[You walk along a quiet seabed, moving through the water as naturally as walking on land, breathing without effort. Around you, the ocean is alive with vibrant coral reefs, swaying seaweed, and shimmering schools of fish. Yet, resting among the anemones are the displaced fragments of a bygone youth — crayondrawings pinned down by smooth stones, abandoned toys and books, and the remains of a childhood treehouse built into the dead coral.
As you explore, you're accompanied by a loose, drifting fantasia from distant piano keys. Fragmented themes you sense are somehow tied to this dreamscape. ♬
Out of the corner of your eye, you occasionally see a faceless boy, hands tucked contemplatively behind his back, his shade-like form crumbling like clay. You know he means you no harm.]
SORROWS IN A JAR
[Yet, just ahead, the water turns cold. A sunken grotto stands strikingly dark, illuminated only by the faint, murky light reflecting off rows of glass jars floating in the current, arranged precisely like blank music notes across a sheet. At the threshold of this shadow stands the faceless boy from before.
If you step closer, the faceless boy speaks:]
(A Light in the Abyss)
Shadows lie beneath the waves, where we breathe the tide but cannot speak our truth.
Each floating glass jar holds a captive voice… the buried grief of the one who conjured this dream. He trades his words for a world above, leaving his heart to break in the quiet deep.
Yet, within these currents, you may find echoes of your own hidden burdens.
Look into the glass. Which of these bottled memories mirrors the shape of your own regret?
A Desperate Bargain. A choice made from fear, sacrificing something or someone important to protect what you love.
A Hollow Victory. Achieving your goal, at the cost of everything you held dear.
The Ghost of Ambition. Looking at a beautiful, lost dream and realizing you will never be that person again.
Something Else. Perhaps your sorrow takes a different shape entirely...
Pluck your jar of regret from the darkness. Tether your sorrow to his, weaving a thread between shared pain. See how the somber abyss begins to bloom? Soft lights rising like stars in the deep...
When shared, the silence breaks, and even the darkest depths can transform.
Will you help him bring this light? If so, then tell him… what is the voice trapped inside your glass?
[As you step past him into the gloom, you see the true scale of the cavern. Dozens of dark glass jars suspend in the current. And there, standing dead-center in the heart of this frozen symphony, is Verso. He is quiet, motionless, a conductor surrounded by music that has no sound.
One of the dark jars calls out to you, housing a bitter regret of your own. Which one is it?
By choosing to share your sorrow, you'll transform the silence of the abyss into a sanctuary of light.]
GRIEF IS...
[The current carries you deeper, twisting through the veins of the sunken cavern until the jagged rock gives way to something impossibly smooth. Any newly-formed lights and heavy glass jars fade into the gloom behind you, replaced by a deep stillness. The water feels thick, warm, and deceptively comforting — like a dream you'd hate to wake up from.
You encounter the faceless boy from before. He stands before the dark, smooth expanse, his voice cutting through the quiet:]
(Love Perservering)
Before you stands a mirror... clear, yet veiled in shadows.
It reflects no immortal soul of its own, only what your heart aches to see: a face you long for, a voice you crave. But he is a phantom born of your gaze, a trap woven from desire and sorrow. If you see only the illusion, he will dissolve like foam upon the waves.
To save the one bound within, you must look beyond the comforting mask. Perceive him as he truly is, give him a shape of his own, and only then can freedom be found.
Will you have the courage to face the truth ahead?
[If you press forward, you are met by the image of someone you miss more than anything. They are surrounded by flickering candles that shouldn’t exist in this deep-sea sanctuary. And yet, against all odds, they are here.
Who do you see?]
UNDER AN OCEAN SKY
[The crushing pressure of the deep sea suddenly vanishes, replaced by a surreal, weightless drift. You break through the water's surface, stepping out onto the shore of a quiet, forgotten beach. The sand beneath your feet is silver, and the gentle roll of the tide sounds incredibly peaceful.
But when you look up, there is no sun. There is no open sky.
Overhead hangs another ocean entirely — a colossal, inverted sea where massive, eldritch creatures float through the clouds. Their endless, silken hair drifts lazily across the heavens, weaving into intricate, shifting patterns where storms should be. The dancing light filters through their forms, casting a mesmerizing, fractured glow across the beach that looks exactly like sunlight bouncing off the bottom of a reflecting pool. It is breathtaking, beautiful... and horrific.
Standing next to a piece of smooth driftwood by the water's edge, the faceless boy watches the sky, his quiet voice carrying over the sound of the inverted waves:]
(To Share the Weight)
Here stands one who holds the heavens aloft — a one-way mirror of unseen tempests, heavy with the dread of the fate he cannot fight.
He despairingly reaches into the void, yet offers a smile when his hands find yours. Under the crushing weight of his burden, sharp shards of sea glass bury deep into his feet with every step. Yet he walks among you while hiding his nature, bearing the exhaustion of an imposter in a foreign world so that a dear princess may learn what it means to love.
Will you stand with him for a moment? Sometimes, to simply share the weight is enough.
[And there, beneath the weight of that inverted ocean-sky, you find Verso. He stands with his arms raised in a desperate, futile effort to hold the heavens back. His expression is drawn and deeply pained, his body strained to its absolute limit.
But the moment he lays eyes on you, the agony is forced away. He instantly masks the conflict on his face, smoothing his features into a calm, gentle composure, and offers a quiet nod in greeting.
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As you explore, you're accompanied by a loose, drifting fantasia from distant piano keys. Fragmented themes you sense are somehow tied to this dreamscape. ♬
Out of the corner of your eye, you occasionally see a faceless boy, hands tucked contemplatively behind his back, his shade-like form crumbling like clay. You know he means you no harm.]