Despite the title of the game, I didn't want to kill whoever this Princess was. But I wasn't going to pretend that I should just go for that right out of the gate, since I didn't actually know anything about her. After arguing with the Narrator about how weird and unpleasant this whole situation was, I was convinced to keep going to the cabin. The Voice of the Hero was as nonplussed as I was about this whole situation.
I went down the stairs of the cabin without the knife, but instead of freeing the Princess right away I wanted to ask her a few things. Her answers gave me the impression that she was as in the dark about the whole situation as I was, including her own identity. In particular, when the Princess asked me if I knew why I was sent to slay her (as I told her that was my mission, but didn't know what to believe), I stayed silent, as I didn't have a real answer. She correctly deduced that I wasn't even told, and that forces outside both of our control were forcing us into this situation.
After that though, when presented with the option to say "what if you and I stayed down here for a little while longer?" that felt too foolish to select. This is because of something that stood out to me earlier: she avoided answering "what food did you eat this whole time?" This gave me the impression she wasn't human, but despite the Narrator's interjections, I didn't necessarily think that meant she was a bad or evil person. Nonetheless, if I was right and the Princess wasn't human, then she could be stronger than she looked, and I felt telling the Princess to sit and wait, longer than she already waited, would not sit well with her.
I chose instead to silently go back upstairs to get the knife. I wasn't actually doing this with murderous intent, but if she could keep talking, I could use the knife to free her, at least that was my thought process anyway. Doing this caused the Princess to threaten me, confirming my suspicions about her being in control of whether I lived or died.
Still, when I went back downstairs with the knife and saw her dismembered arm on the floor, I was pretty unnerved. Instead of proceeding right away, I called out for her, which she responded to by daring me to come closer. I decided to close the door behind me so she couldn't escape, hoping that my knife would at least let me coerce some more questions out of her. Still, approaching her in the darkness caused her to get the jump on me, killing me.
...and then Chapter II started. "Oh... it's that kind of game, huh", I thought, dreading whatever was next.
I'd learn that Chapters II and III would be variable later, but for now this was Chapter II: The Beast. The Narrator didn't know what happened to us to cause us to reincarnate, but a new voice called The Hunted joined The Hero in our musings. I realized that this game was gonna have voices representing our previous deaths join us, which was pretty morbid. Still, armed with the knowledge that I can come back from death, I decided I would stick to my mission of simply finding out as much as I could about the Princess before making any major decisions.
The cabin was very different, having more of a jungle theme. I once again chose to go downstairs without a knife. Despite the protests of the Narrator and the Hero and Hunted voices, I still wanted to try talking. However, in her new beast form, the Princess wasn't very interested. Instead of trying to fight her or even talk, I wanted to listen to what she might have to say, so I chose to lay still. Somewhat predictably, the Princess wasn't having it. Unpredictably, she chose to eat me, which was very freaky.
Inside her stomach, I asked her more questions, including why she didn't just leave after killing me. I learned that she couldn't, even after devouring my heart and wearing my skin. The cabin seemed enchanted to keep her locked up, which made me sad. Despite options to defy the Princess or bargain with her, due to her avoiding most of my other questions, I chose to just die in her stomach, hoping the next reincarnation would bring me into circumstances where I could do so again.
Chapter III: The Woods started, and I was freaked out immediately, as it seemed the Princess was with us, and we were with her. The Voice of the Broken joined us this time, clearly traumatized by the nature of the death I chose to accept. Despite the peaceful tone of the unseen Princess, I wanted to ask her, sincerely, why she was being nice to me. She suddenly yelled that she couldn't go back to the fear and the hunger and the pain, and that it would be better to stay like this. Realizing we were "fused", I held onto the unpleasant thoughts returning to me, causing me to separate from the Princess and let me be my own person again. It was then that I saw the Princess had somehow become the woods, and they had become her.
I chose to cut her free, as I didn't want to hurt her but I didn't want to be her, either. She admitted that she didn't think we would do that, but then arms came out of nowhere, enveloping the Princess, and taking the whole of our surroundings with it.
For the first time, I could look in the mirror and see ourselves. We weren't human, but we were... something. I didn't know what to make of this, but this led to the first meeting with Her.
She was incredibly cryptic, seeming to be some sort of cross-dimensional immortal eldritch being. I was worried about the Princess, but She said there was no returning the Princess now that she was a part of Her. As freaky as this being was, I also felt She was operating on different morality than "normal" morality, so calling Her actions into question felt useless. Still, when told to "gather more vessels" and let my memories be erased, I resisted, deciding to try waiting forever. She told me it was useless and that I'd return anyway... and the game closed itself. This freaked me out enough to put the game down for several days, only picking it back up Friday night.
As I didn't save my progress at all, I prepared to repeat my steps to reach Her again, but to my shock I was booted right back to see Her. She observed that I had come back, just like She though I would. With no choice left, I let Her erase my memories, causing Her to tell me the Princess hoped I would remember her, but I wouldn't. Very chilling.
And that's how my very first "route" was Wounded Wild.
She wont need to wait
