corvus v2.0.exe

You open your eyes to see a thick forest, full of pine and oak trees, stretching out before you. You can't see its end. You don't remember how you got here. Your body feels... different. A bit itchy. [[Observe your surroundings. -> observeuno]] [[Examine your body. -> examineuno]]

You look around, ignoring your itch. You figure it'll go away soon enough. You look right, left, back, front, up, down... Alas! to no avail. You can see nothing but almond trees. [[Almond?]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]]

You try craning your neck as far as it can go, but you don't see anything more than black feathers. You don't remember ever buying such clothing. You try looking backwards but fail terribly and end up with a small cramp. [[Observe your surroundings. -> observeuno]]

You look around, ignoring your itch. You figure it'll go away soon enough. You look right, left, back, front, up, down... Alas! to no avail. You can see nothing but almond trees. [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Turn around. -> forestdos]]

You start walking but something feels off. You're closer to the ground than you remember you used to be and... wobbling a lot more when you walk. [[Look down. -> wht]]

You look around, ignoring your itch. You figure it'll go away soon enough. You look right, left, back, front, up, down... Alas! to no avail. You can see nothing but almond trees. [[Turn around. -> no]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Turn around. -> no]]

The forest is calling you. [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]] [[Start walking towards the forest. -> forestuno]]

You see the body of a CROW instead of your own. You are confused. And itchy. Your legs start wobbling as if they hadn't been before. youdontknowwhattodo [[Look around. -> look]]

You can't see anything but trees. You start wandering around, trying to make out shapes and figures, listening to any noises you might hear. You step on a twig and it snaps in half, making a sound that seems as loud as an explosion for your ears that have grown accustomed to the dominating [[silence. -> silent]]

What DO you do? What does someone do in a situation like this? You don't know. You decide to stop and try to [[collect your thoughts. -> collect]]

After what seems like hours, you successfully calm yourself down. You still don't know what to do but you figure you might as well form a plan. You... [[try to find another animal around. -> animal]] [[keep wandering in the forest. ->wander]] [[try to get out of the forest. -> out]]

You remember you once went camping with your family, in the forest. You recall all the different birds, bugs and animals you had seen; with feathers of colors you had never seen before, shiny shells that reflected your face and enchanting fur the sun bounced off of every single strand. Surely you can't be the only living thing in this forest, aside from the plants. Are the plants alive? You have no way of checking. You shout-- no, caw. [['CAW, CAW, CAW.']]

You decide to walk a bit more into the forest. The only sound you hear is the slight crackling of dead leaves under your feet. You reach a fork in the road and take this opportunity to rest while considering your two options. The road leading to the right seems less travelled somehow, with wild plants growing on and around the path. The trees are more dense, with light filtering through their leaves, creating patterns on the ground here and there. The road leading to the left has shorter trees and allows more sunlight in. There are many vines on the ground, but it's apparent this road has had... things walk along it before. After you're done recharging your energy, you go... [[right.]] [[left.]]

You desperately want a way out of this forest. You don't know what's happening or how it's happening, but you feel like you need to escape from whatever crazy reality this is. You... [[walk to the edge of the forest. -> walko]] [[fly upwards. -> flyo]]

The sudden sound coming from your raw throat catches you off-guard. You nearly fall down, but manage to find your balance. You intently listen for any type of response you might get, but all you hear is... nothing. Not even the slight rustle of leaves you used to be so familiar with. It's almost as if everything is dead. You try again. [['CAW, CAW, CAW, CAW.']]

Your inexperienced caws echo through the forest. You realise this is useless, but keep trying for a few more minutes. After getting no response whatsoever, you-- You hear a faint rustling, followed by a cry of what you assume to be [[pain.]]

You choose to go towards the less-travelled road. Taking small steps at first and gradually moving faster, you start searching for something, //anything// that will prove to you that you are not alone, not isolated. After some time, you reach a small plateau, dimly lit by sunlight. It looks inviting and even though you have just recently taken a break, you feel exhausted. Approaching the open space, you hear... [[rustling.]]

You choose to travel down the road that seems like the safer choice of the two, the one that looks like it has been travelled on. The road is fairly easy to walk on, given that it's mostly just dirt and pebbles. After what you assume to be about half an hour, you're tired again. Not only physically, but mentally as well. Everything has started to look the same and you're suspicious as to whether you've just been walking around in circles all this time. You... [[want a change of pace, so you try flying. ->flyl]] [[keep walking forward. ->walkl]] (link:"turn around and walk back.")[(goto:"wander")]

You're dumbfounded at first, but quickly gather your thoughts (and courage) and run in the general direction of the voice. You try croaking again, and hear whimpers coming from your right. You immediately change direction and start waddling as fast as you [[can. -> smallbird]]

'How is everything so silent?', you wonder. 'So... dead? Is there anything alive? Am //I// the only person alive? I'm not a person. I'm a crow. Where am I? How did I get here?' Your mind starts racing, asking a million questions at a time. [[whatdoidowhatdoido -> what]]

Agony is all you feel. Your environment, your body, this entire reality you're in is new and foreign to you. You want to get out but don't know how. And just as you think you have found another living thing, something that can somehow give you a clue about this reality, it... dies. 'It's so small,' you think. 'It's so small but now it's dead. I couldn't even ask it if it was okay. I couldn't offer any comforting words. Couldn't touch or embrace it.' 'What do I do [[now?']]

