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This place was dark and quiet. The door had shut behind him too. That didn't bother him so much. Even so, he kept the pair of scissors he had been given close, as well as the gun he had. He wasn't sure what to expect here. Almost immediately, he could hear the light thud resounding from somewhere in the room.

It didn't quite sound like a heartbeat, but he made his way there anyway. At some point, he found himself bumping into a box of sorts. A crimson color flowed from it, and there was something mashed inside. Furrowing his brow, he peered more closely. That thud was coming from an arm; one that he grabbed to make it stop. He had an idea of what was in the box now, and yet, he felt around the arm anyway.

Something was really crammed into the box. It was warm, soft, and kind of squishy.

While the thud had stopped, a new sound had started. Or rather, the sound was already there; it was just now that he began to hear it. It was soft, but he could tell that it had a sort of steady rhythm. Nush focused in on it. Yes. That was the heart he heard, and he could see it now. Whoever was in this box, they were still alive, and their fate deemed them to have their heart cut out. Cruel as it was, leaving them mangled in this box would only be worse. He couldn't see or hear anything else, so it was just him and this being here with their beating heart.

Not wanting to dally, he went to extract it, trying to be as clean as he could about it. Unfortunately, that was harder than he would have expected. There was no opening in the chest, or maybe it was the back. He couldn't tell. He had to cut it open himself. This wasn't easy to say in the least, considering he couldn't see. He did his best, digging the scissors into flesh and tearing his way open.

Something came to him as he did this. It wasn't anything physical, but instead, it was a memory.

An older man stood before him, looking stern and unhappy. His arms were folded as he stared down at Nush.

"What are you doing? This isn't a part of your training." he spoke. He was clearly angry. When no answer was given, it seemed to only make things worst. The man reached down and snatched the blocks off the floor before tossing them out the window.

"Where the ******** did these things even come from," he muttered as he did so. He went into the next room, only to return, holding a pair of wooden blades. These were thrown down at Nush's feet.

"Pick these up. No. Not like that. If they were real, you'd slice your hands open right now, dammit. By the handle. There. Good. Now show me your stands. Oh for ******** sake..."

He could hear and feel the heart beginning to beat more rapidly as he did this. Feeling around, he soon had his hand around the beating organ, feeling the way it pulsated in his hand. A few more snips around, and he felt it come a little more loose. It still wasn't free just yet. He had to make due with forcing the hole open more with his hands before pulling the heart away.

There was a slosh and something on the other side fell with a wet thud. All he had was a heart in his hands. One that no longer beat. Carefully, Nush put it into his bag.

He stared down into it for a moment or so. Who was that man? He didn't seem like a particularly pleasant person to say in the least.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Nush knew what he needed to do. Bubbles burst from his lips as he took the scissors and plunged them into an opening. There was no hesitation in doing so. Only one could survive this struggle, and he wasn't about to let himself go down. He had to serve the goddesses. He had to receive their blessings.

He heard the man shriek, and then they were gone.

The water had vanished too, leaving him just a little breathless. Shaking his head, he could see the exit. He began to make his way swiftly, but paused as he saw a figure out of the corner of his peripherals. He could have sworn he saw someone there with the scissors he had.

No. It was time to go.

Nush continued to run until he managed to find a door. Unfortunately, it was locked. A passcode was needed.

He began to look around, finding a piece of paper to his left. It had some numbers and letters on it, but he didn't know what it meant.

"Why can't you do anything right? I've told and showed you repeatedly how to do it. It's not hard, so get it right for once, dammit."

He paused as he heard this, but shook his head.

Feet:35

And thus, Nush began to search around some more. He didn't bother looking behind to see how far the figure was from him. There was another piece of paper that he managed to locate. Carefully, he pieced the two together. With a bit of thought, he managed to figure out the passcode. And just like that, he was through.

Feet: 30

For awhile longer, Nush ran, until he found himself standing before some sort of haunted house. There were odd shadows coming off of this building. With a furrowed brow, he looked it over before he realized the dagger in his hand was glowing a brilliant red.

Now or never..

It was the voice of the goddess. He closed his eye and nodded silently. His grip on the dagger tightened.

Then, he turned to strike.

As he faced them, his vision flickered.

"Worthless. I swear, training you is like a lost cause," the older man muttered as he slammed the door behind him. The young boy was left in his room. There, he crawled onto his bed and wrapped his arms tightly around his knees. He tried to fight it, but he could feel the tears welling up.

Shun didn't understand why it was always like this. Why was it that Father couldn't be proud of him for once? He was never praised. Everything he did was wrong, one way or another. Father sought perfection. Perfection that he didn't have. He tried hard. He tried really hard. But no matter what, he just couldn't receive recognition.

Just one moment of pride. That was all he asked for.

There was a moment where things were a little hazy. But soon enough, he snapped out of this sort of trance, just in time to see the figure aiming to cut into him. His eye narrowed and he plunged the dagger straight into the chest of the darkened blob.

"I don't need your approval," he all but hissed before the figure crumbled and dissipated.

The dagger in hand now glowed an even deeper crimson color. As he looked it over, the door to the haunted house swung open.

He could leave.

Nush soon found himself in a new area. Bits of white fell from the grey skies gently. The ground below had a sort of crunchy feel to it. It didn't seem particularly brittle. He wasn't sure what it was exactly. He didn't take time to think about that in any case. Instead, he looked to the two pots presented before him. The pink gave off an air of happiness while the blue had something else. It was a little forlorn.

He wasn't sure why, but he went on to take the blue jar. It had a tag on it. One that said to drink it. With a light shrug, he downed it in one drink. Almost immediately, he felt restless as a result. It was overwhelming, and just as he was reaching his tipping point, it spilled out into a number of different snacks on the table. None of them seemed to be particularly appetizing.

Even so, he decided to take the chocolate.

It was far too rich for his liking, and the feelings it invoked left him feeling burdened. It was rather uncomfortable. He needed to wash it away with something. Just as he thought this, three teacups had appeared. He didn't really want to drink any of them just from the way they looked. But his feeling of unease that was dragging down his heart was something he wanted to be rid of. He reached for the brown and red teacup and tried to drink it as quickly as possible.