chapter one the hero and the princess you're on
a path in the woods and at the end of that path is a cabin and in the basement of that cabin is
a princess you're here to slay her if you don't it will be the end of the world can't someone
else do this un fortunately you're the only one who can pull this off I don't make the rules I
wish I did but I don't silently continue to the cabin you make your way up the short path to
the cabin you'll find the princess within a warning before you go any
further she will lie
she will cheat and she will do everything in her power to stop you from slaying her
don't believe a word she says we're not going to go through with this right she's a
princess we're supposed to save princesses not slay them ignore him he doesn't know
what he's talking about proceed into the cabin the interior of the cabin is almost
entirely bare the air is stale and musty and the floor and and walls are painted in
a fine layer of dust The Only Furniture of note is a
plain wooden table perched
on that table is a pristine Blade the blade is your Implement you'll need it
if you want to do this right enter the basement the daughter the basement creaks open
revealing a staircase faintly illuminated by an unseen light in the room room below this is
an oppressive place the air feels heavy and damp a hint of rot filtering from the ancient
wood if the princess really lives here slaying her is probably doing her a favor her voice
softly carries up the stairs he
llo is someone there is hypnotizing it's the kind of voice
you only have to hear once to remember it for the rest of your life don't let it fool
you it's all part of the manipulation you're playing a dangerous game by coming here
unarmed just checking in on you you are it's been so long since anyone's come down here
I I was starting to think they'd forgotten about me you walk down the stairs and lock eyes with
the princess there's a heavy chain around her wrist wrist binding her to the far
wall of the
basement she's beautiful how could someone like this be a threat to anyone I am begging you
to stay focused there's a lot riding on you here hi do you think you can get me out
of these chains hold on let's talk first okay I don't know anything about you for all
I know you're locked up down here for a reason of course I'm locked up down here for a reason
I don't actually know what that reason is but you don't just stuff a princess in a basement
and throw away the key without the
re being some sort of an explanation right you have all the
explanation you need you should know better than to trust whatever she comes up with all right
if I'm the first person you've seen in a while what have you been eating what have you been
drinking I don't see what that has to do with anything this is the only time this is ever going
to happen but I agree with the princess that's hardly relevant okay but actually what has she
been eating she has to eat right I'm sorry but I can't tru
st you this doesn't add up and it isn't
worth the risk taking your word over the potential fate of the world thank you you turn back to the
stairs intent on retrieving the blade in the cabin so what you're going to try and kill me you'll
regret this I promise you but go ahead run along and get whatever you're planning to to get but
you'd better hope that I don't slip these chains before you make it back down here slip These
Chains she can't right she needed our help to get out of here but d
o you hear the conviction
in her voice I don't think she's bluffing she has to be bluffing but hurry you rush up to the
first floor grabbing the blade both yours and the world's only possible salvation okay if
we're sure about this decision I'll support it I suppose we have a world to save after all
you slowly creep down the basement stairs it's quiet where the princess sat only a moment
ago there's only a severed arm its cooling flesh still chained to the wall and and she is
nowhere to be
seen is it just me or did this room get a lot bigger let's finish this your
eyes Dart to the corners of the room you don't see her where is she close the door behind you
you close the door behind you almost magically it's locks immediately click into place
maybe they'll open if you finish the job come on out let's get this over with I can
wait I'm very patient wait you do your best to patiently wait her out but eventually
exhaustion starts to set in come on wake up we can't fall asleep dow
n here Venture into
the Shadows you step into the Shadows to too late you hear the quiet patter of feet against
the basement floor followed by the tort pull and sharp pain of tearing flesh as the princess
lunges into you from behind and drags you to the floor her ferocity overwhelms you and as
the princess renss flesh from bone your limp fingers lose their grip on the blade it slips
from your hand your one last means of Defense lying useless beside you in a pool of your
cooling blood I sup
pose you just lacked the will to fight back this is the end isn't it
I'm afraid it is you shouldn't have let that fear creep into your heart you had the upper hand
