You race downstairs and you barely notice your surroundings. They're a blur. Literally, the surroundings are all a blur--the walls, the stairs, the ceiling, the floor--it's all blurry black charcoal.

Your claws are out and you're ready for the princess. But she's hard to find. The entire basement--a cavern really--is shaking and your reptilian eyes can't focus on anything. Up and down and up and down. You slash at anything that comes near. You feel metal, and then a chain breaks.

"Watch it!" the princess shrieks. "You almost slashed my fetlock."

"You fool!" The voice of the irritated complains. "You can't win this fight."

"We'll just trip and fall and die again," the voice of the clumsy sighs.

You say nothing, and strike out toward the sound.

"You're trying to kill me. But I'm harmless. I'm fading away," she says. "I don't really matter. Nothing here does. We're all pretext. Prequel to context." Then she claws you in your back. You strike in response. She's a blob of dark purple ink--so dark she almost blends into the black paint of the walls. And you're a blur of viciousness, ripping and tearing.

And you both bleed.

"Good work!" the narrator laughs. "You did it."

You shatter the fourth wall--clumsily.

The narrator, a crow with a protruding black beak blinks at you. "You're not supposed to be here."

"You--" you sigh.

"It hurts to talk. So don't," the voice of the irritated insists.

"You did this," you wheeze, eyes lolling up at the looming narrator.

The narrator clicks and looks at the dying princess and then at you. And he sighs. "I could bandage you, but you're going to die before she does."

"You can... help?" the voice of the clumsy pleads.

The narrator shakes his head. "I set this in motion, but I can't effect this--not like this. I have to try again."

"No,"

"Don't worry. I can't use you as a vessel any more."

"A vessel?"

"You broke the fourth wall... you're tainted. I need to... try again and instead of placing real creatures into conceptual forms, I will gather concepts from all the realities and enough strength to anchor them in their pure forms. One last try."

"What are you--"

"I am... well... I'm you... in a way." The narrator looks at the princess, laboring to breathe. "In a way..."

"Please--explain--"

"Perhaps if you had taken a different path..." the narrator ponders. "But that matters not now."

"I--not you--since you'll be dead-- will discover how my new plan turns out in... Slay the Princess! The video game.

But for now, you die.

Author's Note

This is an "Act Three" ending.

This "Act Three" is structured different from how the game did it, to encourage you to purchase the game if you liked this adventure.

Consider this Act Three ending a 02: Manipulated ending.

You were manipulated.
But you trusted the narrative.
And so, you saw a piece of the truth.
It's not a good ending.
Because you didn't fight back.
But you did the best you could within the rules you were given!
The game was rigged from the start when you followed the clumsy path.

You can start again and try to find a different ending.