**Badump** **Badump** **Badump**
My eyes fluttered, my consciousness faded in and out.
**Badump** **Badump** **Badump**
I felt something wrap both my hands. Fibrous tendrils had slithered across the floor, stretching from the darkness, coiling up my forearm. It began to tug on me, dragging me slowly across the floor, inching me closer to the light.
**Badump** **Badump** **Badump**
The beating significantly picked up in volume while I kept closing in. And all of a sudden I stopped.
"Oof-!" I winced sharply as the tendrils burrowed into my shoulders, lifting me off the ground.
**Badump** **Badump** **Badump**
The source of the light had revealed itself before me. A darkened heart emanating a faint crimson glow. The thumping, the persistent beating sound hadn't come from my heart, but from whatever was in front of me. The heart rested snugly in a cluster betwixt the same tendrils that bound me, forming some sort of stump-like pedestal.
**Badump** **Badump** **Badump**
The tendrils retracted, dropping me, leaving me kneeling in front of the heart. I lifted my head, staring into it, observing every palpitation, every pulse and twitch it made. Oddly enough, it was captivating in its own right. Just as captivating and mesmerizing as the dance that night…
"That night… I can't seem to properly recall what had happened." My head suddenly recoiled into my body.
"I- I… Watched a dance, we celebrated… And then nothing… I can't seem to remember." I said slightly hesitating, attempting to recall what had transpired.
"Envy…" A deep, but ethereal voice echoed from the dark.
I looked around, scanning the room.
"Confusion… Fear…" It continued. Echoing in my head itself, unnerving me.
"Wh- Who's there?" I stuttered.
Only then did I notice that the beating heart had stopped yet continued to emanate the same crimson glow.
"Ciceli… " The heart's light flickered.
"Wh- What do you mean? The… The holy capital?" curiosity had triumphed over my growing fear.
"S- Save me…" Its luminosity, fading.
Panic immediately set in as my last source of light started to dim.
"No no no no!"
In a panic, I reached out to the heart. A tendril shot out towards me.
"Argh!" I yelled as the tendril pierced my palm, sending a jolt of pain throughout.
Another tendril shot out, piercing my chest. Another pierced my stomach, whilst another pierced my left eye. It was fast… Too fast. I felt my body hit the floor before my vision faded.
**Badump**
The beating began once again. Now, I was sure that it was my heart this time.
**Badump**
"Argh-!" I yelped as a surge of pain ran through my body.
**Badump**
The tendrils burrowed deeper, expanding(?), multiplying(?). It felt as if hundreds of them were crawling underneath my skin, the back of my eyes, in my stomach, encapsulating my very brain.
**Badump**
My chest felt tight, and my body convulsed. My heart was being pumped, like I was being resuscitated. The pain was both uncomfortable and excruciating.
**Badump**
I felt my limbs twisting, and turning.
**Crack** **Crunch**
My bones fractured, reassembled, and fractured once again.
**Badump**
…
And then there was silence. The pain had finally subsided and there was nothing. I could finally feel the bliss of nothingness. But as my consciousness started drifting, I once again heard its dreaded voice.
"You… Will be… Our Salvation…"