When you see a badger

You awake in a forest clearing. The trees sway in a gentle breeze and the dewy grass is soft under your bare feet. You see an animal track path cutting straight across the clearing. [[Go East]] (if: $hasFallen is true)[//The western route has mysteriously cleared!// [[Go West]]] (else:)[//The western route is blocked by a large boulder.//]

You enter into the forest and after following the path a short distance, you come across a freshly hewn tree stump. A pair of worn leather boots sit invitingly atop the stump. [[Put on the boots]] [[Follow the path]] [[Go Back]]

(set: $currentMonthDay to (monthday:)) The trail leads towards the banks of a small stream. (if:$playerName is "Laura" and $currentMonthDay is 5)[You see a small wooden sign, covered in moss. (text-colour:grey)['''$playerName's Birthday Party This Way'''] it reads. [[Follow the sign]]] (if:$playerName is "Laura " and $currentMonthDay is 5)[You see a small wooden sign, covered in moss. (text-colour:grey)['''$playerName's Birthday Party This Way'''] it reads. [[Follow the sign]]] (if:$playerName is "laura" and $currentMonthDay is 5)[You see a small wooden sign, covered in moss. (text-colour:grey)['''$playerName's Birthday Party This Way'''] it reads. [[Follow the sign]]] [[Cross the stream]]

(if: visits < 2)[ You slide the left boot gingerly onto your bare foot, followed by the right. You carefully thread the laces and tie them into a neat bow and stand up to admire your new boots. You really don't like the style, which is so, like, 1992. You become slightly more disenchanted with the profession of the cobbler.] (if:visits >= 2)[You feel you were a bit hasty with your previous style judgement and try the boots again. Surely, no fine cobbler would create an unwearable pair of boots? But, no, actually, it turns out you were right the first time and they're really just that terrible.] [[You take off the boots|Go East]]

The forest grows darker as the canopy thickens, blocking out the sun. An eerie silence descends. You push onwards, bravely. Suddenly you hear a voice whispering around you. //"$playerName... $playerName... $playerName..."// [[Run back from whence you came|Go East]] [[Press onwards]]

Before we begin, please tell me your first name? (input-box:2bind $playerName,"X=",1) [[You begin|Go Back]]

You are now so deep into the forest that hardly any sunlight can penetrate. A chill grips your bones as you push through the increasingly dense foliage. A voice in your head tells you to turn back, but somehow you cannot. The whispering grows louder and louder, filling your ears with a cacophonous sound. (text-colour:red)[''"$playerName! $playerName! $playerName!"''] You begin to panic and push forwards. Suddenly free of the grasping vines you emerge onto the top of a tall cliff; teetering on the edge you desperately try to regain your footing before your momentum sends you tumbling into the chasm below. In the nick of time you regain your footing and step backwards. [[Take a deep breath]]

(set: $hasFallen to true) You take a deep breath and calm yourself. Suddenly, you hear a scratchy voice in your ear. (text-colour:red)[//"I'm sorry, $playerName. You cannot travel this path."//] A vine snaps out from amongst the foliage, whipping across your back and sending you hurtling down into the endless dark chasm below. Everything fades to black. [[You fall|Go Back]]

You follow a short winding path along the side of the stream. At the end is a picnic table, laden with delicious sweet treats, a very poorly decorated cake and what appears to be an A4 printout of a slide deck entitled "13 Revelatory Reasons To Date Me". There is a small card with a crudely drawn menagerie on the front, including a cat, a badger, a giraffe and what seems to be an ostrich in a scarf wearing headphones. The card reads "Happy Birthday Dearest Sex-cook" [[Read the card]] [[Go back|Go West]]

You cross the stream, wading up to your calves through the icy cold, clear water. On the far bank, you notice some paw-prints in the mud. A medium-sized animal has clearly been this way recently. The tracks go further into the woods, towards the south. [[Follow the tracks]] [[Have a rest for a bit]]

//Happy Birthday Laura! I hope you have a great day and enjoy this short badger-themed adventure. I couldn't quite make it to Atlanta from Australia in the end (the hijacking hijinx was a failure), but I am really looking forward to seeing you in January! Mike x// --- [[What a dreamboat|Follow the sign]] you sigh quietly to yourself.

