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<<set $name = "">> <<set $nebula = "">> <<set $element = "">><span class="center"><h1><<print $title.random()>></h1><img src="data/HdC_1.png" alt="Welcome home" class="responsive"></span> <span class="small">💜 Some considerations before you start reading: Colored text <<linkappend "adds more words." t8n>> Like this!<</linkappend>> Underlined text <<linkreplace "__changes__" t8n>>is replaced<</linkreplace>>. Keys <<link "open things🔑">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> You didn't even have to open this! @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> that can be closed. Arrows➡️ turn the page and it's not possible to go back. So when you're ready...</span> <h2>[[Begin ➡️|EpigraphOne]]</h2> <button onclick="window.location='http://www.ifnotgames.com/huesos-del-cielo/menu.html';">Back to Menu</button> <hr style="width:50%; margin-left:25% !important; margin-right25% !important;" color="black"><div class="attribution">© Text copyright Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas © Illustration copyright <a href="https://eugeniatriantafyllou.com" target="_blank">Eugenia Triantafyllou</a></div>
<div class="my_quote">And when nine moons had passed, the bones in the sky pointed to the place where soil should be harvested to use in the naming ceremony. 📖 Juan Cavendra, //[[Los huesos del cielo ➡️|EpigraphTwo]]// </div>
<div class="my_quote">The configuration of //self// as a consequence of departure does not depend on distance but on oblivion. 📖 Brunilda Rosas, //[[International Classification of Nomenclatures and Naming ➡️|Beginning]]// </div>
When you were born, your family looked at the stars reflected on your eyes and gave you a name. But it has been long <<linkappend "since then." t8n>> The words that made up your name have <<linkreplace "__faded away__" t8n>>been lost<</linkreplace>>. You can’t remember them <<linkappend "anymore." t8n>> You cannot remember the faces of those who bore you either. Those who carried you in their arms and bathed you in the light of the cosmos to nurture you, <<linkreplace "__tenderly__" t8n>>pretend to<</linkreplace>> love you, watch you <<linkreplace "__grow__" t8n>>fall<</linkreplace>>, and then <<linkreplace "let you go." t8n>>[[get away from you ➡️|PhotoAndKey]].<</linkreplace>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>>
<<timed 1.5s t8n>><div class="my_quote"> And staring into your eyes, they said: “May the $nebula nebula be your guide when you lose your way. Carry it inside your mind, because it is the door to the self.” And taking a handful of soil, they said: “May this soil symbolize $element, the element that will anchor you to the world. Carry it inside your nose, because it is the door to the soul.” And throwing that soil on your eyes, they gave you a name. And like every and all words, that name was erased and forgotten and rewritten. ''And that was good.'' 📖 Juan Cavendra, //Los huesos del cielo//</div> <h3>[[Read again ➡️|Title]]</h3> <button onclick="window.location='http://www.ifnotgames.com/huesos-del-cielo/menu.html';">Back to Menu</button><</timed>>
What’s your name, by the way? I know, I know. You already said you don’t remember. I mean, what’s the name you took when you left home? The name that certain person you love whispers in your ear. Do you think I didn’t notice you glancing at your phone, wanting to share whatever it is you’re doing here? Anyway, what do //you// want //me// to call you? <<textbox "$name" "">> Nice to meet you. <<button "Come on in!">> <<if $name is "">> <<replace "#name-error">>This is awkward... Of course you have a name, don’t you? Maybe it is not the first one you were given. But I have to call you something.<</replace>> <<else>> <<goto "Vestibule">> <</if>> <</button>> <span id="name-error"></span>
The house is engulfed in darkness. You feel your way slowly because you are afraid of tripping over something, but your body’s memory—==better than your mind’s==—remembers perfectly the position of each piece of furniture, of each room. You could even point the exact place of every window despite all being boarded up. You feel the <span class="ghost" style="color:#9F97E0">dust resting like a ghost</span> over everything that surrounds you. Your steps are a storm disturbing the inexorable calm of the past. A musty smell that has been locked up for who knows how long soaks your clothes, your hair, your skin. But you feel there is another smell lurking, something familiar, the scent of <<listbox "$element">> <<option "tears">> <<option "salt">> <<option "ink">> <<option "grass">> <<option "fire">> <<option "blood">> <</listbox>>, your birth element, tickles inside your nose. Your hand hesitates, but reaches for the [[light switch ➡️|Living]]
