Introduction

The text is structured in a lot of little fragments of text distributed with many links. It starts with the discovering of a beautiful dome at the other side of a river and then, you can choose your own way making your own decisions(For example you can choose: “Return most swift to report your discovery to the Queen” or “Cross the shimmering path of moon beams”). But all paths will bring you to the same ending. I think that the main topic is the “mortals”, he is talking about them all the time. They´re wars they´re beauty (the woman in red) and all linked with them.

I thing that the best way of reading this text is to read one of the main first five options and all his possible ways and then return to the other four and do the same. In order to make it easy to understand I´m going to schematize one of their possible roads, the longest of them:

-“Return most swift to report your discovery to the Queen”:

Through pathed gardens and shadowy glens, you make your way back to the high wall of stone which you crossed in the clean hour after dusk. Over many streams, by wooden bridge and leaping stone to stone, you retrace your steps. But soon, nothing is familiar. It is as if the very land has changed.

-“Press on. The wall must be near”:

Not available.

-“Work your way back to the river and the dome”:

You seek a way back to the river, but again you become confused. There is a heavy scent of flowers in the air... many flowers. Perhaps you are being drugged?
You are surprised to see a high wall covered in ivy. You approach cautiously. This is the very spot where you dropped down from the wall when you arrived at this enchanted garden!
Were the flowers here before?

-“Oh well. It doesn't matter. Settle down for a nap”:

You dream of falling in a vast blackness full of stars. Tiny stones whirl around a cloud of gas. Mortal armies fight ceaselessly in the vault of time. You land on a bed of feathers to hear the screeching of geese. Star dust and a million seeds fall around you. It is daylight in a small hut. There are mortals everywhere and you are naked, without tunic or possessions. You hide in the dark and cannot find your way out.

-Next (the only option with no name):

You struggle in complete darkness for a long time. Finally, you see a faint glow. As you move nearer it becomes torch light glistening on water. You are naked and alone on a tiled porch lit by many torches. Dark water laps against a stone dock below.

-Next (the only option with no name):

You are standing on a floor of many-colored tile. It chills your bare feet but is very beautiful. An exquisitely carved rail runs around three sides of the porch. A wall of marble towers above you; at it's base a broad archway. Torches burn in glittering stanchions on the rail. Their glow returns like starlight from the quiet water below. But the sky is absolutely black.

-“Turn away from this dark sea and seek a way out into the forest”:

A mortal woman stands before you in the archway. You did not hear her approach.
She is wrapped in red cloth, with many bracelets on her slim arms. In her hands is lute of strange triangular form. She stares at you in wonder or dismay.

-“Hide from the mortal”:

The poor woman looks so confused. She turns slowly, staring, while you follow around behind looking over her shoulder.

-“Break into laughter”:

She laughs, and her laughter is like crystals of amber. Her smile is the sun. Perhaps she is casting a spell, but you do not care.

-"May I see your lovely strange lute?”:

She hands you the strange lute, gently and with reverence. It is lovely to the hand as well as the eye. You touch the strings gently and the barest hint of music touches your ears.
The mortal woman smiles lovingly at the wondrous instrument.

-“Return the lute, gently and with reverence”:

The woman begins to unwrap the cloth from around her body.

-“Flee through the archway”:

She puts a hand on your shoulder. "Wait! I won't harm you."
You are startled by the speed of her movements. But the sparkle of her laughter puts you at ease.

-"Lady, have you a cloak or tunic?":

She unwinds a length of deep red cloth from around her body, still holding her lute in one hand. Underneath, she is wearing a thin blue wrap with elaborate gold designs.
She reaches out to you and places the red cloth in your hands.

The text is incomplete so this is the end of the first way.

(I hope that this had been useful for you to understand better the structure of the text)

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Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Germán Simó Soler
gersiso@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press