Riful's Heart.

[dramatispersonae]

[everything goes away.]

[sight, sound, taste, touch, smell - you lose yourself to the nothing that waits through the doorway. do you have a body? a mind? what is such a thing? for a dizzying moment, you might not even be sure you have a "you" to identify these concepts with.]

[then, wrenching and violent, the confusion of the senses pummels itself back inside you like seasoning pounded into raw meat, and you're left, painfully sensate, on an open plain.]

Comments

[THE PATH OF NEEDLES]

[dramatispersonae]

[amivoringyou]

[the path goes down ...]

[eventually it plateaus, and you find yourself on a wide flat floor underneath the earth. in the middle, a tree trunk erupts through the ground and continues up through the ceiling, and across the room is another cavern entrance. the light is too dim to make out which way it goes.]

[flourished]

[ as we walk. ]

He didn't mislead me. This is . . . [ slight headtilt ] Not the worst. Come on, I did say I'd protect you, right?

[ SMILES VERY BROADLY. ]

[toolate]

[ u n s u r e ]

Does it not hurt anymore--?

[amivoringyou]

[meanwhile, guess who just disappeared into seemingly-solid rock ...]

[flourished]

Hurt? There's better things to put my mind on.

[ WE WALKIN' . . . ]

[toolate]

That's vague.

[well i'm following you]

[flourished]

Don't worry.

[ ARE WE AT THE PLATEAU? ]

[amivoringyou]

[... yes. now let's pretend i didn't goof, and that this happened here instead.]

[eventually it plateaus, and you find yourself on a wide flat floor underneath the earth. in the middle, a tree trunk erupts through the ground and continues up through the ceiling, and across the room is another cavern entrance. the light is too dim to make out which way it goes.]

[toolate]

[trees you have betrayed me]

Should we just go on...

[flourished]

Why not?

[ HERE WE GO ;D ]

[amivoringyou]

[as you approach the cavern entrance, you hear something ... it's faint ...]

[toolate]

[pauses to listen for it...?]

[amivoringyou]

[you can hear a faint beat of a heart from above ...]

[toolate]

[well. that isn't strange at all. looking up . . .]

[amivoringyou]

[you don't see anything.]

[you can just hear it, faint, up ahead somewhere ...]

[toolate]

[... well staying here isn't helping me much. advancing...?]

[amivoringyou]

[you lose sight of Aeris between one turn of the tunnel and the next ...]

[no matter where you turn or how much you double back, there's no sign of where they could have gone.]

[toolate]

[... balls. S... SOLDIERING ON.]

[flourished]

[ LISTEN? ]

[amivoringyou]

[you can hear the clashing of swords from somewhere below ...]

[flourished]

[ . . . is there a way to get below? ]

[amivoringyou]

[.... are you sure the tunnel isn't going below?]

[flourished]

[ NO CLUE. BUT I GUESS I WILL JUST GO towards the sound . . . forward . . . ? ]

[amivoringyou]

[you lose sight of Drift between one turn of the tunnel and the next ...]

[no matter where you turn or how much you double back, there's no sign of where they could have gone.]