You say you don’t remember, but you still have that faded photograph: all those people whose faces are barely visible and you can’t recognize, but one of them is you, right? It must be. Why else would you keep it all these years in the same pocket you carry that rusty key? You say you don’t remember. Perhaps you don’t want to. Who would after all that happened, after all there is… And yet here you are. There’s a door for every key, a light for every photograph, and [[a name for every face ➡️|Gate]]
The door is dirty. Someone else would say that it has seen better times, but you know it never had good times. You know that it was always dirty because no one cared about entrances and portals and thresholds and boundaries. What for? Once someone left, they <<linkreplace "__shouldn’t__" t8n>>must never<</linkreplace>> go back. But you’re here, on the doorstep of this house that seems so alien, like someone else’s, but so yours at the same time. So full of your past and <<linkappend "so empty of you." t8n>> The door is dirty as the walls that surround it. The painting is peeling, it shows the colors once hidden by the passing of time. You wish that between those decayed layers there was that thing you are looking for. That way <<linkappend "you wouldn't have to enter." t8n>> But your name is not something that they would have hidden in plain sight on the outside walls, it used to be something important, something that defined you, something that was carefully chosen by so many others but you. You’re not sure if you wish to go inside. You don’t know what exactly are you doing here again after all those years. <div class="ghost" style="color:#ff508a">But they know, you know they know.</div> Everything is so dirty. They neglected the door to the extent that they never thought about changing the lock. [[Your old key still works ➡️|Mail]]<</linkappend>><</linkappend>>
Everything looks like you remember. Everything looks like in a memory: <span class="ghost" style="color:#ff508a">discolored, blurred, a mere approximation of reality</span>. The rooms where you grew up are still here. No earthquake nor force of nature has been able to remove them from this house or from your mind. All the doors are closed and could remain that way. You don’t have to do this to yourself. Not now, not ever. But there could be something useful <<link "inside🔑.">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> There’s a small projector in the middle of the room. It is on. The blue light that shines over the walls and ceiling makes you think you are in an imaginary version of space among faraway stars that have never existed. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> Didn’t you promise to come and search and see? Walk around the living room, it used to be the heart of <<link "this house🔑.">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> What was this room used for? It was… You cannot remember. There’s only one piece of furniture inside: a chest of drawers. Open the <<linkappend "first drawer." t8n>> : There’s a crumpled piece of paper. Every word written on it has been crossed out. You manage to distinguish some of them: ==never==, ==tell==, ==we==, ==back==.<</linkappend>> Open the <<linkappend "second drawer." t8n>> : It is empty.<</linkappend>> Open the <<linkappend "third drawer." t8n>> : There is a photograph. A copy of yours. Identical in every way: from the creases, the fading, the faces you cannot see…<</linkappend>> There is nothing more in here. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> Everything began and ended in this very place. Everyone used to gather here when the lights went out because the grid always failed when it rained. They lit up candles and talked about the end of the world while you cracked up faba bean pods, and the cats knocked insistently on the <<link "door🔑.">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> This room is the sea. <div class="blink">Inhale… Exhale…</div> Keep on <<linkappend "searching" t8n>> for yourself<</linkappend>>. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> The shadows danced on the walls and you <<linkreplace "__really felt__" t8n>>thought you were<</linkreplace>> safe. Sit on the springy sofas that bare the inextricable signs of eternity, marks that’ll never go away no matter what: cigarette burns and cat hair. Feel like you’re being absorbed by the plastic-covered fabric, like there’s <<link "no escape🔑,">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> The door is locked. It won’t budge. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> like the squeakiness speaks to you in a foreign tongue. Try the <<link "doorknobs🔑.">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> There are seven mattresses in here. You resist the urge to jump on them. