I was ready; in my hand was the knife I had taken from downstairs and my heart was beating slowly, methodically. I wasn’t high on adrenaline but my mind was sharp, focused on the present.

The wound in my arm was thumping obviously--I could feel the blood rushing through it, clotting and trying to scab and heal. I was always consciously aware of it in my mind, no matter how much I tried to just ignore it. I was injured, yes, but I was still standing.

By now, I had gotten a taste of what this hive was like; it was small, weak, and filled with wolf-like monsters. The Heart’s Manifestation was likely going to be a big wolf, like Fenrir.

I could’ve left the hive at this point; I could’ve put down everything and just left--I was already wounded and had just cause--but I didn’t. I felt a calling, a compulsion to stick with my original goal of clearing this hive. Maybe it was my ego talking, how I was strong enough to do this, or maybe it was something else, I didn’t know at the time.

I was resolved to continue, however. No matter how much my arm pained me or the sweat and exasperated breaths showed my utter exhaustion, I was prepared to keep going.

I had a plan in mind as well. I knew how I was going to march forwards.

With my hand wrapped around the knife firmly, I activated my Specialisation and opened the door.

Almost immediately, I saw two boars overlaced on top of each other. One was small and hairy, it’s body resembling a boar, and facing away from me, towards the wall-length window. The other I saw half transparent and charging towards me, it’s face an ugly mixture of a boar and a wolf.

In a split second, as soon as my foot made contact with the old, creaky, wooden floor, the boar that was idling turned around with unassuming alacrity. It’s eyes were devoid of emotion but its body emulated such a perfect facsimile of an angered beast that I felt intimidated before it had even started running yet.

However, I held my ground. I deactivated my Specialisation and caught myself in a stance. It was a mindless beast, spawned from the walls of this hive; it would have no intelligence and no forethought. Therefore, I could telegraph my preparedness as much as I wanted and it would garner no reaction.

Like I thought it would, it came charging with nary a care in the world, its body lithe and light but ferocious. I held my knife in my right hand and my feet splayed, ready to move on a moment’s notice.

Quickly, I turned my Specialisation on and off, confirming no deviation of course, and as soon as the boar was within only a few steps of me, a small enough distance it could cross it within two seconds, I dashed backwards, back into the room I had just emerged from.

As I thought, the boar, without any thinking at my sudden retreat, turned sharply, almost losing its footing, and chased me. Without wanting to miss this opportunity, I quickly used my Specialisation, seeing the right timing, and then shoved my whole weight against the door.

With a loud whine from the creature, my full weight and the weight of the wooden door smashed into its side, pinning it against the door frame as it flailed about and struggled to move.

This was my chance. Without missing a beat, with its legs scraping against the polished, wood-paneled floor, I placed my left hand over the butt of the knife and shoved it through its tiny, brown-haired skull as hard as I could.

I felt the bone crunch underneath my hands and quickly, the previously vigorous boar became as lifeless as the other corpses in the room.

I was not without injury, however. The tusks or fangs that protruded from its mouth had nicked at my arm and hands as it was throwing its head wildly, not understanding the situation. Again, in just a short time, my arm was bleeding, the blood trailing down and creating even more rivers that stained my skin.

I fell flat on my butt on the floor, breathing heavily. All my exertions for the day were making themselves known to my body, and even moving my limbs was strenuous. I was clearly unfit and I hadn’t felt it as strong as I did until that day. Never-the-less, that didn’t stop me; I just had to be calm, methodical, and measured.

After a good few minutes of catching my breath and waiting for my rapidly pounding heart to calm down into something resembling normality, I stood back up.

Once again, I made my way over to the kitchen--familiarly laid out just like the apartment downstairs--and doused my arms and hands in cold water before gently rubbing them with a towel. I did this all over both my arms, my face grimacing in pain when I dried them, except for my other wound which was already covered by a towel.

Once the residual pain faded away and all I was left with was a sting when I touched my arms--like they were covered in paper cuts--and walked back over towards the door, where the boar carcass was lying lifeless on the ground, unmoved from where it had died.

I opened the door, quickly activated my Specialisation, and stepped over the boar into the hallway. Immediately, there was nothing. While trying to see any danger, I saw nothing.

The way this precognition of mine worked was odd, and largely based on intuition. I was just a human, unable to visually focus on more than one thing at a time. Rather than having an opaque visual fill my vision, distracting my sight from the present, a translucent image overlaid itself and I intuitively understood what it was without actively having to look at it. In that respect, it was like I had two sets of eyes--one for the future and one for the present.

However, in that split second that I had activated my Specialisation to scout for any additional threats, it was not like that. For the majority of my vision, there was no difference between the present and the future that I saw--it was just an empty hallway with no signs of life--but there was one area, which seemed to be coming from another apartment, that was different.

It wasn’t different in the sense that I felt a threat or hostility emanating from the room but rather, I saw nothing at all. When I was looking into the future, I saw the present. It was, suffice to say, an unnaturally void in my intuition that should not exist.

As soon as I noticed this, I felt my muscles cramp up and my body froze. My whole frame tensed up as caution and fear overwhelmed my system.

