GLOW ; interactive story

Glow

"Thank you for tuning in today! We are live, and back again! Welcome to the start of the fifth season of the Island! Today, to start off the season well, a newcomer will arrive! They too, have committed an unforgivable crime— which is exactly why they were sent here! I wonder what Faction they'll choose!"

The host moved over to the left, and on the screen it showed a small helicopter up in the sky, sea below, and no land in sight.

"Will they choose Faction One, the most aggressive of the three and with the most members?"

"Or will they choose Faction Two, the Faction known for its bad luck and with the least amount of members?'

"Or maybe it'll be Faction Three, known for its betrayal and backstabbing amongst members?"

The Island finally came in sight on the screen.
In the middle of the Island there was a lightly smoking volcano, but it seemed to not be in a dangerous state. Patches of trees and rivers separated the Island into four equal pieces of ground; a sandy line around the Island marked a beach.

Each of the four pieces of land also had a building placed in the middle, simply called "Mansions"; those served as the living places for the members of the Factions.

"— and they'll soon land! As always, the Leader and the Converter of each Faction will meet the newcomer on the beach, and will make efforts in the hope they join their Faction! We'll meet a lot of old favorites once again, and we'll be sure to say goodbye to some too this season!"

◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

". . . Fifth season, huh. . ."
Ashe walked next to Beau along the worn down stone path to the beach.
". . . How many seasons more?"

"They'll probably never get tired of it. Fuckin' scumbags," Beau replied, "Five years have passed, even I would've found this TV series all boring by now."

As they neared the landing site, Beau closely watched his surroundings, staying closeby his blind friend.
It was forbidden to kill anyone from another Faction when meeting up with a newcomer, with serious consequences if you did, but that didn't stop Beau from carrying a handgun with him.
Just for safety measures.

Stepping onto the platform, they saw that Cain Hayden and Emi Oliver were already there, and Laurent Clemons and Nova Moonlight as well.
Cain, Laurent and Beau were leaders of their Faction, while Emi, Nova and Ashe were Converters.

Leaves began moving softly, until they swirled around the platform as the helicopter got close to the ground.

A ladder got dropped, and a soldier with his face covered by goggles and a scarf jumped down.
Then, the newcomer appeared and hesitantly went down the ladder, confused— but with two rifles pointed at them, they kinda did whatever they were told to.
The newcomer soon reached the ground, and the soldiers went back up the helicopter— and flew away, and it was silent again.

". . . They look promising enough," Beau muttered, then sighed.
"One out of three chance they join us. Less because we're the least powerful of all Factions— for now."

◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

"And it's show time! Season Five has officially started! Our sponsors have recently announced the remake of action figures and added new ones of your favorite characters! Season Five includes a figurine of Cain, Beau, Ashe, Laurent and Allen! Ashe came out on the poll as favorite character world wide, so they added him as well! And a small recap; Laurent and Allen killed the previous leader of Faction Three together, and became the new leaders half way Season Four!"

The host flashed a grin at the camera, "The newcomer looks so naive! How long will they be able to survive, and when will they remember their mysterious crime?! Spoiler alert; it ain't something nice!"
The host laughed, and the camera cut back to full screen of the Island.

◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

You'd woken up to the sound of blade slapping, that you soon discovered thar was because of the helicopter you were in.

"Do as we say, or you'll get a bullet through your head, monster."
To your left, a man pointing a gun at you spoke.
You noticed your hands were cuffed.

You didn't remember anything.
Why you were here, or where you were going to.
Nor who was behind all this.

Then, the helicopter stopped flying any further, and a ladder got thrown down.
The man that had previously spoken went down first.
Another person appeared, gun against your head, but they uncuffed your hands.

You did as they said, and slowly ascended the ladder after the soldier-like person.
As you did, you looked around and could finally see where you were. . . Kinda.
A giant island, and there were people waiting for you on the landing platform beneath.

The next moment you stood there, surrounded by six people in pairs of two.

And you had no idea why anything of this was happening.