The Line
Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2025 8:20 am
I came up with this idea in a gas station's bathroom.
You see, I and 30 other 12th-graders were on our way back from a school trip, and it was a long drive, so when we stopped mid-way there was obviously a 30-girls-long line to the toilet.
And I HATE standing in line. Like, I don't think anyone really likes it, but I hate it more cause I never realise how I should behave and I'm a bit paranoid about people taking my turn (IDK, for some reason it feels like someone always does it to me!) and I generally don't like crowded places... (Yeah, I'm autistic. Probably related. Nevermind.)
So anyway, I was standing there and thinking about how much lines suck. And I thought:
"Hell is probably just an infinite line leading to a gate titled 'gate to hell'. Everyone waits, their anxiety spiralling as they try to imagine how they're going to be tortured, not realising the real torture is the waiting itself."
And then I thought "Dash, you're playing that roleplay game which is literally about imaginary places that are someone's personal hell!"
So at first I went for the obvious: Someone who hated standing in lines even more than I do. In fact, she hated them so much, and wanted something so badly, that one day she pulled out a gun and started shooting anyone standing in her way to it - and as she reached the end of the line, the mists rose around her and she found herself as the most pathetic darklord ever, standing at the beginning of an infinite line.
But now I have a deeper idea: Someone familiar with the ways of the mists. Maybe an adventurer, one who had the chance to die as a hero but instead lived long enough to become the villain. Someone who knows darklords - who had fought them, spied on them, defeated them and eventually collaborated with them - and knows well that each of them is living eternally their worst nightmare.
Someone who, while doing their Act of Ultimate Darkness, knew exactly what was going to happen - and as the mists claimed them, recalled the torments of every darklord they ever met, and wondered what would be theirs. Will they become a hideous monster? Will the faces of their victims return to haunt them? Will they be given everything but prevented their sole desire? How badly will the other inhabitants of the domain suffer for their lord's sin?
They emerged in The Line to an inter-domain portal. They know that their own domain is awaiting them at the end. But every time they get close to the head of the line, something stalls them - someone takes their turn, they need to go to the bathroom and start over, the portal is temporarily closed due to technical issues, the activator had gone on a launch break... They're eaten up by the dread of what their domain would be like, not realising The Line itself is their domain. They have amazing magical powers granted by the mists, but never use them cause they have accepted their doom and do nothing but waiting for their turn (and occasionally eating, drinking, going to the bathroom etc.) which will never arrive.
Other people, on the other hand, absolutely CAN reach the end of The Line. It's actually one of the safest ways to travel between domains. It's designed kinda like a small airport but with inter-domain portals (with extremely long lines to) instead of flights. There's an overpriced cafeteria, Duty Free shops full of cursed objects and a gas-station level public bathroom. Portals to and from The Line can appear in any domain whose borders aren't currently closed. Closing The Line's borders had never happened before because the darklord thinks they can't do it yet.
You see, I and 30 other 12th-graders were on our way back from a school trip, and it was a long drive, so when we stopped mid-way there was obviously a 30-girls-long line to the toilet.
And I HATE standing in line. Like, I don't think anyone really likes it, but I hate it more cause I never realise how I should behave and I'm a bit paranoid about people taking my turn (IDK, for some reason it feels like someone always does it to me!) and I generally don't like crowded places... (Yeah, I'm autistic. Probably related. Nevermind.)
So anyway, I was standing there and thinking about how much lines suck. And I thought:
"Hell is probably just an infinite line leading to a gate titled 'gate to hell'. Everyone waits, their anxiety spiralling as they try to imagine how they're going to be tortured, not realising the real torture is the waiting itself."
And then I thought "Dash, you're playing that roleplay game which is literally about imaginary places that are someone's personal hell!"
So at first I went for the obvious: Someone who hated standing in lines even more than I do. In fact, she hated them so much, and wanted something so badly, that one day she pulled out a gun and started shooting anyone standing in her way to it - and as she reached the end of the line, the mists rose around her and she found herself as the most pathetic darklord ever, standing at the beginning of an infinite line.
But now I have a deeper idea: Someone familiar with the ways of the mists. Maybe an adventurer, one who had the chance to die as a hero but instead lived long enough to become the villain. Someone who knows darklords - who had fought them, spied on them, defeated them and eventually collaborated with them - and knows well that each of them is living eternally their worst nightmare.
Someone who, while doing their Act of Ultimate Darkness, knew exactly what was going to happen - and as the mists claimed them, recalled the torments of every darklord they ever met, and wondered what would be theirs. Will they become a hideous monster? Will the faces of their victims return to haunt them? Will they be given everything but prevented their sole desire? How badly will the other inhabitants of the domain suffer for their lord's sin?
They emerged in The Line to an inter-domain portal. They know that their own domain is awaiting them at the end. But every time they get close to the head of the line, something stalls them - someone takes their turn, they need to go to the bathroom and start over, the portal is temporarily closed due to technical issues, the activator had gone on a launch break... They're eaten up by the dread of what their domain would be like, not realising The Line itself is their domain. They have amazing magical powers granted by the mists, but never use them cause they have accepted their doom and do nothing but waiting for their turn (and occasionally eating, drinking, going to the bathroom etc.) which will never arrive.
Other people, on the other hand, absolutely CAN reach the end of The Line. It's actually one of the safest ways to travel between domains. It's designed kinda like a small airport but with inter-domain portals (with extremely long lines to) instead of flights. There's an overpriced cafeteria, Duty Free shops full of cursed objects and a gas-station level public bathroom. Portals to and from The Line can appear in any domain whose borders aren't currently closed. Closing The Line's borders had never happened before because the darklord thinks they can't do it yet.