You drop the shattered table leg. You'd probably make a mess of fighting with it anyway.

"It matters a great deal," you say. "If someone wants us to be at each others' throats, then we should turn the tables," you gesture toward the brutal weapon you had brought. "Do you have a plan?"

"Come here," she beckons.

You comply, and, after a mere few steps, you fall over her chains, scraping your scales and making a mess. And she's free.

"When you fall, you fall hard," she observes, her voice and the glint of her magical hornlight drifting farther and farther away from you.

"Wait!" you call out. "I'm stuck in the chains! Tangled!"

"I figured," she scoffs--her voice much harder than before. "I am getting out of here."

"What did the world do to be saddled with such a uniquely challenged savior," the narrator sighs.

"S-Serious crimes against life?" the voice of the clumsy suggests.

"Bollocks," the narrator curses.

You hear the princess shimmy up the pole, using either prodigious strength or her dwindling reserves of magic. Then, you hear the pole sway back and forth while the princess likely jumps off it. Then there is a thud as the princess likely slams into an immovable door. Shortly, she slides back down the pole and soon after, she appears at your side. "You're coming with me," she says, and she helps you up from the chains.

"This won't end well," you warn.

"It will be fine. I'll protect you with my magic."

She gets you to the top of the pole with an enormous effort, huffing and puffing. Her magic sparkles. Her light goes out, and she makes the jump to the door's threshold, with you on her back. You both alight and she catches her breath and winces and sets you down. "Try the door."

Dismounted and disoriented, you blink, dizzy from the height, the ascent, and the jump.

"The world will end!" the narrator shrieks.

"I don't think we'll get that far..." the voice of the clumsy suggests.

"Don't you dare--please--" the narrator says.

"I'm feeling a bit--off." You totter backward and the princess catches you with her magic.

"I expected that," she sneers. Then she insists: "Open the door! Turn the handle. No matter how incompetent you are, I am sure you can do that." The princess takes a deep breath.

You try the door handle. The princess' magic sizzles. The door opens, and you fall backward. The princess avoids your tumble and leaves you like the trash you are, but then a mirror from the tilted room--the room she had upended--tumbles past and strikes her on the snout.

You fall off the edge, and the princess tumbles too. You look into the mirror, shattering into a thousand pieces in slow motion. You see a crow in the reflections. You see yourself. You see the princess--like she had been when you first encountered her--tiara and friendly smile. You see the world. You see the universe. You see everything.

You die, splattering against the ground.

Author's Note

Ending Type D: Stasis.
Ending Specific: "The Patsy"

Play again from the beginning to reach another ending type and to unravel more of the mystery of what is happening.

Some key questions:
1. Why is the princess developing the way she is developing?
2. Why can't the princess leave the cabin... except when she can?
3. Why seemingly can't you stay dead?
4. What does the narrator really want? (Ending Ds give some insight into the narrator and its goals.)
5. Is there one or multiple universes?

Ending Types:
A. Slay the Princess
B. Free the Princess
C. Failure
D. Stasis