This is Nibble. Nibble is on a quest to find a breakfast. Will you help her?

  > Yes.

  Excellent! Nibble is ready to begin her quest. She shimmies out of her hiding place and steps adventurously into the sunlight. She looks around. To the right, there is the Garden. To the left, there is the City. She is moderately hungry. What should she do?

  > Go to the City.

  Nibble creeps into the City Realm, under the shadows of the tall steel buildings. Eventually, she makes it to a busy street. Peeking around the corner of a building, she sees an endless line of people walking across the street. On the roof far above, a mechangel is perched.

  > Examine the people.

  Nibble dutifully examines the people. They are humans, just like her, and each of them is wearing a grey business suit. They file into the building across the street in an endless, silent line.

  > Ask one of the people where the food is.

  Nibble walks up next to one of the people and questions where she can find a breakfast. The person stares at her for a moment before pointing to a box across the street. Nibble goes to the box, which is covered in strange symbols. Through the transparent plastic, she can see what appears to be food. As she watches it, a man walks in front of the box and puts a metal token into it. A moment later, one of the pieces of food falls out of the machine.

  > Pay the vending machine. Obtain the food.

  Nibble doesn’t have any money. She cannot pay the vending machine.

  > Check inventory. What do you have?

  Nibble looks through her pockets. She has a pebble, an old mitten, and several small bones, all picked clean.

  > Change tactics. Shake the machine until the food comes out.

  Nibble begins attacking the machine. Her tiny fists beat against the transparent plastic, but the food doesn’t budge.

  Suddenly, she hears the grinding sound of heavy machinery behind her. The mechangel has landed. “IS THERE A PROBLEM, CITIZEN?” it screeches.

  > Request that the mechangel gives you food.

  The mechangel’s television head flickers with static for a moment. “I HAVE FOUND SEVERAL RESTAURANTS IN THE VICINITY. THE CLOSEST IS SYNTHETIC SAM’S POULTRY AND PETROLEUM, AND IT GETS TWO STARS. WOULD YOU LIKE DIRECTIONS, OR SHALL I SELECT THE NEXT RESTAURANT, CITIZEN?” it asks helpfully.

  > Convince the mechangel that the vending machine ate your money. It may give you food for free.

  Upon hearing Nibble’s statement, the mechangel inspects the vending machine. At its full height of nine feet, it towers over the little box. Finally, it turns back to Nibble, steel feathers bristling. “THE VENDING MACHINE APPEARS TO BE IN PERFECT WORKING ORDER, CITIZEN. PARDON ME, BUT I MUST SCAN YOU FOR UNTRUTHS.”

  > Inform it that you’re allergic to untruth scans. While it’s distracted, flee.

  “ALLOW ME A MOMENT TO CHECK YOUR MEDICAL HISTORY, CITIZEN...” it begins, but Nibble is already across the street. She doesn’t stop running until she is out of the City and in the Garden Realm.

  Well, at least she is safe for the moment. And she is much more familiar with the Garden.

  > Attempt to find food in the Garden.

  The Garden is teeming with food, and creatures that think Nibble is food. It takes her a while, but she eventually finds a non-carnivorous apple tree.

  > Obtain an apple. Eat it for breakfast.

  Nibble shimmies up the apple tree and reaches for one of the juicy fruits. Mmm, the sweet, delicious calories! As she takes a bite, however, she looks down at the bottom of the tree and sees what’s popped up next to it.

  Oh no, it’s the Green Thumb and the other four fingers.

  > Hide.

  There isn’t really a place to hide in the apple tree, and Nibble’s attempt at concealing herself with a leaf fails. “Hello, breakfast!” says the Green Thumb amicably.

  “How are you?” remarks the Index.

  “You’re looking munchable,” grins the Middle.

  “And your hair is pretty,” adds the Ring.

  The Pinky just smiles.

  > Convince the fingers that they don’t want to eat you.

