt for what I was about to attempt. I hesitated still, knowing that my death was almost guaranteed, but unwilling to accept it. As the lava reached my platform I was forced to the edge of the chasm where Zerrick had died. I jumped as far I could toward the far wall, and closed my eyes expecting the plunge. My feet hit something solid and I put the other one in front and ran. I didn’t know what happened until I ran through the threshold of the next room. Looking back, I saw a plain white room, which shared only the length of the previous room in its design. Laughing and cursing together, I praised my continued life. “You whore!” was all I could muster and I kept moving through plain white halls until I found what I deduced to be a one way portal. Having no other options available I went in, having matured much this day despite appearances.