Long ago, two races ruled over the earth: humans and monsters. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.
Many years later…
Mt. Ebott, 201X.
Your hands trembled slightly as you walked your way through the dark woods up the side of the mountain. It didn't have a very good reputation in your town; legends said that anyone who climbed to the top would never be heard from again. Needless to say, this was the last place you wanted to be.
But you knew that if you turned back now your 'friends' would never let you live it down. Their mocking taunts still rang fresh within your mind. "Fraidy cat". "Chicken". "Baby". "You're such a little kid".
You knew that they'd stop calling you those names after today, though. Today, you'd be the first person to return from the top of Mt. Ebott in years. As the peak of the mountain came into view, your heart began to swell with determination.
With your goal only a few feet away, you took a confident step forward to reach it. Then, a loud crack suddenly pierced the silent night air, and you looked down just in time to see your left foot be consumed by the earth. You tried to let out a scream, or to grab on to something, anything, but both your mouth and your limbs failed you as you found yourself another victim eaten by Mt. Ebbott.
It wasn't until you woke up again that you realized that you had blacked out. You immediately checked your body for any injuries but, fortunately, nothing seemed to be broken or even bruised. You looked up to see that the hole you fell through was at least six stories above you, but your fall seemed to be perfectly cushioned by a layer of soft yellow flowers covering the cave floor.
But, after checking over yourself once more, you began to realize in horror that you were missing something. You didn't notice it was gone at first, as you never bothered to pay attention to it before, but now its absence was all you could think about. You looked for it again, and again, and again, but every time you checked just reconfirmed what you already knew.
You had no heartbeat.
The idea that you were having a heart attack crossed your mind, but you quickly dismissed it. You could still stand and breathe just fine, and you didn't seem to have any other symptoms of cardiac arrest. The thought that you might be dead also flashed into your head, but you knew that that was even less likely. Your attempts to theorize exactly what was wrong with you were interrupted, however, by a very familiar sound.
Bump-bum. Bump-bum. Bump-bum.
You fingers immediately flew to your neck to check your pulse again, but you still couldn't find a heartbeat. Confused, you began looking around the dark cavern until you found the source of the noise, which nearly caused your jaw to hit the floor.
Floating there in front of you was a small, red heart. Not a squishy, realistic heart covered in veins and arteries, but a crimson, shiny, cartoon heart that sat there pulsing in the middle of the air without any visible support. You reached out your hand to make sure that you aren't hallucinating and begin rubbing your fingers along its smooth surface. Even though the heart was not actually attached to you, you could still feel the sensation of your fingers running over it as you slowly brought it towards your chest.
"Why hello there!" a feminine voice abruptly blurted out from behind you. You turned around to see what appeared to be a normal yellow flower at first, but closer examination revealed to be anything but.
