CYOA Wednesday 2025 #19 [Beyond the Woods 19]

This fantasy CYOA story continues today. Synopsis below:

When Derek, Jade, and Clara go camping, they stumble upon a portal to another dimension filled with strange creatures and sexy seductresses.

The Wanderbeast leads the party as close as possible to the underground generator. Now what? You decide.

Read the nineteenth segment below:

19 – Defensive Protocols

The chamber erupted with an instantaneous, invisible force. Pressure descended like an anvil, compressing every molecule. Clara felt her bones grinding against each other, her muscles straining under impossible weight. Her legs buckled, driving her knees into the metallic floor with a thunderous impact.

Derek collapsed first, his muscular frame crumpling like paper. His breath exploded from his lungs in a strangled gasp. Jade’s fingers clawed weakly at the floor, her body flattening under the incredible gravitational assault.

The Wanderbeast growled, its massive form suddenly struggling against unseen constraints. Metallic plates around them hummed with a malevolent energy, calibrating and intensifying the gravitational field. Aethera’s molecular structure flickered, her defensive capabilities momentarily overwhelmed by the crushing force.

Clara’s vision blurred. Each breath became a herculean effort. She could hear the faint cracking of bone, the slow surrender of human physiology against a force never meant to be endured. Her consciousness began to fragment, flickering between awareness and total shutdown.

Something was watching. Something was calculating. And they were mere specimens in an experiment whose parameters they could not comprehend.

A mechanical voice emerged from the generator’s core – cold, precise, utterly inhuman: “Survival parameters: initiating assessment.”

“Aethera,” Derek struggled to speak. “Can you help?”

“I’m trying,” she replied.

Aethera’s form began to ripple and distort, molecules rearranging with lightning speed. First, she transformed into a dense metallic configuration – but the gravity crushed her instantly, flattening her into a thin, broken sheet. She shifted again, this time into a compact crystalline structure, which immediately shattered under the immense pressure.

Her third attempt was more calculated. Drawing on her most advanced adaptive capabilities, Aethera restructured herself into a multi-layered biomechanical form. Each molecular layer was designed to distribute gravitational force, creating internal shock absorbers that could flex and redistribute weight. Her new form was compact, almost spherical, with a latticed internal structure that looked like intricate, interconnected honeycombs.

The transformation worked. Where her previous shapes had been obliterated, this configuration held. Her body trembled and compressed, but did not break. Tiny filaments within her structure continuously realigned, creating dynamic pathways that prevented complete structural failure.

“I’ve stabilized,” she announced, her voice slightly strained. “But this won’t last indefinitely.”

The generator’s mechanical voice responded, almost curious: “Adaptive response detected. Recalibrating.”

The gravitational field intensified.

Her crystalline structure pulsed with focused energy. Instead of defending, Aethera now transformed into a precision weapon. Sharp molecular tendrils extended, probing the generator’s complex surface for vulnerabilities. Each strike was calculated, targeting microscopic structural weaknesses.

The first two attempts glanced off the generator’s shielding. On the third strike, a hairline fracture appeared – barely visible, but significant. Aethera concentrated her entire molecular structure into that single point, driving her form like a surgical instrument through the generator’s defensive matrix.

A high-pitched whine erupted. The gravitational field suddenly collapsed, then reversed.

Instantly, everyone and everything began to float. Bodies drifted upward, limbs splaying awkwardly. Metallic floor plates tumbled weightlessly. The Wanderbeast’s massive form slowly rotated, suspended in midair like an impossible sculpture.

Clara’s first instinct was terror as she was being projected up in the air. Derek was already maneuvering, swimming in the air as if he were in the middle of an ocean. He reached for Jade’s hand first and then grabbed Clara’s left ankle.

“Hold on to me,” he said. “We can do this.”

The generator continued to pulse, its mechanical voice now distorted: “Gravitational anomaly detected. Recalibration sequence initiated.”

“Are you guys okay?” Aethera asked.

“For now, yes,” Jade replied from way up in the air,” But if the gravity shifts again, we’re as good as pancakes.”

“There’s a small tunnel to your right. Can you see it?”

Derek twisted mid-air, spotting the narrow tunnel Aethera referenced. Using controlled micro-movements, he propelled himself and the others toward the opening. Clara extended her arms, fingers brushing against the tunnel’s metallic edge, using the contact to redirect their weightless trajectory.

Aethera’s molecular form elongated into a thin, adaptive filament that interfaced directly with the generator’s complex circuitry. Her consciousness split – one part navigating their aerial approach, another launching a sophisticated digital assault against the generator’s defensive systems. Streams of quantum code cascaded through microscopic data channels, seeking to unravel the protective protocols.

The tunnel’s entrance grew closer. Jade manipulated her body’s rotation, using subtle shifts to help steer their unpredictable drift. Crystalline fragments from the earlier battle spun around them like deadly confetti, creating a treacherous obstacle course.

As they entered the tunnel, gravity began to fluctuate. Molecular vibrations suggested another imminent shift. Aethera’s infiltration was working, but the generator was fighting back with complex, adaptive countermeasures.

“We’re not out of danger,” she shouted. “Be prepared for anything.”

“Easier said than done,” Jade clenched her teeth.

A sudden electrical discharge erupted from the generator’s core. Arcs of blue-white energy cracked

across the chamber, threatening to destabilize their fragile approach. The mechanical voice returned, more distorted: “Intrusion detected. Engaging neutralization protocols.”

A searing pulse erupted through the tunnel. Aethera’s molecular structure suddenly fractured, her adaptive form disintegrating into cascading particles. A high-caliber energy weapon had pierced her core, launched from an unseen attacker within the generator’s complex internal systems.

Gravity imploded.

The tunnel twisted violently, magnetic fields warping and collapsing. The Wanderbeast – massive and primordial – tumbled downward, its immense body smashing through metallic bulkheads with thunderous impact. Razor-sharp plates of shattered infrastructure rained around its massive form. Yet even as it crashed, something fundamental in its genetic structure activated – a survival mechanism that allowed its massive body to absorb and redistribute kinetic energy.

Clara and Derek were flung in opposite directions. Jade’s fingers scrabbled desperately against the disintegrating tunnel wall, her fingernails leaving microscopic gouges in the metallic surface. For one breathless moment, she dangled – suspended between falling and survival – her grip reducing to a single hand’s desperate contact with a rapidly crumbling ledge.

The Wanderbeast’s impact created a seismic tremor that rippled through the entire chamber. Mechanical systems shrieked and buckled. Something ancient and calculating watched their struggle, measuring their potential for survival with cold, algorithmic precision.

“Derek!” Jade screamed. “Help!”

Her fingers began to slip.

To decide what happens next, head over to my Patreon (you can join for free), and vote on the poll there until next Sunday. 

If you’re new to these CYOA stories, here are the basic rules:

1) You can only choose one option;

2) If there’s a tie at the end of the poll, and the competing options can be combined somehow, I’ll do that. If not, I get the deciding vote to keep the tale going.

3) The process continues every Wednesday until the story runs its natural course.

Have fun.