  No one would want to eat her, Nibble protests. She is only a nibble! She is all rags and bones!

  The fingers don’t seem convinced. “Why don’t you come on down now?” asks the Green Thumb.

  “You might as well,” remarks the Index.

  “You’ll taste delicious,” grins the Middle.

  “You don’t have to be afraid,” adds the Ring.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The Pinky just smiles.

  > Begin shaking the apple tree. If this distracts the fingers, take advantage of the chaos and flee.

  Apples rain down on the fingers’ heads. While they’re protesting or trying to eat the apples, Nibble scampers down the tree and makes her escape. The fingers crane their necks after her, and their shouts fade into the distance. “You can at least stop to say goodbye,” says the Green Thumb.

  “She’s sure in a hurry,” remarks the Index.

  “We only wanted a few bites,” grins the Middle.

  “Come back any time,” adds the Ring.

  The Pinky just smiles, and soon it is out of sight.

  > Examine self. How is Nibble faring after this?

  Well, Nibble got a few scrapes, but she’s mostly fine. She’s feeling a little better since she had a few bites of that apple, but she’s still hungry.

  > Keep searching for food.

  Nibble continues on her journey until she finds a large structure. She crawls through a crack under the door and looks around. She is on what appears to be a kitchen floor, with each floor tile being the size of a football field.

  > Search for discarded crumbs. Keep a watchful eye out for anything nasty.

  Yum, Nibble has found a crumb! She picks it up with both hands and begins carrying it back to the door. Unfortunately, as she does so, the floor begins to shake and the house’s owner walks in.

  Oh no, it’s Mister Spider.

  Just as he’s about to squish Nibble flat, he notices her on the floor.

  > Run.

  Nibble skitters about on the floor for a few moments, but Mister Spider is too big and fast. He slams a cup over Nibble and traps her.

  > Assess the chances of getting free. If that seems unlikely, then try to reason with the giant spider.

  Try as she might, Nibble cannot lift the cup. She is just too small compared to it. Since that isn’t working, she attempts to reason with Mister Spider. Either he can’t hear her little voice or he just doesn’t care to listen, because he shoves a paper under Nibble’s feet and picks her up along with the cup.

  > Soliloquize over this ignominious twist of fate that has swapped the relative sizes of Homo sapiens and arthropods.

  Nibble is not sure what most of those words mean, so she just cries instead. Why does Mister Spider have to be so mean? All she wanted was one tiny crumb. He wouldn’t’ve even missed it! He was going to have thrown it away anyway!

  Mister Spider is turning the cup on its side. The paper slides from beneath Nibble’s feet.

  > The second you get a chance, start running.

  Nibble tumbles out of the cup. Mister Spider tosses her onto the grass outside and then goes back home.

  Well, that was fortunate.

  Nibble isn’t going to tempt fate and go back into Mister Spider’s parlor, but her opinion of him has greatly improved. He is a lot nicer than Miss Butterfly, who tried to stick Nibble with a pin.

  > Keep searching for food.

  Nibble looks around until she reaches an open field. As soon as she sets foot onto it, the sky above shimmers violently and cracks begin to appear. Light in ever-changing hues drips from them like rain, splashing against the ground in bursts of prismatic fire.

  Oh no, it’s the Brilliance.

  Nibble’s heart is just beating out of her chest with fear. The Brilliance is very bad! It will catch her and ENLIGHTEN her burn her to a crisp!

  > Convince the Brilliance that it doesn’t need to enlighten you. Make yourself sound boring. Above all, remember to be polite.

  Nibble was a student in the university, she protests to the Brilliance. She doesn’t need to learn more. She is as happy as a smart little clam!

  The Brilliance reaches down, shimmering with its array of colors. It doesn’t care what Nibble has to say. It doesn’t care about anything.

  > Protest further. If you complain enough, it might get bored and leave.