It hadn’t been that long of a time but I had used my Specialisation extensively; I knew what it did and what things felt like. I knew what I saw and what I expected to see, and reality unfurled as I had expected. This complacency in the actualisation of reality according to my precognitive ability to see and having that contradicted by this one, innocent-seeming room in a random apartment… I was both speechless and disbelieving.

Is this why I keep feeling compelled to venture further? The feeling was foreign to me, and not something that I had felt before. Likewise, this apartment was similarly improbable. Perhaps it was a coincidence that the two existed simultaneously in the same building but I held little belief in coincidences.

Finally, after being stuck to the spot in realisation of what I was seeing, I felt the same, familiar urge overtake me and my previously stationary feet began to move. The hive was small, and I couldn’t see any other monsters. In all probability, in this next apartment, there would be the Heart’s Manifestation.

For some reason, however, I felt less fear than just simply looking at this place. I cognitively knew it was stupid of me to not feel threatened but it was like my body instinctually disregarded the danger I was willingly walking into.

I had no time to ponder my abnormal mental state for my body continued to move. My hand found its way to resting on the handle of the door, grasping it firmly, and slowly opening the door. It was only for a moment that the fact the door was unlocked confused me, before I remembered that people had to be evacuated from this room.

With only the mildest of anxiety within my heart, I pushed the door open. Inside stood a large, four-legged beast with a neck far too long for its body. It’s legs were like stumps but lacking the lupin shape I was expecting and its barrel-like chest suggested it weighed a ton. In comparison, its neck was spindly and thin, like the head of a giraffe was stuck onto an elephant.

The sight was far too unlike anything I had ever seen--it didn’t resemble any of the Earthly animals I was aware of whereas the rest of the monsters I had encountered so far at least looked vaguely archetypal.

But the general appearance of this creature wasn’t what stunned me in my tracks. No, it was rather the fact that it was looking at me; looking at me and not doing anything. I had noticed me--its yellow eyes like pin pricks on my skin--but its massive feet didn’t leave the ground nor did it show any desire or intent to move. It was like a tank, in that respect.

Why is it just standing there? Why isn’t it attacking me?

No monster inside a hive was friendly--that was something everyone knew. They killed any humans or animals that weren’t spawned by the hive, like a wild beast defending its territory.

Although it was surprising, my senses hadn’t disappeared and I instantly activated my Specialisation the moment the creature had come into sight.

Within the next minute, the creature would charge at me. I saw myself trying to dodge as the humongous beast moved with unsuspecting alacrity, swinging its fierce neck like a weapon and threatening to trample me the moment I stopped moving.

I saw myself loosely, quickly dodge its strikes and nimbly dance around its limbs like I had predicted all of its movements. I slashed at its legs, hindering its movements as best as I could as the sharp knife struggled to cut deeply into its thick skin.

I saw a fierce, ferocious combat unfolding within the next few seconds but yet, nothing. The beast in front of me didn’t move a muscle and I felt no sense of threat or danger from it, regardless of what I had just seen.

Both of us had stuck to our places, neither daring to move--myself out of uncertainty and the beast for whatever reason it had. A solid ten, twenty seconds passed in silence as the black sclera of its eyes made it hard to sense what direction it was looking, but yet, I doubted it had looked away from me.

Finally, I felt the urge to move. Standing still for so long was uncomfortable, and there was no sense of foreboding telling me I should not move. Therefore, tentatively, I activated my Specialisation just in case to see what would happen.

I saw myself bloody and injured, holding my arm where the towel was wrapped around, now gone from the lively battle. Similarly, the beast was riled up and fighting savagely, unlike the avatar of calm before me in the present.

Just like before, the future did not line up with reality and I could not fathom out why.

Clearly, I couldn’t rely on my Specialisation at this moment.

And so, I moved. Rather than moving backwards, towards the exit, however, I inched closer to the titanic beast, its head merely swiveling to follow my steps. I knew it was a safer option to run out the room and leave but I couldn’t bring myself to. My curiosity was burning and my mind was too shocked to deny it.

As I took one step closer, slowly and gently placing my foot down on the wooden floor, I took another step. A gradual culmination of steps but the Manifestation didn’t move any of its own. I didn’t know what it was thinking with its inhuman and unnerving eyes.

And then the most dangerous moment happened; I was beside it. From up close, its skin was cracked and dry, lacking any moisture. Small tufts of thin, wispy hair protruded sporadically but it was not a furry or hairy creature.

In one small part of my mind, I felt the call of the abyss--to risk my life on a stupid action to touch the skin, to feel what this creature was like. But I held myself back, the calling I felt from the room beyond this room too strong to overtake that momentary curiosity.

And so, I continued walking, positioning myself so I looked ridiculous by walking like a crab but I was at least still able to keep it within my sight.

I made my way to a door, one which I hadn’t entered in any of the other apartments I had been in so far, and this was the final leap of faith.

Will I really be safe turning my back on the thing?

Yet again, my Specialisation showed me nothing but blood and battle and I had to ignore my trustworthy ally that had carried me so far already.

