text: [Themes: sci-fi]
  
  Suddenly the world changes. You stand on an empty beach. Seeing no reason to distinguish directions, aside from the water before you, you follow the coast, the sunset before you. A cool wind follows you, soothing your nerves as you walk. You're not sure what you're looking for, but you assume that eventually you'll find it. Or better yet, it will find you.
  
  Eventually you come upon a small bird dancing on the ground before you. It seems to watch you as you pass, fluffing it's wings indifferently to you.
  
  "Hey!" it suddenly says. You stop. What the hell? "Hey!" the bird squawks again. "You're going the wrong way, you know." You look at the tiny creature. "No, I don't. Which way should I go and why the hell am I here?" The bird doesn't speak. It merely turns it's head to your left. Without wasting time trying to figure out what the hell is going on, you turn left.
  
  Eventually you come to a strange tower. A sort of sentinel. You're not sure what it means, but you assume you must be going the right direction. You look back toward the ocean, wondering if the bird is still over there. When you look back, you are shocked to find the statue has changed.
  
  It morphs into a strange shape, then a voice comes from it. "Make sure you go through the gate twice, but keep going straight the first time," it says. What? "We need to make sure you don't bring any weapons or explosives onto the airplane." Okay this is getting weird. You keep walking, and eventually you come upon a strange hollow square.
  
  This must be the gate, you think. The voice said to go through it twice. What does that mean? Go through it once and then go back through the same way you came? Or go through it and then keep going straight? You're not really sure, but you suspect the physics and geography of this place isn't like the real world. After all, there are talking birds and talking statues. You make your decision.
  
  > go through the gate and then keep walking
  You figure the rules of this world do not follow the normal bounds of logic, so you decide to go through the gate and "keep going straight," as the statue directed. After what feels like hours, you find your self staring at the ocean again. How that's possible you cannot fathom, other than to assume that going straight long enough loops you back where you started. You keep walking.
  
  A sudden flutter makes you turn your head, and the bird you saw earlier flies by. It flies behind you, and you here it land. You turn to look at it and gasp; the bird seems to have transformed into a sandstone statue.
  
  As you bend down to touch it, you hear a voice emanating from the statue. "Hey buddy, don't you man handle me! It's like I told you before, keep going!" You shake your head and walk on. For a while nothing changes. The cool wind keeps blowing, the ocean stays to your right, and the odd sand feels cool against your bare feet. After another hour, the light suddenly changes. You look up; in a matter of seconds, the sky changes from the blue of the afternoon to the deep gold of sunset. The sun in the sky travels it's arc in a matter of seconds, and then freezes near the horizon.
  
  Suddenly, as if your pace was magically quickened, the distance before you shrinks and moves toward you by the mile with each step you take. You stop, and before you lies the same gate you walked through earlier, the golden sunlight shining through it.
  
  You step through it, and the world turns upside down.
  
  > Transferring...
  "Please hold while we transfer your call," you hear a woman's voice. Without warning the blackness that surrounds you transforms into a strange landscape with two suns, one yellow-green, one red. You stand on a rocky cliff before a strange ocean that appears to be solid, yet constantly flowing. The grey sky and red horizon glow reminds you of old pictures or Mars you saw when you were a kid.
  
  As you take a step forward, you find your foot won't return to the ground. Your body seems to have been pushed into the air by your force, and slowly you rise. You wave your arms to try to slow your ascent, but with each second the speed of your rise increases. The vista before you is beautiful, but soon even the high cliffs drop below you. Suddenly the two suns race toward you and begin to swirl around you, their size significantly smaller than you would have expect.
  
  A voice from above says, "Sorry for the wait. Mr. White will see you now." You glance up into the face of a massive black hole. With no chance of avoiding it or slowing your ascent, you place your arms at your sides and close your eyes.
  
  > Plea Deal
  Blackness surround you. You feel hands grabbing you from every angle, each grasp angrily probing. You sense an incredible malice, and begin to feel an intense agony all over your body. The darkness begins to seep into your skin, and down to your bones, and you sense the end is approaching.
  
  Suddenly a fey green light cuts through the dark, and with it comes a dreadful hopeless feeling. "No!" you hear a shout, the voice thunderous, echoing across the Void, the source of the sound both everywhere around you and inside of your own mind. "We will wait." The hands tearing at you let go, and the coldness that soaked through your skin evaporates.
  
