1. Exploring the Unknown

"Son of a b*tch!#%&$..." Sid cursed, at the top of his lungs. His bloodshot eyes looked around anxiously, with a look of vigilance on his pale face. He was breathing heavily, the rise and fall of his chest clearly outlining the ribs beneath his skin. His hands had already clutched at his crotch.

"Oh good, it's safe." He let out a deep sigh of relief. There was still a jarring sensation lingering on his thigh. His eyes still fixated on the centipede burying itself within the sand, it was about thirty centimeters long, blood red in colour.

"Ouch!" Sensing the pain induced by his increasingly tightened grip, his hands immediately pulled back. In a moment of panic he lost balance and fell onto his back. There was a cracking sound of bones being broken, followed by a searing pain that came from his elbow.

Looking over, his elbow had landed on a skull, crushing it to peices. Sensing that his arm was intact, his body involuntarily relaxed causing his back to touch the cold sand.

"Ugh! Damn, it still f*cking hurts like hell." He screamed in agony, once again reminded of the pain, that coursed through his entire body ever since he woke up.

There was that constant cold wind that whistled around, as it brushed past his ears, it sent a biting chill that caused tremors through his head. His ears reverberated violently causing him to hold his head down, his body involuntarily curled up.

The chill from sand was like an additional assault, amplyfing the sensation of cold creeping through him. His state was as miserable as when he had just woken up.

Panting heavily he looked up, there was the blood red moon that hung within the dark sky, illuminating the entire desert a hue of ominous red.

In the distance, wolf howls could be heard along with the cawing of crows. There was sparse groaning of agony, sending chills down the spine of anyone hearing them. Mixed in with the sound of insects crawling about, it painted a perfect picture of pandemonium in the mind of the listener.

Suddenly, he felt a slithering sensation squirming over his skin, it gradually multiplied, making it's way up his arm. It was rather cold and slimy, extremely unsettling.

Sid: F*!#%&$...

Jumping up he shook off his hands in random motions, trying his best to get rid of the worms that had almost made their way up his shoulders. It seems, the commotion of him falling down had caused the worms beneath the sand to surface.

One of his hands had involuntarily shielded his crotch, protecting the little brother with all it's might. While the other was kept on lookout for any encroaching enemies. Clearly, the trauma from moments before was still weighing heavily on his heart.

Thud...

The voilent movements had caused him to lose his momentum, resulting in him falling down once again. His head hit something hard, a seething pain erupted, making his head buzz. His consciousness left him for the second time.

.....

Unknown amount of time had passed, the sun began to rise in the distant horizon. The golden orange stream of light shone upon the world, lighting the desert a rare shimmer of golden complementing the red hue.

The rays of the sun gently caressed Sid's face, further burning his already dry skin. With a searing pain he woke up once again. Squinting, he opened his dry, bloodshot eyes, trying his best to adjust his vision to the stinging sunlight.

"Ahem... well, that was embarrassing. Let's try to handle the situation calmly from here on." Recalling his awkward actions from before, a slight blush of red appeared on his dry cheeks.

Waking up this time, he was no longer as panicked. He looked around lying down, observing his sorroundings while making sure to avoid any embarrassing situations from occurring again. "Hmm... there's sand, and red sand, and more sand, and... f*cking hell, doesn't this desert have any rocks."

"Huh... wait, if there are no rocks, then... what the hell did I hit last night..?" Thinking over, his heart skipped a beat, a bad premonition rose within. He felt a tinge in his crotch, it seemed like a warning from the little Sid to be careful.

He immediately jumped up, balancing himself, he looked back at where his head rested moments ago. There was a humanoid skull, blood red in colour, matching the hue of the sand beneath it.

Sid: (○_○!!) What the... this is what hit my head..? But... why the hell isn't it broken?

While the skull seemed slightly cracked, apart from that it was still relatively intact. Sid recalled his valiant image, breaking the other skull with his elbow last night. But this one didn't even suffer any major damage, despite hitting his head.

"Damn! Isn't this skull hella hard, it ain't even broken after my gallant headbutt." He mused, not doubting in the slightest the strenght of his mighty skull.

"Hohoho... isn't this quite interesting. I can feel it, my inner adventurer is calling out to me. It seems this matter needs to be looked further into." He said, folding his nonexistent sleeves while adjusting his imaginary glasses.

He squatted down, looking over curiously at the skull in question. Unbeknownst to him, an aura of a veteran had already sorrounded his body. Yet, when his actions were combined with the single piece linen he wore over his body, he looked rather... stupid.

"Hmm... this looks like a human skull, but these bumps definitely feels like underdeveloped horns. Maybe some unknown creature that grows horn, or it could be a human that grew horns... no no no, that sounds f*cking ridiculous." He talked to himself, stroking the skull over and over.

'Clunk...' Immersed in amusement he knocked over the skull with his knuckles. Suddenly, the air vibrated, the skull that was intact a moments ago, started to disintegrate, turning into black powder.

Sid: (@_@)?... !#%&$... Cough! Cough!

A strong wind blew past, as it swept over the ash. Before Sid could do anything, the black powder that was carried by the wind entered his eyes, nose, mouth and ears, causing him to cover his head in panic.

He hadn't even had time curse aloud before he felt his strength leave his body. The lack of energy caused him dizziness, as his vision blurred. Loosing his balance he fell over once again. Some sparse coughing could be heard from time to time.

But this wasn't the worst that could happen, what was most excruciating was the voilent headache that suddenly came out of nowhere. It was as if his head was being hit upon by the hammer, over... and over... and over... causing him an unbearable pain.

Wanting to clutch his head, he tried to lift his hands. But the severe lack of energy caused his hands to tremble violently, as he tried to power through. But unfortunately they gave in midway. He lay on the ground limply, unable to move even a muscle. His body twitched from time to time from the writhing pain that coursed through his entire being. Soon his consciousness left him.

.....

Indeterminate time had passed.

He woke up once again, his eyes stinging. The sun was already overhead, it's sharp rays burned his skin to a char. There were clear reddish-brown burn marks all over his body. This extreme environment was just adding on to his suffering, making him more and more miserable with every passing moment.

There was a wet sensation in his crotch. Thinking of the possiblity he was silent for a moment. 'Damn' he thought with all his might, trying to scream but no words came out. He wanted to cry but his eyes were dry. His heart burned from agony on the thought of the precious water being wasted. He could only say that his little brother was being extravagant on big brother's expense.

He squintingly opened his eyes. Looking above there were nine suns in the sky. 'No wonder it f*king burned like hell. What kind of messed up world is this? One moon but nine suns... does this f*cking make any sense?' He thought to himself, his thoughts rather chaotic.

'Wait, wait, wait... red moon... nine suns...? Where the hell am I?'

For the first time ever since he woke up, he noticed that he didn't seem to be on the earth that he knew. Thinking of this, he started to doubt his sanity.

'I mean... come on. Anyone who found himself in such a situation should first question where he/she was, right?'

'Maybe, something happened to me and I forgot my previous life. Now that this headache hit me I am starting to remember everything. This might sound impossible, but this has to be it... no, this is it.'

'Hahaha... yep, I am not stupid. It's just about the circumstances. So, now the question is, how in the hell did I come here? Dis someone bring me over? Kidnapping... nah, hmm... transmigration..., reincarnation maybe...?'

'Wait, what was I doing again before coming here? Now that I am trying to remember... gunshots, pain, blood... huh?'

'Gunfight...? Damn! Why... and who the hell was it.'