Immolation

###(text-colour:red)[You Are Here] Regardless of age, you have much to learn about the world. You have decided to become a student so that you might broaden your horizons and learn more about this wide world. You attend a state funded University built atop a hill. Today, your class is in the tallest building on the highest part of the hill. Right now, you have been given free time to work on whatever project you want. Some of your class is working diligently, while others take advantage of the free time to chat and laugh among themselves. You hear a loud scream from outside. [[Ignore it - it must have been your over active imagination.->Everything Continues As Normal]] [[Ignore it - someone else will surely help.->Everything Continues As Normal]] [[Ignore it - whatever is happening, you don’t want to see it.->Everything Continues As Normal]] [[Ignore it - you are surely too powerless to help.->Everything Continues As Normal]] [[“What was that?”]]

###(text-colour:red)[Everything Continues As Normal] The class is still filled with the sounds of laughter and the scratching of pens and pencils. A few people glance around, a nervous look in their eyes, before returning to their work or play. Your teacher is preparing your next assignment on their computer. The screaming continues. [[Click here to start the story over->Introduction: You Are Here]]

###(text-colour:red)[“What was that?”] Your classmates look around, confused. One of them rushes to the window. “I don’t see anything out there,” she says. “Probably not a big deal,” says the teacher, “everyone please return to your seats.” They do so. [[Return to your seat->Everything Continues As Normal]] [[Look out the window yourself]] [[Go outside and take a look around]]

###(text-colour:red)[The Looking Glass] You don’t see anything out of the ordinary. [[Return to your seat->Everything Continues As Normal]] [[Go outside and take a look around]]

###(text-colour:red)[Outside the Classroom] There’s a disconnect between your thoughts and your senses. Your vision is blurry, and something heavy rests upon your tongue and within your nose. Something familiar, but impossible to place. Somewhere, someone is screaming something. You can’t make out the words. [[Go back inside->Everything Continues As Normal]] [[Follow the sound of the screams]] [[Something is wrong with you - seek medical attention]]

###(text-colour:red)[Follow the Sound of the Screams] With your vision failing you, you close your eyes and walk in the direction of the screaming. You pass through doorways, your feet seeming to step into and out of buildings, down stairways and inclines. Finally, you can make out what the screamer is saying. It's the voice of a young man - perhaps even a teenager? It's hard to tell. He is calling out to God to help him. He says he is dying. He says he is being killed. [[Open your eyes]] [[Ask who is killing him]] [[Ask the screaming man how you can help]]

###(text-colour:red)[Seek Medical Attention] You are taken to a nearby hospital. Your heart rate and blood oxygen levels appear normal, as do your pupils, breathing, and reflexes. A doctor asks if you would like to take a mild tranquilizing medication to calm down. [[Take the medicine]] [[Ask to speak to a psychologist - this is clearly a mental issue]] [[Check out and return to Outside the Classroom->Go outside and take a look around]]

###(text-colour:red)[The Psychologist] After some deliberation and a call to your insurance provider, you’re taken upstairs to see the on-call psychologist. To your surprise, they have the same last name as your teacher, and resemble them as well. They must be siblings. You consider [[returning to class->Everything Continues As Normal]] due to the sheer weirdness of the situation. The psychologist explains that what you’re experiencing is a fairly common but under researched psychological disorder. “There’s so much violence in the news and around the world, sometimes it can feel like we are truly powerless. The cognitive dissonance between our desire for change and our inability to effect it can have strange psychosomatic consequences. I recommend focussing on what you can do to help those in need in our community - symptoms should abate once you regain a sense of control of your surroundings.” [[Take their advice]] [[Ignore them and return to class->Everything Continues As Normal]]

###(text-colour:red)[Take the Medicine] The doctor introduces the medicine into your IV drip. It takes some time, but the strange sensations leave you. [[Check out and return to your classroom->Everything Continues As Normal]] [[Ask to speak to a psychologist - this is clearly a mental issue]]

###(text-colour:red)[Think Globally, Act Locally] You decide to volunteer for local organizations trying to do good in the world. The symptoms go away for a while, perhaps forever. Who can say what the future holds? (text-colour:red) [[Click Here to Start the Story over->Introduction: You Are Here]]

###(text-colour:red)[Who is Killing You?] The screams become muffled immediately. A different voice, older and deeper, addresses you. “This doesn’t concern you, student. This man is trespassing on our campus, and he’s dangerous. I am simply restraining him so I can escort him off campus, but he keeps attacking me. If he would just calm down it would be better for everyone. Please, go back to your classroom before you get hurt.” [[Open your eyes]] [[Reach out a hand]]

###(text-colour:red)[How Can I Help?] The boy’s reply is muffled - someone has gagged him. [[Open your eyes]] [[Ask who is killing him->Ask who is killing him 2]]

###(text-colour:red)[Open Your Eyes] Your vision is still blurry, but you appear to still be outside your classroom, the same place you closed your eyes. The screaming begins to get muffled and indistinct once again. [[Keep your eyes open - Return to Outside the Classroom->Go outside and take a look around]] [[Close your eyes - Return to Follow the Sound of the Screams->Follow the sound of the screams]]

###(text-colour:red)[Reach Out a Hand] Your hand runs into a barrier- something smooth like a pane of glass. [[Open your eyes]] [[Try to break it]]

###(text-colour:red)[Who is Killing You?] An older, deeper voice addresses you. “This doesn’t concern you, student. This man is trespassing on our campus, and he’s dangerous. I am simply restraining him so I can escort him off campus, but he keeps attacking me. If he would just calm down it would be better for everyone. Please, go back to your classroom before you get hurt.” [[Open your eyes]] [[Reach out a hand]]

###(text-colour:red)[Try to Break It] The glass cracks, but does not break. Your knuckles sting, and you feel warm blood flowing out from them. [[Open your eyes]] [[Hit it again]]

###(text-colour:red)[Hit it Again] The glass cracks, but does not break. Your knuckles sting, and you feel warm blood flowing out from them. [[Open your eyes->Ending]] [[Try to break it->Try to break it 2]]

###(text-colour:red)[Try to Break It] The glass cracks, but does not break. Your knuckles sting, and you feel warm blood flowing out from them. [[Open your eyes->Ending]] [[Hit it again]]

###(text-colour:red)[Open your eyes] Your vision is clearer than it has ever been. The sun has set, but the world is bathed in rust orange light. The taste on your tongue and the scent in your nostrils was thick smoke. The screaming of the boy has been drowned out by other screams, a chorus of them, each tortured plea louder than the next, and from all directions. There is nowhere you can turn that you do not see flames. There is no direction you can move in without turning your back on some screaming soul. (text-colour:red) [[Click Here to Start the Story over->Introduction: You Are Here]]