You follow the animal tracks south along the bank of the river, before they veer off into thick undergrowth. You push through, nettles stinging at your exposed calves and brambles scratching your arms and hands. The tracks grow fainter as the ground hardens away from the river, but you can still make them out. [[Continue following the tracks]]

You rest a while by the bank of the stream. Birds chirrup overhead and the dappled sunshine casts dancing shadows on the babbling water. You are at peace. A small banana slug appears and you watch it slowly crawl over your feet [[You feel rested|Cross the stream]] [[You lick the banana slug]]

Pushing past a thick gorse bush, you suddenly stop dead in your tracks. There is something moving in the undergrowth a few metres ahead of you, but you can't quite work out what it is. You slowly edge closer to get a better look. You stand on a twig which snaps with a loud cracking sound, startling the creature and sending it scurrying through the bushes. You throw caution to the wind. [[Run after the creature]]

Piling headlong through the forest, you try to catch up with the creature, catching a glimpse of grey-ish tinged fur as you go, but never quite seeing enough to identify it. Your arms are now covered in scratches, and your bare feet are cut to shreds on the harsh, stony ground. [[Continue your pursuit]]

Suddenly, you burst into a clearing and the animal is in plain sight, stock still with its back to you. It has a short, squat body. Black and white stripy fur. Long claws on its powerful legs. [[You see a badger]]

The badger remains still in the clearing, seemingly unaware of your presence. Something tells you that this badger is no common-or-garden badger. It is important. It seems to hold itself almost regally. You yearn to be closer to it. To be near it. To bask in its majesty. [[You edge closer to the badger]]

You are now so close to the badger you can almost touch it. You can smell the warm, damp foresty smell of its fur. And hear the wheezy clack of its breath. But most of all, your skin tingles with the knowledge that you are in the presence of greatness. An inescapable feeling of joy washes over you. Every moment in your life has led you to this instant. Your vision narrows and your heart pounds in your chest. Indescribably slowly, the badger turns to face you. [[You see the badger]]

You see the badger. The badger sees you. Its beady black eyes seem to stare straight into your soul and suddenly there is nothing else in the universe but you and the badger. Time seems to fold and stretch and suddenly become meaningless. There is nothing but you and the badger. You no longer feel your body. Your mind. You have lost all sense of self, of place, of rhyme and reason. [[There is nothing but you and the badger]]

And then, after a period of time somewhere between a second and the lifespan of all known universes, there is nothing. There is nothing. For a long time there is nothing. Aeons pass. And there is nothing. And then, in an instant, there is everything. An explosion of heat and light and energy from nowhere, to everywhere. In every direction in thousands of dimensions there is everything. [[There is everything]]

Where there was no time, suddenly there is time again. You feel endless energy stream out in every direction. Stars form, collapse, collide and re-form again. Where there was once darkness, light shines. You see matter smash together forming planets; billions and billions of planets, each one different from the last. Each one a tiny insignificant piece of the whole, like a grain of sand on a never-ending beach. But one planet feels different. It draws you in, and suddenly you are present in your body again, on the surface of the planet. A hot mass of boiling seas rapidly evaporates leaving rocky land. Bacteria teem within the waters. Bacteria become multicellular. Multicellular bacteria combine and grow and evolve. Fish swim. Fish crawl forth from the seas gasping for air. Mammals are born. Dinosaurs roam. Their empire rises. And falls. Apes now. Soon humans. Life. Death. Round and round and round. And then suddenly, a forest. A clearing. And a badger. [[You see the badger|badger-two]]

You see the badger. The badger sees you. He stares deep into your eyes, and you hear his voice inside your head. //"Do you understand now, $playerName? Do you understand?"// [[Yes, I understand]] [[No, I do not yet understand|Go Back]]

The badger seems to smile. You feel pure ecstasy wash over your body. You are at one with the universe. And the universe is at one with you. You are at one with the badger, and the badger is at one with you. And the universal truth of all life and meaning becomes condensed for you in an instant, into one phrase of the purest clarity and meaning. One phrase, so beautiful and pure, that all other words and works pail in comparison. One sentence to absorb and combine and contain all others. One transparent truth. (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[''When you see a badger, it sees you too.''] //The End.//

You've always wondered what a banana slug tastes like. You pick it up and lick it. Repeatedly and enthusiastically. It does not taste good. You start feeling a little sleepy - remembering the supposed anaesthetic properties of the banana slug. After a short nap, you [[carry on|Cross the stream]]