I slowly awoke from my daze, unknowing who I was or where. The ground that wrapped around felt tough and raspy as leather, scraping my skin like an old flame reluctant to let go, a lover's embrace both painfully hot and made of a substance made humid by sulfur and slime. And it was only after I had clawed myself free that I found myself in the midst of a desolate waste.

On a small island, I saw a sea of corpses below me, a terrible sight that left me gasping for air. I looked from this plateau at those that roamed these wilds, a voice whispering them to be the heathen and the craven, both joined in a terrible fortune, their eyes ripped and ears shredded without care, for they both had denounced the Lord's path. These souls were destined to eternally search for their lost fate, as blind of the world as the world was of them, their solitude only harried by flocks of raven that swooped in whenever they saw some growth.

As the sea ebbed and flowed, a small corridor arose, a light leading to nowhere. It filled me with doubt, a deep wariness of an offer too good to be true. I felt their hunger slowly climbing up my skin, their desperation to cling onto anything given to them, soaking up any hope until only a husk remained of me and I would enter their ranks.

But there she was. Sensing my horror, a star of light rose above the ravens and above the immortal toil. Her face as beautiful as the morning rise, she pushed back the black sea. She flooded my heart with courage I so desperately needed to shake off my doubt, and she, my Eurydice, my love, beckoned me closer to trouble.

I bolted towards the gap, sure of my purpose, and into the pathway. As it turned and churned I became completely reliant on my speed and her guidance. The sea swallowed all safe ground behind me, leaving me no option but to run towards her eyes, who outjeweled the stars in splendor and to follow her voice, both soft and honeyed with candor. They spoke to me with a profound sadness:

"Oh, dearest, how I missed your sight so. How I wished I could embrace you and love you until the hourglass of time finally breaks. But as love once drew me to you, love now compels me to speak in warning. I fear we both are lost, as tormented as those you'll find on your journey, damned for eternity, destined to be together but forced apart.

A craving will compel your mind to follow my visage, to rely upon my memory while threading a road endangered by untold horrors, leading to fates far worse than death or simple torture. The road will attempt to drive you astray, to sequentially seduce you and intimidate you until it has you firmly in its wicked grasp. I fear that even if you see your trial to its end, your place will be far worse than mine would ever be. So save yourself, my beloved, and forget about me. It will be the best for both of us."