and now look at you everything goes dark and you die chapter 2 the Beast you're on a path
in the woods and at the end of that path is a cabin and in the basement of that cabin is
a princess you're here to slay her if you don't it will be the end of the world she's going to
kill me again again people don't die twice you haven't ev
en met the princess and I hardly think
she'd be capable of killing someone as skilled and courageous as yourself if he doesn't remember
what happened then maybe it's best to keep it that way if he doesn't remember what happened
then something else must have trapped us here you're not trapped here nobody's forcing
you to do anything though the only sensible thing for you to do right now is March
up to that cabin and slay the princess let's assume I'm telling the truth and
all this really di
d already happen why should I listen to you why should I bother
doing anything those are two very different questions but fine I'll indulge you
if that's what it takes to get you moving let's say for a moment that this really
is the second time you've met me or or at least a version of [Music] me you died last time
which probably only happened because you didn't listen to me we did our best with the
information we were given and yet you still die died didn't you so great congratulations
yo
u've been given another chance to actually do this right and I believe your other question
was something along the lines of oh what's the point of doing anything if you're asking
that it sounds to me like you're making the rather dangerous assumption that your
actions last time around didn't have any consequences what do you mean of course there
weren't any consequences we were killed by The Princess and now everyone's right back where they
started that's sounds pretty consequence free to m
e yes but in this purely hypothetical
scenario that begs the question of how you got back here did time simply rewind
itself or were you instead transported to a different world entirely if it's the latter
what do you think happened after you died do you think the people there lived happily ever
after or do you think that the princess left unh Ed brought about the end to everyone
and everything just like I told you she would all the more reason to keep our wits
about us should we even retu
rn to the cabin we could find a safe little hole somewhere
instead you have to go to the cabin if you don't slay the princess she's going to end the
world which you're always going to be a part of even if you're cowering in a hole there's no
escaping your responsibility here proceed to the cabin a warning before you go any further she will
lie she will cheat and she will do everything in her power to stop you from slaying her don't
believe a word she says does a cat lie to a cornered Mouse
when it plays with its freedom or
is it just acting out its nature I don't see why that matters a lie is a lie and if anything she's
the one who's cornered she could have gotten out of there whenever she wanted to we should trust
nothing that she tells us only what we hear and smell that's a very roundabout way of saying
that you should listen to me and take this seriously maybe proceed into the cabin the interior of the cabin is ruinous and
dilapidated it feels like no one has lived here f
or a long time wind rushing in through cracks and
holes in the wooden walls The Only Furniture of note is a termite eaten table with a pristine
blade perched on its Edge the blade is your Implement you'll need it if you want to do this
right take the blade you take the blade from the table it will be difficult to slay the princess
and save the world without a weapon enter the basement the door to the basement
Creeks open revealing what's left of an old wooden staircase it's still
sturdy en
ough that you can make your way down in one piece though
you'll have to be mindful of holes the air seeping Up From Below is oddly warm
and wet as if you're ascending into a jungle if the princess lives here slaying her would probably
be doing her a favor she growls up the stairs I can smell you she sounds almost feral impatient or
maybe eager you carefully make your way down the stairs the last step gives way to The
Damp Earth Earth floor of a Starlet pit the walls are obscured by an impen
etrable
Darkness giving the illusion that the room might stretch on forever you brush against
the wide leaves of plants that surround you on all sides seemingly the only living
things that occupy this strange underground Wilderness the jungle is pressing in
on us hiding her from view she could be anywhere you see only a flash of the
princess before she scurries away into the underbrush dragging her heavy chain behind her remember she's just a princess she
is certainly not just a princess y
ou're not helping it doesn't matter what she is
it only matters what she does her shining eyes appear between the leaves staring
hungrily at you from the darkness I can hear your heart pounding from the bottom
of the stairs fledgling you're right to be terrified I'm so much more than you and a
