Felix opened his eyes, expecting to look straight up at anything familiar, though that was not the case. he was gazing at something much more terrifying. A gray moon with an eye that cries blood in a sky just as red.
He looked around, shaken, as a buzzing sound seemed to be coming from inside his mind.
There was a barren landscape of jagged cliffs and crimson rock.
At the bottom of the cliff he was on, there was a sea of red sand and strange grotesque creatures.
Soon, one of the creatures took off to the skies.
His already heavy breathing sped up, and the buzzing intensified. As he thought things couldn't get worse, he felt as though someone, or something, was watching him. He slowly turned around, reluctant to see what kind of monster was staring him down, but too curious to ignore it.
As soon as he saw it in his peripheral vision, he immediately backed away.
It was a gigantic building-sized creature with one giant eye whose head was sticking over the cliff. Staring at Felix.
Not in an intimidating way, though not in a friendly way either.
It was just… staring.
It had no emotion, so it could easily kill him with no remorse.
The buzzing was turning distorted and unimaginably loud. Felix couldn't take it anymore, and he collapsed from pure shock. His hair tangled with the sand as he fell unconscious.
***
Gasp!
Felix shot up, and his eyes bolted around him. It appeared he was in a cave of some sort…
But then he noticed he was in a blanket next to a fire.
He didn't know whether to be afraid or not, but this place seemed safe, so he decided he could think about what to do next.
First of all, why was he here? Wait… Why was he here? What happened before he was here? Who is he?
A strong feeling of anxiety befell Felix.
He remembered nothing. Not his name. not his past. Not even his age. Therefore, he had no idea what to do next. But as he dug deeper into his mind, he remembered one thing.
To follow the moon's bleeding eye.
He didn't recall where he learned this from, nor did he know what exactly the moon's eye led to. All he knew was that it led to something important to him. Something so intimate and personal that it could bring his sense of self back, because right now…
He didn't have one.
Suddenly, footsteps came from outside the cave, shuffling in the sand. His eyes darted to the cave entrance as he reached for a rock at his side, only there was no rock or weapon, and he was naked and defenseless. 'Wait, I'm naked!'
He had only just realized, and whoever came into the cave would see him!
As he panicked, a man around his age stepped into the cave.
"Oh, you're awake? Morning, sunshine."
The man smirked as he set his backpack down near the cave wall, not reacting to Felix's nudity. He had messy white hair and was dressed in animal skins likely fashioned from the winged creatures that dwelled at the bottom of the cliffs.
Which was likely where they were.
As Felix realized the man was not a threat, he quickly started asking questions, which was the only reasonable thing to do in this moment.
"Where am I? Why am I naked? What was that giant creature? Why can't I remember anything?"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there."
The man chuckled.
"I was asking these same questions when I first got here, and to be honest, I still am… but…"
'But? But what? Tell me!'
Felix resisted the urge to beat the information out of the man, for he was taking too long to reply. Though it was only a few seconds before he sighed and said,
"I found this red monolith up on the cliffs with a chest next to it. Inside this chest was a scroll. Obviously, I quickly tried to read it, but it was written in a language I couldn't understand. Suddenly, I heard a cry and saw a weirdo screaming at a titan who soon fell unconscious… You are the weirdo in question. But alas, I brought your sorry ass back here hoping you might be able to translate that scroll."
The man opened his backpack and tossed the scroll to Felix, so he quickly caught it before it could be ruined by the sand. What a reckless act!
He looked up at the man for confirmation and opened the scroll.
Though Felix expected strange runes he couldn't decipher, that was not the case.
They were runes Felix could read.
Suddenly, the buzzing noise returned, only more intense.
Despite the buzzing in his head, Felix could read the scroll perfectly, as if it were his first language.
'Hell is a lock that separates souls from their memories. The blue monoliths contain the key, though that key can open every lock. The bleeding eye always watches them. Follow its gaze, and you will find what you seek.'
He couldn't believe what he was reading. Was he in hell? How does he know what hell is? What did he do to be sent here? What exactly is the lock? Felix had too many questions that nobody could answer but himself.
Or maybe another scroll... wait!
The man said he found the scroll at a monolith!
"Hey..."