  A face suddenly appears before you: the face from your dream. It hovers before you for a moment, and then flies at you. You close your eyes, but the light still seeps through. A terrifying ache courses through you, and hot smoke fills your lungs. A shiver runs through your body, and you convulse for a moment. Eventually it passes, and you open your eyes. The face floats before you again.
  
  "I've been here for eons," says the voice, an air of arrogance and contempt unconcealed, but a weariness lingers with each word. "When your girlfriend's parents died, I was to take my replacement. A small child." His voice raises. "I had waited for millions of years to die, and they stole it from me." Suddenly he screams, and it physically pierces through your body like hot fire. Your flesh melts away, and your mind is consumed. Nothingness overtakes you.
  
  Eons seem to pass, and bit by bit the atoms that once inhabited your body slowly coalesce again, and after a while you are made whole, the face once again before you. "I will destroy your world. There is no way around it. Your pathetic friends cannot stop me. Even now I'm absorbing the soul of your precious leader, this Arjan." You can barely breathe, and don't have the strength to respond. "For time immeasurable I have been directing the Lost to consume. Countless solar systems have fallen under my wrath."
  
  The face seems to contort like a mirage, then it stabilizes again. "I was once like you. I was given a choice, an ultimatum, to save my planet, and I made that choice. And now you will do the same." Black tendrils suddenly shoot out from the Void and grab hold of your arms and legs, and one wraps around your neck. You can hear your flesh burn where they touch.
  
  "You will replace me," says the voice, "and for a few minutes you will have the mental capacity to direct The Lost to abandon your planet. After that, you will sink into madness, as I did, and guide these foul creatures from galaxy to galaxy, universe to universe, destroying all life." The shock you feel at that renders the pain your body is feeling moot.
  
  "You will make this choice, or you will die, and everyone you love will die with you." With that, the dark tendrils release you, and a white door appears below the face. "Step through the door and end me," he says.
  
  > Step through
  You know you have no choice. You cannot let the world die for your own sake. Besides, you are sure the choice was either the entire world and you die, or just you die. You ask the voice, "How will I know how to control them?" The voice laughs, a cold, cruel, tired sound. The second you walk through they will become part of you, and you part of them. The pain will be... intense." You wait a moment and collect your thoughts. This is the end of your life, of everything you've ever hoped and dreamed. You step through the door.
  
  Suddenly your mind is torn asunder. You feel every inch of your body ripped apart, the joyful malice of the darkness around you feeding upon every drop of energy within you. Your soul is violently twisted and bent, stretched and torn. A deathly cold spike of energy decouples your brain from your body, splitting you in half. As you begin to die, a deep rage begins to fill you; an urge to destroy anything that dares to disturb the smoothness of oblivion, an urge to destroy all ordered matter. Every piece of it is a jarring blasphemy to you, searing your eyes even worse than the searing your body and mind feel at the hands of the Lost.
  
  Just before you turn to join the mass of darkness to destroy and consume, an image passes before your eyes:
  
  It's Samantha standing at the Carnival. You can't remember if she's alive or dead, but you know she's enough to chain you to the world for a few precious moments. Your mind clears, and you direct The Lost to move to another planet. You suddenly feel a suction from a vacuum, drawing you and all the dark beings entwined with you through. You sense the grip you have on planet Earth begin to slip, and The Lost begin to drip back toward the Veil.
  
  You'll never know what will become of your home planet, but for a brief second you are satisfied to know it will be spared. A feeling of contentment fills you for a moment, and then it is instantly filled with the deepest anger and hatred imaginable.
  
  You, and The Lost, forget the Earth and, malice ever in your souls, desperately seek life and order to destroy.
  
  > The world is saved, but at what cost?
  Congratulations! You managed to save the world from the threat of The Lost. Unfortunately, you will never speak to anyone you love again. You will never speak again. You will eternally seek to destroy and consume, a dark hunger forever gnawing at you, never satisfied...
  You have obtained the following Achievements:
  Leap of Faith
  Thank you for playing!
  Image credits:
  
  Aurora image courtesy of Pixabay.com 'Free images and videos you can use anywhere,' by Noel Bauza.