The dialogue contains choice prompts that the reader must select to view responses. In this presentation, selecting one option will shutter all other choices within the page, causing some responses to become hidden. Therefore, the dialogue must be played out in order to properly read the narrative.
To view a map of all the dialogue options, a visual transcript image link is included at the top of each section.
You scarcely make it back to the shrine before Cassiopeia rushes out to welcome you.
Cassiopeia:
My darling, you've returned! And do you have…?
Cassiopeia:
Ah, did I say darling? I of course meant my b-brave champion…
Cassiopeia:
I haven't been thinking about you. I misspoke. T-the treasure, show me that. Yes.
Cassiopeia:
Hm?! I can hardly believe—you've brought it to me! True to your word!
Cassiopeia:
I must confess… a part of me did not expect you to return. Least of all in triumph.
Cassiopeia:
After I revealed to you my deepest pain… I thought you might abandon me. Like all those who came before.
I would never abandon you!
They were weak and pathetic.
Come on, aren't we past these theatrics?
Cassiopeia:
No… you would not.
Cassiopeia:
Well said. And yet you, my champion, are strong.
Cassiopeia:
Ah… clever, aren't we?
Cassiopeia:
You've been on to me this whole time, haven't you? Well, well.
Cassiopeia:
I like it.
Cassiopeia:
It's odd. I had not realized how much I would… enjoy… revealing my past to you.
Cassiopeia:
You are the first, you know. It's true.
Cassiopeia:
To trust you… and to discover that you did not betray me… well. What an unexpected prize.
Cassiopeia:
Now let me put this earring back on…
Cassiopeia:
There. How do I look… my brave champion?
You're really beautiful.
It suits you!
Do that thing where you crush my bones again.
Cassiopeia:
My, my. You do have excellent taste, don’t you?
Cassiopeia:
I agree. Thousands of years later and I've still got it.
Cassiopeia:
Heh. All in good time.
Cassiopeia:
You have my undying gratitude for returning this to me. And… for your rather surprising faithfulness.
Cassiopeia:
I wish I could reward you at this moment. You deserve to find your path home.
Cassiopeia:
And yet… I am afraid I have made a tiny mistake.
Cassiopeia:
It is uncharacteristic, that I should have lacked the foresight to anticipate a disruption of this nature!
A gentle creature, a lovely fawn—the perfect picture of innocence. How… ugh, delightful.
Cassiopeia:
I had not thought I would need her power to complete my own. In fact I wished to avoid it. But I am a creature of need, after all.
Cassiopeia:
She needs nothing to compliment herself, while I… need everything.
Cassiopeia:
You must go to her forest, and take one of her pretty bows. I cannot tell you why.
Cassiopeia:
I swore to ask nothing more of you…
Cassiopeia:
It grieves me that I must break this promise.
Cassiopeia:
But I must. Will you help me, this final time?
This is another ‘I don't have a choice’ thing, isn’t it?
I will never leave you wanting.
And then you'll crush my bones, right?
Cassiopeia:
You catch on quickly.
Cassiopeia:
So let us be allies—one final time.
Cassiopeia:
My brave champion. How fortunate I was to find you.
Cassiopeia:
My champion, this request is getting a little… weird.
Cassiopeia:
You do know I didn't crush your bones last time. I merely constricted your airways until you passed out."
Cassiopeia:
If I crush your bones you'll… hm, maybe not die. I'm not sure what would happen! We'll have to test it sometime."
Cassiopeia:
A pretty bow… and yet it is so much more.
Cassiopeia:
Hm. Strange. When I picture the bow in my mind…
Cassiopeia:
I find myself… lacking want? Lacking need? That can't be right.
Cassiopeia:
In all my years here, I have only ever known want, need, and temptation. It is my role, after all, to tempt the souls of the lost."
Cassiopeia:
I wonder what changed? Could it be… no, it couldn't be you?
Maybe you want me more than you want the bow.
Maybe the bow sucks actually.
Maybe you'll… crush my b—
Cassiopeia:
That's…
Cassiopeia:
Hmph! Something I've never considered! Me, wanting someone? Instead of something?
Cassiopeia:
It's so… accurate?
Cassiopeia:
The bow does not “suck actually”. It's infused with the power of Loss.
Cassiopeia:
Tragedy and fear swirl within its threads. To add it to my substantial powers would be…
Cassiopeia:
Well, I would not have to worry about weakness any longer.
Cassiopeia:
Yes, yes, crush my bones. Please crush my bones. Are you going to crush my bones? It's always about crushed bones with you.
Cassiopeia:
I'll make you a deal: bring me the bow, and I'll crush you into paste. You'll be the happiest puddle of skin for miles.
Cassiopeia:
“Crush my bones.” Of all the requests…
Cassiopeia:
I must meditate on this. Perhaps my nature has been changed in some subtle way.
Cassiopeia:
In the meantime, bring me the bow. With it I can offer you so much more.
Cassiopeia:
Just this last task, now. And then whatever you want… you will have.
