text: [Themes: Science Fiction]
  
  > About you
  Starting to grey, but still in excellent health. If not for your fame, no one could possibly guess your real age.
  
  > examine Mathen
  Mathen, your four-year-old son, has short blonde hair. His smile is missing his two front teeth.
  
  Kylina kisses you on the cheek then smiles a contrived farce of a smile at her brother.
  
  > hug Kylina
  You pull your daughter close and give her a hug then kiss her on the forehead. She smiles and gives you a kiss on the nose.
  
  Mathen gives you a hug, squeezing tightly around your neck, and crosses his eyes at his sister.
  
  > Ms.
  Children's Bedroom       Marcus Philbrook                 [MSpk] 5 Press X to exit
  >What story would you...<
  Once upon a time, there were three little pigs...
  Captured the conquering lord...
  
  > go to the north
  Children's Bedroom       Marcus Philbrook                 [MSpk] 5 Press X to exit
  What story would you...
  >Once upon a time, there were three little pigs...<
  Captured the conquering lord...
  
  > P.
  Children's Bedroom       Marcus Philbrook                 [MSpk] 5 Press X to exit
  >What story would you...<
  Once upon a time, there were three little pigs...
  Captured the conquering lord...
  >ask about their preferred story
  "What story would you like for me to tell you?" you ask, already knowing the answer.
  
  "Tell us about when you were young!" answers Kylina decisively.
  
  "Yes! Tell us the statue story!" Mathen agrees, clapping his hands together.
  
  > Ms.
  Children's Bedroom       Marcus Philbrook                 [MSpk] 6 Press X to exit
  >Where do I begin...<
  >tell statue story
  You smile, and take in a long breath. "Let me see, where do I begin? Oh yes...
  
  "It had been three weeks since my spirit had died, three weeks since all the color had drained from the world, three weeks since..."
  
  "No. Don't start there!" Mathen interrupts. "Start before that, when Mommy was a little girl!"
  
  "That's not before, you dummy!" scorns his sister. "Mommy was after, while Daddy was sleeping!"
  
  "Nuh-uuuh!"
  
  "Yes she was!" Kylina glares at Mathen. Mathen retorts by sticking his tongue out at her.
  
  "It's okay," you say smoothly. "We can start with Mommy. Maybe the story goes better that way."
  
  Mathen smiles smugly at his sister, who decides to ignore him.
  
  You think for a moment about where to begin. "Okay," you start. "Mommy -- that is, 'Cylest' -- had wandered away from the others..."
  
  (circa 9223)
  
  Cylest had wandered away from the others. The museum was amazing and she wanted to see all of it, but the statue -- THE statue, was too captivating. She had listened to the stories all of her life. It was the statue made by the ancients, the only remnant of a civilization before recorded history. None knew how the statue had been made or how the ancients had managed such realism. No one could even guess about what it was made from. The mages claimed that it was immune to most of their magiks and what little they could find out about it raised more questions than answers.
  
  Cylest had always been enraptured by the mystery surrounding the statue. Although most thought it to be simply a statue of amazing detail, many believed that it was once a real man. It was a commonly told children's story that the statue was truly a dark mage who slept until his chosen time to rise again and enslave the world. It was said he was a mage of powerful evil -- more evil even than Noric the Dark who had been exiled with great difficulty into the Thanatos desert for leading an insurrection against her father. But Cylest secretly believed the statue was an ancient hero, captured by an evil mage of great power and made to suffer for all eternity. The statue was the single interest that she could always remember having, so she had jumped at the chance to visit the museum where it was housed. After the museum guide had led her party by it, she had taken the first opportunity to sneak away and return.
  
  Now, as she stood knee-high before the statue of the ancients and stared up into its heart-wrenching expression, she was ensnared by the romance of it all. The tall, mysterious, ancient man -- unloved, rejected, and distraught by loneliness -- stood waiting only for someone to love him. Yes, she thought as she peered into his sad, distant eyes. I do love him. And she always had, for the entire seven years of her life. He needed her love and she could not deny him of it. The grownups would not understand, but it didn't matter. She would prove her love...
  
  Museum, Statue Exhibit (in the glass case)
  
  From within the case, sharing space with the statue, Cylest felt like an artifact herself, looking out into the empty museum.
  
  > look at the statue
  The statue was of a tall, handsome man, brimming with mystery and otherworldliness. The man held a strange box in his left hand, his thumb pressed against it purposefully. An ancient coat covered the man's torso and extended down to his knees. A small aperture in the coat, just within Cylest's reach, was visible.
  
