The Tåkete Realm - The Myrkr - Opening Thread

This is a thread for all players who wake up in The Myrkr. If you don't know how wake-up works, everyone wakes up peppered throughout the Realm. You can choose where you wanna wake up, and coordinate it with your friends or people you want to be friends with. Or play eenie meanie miney mo idk. This thread will go for a little while until they all converge into one new thread.

Remember, your character has amnesia.

>executing E:\Lied\Processes\Wakeup.bat

The sky pulses to life above. All around, people appear in a blink of static blue. Bodies, unconscious, litter the ground, the rocks and caves and hills of the land. All at once, at if coordinated, their eyes open. It seems someone is watching them from above, but there is no evidence save for the dazzling, sparkling sky.

The Myrkr is raised, a set of plateau tops connected by rickety draw bridges. At the edge, you can see a Valley, though you need to go around and work your way down in order to enter the valley. There is a thick haze that blocks out most faraway vision, save for the blue crackles of the sky. In rock walls, there is the occasional one-room dwelling or crude, unintelligible carving.

The first thing she felt was the breeze. It chilled her right arm, numbing her hand as it dangled over the side. She didn't know how long she'd been lying there. Each gust carried over the lip of the plateau, fast and strong. Her knuckles were painful and purple, and when she came to, the first thing she did was massage her hand. Only when she'd brought the circulation back, when things felt normal enough to look around elsewhere, did she notice her body was on the edge of a steep drop.

"Fuaaah..." she recoiled, rolling her body until she sat belly-down on the hard, dusty stone. It was moist, like it had just rained. Her hair fell in one large bushel over her back, like a sheep had fallen asleep on top of her. A fiery red sheep. She steadied to her knees, wiped the mist off her face.

Where was she? It was wet, made her clothes sag by just standing there.

His eyes opened, the wind whipping at his face. He sat up, and looked around. There were dozens of people around this wet, muddy disgusting place. He tried to yell, but it a just came out as sour coughs. He tried to stand up, but slipped on a puddle. He fell onto hard, stone. Apparently it wasn't solid, because it collapsed under him and he fell into a big muddy puddle. He groaned, then coughed, then spoke. "I hate this place."

Beatrice blinked her eyes open a few times, trying to send off whatever sleep she was put into. She was lying flat on her back, a patch of damp moss serving as a makeshift pillow/bed. Sitting up, she looked around at her surroundings. There wasn't much to see, however. Just some mossy rocks and a few other people lying about. She stood up, careful of the cliff-edge just feet away. "Does anyone know where we are?" she asked the others. She tried to think about how she got there, but when she tried to remember she just. Couldn't. It caused her to panic slightly, not being able to remember anything. She was amazed she remember her first name. But not her last, for whatever reason. Hopefully, as time went on she'd be able to remember at least something.

She tapped at the bracelet on her arm, drowning out the panic setting around her. Something about hearing people slowed her breathing, made her focus more on figuring everything out than chatting. She didn't know these people. To tell the truth, she couldn't recall much of anything.

Her taps seemed useless at first, a bunch of nothing on the cool, shiny steel, but a screen suddenly popped out. It almost made her recoil off the cliff. She had never seen a screen so thin, so gossamer that it almost looked like the wind could shatter it. Instead of her own voice, a different one cut through the silence. It was digital and fuzzy, like a radio left out in the rain for too long.

"Hello, new players." It was a woman's voice. She spoke like she knew her, but the face was completely foreign. "It's so good to finally meet you."

Above the woman's picture, which fuzzed onto the screen, was a number and a name: 0402, Audrey. She studied closely, watched the cool dewdrops scatter and fall off the strange device's face.

Audrey. It felt right. It was the only name that triggered something in her brain, that felt... familiar.

She looked up. All around, though most were encased in mist, she saw screens pop up in front of people.

"F-f-f-f... fuck..." She slapped her head to get the word out.

