== > Stop dissing my favorite trolls!

Well if you think Canira's not that bad, you can go be her! You are a high-functioning psychopath and you don't have time for this shit.

== > Yeah be Canira.

You are now Canira.

You're in your lovely little hive with your armadillo consorts. Bitterly, you reflect that this once-lovely, open planet has truly has become a Land of Death. Sighing, you look around you at the many graves for the hordes of armadillos who have died in Indy's tragic quest for sustenance. Indysprite floats by your side, truly and profoundly guilty.

You throw him another wriggling armadillo. He eats it.

Circle of life.

== > Look up.

Well... that's interesting. The odd, circular symbol you saw a few times during your journey so far is now floating right over your hive.

It must be... a gate!

Luckily for you, like almost everything else, it's bright pink. No one is guessing your blood color today, ha ha!

Okay, no one except Coanan.

Annnnd Ciphre.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd who knows who else they've told already.

Well screw them!

== > The gate. Get to the gate.

You don't know if it's going to close, but you'd better get up there fast!

But first, there are some things you should probably bring.

You rush inside and grab your husktop, along with a duo of intrepid armadillo consorts and your knife.

It has come in handy a lot lately.

== > Jump through gate.

You get up on your roof and prepare to jump.

One, two, three... AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

== > AHHHHHHHHHH!

You fall into the gate and do an acrobatic fucking pirouette onto the ground. Mist rises around you-everything is super cloudy and... eerie, a bit.

Indysprite is taking this like the chill armadillo-eating doge he is.

It's gray, as in literally almost no color. Leaves hang from trees, suspended in different shades of silver.

Dilapidated, ancient-looking shacks jut up from the ground everywhere, meaningless and ominous.

You see a familiar figure emerge through the mist, presumably investigating the clatter your acrobatic fucking pirouette just made.

DIALOGLOG

CANIRA: C!P#RE! H!!!!!!!

CIPHRE: canxra! hello! my hxve xs rxght thxs way so come on xnsxde!

You walk through his house, enjoying the lovely architecture, with mythical beasts of all sorts spread throughout. It has a cozy feel to it that contrasts with the rest of his world. It doesn't look like his hive though...

CANIRA: Wow t#!$ !$ n!ce

CIPHRE: agreed. xt^s not my hxve though

CANIRA: D!d !t not surv!ve he meteors then?

CIPHRE: no it survxved fxne but x lxke thxs shack better than my sort of shabby other hxve

CIPHRE: also nxnfxa blocked off three of the rooms wxth those machxnes

CIPHRE: plus thxs hxve xs nxcely furnxshed and everythxng. xt even has closeclosetdoors for all the cool stuff x^ve found here.

CIPHRE: stxll have no xdea how a perfectly comfortable shack appeared on thxs perfectly unxnhabxted planet

CANIRA: Be@t$ me... w@!t, un!nh@b!ted? No con$ort$?

CIPHRE: no... xt^s kxnd of odd, really

CIPHRE: but anyway your hxve survxved the transfer then?

CANIRA: Ye@# but !ndy w@$n't $o lucky

CANIRA: Meet !ndy$pr!te, C!phre

INDYSPRITE: -3- -3- -3-

INDYSPRITE: hello there mr. c!phre!

CIPHRE: pleased to meet you too

You find a nice little armchair nearby to chat about all the crazy turns that your lives have taken in just the past... what, eight hours!? huh.

CIPHRE: gog thxs xs so odd just sxttxng here wxth you

CIPHRE: kxnda sad. alternxa^s gone.

CIPHRE: x^ll never get a job

CANIRA: ! w@$ never gonn@ get one t#oug# $o ! don't m!nd.

CIPHRE: why

CANIRA: ! $ooooo would've been culled.

CIPHRE: well you never wxll be now, lucky you

CANIRA: $t!ll...

CIPHRE: hah

CIPHRE: damn kxnda hard belxevxng xt^s all gone

CANIRA: !f we ever f!nd @ w@y b@ck... well, ! st!ll gott@ f!nd !t

CANIRA: ! prom!$ed

CIPHRE: what

CANIRA: The gr@ve of my @ncestor! !t'$ on @nother pl@net.

CIPHRE: you do have an ancestor!

CANIRA: ! never s@!d ! d!dn't! ! n@med my$elf @fter her.

CIPHRE: you named yourself?

CANIRA: doe$n't everyone?

CIPHRE: ...well usually an odd force names us to advance the plot

but xf you're not xn a sgrub sessxon...

CANIRA: ???

CANIRA: w#@t

CANIRA: D!d you ju$t bre@k the fourth w@ll bro

CIPHRE: yes okay let me fxnxsh usually you^re named when you leave the caverns.

CANIRA: ...

CIPHRE: so you^re really not normal

CANIRA: u# -3-

CIPHRE: well you have some explaxnxng to do

CANIRA: ! c@n't tell you my $tory, but ! c@n tell you my @nce$tor'$. You've just gott@ prom!$e not to tell @nyone.

CIPHRE: promxse

CANIRA: Ok@y. Well, u#, s#e l!ved !n @ t!me w#ere @ll t#e blood colors were le$$... @ccepted. So @round t#e t!me $#e w@$ born, they dec!ded @nyone w!t# #er blood color w@$ d@ngerou$. $o $he w@$n't @llowed to le@ve @ltern!@ @nd !f @nyone $@w #er $#e would be culled on s!g#t.