  > check your inventory
  Cylest was carrying:
  a promise pin (providing light)
  
  > talk to the statue
  [You can only do that to something animate.]
  
  > examine the aperture
  She looked closely at the small aperture in the statue, a gap in its strange ancient garb. It was a pocket. A perfect place to put the symbol of her love!
  
  > examine pin
  Cylest opened her fist and looked down at her promise pin. The pin, adorned with a glowing crystal, was symbolic of eons of Darisian tradition and her father would be livid when he found that she had taken it. It was to be given to her betrothed when she was old enough to make the decision. Well, she was old enough. She was seven years old -- almost eight -- and certainly old enough to love. After all, she loved this statue and the mysterious man that it represented. And the statue -- she was sure -- returned her love.
  
  > look in the pocket
  Cylest jumped several times, bobbing up and down just enough to see into the pocket. It was dark, but appeared to be empty. Not for long, Cylest told herself.
  
  > put the pin in the pocket
  Cylest reached up above her head and dropped the pin into the open pocket. There was a metallic tinkle as the pin slipped down the gap in the stone. She was certain that the statue would awaken for her now. It would come to life since she had proven her love for it. The ancient man would embrace her and sweep her away from her terrible life. Any moment he would open his lips and speak...
  
  "Cylest!" cried a stern voice from behind, making her jump. "What are you doing in there?" She turned to see her father's aide staring at her from outside the glass casing. "Those display cases are meant to keep people from touching the artifacts! Get out of there, now!" he commanded. "That is no way for a princess to behave!"
  
  Princess Cylest nodded at his reprimand, and silently followed him as he led her back to the group, relieved that he had not seen what she had done with her pin.
  
  C H A P T E R . I
  (circa 1997)
  
  It had been three weeks since my spirit had died, three weeks since all the color had drained from the world, three weeks since the horror had visited and marred me forever. I had knelt amidst the wreckage of glass and metal. I had held Karen's limp form upon my lap. I had closed her unseeing eyes. It had been three weeks since my reason to live had left this world and I had kissed my wife's cold, bloodied lips goodbye.
  
  The loss was unbearable, the pain beyond measure. I had emerged dreadfully intact from the wreckage that had once been my automobile. I was unforgivably unscathed. To those around me, I seemed healthy and vibrant. Yet I was but a shell; dead in all ways that mattered.
  
  From my reflection, only an obscenity glared back. The perversity of it all taunted me. Not a scratch upon the killer who drove his love to her death. Not a bruise for the driver whose very reason to live was crushed in his passenger seat.
  
  And so it was that three weeks -- or minutes, or decades -- after the accident, I included myself in the secret. As I stared at my reflection in the coffee pot, I let myself in on the plan. As I did, I knew at once that I had made the decision weeks ago -- in the midst of the wreckage -- and kept it secret even from myself.
  
  Teresa had said that it was too soon for me to return to work, but I had dismissed her concerns. I needed to immerse myself, I had said. But it was a lie, and Malcolm had known. He watched me closely, scrutinizing my actions. He was as suspicious as any partner and friend of twenty years would be. But today was the meeting, and he could not be in two places at once.
  
  Today would be the day that I would realize my plan and put an end to this lifelessness...
  
  The Mage Wars: Statue
  (INTROCOMP 2003 version)
  Copyright (c) 2003: Jim Fisher
  
  The coffee nook was nothing more than a recessed counter top with a sink, providing easy access from the Northern boardroom. The office coffeemaker rested on the counter.
  
  In the empty coffeepot, which I still held, my refracted reflection returned my gaze, reminding me of the perversity of my existence.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  I was carrying:
  a white lab coat (being worn)
  a coffeepot
  a coffee mug
  some coffee
  
  > drink the coffee
  I downed the coffee. It was not entirely pleasant having the after-taste that coffee has after it has sat too long after brewing. Still, it was remarkably warm and fresh for a cup of coffee that was possibly ten-thousand years old.
  
  The meeting was progressing in the boardroom to the North. Malcolm was showing the two investors one of the petra-eikons.
  
  > put pot on the coffeemaker
  I returned the coffeepot to its place in the coffeemaker.
  
  > check your inventory
  I was carrying:
  a white lab coat (being worn)
  a coffee mug
  
  "As soon as Dr. Philbrook rejoins us," Malcolm was saying, "I can give you a demonstration of the device. I think you will be quite impressed."
  
  > look at the coat
  White and long, the coat came down to my knees. It had a single pocket at the bottom which I seldom used.