Escaping the Hardeman residence went just as well as the entry had: Oliver simply slipped out the window and dropped to the ground before disappearing into the night. He took the most direct route back to his truck, and, from there, the long way around town in order to avoid any police that were dispatched to his break-in.

He could only chuckle weakly at the situation. His own mind had hyped up dealing with Hardeman, and the whole thing turned out to be little more than a minor annoyance.

Maybe next time he would remember to deal with these minor annoyances before they turn into major problems.

Pulling into Polina's driveway-his driveway, he reminded himself, seeing as he basically lived here- Oliver put his truck in park and sighed. He wasn't looking forward to explaining everything to her, but knew he couldn't just put it off. His secrets had inadvertently caused problems for one of his friends, and the last thing he wanted was for something to happen to Poli... And he was tired of lying and hiding things from her.

Climbing out of the vehicle, Oliver headed towards the side door he liked to use when the piercing wail of a siren blared through his skull. He jumped in surprise, turning to try and pinpoint where the sound came from... When he realized it had all been in his head.

Or, more accurately, it was the system.

Emergency Bounty Issued!

System Issued Local Bounty: Incursion

Objective: Eliminate Hostile Element(s) and secure the Rift

Details:A Rift in reality has been detected, allowing hostile entities from -REDACTED- to enter your reality. These entities are hostile to all known forms of life, and pose an extreme danger to this world. The weakest of these entities possess strength and speed superior to that of most humans and are resistant to physical damage. If left unchecked, an entity will actively hunt and consume living creatures. Once a threshold is reached, the entity will convert all consumed biomass to produce more of its kind. WARNING: The presence of these entities creates a destabilizing effect on reality itself. Once the number of entities present exceeds a critical level, reality will collapse and -REDACTED- will occur, effectively ending all life on the planet. (You really don't want this to happen, Oli!)

Eliminate hostile entities, secure the rift, and prevent further incursions.

Compensation: 25,000 credits, Pulse Rings(2)

(This Bounty counts towards the number of Local Bounties required to unlock access to Universal Bounties.)

Emergency Bounties cannot be declined.

Host will be transported to the nearest safe location in proximity to the Rift.

Transport will be initiated in 5 seconds.

5...

Oliver blinked dumbly at the system alert. An Emergency Bounty? He had no idea such a thing existed, though that wasn't really a surprise considering how little he actually knew about the system. And the entities it mentioned... Stronger than a human, faster, tougher... More dangerous, clearly. And they fucked with reality... And could potentially end the world.

4...

Fucking great.

And why the hell were parts of the system message redacted? While the system didn't always give him clear information, he had never thought it would actively restrict the information he received. Why was the information redacted? Was it really so dangerous that the system didn't even want him to know about it? What else was the system keeping from him?

3...

But one line stood out from all the others.

(You really don't want this to happen, Oli!)

It was a direct and personal message... From the system.

2...

It addressed him by name, no less

1...

Was the system sentient? Was it alive?

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Transport initiated.

What the hell was going on? Oliver could only curse softly to himself as space seemed to warp around him.

He would much rather face the difficult conversation with Polina than be thrown head first into trying to prevent the apocalypse.

----------------------------------------

Oliver staggered as he arrived... Somewhere. Despite the transition being completely smooth and near instantaneous, he was still mildly disoriented. He had no idea where the system had taken him, other than that he was still on Earth. And that he was still in the same hemisphere, considering it was still night wherever he had landed.

He looked around carefully, taking in the older but well maintained gazebo he found himself standing in. A small brick pathway led through a manicured lawn, decorated with several small trees, to the back side of an average looking brick building. A street light on the other side of the building dimly illuminated the area, and allowed Oliver to make out the small plaque displayed prominently just a few feet away.

Pulling his flashlight from the warehouse, he stepped over to the plaque and read it quickly.

“Library Park dedicated to... Fuck! Libraries are usually in residential areas.”

Turning in a slow circle, Oliver scanned the trees surrounding the library ground. He could barely make out a few houses nearby, thanks only to the lack of leaves from it being winter.

“Ok, Oli, think! This is the closest the system could get you... And you need to find these entities, whatever they are, before they start eating people... In a residential neighborhood. Fuck me...”

