Not sure if anyone truly cares, but I was listening to a song and felt it fit this perfectly. "Death Is the Road to Awe", by Clint Mansell from The Fountain soundtrack. biggrin
Anni went to the Shrine for strength. She felt lost, confused... Maybe her Goddess' face would cheer her up. She looked at the familiar statues, the two of them--- Wait, wasn't there three? She counted again... But there were only two. Paranoia was gone. It was a strange sight, but Anni ignored the mystery, walking to her Goddess. And in the corner of her eye, she noticed that her plaque wasn't the same. She was drawn to it, like a moth to the flame, and read:
The Goddess, wrought with Paranoia, created ====, her last and final project before ====. It was then that she discovered how to replicate ====.
"Or so it goes."
Anni whirled around to face the voice that was not her own, and was immediately struck with awe. The Goddess was as beautiful and terrifying as the statue, if not more so. Too stunned to speak, she watched the wires and mist flow and ebb together, a perfectly timed dance between natural and man made. She could feel the bag being placed in her hand, the material neither rough nor soft and had weight.
"Go on," urges the Goddess, her smile crooked but hopeful, "open it up. I have a gift for you."
A gift? But she wasn't... Anni hadn't even paid much attention to the other Goddesses, so the gift didn't feel earned. But Paranoia seemed so earnest, it would be foolish to throw away a gift like this. She obliged. But it was empty.
"Oh." the Goddess is suddenly clenching and unclenching one hand. "A small error. It's okay, I can fix this." Her gaze intensifies, "With your help, I can fix this. Could you fetch me more parts? I stored them in my special labs but it's getting a little cluttered down there. Just look for the chests, they should be inside. I don't need everything it holds, just the heart." They pause, before giving you a pair of scissors. "That should do the trick. Just the heart. They don't need theirs after all," their expression turns turns wry, gentled at the corners with remorse, "...they didn't quite make it."
Quite... Make it? Make what? Anni felt fearful of this request, the Goddess wanted a heart? Why couldn't she just manifest one, like her and the other fog beings? Her mind told her to forget this task, to turn toward the safety of Ruin's outstretched wings, but her heart ached with the thought of a disappointed Goddess. They had given her life, they had bestowed their blessings upon them... Surely, this task was to benefit a worthy cause. The box before her was ominously dark, the thunking sound suggesting that something dangerous haunted the shadows inside. But the Goddesses wouldn't let anything happen to them... Right? She nodded obediently, returning the Goddess' smile with a small one of her own, and went through the doorway.
The three doors facing her now were mysterious as well. What lay beyond these doors? The pumpkin felt safe, familiar, simple. The spiral, eerie and the scratches looked as if the creature that created it was trying to erase a painful memory. And the third felt the most dangerous of all, the air around it chilling her very core. It hummed with an energy all its own, powerful enough to become a hungry nightmare, snapping her up with a click of sharp teeth.
But the tree... The tree was a symbol of strength and wisdom. It was strength that led her to this task. It was what she desired most of all. Despite her instincts' warnings, she pushed it open, and walked through
the Third Door.
Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 2:14 pm
It was too quiet here. Anni didn't need her eyes to to know it would only get darker as she soldiered on. Then it started again, but further down the path.
Thud....
Thud...
Thud...
"Rhi-ann-on~"
A female voice singsonged in the shadows. It echoed in the dark space, reverberating off the walls, the effect creating a thousand whispered voices. Anni's blood ran cold. She raced back to the door, only to have it slam shut in her face. She searched for a handle, a lever, anything that would grant her access to a different door, but found none. Her vision danced with strange patterns and shapes as her eyes adjusted to the soft red glow of her core. She clutched the scissors to her chest and tried unsuccessfully to calm down. Her heart pounded heavily, matching the dull thudding from far away. 'What if these scissors were meant for me?'
"Nothing to be afraid of, it's just a heart." She would go in, take it from its hiding place, and find a way out. This sense of false confidence empowered her to find the source of the sound. The light from her red core seemed insignificant against the ever-growing darkness. Her imagination dreamed up creatures formed from shadows: a grinning wolf, its smile reaching past its eyes and its teeth the size of the stalagmites back home; a great serpent, its mouth as wide as a cavern; a grotesque Goddess, her features covered by writhing shadow, her eyes bottomless like the depths of the sky. The nightmares whispered to her, a single haunting word that sounded eerily familiar...
"Rhi-ann-on..."
