The lanky, looming Nightshade walked down the path, heading to the gulch's wider area - but thankfully, it wouldn't feed out directly to me. For now, we were parallel to each other.
(But the fight's gonna happen.)
I raise my bokken in the middle guard stance. It would allow me to transition into other moves.
(But that feels like the wrong choice.)
Fighting things earnestly with honesty? In this world? Hell, even in the old world, did that type of mindset work?
(No. Rarely, if so.)
Being rewarded for fair work requires a fair world, and did we live in one? It's the exception, not the rule, and that's truer than ever before. We live in a rigged world that takes more than what we can give.
(In this world, "cheating" is a different way to fight.)
It's the unconventional way. To be accused of cheating is to be acknowledged that you utilized a different angle.
(Well, it doesn't really apply when it comes to your marriage... or multiplayer games. Okay, cheating should be a case by case approach.)
Basically, playing fair would get me killed. We've been set back to zero, and what were humans before civilization?
(Nothing but a bunch of animals.)
This is such a cringe thought, but what would an animal do? How would a creature with all of its primal, savage skills fight?
(Perhaps thinking from a logical perspective is the wrong way.)
So, I should listen to my instincts. What do I want to do, so badly and intrinsically?
(I want to get as far away from it as possible. I want to run away and never look back.)
Ah, but logic again. I'm stuck in here, in this scenario, for five days. I cannot escape. Fights are inevitable.
(But each fight is multifaceted.)
Fight to win or fight to survive... each bout of conflict has a specific taste to it. A texture. My fights from herein... they need to serve my survival. To survive in our falling, modern world, humans need the most important thing ever: information.
(So I need to pair my instincts with my current information.)
I need to run away, but I'm also trapped. So, where do I go?
(But what constitutes being trapped?)
Still facing the languid, approaching Nightshade, my eyes turn as far as possible in their sockets to glance at what is behind me. It's the river I camped next to. From my human perspective, I perceived it as a barrier. We're taught not to make a mess, to stay within our boundaries, to not create upsets, but now? What is this river in the literal sense?
(A body of water. Less than three feet deep and a few dozen feet across.)
Forget about getting your socks wet, the hem of your pants damp, or being uncomfortable. To survive in this world is to be discomforted.
(Humans have to endure.)
In the Marine Corps, they have a saying: "Embrace the suck."
(And good lord, does life suck.)
Thus, to survive and create a great degree of separation-
"I must cross the river."
[Constellations who like monologues appreciate your outward thinking.]
[Constellation "Innumerable Hand of Madness" is throwing a tantrum.]
[Constellation "Innumerable Hand of Madness" wants to see a duel.]
I lower my bokken, grab my supplies, and hoist everything onto my shoulders and back until my goods were secure. I turn away from the approaching Nightshade, facing the river. It was a nice rush, but it wasn't something that'd take me away, like that one girl from the movie Bridge of Terabithia.
I raise one foot and set it into the river. Immediately, the water began to coalesce and rush into my shoe. I was lost in the details of how the water ebbed and flowed and acclimated into my footwear; how it collapsed in and met itself in order to push the air out of my sneakers and fill it. Little bubbles rose from seams and gaps of my footwear. Soon, I began to cross and didn't stop until I was on the other side.
I don't know how I did it, but I didn't feel anything. The shock hit me at first, but soon it was gone. I had one goal in mind: "Get to the other side. Survive. Get to the other side. Survive."
The little discomforts, the things I considered like my soaking feet and pants, they were put into the back burner. Little problems pale in the face of greater adversity. It wasn't until I was on the other side of the river did I finally realize what I just did.
"Goddamnit."
My toes were squelching in my shoes and my pants legs were sopping wet, but hey, I was alive. I successfully bugged out and put a barrier between us, me and the Nightshade. I turned to look at the new gulch to my back, making sure there was no other Nightshade mirroring the one that was coming towards me, but I was good. This side was clear, as far as I knew.
I turned to look back at where I was and saw it on the other side of the river. My eyes widened.
(Dear god.)
It was standing there in pitch perfect view within the center of my vision, akin to a cinematic shot. The Nightshade. Facing me fully, I saw it in clear-view. It's mouth was open. It had rows of triangular, razor sharp, pearlescent white teeth set into a sickening grin; the mouth was too wide and too open, like someone cut its cheeks to expose more of its perpetual smile. The Nightshade's expression was denoting pure pleasure, as if finding joy in preying upon human existence.
(My human existence.)
Something was burning inside of me. Hell, maybe it was indigestion. I'm Asian, so cow's milk is a death sentence to my bowels and the air around me. Maybe it was that. Or maybe it was something more. Indignation.
(The urge to fight.)
I need more from these scenarios. More stimulation. I've read it again and again: People hiding in these scenarios, cowering, unwilling to face it, becoming victims due to their inaction. I read it in TWSA and I read in ACSS, and I read it in history books and war stories. People allowing themselves to become the victims and submitting to the pain. It isn't over until it's over, you know? (I got that from Shogunned.)
Now that I was in this situation, would I fare any better? Or would I be a hypocritical judge?
(The smartest choice is to run away, as fast and far as possible. Run and avoid all of these fights until the Darkwood Scenario's end.)
I began chuckling.
[Constellations are wondering what you are laughing at.]
(But where's the fun in that?)
I was given opportunity. A chance to fight like all the protagonists I've read about. Now, one might say that I'm not a protagonist, a main character, and that's true. I'm just a human. A lone human, a lonely human.
No one will save me in this world. Everything and everyone I knew, I left it all behind, and I would go further still.
(But what's better? To flee in cowardice, in remorse and "what-ifs?" Or to go forward without regrets and die trying?)
Die in glee, knowing you had the resolve to face it. Your problems.
(I'm looking at you.)
[Constellation "Innumerable Hand of Madness" is looking at their creation in admiration.]
Your Nightshades.
I raise my old bokken. I'm not using my rowan one yet. It's not perfect. So I'll kill you with the old to preserve the new until it's ready.
[Constellation "Innumerable Hand of Madness" is clapping their hands.]
[Constellation "Innumerable Hand of Madness" has sponsored 100 coins.]
[Constellation "Innumerable Hand of Madness" will sponsor more coins to Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura" if they survive.]
That crazy Constellation must've saw what I was doing and knew my intention. Very astute for a far-away star in the sky. I looked at the Nightshade, the creature it created, an extension of itself. Resolution filled me as I declared my will against this oppressive world.
"I'll strike you down."
I'll keep on fighting, even if I have to die for it.