Evelyn fell.Not just down, but through flesh that felt alive, pulsing and writhing like a giant, soft trap.The walls pressed in, squelching against her arms and legs, almost curious—testing her.
The voices from the previous layer followed her, louder, more desperate.Whispers, screams, sobs—all compressed into wet, muted vibrations inside the meat around her."It's eating memories now… it knows what you love… what you fear…"
Her lungs burned, but she forced herself to breathe.Every inhalation pressed against the living walls.Every exhalation was immediately sucked away.
Then she saw it.
A second layer beneath the first.Thicker. Darker.A lattice of sinew and muscle forming tunnels that twisted endlessly, like intestines feeding into themselves.
And inside… shadows moved.Not the shadow-Evelyn.Not the mirror-Evelyn.
Other humans. Or what remained of them.Half-melted. Eyes wide. Mouths silent, opening and closing.Limbs fused to the walls.Skin stretching unnaturally, twitching with anticipation.They weren't alive—nor dead.They were memory-fed husks, trapped inside the Heart's stomach for eternity.
One of them reached out.A skeletal hand slid across the muscle floor toward Evelyn.Every finger, every joint, moved like it had a mind of its own.
And then she realized… the hand wasn't just trying to grab her.It was showing her something.
A memory.Not hers.Someone else's.
She recoiled, but the wall pulsed, projecting memory after memory:
Faces of passengers screaming as doors slammed
Shadows swallowing limbs
Children crying in empty carriages
Friends she had never met, reaching for help
The Heart was feeding not just on flesh, but on experience.On suffering.On terror.
The shadow-Evelyn slithered beside her, moving through the tunnels like a living parasite.The mirror-Evelyn floated, fog swirling, eyes glowing—watching.Neither spoke, yet Evelyn felt their words:
"This is what you are made of.""Every fear you've ignored… it's here."
The tunnel split into two paths—one narrower, filled with squirming limbs and faces, pulsing with hunger.The other wider, darker, almost solid muscle, as if leading deeper into the Heart itself.
The voices screamed silently:
"The deeper you go… the more you become part of it."
Evelyn's chest tightened.The walls around her pulsed faster—like a heartbeat inside a heartbeat.The mirrored and shadow versions of herself moved closer, waiting, patient, hungry.
She had to choose.Step forward… or be swallowed by the memories of everyone the Heart had consumed.
Her lantern flickered faintly.The flesh hissed and shifted.The Heart's pulse echoed through the tunnels.
And the voices whispered, almost in unison:
"Deeper… you cannot stop it now…"