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"With you," Iron said immediately and intensely, not even looking at the colors. "Where you go, I go."

What sense of calm that Ralifa had achieved was perhaps soon washed away with this next task. Anxiety, fear, pride? She was on her way to becoming a Goddess, it was so close she could feel it.

When entering the room she noted how quiet it was. Even her foot steps barely made a noise to be echoed off the wall.There in front of her a door. Ornate with a simple message. Hadn't she already given her heart many times over?

But she was beckoned further, moving to the next room it looked the same as the one before. But the colors had shifted. The same Goddesses and the same empty pedestals. With a bit more observation she began to see simple figures appear, like her, the were familiar. They had shared many things together. For some reason she looked down at her heart, it was pulsing a big deeper now. But now she could see that it wasn't just the red it had ultimately started off being. There were many colors that swirled within it.

Ralifa was changing. More away of herself.

She gripped her head as memories that were once taken began to return. The were spinning around in her head, making little sense. And all she could do was hold on for the ride. It was almost too much for her to bare as she took to one knee, still clutching her head.

"S...stop!" A name, oh god a name! It was there in her dreams, chewed on her ears, teased and danced away from her. She could not remember this name!

The floor shook, the red moon rose. Strange. It looked as about as changed as she did. An odd expression on it's face. It's red color soon consumed everything, but not long there was gold and green. Twisting and fighting the red and each other. The world became splashed with greenery and golden castles as far as the eye could see.

The voice that spoke next, it burned the words into her mind. Seared it to memory. A Queen once? She did not understand. What had any of this to do with her? Her heart once again they wanted her heart. They wanted to take it. But she knew deep down inside that giving her heart would be the only way she could escape here.

Ralifa just wanted to go to where they were.

Slowly she began to walk. But which path to choose. So much to give up for so little she had learned. The name she felt she would never find. Looking to the sky, she waited for the answer to come. But she could not see it in this churning sea of madness. No great light would illuminate the darkness and point the way out for her.

She had to make this decision on her own.

And so she did. Ralifa made her choice. She chose Creation. It called to her the strongest. While she could not understand entirely why this called to her, she had a feeling she would find out soon enough.

Placing a hand to her heart, it's light warmed her hand and filtered through thin fingers, she took a step forward. Fingers slipped around her heart as she began to break it away. The pain was jolting. Ralifa had hoped it would be painless but it seemed not. Another tug, another memory. Harder, another. Until finally she ripped it out. She gasped in shock as it felt as if her entire being had just been snatched away, held tightly in her hand as it pulsed and glowed.

The right choice. The end. Brief memories flickered in front of her eyes as she finally offered up her heart. The weight of it too heavy for her to bare anymore as she struggled to keep herself together. But it was a difficult thing as every memory began to flood away. Old and new, they left her one by one.

Ralifa closed her eyes.....

Take take take take taketaketaketaketake. When were they going to get something? She walked with an irritated drag in her step, limbs held close to her to contain the spasms of anger she was holding in. The sudden flood of memories didn't still her enraged walk either - it should have. It should have made her realize her folly in being upset to have something.

But they had taken those from her only to give them back. They were hers and they'd stolen them. She seethed up at that red moon as it looked down her, her gaze unyielding back up at it, baring her teeth up at it as the voices seemed to fill her.

Yet somehow there was a small amount of peace that came as the sky cracked with colors, that rage that made attempt to consume her pulling back for just a moment. Only a moment, before the anger - fresh and now her own - came back. Give when you have gained so little? HA! It was a joke. An awful, cosmic joke.

It pulled at the back of her mind, though. Something. Something that was a part of her - what was it, what are you, tell me, tell me, tell me..... no, you won't tell me, TELL ME Tell me, tell me TELL ME Nothing. It didn't speak, it just lingered and watched her quietly. Just far enough a way she couldn't grab it.

Yet she was still left at a decision - to sacrifice. She didn't want to. She didn't want to give it to anything. Any of them. It was hers. It was hers.

"I hope your boat sinks" she hissed under her breath as she pulled her heart out - hesitation giving way to bitter anger as she threw it down to that awful Red Crown. She hated you the most - why was she giving it to you? She hated you more than the most she didn't know why. Maybe she just hated the color red. No. Yes. No. Yes.

She wasn't sure if it shattered. Her chest hurt, the pain becoming more and more real as memories began to break away from her. They played out in what was perhaps a moment, but they felt longer than that. But only that long. Only just long enough.

Honestly, she just wanted to be gone.