She walked faster, but the hallway never seemed to end. She clutched the scissors tighter, trying to look a little less terrified. Her fear consumed her, transforming the dull thudding into the warm breath of a great beast... She ran in fright. The hallway felt like it never ended, the thudding becoming the sound of a hellish horse galloping toward her, going faster, faster, faster, gaining on her... Then her foot connected with a box-shaped object with a hollow thud, moving something within it and she crashed to the ground, the scissors sliding across the floor. She grabbed the scissors from the floor and slowly walked to the object. A wooden crate, overflowing with an object that was too large to fit. The sound was coming from inside it.
Thud...
Thud...
Thud...
Anni moved closer, her heart bathing it's contents in a reddish glow. There was something swaying over the side of the crate... Wait, was that... An arm? Her curiosity won over her fear of monsters. She grabbed the arm to stop it, holding it against the wood of the crate. Suddenly, the thudding sound stopped. Its absence making the air still and silent. Dazed, she reached into the crate, feeling something that was soft when touched, but contained a firmness underneath. She stopped when her ears picked up a low sound:
Thump-thump...
A heartbeat... This was the heart. It shone with a crimson radiance under what was in the box, flickering like flame with every beat.
Thump...Thump...
It seemed to acknowledge her, her own core glowing brighter with its presence. She waited patiently for whatever was in the crate to move- Its arm was swaying, wasn't it?- but time in this place seemed nonexistent, the object never moved. She tried listening for a breath, but the only sound was the thumping noise, punctuating each second like a clock. Tick... Tick... Tick... The shadows danced around what little light the two hearts created, melting, shifting, hungry... She had to get out of here as fast as possible.
Thump-Thump...
It beat faster, begging her to be set free. This is what she was meant to find, what the Goddess desired. She attempted to reach underneath the thing in the box in order to grab the heart, but it was trapped inside the object blocking her way. She set the bag down, placing the scissors perfectly in her free hand to tear it from its prison. She plunged the scissors deep into the thing within the box, just over where she could see the glow of the heart. The soft covering wouldn't stay still, she let go of the arm to hold it down. The layer ripped and tore, slowly giving way to her sharp scissors until the hole was wide enough to let the heart pass through. Anni slid her hand into the opening, but a warmer, firmer layer blocked her way. She took out her hand to give the scissors room, but as soon as she did, the hole filled with a dark, thick liquid that made a horrible squelch. The hearts' light gave her the ability to see the liquid pour down the sides of the opening, staining the scissors and coating her hands with a slick, sticky coating. She quickly shoved the scissors deeper, slicing the next layer open with a jagged line. It was hard to see, let alone keep a hold of the scissors, with the warm liquid gushing out, but she managed it. She could hear the heart clearly now, its beat growing faster with the joy of being found. This opening revealed another layer, two objects rising and falling in unison, that were easily cut apart. It was after this, that she exposed the heart. It illuminated the hole she had created, but it was not big enough for it to fully pass through. Anni tugged in it with one hand, but she met resistance. She dropped the scissors, using both of her hands and a lot of strength to push the cavity open. Like a broken vase, a large amount of liquid poured out from the hole, along with a bundle of objects that dropped to the bottom of the crate with a heavy squish and a thud. Only the heart is left now.
She reached for it, when suddenly the body attacked her, its skeletal hand clawing deep into her forearm, its rotting face resembling an undead young girl, her cheeks stained with dark lines from tears, her open mouth frozen in a high-pitched scream...
"RHIANNON!"
She was laughing. Her friends were laughing with her, though she couldn't see their faces. They were at a lavish party, dressed beautifully in expensive jewelry and the finest outfits created for royalty. In the center of their circle, the undead ghoul cried, her blue eyes wide with fear.
"Stop..." She pleaded weakly.
"Where did you find that dress? From the garbage pile?" A boil snickered.
"Of course not," another ghoul chimed in, "it was stolen from her grandmother!" This elicited even more laughter from the group.
"My mommy made this for me..." She whispered softly, her heart shattering before Anni's eyes. Her laughing died in her throat. Her friends teased the girl even more.
"Your family must be homeless for something like that."
"I bet she was only invited because they felt sorry for her."
The ghoul fell to her knees and sobbed, completely broken. Anni couldn't take it anymore, she had to stop them. She leapt to the ghoul's side, spreading her arms out to defend her.
"STOP!" She yelled angrily. Her heart raced with adrenaline, and her eyes narrowed into defiance. Her friends gasped with surprise. They glared at her, waiting for her to fight. Neither side did.
"Whatever...," spat a boil, as he turned to leave. The others followed suit, each one giving her dirty looks before leaving her. She knelt down to the ghoul on the floor, helping her up.
"What's your name?" She smiled. The ghoul looked at her with red-rimmed eyes wide with hope.