You sit, or rather, //fall// down. You don't know if it's because you felt a kinship with the poor bird, or because this was the only sign of life you came across in the limited timeframe you were in this dense, sentimental forest. All the energy and motivation initiated by your survival instincts and curiousity leaves you. Emptiness is all you [[feel.]]

You freeze in fear that making the slightest of movements will somehow break this spell, this moment that proves to you that not everything is dead, that something is still capable of movement, maybe even //alive//. Listening intenly, you try to catch any other sounds that might follow it up, searching for something that will indicate that you have not merely misheard or are not overthinking the implications of a simple ruffling sound. And you find it. You hear a faint whimper. You [[walk. -> walk]] [[try flying. -> fly]]

When you see it, you are stunned. There is a small bird, lying in a heap of garbage. You can see it struggling, can faintly recognize the smell of blood and can see it staining some of the waste the bird is surrounded with. It twitches, and you twitch too. 'Are you okay?' you try saying. 'CAW CAW CAW,' is what comes out of your [[mouth.]]

...When you see it, you are stunned. There is a small bird, lying in a heap of garbage. You can see it struggling, can faintly recognize the smell of blood and can see it staining some of the waste the bird is surrounded with. It twitches, and you twitch too. 'Are you okay?' you try saying. 'CAW CAW CAW,' is what comes out of your [[mouth.]]

Minutes [[pass. -> p1]]

Hours [[pass. -> p2]]

Days [[pass. -> p3]]

What feels like months, years, decades pass. You don't move. You can't. It slowly sinks in that you truly are all alone in this forest, with no way out. Wait, [[what's-- ->?]]

Something dark moves in your peripheral vision. You quickly whip your head towards the direction of the movement but you see... Nothing. It's as if your senses are mocking you. But then it happens [[again. ->ww]]

Your eyes dart frantically around the area, scanning the trees and the ground and everything in-between. You are dumb. You are slow. You cannot use your perceptive abilities to the max. But you see it, [[at last. -> yo]]

...It's another crow, looking just like the one that... Before you can react, it spreads out its long, elegant wings and flies up; giving a caw as if to beckon you. Standing there dumbfounded, you realise you do, in fact, have wings as well and can, in fact, (if:$fly is 0)[[[fly. -> cant]]](if:$fly is 1)[[[fly. -> fly2]]]

and in less than a minute, you have reached the upmost branches of the tallest trees. You perch on one and look [[around.]]

[[...]]

[[....]]

[[.....]]

[[............]]

...It is not what you expected. There is... nothing. Everything is a [[wasteland.]]

The world you knew and loved... is gone. In fact, the forest you are now standing above is the only green area in the region as far as your large, crow eyes can see. Nothing makes sense. Your head is swimming. You try, try, try to make sense of everything but you just... can't. The branch next to you [[dips.]]

You decide to stick to what you know and are confident in, and figure you have no time to lose trying to fly. You start ~~walking~~ waddling. [[Quickly. ->smallbird]] (set:$fly to 0)

You try to fly. You're scared at first, don't know if you'll be able to, but time is running out and you have to locate the source of the sound. It comes instinctively. You flap your wings and clumsily soar up a few feet, but give up in fear of breaking your wings. You continue to [[walk. ->smallbird]] (set:$fly to 1)

You try and try and try and... try. And get nowhere. You have never flown before. You have never even tried to fly before. You jump up and down, frantically flapping your wings, occasionally hovering a few centimeters above the ground but falling down in your panic and fear. Suddenly, you hear a cracking sound. For a split second you think it's only a branch snapping beneath your feet and try to continue your aimless struggling but an immense pain shoots through your ~~arm~~ wing. You realize the cracking came from your very own [[wing]] and not a twig on the ground.

A few very embarrassing and unsuccessful attempts later, you manage to somehow fly after the crow. It feels weird but at the same time... Familiar somehow. As if the movement is etched into your muscle memory, as if you have //flown before.// You move up, up, [[^^up^^ -> up]]

The realization sinks in and the pain amplifies. You don't recall ever breaking a bone before, so the pain is new. You're... immobilized. Alone. All alone. You need help but there's no one, nothing to help you. You... scoot closer to the pile of foul-smelling garbage that is now the grave of the small bird, solely because you have nowhere else you can go to, and try resting your back against it. Time passes like sand flowing through fingers. You feel pain and sadness and agony all at once, slowly slipping through the fingers of this weird world. You think it is for the best, as you notice blood pooling around your body and realize all too late that your injury isn't as minor as you thought it was. You've done a lot of realizing. You're tired. You decide to rest your eyes, just for a second, not like anyone will miss me, there's nothing here to miss me anyway, I'll open them back in a few moments, I just need some rest, need to forget and run away, I'm not strong enough, I'm so so weak, I need to stop whimpering like a pathetic small animal about to die, oh please save me, please please save me, help me, help me, help me, help, help, help, helphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelp[[help]]

