[color=plum][center][h2]Dwyn[/h2][/center][/color]

As the monstrous sculpture that occupied the corner came into view, Dwyn clamped her hand over her mouth, retching - but there was nothing for her to throw up no matter how she tried. Once her stomach stopped turning - a state which took several seconds to achieve - she was finally able to look upon the sight. And the disgust, the sickness, the horror... it settled instead, to a heavy cold weight of fear in her stomach.

What was this place?

[i]What was [b]wrong[/b] with this place?[/i]

A ritual of some sort. An unholy, twisted, sickening sacrifice. The world was nothing but guts and gore and blackness and a creeping tide of horror as Dwyn realised just how real this was. Why didn't she listen to him? Why didn't she run, as any sensible person would have done? And, perhaps most importantly... Why, in the name of the Gods, did this statue, from which such a monstrous figure emerged, look like Nera?

[color=plum][i]This was all a cruel joke.[/i][/color] For it had to be, did it not? To pluck a few helpless souls from blissful release and toss them into a hell designed to torture and kill them one by one. These priests, that roamed the halls so hungrily, could be nought but her agents. Or they thought they were, at the very least. It would serve her well to listen to the stranger, to flee before they came for her too, but she couldn't tear herself away.

Their god... in the name of their god...

The mark was the same as their stigma, the reminder of past deeds they bore with them. Perhaps that was why the priests had been so quick to attack them, though she hesitated to place the blame on anything other than Aiv's ignorant stupidity. Not that it mattered who was to blame, for the rumbling explosion from the direction she'd left behind had more than convinced Dwyn of their demise. As far as she knew, she was the only one left. [color=plum][i]They're coming for me soon.[/i][/color]

She didn't want to know the answer, but her lips moved regardless. [color=plum]"Their god... which is it? That black creature,"[/color] her voice shaky and hollow as she continued, [color=plum]"or Nera? Perhaps they are one and the same."[/color] A hint of laughter at that last part, as something in the girl [i]shattered[/i].

Not waiting for an answer, she turned back to the ritual. To that black, beating heart, and the grotesque scene that surrounded it. The world... was truly forsaken, wasn't it? Gone. Nothing, nothing left. Damn this place. Damn their rituals.

A black halberd lashed out, intent on the heart's destruction.

[color=plum][i]Damn it all.[/i][/color]