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<<audio "layer1" play>>
<div style="text-align: center">
<<nobr>><<silently>>
<<set $energy to 250>>
<<set $effort to 250>>
<<set $tiredness to 0>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<if $energy <= -20>><<replace #warning>>@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;keep swimming!@@<</replace>><<else>><<replace #warning>><</replace>><</if>><</repeat>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<set $energy to $energy - 8>>\
<<if $tiredness >= 30 && $tiredness <= 60>><<set $effort to 200>><<elseif $tiredness >= 60 && $tiredness <= 80>><<set $effort to 150>><<elseif $tiredness >= 80 && $tiredness <= 100>><<set $effort to 100>><<elseif $tiredness >= 100 && $tiredness <= 120>><<set $effort to 50>><<elseif $tiredness >= 120 && $tiredness <= 140>><<set $effort to 20>><<elseif $tiredness >= 140>><<set $effort to 10>><</if>>\
<</repeat>>
<</silently>><</nobr>><nobr>
<span id="thoughts">Keep pressing @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space@@ to keep swimming...
</span>
<<timed 5s t8n>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the more you press, the more you tire...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...pace yourself to swim for longer.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
As you swim...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...make choices by pressing @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;up@@ or @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;down@@ on your keyboard...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ up ▲@@">><<display "tut up">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ down ▼@@">><<display "tut down">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
</nobr>
<<repeat 50ms>><<replace #bar>><<print '<div id="square" style="width:' + $energy + 'px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>'>><</replace>><</repeat>>
<span id="warning"></span>
<span id="bar">-</span>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<set $energy to $effort>>\<<set $tiredness to $tiredness +1>><</click>></span>
<<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;click here to skip tutorial@@">><<goto "surface1">><</click>>
</div><<audio "layer1" stop>><<audio "salt" play unloop>>
<span id="title"></span>
<<timed 2s>><<replace "#title">><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">s a l t</div><</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#title">><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">s a l t</div><</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#title">><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">s a l t</div><</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#title">><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">s a l t</div><</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#title">><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">s a l t</div><</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#title">><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">s a l t</div><</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#title">><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 200%;">s a l t</div><</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#title">>
<</replace>><</timed>><div style="text-align: center"><span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 4s>><<replace "#thoughts">>@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;gareth damian martin@@
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;music by paws menu@@
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>><</timed>></div><div style="text-align: center">
<<timed 20s>><hr class="style1"><</timed>>
<<timed 48s>><div id="squaresurface" style="width:1px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<goto "swim2">><</click>></span><</timed>>
<<timed 22s>><<replace #title>><div style="text-align: center;">
The beach is a strip of heat.</div><</replace>><</timed>>
<<timed 26s>><<replace #title>><div style="text-align: center;">
</div><</replace>><</timed>>
<<timed 30s>><<replace #title>><div style="text-align: center;">
You stand knee deep in the water, facing out to sea.</div><</replace>><</timed>>
<<timed 34s>><<replace #title>><div style="text-align: center;">
</div><</replace>><</timed>>
<<timed 38s>><<replace #title>><div style="text-align: center;">
Familiar voices shimmer behind your head.</div><</replace>><</timed>>
<<timed 42s>><<replace #title>><div style="text-align: center;">
</div><</replace>><</timed>>
<<timed 46s>><<replace #title>><div style="text-align: center;">
You take a breath, and then begin.</div><</replace>><</timed>><div style="text-align: center">
@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;salt is best experienced with headphones and a keyboard.@@
<div id="square" style="width:1px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<goto "swim1">><</click>></span>
</div><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Good...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...if you stop, or become too tired, you'll surface...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and your thoughts are lost...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...try stopping now.
<<repeat 50ms>><<if $energy <= -10>><<goto "surface1">><</if>><</repeat>>
<</replace>><</timed>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Good...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...if you stop, or become too tired, you'll surface...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and your thoughts are lost...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...try stopping now.
