Goals were important to me. I'd been raised to be disorganized, crooked, and downright slimy by my father. They were the exact qualities that had gotten him in trouble all his life. When he'd passed away, I hadn't been free to do whatever I wanted. I'd been left with a mountain of debt and a little sister who didn't quite understand what was happening.

I could have given up at that moment. I was young, and stupid. Inexperience was my middle name, and I hadn't done a day of honest work in my life. My world was falling down around me, and I didn't know if I had the strength to hold it steady, let alone fix it.

Instead of letting the pressure get to me I picked myself up and got a job.

I’d utterly failed at it.

As I lay in my bed the day after quitting my first job at the fire department, I’d questioned everything I was working toward, and I realized I had no idea what that was. My plans were non-existent, and my foreseeable future didn't reach beyond the confines of my decrepit apartment. I didn't even own the place.

It was then that I decided I had to get my life together. I’d set myself goals and then worked myself to the bone until I surpassed them. I’d risen in social status and eventually paid for my and my sister's studies.

Now we live in a nice house in Hawthorn, which had been an impossible pipe dream only a few years ago. So, I knew that goals worked. And more importantly, I knew I could do the work needed to complete those goals.

Unfortunately, I was finding it difficult to apply that same strength of will to my current situation.

I could handle emergencies, and spiders, but as I looked through the window and beheld the ruined city of Melbourne, I knew this was different. Every trail of flame and destroyed building sent shivers down my spine. And under my gauntlets my fingers trembled uncontrollably. If Miriam wasn't here, then I'd be punching a hole through the wall. I tore my eyes away from the window with a heavy heart.

“Let's get the heck out of this tower,” I said.

“You want to go out there?” Miriam asked. “Are you crazy?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked. "This place is about to drop on our heads. We'd be safer if we dropped into a shark tank covered in chum.”

"What are you talking about?” Miriam snapped back.

I stared at her in shock and turned toward the door. It was unharmed, just like the rest of the room. Only moments ago, shadows had clung to every orifice of the office and blocked all sight and sounds. And Miriam had been here from the beginning.

Was it possible that she had missed everything that had happened outside this room?

I stepped toward the door, my left gauntlet clinking in the places where Glenda’s bite had destroyed it. The knowledge the blue card had given me hadn't told me whether the armor could be fixed, but I knew how to dispel and summon it.

That would be something I'd have to test later. The skyscraper was still in danger, and I'd gotten at least one of the people I’d come for. Now it was time to focus on myself and my priorities.

“If you're not going to give me a straight answer, then tell me where the hell you think is safe?” Miriam’s voice rose to a crescendo. “Because we're trapped in a god damn steel cage and somehow, I still feel like we're the lucky one after looking outside.”

I stayed silent. My thoughts were a mess, and right now I could barely put a coherent sentence together, let alone a plan.

A hand reached out and grabbed my arm and wrist. Miriam’s fingers weren't long enough to grasp the entire plate of armor, but she still gave me a sharp tug. When I turned back to look at her, I saw a haunted expression, and two terrified almond eyes.

“Just tell me where you want to go,” she said. “Because you're the only person with me right now and I'm not running through this place on my own.”

I could hear anger in her voice. And fear. There was a world on fire out there, and she thought that I wanted to run straight into it.

“The skyscraper is collapsing. Or at least damaged enough that the floor above us is falling down,” I said.

With a tug of my hand, I pulled the door open, revealing the destruction beyond.

Miriam let go of my wrist and stepped back as though she'd been hit. I heard a small whimper, and I silently agreed with her. The situation was worse than when I’d left it.

What little remained of the ceiling looked like it would fall at the touch of a breeze, and most of the offices had collapsed inward. The only silver lining was that there hadn’t been any other people on the floor because of how early it was. But that just meant that they'd been outside when the earthquake had hit.

“What are we going to do?” Miriam asked.

My hand laid against the door handle, and I lowered my head, my helmet resting against the wood. I needed to figure out what to do while the world was crashing down around me. The city was burning, and I'd almost died. For all I knew the conditions were the same everywhere. Monsters and destruction could lie around every corner. Even my home. My confusion and frustration flowed through the deepest reaches of my heart.

Finally, I asked myself a simple question.

What did I want to do when the world was ending?

“My sister is out there,” I said. “Wherever she is, she’ll need my help, so that's where I'll be.”

The anger in Miriam’s eyes dimmed at my words.

My sister, and my friends. Everyone I'd ever known or been acquainted with was out there. I could only hope that they encountered the same blue boxes that I had. And the cards that had granted me protection.

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The moment I remembered the blue boxes there was a glimmer of light at the edge of my vision. I had a single moment to prepare for the onslaught of messages before my vision was obscured.

[You have slain a corrupted human.]

[First Battle Bonus: Healing. For finishing your first fight you have been granted the reward of healing. Don't get used to it.]

[You have absorbed the defense aspect of an awakened being’s core. +1 DEF. Core progression updated.]

[Core (Defense): Progress 29%.]

[Twilight Sun has reached level 2. +1 DEF.]

[You have reached a peak of five consecutive viewers. Congratulations!]

My vision was blinded, and my breathing quickened. I didn't have the patience or the calm to look over these messages right now, but they weren't giving me any other choice. I needed to figure out a way to stop them from popping out in front of me before I was hurt.

If they’d come in the middle of the fight, I might not have survived.

The gist of the messages was clear. Somehow, I had gotten stronger by killing Glenda. The very thought was sickening, but I'd hit my upper limit for shock. Now there was only numbness.

There was a flicker of blue light in my vision as a final message appeared. The box was smaller than the others, and more personal. It was a message.

