My choices were pretty slim now that I knew the coastal city was far from abandoned. They boiled down to either going a more scenic route and potentially getting lost, or sticking to the outskirts and hopefully avoiding whatever murder rave the city had decided to take part in.

I took a good, hard look at the scenic route; it would be a trip up a rocky slope and over the yellow grassy hills and then through some dense areas of distant woodland. Something didn’t feel quite right, like everything was out of place, and, as I contemplated my next move, movement caught my eye. The movement was subtle and camouflaged, so you would only notice it if you were focused, but it kind of looked like the trees were moving places every now and then..

Oh.

Silly me, that's not trees, it’s just more goddamned giant monstrosities!

There were many somethings periodically shifting locations, carefully treading through the hillside forest, with legs that were identical to tree trunks.

As I was straining to make out how many there were, one of the giant house sized cows crested over the hill and I watched it lazily stomp its way towards the trees. I watched wide eyed as it went to take a bite from a juicy looking branch of leaves, but instead of a delicious snack, it was attacked and in a flash, something violently yanked it up into the thick canopy; a waterfall of blood gushing down shortly after, not even giving it time to cry out.

Okay fuck that. I'll take my chances in the city.

..

.

I stealthily followed the road until I hit a straight that sloped down into the city. The streets had tonnes of litter in it and the houses were in various states, just like i’d seen elsewhere, except here I felt that people had tried to take refuge and even perhaps survived for a bit. This was because there were piles of trash left and quite a few homes had been reinforced.

Some even still had their front doors intact.

Even though I was being extra careful, my luck ran out several times where I had to fight a few lone Skinraw.

The first was a bit of a surprise for both of us, but it ended in seconds from my deploying my shield and firing a barrage of projectiles into the screaming torsos face.

The second and third encounter was my fault really where both times I'd accidentally kicked a can, two separate bloody times!

The sound attracted them, with me standing there embarrassed, scared and pissed off, waiting for the thudding steps to reach me. But in the end, the fights had also been relatively quick, since I knew what to expect, and although I had taken heavy damage in the final fight, it had healed up once I triggered the mass drain by severing the screaming torsos arms.

So many happy memories made..

The whole place must have looked really nice..before all the apocalypse. Buildings rendered in peaches, yellows, reds and clay colour palettes, it even still had a real holiday vibe if you could ignore the rubble, dried blood and gaping holes.

Hopping into a porch for cover, I peered ahead as the noise levels had increased which meant I needed to be extremely careful to avoid fights; I needed to know exactly what was roaming around.

From here I waited, and observed a few monsters and a couple of hordes blur by sporadically, chasing one another or being attracted to all kinds of weird and alien sounds that could be heard. The hordes appeared to be actual people, but they behaved like mindless drones.

Label: Corrupted

MAGN: ??

HP: ??

MP: ??

EP: ??

Notes: Anima spezzata. Even looking at them makes your skin crawl. The pitiful husks of the depraved and forsaken. Do not try to fight them, just run.

That’s pretty fucking ominous shit.

It was too far to make out much, but their clothes were in tatters and I could see that their flesh was either rotting or heavily damaged, possibly with growths dotted about. The groups numbered maybe 6-12 and they had various sizes and ages, and they would scramble recklessly around, trampling each other without a single second of hesitation. After around 30 minutes, I watched in horror as two groups came out from opposite alleyways, brutally clashing and quite literally tearing each other apart limb from limb. The winners munched on the loser corpses as sickly looking EXP bled out in the streets, until they noticed and proceeded to slurp up as much of the dirty pools as they could.

Holy shit.

Quite suddenly, a pack of 6 Skinraw Lupo creatures came from another alleyway and charged directly at the group of corrupted-

Label: Skinraw Lupo (Multiple)

MAGN: 30, 31, 30, 31, 20, 34

-only to be absolutely ripped to shreds in mere seconds. The corrupted fearlessly launched themselves at them, knocking them down and they pulled the screaming beast's limbs apart with little more than a few grunts, the streets were flooded in excessive amounts of slippery red blood.

Oh shit! They are insanely strong!

And THEN, as if reality was trying to say “Oh I’m not done yet!” a car sized, jet black, panther-like creature, blurred out of nowhere and weaved through the crowd, speeding off down another alleyway and attracting anything that could run to chase after it, with one corrupted not giving a shit and smashing through a house brick wall in pursuit.

Label: Padera

MAGN: 40.401

HP: 450/450

MP: 90/100

EP: 90%

Notes: A large jet black panther-like creature. High levels of sapience were detected.

