Notes from The Void - Cycles 2 to 5

False starts, failure, overconfidence, lack of a game-plan, and even a minor bug (apparently fixed in the final release) have been tripping me up every step of the way. Such seems to be the nature of The Void. But I returned, learning from my mistakes, and bringing you yet another five cycles of posthumous diary.

They weren't kidding when they said it was hard. It's kinda refreshing, going into a game and actually having to experiment, explore and even fail under my own power. Not for everyone, but it's a definite change of gears from the current trend of failure being a second-to-second mistake, undone in another ten.

So, hit the Jump, tumble into the Nightmare, and claw your way back into The Void.



The second Cycle begins. Time flows strangely in this place. Outside the cold, solid chambers around 'my' Sisters domain, time flows by like a raging river. The closest thing that could be compared to a day flies past in moments. Inside the chambers? Time stands still. My hearts don't beat, yet I can move, as can the wandering hungry creatures.

And those creatures are what I'm here to remove. The Void itself stirs. The Brothers are going to return, or so the nameless woman in the tree believes. Still, they're not the only thing that seems to have returned. With the dawning of this new cycle, new sprouts of Colour appear across the chambers. Joining them are more predators, seeking an easy meal. I return to the reservation, where her voice warns me of two enemies in the area.

Two more of the bat-like creatures I saw in the garden earlier. Easily dispatched this time. I clear up the new colour sprouts that have appeared - Azure adding itself to my reserves of Emerald and Gold, and continue my rounds. I swing by the mine, finding another pair of the hopping, ugly leech-things. Easy prey once more. So long as things continue like this, I shouldn't have too much trouble. If this is all a Brother has to do... It's not going to be that simple, is it? Never is.

I return to the only place available, my garden, and find two things of interest. First, the trees that I imbued with colour just the previous cycle are now brimming with colour. Luminous, even! Secondly, something new. Fireflies! Buzzing, flitting little egg-shaped creatures. Not large enough to be predators. Scavengers, perhaps? I draw a tiny golden Donor glyph, using as little Nerva as possible, and a small blob of it falls to the ground. A few seconds later, the Firefly lunges at it. I grab the fly, absorbing a healthy bounty of Colour from it. The Nerva on the ground I must leave, though. It seems that I can only extract raw Lympha, expel Nerva, and cannot interact with even my own creations.

Still, the Sister seems overjoyed. With my return, life and activity and colour seem to be returning. I turn back to her chamber to seek further council, my opportunities for the cycle exhausted. She speaks to me of the other Sisters, and how they believed the Void was doomed, dead or dying. My return seems to have sparked new life into the surroundings though, which is going to bring change, for better or worse. She also speaks once more of a Brothers final duty, to feed their Sister, and to keep them strong. I offer her a smattering of Gold Nerva - all I have left to spend - and she springs to life, uncurling and stretching lazily in the ether for a while, before returning to her previous state.

While not enough to restore her power entirely, it does coax some more truth from her. She tells me that she was the last one 'born' into the Void, and that unlike the other Sisters, no Brother came for her, because Colour was already fading from the realm at the time. She has been alone all this time. Perhaps this is why she hasn't told me her name. Maybe she doesn't have one. She admit that she doesn't know as much as the other Sisters, being the youngest of them all, but she believes that if tended to and kept happy, that Colour could return to her lands once more. Perhaps it's just wild optimism, but it's something.

The next couple of cycles came and went without incident. No great monster uprisings, no shocking revelations, just more colour to harvest, trees to tend to. It's almost relaxing. My garden is swiftly becoming a swirling nexus of Colour. If I keep my harvests small, taking only what I need to sustain myself, then the trees grow more and more each Cycle, making it easier and easier to survive from day to day. On the start of the fourth Cycle, I believe I've generated enough Colour to harvest and feed to my mentor and Sister (assigned by fate and good fortune, it would seem).

I return to her tree, and feed her a bounty of Golden Nerva. It seems, like me, she is possessed of multiple hearts, and one of hers is now filled to the brim with Gold. In return, she gives me knowledge of one more Glyph, and in turn, another heart for myself. I use this extra metabolism to process a large amount of Green Nerva for her to consume next. It seems that each Sister can only process two kinds of Colour, out of a total of seven. I return to her, and lend her one last infusion of strength. She turns gleeful somersaults in the air before me, obviously happier than she has been in a long time.

In return, she now has the strength to open pathways upwards, towards other Sisters domains. I am told there are only nine others left, and the two directly above are named Ava and Uta, once protected by the most violent and bloodthirsty of the Brothers. She warns me against offering them any Colour, instead advising me to just live peacefully here. A vaguely tempting proposition. With her satisfied, I take my leave and wander back into the Void. She also makes mention that my disguise is as good as it's ever going to be. I act, I move, and I have the 'eyes' of a Brother. Perhaps she's just being smart, but she also makes passing comment about my height being unusual, somehow. She tells me not to let them touch me, and they won't notice. Unusual. I pay it no particular heed and sink once more into the dark waters surrounding her chamber, floating out into the Void once more.

And then something that nobody could have predicted happens. Even I sense it. Another Sister. A new Sister. A young woman, wreathed in glowing energy, face painted with luminous markings, lazily swinging to and fro across some stately chamber. I can hear her, see her, and she speaks to me. She's waiting for me.

Omens are portents indeed. I spend the fifth Cycle preparing myself for my pilgrimage across the ether to visit the elder sisters, Ava and Uta. And then, just as the Cycle draws to a close, they arrive. Their very return shakes the Void. The sound of grinding gears and crashing steel heralds their presence.

The Brothers are here. Three of them rising out of the Nightmare below.

Mantid

 

Whaler

 

Montgolfier

Ancient, terrible creatures. Huge, towering over all other things in The Void. Perhaps once human, but twisted and changed by some infernal force. These are what my mentor and Sister warned me about. And they're definitely taller than me. I really hope her disguise plan works. Just in case, I return to her chamber to seek any last advice she may have on the situation.

"It's the end. We're too late! Now nobody will escape..."

Not quite what I wanted to hear.

To Be Continued.