<<repeat 50ms>><<if $energy <= -10>><<goto "surface1">><</if>><</repeat>>
<</replace>><</timed>><<audio "salt" stop>><<audio "layer1" play>>
<div style="text-align: center">
<<nobr>><<silently>>
<<set $energy to 250>>
<<set $effort to 250>>
<<set $tiredness to 0>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<if $energy <= -20>><<audio "sting" play>>\<<goto "surface2">><</if>><</repeat>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<set $energy to $energy - 8>>\
<<if $tiredness >= 30 && $tiredness <= 60>><<set $effort to 210>><<elseif $tiredness >= 60 && $tiredness <= 90>><<set $effort to 170>><<elseif $tiredness >= 90 && $tiredness <= 110>><<set $effort to 130>><<elseif $tiredness >= 110 && $tiredness <= 130>><<set $effort to 100>><<elseif $tiredness >= 130 && $tiredness <= 140>><<set $effort to 80>><<elseif $tiredness >= 140 && $tiredness <= 150>><<set $effort to 50>><<elseif $tiredness >= 150 && $tiredness <= 160>><<set $effort to 20>><<elseif $tiredness >= 160>><<set $effort to 10>><</if>>\
<</repeat>>
<</silently>><</nobr>><nobr>
<span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s t8n>><<replace "#thoughts">>Turquoise...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...impossibly turquoise...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and warm, like no sea you've known.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Though you haven't swum in months...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the action is automatic...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...a memory the body holds in suspension...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...waiting to submerge.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You drag yourself, with each stroke, further from...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...from what?
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>From the tepid pace of the sweltering beach.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>From the static, repeating arrangements of a tidy life.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The trailing ends of familiar thoughts come back to you...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...things left unfinished on the shore...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...you can @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;hold on to them@@ them, or @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;let them go@@.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ hold on ▲@@">><<display "holdon up">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ let go ▼@@">><<display "letgo down">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
</nobr>
<<repeat 50ms>><<replace #bar>><<print '<div id="square" style="width:' + $energy + 'px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>'>><</replace>><</repeat>>
<span id="bar">-</span>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<set $energy to $effort>>\<<set $tiredness to $tiredness +1>><</click>></span>
</div><<audio "layer2" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>A handful of questions...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the creeping sense of time passing...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...shrouded in senseless lists of things to be done.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
And then, something else, deep below...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...something you dare not touch.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
It has been a hard year.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>A year where, for the first time, you felt yourself disappearing.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Fading into the background hum of a thousand unfinished things.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Dissolving into your own life.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Before you entered the sea...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...you fixed your eyes on the other shore...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...across the turquoise gulf.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
An imagined target.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>There is a weight to the water...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and you surge against it...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...outrunning the trailing shore.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
The effort coheres you...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...pushes you down into some compact, muscular thing.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You push harder....
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...as if force alone...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...could strip dead weight...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and make a life livable.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>><</timed>><<audio "layer2" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>You let go.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You flex out your hands as you move them ahead of you...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and watch the ripples of golden light play across them...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the sun's blinding heat dulled by the water.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
It has been a hard year.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>A year where, for the first time, you felt yourself disappearing.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Fading into the background hum of a thousand unfinished things.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>But you are letting go of that...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...forcing open some cold vault to the warmth that surrounds you.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Before you entered the sea...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...from the edge of the beach...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...you caught the loose shape of the other shore...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...across the gulf.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
An imagined escape.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>On the beach were figures too...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...those you have left behind...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...they seem bright now, burnt out...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...as if the sea was dissolving their image...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...the details bleached bone white.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Faded faces.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Eaten away...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...by a chemical, burning white.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The white of salt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>><</timed>><<audio "layer1" stop>><<audio "layer2" stop>><<audio "layer3" stop>><<audio "crystal" play unloop>>
<div style="text-align: center"><span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Breathe.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You look back at the shore.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The low sun blinds you, turning the landscape to a ragged edge of black.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You try to pick out the figures of those you left behind on the beach...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...your vision flares white, and you turn away.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You face out to sea.
