The man awoke, but not to something he had seen before.
He was staring up at a red sky full of black clouds.
This sky also had a moon. There was an eye on it, crying blood, and looking down on the land.
The man eventually gained feeling in his body, from his toes to his forehead. He felt sand on his back and all over his skin. What was happening? Was this normal?
These were the thoughts that consumed his attention until it was ripped away to something else.
An eye, not the moon's eye, but the eye of a beast.
Its head loomed over the crimson cliff on which the man sat, staring down at him.
The man felt as though he was being watched from every angle, and this frightened him so much that he screamed uncontrollably and soon lost consciousness once more.
***
Again, the man awoke, but now in a cave.
This time, he swiftly regained feeling and soon, some of his reason.
His eyes darted around, quickly scanning his surroundings for threats.
But there were none, at least not yet. So, he relaxed his body, focusing purely on the feeling of sand against his feet, thighs, and fingertips.
There was also a strange, scaly piece of skin wrapped around his waist.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps shuffling towards him.
Panic enveloped the man's head as his eyes once again darted around, but this time for safety.
Ironically, though, he found none.
"Awake? Good."
A white-haired stranger entered the cave holding a man-sized mantis on his back.
The man scrambled away from the stranger, backing up against the cave wall.
"Relax, I'm the one who brought you here."
The stranger set down the mantis' body and pulled a sharp rock from a scaly skin sack on the ground.
Eventually, the man's erratic breathing slowed down.
"Why?… I'm scared…"
The stranger chuckled.
"Don't be; I saved you."
Suddenly, the stranger began skinning the mantis with the sharp rock.
"I don't see many people in this place, so I thought you could be… useful."
A smile appeared on his face.
"Will you be useful?"
The man quickly nodded.
"Good."
Once the stranger finished skinning the mantis, he set the skin in a pile and left the cave with the remaining gore.
The man now tried to calm himself down; he should think about what to do next.
This stranger is threatening him if he doesn't "cooperate."
And he does not know of the who, what, when, where, or why of his current situation.
The man decided to dig through his memories in the hope of finding something useful.
Eventually, he found one thing.
Follow the moon's eye.
He didn't know what it led to or whether it was safe, but he just knew he should.
He could feel it in his gut.
Thump, thump, thump.
Suddenly, the man heard footsteps again and braced himself for the worst.
"I'm back."
The stranger entered the cave and shook off the purple blood on his hands.
"Ready to get going?"
The man raised an eyebrow.
"Where?"
"That shouldn't matter. Get up."
The man quickly stood up and shuffled over to the stranger.
***
They had been walking for two hours now, and they were going in the direction of the moon.
The silence was unbearable, so the stranger began small talk.
"I'm assuming you don't remember anything either?"
"No… I don't…"
"Then we have one thing in common."
After that, there was another long silence before the stranger spoke up again.
"Why don't we name ourselves? You go first."
"Umm…"
"Go ahead."
The stranger looked at the man expectantly.
"Uh… red… because… everything is red."
The stranger laughed heartily.
"Haha! That's clever! I'll be… snowy… Because my hair is the color of snow!"
Red couldn't help but grin, nor could Snowy. But theirs was much… darker.
They talked on and on about miscellaneous things for a long time after that.
Soon, they had traveled a few miles before the first strange event occurred.
There was a rumbling under their feet, as if something was moving around under the sand.
Snowy held back vomit as his face went pale with fear.
"Damnit…"
"What was that?"
"Worms… also certain death."
"What?"
Suddenly, the rumbling returned, but this time much more intensely.
Snowy did not stop to protect Red; he ran away as fast as he could.
Red stared at Snowy, tears in his eyes. He thought they were developing a friendship, even if it was brief.
But it seemed this world was cruel, though Red had no idea what cruelty truly meant, as it was all he knew.
Woosh!
A gruesome, maggot-like creature shot out of the sand, almost capturing Snowy in its mouth.
Red did not stop to help his 'friend' either and ran as fast as his legs could take him.
"Wait!"
Red heard Snowy call out behind him.
"H-help me! Now!"
Red never hesitated and kept running.
"Please!"
He felt a tear of both fear and guilt roll down his cheek.
Snowy battled the worm, crying out in pain, and Red kept running.
***
Red sat against a rock, catching his breath.
He did not know if Snowy was safe, but he did not care. His own survival was more important to him.
In this moment, everything was quiet. There was no threat, just silence.
It felt as though the environment itself was asking Red to make a decision, but Red did not know what it was.
Little did he know, he had already decided before he even got to this place, and this was his only chance to undo it.
Suddenly, a bloody figure emerged from the distance, barely visible.
It slowly walked towards red, limping and shaking.
It seemed determined to get to him.
Red picked up a rock nearby him for protection.
Eventually, Red could make out the face of the figure.
It was snowy with a grin on his face.
"So… I called you for help back there… why didn't you do anything?"
Red tightened his grip on the rock and met Snowy's menacing gaze.
"I asked you a question."
Red still did not respond.
"Hahaha"
Snowy stopped in his tracks, staring down at Red.
"I may have forgotten who exactly I am and why I'm here, but I still have common sense. I know what we are, Red."
Red raised his arm, ready to attack Snowy if necessary.
"We're selfish creatures. You don't care about me, nor do I care about you. I'm just using you to get what I want."
Red walked forward.
He knew Snowy was going to be a threat.
He knew it from the very beginning.
The only way to get rid of a threat is to change its mind… or kill it.
And Snowy has made up his mind.
"Go ahead. Take my life. It's not like I'll get anywhere with it."
Red took this chance and bashed Snowy's head in with the rock.
He felt many things in that moment, but mostly anger.
And under that anger was fear.