The first thing she knew was darkness. There was nothing here, no one here, except for her and her mind. But where was here? And who was she? Questions fired rapidly inside her brain, but she couldn’t sort them out. Panic flared in her chest and tightened around her throat, and suddenly she had the feeling she was drowning in fear. She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe… All of a sudden, her eyes flew open and she drew in a deep breath, exhaling softly. Where the hell was she?! The sense of panic never left her - rather, it rose and rose until there was nothing left. She didn’t take the time to scan her surroundings, forcing herself up into a sitting position. Her head throbbed and ached terribly, but she ignored the awful feeling and forced herself onto her feet. That was when the feeling of weakness hit her, so suddenly that her knees buckled underneath her and she collapsed back onto the ground. That only increased the feeling that she was trapped, that she couldn’t get away. She began to hyperventilate, struggling to stand, as her headache only worsened due to the exertion. Finally, she managed to get up again, and poised herself to run. She pushed off, only managing a couple of steps before a loose pebble rolled under her foot, and she slipped and fell again. She didn’t register how close she was to the edge of the cliff until she threw out her hands to break the fall. One was pointed towards the rocks, and the other was headed down, deep down where she didn’t know what lurked. Her pupils dilated in sudden fear and realisation as her shoulder slammed against the rock. She let out a tiny squeak that was barely audible as the momentum of the fall threw her over the edge.

She was barely a metre away from the top when her fingers found a hold on the rocks and she gripped on tight, stopping her fall. She struggled to find a foothold in the rocks, but eventually found a small ledge for one of her feet that was about half the width of the sole of her shoe. She gripped the side tightly, pulling herself as close to the rocks as she possibly could. Her skin was paper-white, and she was shaking. Terror was rooted deeply in her mind. She was going to die here. She was going to die, without even knowing who she was. Tears brimmed in her eyes and threatened to spill over. She let out a tiny whimper and clutched the rocks tighter. That was when a few loose pebbles off of her foothold crumbled down and fell, scaring her even more. The tears slipped down her cheeks, silently coursing down her face. She could hear voices. They had to be here to kill her, too. Oh, this was horrible! Wait, no. They didn’t sound that threatening. Now confusion flooded in amongst the fear and panic and pain, and she just wanted it all to go away. But that was impossible, because she was going to die. She couldn’t stop shaking. It was too hard. She barely noticed the fact that there was a band on her wrist, and that it had lit up, obviously trying to get her to tap on it or something. She didn’t even glance at it. She was too absorbed in her own death.

Pitch black was all she could see. Her mind was full of unanswered questions that she was desperate to answer as soon as the darkness was clear of her vision. All of a sudden in her own mind, possibly dream she started falling. Due to the shock, she regained consciousness to see a grassy plain with the wind constantly blowing. She then realized that her mind was wiped clean of all her memories. She could not grasp anything, not even her own name. Trying to put that aside, her arm shaking to get herself to be able to sit straight up. She was almost able to sit straight up, but her arms gave out on her last second. Laying on her back, she relaxed. She started viewing the sky with the pure white clouds. Then suddenly having the awareness that she felt slightly more energy than when she tried to sit upright. Attempting again, her arms shaking, but she musters the strength to be able to get up all the way instead of just right side up. Whilst straining her energy she slowly walked over to a nearby cliff to check the view. Her own mind absorbed in seeking help instead of looking for important answers.  I need to find help. All she cared about as of right now was to be able to regain strength and find help. Walking closer to the edge of the cliff being wary to be careful not to fall off the edge. She looked down to see a hand grasping hard to the edge of the cliff. Cautiously kneeling down to see who was in need of help. Ignoring the fact she, herself needed help. As she slowing got closer she saw a girl crying, trying to hold on for her life. Okay I got this. I can help her. I will help her, no matter what. Getting ready to carry weight when her body was clearly too weak, she inched close enough to be able to get a firm enough grip on the stranger's hand. She called down, "Hey! Give me your other hand so I can help you up!" Her throat was getting sore and she wasn't sure if her voice got through to the hanging stranger or it was her own mind that said that, but she was determined to help her.