<</replace>><</timed>></div>
<div style="text-align: center">
<<timed 6s t8n>><hr class="style1"><</timed>>
<<timed 36s>><div id="squaresurface" style="width:1px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<goto "swim3">><</click>></span><</timed>>
</div>
<<audio "crystal" stop>><<audio "layer1" play>>
<div style="text-align: center">
<<nobr>><<silently>>
<<set $energy to 250>>
<<set $effort to 250>>
<<set $tiredness to 0>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<if $energy <= -20>><<audio "sting" play>>\<<goto "surface3">><</if>><</repeat>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<set $energy to $energy - 8>>\
<<if $tiredness >= 30 && $tiredness <= 60>><<set $effort to 210>><<elseif $tiredness >= 60 && $tiredness <= 90>><<set $effort to 170>><<elseif $tiredness >= 90 && $tiredness <= 110>><<set $effort to 130>><<elseif $tiredness >= 110 && $tiredness <= 130>><<set $effort to 100>><<elseif $tiredness >= 130 && $tiredness <= 140>><<set $effort to 80>><<elseif $tiredness >= 140 && $tiredness <= 160>><<set $effort to 50>><<elseif $tiredness >= 160 && $tiredness <= 170>><<set $effort to 20>><<elseif $tiredness >= 170>><<set $effort to 10>><</if>>\
<</repeat>>
<</silently>><</nobr>><nobr>
<span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s t8n>><<replace "#thoughts">>You are moving again...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...stretching out some painful joints...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...that spent the year compressed, cold, and closed.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>There are shadows in the turquoise...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the rounded backs of scattered rocks...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">> ...where grasses sway like smoke trails.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Tiny sand-colored fish flit through the caustic light...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...while larger shapes shimmer and fade behind.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You think about @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;watching@@ them from the surface or @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;diving@@, and swimming among them...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ watch ▲@@">><<display "watch up">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ dive ▼@@">><<display "dive down">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
</nobr>
<<repeat 50ms>><<replace #bar>><<print '<div id="square" style="width:' + $energy + 'px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>'>><</replace>><</repeat>>
<span id="bar">-</span>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<set $energy to $effort>>\<<set $tiredness to $tiredness +1>><</click>></span>
</div><<audio "layer1" stop>><<audio "layer2" stop>><<audio "layer3" stop>><<audio "crystal" play unloop>>
<div style="text-align: center"><span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Breathe.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>A soft wind touches your back.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The sun is slipping below the horizon.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The cold begins to rise with the waves...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and the water slowly turns blue and opaque.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Are they still waiting for you on the shore?
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You imagine their worried gaze...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...imprinting a mark in your back.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>A plane trail etches a soft white scar across your vision.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You face out to sea.
<</replace>><</timed>></div>
<div style="text-align: center">
<<timed 6s t8n>><hr class="style1"><</timed>>
<<timed 57s>><div id="squaresurface" style="width:1px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<goto "swim4">><</click>></span><</timed>>
</div>
<<audio "layer2" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>The glittering shapes of fish flow below you...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...in arrangments that cohere only from above.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>There is a beauty to this elevated viewpoint...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...a fantasy of maps and diagrams, sketched over with chaotic life.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Below the rocks grow bigger, reach deeper, become crazed with angular cracks...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The plan of something revealling itself...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...or just the senseless patterns of impact and time.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You squint through the water...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the salt fogging your vision.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>There are walls amongst the rocks...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...ruins ancient or modern...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...halls, houses, rooms...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...cathedrals in the silt...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...you imagine @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;diving@@ to them or @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;staying@@ above...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ stay ▲@@">><<display "stay up2">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ dive ▼@@">><<display "dive down2">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>><<audio "layer2" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>In your thoughts you dive down...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the sandy fish parting and reforming around your body...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...a granular storm of paper-thin scales and rippling fins.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
The larger shapes become clearer...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...ponderous bottom-feeders that suddenly dart away like loosed arrows...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...into the growing maze of angular rocks.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Those rocks...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...rise up around you, in sharp right angles...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...though softened by a fur of sea grass.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You see the walls amongst them...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...ruins ancient or modern.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Some are the size of houses, but others...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...loom like distant cathedrals in the silt...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...your mind wanders to thoughts of exploring their @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;streets@@ or searching for an @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;entrance@@...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ streets ▲@@">><<display "streets up2">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ entrance ▼@@">><<display "entrance down2">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>><<audio "layer3" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Your thoughts surge down, through clouds of fish...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and the cold surrounds you...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Salt fills your nostrils as the walls take form...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...you reach out to them...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...close enough now to see their complexity...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...carved with ornate forms that fill your vision.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>A doorway opens ahead...