How to Build a Dragon at the End of Time

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You wake up in the Cave at the End of Time. The air is stale and heavy, like your mind. Shadows sway against the wall, replaying scenes from the course of galactic history. Space itself reverberates with rhythmic chanting in some unknown language, a music felt as much as heard. “Build a dragon,” says a voice. “Build a dragon and escape.” You whip around but see no one. Behind you is the yawning mouth of the cave, through which you see a few stars, the last glowing embers in a dying universe. Go to the [[cave mouth|Cave Mouth]]. <<set $dragon to {iron: false, gold: false, bamboo: false, seeds: false, tentacles: false, fins: false, rockets: false, crystals: false, feathers: false, bones: false}>>

You step out of the cave and find yourself on a stone ledge thrusting into the void, illuminated by a soft milky light that comes from everywhere and nowhere. The ledge is about a hundred paces across in each direction. You see: <<checkbox "$dragon['iron']" false true unchecked>> A small [[lump of iron|Iron]]. <<checkbox "$dragon['rockets']" false true unchecked>> A giant pair of [[rocket engines|Rocket Engines]]. <<checkbox "$dragon['bamboo']" false true unchecked>> A bundle of [[bamboo poles|Bamboo]]. <<checkbox "$dragon['feathers']" false true unchecked>> A nest made of [[feathers|Feathers]]. <<checkbox "$dragon['bones']" false true unchecked>> A pile of [[ancient bones|Bones]], fossilized. <<checkbox "$dragon['seeds']" false true unchecked>> A pan of [[maple seeds|Maple Seeds]]. <<checkbox "$dragon['tentacles']" false true unchecked>> A tank of [[tentacles|Tentacles]]. <<checkbox "$dragon['crystals']" false true unchecked>> A box of [[crystals|Crystals]] glowing red. <<checkbox "$dragon['gold']" false true unchecked>> A [[golden pendulum|Gold]]. <<checkbox "$dragon['fins']" false true unchecked>> A tub filled with triangular [[fins|Fins]]. Have you picked all the materials you wanted for your dragon? [[Assemble and launch|Launch]] your dragon.

<img src="metal_iron.jpg" alt="Metallum: iron" /> The heartache of dying stars and the foundation of civilization. Good for swords as well as plowshares. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="fire_rockets.jpg" alt="Ignis: rocket engines" /> The conical shape evokes the pyramids as well as the space gates of Sirius A. These are mismatched, one chemical, the other atomic. Going forward requires pushing back. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="wood_bamboo.jpg" alt="Lignum: bamboo" /> You can see these grasses grow with the naked eye, as they can gain a meter of height every twenty-four hours. The great philosopher Wang Yangming stared at them for seven days and seven nights and failed to discern their infinitesimal Pattern, but discovered Infinity. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="earth_feathers.jpg" alt="Terra: feathers" /> Penguins, //Gastornis giganteus//, //Archaeopteryx//, meadowlarks, turkeys, siskins, en-en-tomi, ƃuᴉɹnʇ hummingbirds (type B, the kind with reverse-nanoengineered barbs) … the nest contains feathers from them all. Likely excavated from some ancient museum near the Galactic Center. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="earth_bones.jpg" alt="Terra: Bones" /> The qaishou of Nüwa IV, dinosaurs, //Hallucigenia hongmeia//, glyptodonts, horses, whales, shark jaws … it would be conceivable to engineer any creature you wished from the parts bin of evolution, a skeletal atlas encompassing dead ends, thoroughfares, cul-de-sacs, stacked interchanges, and wormholes. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="wood_seeds.jpg" alt="Lignum: seeds" /> Whirlybirds of incomparable grace and beauty. A most impractical way to fly, but reinvented on countless worlds. Samara of samsara. It’s the fall that generates the force to uplift. Spin, twirl, gyrate. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="water_tentacles.jpg" alt="Aqua: tentacles" /> Serpent, hydra, trunk, hose. A knotty maze of grasping fluidity. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="fire_crystals.jpg" alt="Ignis: Crystals" /> The regularity of structure gives them strength. The inner glow shifts from crimson to periwinkle. An undying flame. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="metal_gold.jpg" alt="Metallum: gold" /> The alchemists of old were right. It //is// possible to turn base material into gold, but it requires a forge of colliding neutron stars. In this late era of the universe, no more chrysopoeia is conducted by magicians, mortal or divine. The pendulum swings from belief to disbelief, ever doubting. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