But... $#e $towed @w@y on @ $#!p br!ng!ng $uppl!e$ to @not#er pl@net, @nd from there $#e w@$ unc@tc#@ble. $#e rescued @nyone $#e could, formed rebell!on$ @ll @round t#e pl@net$ w#ere t#e trolls h@d conquered, @nd for @ w#!le, $#e w@$ unc@tc#@ble.

$#e #@d t#!$ $ecret l@ngu@ge, w#!c# t#e #!g#blood$ d!dn't l!ke very muc# but t#o$e w#o could u$e !t were $uper proud of !t.

!t w@$ @ $ymbol of rebell!on ju$t to know !t.

!n #er l@ngu@ge, $#e w@$ c@lled 'L@ M@r!po$@'. 'The Butterfly'. T#ey only l!ve on ot#er pl@net$. They $!p pet@lpl@nt$ @nd t@ey're $eem!ngly we@k, but #@e t#!ng !$ they move $uper f@$t, l!ke her. The!r w!ng$ @re k!nd of l!ke the one$ you he@r @bout !n other legend$, too. They're k!nd@ cool.

They #@d @ lot of ot#er rumor$ too- t#@t #er $!ng!ng could c@lm @ny troll, even #!ghblood$. All $ort$ of $tuff. The b!gge$t one w@$ t#@t $#e w@$ w@!t!ng for $omeone. No one knew w#o. Everyone ju$t knew $#e w@$ look!ng for $omeone $pec!@l, $o !f they found th!$ $pec!@l ot#er they could hold them #o$t@ge @nd c@pture 'L@ M@r!po$@'... but $ome people $t@rted c@ll!ng #er ot#er t#!ng$ now, bec@u$e of t#!$ my$ter!ou$ other. They c@lled her 'The E$per@te'... t#@t one'$ @ b!t more compl!c@ted, !t me@n$ 'the one who !$ w@!t!ng for you' or 'the one who !$ #op!ng for you'. She !n$p!red #ope, too - $he kept !t $trong, everyw#ere $he went. Unt!l-

CIPHRE: untxl what?

CANIRA: $#e found the one $he w@$ w@!t!ng for.

CANIRA: #e w@$ @ cerule@nblood @nd t#ey @re known for $educ!ng other$; $#e fell r!ght !nto #!$ @rm$.

CIPHRE: and they caught hxm, dxdn^t they

CANIRA: No, t#ey never c@ught h!m. But t#ey d!d c@tch her. T#ey h!red t#e #untsm@n @nd h!s p@rtner, t#e #untre$$; t#ey were onto #er !n @ fortn!g#t.

CANIRA: They $@y t#@t'$ w#y t#e two l@ter $pl!t up. T#e #unt$m@n cl@!med @ll the cred!t. The #untre$$, well, $#e got #er revenge, but th@t'$ @not#er $tory.

CIPHRE: dxd they brxng the two of them back to the empress?

CANIRA: No. T#ey left #er to d!e. It w@s #er dy!ng w!s# - $#e would go e@sy !f t#ey let t#e one $#e w@$ w@!t!ng for l!ve, let h!m f!nd #er.

CIPHRE: xf that^s not the saddest thxng x^ve ever heard...

CANIRA: Ye@# !t'$ pretty $@d.

CANIRA: The #unt$m@n k!lled her, @nd $lowly, wh!le the #untre$$ $e@rc#ed for the one T#e E$per@te w@$ w@!t!ng for. The #untre$$ found #!m, but $p@red #!m.

CANIRA: T#e one $#e w@$ w@!t!ng for found #er body...

CANIRA: @nd $#e @$ked #!m to $!ng to #er, l!ke $#e u$ed to to $!ng to #!m.

CIPHRE: ... and of course...

CANIRA: #e $@ng to #er.

CANIRA: #e $@ng #er $ong b@ck to #er, word by word, @$ $#e d!ed !n #!$ @rm$.

CANIRA: #e f!n!$#ed @nd $#e looked up @t #!m @nd $@!d, "I'm $o gl@d you c@me."

CIPHRE: and then... she dxed.

CANIRA: Ye$.

CIPHRE: x won^t tell a soul.

CANIRA: Th@nk you.

After telling him the story, you feel somehow... exhausted. But maybe your exhaustion is from this crazy game, strifing with imps, jumping through glowing circular gates, and landing in colorless, eerie planets.

CANIRA: hey C!phre, u#

CANIRA: !'m k!nd@ t!red out

CANIRA: !$ there @ pl@ce ! could l!e down for @ wh!le?

CIPHRE: of course

CIPHRE: there^s a loft upstaxrs that x don^t use. x use another, sort of hxdden room down the hall that you could check out sometxme. just avoxd the carpet, ok?

CANIRA: why?

CIPHRE: let^s just say it^s the reason x don't have any consorts nearby

CANIRA: w@!t

CANIRA: you c@n't just tell me these th!ng$ @nd then not expl@!n them! !'m cur!ous now!

CIPHRE: well

CIPHRE: x doubt you^d belxeve me xf x told you

CIPHRE: just let^s never both go onto the carpet at the same txme please

CANIRA: -y@wn$- @lr!ght.

Ciphre takes you upstairs to his loft and you sleepily curl up into the pillows and blankets that surround you. There are pictures tacked to the walls... pictures of you and your friends. Ciphre must've put them there, but he said he didn't use the room. You begin to get the feeling something's odd here...