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...a dark aperture in the sand and water...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and out of that dark spool eels...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...glassy eyed and straggle-toothed...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...you panic as they whip past...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...cold flesh rippling against your trailing legs...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and then you are inside...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the rooms overgrown but recognisable...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...water thick with heavy silt and dead matter...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...salt-skinned furniture scuttled over by jointed limbs...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and through a sagging door...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...green with growing things...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...your childhood room...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...where you sit, and begin to play...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...at forgetting.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>><</timed>><<audio "layer3" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>You let them fade into the sand and silt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
The fish still flicker, but the light receeds...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and the cold rises up in twisting currents...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...to touch your feet.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You kick it off...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...strike out at it.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You know what lies below...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...because you brought it with you...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...into this blue and borderless place.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
The need to drown...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...to disappear...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and the means to do so.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Memories, fantasies, carefully cultivated...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and the belief that...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...some place or world you never truly knew...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...but which you touched...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...is lost.
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>><</timed>><<audio "layer3" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Your mind twists away between the walls...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...gliding between the carved and flowing forms...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>... of eroded sculptures and collapsed rooms.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
The cold drifts up out of the passageways like ink or oil...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...spiralling around your body...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and some dark, smooth, limbless shape...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...disappears around a corner.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...you give chase, rushing forward...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...through the closing cold...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...that grips you like a vice...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...desperate to uncover some beautiful unknown...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...rounding corner after corner...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...your vision a blur of decaying architecture...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...each room housing a world...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...of fronds and leaves and corals...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and those delicate creatures that attend them...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and each world promising wonder...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...that quickly fades...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...so you surge on...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...eyes near blind with salt...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...through dead streets...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...in a dying world.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>><</timed>><<audio "layer3" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Your thoughts flow into the shadows...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the cold seeping into your skin...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and a doorway catches your eye, dark against the dying light.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You surge towards it...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and out of its dark spool eels...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...glassy eyed and straggle-toothed...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...they curl away into the streets...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...like smooth, limbless, black cats..
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and you enter the house...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the rooms instantly recognisable...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...oddly clean in all that cloying sand...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and through an open door...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...into your childhood room...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...where you sit and begin to play...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...as time stretches out...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and jointed legs scuttle across your back...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...as the eels curl up around your ankles...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and you become green with growing things...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and the echoes of your life on land...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...fade and falter...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...as your eyes glaze over...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...with a white film...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...of acrid salt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>><</timed>>
<div style="text-align: center">
<div id="square" style="width:1px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to breathe@@">><<audio "sting" play>>\<<goto "salt1">><</click>></span>
</div><<audio "crystal" stop>><<audio "layer1" play>>
<div style="text-align: center">
<<nobr>><<silently>>
<<set $energy to 250>>
<<set $effort to 250>>
<<set $tiredness to 0>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<if $energy <= -20>><<audio "sting" play>>\<<goto "surface4">><</if>><</repeat>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<set $energy to $energy - 8>>\
<<if $tiredness >= 30 && $tiredness <= 60>><<set $effort to 210>><<elseif $tiredness >= 60 && $tiredness <= 90>><<set $effort to 170>><<elseif $tiredness >= 90 && $tiredness <= 110>><<set $effort to 130>><<elseif $tiredness >= 110 && $tiredness <= 130>><<set $effort to 100>><<elseif $tiredness >= 130 && $tiredness <= 140>><<set $effort to 80>><<elseif $tiredness >= 140 && $tiredness <= 160>><<set $effort to 50>><<elseif $tiredness >= 160 && $tiredness <= 170>><<set $effort to 20>><<elseif $tiredness >= 170>><<set $effort to 10>><</if>>\
<</repeat>>
<</silently>><</nobr>><nobr>