"Annalise..."
The body was still, completely covered in darkness once more. The heart kept beating its steady rhythm. Anni pulled it free of its cage, feeling it beat within her palms.
Thump-thump... It beat one last time and its light dimmed like a fading ember before it stilled completely. She shakily placed it in her bag, tying the string at the top and picked up her scissors from the floor. She rose to her feet, swaying unsteadily as she left the crate behind.
Anni Rohn kept walking ahead, the bag heavy in her grip. She couldn't stop shivering no matter how hard she tried, although it wasn't cold here. She shuffled aimlessly, numb to everything but the sick feeling in her stomach. She could feel the piercing eyes of the girl she left behind, waiting for her to go back and take her from the crate. She imagined the sickness seeping into her blood, her heart slowly becoming poisoned with the chilling darkness like spilled ink. She walked slowly, the hallway stretching before her endlessly... Until she neared a dead end. Her heart's feeble light revealed that there was no way out.
Splash... Slosh...
Splash... Slosh...
Suddenly, she heard the sounds of someone walking through water. She whirled around, expecting the shadows to leap at her, but there was nothing there. She continued walking a few steps, her feet splashing into water until her legs were buried in the liquid.
Splash... Slosh... Splash... Slosh...
"Please give it back..."
The sound of the girl's voice came from the dark. The footsteps were faster this time, coming closer, but when she turned around, there wasn't anything there. She wasn't going to let this thing taunt her, the memory of being strong enough to defend someone else fresh in her mind. She was going to save herself.
"Who's there?!"
Her voice was a roar in the small space, her fear no longer taking hold of her mind. She lifted the scissors with the point aimed at the dark, awaiting an attack... But nothing answered. She scoffed, clutching the heart close to her chest and walking deeper into the water. The coldness seeped into her form, but she paid it no attention. She only felt the fire of adrenaline and the descending ground of the hallway, her head lifted high, her fear of the dark evaporated. She had no clue why she kept going deeper and deeper into the water, she only knew that there was no going back. She kept walking until the water reached her neck, where it washed away the sticky liquid from the crate off her body. Shadows closed in around her as her heart's light was submerged, it only gave off enough radiance to resemble a sunken submarine. It was hopeless now. Any farther, and her feet wouldn't reach the ground. She contemplated swimming, her form already used to the numbing cold.
"Please... Give me back my..."
Anni didn't even have the time to move. She was dragged under the water by her friend Annalise, the undead girl in her torn party dress holding her down. Anni started to gulp water as her last breath floated up to the surface. She kicked, pushed, anything to stop her, but the young girl was abnormally strong. Annalise shoved her deeper and deeper into the water, the immense pressure building on top of her until she could feel her form dissipate into the fog from whence she came. The pain in her heart was unbearable, she felt as if it might shatter. She screamed for Annalise to stop, her vision fading into unconciousness... The girl only watched with blank grey eyes, her sunken sockets and black tear-stains giving her the face of Death itself. Her rotting lips pulled back into a snarl, her exposed teeth becoming a gruesome smile.
"GIVE ME BACK MY HEART!"
"We'll still be best friends, though. No amount of space can change that." Anni felt the tears fall before she could stop them. Annelise was right, her only friend would be moving, but that didn't mean they had to stop talking to each other. "Yeah..." she replied with a weak smile, "I've never had a pen pal before." Annalise nodded. "And I can call you all the time! Daddy even said so!" They laughed, a clear, genuine laugh. Annalise's father had a reputation for being strict, letting his daughter talk on the phone all day just to talk to Anni spoke volumes. It was bittersweet, being able to spend so much time together like this, knowing it would be the last time. They hugged each other tightly, neither of them willing to let go. "Thank you for saving me, Ri." "Thank you for being my best friend, Annalise." Anni sobbed. She let her go, the undead girl crying in front of her once again. Anni have her the biggest smile she could manage, and waved to her friend until the moving truck's tail lights disappeared. "Goodbye..." Anni whispered to the wind, her heart crushed.
Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:04 pm
This was it, this would be the end to her journey. Anni's vision faded into darkness, her grip loosening on the bag that contained Annelise's heart...Wait, the scissors! The Goddess needed her, she wanted those blessings with every fiber of her being, she must become a Goddess! She used every last ounce of strength to lift her arm, as a triumphant Annalise loosened her grip. Anni could only mouth the words: 'I'm sorry...' before plunging the scissors deep into her friend's body. Annalise screeched, her eyes widening with horror at what she had done. Her body started to fade as tendrils of smoke rose from her form.
"Maybe one day, I will come back for you..." Anni whispered weakly. "I promise..."
