Storybreaker V3 Test

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<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/titleicon.png"> Once upon a time There was a prince There was a dragon And there was a girl in a clockwork [[tower.|girl]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> The girl in the clockwork tower lives in a little round room at the top of the tower. She has lived here all her life. The tower provides food but no nourishment, light, but no warmth, servants but no friends. Its maze of spires and stairs, its heavy, cold walls, and its only door, - never, ever open - this is the only universe she has ever known. A perfect, self-contained universe, knitted together by a [[Story.|story]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> Because you are the girl in the tower, remember? Perhaps you don't. There are so many things you can't remember anymore. Your name. Where you came from. Who you are. So many memories, all sandpapered away by the long, cold years in the tower. No matter, make a new one. You are <<textbox "$who" "">> You came from <<textbox "$where" "">> You believe in <<textbox "$believe" "">> Repeat this now, like a [[talisman.|origin]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> The Story is bound by two rules, greater than you and greater than stories themselves. Remember them. One. Stories are made by weaving many threads. And in the lacework universe of stories, every thread has a purpose. You may break them, you may change them, you may never destroy. Two. Like the striking of the tower bell and the flight of birds to distant lands, stories are tied to the right time. They cannot be broken a moment sooner. [[Look out|black]] of the window and see if that moment has come. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> The sky is black and shimmering as a crow's beak. The Story has not yet awakened. It lies in slumber, it dreams of feeding on your wishes and replacing them with its own, as elegant and as empty as seashells. But waiting is your game and after all these years, you play it very well. While you wait, you could go to the [[library|study]], with the books that always change. Or you could practice the [[dance|fight]] in the dungeons. And then there's [[sleep.|sleep]] <<set $hasstudied to false>> <<set $hasfought to false>> <<set $hasslept to false>> <<set $yellowdone to false>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> <<if $hasfought is false>>When you came to the tower, its clockwork cells took the form of bone and metal dolls. They nursed you, fed you, taught you to speak and sing. All for your role in the story, to fashion of you a fitting prize for a gallant prince. <<else>> The bone and metal dolls, the clockwork tower's cells taught you to speak and sing too. All for your role in the story, to fashion of you a fitting prize for a gallant prince. <</if>> But because they taught you to speak and to read, you learnt how to understand the tongues of a hundred different tribes, of kingdoms that you will never see. And they forgot that when you learn to understand other people, other places, you learn to understand the language of stories. And you learn to understand the prison you're in. Today you will practice the language of the [[cloud|gaelic]] people of the north. <<set $hasstudied to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You climb down the spiralling stairs inside, past the library, past the beating clockwork heart. You keep climbing down until you reach the velvety grey darkness of the dungeons. <<if $hasstudied is true>> A soft buzzing welcomes you. Down here you find your familiar companions, your lifelong gaolers, the bone and metal dolls. Just as they taught you to read, they taught you to dance. A princess must always know how to dance. <<else>>A soft buzzing welcomes you. These are the cells of the clockwork tower who took the form of bone and metal dolls. They were your only companions - and your gaolers - through the long years. They taught you many things - speaking, singing, dancing. <</if>> And you discovered that dancing is only a glint of a sword away from fighting. You pick up your [[sword]], the one you had them make from the remains of old clockwork and metal from dead dolls. It's an old dance, and your partner is time. <<set $hasfought to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> In one of the books in the ever-changing library, you once read of another girl, a million miles away and a thousand years ago, who too was spirited away and kept prisoner. //I am weary of days and hours,// she said. //Blown buds of barren flowers, Desires and dreams and powers And everything but [[sleep.|sleeping]]// <<set $hasslept to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> The language of the cloud people has always been one of your favourites. It's all wood and wind, and makes you think of vast skies under purple moors. You start to study the words, speaking them out aloud, enjoying their taste in your mouth, like rain falling on ancient rocks. //Oscail// To open //Cuibhreach// Chains, a prisoner. //Éan// A bird <<if $yellowdone is false>>Eventually, you become aware of the relentless ticking of the clockwork and you wonder whether you should go back up to your room and [[watch|yellow]] the skies again.