Heart of Demise.

Playing the waiting game.

I woke up with shut eyes, feeling even worse than before. I honestly wanted to fall back asleep. But, now that the initial shock of getting my leg mauled vanished, the lingering, panging pain was haunting me. My teeth were already slammed together; grinding, trying its best to numb out the sensation, but to little avail.

I finally opened my eyes, seeing the wooden ceiling of the cabin I was hospitalized in. Ha, I guess this wasn't a dream. What a shame.

"...What the hell, man."

"Oh? Are you finally awake?"

"G-GAAAAAAH!?"

The head of a certain furry creature suddenly entered my view, causing me to scream and flinch, which had unfortunate consequences for my leg.

"A-Ah! Ow! J-Jesus, don't scare me like that!"

"Oh? That's an attitude change. You were more like a corpse when I left."

Rivver turned her gaze away from me and onto something in her hands- claws, which looked to be... a book? Something was off, though. The book itself was fine but, the way Rivver looked at it made it seem more like a puzzle than anything.

"W-What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm trying to read... this. I'm not having any luck, sadly."

"...What language is the book in?"

She drifted her eyes away from the book and towards me.

"The language we're speaking in, Hobnaocusean. I think."

"...Hob-what?"

She returned her eyes to the book.

"I don't remember what humans call it. It's the universal language of Naocus."

"Naocus?"

"Of course. That's what we call our world."

"And you can't read that...?"

I looked back at the ceiling. At least I finally figured out where the hell I was. Not that it improved my situation. I slouched back into my bed.

"...So, how long was I out for?"

"I don't know. I typically don't keep track of time."

"Jeez, some help you are..."

She leered at me, not even turning her head an inch.

"O-Okay! Pretend I didn't say anything!"

I quickly faced away from her death stare, as it was frankly making me very uncomfortable. I only just remembered the words she told me before I fell asleep, so one more snarky quip and it was game over.

"..."

Unsurprisingly, we didn't keep talking. I was still shell-shocked, and she was doing-- whatever she was doing. Actually, wait a moment--

"What did you say that book's language was? Naocus?"

"Mmm?"

She turned her head away from the book and looked at me.

"No, Naocus is our world's name. Why Is that important?"

"It's not necessarily important but-- well, can you tell me something about this world of yours? Anything that I need to look out for?"

I figured that, since I was stuck with this overgrown rodent for the foreseeable future, I might as well wring out some important information from her. Anything to help me get out of this place.

"Actually, now that you've mentioned it, I remembered something that other human told me a while ago."

That statement piqued my interest, causing me to lean closer to her.

"Is that so? Go ahead and tell me."

I heard her place the book away.

"I don't have the best recollection of this, but I believe humans call this place the 'World Strain Complex.'"

...

...

...

"What?"

My heart sank at the uttering of those words. All of my fatigue vaporized as I raised my upper body, glaring at Rivver with panic and terror, and releasing the heaviest word I have ever spoken.