Coherence is a dark ambient adventure picking up at the end of a long journey. It follows an unnamed soul trekking into a mountain to try and see another day.


1. You wake by a road. Last night’s fire smoulders next to you. The ground around it is damp with dew, as is your coat. It's still dark but the sun will soon rise, as it does. You can't remember how far you've come, but there can't be far left.
Stretching, you look over at the decaying pile of junk that’s catching the rising sun. The ruined and rusted chunks of machinery could have something salvageable. You cross the road and pick at a few small objects. You settle on a chunk of sharp metal and wrap a piece of cloth around the base. Putting it into your coat pocket, you set off along the road towards the tunnel in the distance.

2. The tunnel entrance rises up out of the predawn darkness ahead of you. The foreboding, dull white stonework is the oldest and largest you’ve seen. Strange patterns are etched into the keystone which is lit by only a single torch. Taking one last look up the road you’ve been walking for days, you pass under the crafted monument into the tunnel itself.
The moment you’re inside, darkness undulates around you. Sound is different; closer and more intense. The ground slopes away as you step cautiously forward. Some lights are working along the close walls, but most are broken leaving large shadows in waiting. You become aware of distant noises but they’re impossible to identify and sound very far away. You are alone here with nothing but the intermittent gloom for company.

3. The sloping ground begins to level out eventually. As it does, mechanical noises and strained machinery begin to fill your ears. There’s still very little around you, but the noises cannot stop your imagination running away with itself. You finally reach the elevator. The door feels heavy and jarring but opens easily enough, and fortunately the light is working. Stepping inside, you see there is only one button and it's pointing down, suggesting a one way trip. You press it and the light flickers briefly then the small capsule plunges you deeper underground. The cool air rushes over your skin through the grate at your feet, but soon turns warm and dry.
After what feels like days, the elevator dings and crunches to a halt. Pulling the door open, you are greeted by a darker plaine ahead. The sloping ground, with ill fitted lights, seems a delight in comparison. Your eyes adjust soon enough and you see signs of habitat and a large open space ahead, but the grim darkness hangs over everything like a dank fog.

4. You pass quickly through the open space not wishing to bump into anyone or anything, still missing the recent claustrophobic safety of the tunnel above. The ground begins to climb and it will take several hours on a shallow incline before you see anything like light again. You become aware of ominous whines and voices, no longer in the distance but around you, ahead and behind. You start to pass many strange people. So many people. Most are either coming the other way or congregating around disheveled market stalls; their owners shouting for attention in the darkness. Eerie screams and tormented voices surround you.
Then you’re through them, the tops of dimly lit buildings appear ahead. You are aware this is the right place, the right direction, the place you need to survive. You can hear it now, the dull drain of the city you’ll be soon inside.

5. The city is alive, crawling with souls. Looking up, it's unclear if you’re still underground or if it’s just night again but either way it's a starless sky above. The city light certainly isn’t daylight but street lights and neon strips. There are people everywhere, swarming the streets buying, selling, eating, fucking. You have reached the inner city where your story will soon end.

6. Wading through the crowds, you notice you’ve picked up a tail. As you weave in the throng past shop fronts and shining adverts, you think you’ve lost them. Then they appear ahead of you. All three advance on you at once. You knock the first one to the ground with your fists but the second has a knife and sends it straight under your ribs as you try to avoid the third. You grab your metal shard from your coat and slash at the third causing him to fall away screaming as a streak of blood sprays up a wall, but then you drop to your knees, as your wound takes hold, and feel the impact of boots and laces in the side of your head sending you down to the wet pavement to sleep.

7. You wake without your coat in a pool of your own blood. Weakly, you touch your shirt pocket to find the familiar shape still there. They didn’t find that. It’s unclear how long you’ve been out for, but the streets are no less busy and still just as bright. You feel groggy as you try to stand, the street lights reflect off the wet surfaces to create a rippled reflection of the oppressive buildings towering over you. The knife didn't go deep but has left a permanent reminder of your visit.
Finally getting to your feet, you set off again with a slight limp, holding your bloodied left side, angry at time and blood lost being so close.
Finally, you reach the hill that must be climbed. There is a faint glow of familiar light at the top. Wind picks up from somewhere, still warm and dry. Struggling, you begin the ascent, slower than you'd hoped. The path is cluttered with beggars and wraiths, lost souls and desperate minds, but you must keep going. As you reach the top, the wind dies down, the city noises far below. It’s there right in front of you, as it was before and will be again.

8. You step up to the toll booth. The darkened glass box stands alone at the top of the hill. There’s no one inside, but then there never is. As you stare at the booth, shadows shift in an abnormal way as if the light from the city behind you isn’t quite right once it has bounced off the hardened surfaces. The only light source close to you is the usual clock ticking down to zero. It reads 24 seconds left. As you rest your hand against the cool steel frame, you drop to your knees and reach into your shirt pocket. Your hand finds the dirty plastic token you placed there before you left on this journey. So close to not finding it this time. Slowly, carefully, you lift the token out and slip it into the large slot below the glass of the booth. Placing the side of your head against the booth, you hear the token rattle away down the slot then click as it sets off a larger mechanism far, far away.
You look up at the clock and the time has reset, as it does, to 47 days. 47 days to find another token. 47 days to live. You've lost a few seconds already. Relief washes over you as the toll booth slowly descends into the ground, its purpose complete. You carefully get to your feet and turn around, the city stretching out beneath you. Another token awaits you somewhere below, as it always does. A breeze picks up and you shiver; some bastard down there has your coat.