#isat spoilets

[vive-le-roi-au]

Act 1

(…)

(You started counting how many times you could go through the whole thing without dying. How long you could keep up a streak of deathless loops.)

(It’s been… maybe a hundred loops? Or close enough to that, since you first killed the King.)

(This loop marks the first time you’ve finished ten in a row.)

(A 10-streak is a pretty big achievement.)

(If you had a party popper, you’d set it off right about now.)

(*POP*)

(Yippee.)

(You’ve been thinking.)

(It’s his fault you’re here, isn’t it?)

(You don’t know what gave you the power to loop.)

(You don’t know why you’re looping, if not to kill the King.)

(But you know that, if not for him, you wouldn’t even need to loop.)

(So, it’s his fault.)

(If not for him, you wouldn’t be trapped here.)

(…)

(…Well that’s the end of that hat.)

(Not that it matters. Nothing ever really ends for you anymore.)

(You’ll have your hat back once you loop.)

(Curtain call.)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah. Something’s broken, something’s failing, rotting.)

(Nothing new there.)

(Just wait for the tug on your stomach.)

(…There it is.)

(you feel

in-between)

(A pitch lightless void. And yet, everything is framed by a silver lining. You can almost see.)

(Suddenly, a light shines from behind you, illuminating your surroundings.)

(You can see better now. The House’s front gate, ready to be opened. You could go in, if you wanted.)

(But… For some reason, you turn around…

…and see a star. Hovering. Pulsing.)

(Somehow, you know—you know you need it.)

(The star begins to hover away. It’s—it’s leaving, it’s—NO!)

(You run after it, boots pounding on nothing, running, running, running.)

(It flees faster. You run faster. Farther and farther away from the House, from the King, from your friends, from everything. Farther, and farther, and farther.)

(You need it. That star will give you what you so desperately want. It’ll set you free, bless you with the power to escape your prison, if you can only reach it! If you can only just…!!!)

(You lunge for it. It’s warm in your hands.)

(You can’t waste this. Do it NOW.)