The girl was even more scared when she heard footsteps up above. She pulled herself closer to the rocky surface, even though she felt like one movement would break her grasp. Shoulder-length, slightly waved, mousy-brown hair was whipped about her face by the breeze, making it almost impossible to see through her tears. Suddenly, she felt someone grip one of her freezing hands. Quickly, she looked up, and saw another girl. She looked friendly, and certainly seemed like she was trying to help. What was she saying? Asking her to give her her other hand so she could be helped up. Oh, that was so sweet of her! She gave a little nod and sniffled, trying to pause the tears. Taking a risk, she leant up on her tiptoes. Already, she could tell she was short. Shorter than average, she supposed. Ah well. She would have to make do. Cautiously, she lifted up her free hand, fingers stretched towards the stranger. She could feel her grip on the rocks loosening, so she hoped desperately that the stranger could help before she fell.

Bracing for weight as she used the remaining strength in her body to help the stranger up and away from the danger of the cliff. As her strength was quickly draining, she was trying to think of any quick solutions to help the stranger to safety. But the solutions that she came up with required a lot of energy and strength that she didn't have. It's now or never. If I don't help her I would be leaving someone to die by falling off a cliff. Nope, not happening! She gathered more strength than she believed she had and pulled the dangling stranger up over the cliff and over to safety. Hearing some rocks at the edge of the cliff broke off from the impact that had been on there and then suddenly disappearing. Before she spoke she could feel that her entire body was in pain and she could barely move a limb of her body. Though in pain she asked the stranger "Are you okay?" Her voice grew weaker after each word she spoke in that sentence. Knowing that she overexerted herself, she decided to lay down and relax to wait for the response of the stranger and for her to regain more strength. We're both safe and sound. I'm glad. She closed her eyes to take appreciation of the relaxing wind that was blowing in the air.

The video played on.

"Welcome to Project Lied," the woman said. "Like song in German. You're currently in the largest and most advanced digital world ever. You have been chosen for a wondrous experiment, an experience of a lifetime."

Audrey glanced from the video to the land around her. There was commotion everywhere, but she could not see through the fog. She put an arm out in front of her as the video played, blocking her eyes from the heavy mist and pushing along the valley. The woman spoke cheerfully, but Audrey could not hear much over the wind in her ears.


"Your inventory is located here," the woman said, the screen augmenting and expanding to point to a button. Audrey wasn't sure it was interactable until it blinked for a few moments. She put a finger to the surface and her hand felt full, something materializing until something was wholly there. She held a harplike instrument by its side-- a lyre.

Murky voices grew distant on one end and closer on another. The closest was that of a girl, a small "Are you okay?" against a gust of wind. Audrey found two people laying down by the lip of the valley.

Wordlessly, with an irritation she didn't know the exact origins of, Audrey stepped over them and continued looking for a way down.

She was grateful, so, so grateful, when the stranger managed to pull her up and over the top. She made no effort to get up - rather, she curled into a little ball, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. She couldn’t stop shaking. Her arms felt weak, and she knew that, by dangling from a cliff, she had probably weakened herself further. But the other girl had saved her. She slowly, carefully sat up and shuffled away from the edge of the cliff, still quaking. ”I-I’m okay. Are you?” She replied, looking down at her with concern sparking in her light blue eyes. She rubbed absent-mindedly at her shoulder, the one which she had hit off the edge of the cliff. To her irritation, another girl, this one with fiery red hair, just stepped right over them. Without bothering to see if they were alright. She didn’t bother to glare at her, though, because she probably had her own reasons and that was okay. She wasn’t going to be rude because of that. She returned her gaze to the stranger who had saved her. She hated to see people like this. Weak, or in pain. It was horrible. Hopefully, she would be able to help her saviour, although she didn’t have a clue how. Anyway, she had to focus on the stranger before herself, because obviously she had exerted herself more by dragging someone to safety over the edge of a very dangerous cliff.

