Lifestream

A father and son uncover the dark conspiracy surrounding a sacred artifact and an enigmatic brotherhood.


Premise

John Holton’s father, a Catholic priest named Randolph, has been missing for two weeks.  As John cannot go to the police, since doing so would tarnish his father’s reputation as a celibate priest, he decides to search for him firsthand.  In the process, he learns about an ancient artifact that is said to open the gateway to a realm of eternal bliss and a secret brotherhood dedicated to safeguarding its secrets.  Through a series of scattered journal entries, John learns of the troubling events that led to his father's disappearance.


Story

Lifestream's story spans two time periods.


1994

On one Sunday morning, Father Randolph Holton led Mass at St. Jude's Hope Church.  After the service ended, he met parish member Anne Rose, who invited Randolph to dinner.  Randolph accepted.


Shortly thereafter, while administering the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Randolph encountered a mysterious man who hid in the shadows of the confessional.  The man indicated to Randolph that he was in danger and provided Randolph with the key to a safe-deposit box at a local bank.  Before Randolph could ask for more detail, the figure ran off.  Randolph drove over to the bank and, after helping the teller with a personal matter, gained access to the safe-deposit box.  It was getting late, so Randolph decided to look at the contents the next day.  Next, he drove to Anne's house and had a lovely dinner with her.


The next day, Randolph examined the contents of the box.  Inside were a series of notes detailing the existence of a parallel dimension known as the Lifestream that is said to provide eternal joy and a secret brotherhood, called the Brotherhood of Singhaa, that is dedicated to protecting its secrets.  Also in the box were a pair of worn leather gloves and the Almas Moqaddas, a gem that is said to open the gateway to the Lifestream.  Confused as to the authenticity of the box's contents, Randolph consulted Pastor Dan Adlersflugel, who promised to look into it.


Several days later, Randolph had not heard from Dan, and so he went looking for the pastor.  When he entered the pastor's bedroom, he found Dan dead on the ground.  He had been murdered!  Randolph quickly phoned the police.  While waiting for them to arrive, Randolph searched the rectory and discovered evidence that fellow priest Grandl Issa was, in fact, a member of the Brotherhood of Singhaa and may have been responsible for Dan's murder.


Soon, the police arrived, but it turned out that Grandl had a sound alibi.  Fearing for his life, Randolph took an unannounced sabbatical and returned to the home he had inherited from his brother many years prior.


Randolph began to investigate the Lifestream.  His research became an obsession, and he spent many months pouring over countless ancient texts in search of the answers.  Finally, one day, Randolph found what he sought:  a means to open the gateway to the Lifestream himself.  Doing so required performing a ritual involving dreams, and so that is what Randolph did.  He dreamt that he was in an ancient library that led into a series of underground caverns.  There with him was a librarian who ultimately judged Randolph as worthy of entering the Lifestream.  Randolph awoke to discover the mark of the Brotherhood of Singhaa etched upon his left hand.  He then knew that the ritual had worked.


There was a knock at the door, and so Randolph answered it.  There stood Grandl Issa with a gun in his hand.  He confessed that he was, in fact, a member of the Brotherhood of Singhaa, and that he had stolen the Almas Moquaddas for himself without the brotherhood's knowledge.  Grandl was the man in the confession booth, and he had manipulated Randolph all along so that Randolph could figure out how to open the Lifestream without Grandl's direct involvement.  Grandl had convinced homeless man Grant Stork to murder Dan Adlersflugel on his behalf.  After filling Randolph in on the details of his plan, Grandl forced Randolph to open the gateway to the Lifestream, and both entered.


2010

Randolph Holton spent twenty years inside the Lifestream, experiencing endless joy.  But as the Lifestream is a paradise, so too is it a trap, for those who enter are unable to leave through their own means.  But Randolph, clever that he is, conjured up a plan:  he used the Lifestream to create what had been his greatest wish in life--a son.  And inside the Lifestream, that wish became a reality, and so John Holton came into existance.


John believed that his father had only been missing for two weeks, and so John, oblivious to his true existence inside of the Lifestream, went to Randolph's home in search of his father.  There, he encountered signs of the home's newest owners, Paul and Lucy Williamson, and ran into Grandl Issa, who himself was unaware that he had spent the past twenty years inside the Lifestream and believed that he was still searching for a way to get inside.


Over the course of John's search, he found a series of Randolph's old journal entries, which detailed Randolph's plight in 1994.  John began to believe that Randolph was trapped inside the Lifestream, and John set forth plans to free both him and the home's current owners, who John also believed were trapped inside.


Inside a book, John learned how to cast a Spell of Revealing, which he used to try to warn Lucy Williamson that her husband and she were trapped inside the Lifestream.  Though John managed to reach Lucy, his warning meant nothing to her, as Lucy had no knowledge of the Lifestream.


John encountered Grandl Issa several more times and learned that the priest was in search of a rosary.  When John found this rosary himself, Grandl knocked John out and stole it.  When John awoke, he was able to find a second rosary similar to the first and discovered that the rosaries opened a secret passage in the kitchen that led down into a large cavern.


Inside the cavern, John found Grandl Issa, who believed he managed to open the gateway back to the Lifestream.  But in his haste, Grandl touched the Almas Moqaddas barehanded--which all the ancient texts warn against--and seemingly burned alive.  After this, John put on a pair of gloves, picked up the Almas Moqaddas and, instead of entering the gateway himself, threw the gem into it, which in fact opened a path back to the real world.


Randolph then made his presence known to John and explained the truth to his son.  He told John that they were both already inside the Lifestream and that John had freed his father from captivity.  John was confused and asked how he had gotten inside the Lifestream, since he had no memory of it, and Randolph explained to John that John was not real.  Panicked, John asked Randolph what would happen once Randolph left the Lifestream, to which Randolph truthfully replied, "I don't know."


Randolph said goodbye to his son then and exited the Lifestream.  As he did, John faded out of existence.


Post-Game

In 1995, a representative of the Brotherhood of Singhaa tracked down and recovered the Almas Moqaddas.  His superior in the brotherhood, a bishop who works at the Vatican, informed him of a pressing matter that takes precedence over the gem.


Following his escape from the Lifestream in 2010, an elderly Randolph Holton proceeded to the nearest church to pray for forgiveness for his actions over the past two decades.

Lifestream

Storycentric World Title #01

Release Date:  April 2016

Genre:  Gamebook

Platform(s):

  • PC
  • iOS
  • Android

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