> A L L E Y S
The alleys twist into a maze, and recede into a haze. You wander through corridors formed by the walls of adjacent buildings. Overhead, wires string back and forth between them, forming a canopy that sways in the wind. Underfoot, you hear the crunch and snap of tech junk, dead monitors and brittle plastic, broken glass and discarded cyber-prosthetics, arms, legs, titanium skulls.
Gradually, you become aware of odd doors and halls, abnormalities in the corner of your vision, and shapes in the fog:
@You catch a glimpse of another figure
moving through the alleys.
You try to follow it,
But before you can catch up, it vanishes
behind an eerily pristine door.
@Down one path, the trash begins to accumulate.
Following the trail,
you discover that someone has arranged it
into a rusted palace.
@You reach a circular opening.
There are too many doors to count.
@There's a doll sitting on a balcony,
staring blankly in your direction.
You sense something pulsing behind its gaze.
@To your right is an old, shabby, rusted door.
A sign hanging from the handle reads:
"THIS WAY TO THE PAVILION"
Do you trust it?
@Beyond all the wires,
beyond all the fog,
you can see a colossal shadow
towering in the distance.
If you keep it in sight,
you may be able to feel your way there...
@There's a brick missing from a cracked wall,
the kind that might give
if you lean too hard on it.
You look through the hole,
But all you can see are stripes...
@The cat from the nexus has reappeared.
it guides you to an empty pool at a dead end.
It's fallen into disrepair;
you can't turn it on.
The cat motions toward the pool.
What do they want you to do?
@Poking through the detritus,
you notice a computer
with all its parts still attached.
You plug it into an exposed outlet,
jutting from the rubble where a room once stood.
Miraculously, it turns on.
@Amid all the chaos and noise,
you almost don't notice
that someone appears to have dropped a book.
Unwittingly, you open it,
BUT YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.
(I honestly have no idea what this is, sorry.)