Annalise disappeared as Anni's vision blurred, her world blackening into nothingness... And just as suddenly, the water drained away, the pressure releasing her from its jaws. She coughed fiercely, throwing up the water left from her body. She rolled to her knees, coughing and shivering with cold. A light shone brilliantly before her, revealing a doorway... Her way out. She jumped to her feet, grabbing the bag from the damp ground, running to the exit. She looked back one last time, hoping to see that her nightmare was only in her imagination... Only to catch a glimpse of Annalise, her eyes darkened with hate holding the forgotten scissors tightly in her small hand. Anni squinted in the light, her vision becoming blurry once more... And then, Annalise was gone.
Ruin watched Anni Rohn with eyes that were the color of blood. She felt afraid, the Goddess' gaze seeming to pierce her soul, but her mind knew Ruin wouldn't harm her. The deity instilled a sense of awe that made her too stunned to speak, along with a sense of confidence she had never felt before. "You must face your Fears. Eat or be eaten. That is the way of it here. Were it another time... I wonder which one you would be?" She leapt from her makeshift throne like a fearsome tiger, equally graceful and dangerous. She circled Anni thoughtfully, her eyes burning into her heart.
"I wonder indeed. Perhaps we shall solve this little mystery? Take this." The Goddess handed her a dagger. Its pommel glittered with jewels, the hilt surrounding some sort of stone, its simple blade undecorated, but extremely sharp like a vicious fang. Something hit the back of her hand: a claw, secured to the top by a chain.
"That should be more than enough," the Goddess continues. "You will need to learn to fend for yourself, to take on your challenges and judge for yourself what it means to sacrifice. That is the only way you will become stronger, else you'll fall prey to someone greater still." Anni stared at the blade incredulously. It started to rust, running down the sides of the blade like blood, until it was stained a deep crimson, the color of Ruin, her home of The Spire, and Anni's own thundering heart.
"You are ready." She announces, gesturing with her scythe. "Go." She didn't have to think, her being moved on instinct, headed straight toward the opening. She could feel her Goddess' all-seeing gaze upon her, watching with the intensity of a patient predator, even as she left the deity behind.
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 11:45 am
Anni woke up. She felt the table under her and the freezing air chilling her body to the core. She had no idea where she was or why she was asleep, she could only see a blinding brilliant white. It was clean, too clean... Not at all like the natural rocky landscape of The Spire or its grey inhabitants. She could hear a low whine that seemed to be coming from the lights, the sound annoying enough to be considered painful. She looked around, the only objects within the four plain walls were her and the table. She didn't dare look up, for fear of being painfully blinded by the lights, but she could tell it was as white as the walls surrounding her. Wait... There was another object in the room: a door. She got off the cold table and walked toward it on swaying feet. She expected the door to be locked, somehow thinking that she was trapped here on purpose--- it was unlocked. She twisted the handle in her palm, opening the door.
It was almost too easy, she escaped without a problem. Anni squinted into the hallway, it too was sterile white, lit brightly with the same lights as the room she had left. She walked forward carefully, slowly, so as to not alert her captors of her absence.
'SLAM!'
The sound startled Anni so badly, she almost fainted in fright. She looked back to the door, awaiting a monster, her captors... but it was still open, the room empty. She leaned against a nearby wall, steadying her breathing and heartbeat. "It's nothing." She gasped. "Nothing at all." She walked on steadier legs, turning her back on the door. As she walked, she noticed that the hallway contained no other doors, just the one she escaped from. Without any object markers or color, the hallway seemed to stretch on forever. Anni wondered if she was going anywhere at all. She trudged on carefully, slowly, when at long last, she could see it: an exit. This place was unfriendly, cold, sinister... Of course she needed to leave this place, her heart yearned for her home, to see the Goddesses' statues looking down upon her. She walked just a little faster...
Thud...
She froze in her tracks, she had been careless! They would want her back in that room. She turned around, holding the dagger tightly--- and finding the hallway empty, the room beyond equally so. She kept walking. 'Now I'm just being paranoi---'
Thud.
She was quick this time, Anni held the dagger out, its gleaming red blade aimed directly at her attacker as she spun to face her opponent... And screamed in absolute horror as a demonic figure ran to capture her and lock her away forever.
She fled.
I am the biggest scaredy cat in the entire world. So... I have no clue what's chasing Rhi-- Anni, other than its black, has big eyes (opened the third spoiler tag AT ONE IN THE MORNING on accident), and is semi-related to a tall, skinny man in a forest. Sorry if I don't qualify because of this, but I REFUSE to open the tags. Thank you~
Anni raced out of the exit, her heart pounding, her breathing close to hyperventilating, the thought of fighting now far from her mind. She was outside, her footfalls hitting the ground with a fast 'thud', running through trees that were colored a soft grey with fog.