Oliver marched around the library, all of his senses on alert as he searched for any indication on where to go. Aside from a quick scan for any threats, he ignored the well-lit parking lot in front of the building as he hurried past it to the side walk. Turning in a slow circle, he was stumped as to where to go.

The entities, and the Rift, could easily be in the neighborhood behind the library. Or down this road, which a sign helpfully labeled as Main Street, in either direction. Or even somewhere along the road that ran straight ahead, Norris Avenue.

“What I wouldn't give for a quest HUD with a nice little arrow pointing me towards my objective...” Oliver muttered quietly. “And why the hell does it smell like shit here!?”

Oliver's nose wrinkled in disgust as he involuntarily took a step back. The putrid scent diminished slightly after a couple steps, and he glanced around for the source. Instead of finding a dead animal or overflowing trashcan, he found... nothing.

Nothing nearby that could possibly cause such a smell.

With a look of deep contemplation, he pinched his nose closed and took a step forward again. Despite being unable to smell, the scent grew stronger again... And, he realized, it wasn't really a smell at all. It was a feeling. It felt... Oily. Disgusting.

Wrong. And Unnatural.

And another line from the Bounty came to mind.

The presence of these entities creates a destabilizing effect on reality itself.

It seemed obvious, now that he considered it. Raising his Spirit to 20 had allowed him a small glimpse of intuition when he was facing Eve. While it didn't tell him what she was, somehow he just knew that she wasn't human.

And this wrongness he 'smelled' now... was likely one of the entities he was sent here to eliminate. It made sense... And it was basically all he had to go on.

And it was down the street ahead of him.

Knowing it was just a matter of time until the thing started to kill and devour people, Oliver started to jog down the road. As much as he wanted to rush, he had no idea how far away it really was. The last thing he wanted was to arrive too worn down to kill it. Or worse, so worn down that it killed him.

He followed the strange feeling of wrongness as it lead him down the road. He couldn't pinpoint an exact location, or how far away it was, just that it was ahead of him still. He ignored a side street he passed and was continuing forward when a sense of urgency hit him.

He didn't know how or why... He just knew he needed to hurry.

Oliver broke into a sprint that could rival nearly any Olympic athlete. His feet pounded across the cracked pavement, the neighborhood completely silent save for his footfalls.

Until a piercing scream from up ahead broke the silence.

He could hear the absolute fear and desperation the feminine voice carried as it echoed down the desolate street to reach him, and Oliver pushed himself even harder. Arms pumping for all he was worth, he reached deep to squeeze out every last drop of speed he could manage.

He may not really care about people most of the time, but a woman's life was being threatened by a creature beyond her comprehension... And it was his job to deal with it.

Reaching the next corner, Oliver skidded to a stop when another scream echoed out, this time to his left and much closer. As he turned and started running in that direction, the scream turned sharp with pain before it cut off suddenly.

As he ran, Oliver scanned both sides of the street. The strange sixth sense given by his Spirit attribute was going haywire. The feeling of wrongness that he had been following seemed to emanate from a sprawling complex of buildings to his right.

A large parking lot sat out front of the buildings, all of which were a single story and connected to each other by covered walkways. The worn down exterior hinted at the buildings being long abandoned, but none of the regularly spaced glass windows appeared to be broke. Large panes of glass flanked a door that led to a lobby or office area, though the lack of furniture made it difficult to tell.

But, above that front lobby area where a sign would have been, there was the faded outline of letters. Oliver could barely make some of them out, but once he figured those out it became clear: the place use to be a High School.

But, despite the overwhelming sense of wrongness coming from the school, he ignored it in favor of the small echo of the sensation that was coming from across the street- likely one of the entities, if he had to guess.

Turning his head in that direction, he quickly scanned the houses lining the street, searching for an indication of where the creature would be... And found it. While two of the houses appeared to be just as abandoned as the old high school, one was obviously occupied. An older model car parked out front, the well maintained flower bed, painted handrails leading up a couple of steps...

To the broken in front door.

Oliver rushed up the walkway, up the stairs, and leapt over the shattered remains of the door... Into a living room filled with chaos and destruction...

And... Something... standing over the body of an elderly black woman.