Evelyn's lantern flared brightly, cutting a narrow path through the writhing flesh tunnels.The Heart pulsed violently, trembling with anger, as if it could feel her defiance.
The illusions screamed silently around her, faces twisted into pleading, accusing masks, mouths opening impossibly wide, eyes reflecting everything she had ever feared.The shadow-Evelyn lunged at her from above, limbs jerking like broken puppets, but Evelyn leapt aside, landing on the soft, pulsing floor.
Her pulse raced—but she forced herself to focus.
The Heart can feed on fear… not on determination.
She raised the lantern higher. Its light didn't just illuminate.It burned the illusions.The faces of the consumed melted back into the walls.The whispers faltered.The shadow-Evelyn recoiled, confused.
The mirror-Evelyn glided closer, fog swirling, eyes glowing like molten glass.But even she hesitated, sensing the change.
Evelyn took a deep breath.She concentrated on her fear—not hiding it, not denying it, but controlling it.
The Heart pulsed again.The walls twisted violently.Tendrils of muscle lunged for her.But she wasn't afraid.Not fully.
She swung the lantern forward.
The living flesh of the tunnel sizzled where the light touched.Tendrils recoiled.Whispers faltered.Faces of the consumed shrieked silently, dissolving into shadow.
Evelyn felt power flowing through her veins.Her will.Her mind.Her determination.
The Heart responded.The cavern trembled.A massive tendril of flesh shot toward her, faster than thought.
She dodged, landing on the soft floor, eyes locked on the mirror-Evelyn.The fog creature floated closer, but Evelyn's lantern flared again—cutting through the fog like a blade.
The shadow-Evelyn hissed, recoiling.The Heart's pulse quickened, furious, but something had changed.
Evelyn realized:
She could fight it.Not with weapons.Not with fire.But with her mind, her focus, her will.
She stood tall in the writhing flesh.The Heart throbbed around her, tendrils wriggling.The mirror-Evelyn drifted closer, fog swirling, watching.The shadow-Evelyn lunged—but Evelyn met it with a steady hand, lantern raised.
And the Heart recoiled.
For the first time.