little splinter clutched in Trembling Hands won't save you from me a shiver rushes up your
spine and pulls you upright the Air's shifting she's getting ready to pounce move now move the
side picking
a direction on Instinct as you land you're buffeted by a gust of air disturbed
by the sudden motion of a massive body the princess in an instant she's pounced on the spot
where you could have been her chains rattling across the floor behind her before you can blink
she's gone Vanishing once more into the Shadows but you still feel her Gaze on you you're f
faster than you were before but you're still Meek reactive pre you whirl around to find her
and your gaze meets hers a pair of shining ey
es peering out at you from just beyond the basement
stairs so she's cut off our Escape [ __ ] what do we do stop hiding and show yourself if you
want to see me you should get better at seeing she knows that her strength lies in Shadows
and secrets she won't reveal herself unless she has to you're deflecting and you bear
your weakness to the world she's coiling for another strike be somewhere else we're on
the back foot the back foot keeps us Nimble Keeps Us Alive it doesn't matter if it kee
ps us
alive if it eventually kills us we need to take back the momentum we need to do something wait
for her to strike and hit her back this isn't going to work we're in her domain we just
have to stay alive if we keep dodging her forever we're going to get tired we're going to
slip up we have to take a risk as the princess lunges from the Shadows once more lash out it
strikes cutting deep and the princess loses her Focus crying out in pain surprise as she
crashes into you your sense spraw
ling and can already feel the massive bruise blossoming
on your ribs as she scrambles back into the darkness look at that we wounded her and she
wounded us bad trade that hurt are you just the cornered animal you seem to be or could
you be a rival she rears back then leaps at you more forceful more ferocious more
serious ious the scuffle is brief and though you inflict a few deep wounds you
find yourself quickly overwhelmed by her savagery to the FL she wastes no time
before pouncing on yo
u in a flurry of Claws and blood your nerves
barely able to keep up with the onslaught by the end you're lying in a nest
of your own intestines spine severed blood rapidly draining out onto the jungle floor the
princess drenched in both her blood and yours idly prods your body no that's it then cornered
animal it was do better next time I still need to devour you and it doesn't count if you're
dead we're not dead we're but you don't have time to protest her premature observation of
your de
ath because everything goes dark and you die chapter 3 the den you're on a path in the
W yeah we are and this time we're not going to run until we die we're taking her head on
and we're winning you felt her she didn't have a soft underbelly she didn't have blind spots
what could we have done that would have saved us from her hunger when someone tries to make
you dead you have to hit them back you have to show them your Authority there's nothing
worse than a bully that thinks they own you gr
eat so you've been here before that
doesn't bode well you're not supposed to have been here before this is supposed to be
one and done oh shut up it bod's fine you're the reason we're stuck in this [ __ ] situation
now I have have to do the hard work of dragging us out and how do you intend to do that
we're going to fight her and we're going to win there's a reason she slinks around in
the shadows well no complaints here now hold on we're not just going to let the fact that he
knows things
about this whole loopin situation go are we he's not important he can have his
secret for all I care she's killed us twice now and that's enough of a reason for us to want
her dead okay what's the plan like I said we're going to fight her but we're so small we don't
actually know how big she is we just know she wants us to think she's big and if she's going
to treat us like prey again then she is sorely underestimating us one good Wallop that's all
we need to put her on the defensive the p
ath is different than it was before ground is ground it
doesn't matter what shape it takes we'll adapt if it looks different that's because the situation
has started to spiral out of everyone's control so please disavow yourself of the notion that
you can just come back here and fix this place if you manage to make a mess before that line
of thinking leaves you yet another world in ruin though as evidenced by you dying twice it's
safe to assume the fates of the world you've left behind don'
t concern you very much consider
this your last opportunity to make things right for you and for the rest of existence
but especially for you we don't need your pep talk I'll make sure we pull this off silently
proceed to the cabin you make your way down to the cabin your fated confrontation awaits
you know what to do we've already been over the plan I'm not sure that use violence counts
as a plan it's a better plan than you had last time I don't like this but I'll try to keep us
breathing