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> Don’t be afraid. I know I just told you you don’t have to, but you’re already here, aren’t you? Take a peek <<link "inside🔑.">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> Your childhood room. The one you shared with who knows how many siblings, people whose names are as lost as yours, people you wouldn’t recognize on the street if you were to ever cross paths, strangers that once were another part of you. You wonder why you drifted apart. Was it because you never shared dreams? You could not even sleep because the constant rumble of footsteps echoed in your collective room that was next to the stairs. There is a bed, books, toys. Yours? Someone else’s? Hand-me-downs? Maybe they belonged to <<linkappend "you" t8n>> and them<</linkappend>> once, but not anymore. They do not mean anything to you right now. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> … Did you find //it//? Did you find anything at all? Want to go upstairs and see if it’s there? Come on, now. [[Follow the light that comes from the sky ➡️|Stairs]]
<<linkappend "You walk up." t8n>> <<linkappend "Up." t8n>> <<linkappend "You’re still walking up." t8n>> <<linkappend "Were there so many steps before?" t8n>> <<linkappend "You walk up." t8n>> <<linkappend "Higher." t8n>> <<linkappend "Look!" t8n>> [[There's a light up there ➡️|Skylight]]<</linkappend>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>>
The last beams of red light enter through the skylight. Maybe you should hurry and get out of here before it gets dark. But the warmth caresses you like those hands did once, before they became cold and distant. ''Night falls.'' There’s a telescope on the landing just by the stairs. It is pointing towards the skylight. You trust again in the memory of your body. Your hands seem to remember how to operate the cables in order to select the exact declination and right ascension that will let you look at the <<listbox "$nebula">> <<option "dreamcatcher">> <<option "gravitational lullaby">> <<option "luminous coelenterate">> <<option "mouse skull">> <<option "specter">> <<option "whispering veil">> <</listbox>> nebula glowing on that same zone of the sky that witnessed your birth. You are still inside this house despite the darkness looming around. You feel there is no turning back so you [[walk through the hallway ➡️|Mirrors]].
<<linkappend "The walls are covered in mirrors." t8n>> <<linkappend "The walls are covered in mirrors." t8n>> <<linkappend "Maybe it is just you, duplicating yourself, watching yourself watching you ad infinitum." t8n>> <<linkappend "The walls are covered in mirrors." t8n>> Maybe it’s just you watching yourself watching your [[reflection ➡️|Reflection]]. <</linkappend>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>>
There are three doors before you. Were they always here? Your nose tickles with the scent of $element. You know that smell is coming from under one of those doors. Only ''YOU'' can say which one. You also know that, once you open one of those doors, there will not be a way to turn back, you’ll have to enter that room. <span class="blink" style="color:#ff508a">''Choose carefully.''</span> First is the door to your name, the one you chose for yourself the day you went away, the name that person whispers in your ear. [[The name you can go back to ➡️|DoorOne]] Inside the second door lies the name you forgot. Wasn’t it the reason you’re here? To take this name back? [[But do you really want it? ➡️|DoorTwo]] The last one is <<linkreplace "__your__" t8n>>our<</linkreplace>> door. What are names good for in the end? [[Come ➡️|DoorThree]]
''Darkness.'' You take a couple of fearful steps into the gloom. There is no way to know if this room is tiny or if it goes on for kilometers. You are afraid to stretch your arms through the nothingness. <span class="blink">You feel like floating.</span> But you’re not moving. [[Something is moving you ➡️|idk1]]
The ''brightness'' dazzles you. Even though you close your eyes, the glow remains inside your eyelids. The warmth confuses you. <span class="blink">Where are you?</span> You walk aimlessly inside this room that goes on until your eyes can see no more. You trip on a small mound of lose earth. Without stopping to think about what you’re doing, you kneel down and take a handful of soil that you rub on your face as if you were washing yourself. You look to the <<linkreplace "__ceiling.__" t8n>>[[sky ➡️|idk2]]<</linkreplace>>