<img src="water_fins.jpg" alt="Aqua: fins" /> Slimy, slithery fins that do swimble and pathove. Wings for a heavier medium. [[Go back|Cave Mouth]]

//Build a dragon. Build a dragon and escape.// You collect the materials and begin to forge, stoke, bind, sculpt, corral. You call upon the wisdom of billions of years of civilization to construct the creature that will take you away from the end of time, from the cessation of space. What doesn't go into the dragon becomes the habitat, the setting, the domain. Will you soar from this Serbonian bog, where armies whole have sunk? The dragon is finished. You climb aboard. <<nobr>>\ <<set $won to false>> <<script>> var dragon = variables().dragon; if ( (dragon['iron'] == true || dragon['gold'] == true) && !(dragon['iron'] == true && dragon['gold'] == true) && (dragon['crystals'] == true || dragon['rockets'] == true) && !(dragon['crystals'] == true && dragon['rockets'] == true) && (dragon['bamboo'] == true || dragon['seeds'] == true) && !(dragon['bamboo'] == true && dragon['seeds'] == true) && (dragon['feathers'] == true || dragon['bones'] == true) && !(dragon['feathers'] == true && dragon['bones'] == true) && (dragon['tentacles'] == true || dragon['fins'] == true) && !(dragon['tentacles'] == true && dragon['fins'] == true) ) { variables().won = true; } <</script>> <</nobr>>\ !!!The Dragon <<if $dragon['iron'] eq true and $dragon['gold'] neq true>>\ The iron skeleton flexes with the strength of thousand-hammered steel. <<elseif $dragon['iron'] neq true and $dragon['gold'] eq true>>\ The golden eyes glow with the determination of incorruptible will. <<elseif $dragon['iron'] eq true and $dragon['gold'] eq true>>\ The skeleton buckles and screeches. The iron is too hard, the gold too soft. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ <<if $dragon['crystals'] eq true and $dragon['rockets'] neq true>>\ The crystal scales shimmer with bursts of energizing plasma. <<elseif $dragon['crystals'] neq true and $dragon['rockets'] eq true>>\ The rocket engines mounted in the belly spew forth a million stars. <<elseif $dragon['crystals'] eq true and $dragon['rockets'] eq true>>\ The crystals shatter inside the atria and ventricles of the rocket-hearts, destroying them with a horrific din. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ <<if $dragon['bamboo'] eq true and $dragon['seeds'] neq true>>\ The bamboo poles form a delicate gimbaled cockpit, securing you against the violent thrust. <<elseif $dragon['bamboo'] neq true and $dragon['seeds'] eq true>>\ The twirling maple seeds stir the void, cushioning you in a cockpit of dynamic aether. <<elseif $dragon['bamboo'] eq true and $dragon['seeds'] eq true>>\ The bamboo cockpit is buried in a cascade of fluttering maple keys. You can’t see a thing through this profusion of vegetation. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ <<if $dragon['feathers'] eq true and $dragon['bones'] neq true>>\ The feathered wings strive against the turbulence, uplifting the dragon from dross earth. <<elseif $dragon['feathers'] neq true and $dragon['bones'] eq true>>\ Legs of ancient stone bones pound against the hard ledge, launching the dragon from the platform. <<elseif $dragon['feathers'] eq true and $dragon['bones'] eq true>>\ The feathered wings are tangled in the bone legs. Too many limbs to coordinate. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ <<if $dragon['tentacles'] eq true and $dragon['fins'] neq true>>\ The tentacles at the head uncurl and curl in a thousand directions, homing in on the one path out of the chaos maze. <<elseif $dragon['tentacles'] neq true and $dragon['fins'] eq true>>\ The fins at the tail slice and sway, mutely finding a way through the abyss of the cosmos. <<elseif $dragon['tentacles'] eq true and $dragon['fins'] eq true>>\ The tentacles at the head of the dragon war against the fins at the tail, an ancient enmity barely remembered is re-enacted at the edge of eternity. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ !!!The Cosmos <<if $dragon['iron'] neq true and $dragon['gold'] eq true>>\ Two parallel iron rails stretch into infinity, a launch platform for achieving hyperbolic orbit. <<elseif $dragon['iron'] eq true and $dragon['gold'] neq true>>\ Golden sparkles dance across the platform, a mirror of defiance against the dying of the light. <<elseif $dragon['iron'] neq true and $dragon['gold'] neq true>>\ Rivers of gold flow across gashes in red-hot iron, neither willing to abide the other. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ <<if $dragon['crystals'] neq true and $dragon['rockets'] eq true>>\ A field of crystals vibrate in sympathy with one another, the energy building and building until the music of the spheres is once again heard in the night. <<elseif $dragon['crystals'] eq true and $dragon['rockets'] neq true>>\ The rockets are mounted on either side of the cave mouth, belching forth the superheated river upon which the dragon will glide. <<elseif $dragon['crystals'] neq true and $dragon['rockets'] neq true>>\ The abandoned rocket engines howl with rage and disappointment, their images multiplied a thousandfold in endless reflective mountain ranges of glowing crystals. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ <<if $dragon['bamboo'] neq true and $dragon['seeds'] eq true>>\ A bamboo groove sprouts in the void, swaying and singing in harmony like an organ with ten thousand pipes. <<elseif $dragon['bamboo'] eq true and $dragon['seeds'] neq true>>\ Maple seeds pirouette and gyrate across the sky, apsaras of a new age. <<elseif $dragon['bamboo'] neq true and $dragon['seeds'] neq true>>\ An artificial jungle springs to life in the emptiness. Bamboo stalks vie with maple saplings for light and water, and both get neither. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ <<if $dragon['feathers'] neq true and $dragon['bones'] eq true>>\ Feathers gather into the shape of a phoenix, heralding the rebirth of the cosmos. <<elseif $dragon['feathers'] eq true and $dragon['bones'] neq true>>\ The dead bones reassemble and creep, swarm, amble, leap. Life reanimates in anticipation of a new dawn. <<elseif $dragon['feathers'] neq true and $dragon['bones'] neq true>>\ The forgotten bones try to clothe themselves in discarded feathers, leading to monstrosities that could neither walk nor fly. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ <<if $dragon['tentacles'] neq true and $dragon['fins'] eq true>>\ The tentacles sort themselves into a map of time and space. <<elseif $dragon['tentacles'] eq true and $dragon['fins'] neq true>>\ Triangular fins stand erect below, sails of a new fleet launched for the face of singularity’s beauty. <<elseif $dragon['tentacles'] neq true and $dragon['fins'] neq true>>\ Tentacles and fins drown in their own slime. The universe will end in neither ice nor fire, but in a dish fit for the Great Old Ones. <<else>>\ ... <</if>>\ !!!The Conclusion <<if $won eq true>>\ The dragon soars toward the intensifying light, a new Word, a new Flux, a new Turn of the Wheel. You cling to the dragon, a consciousness at one with the universe. //You've done it.// <<else>>\ You have failed. Correspondence. Balance. Symmetry. What's in the dragon is also not in the dragon. Would you like to [[try again|Cave Mouth]]? <</if>>

You wake up in the Cave at the End of Time. The air is stale and heavy, like your mind. Shadows sway against the wall, replaying scenes from the course of galactic history. Space itself reverberates with rhythmic chanting in some unknown language, a music felt as much as heard.

“Build a dragon,” says a voice. “Build a dragon and escape.”

You whip around but see no one. Behind you is the yawning mouth of the cave, through which you see a few stars, the last glowing embers in a dying universe.

Go to the cave mouth.