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The statues were the same as ever, but Sonja knew something was different this time. He could feel something calling him, calling to his entire being. He could not resist this magnetic force, and so he followed it towards the door that had formed there.

He was about to open it, but paused, hesitating as he read what was inscribed there. He had to sacrifice his heart? But it was...it was him! How could he do something like this?

Sonja could hear the whispers of the goddesses, their voices still repeating the promises they had made him. He could not forget such promises. There was no way for him to go back. What would he go back to? A world of black and red?

Slowly, the shadow opened the door.

The room was just like the current one.

He sighed in relief. So nothing was going to jump out at him. He began to walk through this room but stopped, his eyes drawn to the statues. They were different now, their colours had changed. So had their appearance, if only slightly (Ruin's appearance made him yelp in fear however. She wasn't going to come alive now, was she...?) Each of their plaques also read the same; Sacrifice yourselves for us. These words cause him to shake, his mind not ready to give up such a thing.

It was then he noticed others in the room such as himself. Other beings, who's hearts he could see clearly. Their changing colours shone brightly with the memories they contained.

Memories...

Sonja gasped as he recalled what had transpired in the tasks, each memory hitting him like a ton of bricks. And with these memories came a name that kept repeating itself, but every time he tried to recall it would slip away, floating in the far reaches of his mind. He closed his eyes to focus on trying to remember, but knew he had no time left to do such a thing.

The floor beneath him began to shake, his legs giving way as red flashed before his eyelids. He opened them, looked up at the source of the red.

The moon was full.

He screamed in terror as it smiled down on him, and his mind was sent into pure agony as it spoke into his mind, making sure he heard each and every single, painful word. The moon, the queen, demanded he return his heart to her.

Getting to his feet, the shadow gasped as the sky exploded into colours of gold and green, creating such amazing patterns in the sky that were only limited by his imagination. It was a awe-inspiring spectacle, and it drew away the terror of the red colour from his mind. He was aware that Sonja was not his real name. Something else was, and yet he could still not recall it.

Everything was in turmoil as he realized he must choose between the colours. The ground beneath him would change within a split second as each color battled it out.

It didn't take long for him to decide. The Gold was what he sought. The world then began to solidify, greens and reds fading away to brilliant gold. He was in a hallway now, and before him sat the brilliant crown upon a gold throne. Sonja stood before this crown, hesitating a moment before he thrust his hands into his chest. The pain was excruciating, not unlike the time when the evil figure had cut out his heart. But it was his choice now, and he pulled it out, it's brilliance taking his breath away as he offered it to the crown.

He was still in pain as the memories he had gained were leaving him. He had nothing left now, no heart, and it hurt. He could see people were coming towards him now, shouting a name he could not remember, as his world faded to black.

"Too much thinking Ross." Vaneda said all way to familiarly to the girl. As if it wasn't the first time she had this conversation, or something close to it. Or maybe it was the laziness she felt at thinking.

"We just keep turning that left turn." Vaneda chuckled as she was being pulled away. "Agile?" Her eyes landed on a boy, and yet another sense of familiarity ran through her. And like Ideih and Ross, he too wore the blue pendant. "Hello Handsome."

She stared at the gates. She heard the voices. Which one? Where did she want to go? Why did she have to go? She didn't mind sacrificing things to the Goddesses, but... her heart. It hurt last time she lost it. And she didn't even know her real name. How was she supposed to give her heart up when she didn't even know who she was? Why couldn't she remember?

Rhryse shook her head, confused. She knew she'd have to make a decision. She just didn't know.... so much.

She looked around her, at the other figures with bright hearts. Some were thinking, some were choosing, some were offering already. It must have been nice to be so certain.

Her eyes slipped over a form that was more familiar than the rest, though she'd nearly missed him. It was only on the second glance did she notice that she knew him. Her first friend in this world.

She wore a sad smile as she made her way to him, stopping only when she was close enough to touch him. She put a hand on his arm. "Kaje?" That was his name, right? Or did he have a name he couldn't remember, too? "Where will you go?"

He was moving forward, in a trance.
His last task, and then it would be over. One more thing, and he would finally be done.

"Will you give up so much-

"-when you have experienced so little in return?"

It was BECAUSE he wanted to experience more that he gave up so much. Did not all things require sacrifices?
He was broken out of the trance when the sky split, spilling out streams of gold and green. No longer possessed, consumed by that shade of red, he blinked, remembering. His memories. His name.
This was not his real name. His real name was-

He stiffened when he felt a hand upon him, and turned.
It was her, that shadow he met, the first one who did not bear a blue core, the one, though he didn't know why, that he seemed to bear the closest connection to out of all the others.

"Rhryse..." his voice was soft, his hand touching hers.
Though the red no longer possessed him, he knew he had already made his choice.

"Where I go... I don't think you can come."

