Lost in Seasons Suivre l’histoire

1: You stand by the edge of a river, facing away from it. The wind is failing to dry your wet clothes as you watch a cat run away from you. You don't know where you are, you don't even know who you are. In the river, there's a gaping hole. The water refuses to fill it. There is a high-pitched noise surrounding you, compelling you to move.

To step onto land, go to 2. To step into the hole, go to 3. To run upriver, go to 4

2: You step out of the muddy riverbed. Before your foot touches the ground, you feel your other foot leave the ground. You don't necessarily feel weightless, more like someone is dragging you up into the sky. As you float, the world below you grows smaller and smaller, and soon it doesn't look as much like a world as it does a sandbox. You float up and up until you're among the stars and you begin to lose feeling. It starts in your toes, working its way up your body until all you can feel is the tip of your nose. Eventually, you lose that too.

You have died. Start over from 1.

3: You step into the hole. It's dark for just a second, but then you see every color you've ever seen and some that you didn't even know existed until this moment. Then, as soon as it began, it comes to a stop and you're in the cold dark. You realize that you're underwater.

To swim in direction A, go to 5. To swim in direction B, go to 6.

4: You walk upriver. Your feet make wet sloshing sounds in the water. You keep walking. You walk until you can't feel your legs, you walk until the soles of your shoes are worn down to nothing. You look back, and you are only a few feet farther away from the waterfall than you were before. You keep walking.

You have died. Start over from 1.

5: You are swimming down. You run out of air and your body floats to the top, eventually washing up. Your bones remain there for hundreds of years, being picked at by unseen lizards and carnivorous birds until there is nothing left.

You have died. Start over from 1.

6: You are swimming up. You break surface and hot, dusty air fills your lungs. You let the water carry you to shore, then open your eyes. You're on a beach with the sun in your eyes, and you feel warmth next to you. You hear the thing next to you let out a heavy breath.

To look at the thing next to you, go to 7. To not look at the thing next to you, go to 8.

7: You turn to look at the thing next to you. It's the most beautiful woman you've ever seen. She's perfect, except for her mouth. Instead of a mouth, all she has is jagged shark teeth. She stands, and motions for you to follow her. You feel yourself going after her involuntarily, as if there is someone else in control of your body.

Go to 9.

8: You don't let yourself look at the thing next to you. You sit up and dust the yellow sand off of you. You feel the thing watching you as you walk away, but you still don't let yourself look.

You see a tree out of the corner of your eye.

To ignore the tree, go to 10. To walk towards the tree, go to 11.

9: The woman leads you to a cave. It's cooler in here, out of the sun. Your body continues to follow her without your permission. As you keep walking, you feel hundreds of eyes watching you. They are hungry, and soon you realize that the woman has brought them their next meal.

You have died. Start over from 1.

10: You don't walk towards the tree. Instead you keep walking along the water. Too late, you realize that it's a circle and you're back where you started. You feel the same presence as before.

To look at the presence, go to 7. To not look at the presence, go to 8.

11: You walk towards the tree. As you approach, you peer up into its lush branches.

Go to 12.

12: There are three cats in the tree. The longer you look at them, the more you get the sense that something isn't quite right. You realize that the cats all have different kinds of eyes. One of them has a goat's eyes, one of them has a lizard's eyes, and the third has a human's eyes.

To interact with the cat with goat eyes, go to 13. To interact with the cat with lizard eyes, go to 14. To interact with the cat with human eyes, go to 14.

13: "Hello?" you say to the cat. It doesn't respond.

Go to 12.

14: "Hello?" you say to the cat. The cat looks at you for a moment, then says in a familiar voice,

"Follow the sun." The cat with human eyes hisses. The lizard-eyed one looks at you.

"Follow the moon." This one says, in a different voice that you still recognize. You look up at the sky. In the sky hangs the sun and the moon, coexisting. The sun sets in the west, the moon in the east.

To follow the sun, go to 15. To follow the moon, go to 16.

15: You follow the sun, keeping your eyes locked on its position. You don't look down until you feel something sharp stinging your ankle. You look down and find yourself in a field full of briars. You turn around to follow the moon instead, but it's gone and it's taken the tree and grasses with it. You're surrounded by an ocean of thorns, and all you can do is continue to sink.

You have died. Start over from 1.

