A stranger stabbed me, then I told them I loved them

I'm not a stranger to violent dreams or dreams where I get physically harmed, but this one was particularly strange to me.

There were several segments to the dream that didn't seem to be related. In the violent segment, I remember walking through a swamp in waist-high liquid. The liquid was dark red and looked like it was filled with pomegranate seeds. After a while, I was met by an artist and they sculpted the head of a crocodile out of a block of styrofoam. They made me do the same and they were critical of my work. Eventually, I finished and the dream skipped time.

I was still in the swamp and was now facing the artist. At this point, I had been stabbed at least two or three times by the artist and remember feeling the pain. The next time, I remember it being a situation that couldn't be helped. For whatever reason, they needed to stab me. I urged them that I would be different this time. I leaned down and readied myself, and felt the knife plunge between my shoulder blades. The pain was shocking at first and for some reason I let out moans. This time, I was enjoying being stabbed. The pain started to dull and I remember wondering why it wasn't paralyzing me. I could see a vision of the knife cutting through my spinal cord, but aside from the pain and obvious stabbing I was unharmed.

After that, I remember professing my love and attachment to the person that stabbed me.