proceed into the cabin the interior is dark and overgrown Vines and brush obscure
so much of the place that had you not seen the exterior you might not have noticed this was a
cabin at all the Only Furniture of note if you could call it that is a knotted stump a pristine
blade embedded in its exposed Rings the blade is your Implement you'll need it if you're going
to do this right take it we're not fighting a monster without a blade even if it's not a
very big one is no one going to mentio
n the mirror what are you talking about there is no
mirror it's just a stump and a narrow tunnel that leads to the basement he isn't tricking us
can you feel the wind it's telling us there's a hole in that wall our eyes deceive us if that
mirror is blocking our way just Smash It and be done with it take the blade yes take the
steel claw you pull the blade from the stump gripping it tight it would be difficult to slay
the princess and save the world without a weapon good one step closer to e
nding this approach
the mirror you step forward approaching the small hole that leads to the basement hesitating
before you enter the princess's Lair you heard him stop hesitating and smash that antique
that mirror isn't part of this place it's seeped through from somewhere else it if there
even is an it is a hallucination like you said you've been here twice before your mind
was bound to start playing tricks on you eventually so grimy maybe we can wipe it
clean and finally get a look at o
urselves smash it you bring your fist crashing
down into the open hole leading to the basement throwing yourself off balance
and tumbling headlong into the pitch black if there were once stairs leading into
the basement there is nothing left to attest to their existence now there is only a long
tunnel of packed Earth growing more narrow as you descend it smells of mold and Decay
The Damp walls leave streaks of dirt along your body as you're forced to hunch then
finally squat down on all fo
urs in order to continue if the princess lives here slaying
her is probably doing her a favor as you crawl forward on hands and knees you're met
only with the sounds of ambient Earth no voice slinks confidently up the stairs
no entity threatens violence or pleads for safety stay quiet don't give her a sound say
nothing and silently proceed down the stairs you say nothing maintaining the silence as
you carefully make your way down into the basement the basement is dark and cavernous a
gapin
g Mo threatening to swallow you whole there is no light here say For What Little Starlight has
managed to filter down the tunnel and though you can't see the vastness of the space you can feel
it you're exposed it doesn't matter if we can't see down here we know where she is step into
the Shadows ready to fight you step into the shadows and are enveloped in total d Darkness
your heart pounds in your chest ears pricked eyes wide despite the inky Blackness waiting
for any sign of movement the
re she's about to strike with a near Silence of a determined
Predator the princess erupts from the Shadows me your blade its tip intercepting her before she can draw First Blood she
recoils stunned for a brief moment see I told you we needed to assert
our might we needed to prove to her that she can bleed too she'll doubt her every move now engage with even more ferocity than before
but that voice in your head wasn't wrong within that ferocity there is also hesitation not
much but enough no
t a word is spoken between you and the princess as you exchange blows
in the dark the glint of bloody Claws and fangs the flash of wet Steel in the pit all of
your senses are heightened each injury stinging like a chorus of insects each small shift in
your favor a major victory that swells your heart all reaches a climax and but he doesn't respond eyes glance at you from the untextured threads of
a world unravel am I free they ask but you do not get a chance to respond nor
will you ever it
is time to leave memory return pars she's gone where did she go should we try
and find her is that a mirror why is it here why now approach the mirror this this doesn't feel
right it feels different final that thing weaks of death screw the mirror we just need to find the
princess [Music] the voices feel small distant as you approach gaze into your reflection silence
as you reach forward they're gone once again the mirror always makes them leave but you need
to see what's in [Music] it you
are nothing at all but that isn't right you can't be nothing
you refocus your gaze and then you see it a figure faint and veiled in Shadow just beyond
the reflection are you me I think you know what I am a crack slides down the center of the mirror
splitting the image in the glass in two and then another crack forms and another and another
turning the mirror into jaged shards of broken glass so you're the narrator I was wondering if
I would ever get to see you the narrator yes I suppose tha
t's my job isn't it you needed help
after all an objective voice to guide your blade but you were never supposed to see me I wonder how