Entering this room feels like going blind. Darkness has a weight, it makes you move slowly. You feel as if you were carrying someone else, as if the hands of everyone who <<linkreplace "__dwelled__" t8n>>dwells<</linkreplace>> in this house <<linkreplace "__were__" t8n>>are<</linkreplace>> holding your entire body preventing you from going on. As if those fingers were perforating your skin and possessing your entrails. [[Darkness has a weight ➡️|idk3]]
Open your eyes. The house, its rooms, its paint peeling off the walls are left behind. You are holding an old photograph. Look at it for one last time. As you raise your hand, <<linkappend "you let the wind take it away." t8n>> <<linkappend "There are so many things to do." t8n>> Take out your phone and [[send that text… ➡️|Epilogue]]<</linkappend>><</linkappend>>
Outside, everything is silent. You notice that you are holding an old photograph. You stare at it for a moment before putting it inside your pocket <<linkappend "with care." t8n>> <<linkappend "Look up to the sky, the real one." t8n>> <<linkappend "Savor each and every one of the letters that make up your name." t8n>> The stars are singing. [[Listen up ➡️|Epilogue]].<</linkappend>><</linkappend>><</linkappend>>
There is no inside or out. There is. You are. <span class="blurry, blink">We are you.</span> I am <span class="blurry">you</span>. We are [[me ➡️|Epilogue]]
There <<linkreplace "__is a voice__" t8n>>are many voices<</linkreplace>> calling for you. <<timed 2s>><<type 40ms>> //Hello, $name. Hello, $name. Hello, $name. What did you come for? Everything inside this house belongs to you. Only you can say what are you taking with you. Go back to the life you have built for yourself. Go back to that world where you have flourished with your own name. Go [[back to the light ➡️|You]]//<</type>><</timed>>
There <<linkreplace "__is a voice__" t8n>>are many voices<</linkreplace>> calling for you. <<timed 2s>><<type 40ms>> //Those who dwell in this house welcome you. You have come to recover your birth name and with that name you will leave this place. You have remembered the smell of your element. You have watched your birth nebula again. Repeat this aloud: <<if $element is "tears" and $nebula is "dreamcatcher">> "My name is Vorágine Abracadabrante." <<elseif $element is "tears" and $nebula is "gravitational lullaby">> "My name is Vorágine Funambulista." <<elseif $element is "tears" and $nebula is "luminous coelenterate">> "My name is Vorágine Inmarcesible." <<elseif $element is "tears" and $nebula is "mouse skull">> "My name is Vorágine Lóbrega." <<elseif $element is "tears" and $nebula is "specter">> "My name is Vorágine Lunar." <<elseif $element is "tears" and $nebula is "whispering veil">> "My name is Vorágine Sombría." <<elseif $element is "salt" and $nebula is "dreamcatcher">> "My name is Sueño Abracadabrante." <<elseif $element is "salt" and $nebula is "gravitational lullaby">> "My name is Sueño Funambulista." <<elseif $element is "salt" and $nebula is "luminous coelenterate">> "My name is Sueño Inmarcesible." <<elseif $element is "salt" and $nebula is "mouse skull">> "My name is Sueño Lóbrego." <<elseif $element is "salt" and $nebula is "specter">> "My name is Sueño Lunar." <<elseif $element is "salt" and $nebula is "whispering veil">> "My name is Sueño Sombrío." <<elseif $element is "ink" and $nebula is "dreamcatcher">> "My name is Rizoma Abracadabrante." <<elseif $element is "ink" and $nebula is "gravitational lullaby">> "My name is Rizoma Funambulista." <<elseif $element is "ink" and $nebula is "luminous coelenterate">> "My name is Rizoma Inmarcesible." <<elseif $element is "ink" and $nebula is "lmouse skull">> "My name is Rizoma Lóbrego." <<elseif $element is "ink" and $nebula is "specter">> "My name is Rizoma Lunar." <<elseif $element is "ink" and $nebula is "whispering veil">> "My name is Rizoma Sombrío." <<elseif $element is "grass" and $nebula is "dreamcatcher">> "My name is Embrujo Abracadabrante." <<elseif $element is "grass" and $nebula is "gravitational lullaby">> "My name is Embrujo Funambulista." <<elseif $element is "grass" and $nebula is "luminous coelenterate">> "My name is Embrujo Inmarcesible." <<elseif $element is "grass" and $nebula is "mouse skull">> "My name is Embrujo Lóbrego." <<elseif $element is "grass" and $nebula is "specter">> "My name is Embrujo Lunar." <<elseif $element is "grass" and $nebula is "whispering veil">> "My name is Embrujo Sombrío." <<elseif $element is "fire" and $nebula is "dreamcatcher">> "My name is Diciembre Abracadabrante." <<elseif $element is "fire" and $nebula is "gravitational lullaby">> "My name is Diciembre Funambulista." <<elseif $element is "fire" and $nebula is "luminous coelenterate">> "My name is Diciembre Inmarcesible." <<elseif $element is "fire" and $nebula is "mouse skull">> "My name is Diciembre Lóbrego." <<elseif $element is "fire" and $nebula is "specter">> "My