Heavy sleepiness engulfed him, pressing down all of his limbs to the ground, steadying his fleeting breath into a slow, calm rhythm. The boy could scarcely feel his limbs at all, and his mind was somewhere far away from his body. His eyes lay open and focused on nothing in particular in the grey sky above him. A numbing coldness crept on his back, the only thing he could feel. Brushing nearly-white curls away from his pale face, the ghastly boy stood up, immediately shaking and struggling not to fall back. From all directions, icy pain assaulted him, and he noticed that, besides his hot fingertips, his skin was freezing under the white linen robe.

Confused, his thought messy in his own head, the boy reached out to nobody, his eyes colorful but unfocused. His head was throbbing, pulsing with pain. A cold hand was pressed to his forehead and immediately drawn back in disbelief. With the feeling his head on flames, he lumbered away from his awakening spot, eyes barely open. His feet, bare and hurting from cuts and numbness, took him to a place where the wind blew stronger than before, and he basked in the breeze, pushing his hair back to cool his head. Finally, he opened his eyes. A chasm opened before him, and one of his feet, his right one, was hanging in the air above a misty sea of nothingness. For a moment he froze, then chuckled. Behind him, two girls - one with long, blonde hair, and a brunette, both shaking, panting. Foot still hanging in the air, he smiled down at them, and waved. He noticed the glimmer on his wrist. Curious, he tapped at it and watched the screen erupt with the same, wondrous calm. "He-llooo..." he responded, his voice raspy and barely audible.

Bea, oblivious to the happenings around her, was enamored by the light that appeared on her bracelet. She tapped it, and a screen popped up. A voice rang out to her, but it wasn't a voice that sounded familiar. It was definitely pre-recorded, or so she thought, as the voice was directing its voice towards all of the players. So she was in a place called Project Lied? And it was digital? Huh? Her head swam with all the incoming information. She vaguely heard something about an "inventory" as she processed the fact that the world around them wasn't real. In her hand, she felt something light (but still weighty for its size) manifest. Looking down, Beatrice saw a weird looking instrument. In her mind she knew it to be an Ocarina, although she had no clue how she knew it. Beatrice had no idea how to put the instrument back into her inventory, so she just kept a hold on it as she started to explore the area, looking for any sign of life aside from the other "players."

"There is a village in the Valley. Go to it and you will get more information."

It was background noise to Audrey now. Her eyes were glued to her feet, to the valley she sidled as she continued to walk, most of the voices growing distant behind her. She needed to be careful. The mist was so thick that it sprayed, the rock slick under her feet. She placed a step and skid every once in a while, skating across a rock before gaining her footing and continuing on. She was relieved to have finally made progress, stopping at the edge of a bridge.

Nothingness stretched out in front of her. The bridge was wooden and old, caked in moss and rot. Some of the boards were green and some were yellow. Few looked like they did when the bridge was made, at least, in what she assumed. Audrey thought about walking around, about finding if the plateau curved around to the other side naturally, but she found herself placing a foot on the edge of the bridge. Something about the world made her feel... daring. She couldn't explain the feeling, like her life was something safe so long as she held it tightly in her hands. She took another step, however, feeling the brunt of the wind in her face as it numbed her nose pale.