many worlds you damned to Extinction to fall this far are you a part of me or am I something
else no I'm not a part of you but that's all a matter of perspective isn't it from one
vantage point I must seem wholly foreign but from another well all the versions
of me that have existed have collectively heard your every thought and driven your
every action th
at is being part of you [Music] so you do know about the looping so many
of the times I met you you denied it as even being a possibility why did you lie to me
perhaps they thought that admitting to it would have pushed you to certain realizations
that would have made finishing your task impossible maybe they were just in denial
I'm sure many of them were convinced that they had to be the first version of them you'd
encountered anything else would have been too existentially unpleasant for
all I know each
of those other versions of me could have had entirely different understandings of how
this construct Works who's to say which of them are right and which of them are wrong really
except for me I can tell you for a fact that I'm right the people out there beyond the walls of
the construct do they know about about this do they know what you want me to do to them
of course not the only way this construct could function was if nobody knew what it was
doing but the bones of the
universe are old it's on the cusp with its dying breath and the
people out there are consumed with thoughts of Oblivion when the patterns are wiped from the
sand when the board is reset who will remember them all I've done is give them a chance
to live outside made of the shadow of the [Music] end do you have anything to say for
yourself for all this humorus I do people out there are real no matter what you do to them no
matter what you enable I want you to remember that and what is my true
identity you're the
long quiet the god I made to rid the world of death soon I'll be gone entirely and you'll be
left alone with your final choice so allow me to make my final request the princess contains death
itself within her but I wo you into being with all the power you need to destroy her forever
do it slay her and rid the world of death and suffering destroy the mirror you have heard of enough the narrator was
right you are the long quiet a vast and nent God and it is finally time
for you to wake up all
of this is you proceed to the cabin one last time when you arrive at the heart of
things there is no final vessel for you to Bear witness to there's nothing for you to find [Music] I can finally see you and you can finally see
me it's been so long and my heart has achd for this moment I've missed you [Music] dearly
what happened now ever the passive player always reacting and never acting but it's
woven into your nature isn't it when the echo spun us from one into two
he gave you a
choice and me a role to play I am not death but I contain it in my multitudes so will
you attempt to destroy me and bring about a world devoid of death and the possibility of
meaning or will you open the final doors to our Liberation there's so many stories we've
left unfinished can we really just leave even as your eyes begin to open you still
hold on to the Notions of is and is not of beginning and end pitch black islands in
the blinding light of the infinite there is noth
ing to resolve nothing restraining us
but us slay the princess violence has always been our language hasn't it if this is
what it takes to save you then so be it you are devoured pray for something
bigger than you that stalks and slinks and shadows but even after the pain of defeat
you returned the dance is its own truth it is the movement that matters not the pause
you mistake for an ending would you have us fight forever I would have you realize
that what you decry as suffering is beauty
but even as you stir to wakefulness
you cling to mortality that was never yours you are weightless suspended in the gravity
of an idea that threatens to consume you and you are alone a tiny Island caught between the
death of the old world and the birth of the new but alone is not [Music] helpless when
you were confronted with my vessels apotosis you chose Against All Odds to defy me to hold on
to your inner self with all its fls even in the scorching light of my Divinity without me there
are no externalities to resist and it is struggle that carves meaning into Consciousness I still
defy you now but in your Defiance I have already won there is no power without resistance
our actions feed each other into something greater I kill you you kill me back
and forth we go faster and faster and faster I kill you can you kill
me Hollow eyes watch from the dark corners of a forgot Place flooded
by emotions left unspoken The Tide Rises I kill you and me an ending is a passion
that can
only be expressed with a moment in time it is a seed for a new beginning to linger on
an ending is to rob it of its life and without me all this left to do is Linger I'm okay with
lingering to linger too long is to become worse than when you started would you rob yourself
of all context to remain trapped in a single moment what is a person is it their body is it all
