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She didn't want to give it up.

After witnessing everything she had just seen, it didn't seem right of her to give up this heart--it wasn't right of her to take it in the first place--but there was no undoing what she had done. Slowly, she sluggishly moved forward to examine the plaque by the statue, the bag gingerly cradled between her hands.

The plaque said something about a candidate. To become a goddess, she presumed? Would becoming one tell her everything she needed to know? Would it answer all the questions that had been plaguing her since she woke up in this place?

She moved forward to eye the empty pedestals, reading the accompanying line for each of them. Which one did she wish for? Which one called for her the most?

The answer was easy enough. Crouching down she carefully set the bag down on the ground and turned to leave.

Dragging himself into the hall, the other Goddess was gone - replaced by her statue. He could feel her though, telling him that he needed to sacrifice the heart in the bag.

Gladly, he thought to himself. He'd gladly throw the heart of his not-mother away, and give everything to the path to Deity. One more step to ruin. He placed the bag on the golden pedestal of Hubris, expecting some great ceremony. The bag simply vanished, along with his memories of the journey.

He left, feeling like something was missing. He looked around, only to be prodded by something deep inside him to return to the shrine.

Andie returned to the room with the statues and looked for the goddess that gave him the task. Though he didn't see her, he did she the statue back in it's rightful place. He walked over and read the plaque below before looking at the four empty places. Sacrifice Derek's heart to have a shot at being a goddess? Andie held the bag with the heart to his chest for a moment then walked over to the other podiums to read the descriptions.

Each plague he read made him shake his head in rejection until he finally came to the last one. He started at the green glowing pedestal of Affliction for a moment before setting the bag with the heart on top. "This one." he said softly as the bag and heart disappeared, taking with it the memories he had gained.

He stood there staring a bit longer before shaking his head and left for the shrine.

The trip back wasn't as cheerful as the first steps in the beginning, light, airy steps soon became downtrodden and unbearable. The weight that was on his hip was as heavy as a cadaver on his back. In some ways, it was.

The goddess however was gone, save for the statues that had its instructions on its plaque, and the empty ones that it wanted the heart to go to. It wanted the heart. His heart, their heart.

the pedestals were brilliant and shining, the glow was a steady pulse of light, hues that he didn't realized still existed outside of the ever pertinent grey that consumed their lives. Maiden walked by them all in a slow pace, circling round and round as he thought deeply on his choice.

It was a tough choice. But one that had to be made, it was far too late to turn back, after the sacrifice that was made. "He then made his choice, the pedestal that had the hue of starlight white was where his heart was going to reside, the sticky red mess and all was there, slowly spreading and marring the light in its matter.

the pain that he was feeling was going away, the pain that was in his chest, it was cause of something, but what it was, he could not remember. there was grey where the form stood in his mind, a voice that was warbled whenever he tried to think of the sound that came with it. there was nothing but a hollow emptiness in his core but the reason why was lost in the ether.

Why was he here, and the heart itself was gone. the red smear and all, was it a mirage to begin with? Did it really exist or did he imagine it? there was no reason to linger longer.

With a curt look at the empty placeholder, Damien found his steps light and springy again as he hopped out of the shrine.

Still crying over what had happened and the memories she had gained. Wyng trudged back to the shrine, with bag in hand. The goddess had returned to being a statue on a pedastal, leaving a note behind on her plaque.

"The Task is complete. Sacrifice your offering to one of the Empty Titles to claim your position as a Candidate of that Title."

Wyng did her best not to glare at the statue of the goddess. It wanted her to sacrifice her mother's heart! Still, she could not disobey the goddess, so she examined each of the pedestals in turn, until she came to the white one. "There is nothing in this world but despair." That is exactly how she felt after taking her mother's heart and so thinking, she placed the heart on the pedestal.

As she did so her tears dried up and she forgot why she was crying, rather, she forgot everything that had just happened. Again confused, she decided to return to the spire.
[Wyng Exits]

Onana was disappointed that the Goddess wasn't here. She wanted to ask her so many questions. "Hmmm, there's no helping it."

She read the plaque on the Goddess's statue. After that, she decided which title she'd offer her sacrifice to. She set her bag on the brilliant gold pedestal. Pride suited her and lately, it seemed like the colors yellow and gold surrounded her. She wondered if there was a deeper meaning to it all or if it was just sheer coincidence.

Soon afterward, her memories vanished. She no longer remembered the pleasant times or the promise she made. It was frustrating to be frustrated and even more so to not know why.

Ideih's eyes burned with unshed tears much like that of her memory. She held the heart to her chest like a precious treasure, her footsteps dragging until she stopped before the line of empty pedestals.

Sacrifice your offering..

Her eyes looked over each plaque.

Finally she set the heart down on the bright white podium of Anguish. Ideih fell to her knees after that, head hanging and her shoulders shaking as she threatened to break down into sobs. She had killed a girl who seemed so sweet, a girl who was so important to--

To...

Ideih lifted her head and looked around with slight confusion. Strange. Why did her chest hurt?

She shook her head and sighed, rising once more to her feet and taking her leave.

With a shaken heart but unshaken faith, Licraesa returned to the temple. Bag in hand, she was disappointed to see that the Goddess was not there. An emotion swiftly quashed, for she was lucky (to be blessed, to be enlisted, to be endeared to) to have seen her at all. She holds the memory of her Goddess' request close, tucking it away, never to be forgotten.

The heart inside the precious bag no longer had a beat, but Licraesa felt her own thumping so hard she could feel it in her palms. With a lick of her lips and a bite of her tongue, she approached a pedestal.

There was only one choice.

Kneeling down, she sacrificed the heart to The White Pedestal of Anguish, her memories fading, leaving a gap in her mind where they had resided.

With them gone, the sacrifice was meat in a bag: nothing more, nothing less. There were no qualms about leaving it where it lay, abandoned by a podium in a shrine enshrined in fog.