Sounds of crashing and cracking could be heard going off into the distance as it tunnelled through inner walls and obstacles.

Even the giant panther ain't fucking about!

My heart was thudding in my chest, I suddenly didn’t feel safe on the ground anymore. So I thought now would be a good time to get elevated and start thinking about using Slipfold from rooftop to rooftop.

There was an apartment complex building opposite me, so before crossing the street, I checked both ways, like a responsible adult, and then practically dove through the doors.

Inside was a mess, but I only focused on the spiral staircase and my urgent desire to get as high as possible and leave this hell as soon as possible.

I was reminded with my current physical fitness as I hurtled up the twelve flights of stairs in seconds and without being completely out of breath.

At the top I paused and listened if anything was tailing me or if I could hear anything ahead, but there was just the sound of a strong sea breeze finding its way through gaps and open windows, along with the distant riots and roars.

Nothing sounds close. Pretty sure it's clear up here..

Carefully I tiptoed along the corridor, slowly checking the doors and surprisingly most of them were locked..

But when I got to the end, there was a maintenance exit to the roof and a large potted plant next to an apartment door opposite.

Something silver reflected the sunlight, catching my eye.

It's..a key. In the plant. Hm.

I tried the apartment door and it unlocked, so I slowly opened the door and peeked inside. The chain had been latched so I couldn't open it too far to see inside, but there were no sounds that I could hear so it seemed safe to check out. I briefly thought about shouldering the door open but then had an idea that would probably be a lot quieter, and a good test of a certain skill.

Placing an anchor marker inside where I could see, I focused and virtually pulled on it, surprised as it felt significantly easier and quicker to do, and with a watery peel and rush of air, I slipfolded into the room.

The inside was gloomy and dusty, but in a somewhat relaxing and comfortable way. There were thick yellow curtains blocking the windows, the bright sun still penetrating them, and there was a typical living room getup with an open plan kitchen to the right. On my left was a small corridor with some closed doors, so I closed and flicked the lock on the door behind me and immediately went to check the other rooms.

First rule of breaking in, check all the rooms.

I was hyper aware of my solitude as I crept towards the first door, being so used to being in pairs or groups when scavenging or running an errand. So naturally my mind was racing through all the scenarios where something was hiding in the shadows just waiting to pounce..

Oh come on for effs sake. You've literally fought monsters and you're still scared!

I blamed the suspense.

The first door was a bathroom, nothing inside apart from signs of bandages being used, which didn't look great. The door was locked after all.

The second door was once a kid's room but also had signs of use, such as lots of empty bottles of water, food wrappers and a few medical used bandages and empty bottles. My stomach was twisting in knots at this point. Either there was another exit, or someone had left the chain on from the inside..and never made it out.

Please don't be in the third room, please don't be in the room..

As I opened the third room, my heart sank and my blood went cold. On the bed were two corpses, a female adult dressed, whose skin looked like it had turned to stone and a strange crystal nestled in a rocky growth above her head. She was resting against a stack of pillows and by her side curled up, was a small frame that had decomposed. The child.

The smell didn't phase me, as I stood there and stared. But corpses had always been a bit rarer to find, since most deaths happened outside and there being a plethora of monsters to scavenge what remains could be found.

This however just broke my heart because it appeared as if the adult had been mortally wounded and passed away, leaving the child alone.

I cracked open all the windows to get fresh air in and searched until I found a bunch of sheets, carefully wrapping the little child up, trying not to imagine it being a situation where I'd find Marri and Lone.

It was hard. And it really tore at my heart.

After I finished, I carefully placed the child back next to the adult and looked to see if I could move her, but she was somehow glued to the bed and wall by the strange rocky growth stuff that was like volcanic rock.

Deciding it was best to leave her as is, I went to place a few sheets over them both instead, I paused and stsred at the crystal, something fluid swirled around inside.

A short piece of information flickered into my black thought space.

Label: EXP Calcification Crystal.

Notes: Occurs when an EXP system is shutdown and no EXP claimant is available for a certain length of time.

Resources are slowly consolidated, condensed and then crystallized into a clean neutral state.

This… how have we not seen this before?

Truly, but I assumed I could claim the exp and absorb it and it took me several minutes of internal debate before I grimaced and touched the crystal.

I'm sorry whoever you are, but I hope you understand that I need all the help I can get.

The crystal felt cool and as soon as I touched it, my fingertips were superglued to its surface. Pulling my hand back, it took the crystal with it and the rocky growth crumbled, creating a chain reaction that turned the whole woman into a pile of dust.

