Rummaging through forgotten directories yesterday, I found the very first stirrings of what would eventually become The Longest Journey (back then codenamed 'Project Alpha', and, for a long time, simply 'X').

Here's a taster:

"In her dreams that night there were angels and horses. With fierce, burning eyes, the white angels rode their black horses into the green pastures of an eerily familiar realm, and in their tracks all life withered. She knew the setting, yet she also knew she’d never consciously set foot in it before now. With the passing of the angels came a mighty roar, and darkness fell on that beautiful world.

In the darkness there was a face - a man’s face, bearing an uncanny likeness of herself, twisted through a mirror darkly. His eyes were cold, yet there was nothing evil about the man. He seemed just distant, dreamy, disinterested. As if pulled by unknown forces, she lifted her hand to touch the man’s face and felt her fingers touch her own face…

April woke with a start. The neon illumination of the big ‘Hotel 24hrs’ sign across the street added a ghostly sheen to the unfamiliarity of her bedroom. The sound of sirens overlapped in the night, and voices echoed through the grim corridors outside her door."

The above was written on March 27th, 1996 - seven years and half an eternity ago. The funny thing is how close a lot of what was written back then is to the next game's storyline. You'd almost think there was a plan behind it all...  ¶ 10:47