I read through it. And then I read through it again. A wave of disgust and confusion arose within me as the message disappeared. This time the contents were far different from anything I’d expected.

[Kill the girl and I'll give you a reward.]

I didn't think the blue boxes were a hallucination anymore, but whoever was sending them was a sick bastard. Apparently, they could see my every move and as that thought washed over me my blood curdled. One of the blue boxes had said I'd reached five consecutive viewers.

I was being watched, and I didn't know how.

First the messages had told me to abandon my co-workers, and then rewarded me for choosing to help them. Now they were asking me to kill the very person I'd risked my life to save. But I hadn't risked my life to save them because of a reward. I’d done it because it was what I'd wanted to do. No message was going to make me go against my nature.

Miriam was looking at the air in front of her. It was a small motion that I would have disregarded at any other time, but now my brain clicked the pieces together and the connection became clear in my mind.

She could see the blue boxes too.

I eyed her hands warily. The flames she’d conjured had been strong enough to burn Glenda alive. I could still feel the heat from her attack wriggling inside my suit and it hadn't even been directed at me.

It wasn't clear when the message asking me to kill my co-workers had been sent. It could have been an instant message, or something that I'd received before entering the room. If it was the latter, then it was possible that Miriam had received it as well.

Had she been avoiding using her flames against Glenda so that she could use them against me?

“Miriam.”

I kept my voice low and turned toward her, only to see that she was already staring directly at me. We stood there silently, the echoes of my voice dying down into quiet tension.

Then I took a step forward and blocked the door with my body.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

Miriam glanced up at me and then back in front of her. Then she blinked and I could tell that the blue boxes had disappeared.

"I'm not crazy," she said. "So don't take what I'm about to tell you the wrong way."

"You can see blue boxes in front of you, can't you?” I said. “I'm seeing them too.”

There was a moment of silence and then she nodded.

I opened my mouth to ask her about the message I'd received, but before I could talk a crash resounded from the corridor behind me. I glanced back but nothing had changed since I’d entered the room. That wasn't a good thing. It meant that something else had caused the crash.

"What was that?" Miriam asked.

"I don't know,” I said. “But I want to know what the blue boxes are telling you.”

The message had spooked me, and I wasn't going to let the question go. The idea of taking a human life for no reason was abhorrent. The circumstances were more than suspicious, and I didn't trust the message at all. But I didn't know Miriam. If she was given the same choice, she might choose to believe it. I wasn't going to turn my back to someone that could potentially be an enemy.

Miriam took a step forward and I tensed. Then she shook her head.

"It told me that I'd gotten plus three to my MAG, whatever that means.” She brought her hand to her face, covering her eyes and twisting a strand of her hair nervously. "And it told me I killed Glenda.”

She hesitated as she waited for my reaction. The expression on her face looked genuine. I could see tears forming at the edge of her eyes, and her throat gulping as she held them back.

I sighed and turned toward the door.

"Stay right beside me, I won't let anything fall on your head," I said.

My offer wasn’t fully altruistic. I wanted her close enough that I could react quickly if she did something suspicious.

Miriam nodded and a smile broke out on her lips. she ducked underneath my arm as I held the door open, and then froze as she was confronted by the full sight of the corridor and offices outside.

“What the hell?” She said.

She took a step back as she saw the carnage and the back of her head bumped into my chest. She let out a small shriek of surprise and blushed. I was already taller than her without my shoes on, and the boots made the difference more than noticeable.

“The earthquake did most of the damage,” I said.

“What earthquake?” She said. “And where's Harold?”

That was something I didn't know. However, my concentration was already moving toward the stairwell. Other than the elevators there were two sets of stairs on either side of the building that led downward. Harold's office was close to one, and I could see that it was free of debris and any coverings.

We'd be able to get out of the skyscraper in no time.

Miriam fidgeted as I moved, and she pointed down the corridor.

“The elevator,” Miriam said.

“It's trashed. Don't waste your time,” I said. “We're taking the stairs.”

“No, Shane, the elevator. Look.” Miriam’s voice was quiet, but it held a quiver, and a chill ran across my spine.

I raised my head toward the elevator. It was on the other side of the building and had been completely destroyed by the earthquake. There was still a large chunk of its side missing. The empty space looked like it had been carved out by a sword.

Within the broken steel doors was a single opening where the elevator had partially opened up.

It was a tendril.

The appendage wriggled across the steel surface of the doors, trying to search for a handle. Its purple flesh was scarred and pustules, and my eyes were drawn toward the scars on its skin. From each scar a white bone grew, sharp as a knife and hooked like a talon.

I spotted more movement from within the crack, and another tendril popped out. Then another. Each one brushed against the door, and one dropped to the floor and sifted through the debris.

There was a deep groan in the air as the steel doors began to move. Something was trying to break through.

“Go,” I said.

I pressed my gauntlet against Miriam’s back and she stumbled as I pushed her toward the stairway entrance. A screech accompanied us as the elevator doors were forever open, and a cacophony of broken elevator music breezed through the corridor.

“Go, go, go,” I shoved her through the stairway door

There was a loud explosion behind us, followed by an inhuman cry. It echoed out across the entire floor and a few seconds later the building shook as something smashed into the floors below.

The elevator box had fallen.

I looked at Miriam and then at the door to the thirty ninth floor. There was a chance that the creature had fallen alongside the elevator into the lower sections of the skyscraper. Or maybe it had been cut in half when the box fell. There was also a chance that it was waiting for us outside the door.

None of them were good options. I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I turned toward the stairs and saw the standard affair. The stairway was self contained except for entrances into each floor every second flight. There were no stops along the way. That meant that we would be walking straight down until we were at the ground floor.

It was time to leave this hellhole.