<span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s t8n>><<replace "#thoughts">>Something is slipping...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...a linkage broken between you and that shadowed shore.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You think of the figures that await your return.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You begin to believe it is possible to forget them...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and that the sea, the salt, makes it so.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You could @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;focus@@ on them, or just as easily, @@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;forget@@ them.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ focus ▲@@">><<display "focus up">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ forget ▼@@">><<display "forget down">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
</nobr>
<<repeat 50ms>><<replace #bar>><<print '<div id="square" style="width:' + $energy + 'px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>'>><</replace>><</repeat>>
<span id="bar">-</span>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<set $energy to $effort>>\<<set $tiredness to $tiredness +1>><</click>></span>
</div><<audio "layer3alt" volume 0 fadeoverto 10 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>You know the dangers of forgetting...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the dark formless things that move into the spaces left behind.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You refocus on the things that are close...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the rhythm of your strokes...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...the shape of your body in the water...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and things that are distant...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...the texture of skin which is not your own.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You always remember the physical things first...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...moments of contact, like an eyelash flicker against your cheek...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...or the muscular pressure of another living body...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>but they fade quickly after recall...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...like the resonant waves of struck metal...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...that grow dull by the second.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
What replaces them is more difficult.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Guilt and fear, and self-presevation...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...undercut by the returning patterns of life.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
It's cold now.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">> And you have forgotten why you came out here.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Were you just going to keep swimming?
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You are too far...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and yet you go on...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...a tiny shape receeding...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...in the eyes of the only ones who love you.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Stop now.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It's so cold.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Please stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Please.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You keep going because you can.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
The truth of it is obvious.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You don't want to be free...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...you don't know what you want...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...but is it there? Ahead?
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Like two bodies about to touch?
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>><<audio "layer3alt" volume 0 fadeoverto 10 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>It's so easy at first...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...a weight lifting from your shoulders...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...you flex more, pull forward faster...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and you reach out further than before...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...touching the edges of the turquoise...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...nerves igniting like struck matches.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You glance it first at a distance...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...a dark shape hovering in the blue...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and it is blue now...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the turquoise sapped away by the slow cold...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It turns as you approach...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...sending a chill down your spine...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...its soft fins realigning it in the water with ease.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
This is its sea.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>A sea it watches with the open eyes of the dead...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...with glassy stillness, and cold blood.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
As you come closer its dead eyes glimmer with a gelatine softness...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>..and its body holds steady in the current.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Don't go closer.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Please stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Please.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You approach.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You have never seen anything like it...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...this creature so distinct from the pictures, the diagrams...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...that in its presence, you cannot identify it.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It has a life you cannot touch.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Of not knowing.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Of oceans to slice through.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Of voids to dive deep within.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>All the wonders we will never approach.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
In the last metres you panic.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Fuck.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Fuck this.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Get out.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Jesus fucking christ.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Fuck. Stop.
<</replace>>\
<</timed>><<audio "layer1" stop>><<audio "layer2" stop>><<audio "layer3alt" stop>><<audio "crystal" play unloop>>
<div style="text-align: center"><span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Breathe.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The sun has gone...
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and the waves grow.
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The sky is a gradient from peach to powder blue.
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Across the swell of the sea you catch...
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...the first lights of the other shore flickering on.
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You remember reading stories...
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...of a local tradition of swimming this gulf.
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The idea settles somewhere in your head.
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You look back to the beach, a strip of blue shadow.
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
They must be cold, waiting there for you...
