Script1

Introduction

Screen is dark. MC begins to wake, confused with their new predicament. Unable to see, they attempt to get to their knees, but realize, with numb horror, that they can barely move the lower half of their body.
MC rolls over onto their stomach and feels around below them until their hands brush against a texture resembling cloth, then skin.
It dawns on MC that they’re touching another human’s face. Something shifts underneath them and grabs their sides, startling them enough that they jerk away and roll off whatever they’d been lying on, their back hitting the ground.
Leaning up on their elbows, MC rips the burlap sack off their head and looks at the mass of bodies before them, realizing they’d been lying in some kind of a mass grave.
Before they have a chance to panic, the mass shudders and one of the corpses before them reaches out.
MC follows the corpse’s arm down to where its reaching, where their legs are supposed to be, but aren’t. They try to scream, but only a pitiful sob comes out.
The corpse begins to pull itself out from under the bodies covering it, making the entire mass shudder. The sight finally snaps MC out of their shock and they try to scramble back, away from the awakening corpses. Their turn back onto their stomach and try to drag themselves towards the open door.
Just as their hand reaches across the threshold, somebody steps into their field of vision. MC looks up and comes face to face with a beaked mask. The stranger reaches out for them, but MC tries to turn in the opposite direction. One of the corpses grabs what’s left of their leg. They can feel the ooze secreting from its skin.
[choice] MC’s own magic lashes out at the corpse, pushing it back, and the stranger uses that chance to grab them and drag them away down the corridor | MC freezes in fear, forcing the stranger to light his torch and toss it at the corpse before he drags them away down the corridor.
The stranger picks them up, though he can barely carry their wight properly. He half runs, half stumbles with them into another unfamiliar room, where MC thrashes hard enough to wrench away from his grip and fall to the ground. They scramble away, but are backed into a wall as the stranger advances towards them.
The stranger stops and holds his hands up, palms forward. He asks MC to calm down and hurriedly introduces himself as Viktor in the same breath.
Viktor kneels down by them and asks MC if they remember anything, like their name. Prompt to name character given. MC stutters it out.
Viktor assures MC that he is trying to help them, not harm them. He hurriedly unlocks the other door in the room and urges MC to trust him again, promising to explain everything once they’re safe. Just as he begins to pick them up again, MC feels nauseous, blacks out.

Chapter 1

MC blinks awake once again, this time in a much more favorable environment. They’re lying on a wooden table, but somebody had thrown a threadbare blanket over them. They look around discretely and see Viktor shuffling around the room.
Viktor notices the MC is awake, drops whatever he’d been doing and rushes over to them. [Choice] flail and hit Viktor? Yes/Yes
MC becomes aware of their missing legs while Viktor asks them questions. His words are drowned out by the memories coming back, from before they’d woken up in the catacombs. They remember flashes only, a yell, a bright noise and white light, and searing pain.
MC comes back to the present with a harried Viktor holding them, yelling their name. [Choice] 1. The stress reaching a boiling point, they begin to sob. Viktor falls silent but continues to hold them, seemingly at a loss of what to do. | 2. The stress reaching a boiling point, they push victor away, tearing the blanket off of their body to look at the damage. Their eyes are dry, but they’re heaving, feeling nausea | 3. The stress seems to die out before it overflows and they are left numb | 4. They yell out, almost falling off the table in their hurried attempt to wrestle the blanket off
Viktor slowly begins to try to get them to respond. He fusses and talks until they are focused on him again. He asks them if they remember anything before the explosion. [Choice] 1. MC explains what they remember | 2. MC clams up, refuses to tell.
[If choice 1] Viktor recalls hearing about an accident in the academy–in fact, he remembers being suspicious about the lack of bodies brought to him, though he’d heard there had been casualties.
[If choice 2] Viktor becomes a bit petulant, responding to their silence with crossed arms and silence of his own.
Once the shock has relatively passed, It’s MC’s time to interrogate. They question Victor about his intentions, the corpses, and the catacombs, too fast to let him get a word in edgewise. Viktor starts to flail, trying to shush them so he can speak.
Viktor introduces himself again, explaining why he had been skulking around in the underground. He marvels that MC is still alive, let alone functioning like a normal human being. [Choice] 1. MC is curious | 2. MC gets angry at the insinuations.
Viktor, just as hurriedly as before, explains his theory about the corpses and the strange black mist surrounding them. It becomes clear that he barely has any idea what he’s talking about. MC interjects with their own questions.
[If MC had used their magic to save themselves earlier] MC realizes that the power they used looked similar to the corpse’s magic. Viktor awkwardly mumbles his way through another theory, explaining that he believes they are now infected with the shade, neither alive nor dead.
[Choice] 1.MC is incredulous and doesn’t believe him | 2. MC gets angry and doesn’t believe him | 3.MC panics, tries to use their magic.
[If choices 1 or 2] Viktor prompts MC to try to use their magic, and they grudgingly do, focusing on their hands and creating a thin black mist.
[If choice 3] MC creates a thick black mist all too suddenly and Viktor, who had been leaning in too close, scrambles back as it turns the tip of his mask’s beak to ash.
[Choice if 3] 1. MC apologizes | 2. MC blames Viktor | 3. MC barks out a surprised laugh
[If choice 1] Viktor likes the MC a bit more. He becomes enthusiastic about their new magic, heedless of their feelings on the matter.
[If choice 2 & 3] Viktor is angry but holds his tongue, favor of MC drops a bit. Still he becomes enthusiastic about their new magic, heedless of their feelings on the matter.
[If MC hadn’t used their power] Viktor exclaims that he’d like to try something, and urges them to use their magic.
[Choice] 1. Aware of raw magic’s effect on the body, MC refuses | 2. Hesitantly, MC complies.
[If choice 1]  Viktor prompts MC to try to use their magic, and they grudgingly do, focusing on their hands and creating a thin black mist.
[If choice 2] MC creates a thick black mist all too suddenly and Viktor, who had been leaning in too close, scrambles back as it turns the tip of his mask’s beak to ash.
It dawns on MC that this is probably Not A Good Thing as the mist dissipates, and they become aware of a sudden hunger, a pit in their stomach after using their magic. They look at Viktor and realize they feel drawn to his magic, like a predator to prey.
Before they can voice their concerns, there’s a sharp knock at the door, and somebody calling out Viktor’s name.
Viktor hurriedly bundles the MC back into their blanket, ignoring their questions, and hides them in a nearby trunk full of linens.
MC is in the dark again, and can only hear Viktor speaking with somebody. They catch bits and pieces of the conversation before they hear the door slam shut, and Viktor is opening the top of the trunk.
Again without explaining anything, a panicking Viktor says something about needing to get out. After pacing a circle or two, he disappears in the back and comes out rolling a wooden cart, big enough to fit a child inside. Conveniently, it can also fit MC, as Viktor quickly demonstrates by picking them up and lowering them in it. It’s a bit of a tight fit, but not impossible.
Viktor throws some cloth over MC, tells them to be quiet no matter what. They can only settle down and listen to him as they feel themselves being wheeled away.