Prologue

Victor was a regular dude. No superpowers, no secret identity, and a fading memory of what it was like for people in his life that he loved to be around.

He was a huge believer in circumstance. It was science. Things happened not for a particular reason, but because things just happened.

The loss he had experienced in the past year took him. The loss didn’t come through death per se.

Victor was trying his hardest to just be ok.

He was ok, really, but the reminders were all over the place. So much so that it physically manifested in huge thorny vines growing everywhere.

Victor had a feeling this plant was connected to everyone's change of opinion of him.

The thing was, only Victor could see the strangling vines. He could see them wrapped around some people’s legs, slowing them down. Some were covering eyes and ears. He saw some around people’s throats, keeping them from being comfortable. He began to see vines growing out of people’s heads…like horns. Those were the ones Victor kept his distance from…at least for now.

The vines were manipulating pretty much everyone, and keeping them from creeping close to Victor became a full time job.

But the loss of relationships was too much to deal with. The vines were closing everyone’s eyes. These people that were once intimately connected to Victor, were now confused by his words and actions. Where they once laughed with him, or at his unpredictable cleverness, now became accusations like: “You’ve changed”, and, “When did you become such an asshole!”.

Most became angry, aggressively haunting ghosts. All except for the few that were in his tight circle. The vines were on them too, but they were protected for some reason. They were slowed, deafened, and blinded, but their love for Victor kept them from turning against him. The vines had turned them catatonic, which was a good thing…for now. Victor could focus on finding the core of the vines.

He placed personal trinkets and special objects that had stories that connected them as a protective field around these precious ones. The nostalgia had the power to keep them safe and unharmed. As far as he could tell anyway.

This was not going to be a physical battle. No need for ranged weapons or melee attacks. No need to learn spells or craft sticky grenades or mod guns for elemental attacks. No, this would take sneak, charisma, and endurance.

He took a deep breath, felt the core drawing at his being, and started off in the direction he felt was calling him.

The first of the 10 challenges was going to be against those he thought were friendlies. This would be taxing, emotional, and ultimately could twist his thought into making him turn around and “nevermind” the whole quest.

His so-called “best friends” had become battlements and barriers. Ignoring them wouldn’t work. Their thoughts reached deep into Victor and tangled with his own. Some of them were going to have to be cut away. Not with a blade, but with a trick.

Sacrificing them was going to be painful, but his quest was set, accepted and begun.

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The rest of the story is in the description of each individual song.