My hand was on the handle, ready at any moment to open the door, but I didn’t. I may have been stupid but I wasn’t fearless enough to turn my back so quickly.

Another staredown ensued. The creature hadn’t even moved since the beginning and it had only kept watch on me by moving its neck around its body, like an ungainly and unnatural giraffe.

I didn’t know how long had passed but it must’ve been over a minute before I sucked in a deep breath and steeled my mind for what I was about to do. It was going to be fast, and it was going to be scary.

All of a sudden, I swung open the door and stepped through it, checking there were no monsters in the room. There weren’t.

As fast as I could I checked back on the Manifestation and to my immense relief, nothing as well. It had remained where it was before I had turned my back. I closed the door softly.

Now, all that was left was this room. This room. Where the heart was.

The room was the bedroom and where the king sized bed was supposed to be was a crumpled and broken version. Numerous, thick tendrils clutch the room, spreading through the walls, floors, and ceiling to envelope the building as a whole.

And at the nexus of all these limbs was the grey, disgusting, flesh-like entity which was the heart.

Just like before, all the other times, I felt drawn to this heart. A momentary activation of my Specialisation confirmed it; I couldn’t see the future of this heart. The feeling was stronger than before, and I had no disbelief that it was this heart.

But what is special about this heart?

Clearly, something was.

I knew too little about any of this my mind was frazzled and exhausted from all that I had experienced.

The first heart that I saw, Luna had cut at it hard and fast with a knife like her life depended on it. It probably did, for if the heart had stayed connected with the hive for any longer, a Manifestation would’ve emerged.

However, this time, everything had already spawned from the tendrils. I felt no need to expedite the removal of this heart, no desire of haste. It was calming now that I had finally arrived at the location I had set out for the moment I had stepped into this building.

At the centre of every hive was its nucleus.

I slumped down on a nearby chair to catch my breath. Placing my hand against my chest, I felt my heart thump rapidly inside my body, the whole thing so exhilarating. I needed to calm myself both mentally and physiologically.

And held my head back and closed my eyes, the minute ache still there in my head. In the darkness, I saw neither the present nor the future and that, for what I had been through, was refreshing.

Once I had calmed down sufficiently, I opened my eyes again to the exact same sight as to when I had closed them. I was safe in here.

Now, all that was left to do was to take this heart.

Remembering how Luna had done it, I walked up to the heart, knife in hand, and plunged it into one tendril. It dug in deep, the little mass of flesh that was there unable to resist the sharpened edge of the blade in my hand.

I worked my arms and shoulders heavily as I began pulling and pushing the knife, cutting through the flesh one limb at a time. In a gruesome way, it felt like I was cutting a steak.

It took a good few minutes before I finally managed to dislodge the heart. With the final cutting of the last limb, the heart flopped to the ground like a useless slab of meat.

Hearts deteriorated rapidly once they had been detached from the hive; I had to get this heart to Luna and quickly at that.

The moment the heart had come loose from the walls, the whole building shook as the grey, concrete-like tendrils that had subsumed the building were decaying rapidly, like sand meeting water.

I gathered up the bedsheet, cut it into a reasonable smaller size, and gathered up the heart inside it. I probably looked like a mother holding a swaddled baby by clutching the heart to my chest but my mind was focused on my immediate, pertinent matters.

Without hesitation, I rushed out of the room, seeing the beast howling in pain and moving for the first time since I had encountered it. I paid it no heed as I rushed past it, my mind knowing I was in no danger and transfixed on getting out of here.

The floor was unstable and I could feel the furniture moving from across the room. As fast as I could, I retraced my steps through the other apartment and to the hole in the floor. Placing one hand on the floor, and quickly lowered myself so I landed on the dresser I had dragged there earlier.

With minimal impact, I hopped off, my legs wobbly from the floor, and ran out of the door and out of the apartment all together. The front door was free and open but I didn’t want to be seen by the G.U.G. personnel--I didn’t want them to ask me why I was taking the heart with me.

Therefore, I ran towards the other end of the hallway, where there was an opening leading to the outside.

These sorts of buildings held a communal garden that you had access to provided you lived in one of the apartments.

Thankfully, the door had been smashed by the tendril that was once here so I didn’t have to worry about whether it would open. Instead, I ran outside and as my eyes adjusted to the glaring sun in the sky, I took in my surroundings.

Three other buildings, each looking identical to the one I had just exited, surrounded this garden, each with a path leading to one another and a central area. From there, there were two paths each leading to a gate so one could access here without needing to enter a building.

Jogging at a light pace but still quick enough to be faster than walking, I cut across the high grass that clearly needed to be tended to to find myself at a wooden gate. It was tall and locked with a sturdy looking padlock that I had no hope of breaking.

However, in my adrenaline fueled state, as the building behind me was collapsing, I threw the heart over the fence and clumsily clambered on over the wooden beams holding the gate together. It was an inelegant solution and I had scraped myself in the process but with my feet firmly on the other side, I didn’t care.

Picking back up the heart, holding it hard against my chest, I ran.