<</if>> <<if $yellowdone is true>>Eventually, you become aware of the relentless ticking of the clockwork and you wonder whether you should go back up to your room and [[watch|red]] the skies again.<</if>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> Once again, the comfort of the library, the escape of tongues spoken in unknown places. Today you will learn the language of the rain dune kingdom of the south west. Bright and smooth, it reminds you of rivers flowing through dense jungle. As you study, speaking the words out aloud, you feel warmed up, as if suspended in soupy golden sunlight. //Poa// To open, or to count //Teokuitlamekatl// A chain of gold, or a slave //Totontli// A bird Eventually, you become aware of the relentless ticking of the clockwork tower and you wonder whether you should go back up to the tower and [[watch|red]] the skies again. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> Has it been an hour, or a day, or a year? Time flows differently around the tower now that the Story approaches. The sky is now a luminous yellow, like crushed butterflies. You feel the Story stirring, getting ready to stretch out and place a pair of jewelled hands around your neck. But not yet. You must wait, as you have waited days, then years and then decades. While you do, there is again, the [[library|study2]], the [[dance|fight2]] in the dungeons, or as always, [[sleep.|sleep2]] <<set $yellowdone to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> So you seek refuge in the kingdom of sleep where the Story can't find you, at least for a few hours. <<if $yellowdone is false>>But inevitably, the relentless ticking of the clockwork tower invades your dreams and you wake, and hurry to the window to [[watch|yellow]] the skies again.<</if>> <<if $yellowdone is true>>But inevitably, the relentless ticking of the clockwork tower invades your dreams and you wake, and hurry to the window to [[watch|red]] the skies again.<</if>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> You sweep and move the sword, as fast as you can, trying to find the dolls in the gloom. <<set $counter to 10>> <<repeat 0.75s>> <<set $counter to $counter -1>> <<if $counter is 0>><<goto [[practicefight]]>> <</if>> <</repeat>> [[Before they find you.|practicefight]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> You dance this way for hours. <<if $yellowdone is false>>Eventually, the soft buzzing of the dolls turns into the serrated tick-tock of the tower and you decide to climb your way back up and [[watch|yellow]] the skies again.<</if>> <<if $yellowdone is true>>Eventually, the soft buzzing of the dolls turns into the serrated tick-tock of the tower and you decide to climb your way back up and [[watch|red]] the skies again.<</if>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> The sky is now the colour of old blood and snow falls fast on the spires and stairs of the clockwork tower. The Story is awake. You look out the window for the last two signs. A dragon, with a pair of wings as loud and powerful as a storm, flies past and lands on one of the spires. A prince, with a sharp sword breaks open the door, the only door, with a sound of thunder. Take one last look at your room, your prison, your universe. [[It has begun.|begun]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You climb down the inner stairs that snake around the belly of the tower until you reach its beating clockwork heart. You know that from now on, everything you do will either help you defeat the Story or lead you straight into its maws. Two paths lie before you, two wings to the tower that never existed before. Which one do you take? [[The East.|east]] [[The West.|west]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> The east wing opens into a vast empty chamber. At its end is a balcony leading out to one of the outer stairs that twine around the tower. You go to end of the chamber but find nothing. For a place so full of emptiness it holds a pregnant silence, as if any moment now it will burst wide open. You [[wait.|waitprince]] You [[leave.|west]] <<set $eastwing to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> <<if $eastwing is true>> You leave the east wing and go to the west. At first the chamber that opens up seems identical, as vast and empty as the one in the east. Until you hear the sound of the [[flames.|flames]] <<else>> The west wing opens into a vast and empty chamber. At its end is a balcony leading out to one of the outer stairs that twine around the tower. It seems to hold a pregnant silence, as if any moment now it will burst wide open. Until you hear the sound of the [[flames.|flames]] <</if>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> Seeking once more the violent refuge of the dance, you make your way down to the dungeons, climbing the tightly spiralling stairs. Except this time they seem to eat at the florid yellow light, plunging you deeper into gloom with each [[step.