  Nibble tries to speak, but the words seem to be caught in her throat. She feels like a deer in the headlights, a little bug caught in the gaze of an impossibly greater being. And it just keeps reaching down with its Light, burning her mind and memory until all she can see is the LIGHT and the BRIGHTNESS and RAPTUROUS BRILLIANCE as it shows her the Realm of the SUN the SUN the CONQUERING SUN MAY HE SHINE FOREVER—

  —Oh. Nibble has woken up on the grass. She’s not sure how much time passed, but it looks like she was unsuccessful in convincing the Brilliance. She doesn’t want to think about it.

  Nibble is now starving.

  > Keep searching for food.

  Nibble isn’t feeling so good. She’s trying to vomit, but there isn’t any food in her to throw up. She thinks she’ll just lie down right here, on the grass, and rest for a bit.

  > Keep searching for food.

  Nibble appreciates your concern for her well-being, but she’s too tired to keep looking. She would cry, but she just doesn’t have the energy. Everything hurts. Everything feels broken. Footsteps crunch on the grass.

  > Hide. See who or what it is.

  Nibble cannot get up and hide. She is too hurt and tired. She does her best to oblige you by looking up, just in time to see a pair of people picking their way through the undergrowth. They notice her, and one of them drops a satchel in surprise. Apples spill from the bag, rolling slowly in different directions.

  The people have now shared their food with Nibble and have patched her up. She feels much better, and is no longer starving. This is an improvement.

  > Thank the people and then question them. Who are they, where are they from, and what are they looking for?

  The people, a man and a woman, introduce themselves as Eddie and Melissa. “We’re scavenging for the Creeping Citadel, the last bastion of human civilization that hasn’t devolved into a cult,” says Eddie. “Er, you’re not a Gardener cultist, right?”

  > Assure them that you are not.

  “Good,” he sighs. “I mean, typically the cultists around here have roses growing out of their eye sockets, but it doesn’t hurt to check.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure they’d start vomiting up blood and flower petals if they ever denounced their god, so we always have to ask,” Melissa rolls her eyes. “They’re damn hard to take down if they manage to sneak in. Vines shooting out of every wound, thorns flying everywhere, ugh. We lost three people the last time one of them attacked.”

  “So, how about you?” asks Eddie. “Have you just been surviving here all by yourself?”

  Nibble nods. It is just her, she says. Her and the voice inside her head. It is a very wise voice, and it gives good advice.

  “Of course,” Melissa grimaces. She glances at Eddie, and then back at Nibble. “Hey, do you want to come back to the Citadel with us? It’s a lot safer than whatever’s out here, and you might be able to recover a bit.

  > Go with them. It’s worth a shot.

  Nibble follows them to a small city on a raised platform. Under the platform, several metal legs are folded. With a sweeping gesture, Melissa indicates the city behind her. “Welcome to the Creeping Citadel, our new definition of a mobile home!”

  As soon as they’ve climbed onto it, a tremor shakes the city. Its legs unfold and it stands up, dislodging a Skin Tree that had planted its roots in one of the Creeping Citadel’s legs. After a minute, the city begins to move.

  “It’s good to be home,” sighs Eddie.

  > Settle in.

  Over the next few weeks, Nibble gets used to life in the Creeping Citadel as it makes its way through the Garden. She helps its people forage and scavenge and flee from the Gardener’s followers. Occasionally, they hide from the Gardener himself as he wanders through his Realm, watering and weeding as he sees fit.

  It isn’t easy, but it’s a life.

  > Keep living it.

  That’s just what she does, but Nibble can’t hear you any longer.

  With this newfound stability, her sanity has recovered. Her mind is whole again, and your commands can no longer slip through the cracks.

  She may wonder, sometimes, where you’ve gone or whether you existed in the first place. But the rational part of her mind will quickly dismiss those thoughts, as rational minds so often do.

  > Then I guess I’ll just stay and watch.

  Suit yourself. It’s not like I can stop you.

  > Then it shall be so.

  And so it is.