There is no help. There is no escape. Death draws closer. You know that. It's okay, you think. Everyone dies alone, you mumble. At least I'm in a forest, you reckon. But it doesn't change, can't change, your inevitable fate. You don't open your eyes again. The forest, the small bird, the crow, the forest, the small bird, the branch, your wings, the crow, the forest, the trees, the movements of wings as they try flying, the forest, the small bird, you. Forgotten. Decomposing. [[Forever a mystery.]]

**BAD END** You have gotten fatally injured and died due to blood loss, unable to uncover the secrets of your own being and the gamut of your physical existence. (link:"Start Over")[(goto:"First Passage")]

You decide to stick to what you know and are confident in, and figure you have no time to lose trying to fly. You start ~~walking~~ waddling. [[Quickly.]] (set:$fly to 0)

You try to fly. You're scared at first, don't know if you'll be able to, but figure out it's the best way out and there is no harm in trying. It comes instinctively. You flap your wings and clumsily soar up a few feet, but give up in fear of breaking your wings. You continue to [[walk. ->trees]] (set:$fly to 1)

You start walking once again but something in your peripheral vision causes you to freeze. A black... being moves. You quickly whip your head towards the direction of the movement but you see... Nothing. It's as if your senses are mocking you. But then it happens (link:"again.")[(goto: "wwo")]

As you are pacing through the forest, trying desperately to reach the edge, you see... something... move in the corner of your eye. You quickly whip your head towards the direction of the movement but you see... Nothing. It's as if your senses are mocking you. But then it happens (link:"again.")[(goto: "wwo")]

Slowly turning your head, you are greeted by the crow that you initially followed up here. It tilts its head as if to greet you, or offer you some kind of consolation. After a few moments filled with comfortable silence, you speak up. 'What... happened?' you ask, something inside you telling you you do, in fact, know the answer but just don't want to admit it. The crow appears to be smiling (you have no idea how, but maybe it is because you are also a crow that you can identify crow expression and moods) and offers a single word as an answer. It is exactly as you have been guessing. The crow next to you confirms that the entity that destroyed the planet you loved dearly, the planet that was the house for your best and worst memories, the only dwelling you have ever known, the reason for your existence and the beautiful end that will engulf you eventually, all your experiences, loved ones, enemies, anger, frustration, survival, happiness, joy, success, failure, heartbreak, infatuation, admiration, everything you have ever known and will ever know was indeed... [['Humans.']]

You jerk awake, sweat collected on your brow and in the creases of the frown resting on your face. The TV is on and blasting the talk of some political leader about how global warming isn't real. The blanket you threw on your body before you fell asleep now sits on the floor, having slipped off your body while you were busy... dreaming. It was all a... dream. You sigh as relief washes over you, but the impact of the wastelands stretching on for miles and miles, surrounding the dark, empty forest and the life of the last crows on earth does not wear off so easily. You turn the TV off and drag your body off the couch, to take a peek [[outside.]]

The familiar cityscape greets you, along with sounds of cars whizzing by and the neon lights donning the many billboards and restaurant signs. You pause and try to take it all in, your eyes searching for some kind of forested area, any shade of green but you can't find it. A feeling in your gut tells you your dream wasn't so far-fetched after all. You turn the lights off and wait for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, then move slowly to your bedroom. There's a lot you have to change. There's a lot in this world that has to change. You feel... motivated. You're ready, or will be soon. The fight for everything you've ever known isn't one you're willing to lose so easily, conforming to those who choose to turn a blind eye. You want to save this planet and everything in it now more than ever. Closing your eyes and welcoming some well-deserved and needed sleep free of nightmares or adventure, you look forward to [[a new tomorrow.]]

**GOOD END** You have realized once again that the world is dying and in dire need of help. You will become a better person for the sake of this planet, and try to spread this message around to the fullest. A still more glorious dawn awaits. (link:"Start Over")[(goto:"First Passage")]

You try to fly. You're scared at first, don't know if you'll be able to, but time is running out and you feel like you aren't getting anywhere. It comes instinctively. You flap your wings and clumsily soar up a few feet, but give up in fear of breaking your wings. You continue to [[walk. ->smallbird]] (set:$fly to 1)

You decide to stick to what you know and are confident in, and figure you have no time to lose trying to fly. You start ~~walking~~ waddling. [[Quickly. ->smallbird]] (set:$fly to 0)

...It's another crow, its eyes bearing a glint of... Before you can react, it spreads out its long, elegant wings and flies up; giving a caw as if to beckon you. Standing there dumbfounded, you realise you do, in fact, have wings as well and can, in fact, (if:$fly is 0)[[[fly. -> cant]]](if:$fly is 1)[[[fly. -> fly2]]]