16: You follow the moon. As you walk, you feel the ground turn from hard-packed dirt to a white silk carpet under your feet. You leave red footprints as you walk on the silk. You hear the silk carpet rustle behind you, and you turn around to look. The lizard-eyed cat has followed you. "Why are you following me?" You ask the cat.

"Because I wanted to leave the tree, and you were there for me to follow." The cat answered. You hesitate, but you know there is nothing you can do to stop the cat from following you. So, you turn around and keep walking. Eventually, you see a castle in the distance to your right.

Go to 17 to ignore the castle. To approach, go to 19.

17: You ignore the castle, and keep walking forwards. Once the castle is out of your sight, you begin to hear the sweet songs of canaries, and you notice the white silk turning brown with spots of green under your feet. Soon, you find yourself in a forest, surrounded by the trunks of trees stretching up towards the sky. The canaries flit above in a hazy yellow cloud, and the lizard-eyed cat licks its jowls. The cat walks forwards, and you follow. The trees grow denser and denser until almost all of the light is blocked out.

Go to 18.

18: You find yourself at a separation, with two paths clear of trees.

To go left, go to 20. To go right, go to 21. To ask the cat, go to 22.

19: You walk towards the castle, leaving red footprints in your wake. The castle's spherical roof reminds of the colorful Russian towers you've only seen in photos, except instead of blooming with color it's as white as the silk. You touch the castle door, and red gushes out from your fingers. Your push harder, red spreading further, and the doors open. The lizard-eyed cat refuses to follow you in. You see a grand staircase, with a white lion chained to the base of each railing. You approach the staircase, planning to ascend. One lioness swipes at you as you walk past her, but she catches nothing but empty air. You climb up the stairs, still leaving red footprints behind you, until you finally reach the top of the stairs.

Your legs are tired from all the walking you've done. You lean against the railing. You look over your shoulder, and find yourself much higher up than you expected. You see more footsteps than you remember leaving, and the lions are little more than white flecks of paint on a blank canvas. As you're looking behind you, you feel a firm shove between your shoulders. You turn back and see what looks like yourself, completely white, as if it had been covered in multiple layers of thick paint. You open your mouth to say something; you're not sure what. Before you can get it out the white figure pushes you again, sending you tumbling into the lions' jaws.

You have died. Start over from 1.

20: You turn left. The cat follows you for a few steps, but when the trees grow so dense that the only light is coming from fireflies flickering in search of mates it stops and turns around.

"Strange," you say to yourself, then you turn around and dive deeper. Soon, the fireflies begin to swarm around you, flickering around your head as you swat at them. One of them rests on your arm and you feel a sharp pinch. You hit the firefly, squishing it, and think nothing of the smear of blood on your arm as the others descend on you with little teeth.

You have died. Start over from 1.

21: You turn right. As you dive deeper, the trees grow denser, the darkness swallowing you up. You keep walking forwards in the dark, almost shuffling your feet to avoid tripping over a stray branch or rock. Eventually a soft blue-white light makes its presence known to you, turning the forest silver. You hear a massive thump behind you.

To look behind you, go to 23. To not look behind you, go to 24.

22: "What path am I supposed to take?" You ask the lizard-eyed cat.

"How would I know?" It fires back.

"You knew to follow the moon, didn't you?"

"Yes," it says, "because I had been watching it. But I've never seen these trees before."

"That doesn't make sense." You say. If cats could laugh, it would sound like the chattering noise that this one makes.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?"

Go back to 18.

23: You look behind you, and at first you only see what looks like a wall of fur. At first, you're horrified, then it lifts up and your eyes follow it. You realize that the wall belongs to the leg of an enormous animal, some type of shaggy wolf-like creature. The wolf-thing looks down at you, and continues on its trek.

Go to 24.

24: You keep walking forwards, and eventually find yourself at a lake with water blue like west coast sea glass. It's glowing like you're looking up from under pool water and seeing the sun shine through.

"Step in." The cat says with a commanding voice. You blink at it in surprise.

"What?"

"Pick me up, and step into the water. Don't you want to go home? That's the only way." You frown at the cat, suspicious of its intentions. But it hasn't lied to you yet, so you pick it up and wade into the cyan water. You emerge from a river, duller than the lake you entered. As soon as your feet touch the ground by the riverbed, your mind falls empty.

Go back to 1.