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...or perhaps they have already forgotten...
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...absorbed in some activity in the sand.
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You face out to the darkening sea, and realise you have a choice.
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ turn back ▲@@">><<display "turn back1">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ go on ▼@@">><<display "go on1">><</linkappend>></span>
<hr class="style1"><</replace>><</timed>>
</div><<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>><<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">><div style="text-align: center;">You fix your eyes on the distant shore.
</div>
<hr class="style1">
<<timed 3s>><div id="squaresurface" style="width:1px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<goto "swim5">><</click>></span>
<</timed>><</replace>>\<</timed>>
<<replace "#thoughts">>
<hr class="style1">
<</replace>><<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">><div style="text-align: center;">You turn back to face the beach.
</div>
<hr class="style1">
<<timed 3s>><div id="squaresurface" style="width:1px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<goto "swimback">><</click>></span>
<</timed>><</replace>>\<</timed>><<audio "crystal" stop>><<audio "layer1" play>>
<div style="text-align: center">
<<nobr>><<silently>>
<<set $energy to 250>>
<<set $effort to 210>>
<<set $tiredness to 30>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<if $energy <= -20>><<goto "drown">><</if>><</repeat>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<set $energy to $energy - 8>>\
<<if $tiredness >= 30 && $tiredness <= 60>><<set $effort to 210>><<elseif $tiredness >= 60 && $tiredness <= 90>><<set $effort to 170>><<elseif $tiredness >= 90 && $tiredness <= 110>><<set $effort to 130>><<elseif $tiredness >= 110 && $tiredness <= 130>><<set $effort to 100>><<elseif $tiredness >= 130 && $tiredness <= 140>><<set $effort to 80>><<elseif $tiredness >= 140 && $tiredness <= 160>><<set $effort to 50>><<elseif $tiredness >= 160 && $tiredness <= 170>><<set $effort to 20>><<elseif $tiredness >= 170>><<set $effort to 10>><</if>>\
<</repeat>>
<</silently>><</nobr>><nobr>
<span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s t8n>><<replace "#thoughts">>The cold is fading...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and something else grows in its shadow.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The waves make swimming hard...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...rippling through your body like kicks and punches.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The sea is a muscle.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ fight ▲@@">><<display "fight">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ fight ▼@@">><<display "fight">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
</nobr>
<<repeat 50ms>><<replace #bar>><<print '<div id="square" style="width:' + $energy + 'px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>'>><</replace>><</repeat>>
<span id="bar">-</span>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<set $energy to $effort>>\<<set $tiredness to $tiredness +1>><</click>></span>
</div><<audio "crystal" stop>><<audio "layer1" play>>
<div style="text-align: center">
<<nobr>><<silently>>
<<set $energy to 250>>
<<set $effort to 250>>
<<set $tiredness to 0>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<set $energy to $energy - 8>>\
<<if $tiredness >= 30 && $tiredness <= 60>><<set $effort to 210>><<elseif $tiredness >= 60 && $tiredness <= 90>><<set $effort to 170>><<elseif $tiredness >= 90 && $tiredness <= 110>><<set $effort to 130>><<elseif $tiredness >= 110 && $tiredness <= 130>><<set $effort to 100>><<elseif $tiredness >= 130 && $tiredness <= 140>><<set $effort to 80>><<elseif $tiredness >= 140 && $tiredness <= 160>><<set $effort to 50>><<elseif $tiredness >= 160 && $tiredness <= 170>><<set $effort to 20>><<elseif $tiredness >= 170>><<set $effort to 10>><</if>>\
<</repeat>>
<</silently>><</nobr>><nobr>
<span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s t8n>><<replace "#thoughts">>You begin to swim back.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It feels different, heavy and slow...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...a sense of being dragged down...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...the knowledge that you are crossing old, familiar waters.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Out behind you, the water leads away...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...to living depths of incredible beauty.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You dream a little of being among them...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...of descending into seas seen only in encyclopedias...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...those ancient Devonian or Cambrian oceans.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Times of plated fish, vast, impossible, mythic...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...gliding over tendrils of bizarre flora.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>All that is gone now. Their last living traces in places you will never go.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><<audio "layer2" volume 0 fadeoverto 10 1>>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>There is something white.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Something white in the water.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Like an anatomical sketch.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It looks like an impossible corpse...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...a fish turned inside out.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It flows with the current.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You swim closer, puzzled by its form...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...desperately seeking some understanding...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...but nothing comes...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and it passes in the waves.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You realise how cold you are.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Cold and stupid.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Little more than a child, out here chasing ancient fish.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<<audio "layer1" volume 1 fadeoverto 50 0>><<audio "layer2" volume 1 fadeoverto 50 0>>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Something begins to rise inside you.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Something like a pain.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>But soft, changing, malleable.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You let it flow out.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
In crystal clouds like salt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You breathe it out.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