|step]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> The darkness in the dungeons is [[suffocating]], as heavy and alive as a gloved hand over your nose. And the soft buzz has been replaced by a sharper, wilder tick. As if the Story is awakening, and it knows what you mean to do to it. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You leave, glad to be away from the smothering darkness, the malevolent ticking and make your way upstairs once more to watch the [[skies.|red]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You decide to sleep again, to save your strength for the Story when it comes for you. As you drift off you think of that other girl, trapped in another prison. Her name, you remember, as sleep pulls you under, was Persephone. //Nor wintry leaves nor vernal, Nor days nor things diurnal; Only the sleep eternal In an eternal [[night.|night]]// </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You are lost when you awaken, you have been dreaming of a prince and a dragon. They are both trapped with you and you look at each other, mute and unmoving as the tower burns down. You go to the window to get a few breaths of cold air and loosen the cobwebs of sleep from your mind. And watch - with eagerness or with dread, you can't say - the [[sky.|red]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> Time trickles down, sometimes in bursts and then in drops. You have no idea how long you wait. You think that you might have heard a roar, like a comet falling to the earth but the balcony offers no view save of blood red skies and snow white ground. After a minute, or an eternity, you hear a sound. Steel on stone. You turn around and there is your [[prince.|prince]] <<set $didnottry to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> He is beautiful, of course. Even with his face cut by claws, his armour stained with soot, the blade of his sword covered in iridescent blue dragon blood. It pools on the floor like drops of liquid opal. You think he looks exquisite, like a [[foxglove|surrender]] in winter. You think he looks venomous, like a nest of [[tulips|fightprince]] on a hearse. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> He //is// exquisite. And he promises freedom, love, escape. As you look at him, the years of loneliness and imprisonment in the cold, heavy walls of the tower rush back at you and howl inside your heart like a bitter wind. You surrender to the promises in his eyes. You [[surrender|lose]] to the story. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> As you look at him, despite yourself, the years of loneliness and imprisonment in the cold, heavy walls of the tower rush back at you and howl inside your heart like a bitter wind. But you spent those lonely years learning the language of stories. And it has taught you the language of hearts. A stranger for whom you are first of all a prize to be won will never love you, nor you him. So you will not marry your prince. You will [[fight him|fightprince1]] instead. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> //Once upon a time, there was a prince, a dragon and a girl in a clockwork tower. The prince slew the dragon and rescued the girl. He brought her back to his kingdom and married her in a flurry of flowers. They lived happily. For a while.// What did you expect, girl in the tower? That a prince that has seen you as nothing more than a prize, with whom you exchanged ten words before you married him - that such a prince would be your true love? One day, when the skies are purple, like wolfsbane, he takes your hand and leads you outside. You walk through the ornamental gardens, past the woods he hunts in, past the wild forest, until you come to a tall tower. //Welcome my love,// he says, //welcome to your [[new tower|playagain]]//. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> A jet of fire, gold but for a kernel of electric blue at its heart, shoots out just past the edge of the balcony. Here be dragons. You are [[frightened.|waitprinceafraid]] You are frightened, but you [[still go|climb]] to the balcony. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> You are terrified at the prospect of five hundred tons of scale, sinew and fire. Nevertheless, you master your fear and step into the balcony and onto the winding staircase. You climb up. And up. And up. The tower seems to have mutated, surely it wasn't this tall? And up. And up. Until at last, you meet the [[dragon.|dragon]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> Your nerve fails you in the face of five hundred tons of scale, sinew and fire. What good would it be to fight the Story when your bones are cinder? You decide to go back to the east wing and [[wait.|waitprince]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> The dragon sits wrapped, around the entire east wing, from stair to spire, iridescent as a high cloud at sunrise, and impossible as a dream. //Hello//, says the dragon, in a voice like flint and rain. //Are you here to slay me?// [[Yes|slaydragon]] [[No|freedragon]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> //Yes//, you tell the dragon, //I am sorry but I have to break the Story, I have to escape.