"I want my hearrrt..." The monster cried in a child-like voice.
This was definitely much more eye-friendly than the white room she left behind. The fog hugged her form with a cool embrace and the trees welcomed her deeper into a peaceful forest... But the nightmare chasing behind her warped the calm forest into something ominous, the trees and fog offering little camouflage from the malevolent figure.
"I'm com-ing for you Ri..." The monster sung, its voice a light, trilling sound that was vaguely familiar.
She looked behind her at the figure that was gaining on her, coming closer and closer, its true appearance distorted by the creeping fog. Anni ran faster, wondering if her chest might explode from the strain. It seemed as if time had slowed. There was only the monster behind her and the forest stretching out as far as her vision could reach.
"Eye for eye, heart for heart, its by this way that we'll never part..." The creature chanted it like a child playing jump rope.
Anni leapt over rising roots and uneven ground, her movements acting on instinct. She could see the trees part, hoping the creature would lose its way and get left behind in the forest... When she skidded to an abrupt halt, the tips of her toes dangling precariously over the cliff. She backed away from the edge carefully, looking around for a way down, or a path around the cliff, anything other than the dilapidated bridge just a few steps away...
... to no avail. The monster was coming closer, its eerie laughing like that of a ghostly young girl. She had no other choice, she bolted across the simple rope bridge, praying to Ruin above that she would not fall through its flimsy boards to her death. The bridge swayed on its threadbare ropes, but held firm, and with every step, she kept reminding herself 'Don't look down, don't look down...'
The bridge began to sway dangerously with her first steps, aided by the harsh wind that blew across the canyon. Anni snatched at the fragile ropes in a death grip, hanging on as the creature's weight made the rickety bridge creak and groan.
'Stomp, creak, stomp, creak, snip-snip-snip...
It would catch her very soon.
She didn't know how she could escape it.
She walked a few steps more, but the sharply swaying bridge didn't make it any easier to hold on. She looked down at an ancient wooden plank as it splintered beneath her feet, when she was overwhelmed by the feeling of vertigo. Her stomach sank and she immediately felt dizzy...
"I'm gonna get your hear-rt~" The demon laughed maliciously. It was only a few steps away...
Anni's body slumped foward in defeat. She would be captured. There was no more hope. She looked up one last time into the nightmare's face, a disfigured facsimile of something that was once human, now mute and devoid of emotion. She didn't cry. She didn't resist. All she could do was watch with blank eyes and broken spirit, as the demon grabbed her head and forced it back. It made sure Anni wouldn't get away this time, but she was too numb to notice anything but the pounding dread of her heart.
'Thud-thud... Thud-thud... Thud-thud...'
"Don't worry," the creature purred as something sharp plunged deep into her chest, "it only hurts once..." Anni only made a soft whimper.
'Snip...' The sound reverberated off the canyon walls in a sickening chorus. 'Snip... A final, sharp pain struck her chest, and then there was no feeling.
"Your heart belongs to ME!" The demon cackled with delight as it walked away. Anni could see a pair of menacing scissors in the creature's claws, along with her heart, glowing a bright red tinged with yellow and blue, beating once before dying. Anni collapsed, a puppet without strings, lying on the softly swaying bridge.
-----------------------------//---------------------------- "Yet, you are still so little."
The Goddess's smile grew as Anni walked up to her, beaming proudly. Anni couldn't believe her eyes. The Goddess of Longing was holding a tray....of cookies.
"Oh! Um, hello. Make yourself at Home." She looked around, attempting to find a place she could set her tray of cookies down.
"Cookie?"
"Ohh...kaay..." She dragged it out slowly, questioning her motives. Anni picked one up carefully, biting into it. Dark chocolate chunk. Longing smiled widely.
"I'm glad you could make it! Those others they weren't meanies to you right? I love you most. You love me too right?" Her voice wavered slightly. Anni didn't know if she was being overly sweet or if there was something off-kilter about the Goddess.
"Of course...?" The answer was twisted into a question, she didn't know what the Goddess wanted her to say.
"Oh, I know! I have a great idea. How about experiencing what love feels like? Love, joy, happiness, despair, hatred, they are all important emotions! We can make the most beautiful tea party together." Anni practically choked on her cookie. A... tea party? Now she was convinced the Goddess was crazy!
LuckyCat777
Please ignore! I wasn't able to finish the Task in time, and therefore, this doesn't qualify for finishing.