All of it.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Stop trying.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Stop chasing.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Stop swimming.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Breathe it all out.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Let the sea have its salt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Let the fucking ancient fish have it.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Let go.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Let go of it all.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Breathe.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><<goto "breathe2">>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
</nobr>
<<repeat 50ms>><<replace #bar>><<print '<div id="square" style="width:' + $energy + 'px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>'>><</replace>><</repeat>>
<span id="bar">-</span>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<set $energy to $effort>>\<<set $tiredness to $tiredness +1>><</click>></span>
</div><<audio "layer2" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>You kick hard and taste salt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Again.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Again.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Stop thinking so hard and do it.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ fight ▲@@">><<display "fight2">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ fight ▼@@">><<display "fight2">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
<div style="text-align: center"><span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>You breathe.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You emerge in the warm shallows.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The water is flat, pearly, around your waist.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You walk out of the sea.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The cold of the night meets you.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
It refreshes you.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The last light is fading from the purple sky.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You feel the wind at your back. Even through the salt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>That sticky layer that remains after every swim.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You will wash it off in the warmth of the shower.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You know that may not rinse it.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It is in your bones now.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Some figures come down the path...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...through the chirping forest.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The crickets are starting up their dusk songs...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and you walk into the waves of sound...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...towards the descending crowd...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...looking for the faces you know.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<<audio "crystal" fadeout>>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<<goto "surface1">>
<</replace>><</timed>></div>
<<timed 6s t8n>><hr class="style1"><</timed>><<audio "drone" stop>>
<div style="text-align: center"><span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>You breathe.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You emerge on the other shore.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The lights have been turned off, or were never there.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Only the dark mass of the forest canopy greets you.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You walk out of the sea.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It is cold...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...but you cannot feel it.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>The dead eye of the moon rises.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You feel its light on your back. Even through the salt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>There is no running water, no stream, no tap...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...nowhere to wash this crust from your skin.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>But even if there was...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...somehow you know it would not be enough to rinse the salt.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>It is in your bones now.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>A faint whisper of human speech drifts through the trees...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...then it is silenced.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You step off the sharp sand onto still warm rock...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and set off into the ancient forest.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>With eyes of purest white.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<<audio "crystal" fadeout>>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<<goto "surface1">>
<</replace>><</timed>></div>
<<timed 6s t8n>><hr class="style1"><</timed>>
<<audio "layer1" stop>><<audio "layer2" stop>><<audio "layer3" stop>><<audio "layer3alt" stop>><div style="text-align: center"><<audio "drone" volume 0 fadeoverto 100 1 loop>>
<<nobr>><<silently>>
<<set $energy to 250>>
<<set $effort to 250>>
<<set $tiredness to 0>>
<<repeat 50ms>><<set $energy to $energy - 8>>\
<<if $tiredness >= 30 && $tiredness <= 60>><<set $effort to 210>><<elseif $tiredness >= 60 && $tiredness <= 90>><<set $effort to 170>><<elseif $tiredness >= 90 && $tiredness <= 110>><<set $effort to 130>><<elseif $tiredness >= 110 && $tiredness <= 130>><<set $effort to 100>><<elseif $tiredness >= 130 && $tiredness <= 140>><<set $effort to 80>><<elseif $tiredness >= 140 && $tiredness <= 160>><<set $effort to 50>><<elseif $tiredness >= 160 && $tiredness <= 170>><<set $effort to 20>><<elseif $tiredness >= 170>><<set $effort to 10>><</if>>\
<</repeat>>
<</silently>><</nobr>><nobr>
<span id="thoughts">
</span>
<<timed 4s t8n>><<replace "#thoughts">>A burst of energy comes back to you...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...fills your limbs with its glow...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...you keep the pace.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Those glittering lights of the distant shore are now brighter...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...shimmering there like headlights...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...beaming into this new dark.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>New dark.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Where did it come from?