// //Right//, says the dragon. //No problem. Except, what exactly are you going to slay me with?// You realise you have no sword. It lies at the bottom of the dungeon. With no weapon, you are as defenceless against the dragon as a dandelion in the wind. The dragon looks you in the eye and [[opens its mouth.|dragonpity]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> //No//, you say //I am here to break the Story.// //The Story requires the dragon to be slain//, says the dragon. There is no bitterness in its voice. //By the prince. I am no prince. I am the girl in the tower, and I am here to [[free|free2]] you//. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> //I do wish to be free, girl in the tower //, says the dragon. // To return to my people in the country of cloud and rain. But I am not bound by ordinary chains. I am bound by story-stuff, by words and ideas. You must speak the right word to free me.// You think about the way stories work. Each piece and each element there for a reason. You can break the Story but you cannot break the rules it was born of. It must be a word you have seen already. You think of a word that might free the dragon. <<textbox "$dragonword" "">> And you say it out [[aloud|dragonword]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> You flinch, but instead of fire and heat you feel a gust of wind. The dragon is laughing. //I do not grudge you your attempt to kill me//, says the dragon. There is no bitterness in its voice. //The Story says that I must be slain. And it doesn’t expect you to do it. That is certainly one way to trick It// Suddenly, you are aware of a loud ticking. Urgent, sharp, afraid. It reminds you that time is running out and you have the Story to break. You could back away and use the time to break [[your own|backaway]] Story. Or you could try to [[free|freelink]] the dragon. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> //I am sorry//, you say. //I must break my Story and escape. I do not have the time to help you. All I can do is wish you a good death, dragon.// You climb back down and into the east wing. And there you wait for the [[prince.|waitprince]] <<set $backaway to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> //You are right. The Story requires the dragon to be slain//, you say. //By the prince. And I am no prince. I am the girl in the tower, and I am going to [[free|free2]] you//. </p> </div>

<<if $dragonword is "oscail" or "Oscail">><<goto[[dragonfree]]>> <<else>><<goto[[losedragon]]>> <</if>>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> $dragonword, you say. With a sinking in the pit of your stomach you realise that the dragon is still trapped. //You tried your best//, says the dragon kindly. //And I will always be grateful to you for it, for the rest of my life. Which should be about ten more minutes, give or take//. You can only look at the dragon, bewildered by its levity in the face of death. //There are many ways to break the Story, girl in the tower//, it says. //If you cannot change what will happen, change how you feel about it.// The dragon pauses. //I would like to give you a gift//, it says and holds out a [[paw.|lightscale]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> The dragon uncurls its paw. In the centre you find a single, glittering scale. //To thank you for trying to free a chained dragon. May it light you, in the darkest depths.// You take the scale. Despite its fiery glow, it feels cool and smooth, like a pebble from a river. //Goodbye, girl in the tower//, says the dragon. //And when the Story catches up to you, [[give it hell.|gobackprince]]// <<set $tryfree to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> //I will remember your lesson, dragon//, you say with a bow. Then you climb down the tower and down to the east wing to await the prince. And while you [[wait|waitprince]], the dragon scale in your pocket fills your heart with a light and heat that wasn't there before. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/dragongold2.png"> $dragonword, you say. The dragon gets up, unfolds its wings, coruscating in the winter sun. It is as large as a star. You wish you it could take you away on those wings. //Thank you, girl in the tower//, it says in a voice like a summer storm. It pauses and bends down. //Before I go, I would like to give you a gift//, it says and uncurls a paw. In the centre you find a single, glittering scale. //May it light you, in the darkest depths.// The dragon unwraps itself from the tower and flies away in a squall of wings and flame. And you climb down to the east wing and wait for the last thread you must face before the Story can be broken. [[The prince.|princewaitdragon]] <<set $dragonfreed to true>> <<set $tryfree to true>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> As you run, you hear the prince give chase, slow and bewildered at first, calling out to you to stop. Then he stops calling, because he is trying to outrun you. You reach the bottom of the tower and find your sword where it always is, in the grey limbo between tower and dungeon. When the prince reaches you, you smile at him, and raise your [[sword.