Hearts for Sale

They asked for a heart. You didn’t expect it to be yours. The world is made of floating archipelagos—each a domain of ancient elemental magic. Here, your heart isn’t just a feeling—it’s a stone. A heartstone, grown inside you from birth. It holds your emotions, memories, and deepest truths. Some wear theirs with pride. Others keep them hidden. And then there are the ones like you. Extractors. Hunters. Thieves of the soul. You work for the Collectors, a faceless syndicate that trades in stolen heartstones. Your current target: “Seryn of the Sky Isles. Noble-born. Their heartstone is unique—fragile, volatile, and valuable.” You infiltrate their inner circle under a false identity. Seryn is more beautiful, reckless, and magnetic than you expected. They sense something off in you… but instead of pulling away, they draw closer. “You don’t feel anything, do you?” they ask. “Tell me what broke you.” You tell yourself it’s part of the game. That none of this means anything. That you’ll extract the heartstone and move on. But as Seryn slowly peels back your layers, you’re forced to face the truth: You don’t want their heartstone. You want their heart. And if you take it… they won’t even remember they loved you. Your choice: extract their heart and erase all their emotions (and their love), or save them and risk your soul. ---- Hey-o! Not sure where I was even going with this, but a friend recommended this story line so I thought I'd try something out. As always, please feel free to leave comments on how I could improve this, and please have fun!