You move through the garden of statuary to the altar, where Cassiopeia patiently awaits your return.
Cassiopeia:
Well now! Dare I hope that my champion has, against impossible odds, triumphed once again?
Cassiopeia:
Show me the spoils of your quest.
Cassiopeia:
Ah… look at it!
Cassiopeia:
With these objects, I can begin to whittle away at their owners' power.
Cassiopeia:
In time, my influence will grow unabated. Salvation? Obsession? Death? No, this will be a land solely of temptation.
Wait, you were using me?
You're going to subvert the other spirits?!
Yeah yeah, literal snake, whatever. Now, about my bones…
Cassiopeia:
Oh, you sweet creature. Of course I was.
Cassiopeia:
By convincing you it was in your best interest, as well as mine. Both of which had the advantage of being true.
Cassiopeia:
Do you really care? I don't.
Cassiopeia:
Yes, here you are, having fulfilled my tasks.
Cassiopeia:
Awaiting… your bones being pulverized. Maybe it was you who was using me!
Cassiopeia:
You needed a path out of the spirit realm. I needed an advantage. A perfect match.
Cassiopeia:
Or—ha! Did you think you were special, when I first sent you off?
Cassiopeia:
Do you know how many humans I've drawn in? Look around you.
Cassiopeia:
These statues, all frozen in positions of awe, fascination, and sublime terror? They were lost spirits, just like… well, somewhat like you.
Cassiopeia:
My domain is those who are consumed with vanity, solipsism, and with their own desires. Isn't it wonderful?
Is that what you saw in me?
I'm not like that at all.
You're a monster.
Cassiopeia:
A bit. You—like all mortals—have a touch of that.
Cassiopeia:
But you arrived here before your time.
Cassiopeia:
From what I have seen of you… I do not believe that you would have been drawn to eternal contemplation at my shrine.
Cassiopeia:
No, you really aren't. Which I thought I could use to my advantage.
Cassiopeia:
I'd imagined that you could be persuaded to do the right thing. That as a hero you would be… pliable.
Cassiopeia:
Oh yes. But a very beautiful monster.
Cassiopeia:
Don't be offended. I am the Spirit of Temptation, after all. Did you really expect me to change my nature?
Cassiopeia:
My task is to draw you further and further in, to bind your need to mine.
Cassiopeia:
And so I confessed the secrets of my past. Those were not lies, either. Unlike many of the principal spirits here, I was once mortal… just like you.
Cassiopeia:
It is no hardship to speak of that time, I admit. I have transcended that self entirely. But the events themselves—and the pain I felt then—is real.
Cassiopeia:
But I did not expect the telling of that to affect me as it did…
Cassiopeia:
It is true that I have never shared my story with another… another mortal. Long ago I learned the easiest road to temptation is not to lie, but to use the truth creatively.
Cassiopeia:
Still. When I opened myself to you… I did not expect to be so thrilled by the experience.
Cassiopeia:
To choose to divulge, knowing that if you hurt me, or betrayed me, I could destroy your mortal being utterly… I was safe to explore trust for the first time since my death.
Cassiopeia:
And I discovered that I enjoyed it. Very much.
Cassiopeia:
So now I am choosing once again to trust you.
Cassiopeia:
I am Temptation. I offer secrets, wants, needs, and the darkest desires of all. These can be yours as well.
Cassiopeia:
You are still so much less powerful than I—you cannot hurt me with them.
Cassiopeia:
But with everything you have done for me… you have set yourself apart.
Cassiopeia:
You have something that distinguishes you from the rest of these mortal supplicants.
Cassiopeia:
Something that, to my surprise, has held my interest. Longer than I thought possible.
Cassiopeia:
I thank you for this… enlightening experience.
You were lying to me this whole time?
I'm flattered.
I think we're getting a little off topic here. The topic being my bones.
Cassiopeia:
Yes. How else was I supposed to get what I needed? Ask a stranger? Don't be so naive.
Cassiopeia:
Think of it as truth, in the service of a larger lie, all to serve a greater truth.
Cassiopeia:
…I suppose that wouldn't make much sense to a mortal.
Cassiopeia:
You should be. It isn't every day that the akana deign to trust a mortal.
Cassiopeia:
Oh, have you been calling the darker spirits, “spirits”? Akana is an old word, translating roughly..
Cassiopeia:
…to demon. Though in my case it's not… entirely accurate.
Cassiopeia:
I'm beginning to think constricting you was a bad idea.
Cassiopeia:
Listen. You have been useful enough to me that I find myself considering, for perhaps the first time, what you might truly want.
Cassiopeia:
And while I would prefer to keep you here until I tire of you…
Cassiopeia:
I can sense that your desire to return home still flickers within you.
Cassiopeia:
Besides, I intend to task you with objectives I am unable to complete in this realm. More… mortal dealings, so to speak.
Cassiopeia:
They will not solely benefit me, of course—they will make you as rich, and as renowned, as you deserve to be.
Cassiopeia bows her head gracefully before turning to enter her temple.