|dungeonfight1]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> Both of you learnt to fight. You, in the dungeons with bone and metal dolls. He, in his castle with his knights and squires, fierce warriors all. But did the prince ever learn to [[dance in the dark?|dungeonfight2]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> When the first swipe of the blade slashes across his cheek, the prince steps back confused. But with the second slash, his confusion turns to the single minded concentration of someone fighting to win. Or to [[kill.|lightbattle0]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> You are locked in a fierce dance, the prince and you. You thrust and deflect, stab and block. And suddenly, just when you are about to pierce the prince's heart with a killing move, the darkness [[overpowers|darkbattle1]] you. </p> </div>

As the darkness swallows you, the light from the dragonscale gives you an advantage the prince does not have. <<set $counter to 10>> <<repeat 1s>> <<set $counter to $counter - 1>> <<if $counter is 0>><<goto [[losebattle]]>> <</if>> <</repeat>> [[You make one hit|lightbattle2]]

One hit down, but the prince is not done yet. Find him, before time runs out. <<set $counter to 10>> <<repeat 1s>> <<set $counter to $counter - 1>> <<if $counter is 0>><<goto [[losebattle]]>> <</if>> <</repeat>> [[Two hits|lightbattle3]]

You feel victory close to you, you just need to find the prince one more time. <<set $counter to 10>> <<repeat 1s>> <<set $counter to $counter - 1>> <<if $counter is 0>><<goto [[losebattle]]>> <</if>> <</repeat>> [[Three hits|winbattle]]

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> Yes, both of you learnt to fight. But the prince had the jewelled court, its hunts and feasts, its beautiful lords and ladies like brightly coloured birds. This and a thousand other delights fought for his attention. You only had the tower, the stories and the dance in the dungeons. And so, you [[win.|winbattle2]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> You are too slow, the darkness too strong, and the prince's blade finds your ribs before you can parry the attack. You look at the him. In the flickering phantom light of the dungeon, he looks tired and frightened. //[[I am sorry|girlwishes]]//, he says. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You do not turn your gaze away from the prince. //All my life//, you say, //all these long years in the tower, the Story decided my days and nights. I dreamt of other fields, of unknown lights, of the pleasure and the freedom of getting lost. Death, I suppose is a kind of freedom// //I am sorry//, repeats the prince simply, and he lowers the sword down. It sinks into you like [[rain through earth.|girldies]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> He arrives just as you enter the empty chamber. He is beautiful, of course. His armour shines and his sword is spotless. You think he looks exquisite, like a [[foxglove|surrender]] in winter. You think he looks venomous, like a nest of [[tulips|fightprince]] on a hearse. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> In the heart of the dungeon, the darkness seems alive, a seething, malignant creature. Your eyes adjust to the lack of light faster than the prince's do. Yet even as he stumbles at first, swiping wildly in the dark, his attacks start finding their mark. Did you think the Story was going to let you go this easily, girl in the tower? <<if $tryfree is true>>But just as the darkness threatens to swallow you whole, the light from the dragon scale [[lights up.|lightbattle1]] <<else>>You must find the prince now, before he [[finds you.|darkdungeon]] <</if>> </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> Before you plunge your sword into the prince's heart, you look at his eyes. They are tired and frightened. //I never wanted to kill the dragon//, says the Prince. //I never expected to fight you//. He says this without pleading. //All I wanted were books, a warm place by the fire, the sound of birds at sunset//. [[You kill the prince|killprince]] [[You spare the prince|spareprince]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> You raise your sword. //Wait//, says the prince, and for the first time, his voice breaks. //What about the Story? This is not how it ends, I know it is not.// //It does now//, you say and drive the blade into his [[heart.|killprince2]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You look at the prince and hesitate. Then you let sword fall to the floor. //All my life//, you say slowly, //all these long years in the tower, the Story decided my days and nights. I dreamt of unknown fields, and strange lights, of the pleasure and the freedom of getting lost. I know what it is to want, and not receive. Stay in the tower prince, here you will have your books, your firelight and the sound of birds at sunset.// You turn [[away.|door]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You climb up the stairs, and with each step the sky seems to lighten, the blood red shrinking away like waves on a beach. When you reach the landing you find the source of the light, an impossibly luminous rectangle. The door, the only door in the castle is [[open.