Toggle Background Color
The Search for Another Way
Now… where were we?
Ah, that's right. Our hero had accepted that they could not destroy the Grinning Colossus through their conventional weapons. Accepting that the only way forward is to burn the rope, does that mean our hero does what's expected of them?
Of course not. Our hero decides to seek another way out of their predicament. The far side of the room doesn't have any obvious exits, however… They go up.
Unfortunately, there isn't an escape to be found there, either. Solid stone surrounds the room, and if their axe couldn't harm a beast with a healthbar it surely couldn't break something so hard.
Even the former entrance is denied to the hero, blocking the path away from the Grinning Colossus out of the expectation that society has placed upon them.
This is the natural order of things in the City, of course. Beings have expectations placed upon them, demands that they're handed regardless of their own readiness to perform. If they wish to keep their place in life, they absolutely must do as the system they're inside demands of them.
I think you've seen an example of this recently, haven't you? That Liu Association fellow was sent off to perform a function by the expectations of the society he was within. He was coerced, forced to fight so that he could protect his comfort in this world.
Those same expectations are here even now, keeping our hero in this room and locked upon this singular path, towards its destined end.
The windows, too, are worthless as means of escape. They show a reflection of the outside—to some, those who are below them. To others, those who are above. Those reflections are a reminder of one's place, or a warning of the consequences of going against it. However, they are only that—reflections. Try as they might, the hero is unable to get through. It's as though they're simply painted on to the walls as a means of making the room seem more like a room.
Escape is impossible.
Escape has always been impossible, since the beginning. Our hero has always been bound by the expectations of others.
Still, our hero has one more desperate idea: the rope must fall… but must it be burned? Surely, a rope would be easier to cut than the stone, right? The hero quickly clambers back to the rafters above, throwing their axe through the skies in a perfect arc.
However, the rope cannot be hit. No matter how many axes the hero aims its way, the rope doesn't so much as sway, as every single one misses. This too is unacceptable. The weight of expectations, of the coercive force of those expectations, does not react well to clever plans. What they wish to be done must be done. It's an invisible chain around the necks of each and every person within the City.
This includes our hero, despite the fact that they lack a neck to be chained.
As the last axe falls onto the waiting Grinning Colossus below, our hero gives up. There is no alternative answer; the expectations foisted upon them will not accept anything other than the expected process, with the expected result.
There is no other way.
With this realization, the hero's journey is another step closer to complete.