Caitlin ran through a maze, the color of the floor and walls shifting constantly, an unfriendly, grey-shrouded sky above her. She tripped and fell into a pit, but clung fiercely to the side... until the rock crumbled and she fell...

...she had wings, and a chubby, feathered body, and she flew up out of the pit, against driving wind and pouring rain. Claws flexed with strength, and she swooped on a rabbit... but as her talons pierced it, she saw it ripple, writhe, morph under her claw-feet to become a dying condor, its grey feathers speckled with iridescent purple and green...

...she pulled her talons out, and groomed the bloody feathers of the other bird... she could not speak to it, but it could speak to her, and it raised its head to scream, "WHY?" before dying.

She drew back in sorrow and saw the corpse shimmer again, changing to an eviscerated leopard, flashes of sky-blue light glittering in the blood that poured from its wounds. As she watched in confusion, it raised its head and closed its jaws around her...

The world flashed black and she was watching the condor's corpse shimmer again... she took flight, but the disemboweled leopard lashed out with a paw and batted her to the ground...

...and the world flashed black again and she was flying out of the pit, fighting the wind again. She flew the opposite direction, ignoring the rabbits on the ground... but flying against the wind was getting harder, and harder, and finally she turned about, swooped on a rabbit, watched it transform to the dying condor. She didn't spare time but took flight immediately, ignoring the curses of the bird... swooped on another rabbit, left the condor to die alone again... swooped on a third but it had red eyes and sharp pointy teeth and tore her apart.


Caitlin shoved her desk away from her, staring at the screen and its taunting message: play again?

The Fantasy Game was fascinating and difficult and challenging in all the best ways, but it had never frightened her before. She didn't understand her emotions, didn't know why the random choices of a random game had caused her so much horror.

play again? the game insisted, but Caitlin answered, aloud, "No," and turned the desk off. It was almost time for practice anyway...


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