There was no war nor plague, only discovery; it was a prosperous time.

 

Many years passed when suddenly in 2560, a meteorite had crash landed east of Gravidal’s city walls along the water line of the Ibrahim River. There had been reports of a dark liquid seeping out of it, and Gravidal’s Annex Research Unit was the first to respond. Upon discovery, the dispatched unit broke open the meteorite, only to extract what seemed to be a large heart that sat in a pool of blood as black as ink. With the heart still beating, Annex returned to base to further observe and test the organ. As time passed, several incidents were reported, many of which were of missing persons or strange activity. This was not only exclusive to Gravidal for these incidents had also been reported in neighboring settlements, such as the small town of Angues and Tri-Colony city Thanos.

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More time passed and the number of reports have begun to increase. What used to be only one or two instances a month became weekly. A small but growing number of wildlife seemed to have been affected as well. Not too long after, some animals were seen to have black patches around their bodies with some body parts mutated.. Flags were raised, but the damage had already begun. In the quiet outskirts of Gravidal, citizens had seen people with similar markings as the infected animals that were observed elsewhere. However, these people seemed to run wild and out of control, as if they were not themselves any longer. While there were many who fell victim to this animalistic nature of the mystery that befell them, there was also a handful of people who appeared to have control over the development of the morphed parts.

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In the year of 2561, the Annex research unit of Gravidal ran under the supervision of Lieutenant Kenichi #0540. The day of May 5 was the normal routine of running tests on the extraterrestrial heart and the blood it contained within. Despite the lack of a body and proper nourishment, the organ was very healthy and performed under normal conditions.

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During the blood extraction process, a piece separated from the organ. The researchers directed their immediate attention to the floating mass, as this had never occurred prior. A decision made by the lieutenant supervisor and leading researcher director, the mass was to be pulled out of containment for further analysis. The mass, extracted, suddenly began to move from one wall of its container to the other, as if it had a mind of its own. The mass thrashed about in the container before it focused on one location of the glass wall. It banged and thrashed against one wall, cracking and then breaking through the container before falling onto the floor amongst the liquid and broken shards. Researchers scrambled to gather the piece of the organ, but to their dismay one of the mass’ ends split open, revealing a circular set of sharp teeth as if it were a leech. It immediately hurled itself to the closest researcher, biting into the flesh before it contracted, releasing its internal organs into its new victim.

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According to Lieutenant Kenichi’s last report (located in the Annex Archives), the scientist that had been bitten by the leech displayed symptoms such as dementia and vomiting. The infected scientist began to morph blackened parts, resembling the symptoms of those that have been reported. Unfortunately, following the mysterious mutation, the scientist went on a blind rampage, killing his colleagues and Lieutenant Kenichi as well. Once the Response Unit had arrived and detained the scientist, no one was left alive in that room. Unfortunately, the infected scientist had to be eliminated after extensive observations and experiments have been conducted, due to the man’s wild animalistic nature.

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Experimentation on the heart had been halted for some time before the lab was re-opened once again. Much more careful measures were taken into account, but despiste incident, the research unit was unable to gather any new information. As a result, progress quickly diminished and eventually, the responsibility of the heart moved from the hand of the researchers and fell under surveillance of Annex military.

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As several decades have passed, the number of reported incidents have lessened. As new generations were emerging, many people were beginning to forget about the dangers that originated from the meteor that crash-landed outside of Gravidal’s city walls. 60 years after the discovery of the meteor, the heart became nothing more than a novelty under constant watch. However, despite the low number of strange activities as of recent, the infected could be hiding under our noses.

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