The Monarchy

=><= ###''The Monarch'' =><= --- [[Begin|1 Waking]] (set: $b to (text-style: "bold")) (set: $i to (text-style: "italic")) (set: $u to (text-style: "underline")) (set: $st to (text-style: "strike")) (set: $sp to (text-style: "superscript")) (set: $sb to (text-style: "subscript")) (set: $m to (text-style: "mark")) (set: $o to (text-style: "outline")) (set: $sh to (text-style: "shadow")) (set: $em to (text-style: "emboss")) (set: $c to (text-style: "condense")) (set: $ex to (text-style: "expand")) (set: $bl to (text-style: "blur")) (set: $blr to (text-style: "blurrier")) (set: $sm to (text-style: "smear")) (set: $mi to (text-style: "mirror")) (set: $ud to (text-style: "upside-down")) (set: $blk to (text-style: "blink")) (set: $f to (text-style: "fade-in-out")) (set: $r to (text-style: "rumble")) (set: $shd to (text-style: "shudder")) (set: $n to (t8n: "instant")) (set: $ds to (t8n: "dissolve")) (set: $fl to (t8n: "flicker")) (set: $shdr to (t8n: "shudder")) (set: $rm to (t8n: "rumble")) (set: $sr to (t8n: "slide-right")) (set: $sl to (t8n: "slide-left")) (set: $p to (t8n: "pulse")) (set: $ssn to (t8n: "instant") + (t8n-time: 3s)) (set: $ssds to (t8n: "dissolve") + (t8n-time: 2s)) (set: $ssfl to (t8n: "flicker") + (transition-time: 2s)) (set: $ssshdr to (t8n: "shudder") + (transition-time: 2s)) (set: $ssrm to (t8n: "rumble") + (transition-time: 2s)) (set: $sssr to (t8n: "slide-right") + (transition-time: 2s)) (set: $sssl to (t8n: "slide-left") + (transition-time: 2s)) (set: $ssp to (t8n: "pulse") + (transition-time: 2s))

(t8n:"dissolve")[The room is cold,] =><= (t8n:"dissolve")[quiet,] ==> (t8n:"dissolve")[and perfectly dark.] <== (link-reveal:"Her eyes open")+(t8n:"dissolve") [ She doesn't remember sleeping. She doesn't remember waking up. She doesn't know where she is. All that she knows is the darkness, and the feeling of a hard matress beneath her thin clothing. Her head pounds as she sits up, and as she moves through the endless space it's as if the world is moving with her. (link:"A light?")+(t8n:"dissolve") [ The fierce $fl [(colour: red)[''red flash'']] penetrates the darkness, and for a moment her world is colour, and then it is gone and the blackness returns. She is scared, scared of the images it brought. Blood, hate, heat, burning, barren, cataclysm, wasteland. Danger. Danger. $i[danger] (link: "A light")+(t8n:"dissolve") [ [(colour: red)[''Red Light'']] again. She knows only black and red, and to her the stark contrast is the difference between serenity and calamity. (link-reveal:"She stands.")+(t8n:"dissolve") [ The slap of her bare feet on the hard linolium $blk[echoes] through the room. She experiences sound. Touch. She has a place in the world. The pounding in her head lessens, as if her body was waiting for her to stand. (hover-style:(text-color:red))+(link: "Another flash")+(t8n:"dissolve") [ The flashes getting closer together. Like her, something is $ex[waking]. (t8n-depart: "dissolve")[[She moves toward the light.|2 Aake]]]]]]]

(t8n:"dissolve") [She fears it, but she is drawn to it. She doesn't remember sleeping. She doesn't remember waking up. She doesn't know where she is. All that she knows is the darkness, and the feeling of a hard matress beneath her thin clothing. Her head pounds as she sits up, and as she moves through the endless space it's as if the world is moving with her. (link:"A light?") [ The fierce $shdr [(colour: red)[''red flash'']] penetrates the darkness, and for a moment her world is colour, and then it is gone and the blackness returns. She is scared, scared of the images it brought. Blood, hate, heat, burning, barren, cataclysm, wasteland. Danger. Danger. $i[danger] (hover-style:(text-color:red))+(link: "A light") [ [(colour: red)[''Red Light'']] again. She knows only black and red, and to her the stark contrast is the difference between serenity and calamity. (link-reveal:"She stands.") The slap of her bare feet on the hard linolium $p[echoes] through the room. She experiences sound. Touch. She has a place in the world. The pounding in her head lessens, as if her body was waiting for her to stand. (hover-style:(text-color:red))+(link: "Another flash") [ It happened sooner, the flashes getting closer together. Like her, something is waking. [[She moves toward the light.|2 Awake]]]]]]