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...you glance around at it, away from the lights.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...but it remains closed, lightless and dead.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>A sudden salt sting.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Your eyes white.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Whitening.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
And the shapes gather...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...to pick it away.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
God stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Make them stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Stop.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You can stop now.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You can stop swimming.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Stop and drift down.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>To be among the shapes, touched by their gossamer fins...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Carried on currents like a returning king.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Pieces of you flake away as the coral crown is laid...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...atop your pale and glossy head.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>They will take your eyes away...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...to be ground up by pharyngeal teeth...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...and distributed among the black sand.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Your hair will spiral in the warm updraft of hydrothermal vents...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...while in the coldest deep a palace is made of your bones.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You will be more beautiful than you could have ever been...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...though no eye will ever see you.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Salt will be your bed.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Salt will be your witness.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Salt will be your lover.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Salt will be your child.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Breathe it in.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><<goto "breathe">>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
</nobr>
<<repeat 50ms>><<replace #bar>><<print '<div id="square" style="width:' + $energy + 'px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>'>><</replace>><</repeat>>
<span id="bar">-</span>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to swim@@">><<set $energy to $effort>>\<<set $tiredness to $tiredness +1>><</click>></span>
</div>
<<replace "#thoughts">>
<<audio "layer3" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1>>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Where are you going?
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
What are you imagining will happen now?
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>You are already tiring.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
You are already done.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ fight ▲@@">><<display "fight3">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ fight ▼@@">><<display "fight3">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>><<audio "layer3alt" volume 0 fadeoverto 5 1.5>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Salt fills your eyes.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Salt fills your mouth.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>Let it in.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
Breathe.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ give up ▲@@">><<goto "drown">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ fight ▼@@">><<display "fight4">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>><<replace "#thoughts">>
<</replace>>
<<timed 3s>><<replace "#thoughts">>Below your feet leviathans surge...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...curling down into the blackest waters...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>...as a dog curls up at the fire...
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">>
...and sinks into a fevered sleep.
<</replace>>\
<<next>><<replace "#thoughts">><span id="upAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▲ give up ▲@@">><<goto "drown">><</linkappend>></span>
<span id="downAct"><<linkappend "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;▼ give up ▼@@">><<goto "drown">><</linkappend>></span>
<</replace>>\
<</timed>>
<div style="text-align: center">
<div id="square" style="width:1px; height=20px; display: inline-block;"></div>
<span id="spaceAct"><<click "@@font-family: 'Alegreya Sans SC', sans-serif;space to breathe@@">><<audio "sting" play>>\<<goto "salt4">><</click>></span>
</div><<cacheaudio "breath" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/Breathshort.wav">>
<<cacheaudio "layer1" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/Layer1.wav">>
<<cacheaudio "layer2" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/Layer2.wav">>
<<cacheaudio "layer3" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/Layer3.wav">>
<<cacheaudio "salt" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/SurfaceSalt.wav">>
<<cacheaudio "crystal" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/Crystal.wav">>
<<cacheaudio "sting" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/sting2.wav">><<cacheaudio "layer3alt" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/Layer3alt.wav">>
<<cacheaudio "drone" "http://www.jumpovertheage.com/Salt/Drone.wav">>