My fingers touched the hard surface of the gun, but as my arms were locked under its legs, I could not get a hold of it properly, with just my fingers.

My lungs burned as I could feel my consciousness fading as my fingers searched for a better grip on the gun. I finally locked my fingers on the handle and pointed it towards the being that was on top of me, only using my forearms.

Its eyes left mine as it glanced at the object I was pointing it at with my unsecured hand. And turned its eyes back to mine, uninterested. Determining the object to pose no threat to it. Until it fired with a loud bang.

I gasped for air that I could finally breathe as I looked at the being that was strangling me.

The greasy-haired monster was on its rear on the floor, holding one side of its face in shock as it looked at me.

The creature looked like what you get when a cave dweller and darkness were joined for marriage, with only his piercing eye being a contrast to his jet black body.

I raised my gun to shoot at it, but with skilled and shift movement, it got up from its rear and dashed outside the door and away from my sight.

I stared at the doorway as my fingers trembled in terror.

My ragged breathing and clattering finger the only thing making the noise in this silent house.

Everything was out there to kill me, painfully and terrifyingly. I would not get a moment of peace or respite

I dropped the gun as my hands fell into the soft bed, tears flowed through my face.

I was done. I had enough.

My trembling hands covered my face as I sobbed in defeat. It surprised me how easily I was broken, but my mind had long hit its peak.

I wiped my face and picked up the gun lying on the bed and got out of the bed.

I wanted to get out of here! I didn’t want to be caught by that creature again; it would kill me tortuously.

I walked out of the room while pointing the gun; the hallway to the stairs was completely empty, with no sign of anything.

My legs trembled in fear as I walked down the stairs into the living room. The stench returning as I descended the stairs.

I walked into the kitchen slowly as I scanned the room. I wanted to take some foods that were inside the fridge. I just could not ignore the fresh food within my reach, who knows how long it would be before I could eat again.

But I saw the door to the basement that was locked previously, even though the handle was broken.

It was wide open.

I shuddered as I dropped the food I was loading and ran through the living room towards the front door.

My toes pinging painfully as I walked into the wet and muddy road which dirtied the dressing over it. I ran past the house gate and looked behind me in paranoia.

I saw 2 eyes staring at me from the window of the kitchen that I was just in.

That was the last straw.

I ran into the street screaming. I ran past the resident’s road and into the walkway as I ran in terror. I did not bother to hide or cover; I did not bother to check the next curve to see if there was something on the other side. I ran without a care of anything finding me

The moment I see anything. I would raise my arms. Point. And shoot directly into my brains.

I would not give it the time to wiggle into my brains or choke me to death or tear me apart.

I ran as the fog increased in thickness, but I was not in the state of mind to neither care nor notice that. Running deeper and deeper as the fog became so thick that I could no longer see the walls nor my feet along with the road.

My pace slowed as my lungs burned. Until eventually, I had to stop running to give my body a chance to breathe. I looked around me while I panted; I was now completely covered in thick fog, not even able to see a few feet in front of me. Until I saw a blue twinkle somewhere in the distance in front of me.

My feet moved towards it and suddenly was thrust into a place devoid of the thick fog.

As if being in the storm’s eye, the entire area was cleared off any haze but was surrounded by a thick circle of fog that rose to the top.

And in the middle of this eye- was a translucent crystal that released a blue hue from it. It floated above the ground and stood there, impressively and mystically.

I limped towards the otherworldly crystal; my mind being drawn towards it. I could feel the air shimmer with power as I walked closer. My hands raised towards the crystal and touched its icy cold surface.

The crystal hummed in power as it prodded my hands and proceeded to pull something from inside of me.

I raised a cry as I felt something that had cracks in it was further pulled apart and was sent to the brink of shattering. I wanted to pull my arm away but my hands were glued to the crystal, unable to be pulled away like a magnet attracted to metal.

The crystal suddenly stopped pulling, as if sensing the imminent shattering that would have occurred.

And in the next moment, energy coursed through me. My hands tingled as a pleasant feeling spread from my palms to all parts of my body as it mended the very cracking thing that it almost shattered.

It was like being dipped in cold water minus the body’s shock response; refreshing.

My exposed flesh in my arms that constantly singed in pain as the breeze touched it stopped. The sharp pain in my toes that resounded every moment I stood lessened. Even the Constant headache that I did not even notice until it left, disappeared.

It then pulled again, this time without any pain; I felt my memories, my experience, and my very being pulled towards the crystal. My mind was filled with a feeling of serenity and happiness that a human would experience from being finally understood by someone else or something else.

I opened my eyes to see the words again, but rather than them feeling alien to me like always, it felt intimate, like a part of my body, and could instinctively understand them to a degree.

DESIGNATED TITLE INITIATE #737790 HOMEWORLD SPECIES CORRUPTION LEVEL 9% SOUL STRENGTH LOWER LEVEL 2 LIGHT 67% VITALITY 33% QUEST [ALLOTED TO ALL INITIATE] KILL 100 INVASIVE LIFEFORMS 14/100 ASSIMILATE 3 ARTIFACTS - KILL 10 UPPER-LEVEL SOUL 0/10 SLAY 1 LORD LEVEL SOUL 0/1 GRAND QUEST [ALLOTED TO ALL HOMEWORLD SPECIES IN AREA] KILL THE WITCH PYRUS THE CORRUPTED ONE (1/1) SLAY THE MINOTAUR THE LOST SOUL (1/1) DESTROY THE CLUTTER OF WEAVERS 7981/7990

From the sounds of it, it seemed like I was incented to kill these things, if I already wasn’t. Some of them, especially the grand quest and corruption brought a bead of sweat to my face.