Maiden could feel it somehow. The goddesses were calling them back to the shrine again. It was time for another moment of homage. Every time they called, it was for something they wanted from them. The fog was thicker this time when the summon came through, facing the door that he had seen in days past that opened up to the statues again. It was still the same, the three that have been with them from the very beginning and the four empty pedestals, the places that were waiting for the select few.

It was naught going to be without another sacrifice, he wasn't sure what it was going to be this time. The next room was the one he held his breath in, the current goddesses were there, not just one but the three in one place, it was a terrifyingly oppressive aura in here that made him shrink in upon himself as he passed.

Cores and hearts were everywhere, surrounding him and resonating with his own. It wasn't just the simple colored ones this time, they seemed to have grown and developed, shifting and pulsing with something hidden in its depths, much like his own. It was once just yellow but now was alive in a kaledioscope of red, blue, yellow and white., with color and memories.

These memories, he could recall now, memories of this person that had a connection with him. These tiny images that went along with the task they were given, horrid tasks that tested the psyche that came flooding back, threatening to rock him off his feet from the shock or recalling. The people he remembered, the people that he forgot not too long and the things he done to reclaim those memories only to forget them.

The sky ripped open with a mighty crack that demanded his attention, looking up into the cloudless sky and seeing the massive moon that looked back at him, a dreadful sight and had him falling on his butt , whispered voices coming from the moon that made the hairs on his neck raise in alarm.

He was stepping forward thought, an unconscious reaction that pulled his body back up on its feet and moving forward, one step at a time. It didn't feel right, he knew it deep down, but he was far too deep in the moon's pull. Another step that had his brain screaming in alarm was made.

The spell the moon had was thankfully, broken with the two others that rose against it. The overpowering red was held at bay with the power that was green and gold, instead of blind homage, there was a choice to be made this time. A choice to where the heart of his went, that his being would go to, this fake name that had been given to himself, it was going to be for one of them.

The false name of Maiden, was going to green.

"Oh." Whatever bit of happiness had been on her face fell away, though she didn't necessarily look sad. She tried not to look sad. "Why not?"

It was a simple question, and she was afraid she knew the answer. Would it even matter? The final sacrifice was everything; their heart and their memories. They were about to give everything up, so why was she suddenly so sad? Why had that one, simple sentence made her heart hurt?

She waited for his answer, her hand still on his arm.

She approached, following the calling, the strings that tugged, the puppeteers of her existence reeling her in for one last offering, one final task of her worth. It was a pull too strong to ignore, even had she wanted to ignore it. A pull that led her to a vast and pillared room, to statues and to emptiness as she had seen before. The familiar three with their words etched in plaques beneath them, the words never the same day to day, and this time speaking of a fourth trial, of a final sacrifice.

And there it was, that calling again. She moved herself away from the statutes, eyes lingering on them only a moment longer before she instead found herself gazing upon a door, approaching it with quick strides, and reading the words emblazoned on its surface.

Offer to us your heart.

She hadn't denied the goddesses yet, and she'd be damned if she did it now. She pushed through that door with barely a thought, barely a care except to finish this now, to give herself to the goddesses and be judged, weighed, and deemed either worthy or unworthy of a heightened position. She pushed through the door...

.....And found herself in one much the same, only with statutes that were minutely altered. She took time to inspect these as well now, reading the newly inscribed lettering.

It seemed the final sacrifice would be as she had guessed. Her heart, herself.

The other pedestals were empty as before, but as she looked around, she realized that the room itself was not. There were other figures and forms, other hearts of all different colors. The sight of them all made her look down at her own, at its many colors, at its many emotions, at it's...

The memories came back in such a rush she nearly staggered. Images, voices, words. A name. A name? Who's name was it? For some reason when she tried to focus on it, it spun away, just out of reach, like those fragments she had obtained for the goddess in her very first task, hovering just out of reach. She closed her eyes to try and reach further...

Crack!

Eyes fluttered open, widening as first one cracking sound, and then many others to follow, split the air.

And then the sky became red.

The voice was impossible to ignore, it's words all consuming. She moved forward, and the world began to change yet more. It was like chaos and strife had decided to meet up for an afternoon, and their battlefield was the sky. Green and gold began to overwhelm the red, but not completely.

And then, just like that, it was time to make her choice.

But not yet. It was not that she wasn't ready. In fact, she felt more comfortable and at peace with her surroundings and with what she needed to do then she really could have explained. It wasn't that she didn't want to do what the goddesses wished, but just that....something held her back, just long enough for her to let her eyes wander away from the sky, back to those figures around her who yet remained, and first finding a familiar sight as though drawn to him.

The growly man.

She did wonder for just a moment if she should even bother to approach. He had not seemed to care much for her company before but...but she could not deny there was something there, something about him that was achingly familiar, something intriguing enough for her to move towards him, to stop in front of him, to finally, as this might be her last chance to do so, speak to him.

"Growly man." She greeted him. "Do you have another name I can call you by?"

-insert OOC info here idk-