The man looked at Felix.
"Yes?"
"What color were the monoliths you found the scroll at?"
"Red. Why?"
Felix stayed silent about what he learned—he had a plan.
The man likely gave Felix the scroll, or even saved him in the first place, because he believed Felix could decipher it. Otherwise, why else save a naked stranger and trust them with something so precious?
So, the man would likely have no use for him once he learned the knowledge from the scroll and abandoned Felix, or worse, because he was a burden.
So Felix decided he wouldn't share the information with the man but would inform him that he could read the scroll to prove his value.
"I could decipher the scroll."
The man's eyes widened.
"How? What did it say?"
Felix looked the man dead in the eye.
"I'm not telling you."
"What? Why?"
Felix came up with a plausible excuse.
"Because it's too valuable, and I don't trust you are responsible enough to handle it."
The man groaned.
"Fine. Suit yourself, but I have a question about something else."
"Sure."
"Do you have your memories?"
"no"
The man scratches his chin before asking another question.
"Then, do you also have that knowledge deep in your mind that you must follow the moon?"
"yes"
Felix kept his responses short to avoid the risk of saying too much.
"Then we leave now. To do that."
The man put on his backpack and stomped out the flame, then he looked at Felix expectantly.
"Well? Are you coming?"
"I'm not decent."
"Ah, I forgot. Take this then."
The man pulled out animal-skin clothing from his backpack and tossed it to Felix, then turned around.
"Hurry up; I want to get there soon."
Felix dressed himself and tapped the man on the shoulder.
"I'm ready."
The man turned around and nodded.
"Then come on."
He walked out of the cave, expecting Felix to follow.
As Felix exited the cave, he looked around at the cliffs looming over the desert around him. They stretched as far as he could see along the desert, with the occasional creature digging in the red sand.
Above him, the moon's eye looked east, still crying blood. And for some reason, there was still daylight coming from the moon. Maybe there is no day cycle here.
The scroll mentioned that the moon was always looking at the blue monoliths, which contained the "key" to one's memories. All the more reason to follow its gaze.
Its gaze. Two men walked on in silence; this "hell" was surprisingly peaceful.
The sand blew across the desert, flowing in the same direction as the moon's eye.
Soon, the air became too tense, and they started to engage in small talk.
"So I'm guessing you don't remember your name, gatekeeper?"
"No."
The man then pondered for a moment.
"So what should I call you? Actually... I'll stick with gatekeeper. You can call me... uh..."
"Hm, snowy."
"Snowy? What's snowy?"
The man inquired.
"Well... It's a word I remember. I don't remember ever seeing it, but I know it's white. And your hair is white, so I'll call you Snowy."
Snowy broke his questioning expression with a chuckle.
"Snowy it is, gatekeeper."
Felix couldn't help but giggle either.
Then, the duo continued walking to where they just... needed to go. Suddenly, the peace was broken; the two heard scurrying in the sand.
"Did you hear that?"
Snowy looked back at Felix.
"Shh."
Felix couldn't help but assume the worst...
It could be one of the winged creatures that roamed the desert. Or even worse, a titan.
Scree!
Scree!
A wormlike creature emerged from the sand like a spear, shooting up in the air. Snowy just barely dodged by rolling out of the way.
"Crap!"
Snowy grunted and pulled a knife fashioned from a rock out of his backpack.
"What was that thing?!"
Snowy's eyes quickly darted around.
"I call them sand worms. I've seen them before, but I never actually fought one!"
The duo stood back-to-back, Snowy with his knife and Felix with his bare hands. Then, they both felt intense rumbling under their feet.
"Watch out!"
Snowy shoved Felix forward and rolled, just barely escaping the sandworm's ascension. If ascension. If they had moved only a second later, they'd both be dead.
Felix and Snowy stood panting.
Looking around for the sandworm and bracing themselves to dodge upon feeling the rumbling.
How were they supposed to kill this monster?
It would shoot out of the sand, then quickly descend back underground before the two could attack. And even if they could attack, all they had was Snowy's makeshift knife and Felix's bare fists.
They could try running away, but the desert was the sandworm's domain, and it had already noticed them.
They had an almost zero percent chance of escaping this.