of their body pluck the eyes peel the skin strip the tendons mince the meat grind the bones when it
is all gone do you still
have who you started with a person is not a body death is a transformation
into something new it is only bodies that feel it I am not my body but I feel my body suffer do
you suffer now let go of what you think yourself to be and [Music] exist is V and destroy the flesh
is D the spirit with violence you stranded me and with violence i s twist your FL mine for between
choosing your death and forfeiting your body you chose agency but agency requires action and
action requires end this tapestr
y of events in your final moments would you remove passionate
from reality you didn't give me much choice and yet still you chose to be capable of change is
to be capable of choice you are unmovable is it by the design of our conflict that I cannot win
or are you just that fervent in how you cling to illusion are you so desperate to destroy me that
you've grown blind to the Heavenly beauty of our reality nothing is immutable everything that is
exists only in relation to everything it isn't
there is no constant there is no Center you
cannot remove something without removing the relations which Define it to destroy what
you perceive as evil is to damn everything you perceive as good open your eyes and accept
what we are we can leave this prison together I have to fight for a better world I am so
sorry then destroy me if you're able but I will not coddle you in my final moments I
will not yield to your delusion without a vicious struggle you have don't have to
face her alone I
thought voices weren't allowed here apparently that's not true but
we can worry about it later seems like you've been doing all right on your own but I don't
think you can strike a decisive Blow from out here there's still a piece of me
nestled close to where it all began I can take you there I can take you to
her heart it's time to resume our dance she's Relentless isn't she let's make this
quick are you ready I'm ready then let's go and here we are I'd say we were back where it
all start
ed but I guess it's a little after that isn't it do you need me to describe things is it
just you and me did anyone else make it to the cabin it's just us I think the rest of them are
still out there jumbled up in the rest of her take the blade that's probably for the best it's always
seemed to give us more options than not enter the basement the stairs do you remember the
first time we were here the first time we heard her voice we both know why
you're here you don't have to draw it out fo
r my sake it sounded just like
that a little sharp a little menacing only she didn't know us continue down the
stairs and down we go we shouldn't keep her waiting and there you are knife and hand
that sight brings me back you're going to do it then aren't you you're really going
to kill me you'll have all of eternity to yourself after this why don't we chat
a little before I go sit with her are you the same as you are out there no I
feel like I'm myself again I only wanted to slay you out
there it's easier to want
to kill an abstract concept that it is a person well I don't want to be at the end of
that knife so how about we figure something out what if we tried doing this forever I can do
whatever you think I can right so make me put it all back make me fix the echo's construct and
make me wipe our memories of everything that's happened make me send us back to the beginning
before we woke up before either of us saw the truth can she really do that are you sure that's
what
you want but resetting it do anything to help them the people out there if you continue to
exist don't they continue to die and suffer fixing that is on you not me if you want me to help them
you'll have to make me help them we're going to find ourselves back here eventually and if we do
Nothing is Stopping Us from making the same choice we could just keep doing this forever if you're
talking about this right now how do we know we haven't done this before I don't think that's
something we'l
l ever get to know but odds are we've probably done it before this isn't fair
I want to be here with you I don't want to be alone again neither do I but we won't be alone
for long I'll be right here waiting for you is there any other way you brought that knife down
here for a reason either you use it to kill me or I use it to put things back I don't want to forget
you that's sweet but unless you do the whole world ends right not like I care but it seems important
to you okay then let's do i
t I Believe in Us agree to her plan okay if this is your choice then I
have your back I guess I'll see you on the other side she takes the blade from our hand a
fondness in her gaze I love you oh I love you too chapter 1 the hero and the princess you're
on a path in the woods and at the end of that path is a cabin and in the basement of
that cabin is a princess you're here to slay her if you don't it will be the
end of the world silently continue to the cabin
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