Dammit I'm sorry! I didn't mean-

I cursed myself quietly as I watched the crystal swirl and shrink, absorbing into my hand until finally it was completely gone.

Nothing happened after a few moments so I placed the remaining sheets over the bed, closed the windows tight and shut the door, feeling pretty digusted with myself.

As I walked into the living room area, I slumped onto the couch, a grumbling exhaustion and hunger rising, so I took out a tin of tuna but remembered that there were some tins of fruit and some fizzy drinks in the larder cupboard so I got up and grabbed them, pulling out a draw to grab a spoon and the tin opener.

I should see if Montti wants some t-

…

Wait.

The spoon dropped out of my hand slowly, like it was sinking in oil and my mind sloshed through memories that were clearly not mine; it was from the woman, who was called Maria, and she was the mother of the small child, called Montti.

They had made an attempt to head towards the coast to find a boat to escape but they were attacked. Maria had fought off the monster, the blood sack crawlers, but Montti had been hit, poisoned, and so they took shelter here.

Her rage and despair against an absent partner was overwhelming. She'd had to tough it out alone since he had been born and she felt like she'd failed him.

Not knowing what to do, she spent a few days trying to nurse him back to health, until she realised she needed rejuvenation help or healing supplies.

Maria heartachingly left Montti in the flat, and had been frantically going out, trying to find help or some kind of medicine. Fiercely fighting through scores of creatures, she was insanely tough but in her haste, she was struck a devastating blow and forced to retreat back to the apartment.

She came back to a fading Montti so she put on a brave face as she overdosed them both on strong painkillers and held her boy, waiting for the inevitable to come.

Everything was hazy as they both lay in the dark.. Chaos, death and nightmares raged outside the windows. Yet she made sure to stroke his back and hold him close, even through her own agonising pain, gently humming, forcing herself to hold on with every waning ounce of strength, slipping in and out of consciousness.

But she noticed the very moment her treasure stopped breathing.

She cried in grief and in sorrow, but there was an element of relief to her thoughts.

Sorrow that she couldn't see her boy grow up, that he wouldn't experience the many things that life had to offer. Sadness that nobody would remember them, remember him. It was always just those two after all.

Grief that he was forever gone. That she would never hear his cheeky laugh or see his beaming smile. She could never take back all the times she shouted or snapped. Make up for all the time wasted on pointless modern life things like watching stupid TV or binging social media, instead of exploring the world with her boy.

Because now their time was truly up.

.

.

But as things began to fade, she had held on, the least she could do was not leave him behind, alone, and she had achieved that.

She felt relieved.

Relief that she too, could now let go and that they both would sleep peacefully.

..

.

Staring at the ceiling, I.. was at a loss for thoughts. Part of me wished I'd never touched the crystal.. Yet some part of me felt like now I could do something for them, by remembering them both and promising that I would try my best to prevent others from suffering the same fate.

Curse whatever this is.. Curse it fucking all..

My mood was sour as I finished my meal and quietly left the apartment, leaving the key back in the plant pot. I didn’t bother to look around or disturb anything further, I’d already soiled their resting place enough.

Opening the service door, it had a short stairway that I climbed and led out to the roof and, as soon as I was outside, I could already spot the heads of a dozen of the hulking skinny giants, lumbering around in the distance, bobbing down periodically as if they were simply picking fruit.

Chaos, monsters and death march on..

Whilst looking for a suitable place to try and slipfold to, I stayed low and tried to keep out of sight as much as possible, hiding behind the wall that surrounded the roof.

A few times I’d witnessed a flock of human sized shapes spill out into the sky from the shadowy streets, before diving back down to another dark alleyway. I couldn’t tell if there was a pattern or not, but after maybe an hour as the sun started to set, they’d stopped appearing.

I’d made up my mind of where I was going to jump to next, another apartment tower that looked to be 8 levels tall and a big smaller. But what I liked was that it had short walls and the roof had a little bulkhead box that protected the stairwell entrance, which gave me something easy to focus on for the anchor and, it was easy to ascertain from a distance that there was access to the building itself.

It took me several attempts before I got the confirmation that the anchor was placed, with a small lag between choosing the location and the haptic sensation that told me it was successful; the analyse ability would also confirm a success in my thoughtspace log.

But the first couple of times, I felt the tug of activation, and then nothing.

Good thing I’m not relying on that to make quick long range jumps. I suspect it might be a distance problem, or maybe due to the skill being unstable… anyways. Let's try this.