Sacrifice memories, sacrifice himself; the leap didn't feel so big anymore. Maybe that was the point of all those tasks. Maybe the rite for divinity was a sham and they were still having to swallow it.

Or the color explosion that occurred as beings beyond his comprehension crashed.

So now everything was going to hell, a concept Ortam was beginning to get familiar with now that he was very, very painfully aware of his own existence. Memories and colors and an awful, screeching voice that made him sick to his insides to listen to barraged him. Malevolence was not in his nature; poison still affected him, regardless of the fact that he was, technically insubstantial.

Regardless, he had a very, very strong tug in his heart at the battle of colors. He already knew where he would end up by instinct, but . . . The fellow glanced about just in case--aha.

"There you are!" he greeted rather amicably (perhaps too bright for the occasion) as he approached Annabell, unable to hide how shaken he was about this turn of events nor how relieved he was to see her in one piece. "I was wondering if you were okay."

It seemed more tantamount to check on her than to understand the jumble of memories filling in his mind.

Maybe just going now was a good idea. There were others lingering and others going and it was really just a matter of getting it done and over with, right? Annabell took a breath and heard someone chirp next to her. The scene felt far too dark for such a cheery greeting, but she turned to the person with a neutral expression and was surprised to find it change to a soft smile.
"Look at you. You have learned to smile." She replied softly, unfolding her arms as she took a step toward him. "I am glad to see you one last time." And how odd that was. There was something familiar about him, there was, but she couldn't be certain of it. Part of it felt like something more, but she had seen him so many times here in this place that she doubted herself. Maybe he felt the same? Maybe she should ask?

Instead her eyes found their options, looking them over one last time before she turned back to face him.
"Do you know what you'll choose yet?" And wasn't that the big question on everyone's mind? Wasn't that the reason so many others had lingered, why she had not gone yet?

Denise, resplendent in her wedding gown.

Denise, then a stranger, at her neatly organized desk.

Denise, hollow-eyed and gaunt, clutching a pair of sharp scissors -

The memories came faster now, and Shaw's vision was swallowed by the multi-hued heart emanating from his chest, overwhelmed; drowning -

He coughed up black water -

-his father's voice sounded tired, disappointed. "Son-"

-he tore the letter in short, sure strokes, sometimes it was time to let go -

- she lay there, her raven hair spread across the pillow, form still besides the rise and fall of her breath, and she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen-

-the shadows waited for him there, at the top of that long ladder. He ran.

He came to eventually, face buried in his hands. He felt dizzy, overwhelmed. It had been so easy, to forget, and so hard to remember. So much simpler to exist as a vessel designed with a single goal, a singular purpose. He was Shaw, and he was not, he was someone else trapped in Shaw's body -

But still he could not remember who.

Then searing hot images filled his mind, images of a moon and a violent swirl of gold and red and green, and words that made his teeth ache and his heart stop -

And slowly that too faded, until he was left small and alone, with the knowledge that he was not who he thought he was. He felt himself move forward, almost against his will - and for a time, he stared resolutely at his own feet.

Finally, Shaw looked up and watched the realization dawn on the faces of other shadows, and felt lost. Without hope. If that tired man in the mirror was him - why had he left? What was there in this place, but broken things? He'd killed her, he realized with slow horror; he'd killed Denise, here in this world of shadows. Stolen her heart and then he'd forgotten, allowed himself to forget -

her flashing, bright blue eyes-

But there was someone else in his memories too. More recent, fresh; real. He grunted, climbing slowly to his feet. He remembered that face. He looked around slowly, scanning the crowd gathered. He had to find her.

"Shasa?"

The name sounded almost right.

Not aware of his thoughts, the girl took another step closer to him, finding an odd comfort under his shadow despite what waited for them. The colors beckoned for an answer, were surely getting restless with all this waiting. But for a few moments, it didn't matter. Not going alone seemed far more important.
A small laugh left her at his words, her smile getting a bit larger.
"I do believe that is my line." Where had all her optimism gone? "But I would like to believe you are right. I will be terribly upset if I do not get to see you or that smile again." He had worked so hard for it, after all.

Curiosity made her follow his gaze, study it for hopes of a hint. It wasn't that his choice would change her mind, but it would certainly offer a deal of comfort.
"Yes." But she did not want to say it, just in case even honestly recognizing it would make it happen before she was ready. "It is a rather simple thing, isn't it?" It should be, at least. But none of it had been simple, and what came next certainly wouldn't be either. But... That was the fun part. Learning something and finding what lay past the next door. It could be enjoyable at the end. "You've done very well, you know."