Welcome to Gaia! ::

He awoke again with a start, but the glaring white of the sterile room was replaced with the somber greys of the shrine. Loffie sat up, clutching at his chest, surprised to find no gaping wound and to feel his heart still intact, beating anxiously within him.

He breathed a heavy sigh, and then another, trying to calm his nervousness. He was safe, and the figure was gone. As he looked around the shrine, with the Goddess back at her statue with the others, he wondered if the figure had ever really existed. He wondered if it hadn’t all been some terrible nightmare. But as he got to his feet, he could still remember the terror of the chase, and the searing pain of his heart being torn from his chest. He remembered the memory of his mother, and the even greater pain that remembering such a thing wrought.

He didn’t know what to think.

So he read the inscriptions on the podiums carefully, eager to distance himself from the place. The choice was immediately clear to him, as if some base instinct made it so. He knew he was prey; he would always be prey. He set his dagger upon the podium, leaving it behind with the anguished memory of his mother. As the weapon met the cool stone of the podium, he couldn’t even remember the memory or the person ever having existed. He only remembered losing his heart, pressing his hand protectively to his chest as he hurried from the shrine.

Control.

She twitched and realized she had regained control.

Her hands flew up to her chest and she gave a ragged gasp of gratitude as she felt the steady beat of her heart. She still had it, she still had it.

She lay there a moment before managing to push herself to her hands and knees. She felt sick inside, but she had learned a lesson. She forced herself to stand and approach the pedestals. It felt bitterly hard to turn away from the predator pedestal, but she had learned.

She dropped the dagger onto the prey pedestal and then wrapped her arms tightly around herself, at least she had a heart.

Sonja awoke with a scream that echoed around the rooms, and it took him a few moments to quiet himself, heart beating rapidly in his-

Wait, his heart! his heart was still there

So shaky with relief, he wasn't able to get up at first, just sitting on on the floor. He then hoped the goddess weren't around to see him scream in panic and terror.

Eventually he did get up, moving over to the statue and reading the plaque. Predator or prey. It didn't surprise him at all to know he was prey.

pulling out the dagger, he placed it on the prey podium

Harland returned in a rush of sadness that overwhelmed him. He reached up, pressed one hand against his chest, and felt the heat of his skin, the wholeness of it. He was still himself, yes.

More or less. He still had a heart.

He read the plaque, and found that he was charged with the responsibility of dropping the dagger onto the pedestal that corresponded with what the Goddess had decided it meant: Prey. Harland had been preyed upon.

But he felt that he deserved it. He shut his eyes.

Neios came back to the shrine where the dagger used to kill the specter tucked safely into his belt. The Goddess's inscription was clear: Return the Dagger to where it belongs.

"Goddess. I know that you aren't wrong." he remembered her parting words before she entrusted him with the mission. "But it definitely isn't pleasant." He laid the dagger upon the prey pedestal.

Etyam placed the glowing dagger upon the predator pedestal, quietly pensive.

But even as the memories were drawn away, he was still left with the same feeling of resoluteness. He was strong, he was stubborn. And he lost to no one and nothing.

Amir returned, shaking her head and gripping her chest. She wiped at her eyes and without a second thought, tossed the dagger onto the Prey pedestal.

She didn't even bat an eye when the memories of her encounter with the creature faded from her mind. But she kept rubbing her chest - unable to shake the memories of having her heart ripped from her chest.