It took quite a bit more effort, but after a few seconds I peeled the watery folds and slipfolded, dropping down onto the new rooftop.

A quick check of my resources indicated that it did not cost any more than expected, making me wonder in excitement just how far I could push the skill-

A flock of creatures zoomed up from the street; I reacted by diving for cover. But the flapping of wings was overwhelmingly loud, forcing me to cover my ears. I stayed very still and watched as the last of the creatures flapped off towards the setting sun, painting orange red shadows on the walls. Finally, after several more minutes, I released the breath I was holding, I my for a crash and scream returning me on high alert.

The sounds of thudding footsteps and furniture breaking could be heard coming from below. I scrambled up, staying low, and scanned around the area, but I couldn't see anything in proximity.

"HELP ### SCARED ### NEAR" an echoed female voice cried out. It sounded like she was shouting through a guttering pipe or vent shaft.

"Argh for goodness sake, I only just bloody arrived!" I grumbled as I charged towards the door, but hearing another voice comforted my loneliness, and it was English! Okay. Best case, we grab the survivor, rush back up here and then try and Slipfold somewhere else.. worst case, well, let's not think about that just yet.

My heart was pounding in my chest as I rushed down the flight of stairs and stopped dead in the corridor.

In the dimming light, I could see that the place had been absolutely trashed, but I could hear something growling and smashing furniture up, two doors away from me.

Deploying my shields in config:Exo, I skidded to a stop just outside the door and leaned against the wall, peeking around the frame.

Label: Corrupted

MAGN: ??

Notes: Anima spezzata. It is wearing a shredded white shirt and black trousers with only one shoe.

This one appears to be hunting someone. What will you do..

Shhhhhhhhhhit! Shitshitshitshit!

This was the worst case scenario.

The very fucking worst!

I'd even prefer a pissing T-Rex smashing through the window instead of that...

Even though the corrupted human was frantically tearing the place apart, its wheezy breathing was eerily slow and steady, taking loud full breaths in and out like it was meditating.

I peeked again.

The room had been ransacked and there was a large hole in the floor and in one of the drywalls. The corrupted individual was a mess itself; flesh, stone grey with a black and red spotty rash. Its clothes were in absolute tatters, backing up the notes description.

..Maybe the notes do come from my subconscious..gah! No time to ponder on such things!

It was circling the room like a dog trying to find a comfy spot, pushing over the same items repeatedly, seeming to forget it had checked under the ripped sofa cushion at least a dozen times already.

Nobody can fucking hide under ther-what? What the heck is it doing?!

It seems like brains were not a strong point for this one.

Okay..Maybe the lady is hiding in a place that it won’t find. I should probably g-

“NEEEE-HEEEEELLLLK!-” A female strangled squawking cry sounded out, which was overwritten by the sound of metal squealing and then a booming crash.

The sobbing, choking-whimper turned into silence. My heart sank.

All that could be heard was the sound of bones crunching, chomping and slurping.

..I’m so sorry-

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!” A blood curdling wail pierced the air.

“plEASE ### hELP ### scARED ### WANT ### TO ### LIVE” I was aware that the voice had turned echoey again, but I didn't have time to spare to figure out why.

She was still alive, and I couldn’t take any more of this.

Leaping round the corner and charging at the corrupted, several things happened at once and I became aware of several things at once, including my first close up look at the nightmare.

Firstly, the corrupted spun around, blood and tissue plastered on its blank face. Its eyes were just balls of dark reflective red, like a cat's eye, with a cloudy white glowing centre and its nose was gone, replaced with a flat slightly glowing red bone structure above a lipless mouth that housed long razor teeth.

Secondly, it wasn't an actual woman being attacked, but a young girl that had a bat wing, scaled bark like skin on her forearms and feet, with full on dragon claws for fingers and toes. She had a golden shiny scale under each slightly non-human looking eye, and she also had what I couldn't decide if they were moth horns or long curved ears protruding from the top of her skull. Other than that, she looked like a normal albeit prettier than average human. Just perhaps a tad bit moth-y?

And finally, the corrupted had a severed wing in its hands, half eaten and the..Moth, girl.. Well, she was beaten up pretty badly; her leg had been snapped and bent the wrong way up and she was bleeding heavily, barely moving on the floor.

I shoulder charged and slammed into the corrupteds skull, but it barely budged. Instead it tilted its head in confusion, still breathing deeply and slowly, its eyes darting all over me.