|goout]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You go through the door and out of the tower. A vast, wonderfully vast land lies before you. Great green waves of forest. And beyond that, high mountains. And beyond that, the promise of places yet unknown. The sky is as blue as crushed sapphires and bigger than you had ever imagined. <<if $dragonfreed is true>> In its sea-like depths you think you hear a dragon's cry.<</if>> You are [[no longer|win]] the girl in the tower. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> The sky has lightened, impossibly fast. Behind you, you hear the familiar buzzing of the bone and metal dolls descending on the prince. Are they healing him, or are they ensuring that he is dead? You do not know and you do not care. Because the door, the only door in the castle is open and it casts an impossibly luminous rectangle of light You step [[through the door.|lose2]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> And into another tower. You forgot the rule, greater than the Story, greater than you. //You may break, you may change, but you may not destroy.// The walls of this tower are colder, heavier than yours ever were. And all you can hear, the only sound in the universe, is the ticking of a [[clock.|playagain]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/princegold2.png"> //I have been waiting for you, prince//, you say. He breaks into a smile, as radiant as sunrise on snow. //As have I, girl in the tower//, he replies, and reaches out for you. Just as you whirl around and past him and rush down the stairs. To the [[dungeon.|dungeon]] To your sword. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You realize can no longer hear the ticking. You rise up from where you fell. The girl at your feet, the one with the sword through her heart, looks like someone you once knew. A childhood friend, perhaps, half-forgotten as you grew older. You climb up the spiralling stairs. It is dark, except for a bright, impossibly luminous, rectangle of light. You step through it. A vast, wonderfully vast, land lies before you. Great green waves of forest. And beyond that, high blue mountains, and beyond that, the promise of places yet unknown. You are no longer the girl in the tower. You are [[free.|playagain]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/titleicon.png"> Credits //Written & Illustrated by// Shoma Patnaik //Background Images (via Pexels and Pixabay Free Licence)// Axonite Bertvthul Bruno Glatsch Francesco Paggiaro Jonny Lew Mauricio Atrieda Michael Schmid Oleg Magni Paulina Puchalska Phil Kallahar Simon Steinberger //Quotations from// The Garden of Proserpine (1866) by Charles Augustus Swinburne Play Again [[From the beginning|Start]] [[From the day of the Story|red]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p> You are too slow, the darkness too strong. The prince's blade finds your ribs before you can parry the attack. You look at the him. In the flickering phantom light of the dungeon, he looks tired and frightened. //I am sorry//, he says and lowers his sword into your heart. It sinks into you like rain through [[earth.|lose3]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> //This cannot be happening//, and yet it is. There was a thread you forgot to break. The dragon that died in the west tower. The Story, however, does not forget, nor does it forgive. It sank its talons into the gap you left behind, and used it to drown you alive. As the light and life recede away from you like waves on a beach, all you can hear, the only sound in the universe, is the ticking of a [[clock.|playagain]] </p> </div>

[img[Begin|https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/TitleName.png][Start]] <p style="text-align:center;"> This game uses both mouse clicks and text input. Click the image to begin </p>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> //I am $who I came from $where I believe in $believe// This is your little [[rebellion|origin2]] against the Story. </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> Because you can't trust the Story, girl in the Tower, no matter the dreams it spins. Remember that stories make queens out of lost girls and crown them. They also make witches out of lonely crones and burn them. This Story is a glittering manacle, a vampire. It cares for no one but itself. Don't let the Story bend and break you into the shape it wants. [[Break it first.|lookout]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> You are $who You come from $where You believe in $believe And you are free. To create a new story of your [[own.|playagain]] </p> </div>

<div class="textbox"> <p><img src="https://shomapatnaik.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/girlgold-2.png"> A Story that caged a girl in a clockwork tower. So that one day, a brave and handsome prince could slay a fierce and fiery dragon and win her for his own. So that they would live happily ever after. Whether they wanted to or not. [[Your Story.|makememory]] </p> </div>