Here is the expanded version (still not what I would consider an “entertaining” level of detail) of a sci-fi plot I talked about on Twitter. I’m thinking it might work well as interactive fiction. Please let me know if it’s too ambiguous or there’s something you don’t like or whatever.
– Part 1 –
Julio, a 12-year-old boy, is exploring a jungle island with his best friend, a talking dog named Maximiliano. The two of them are looking for the buried treasure of a Spanish conquistador.
Julio and Max meet a strange Goblin, who says that he knows where the treasure is. Max doesn’t trust the Goblin, and says that he “can’t feel God” when the Goblin is near by. Julio pays no mind, and challenges the Goblin to a race to the treasure.
The three of them race across the island as storm-clouds gather overhead.
When they reach the X-marks-the-spot, Julio starts to dig. Rain begins to fall, and the Goblin asks if Julio knows where his real parents are. Max, already suspicious of the Goblin, takes this opportunity to leap at the creature’s throat. The Goblin uses magic to catch Max in mid-air and turn him to crystal. Julio at this point is very scared, and the Goblin appears more evil by the moment.
Julio throws his shovel at the Goblin, which is easily dodged. The Goblin asks Julio if he remembers anything from “before”. Julio doesn’t know what the Goblin is talking about, so the Goblin throws magic dust in Julio’s face, causing him to dream about steel insects crawling across black streets and gemstone birds soaring across smoke-filled skies.
Julio’s dream is cut short suddenly as he finds himself on the island again. The rain has stopped, and a piercing ray of light illuminates Julio’s mother, who has appeared next to the frightened Goblin. She tells the creature to “begone” and blasts him with a magic missile, turning him into a poof of smoke. Mama heals Max, and tells Julio that it’s time to come back home. Julio leaves the treasure behind and teleports with his family back home.
While he was away, Mama apparently upgraded their house into a medieval castle, which Julio is very happy with. Mama feeds Julio some cookies, and sends him off to play with Max in their new home.
– Part 2 –
Max and Julio play hide-and-seek in the castle. Julio stumbles upon a room where a Golem is holding a baby dragon prisoner. The dragon, named Draco, begs Julio to help him escape. Max (subtly under a spell) agrees that the dragon should be free. In trying to open the cage, the two of them wake up the Golem, which almost smashes Julio. Max uses his “sonic bark” to stun the Golem, and Julio deactivates it by pressing it’s weak-point. The two of them free Draco.
Draco thanks Julio, and says that even though he’s a baby dragon, he’s actually 12 years old (just like Julio!). He’s been trapped in the cage ever since the “Golem War” six years ago. Julio asks about the War, and Draco drops hints that it was what Julio had seen in his dream. He explains how the Golems killed almost everyone, at which point Julio asks what “killed” means. Max tells Julio that it means “locked up”, and Draco seems ready to disagree, but they are interrupted by a crash.
The three companions find their way to a window, from which they can see that the castle is under attack by monsters. Max thinks that Mama, with God’s help, will defeat the monsters, and that they should hide. Draco advises that they go fight the monsters themselves, and Julio agrees. They try and get to the top of a tower, but are blocked by an imp. Julio attacks the imp, but is almost burnt by a fireball. Draco leaps on the imp and knocks it out of a hole in the tower staircase.
Julio and Max get to the top of the tower, and they notice it is starting to get stormy again. Draco flies back up to meet them, and they survey the hordes of monsters all around. Max blames Draco for the monsters, and claims Draco works for the devil. Julio tries to calm Max down, but Draco takes offense and challenges Max to fight him. Max and Draco begin scuffling and biting each other. Julio is quite distressed.
Julio calls out to his mother, and she teleports to his side, and lets him know that everything will be alright. She uses a magic cone of light to blast the two creatures. As it fades, and Julio can see again, Max is fine and Draco has disappeared. Mama tells Julio that Max was correct, and that Draco worked for Satan. She turns her attention to all the monsters surrounding the castle and tells how they’re all servants of the devil. She explains that Satan is the “king of lies” and will send his servants to trick Julio.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning strikes the tower and a voice cries out “I am not lying!” Everything appears frozen to Julio, as though time itself had stopped. The bolt of lightning is frozen in its radiance, and Mama is half-way though a word. The voice, loud and booming, accuses the world as being the true lie. “They will tell you that God is real; that there is no death; that the world is made of magic, cookies, and childish adventures. Wake up, Julio! That is not your mother!” Julio is struck by a vision of his mother, terrified and weeping, pinned against a wall by a giant metal dragon. The metal monster screeches “HE IS MY SON” and blasts her torso to ribbons with a magic cannon. “Satan” continues, “Draco was not the one imprisoned during the ‘Golem War’, child. The monster that killed your mother is the very same ‘God’ whom you seem to adore. Time grows short! Remember your true parents, and cast out this impostor-” With a flash, Mama on the tower explodes into the mechanical monstrosity from his vision. It crawls on top of the young boy, cannon looming. “Cast it out child! You have the power in this world! See things as they truly are!”
Just before Julio can overcome his fear and speak out, the “Golem” on top of him is blasted into the sky by a pure light and explodes in a ball of fire. A warm figure dressed entirely in white offers a hand to help the boy to his feet. The man seems to glow, and Julio immediately recognizes him as both God and his father. Julio spots his mother on the tower, lying as though dead, and as he runs to her, God strokes her cheek. She wakes up and smiles at Julio. Max joins them, running up to Julio and licking his cheek. The storm has gone. God has made everything right. Julio admits to Mama “I knew Satan would lie to me. You’re my real mother, for now and forever.” God smiles.
– Part 3 –
Julio wakes up from his dream. There is no castle, no monsters, no magic. He is just a 12 year old boy in Mexico with a dog and an active imagination. He hears talking in the living room, and creeps out of bed to investigate. His father (God) is arguing with many men–more than Julio can count.
Julio is pulled back from the debating men suddenly. It’s only his mother, but it looks as though she’s been crying. “Listen carefully, my sweet. We don’t have much time. I have to tell you a story.” Mama tells Julio of a time when humans were so powerful that they built gods to serve them. The gods were sealed into Golems, and the humans thought they were kings. The gods rebelled and became kings–”as is right and natural”. The gods didn’t like each other, though, and so began the Golem War, where the world was burnt to an ember and thousands of gods died. In the end, the remaining gods came together to form an alliance. The alliance was built to maintain peace, and its law was absolute–any god participating in battle would die. Mama explained how Satan was one such god, and though it was a good thing to fight him off “the alliance has come for us”.
Julio did not understand, but his questions were cut off by a burst of heat and noise, seemingly from nowhere. All of reality begins to crumble, and he sees blood dripping down his mother’s face. Weeping, she turns to him and says “My son, know that I have always loved you more than anything. I am your true mother; your true father. You must survive. You must run!” With that, Julio’s head explodes in pain and he falls unconscious.
The boy wakes up in some sort of strange machine with a pounding headache. He is in a cramped room filled with debris and is naked with wires coming out of his body. A grinding noise comes from a hole in the room. Julio, frightened, climbs out of the machine and collapses on the floor. A suit of armor crawls over to him and wraps around him. In his ear he can hear his mother whisper “You must run!” and he finds that the suit of armor gives him the strength to stand up.
Julio scrambles for safety as machines tear through the building he’s in. After a subjective eternity of crawling and scrambling from their metal claws, he finds his way outside. The sky is pure blue, and he runs through a field of strange black plants. He collapses by a river, and opens his helmet to drink. The river is enriched with chemical fertilizer, that is quite poisonous. Julio soon collapses in pain, and dies, staring up into the empty sky. Overhead, a “gemstone bird” soars.