Well, shi-

Without warning, it backhanded me with such force that a flash of hot plasma sparked into life and scorched my clothes. With a gasp, I was launched backwards, but my config:Exo had absorbed a huge portion of the impact and I managed to trigger a phase dash midair that dispersed my momentum and in a blur I flew back forwards but this time I unleashed a flurry of melee attacks.

A heavy side kick, a sharp elbow, a jumping knee, an overhead hammer strike and then finally a shoulder charge and a shield change to config:Prime.

Each hit felt like I was hitting a sack of concrete, and the pissing thing just gormlessly stood there and took each hit. But as soon as my shields changed and flickered up over my shoulders, it reacted instantly. It moved in a blur, faster than anything I'd ever seen move, it got behind me and grabbed onto the left shields connection to my back, and the fucker clamped it's jaws down, and tried to chew it off.

I screamed. My resources plummeted and I felt a violent tug on my insides as my energy and Majik flooded to repair and reinforce my shields. The shields themselves also reacted, releasing a high pitched synth sound I'd never heard before, the right one snapped back and started to ram itself in-between the teeth and into the temple, desperately trying to get the nightmare to release me.

But it simply ignored all the attacks, they barely made a scratch against this completely inhuman thing, whilst it casually yanked me around and up, trying to get a better position to bite down on.

Desperate, I reconfigured the shields to mirror and the process managed to allow me to slip free. I dropped to the floor howling in pain and scrambled up, phase dashing towards the moth girl, not bothering to look back at my impending death.

Oh man this is it. This is how I fucking die!

Even though she was barely conscious, as soon as I got close she started to fucking hiss and even tried to bite me! But she barely had the energy to open her mouth so all she managed to do was pierce the skin; I felt that if she was at full strength she probably could have done a lot worse.

"ARGH! STOP! I'M TRYING TO FUCKING HELP YOU!" I roared at her as I desperately groped around to get an ethereal grip on the last anchor I placed, whilst physically flap-fighting her wing, trying to wrap my arms around her to minimise how spread out she was.

If this doesn't work, then we are absolutely dead-fucked anyways.

The corrupted seemed to take offence at my actions, because it howled and stormed towards me with a single leap which had it plough through the ceiling like a train driving through paper, then landing and obliterating the floor right next to me in a shower of splinters and masonry.

"OH JUST FUCK OFF WILL YOU!" I yelled defiantly as it snarled at me and threw a hand forward to grab my face.

Purely by Majik, my shields intercepted the attack, barely redirecting the force away.

And holy shit the force of that simple action felt like deflecting a steel beam!

I'd sunk into the flooring, creating a mini crater just from that action alone.

The corrupted creature raged at that, and started to ramp up the attacks. I managed to push the wing back into a folded position and just about wrap my arm around the shoulders and back, hugging the whimpering girl close just as a destructive kick crashed into my shields, which had overlapped on each other to absorb the impact. Yet still it sent us flying and we smashed through a kitchen island and crater into a fridge.

I was at 10% HP, MP, EP, DS - 1000% BS though.

Having taken the brunt of the impact, I had managed to keep a hold of the girl during our short flight, of whom was now completely unconscious. Slumping down on the ground still cradling her small form, I looked at her still face and wondered if she was a monster, maybe one of the flying ones, or if she was once human, or if she was now dead.

Heh, wonder if it even matters right? From an outsider's view, the corrupted are by far the biggest monsters… well, I mean apart from the bigg- ah fuck it all! I'm not cut out for these stupid pre death philosophical revelations!

Coughing up some blood, I spat at the corrupted's stalking approach and sighed.

"Haven't showered in a few days, so enjoy the taste, you noseless cunt." As soon as the words left my bloody grinning mouth, I finally felt it.

My virtual tether.

My eyes widened as I pulled, and it was significantly easier than I remembered.

So much so in fact, that I was already peeling the water folds away in the split second it took for the corrupted to blink forward and grip onto my throat.

Shi-URK!

But it was too late.

Crrrrrunch. Rrrrrrip. Splat.

"Ack. Uuuk. Grrrrk."

I couldn't breathe. My throat had been crushed completely and ripped out. My mind went cold and I could feel a fucking breeze on my spinal column.

My shields juddered and darted forward and pincered its neck, trying to push it back to protect me and failing against the things preternatural strength.

They synth-growled loudly, shards and fragments crumbling off as they squeezed together in a last ditch attempt to sever its head.

But it was impossible, the thing was immortal.

There was nothing I could do… except for one last thing.

You’ll.. Not get…an easy….meal….out of……us…..prick..

So I decided to finish what I started, and slipfolded.

…

Then came nothingness.

…

..

.