As of hearing the response of the of the stranger "I-I'm okay. Just tired and out of breath." Panting tremendously, she was able to regain a little of strength but unable to stand up.  She saw a boy waving at them from a small distance to where they were resting. Of having no intention of being rude she took bits of her remaining energy to wave back to the boy. Dropping her hand back down to the grass, she continued to relax in the wind. I'll be okay, I just need to regain strength then I'll be back up again. Then a huge screen interrupted her next train of thought. It said "0284, Cecilia." What did 0284 and Cecilia mean? Thinking again, she never actually knew her name. Cecilia clicked to her. My name will be Cecilia I guess. It clicks to me, I like the name. I'll roll with it for now. The screen then disappeared. "Hey. Do you know your name?" Her voice slightly clearer than earlier when helping the stranger up from the cliff. She turned to her side and called to the boy. "Hey! Can you come over here?" Waiting once again for the strangers' response she relaxed. The purpose of that was to regain strength.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a boy with white hair wave at them. That was polite. Slowly, she was beginning to have a sense of who was here - both polite people and slightly ruder people. She wondered if any of them would want to become her friends. Friends! In a place like this? Anyway, she waved back at the boy with a little smile on her face. Her attention was drawn back to the blonde when she asked if she knew her name. ”No, I don’t know...” She replied, trying her best to think. She decided that her distant memories were something like bubbles. Every time she went to catch one in her hand, it would pop. That was when she saw the screen in front of her saviour. From where she was, it was all backwards-writing, but she could see something. A name, she supposed, or a word, and a set of numbers. Curious, she tapped at the band on her own wrist and a similar screen popped up. Instead, hers said ”2827, Evangeline”. Evangeline. She liked that name. It sounded fancy and sophisticated. But what did the numbers mean? ”My name is Evangeline.” She told the girl, testing out the word on her tongue. It was nice. It felt good, to know that she at least knew something about herself.

The screen shifted and buzzed as strong wind blew in from the open chasm, before returning to normal, as if undisturbed. Neither was the boy, even if his light frame was easily almost knocked off balance by the breeze. He settled down, feet dangling off the side of the cliff, holding his wrist up to examine the interface better. Orion was all that caught his eye, his head too mangled to comprehend the rest. So that was his name. What people would call him by. He didn't care much for it, frankly.

He heard a voice, calling from behind. But he was already in the process of getting up, having heard the instructions of the strange lady. Again, he waved his hand, this time dismissively, his eyes darting away the moment eye contact was briefly made. There was no time to lose. "If you want to talk... find me in the Valley." he murmured as he paced by her, resting his small, delicate hand on the top of her blonde hair for only a second before moving on, not casting a glance back.

Looking for a way to descend, he came over the same bridge, colorfully decayed and rickety. Someone was already testing out its bounds, nervous and slow. Orion frowned, walking more briskly until he was a short way to its side. And then he ran. Stupidly fast, throwing one foot in front of the other and not caring for where it landed, shaking the entire bridge and himself until he felt nausea creeping up within him. Not holding on to anything and mostly just hurtling himself violently forward, breaking a delicate plank with his left foot but catching himself before he slid into the misty abyss, he miraculously made it to the end, throwing himself on the ground and then rolling over, belly flat against the mossy rocks. Defiantly, he caught the eye of the red-head, and winked. Splinters had grazed both of his ankles and they were both sporting a thin trickle of blood, staining the hem of his robe.

So there were inhabitants in this digital world? Even if they were created along with this area, it would be nice to maybe find out what's going on. And to make matters worse, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember anything other than her name, which was confirmed by the AI on her wrist. Beatrice shook her head, resolving to try and solve her amnesia at a later date. For now, she needed to get down to the Valley that the voice told her to find. She walked along the ridge carefully, steering clear of the edges. After what seemed like an eternity wandering, she managed to find a bridge, where a few other of the amnesiacs were already across. "Okay Bea, you can do this. Just take it nice and slow. Easy peasy, right?" she muttered to herself as she took a shaky step onto the rickety bridge. The board creaked but maintained her weight. All the way across the bridge she took hesitant steps, yelping when a board broke in front of her. But she powered on, taking a shaky breath to calm herself. She eventually made it across, much to her delight, after stepping over a recently broken board at the very end. "Are you okay?" she asked, noticing the boy on the ground for the first time. She was so focused on crossing that she didn't realize that there was someone that appeared to have jumped at the last second to make it across the bridge.

Audrey's right hand shot to the bridge railing, her left hand to her stomach as she flipped and stared at the boy Orion. She bristled, holding on for her life as she inched away from him. Through the wind, which was rampant up there on the bridge, she shouted.