The corruption. it was speaking of the corruption of my soul, wasn’t it? That’s one more of my hypotheses on the path on being to be more likely to be true.

And the word “homeworld species”–I could feel that it meant me or rather every living being in this world.

Does that mean these creatures aren’t from this world?

Aliens? But that monster was clearly a minotaur. We have stories and legends about them. The other creatures also didn’t ring along with the concept I had of aliens.

Monsters that revived after the ice melted? I was going in ridiculous directions again.

Whatever it meant. It didn’t change the fact that they weren’t supposed to be here.

I was also bugged by the Light affinity; I could feel that the higher number on this specific one meant that it was more attuned to me, at least more than vitality was. But what it was and how I can use it was not translated to me.

The crystal in front of me hummed again. But this time it felt aggressive?

I looked at it as it hummed again.

Huh? Is it angry? Or am I personifying it too much

But I got the distinct feeling that I was staying too much on its territory, like a guest staying for far too long after a birthday party.

It hummed again as the air itself shimmered in power and I felt something come dangerously close to something. It was hard to describe these new instincts I started feeling.

I turned around and walked the same way I came from; not intending to find out what’s going to happen if I stay for too long.

I passed the dense fog and walked a few meters completely blind and suddenly was thrust into a clear sky. The fog and haze completely disappearing from my view.

I thought I walked a lot farther than this?

I looked back in puzzlement, only to see an empty street and buildings. No magical floating crystal and thick fog. I looked at my arms and leg, the only proof that this did not happen in only my head.

My foot was still in a shade of blue but it was in normal size rather than being inflated like a balloon, and the peeled-off skin of my arm was now covered with another layer of skin, covering the nerves and muscles under it. It still hurts a lot, though.

I looked back to the empty street and inwardly nodded a thanks, for the chance encounter when I needed it the most.

At least something in this new world wanted me to survive.

I walked back with resolute steps, my feet walking firmly on the same road that I walked not long ago, but with a completely different mindset.

I reached the gate of the house I ran away from; I glanced at the window where I saw the bastard that tried to kill me in my sleep. There was nothing else but a curtain.

I walked further in, towards the front of the door as I prepared the revolver in my hands. In hindsight, I should probably figure out a way to open these cartridges, so I can know whether or not I was carrying an empty gun.

But the time is nigh, I wouldn’t stall. Terror was already rearing its head, and I feared I would not have the guts to open this door again without riding on these feelings.

I opened the door as I burned vitality. The stench of the decomposing body hit me a lot stronger than last time, but after I made the conscious effort to ignore it. It disappeared from my senses.

My breathing stilled as I walked into the house without a sound. I perked my eyes and ears for anything, for any movement, for any sound. But only the faint hum of the regulator sounded out in the background.

This was not going to work. It was a hunter. No, a coward. It was only going to show itself when it knew it had the advantage.

So how do I bring it to light?

I walked towards the basement door; it was wide open- just like when I left. Meaning that it was definitely out here, maybe even watching me.

I considered the stairs towards the underground, hesitating for a second, and then descended into the darkness of the basement.

Terror flickering inside of me as I walked further down, but I squashed it down. The basement was dim but was nowhere near the level of the area inside the mart. I could still see everything, though dimly.

I walked to the center of the dusty basement just as I heard a cracking noise from the stairs.

It would still play the waiting game. It would watch me for hours, waiting for me to let my guard down, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

I closed my eyes as I lowered my pointed gun. Making myself as delightful and tempting as a target as I could be.

My ears perked to the pin-drop silence, catching any sound it could. Time passed as I stayed with my eyes closed while dimly burning 'vitality' and I heard something.

Something so faint that I could not even distinguish what it was; it could have been from the wind moving or it could have been from the woods creaking, but I pointed my gun towards it and fired.

The bullet traveling a straight path as I burned my hands to make it as still as possible when firing. But the hairy sapient dodged it, barely. The bullet hitting its shoulders rather than its head.

But without a single utterance of pain, it came forward and elbowed my face. I kept my pose even as my head went sideways and raised my arms to shoot at it but it grabbed both my shoulders and drove its knees into my stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs along with 'vitality'.

It pulled back its knees to bring in another one, but I re-gripped my gun and fired into its knees. It screamed in pain. The first time I was ever hearing its noise. But quickly composed itself and tried to continue where it left off, but I drove a kick right into its chest, throwing it into the basement wall.

I raised my gun, pointing it towards the hairy beast before it could get up. I didn’t fire immediately.

The beast looked at me with dread in its eyes as it saw the pointed gun.

I smiled a sadistic grin as I let it taste the despair of death, letting it know that it was going to die. It grunted at me in rage at the realization and tried to get up.

But another loud shot resounded, this time the shot hitting its mark.

Holing up inside was only delaying things, delaying my death. Simply waiting for the next monster to knock on my doors.

I loaded the bullets into my gun as I packed emergency items into my bag.

I would no longer do that.

I left the temporary house with a bag full of med-kit, food, and some emergency items, with a fully loaded revolver strapped to my side.

It’s time I do something to survive rather than just scrape by and hope for the best.