<<set $DidPushFinal = true>><<display "push6">>\n\nYes.
the skull - [[something]] lodged in its left eye
you [[open]] your eyes.
an arrow, in through its socket, <<if not $SawPunched>>[[punched through]]<<else>>punched through<<endif>> the back <<if $SawPunched>>-\n\n<<else>>\n<html><br/></html>\n[[pull the arrow out|pull1]]\n[[push the arrow through|push1]]\n\n<<endif>>
the [[plains]]
you are back in your own skull again - the skull you pushed the arrow\nthrough.\n\na battle rages all around, dim and inconsequential. you remember why you died here. you are aware of possibilities gone by.\n\nlight streams from your ruptured eye.\n\nthe glory of what lies ahead. the horror of what might be.\n\n<<if not $DidPushFinal>>\n[[be reborn|push end]]\n<<else>>\nbe reborn -\n<<endif>>
an [[expanse]], <<if not $SawMountains>>[[mountains]]<<else>>mountains<<endif>> behind <<if $SawMountains>>-<<endif>>
»-----?----->
you grab the arrow and push.\n\nit resists, magnetic, as if the top of this planet pushes back.\nthe splintering hole grows. your stomach leaps, arms gooseflesh.\n\n<<if $DidPush2>>\nyou push again.\n<<else>>\n[[push again|push2]]\n<<endif>>
<<set $SawMountains = true>><<display "plains">> jagged, black, sky red above
<<set $DidPush3 = true>><<display "push2">>\nevery atom of you explodes from within. mountains crumble and the sky screams. eons pass. the planet cools, isotopes leave for voids beyond.\n\n<<if $DidPush4>>\ndetermined, you push on.\n<<else>>\n[[you keep pushing|push4]]\n<<endif>>
<<set $DidPush2 = true>><<display "push1">>\n\ntime wheels in the skies, the stars revolve in shimmering grooves.\nthe air electrifies. your perimeter wavers, as if in danger of dissolving.\n\n<<if $DidPush3>>\nyou keep pushing.<html><br/></html>\n<<else>>\n[[keep pushing|push3]]\n<<endif>>
[[✴|push6]]
<<set $DidPush4 = true>><<display "push3">>\n\nthe last of the arrow comes through. colinear daylight spills.\nthings go white. [[thunderclap.|push5]]
<<set $SawPunched = true>><<display "something">> just barely, in a starburst of splintering bone\n\n[[pull the arrow out|pull1]]\n[[push the arrow through|push1]]
<<set $DidPullFinal = true>><<display "pull6">>\n\nYes.
on a gentle rise, a [[skeleton]] kneels
<<set $DidPull2 = true>><<display "pull1">>\n\nthings drag out of you, as with a wasp's sting.\nyou bleed.\ntime rewinds. the fires that consumed these plains burst back into life, raging, taller than trees.\n\n<<if $DidPull3>>\nyou keep pulling.<html><br/></html>\n<<else>>\n[[keep pulling|pull3]]\n<<endif>>
<<set $DidPull3 = true>><<display "pull2">>\ncenturies crumble, backward, backward.\nkingdoms unmake,\npyramids deassemble, their bricks fold themselves back into warming earth.\nviolin bows drag across exposed ulna; your ears split.\n\n<<if $DidPull4>>\nstill, you keep pulling.\n<<else>>\n[[you keep pulling|pull4]]\n<<endif>>
you grab the arrow and pull.\n\nit resists, magnetic, as if the bottom of this planet pushes back.\nyour stomach leaps. intense pressure pushes in on you from without.\n\n<<if $DidPull2>>\nyou pull again.\n<<else>>\n[[pull again|pull2]]\n<<endif>>
you are back in your own skull again - the skull you pulled the arrow from.\n\nyou are wounded grievously. every part of you drains out, sucked into a single vertex of dense infinity.\n\na battle rages all around, dim and inconsequential. you remember why you died here. you are aware of possibilities gone by.\n\nthe dread of what lies behind. a dream to wrap yourself in against cold eternity.\n\n<<if not $DidPullFinal>>\n[[die, rest, finally|pull end]]\n<<else>>\ndie, rest, finally -\n<<endif>>
<<set $DidPull4 = true>><<display "pull3">>\n\nfinally the arrow wrests loose. [[thunderclap.|pull5]]
[[✴|pull6]]