The Spectre

> Oh. It's you. Hiya, killer. I was hoping to see you again. I have some issues with how our last meeting went.
>
> **The Spectre**

## General information

### Voices

The Voice of the Hero
The Voice of the Cold

### Next Chapter

 Chapter III: The Wraith (Heart-ripper Ending)

**Chapter II: The Spectre** is a second chapter of *Slay the Princess*

## Requirements

If the Player slayed the Princess and killed themselves to escape the Narrator's "paradise", this chapter will be triggered.

For your cold-hearted slaying of the monarch, the Player is accompanied by the Voice of the Cold, who wants nothing more than to finish the job *properly* this time.

## Overview

After escaping an eternity of nothingness, you are once again on a path in the woods. Despite the Player and the Voice of the Hero claiming to have been here before, the Narrator dismisses your concerns. The Voice of the Cold cares little either way.

The interior of the cabin is different from before. It's as if no one has been her in decades. The walls are peeling off, cobwebs huddle in the corner, and the place is remarkably cold. A mirror sits on the wall in front of you, ignored by the Narrator. If you attempt to look into it, it vanishes. As you walk down the creaking stairs, curiously the Princess' voice is not there to call out to you.

On the basement floor, you witness the long-deceased corpse of the Princess. Well. That was easy. Suddenly, a **ghostly figure** rises from the floor. She greets you with a playful glide around you, grazing your neck with her cold, ethereal fingers.

Despite your last encounter, the Princess does not harbor any negative feelings towards you. She doesn't forgive you, and she might be interested in a little begging for forgiveness, but what she wants isn't revenge. All she wants is to leave the cabin and find her way home.

She offers a way for you to make amends: let her "hitch a ride" (read: possess your body) out of here. The Narrator insists otherwise: if she gets out, it'll be the end of the world. The Voice of the Cold is also on-board with a little ghost slaying.

## Endings

### Hitchhiker

**Requirement**: Allow the Spectre to possess you and leave the cabin.

**Reward**:

* An evanescent vessel.
* Achievement: **Hitchhiker**.
* Made amends with the one you killed.

The Player's desire to make amends is genuine, and he allows the Spectre to possess his body. Having another passenger aboard makes your head only more cramped, not helped by your creaking bones. But against the protests of the Narrator, you walk the Princess up the stairs and through the door of the cabin. She thanks you for finally giving her the chance to be free.

If the Player chose to ***[Slay the Princess.]*** or ***[Grab her.]*** before accepting the Princess' offer, she will become less kind to you. She disregards your discomfort and becomes more confrontational with the Voices and the Narrator. Still, if you hold up the end of your bargin, she'll hold up hers, and give you her thanks.

Free from the confines of the cabin, the Narrator, and the world around you, has vanished. The Princess is not bothered by this. She feels like this is where she is meant to be. Before you have a chance to respond, something takes her away, and you're left with nothing in front of you but the mirror from before.

### The Exorcist

**Requirement**: Allow the Spectre to possess you, then ***[Slay the Princess]***.
**Reward**:

* An evanescent vessel.
* Achievement: **The Exorcist**.
* Destroyed a spirit the only way you can.

### Heart-ripper

**Requirement**: ***[Slay the Princess harder]*** (or try to grab her harder), destroy her bones, or abandon the Spectre in the basement.

**Reward**:

* **Chapter III: The Wraith** with the Voice of the Paranoid.
* Achievement: **Heart-ripper**.
* A broken heart.

The Player has no interest in helping his murder victim and he makes that very clear. He refuses to let her to possess him. Alternatively, he insists on slaying her, such as slashing her neck with the Pristine Blade or crushing her bones. Of course, both murder attempts do nothing to an incorporeal being. Choosing to leave her in the basement will net a particularly hostile reaction from the Princess as well.

The Spectre, frightened of never being able to see home again, places her hand on your chest and rips your heart out. When you two meet again, she won't be a friendly ghost anymore. She'll be something much worse.

*Everything goes dark, and you die.*

## Trivia

* "**The Exorcist**" achievement is a reference to the 1973 American horror film *The Exorcist**.*