"What are you d-d-d-d..." She still didn't know why it was so hard to finish her sentences. She was in too much danger to think too much about it. She continued along the bridge, as another person stepped on. She bit back into the gust. "Stop it!"

"Evangeline? That's a nice name. My name is Cecilia." Cecilia replied to the stranger's answer. As the other stranger approached and bent down. He stroked his hand on some of her hair. Eep! Cecilia was blushing then. She wasn't prepared for any physical contact. Thinking again, she thought the stroke was gentle and delicate. The stranger had then told her something. At the valley. Hmm. I guess I can go. He seemed nice. He then got up and went to the valley. "Hey Evangeline, I'm heading to a valley. Do you want to come with me?" Cecilia then got up, stretching her arms. Waiting for Evangeline's response she decided to the relax. "You don't have to come. You don't have to owe me anything. I didn't help you for a favor an exchange. I did it because I didn't want to leave you hanging there, eventually going to die. Don't be pressured to do anything for me. I'll make it to the valley myself if you don't want to come along with me." She thought again. Maybe I was a little harsh while saying that. "I'm sorry if that sounded a bit harsh to you." Cecilia waiting for a response started fidgeting with her fingers. She was thinking about the boy earlier. He had startled more than she probably ever felt in her life. Unless she had played those jump scares game. But she didn't like the idea so she was assuming she never actually did that. She just continued to wait, still fidgeting.

"Hey, does anyone know if we can die in here? It'd be good to figure out before we all set off." He looked around at everyone, and he didn't think anyone had the answer. Someone might have, although he wasn't really in the mood to wait around. "Well I suppose there's only one way to find out. Who wants to jump off a cliff?"

OOC: sorry for how short this is

His ankles had stopped bleeding, except for the vibrant-red beads of slowly coagulating blood that still remained as reminders of the cuts. The healing was... impressively quick. He took note of that, still laying flat against the ground, with his chin propped against it. Rubbing off a layer of dirt, he fitted his palms in-between his face and the soil, then watched another girl cross from one side to his. The scared red-head was still pausing there, laughably pathetic in her attempt to advance. What was so hard?

Pushing himself up, the ghastly boy stood and glanced over to the girl who had just crossed. "Oh, just a scratch." Orion put up one of his hands, shielding his face away from the girl's. His knuckles were spattered with light-brown freckles, that continued on his arm until it was hidden by his long-sleeved robe. With that, he turned wordlessly once again and pushed past her, following the winding path and numerous rickety bridges that finally led down unto the Valley.

Bea shrugged at the boy, a little confused why he decided to hide his face, but didn't think much about it. She followed the two others that were descending into the valley, a little deflated that neither of them seemed to be very talkative. With a few quick steps, she closed the distance between her and the boy; the other girl was still a couple strides ahead. "Sooo, uh, what're your names? I feel like if we're gonna be stuck in this area for a while it'd be nice to get to know each other. Maybe even work together if we need to, right? Anyways, I'm Beatrice, but you can just call me Bea," she said, beaming brightly at the others. If the group was gonna survive, they were gonna need to at least get acquainted with each other.

"Audrey." As she descended the valley, placing one foot in front of the other down each limestone ridge, she was still indignant towards the boy. He put all their lives in danger because he was being so stupid... she knew she didn't want to work with anyone like that...

She thought about saying something else, but she'd spoken already, had heard what it sounded like coming out. No matter how clear her mind was, she couldn't get much of her words out. It only made her bristle more, and she bit her tongue to keep herself cool. Her hair was already a frizzy mop.

A smile spread across her face. Her smiles were slow to develop - they started off as shy-looking smirks, but soon grew into grins that spread across her face. She looked like a little child when she did this - a simple, rosy-cheeked child. ”Oh, I’d love to come with you!” Evangeline replied, quickly getting to her feet and offering a hand for Cecilia to take. She looked around and could see the people heading to the Valley. It seemed sensible to follow, right? Maybe they could make some more friends!