> Terminal is a story about life and death.

> It is put together through simple word puzzles--combinations of words that you input that generate outputs that will help to move you through the story.

> It is made up of several chapters, and those chapters are made up of stages. Different chapters have different numbers of stages.

> To move through each chapter of Terminal, enter combinations of either 2 or 3 words into a command line at the bottom of the screen.

> Inputs must be 2- or 3-word combinations that you've pulled from a prompt you'll read at the beginning of each chapter.

> Every input should look like this: verb second_word [optional_third_word]

> For example, if your initial prompt is "use this prompt," valid inputs will be "use this," "use prompt," "use this prompt," or "use prompt this" (different 2-to-3-word combinations of words from that initial prompt).

> Inputs with too many or too few words or words that are not from the prompt are invalid, and the terminal will tell you that there is nothing that it can do with the input.

> When you enter a valid input, it will generate an output that will subtly help guide you toward the correct input. That correct input will move you to the next stage within a chapter.

> Your inputs will always have a ->~ icon in front of them by default (but don't type that icon yourself), and the terminal's outputs will always have a > icon in front of them, like this:

> output

> When you enter a correct input, you'll know that you've reached the next stage because you'll see an extra > icon in front of the terminal's outputs in that stage, like this:

>> Output in Stage 2.

or

>>> Output in Stage 3.

> When you enter a correct input, the verb you entered as the first word will be locked. You will no longer need to use that verb to progress to the next stage.

> Here's an example. Assume this is your prompt:

> enter whatever word you choose

> If your input is:

->~ choose whatever you

>> And it turns out to be the correct input, as the two >> icons to the left of the output demonstrate, you will no longer need to enter an input with the verb choose to get to the next stage, and every time you enter a valid input that begins with choose, it will simply generate its output from the previous stage(s).

> The goal is not to overwhelm you with duplicate inputs and to make it a little easier for you to choose the correct input as the chapters get more complex.

> There's only one exception to that rule, in a simple chapter with only one verb in the prompt. The terminal will let you know when you've reached that chapter.

> An input might generate fewer > icons in the output than you expect.

> Read the output you receive--to help you follow the story--then enter the same input again, and re-enter that input until the number of > icons in the output catches up to your current stage.

> That inconsistency between stage number and the number of > icons simply means that you never entered a particular input on a previous stage.

> Keep in mind that each stage in a chapter generally stands on its own, and an output from an earlier stage usually won't help guide you to the correct input of a later stage.

> But every output is there to help tell Tera's story.

> You might enter a valid input that lacks an output. There are certain combinations of words as inputs that do not make the most sense for an input-output relationship. For example, one of Terminal's chapters follows a particular sentence and word pattern, and based on that pattern, certain verb-noun combinations would not make grammatical sense. The terminal will let you know when you've reached that chapter. Keep going by entering a new input.

> Type "help" in any chapter if you forget the chapter's initial prompt. In the help screen, verbs (the first words of every valid input) will be highlighted in bold text, and you can read a manual specific to that chapter detailing its rules in full.

> Type "clear" in any chapter to clear the output history from the screen.

> Type "full text" in any chapter if you get lost or prefer to read the chapter as a story. It will show you all of the chapter's inputs and outputs. It might take some time for the full text to load due to the complexity or length of certain chapters.