name is Diciembre Lunar." <<elseif $element is "fire" and $nebula is "whispering veil">> "My name is Diciembre Sombrío." <<elseif $element is "blood" and $nebula is "dreamcatcher">> "My name is Ámbar Abracadabrante." <<elseif $element is "blood" and $nebula is "gravitational lullaby">> "My name is Ámbar Funambulista." <<elseif $element is "blood" and $nebula is "luminous coelenterate">> "My name is Ámbar Inmarcesible." <<elseif $element is "blood" and $nebula is "mouse skull">> "My name is Ámbar Lóbrego." <<elseif $element is "blood" and $nebula is "specter">> "My name is Ámbar Lunar." <<elseif $element is "blood" and $nebula is "whispering veil">> "My name is Ámbar Sombrío." <<else>> "My name is Nadie." <</if>> Do not ever forget about it. But if it ever comes to happen, come back home to us. We will name you again and again and every time it is necessary. Now go. Take care now, [[because it is night already ➡️|YourName]]// <</type>><</timed>>
There <<linkreplace "__is a voice__" t8n>>are many voices<</linkreplace>> calling for you. <<timed 2s>><<type 40ms>> //How you wished to be here. How you dreamed to be back in our arms, your arms. Detach from your <span class="blurry">new name</span> as you got rid of the one that once tethered you to this house. You have no name. [[You are free ➡️|Us]]//<</type>><</timed>>
<span class="ghost" style="color:#ff508a">Why did you keep that key if you didn’t want to come back?</span> You said it yourself years ago. Don’t you remember? Longing is a hell of a thing. You have to push hard to get the door to open a crack for you to pass. Countless pieces of <<link "paper🔑">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> A yellowish envelope. It has no return address. The recipient’s name is blurred. You wonder if maybe it was addressed to you. But you are afraid of finding out if the letter inside isn’t blurred as well. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> seem to push from the inside as if telling you to think twice, to stay outside, to remain ignorant of the name you’re looking for because printed <<link "words🔑">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> A nine-year-old issue of //Whimsical Magazine//. The cover shows a photograph of that exhibition you once loved so much. The pages are crusty and stiff, maybe they were sticked together by rain water or a flood. You wonder if this house has been underwater sometime during your absence. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> said it so. How many <<linkreplace "__months__" t8n>>years<</linkreplace>> of forgotten <<link "mail🔑">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> A postcard. The image is a watercolor of a dark forest, a place you’ve never been to. What looks like a figure among the trees looks directly at you, or so you think, that those ink blotches are eyes. Printed tackily over that somber image, the words “WISH YOU WERE…” The message, written in quick, trembling cursive, is illegible. The signature looks like a nest with broken eggs inside, a line hovers over it like a snake. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> lie gathered under the door? When did they stop delivering <<link "spam🔑">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> A leaflet with promotions of the store that never opened. Sun-faded images of useless things you so secretly desired long ago. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> because there was no more space for <<link "it🔑">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> A pink sheet of paper. It looks like it belongs in a stationary set. The margins are adorned with cartoon characters. It’s blank. @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>>? When will you stop nosing <<link "around🔑">> <<popover 'opaque' 'invert'>> An electricity bill. It was stepped on because it has the mark of a footprint. It looks familiar, it seems as if it was done by the same kind of shoes you wear, the same size even, but you are afraid to verify if your suspicions are correct. Was someone else here before you recently? @@.modalCloseButton;<<button "Close">><<dismisspopover>><</button>>@@ <</popover>> <</link>> and decide to [[enter for real ➡️|Naming]]?
Maybe it’s just you talking to yourself, telling yourself what you always wanted <<linkreplace "__to tell__" t8n>>''to type''<</linkreplace>>: <<typesim "I’m finally back home.">> <span class="blurry">The walls are covered in mirrors.</span> But if you keep on walking through the hallway, the infinity [[could end ➡️|Hallway]]<</typesim>>
<<set $title = ["I Gave You a Key and You Opened the Darkness", "I Gave You a Name and You Called the Darkness"]>> <<set $name = "">> <<set $nebula = "">> <<set $element = "">>