You wake up in the middle of the forest at night, with no memory of how you got there.  All you have is a backpack full of Cheez-Its and other essential supplies, along your own wits to help you on your way.  As you explore this strange land, you'll find things you never knew could exist, (at least, not that you can remember).  You'll meet strange creatures, some friend, others not, and maybe, just maybe, recover your lost memories...

My (rather rushed), entry for the Lone Hero contest.  I'll be the first to admit that not all the endings will make you any sort of hero, lone or otherwise, (mainly the ones where you run away from just about every source of conflict, and/or die).  But if you're brave enough to do what you think is right, even though it may result in your untimely demise, you may just make yourself a hero yet.  In that light, I guess you could say you're a reluctant Lone Hero.  

While each route of this story can be understood to some degree on it's own, it is important to play every branch to fully understand the greater story that's being told.  I have no intention of revealing everything on the first play through, you'll have to take the time to explore everything to learn all it's secrets.

By the way, on the off chance that you find any glitches or bugs, please tell me.  I'd like to know so I can fix them.

Netflix and video games can only go so far when it comes to fighting boredom. Usually the comfort of your own home is more than enough to make you happy on the weekends, but lately something feels off. You've tried to rewatching The Office for the six or seventh time, but just couldn't get into it. After scrolling through your entire Steam library consisting of over five hundred games, you couldn't find a single one that looked worth playing. You're used to being relieved about coming home after a long day of work or school, but lately you've found yourself dreading the emptiness of your own home. There's no two ways around it, you're stuck in a rut, and it's going to take something major to break you out. Luckily, you have just the thing. Before you have a chance to change your mind, you call up your friend who lives across town and tell him to come over as soon as possible. It doesn't take much to convince him to join you on the ultimate Saturday bike ride.

But little do you know that biking can be a lot more dangerous than it looks. The trails are a hotbed for all manner of suspicious activity. You are about to stumble upon an underground subculture more complex and deadly than you could possibly have imagined. Today, you'll find out whether you're just another neckbeard with a cheap set of wheels or a true hero and adventurer.

The trails in the story are loosely based on the ones in my own town. Some of the weird and crazy things in this story are exaggerated or completely made up, but there were also some things I pulled directly from my own experience.  My town can be kinda strange sometimes.  I'll let you decide for yourself what you think is true and what isn't.

I started this story in late 2020 and worked on it on and off into 2021. Then I sorta stopped and forgot about it. But by that point, it already had enough substance to stand on its own, so I decided to come back to it recently and tie up a few loose ends so that the twenty-eight thousand words I'd already written for it wouldn't go to waste. The finished product turned out smaller than I initially planned, but I'm still reasonably happy with it. A bird in the hand is worth two, I suppose.

Thank you! I'm just sorta sitting on it for now. Probably gonna try to work on knocking out some of my student loan debt for a bit, then eventually go back for a master's of some sort.

I was wondering why they weren't showing up. I managed to make them clicky, at least, but I had hoped to get them to show up on the page.

I just recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology, and I've been itching for a chance to use it. Now, for those who don't know, you really can't do anything of any professional importance with just a measly bachelor's degree in my field. For that, you have to get yourself a master's degree or higher, which is something I won't be getting around to for a little while. It does, however, enable me to abuse my knowledge for my own personal entertainment and for the enlightenment of others. I've frequented this site on and off for a long time now, and I've come to notice that there are some very interesting characters running amok around here. Recently, I've found myself wondering what exactly lies in the deepest, darkest depths of all of your collective minds. So I'm proposing a little game to help pull back the curtain for the education and amusement of everyone here. 

How it works:

Most of you have probably at least heard of the inkblot test. Below is a series of random inkblots that have no inherent meaning in themselves. Traditionally, the test involves relaying what you see in them to a licensed professional, and then allowing them to interpret the meaning of whatever it was you saw. For example, if someone said they saw something like "a bunch of dead gay zombies having a dead gay orgy," the person administering the test might conclude that their subject had previously repressed gay impulses that they have since left behind, or more likely, that the subject is a closeted user of some combination of Wattpad, AO3, or CoG. Seeing as I am not a professional in any capacity, we'll have to turn to the next best thing to get our interpretations: the court of public opinion. Each participant in this game should post a list of their own impressions of each inkblot shown below. Then, everyone else can comment on their post to interpret what their impressions say about them. So without further ado, here are the inkblots you will be using:

Inkblots

Image 1:

Image 2:

Image 3:

Image 4:

Image 5:

Image 6:

Image 7:

Games reviewed:

Of Dreams and Daemons by Clayfinger, Featured

(These still count for regular points, right?)

Reviews: 2

Featured: 2

Team: Penguin Paparazzi

Games reviewed:

• Story B, Length: 3, 6/21/25,  Featured
• Of Dreams and Daemons, Length: 6, 6/27/25, Featured

Points total: 6

Alright, I'll bite. I missed writing reviews. Put me in the game, coach!

CYStia is the greatest empire in the known world. It's the glory and splendor of the Roman Empire mixed with the ruthlessness and conquest of the Vikings. You must have seen all the newb heads on pikes on the way in, didn't you? There should be a thread that will explain more if you're interested.

I'd say I'm around a 6/8, because I can, in fact, boil rice, but I generally use a rice cooker for convenience. Last time I tried on a stove I burned the rice, though it wasn't too bad and still tasted alright. I'm currently cooking most of my meals from raw ingredients and manage to eat a decent variety of things day to day. I just haven't ever made soup that didn't come in a can, and I haven't baked anything in nearly a year, so that barely counts.

The hobo cult isn't anything close to what I've personally experienced, but I don't find it difficult to believe that such a thing might actually exist somewhere. I mean, in some ways, it already sorta happened with the hippie movement.

This is the most patriotic thing I've seen all day.