After finding more humans like him, Silvano’s heart was overwhelmed. All the things he had been holding back poured out like a torrent of emotions as he explained his story.

It began one simple night when he was painting in his small apartment. The star shower came, and then everything went white. After that, he met his kidnapper, the System. It felt like a lucid dream; it was too strange to be real, but the sensation of his fingers covered with paint clashed against the sand around.

He was dropped in the middle of an endless desert. His world had changed into something out of a fantasy land. He tried to process it, but the screams and sounds of beasts around him made him feel like he was in a nightmare. He almost died the first day after a giant worm tried to swallow him.

He ran toward the horizon, but everything looked the same, the only things that he sometimes saw were the strange animals and birds trying to hunt him. He became prey.

After two whole days, he almost died of dehydration until he found more people. It was a group of ten. They banded together and drank the blood of the beasts they killed to survive.

"Drink it; it's the only thing we have here." It didn’t take too much to convince him; the thirst was painful.

He had never drunk blood directly from an animal before, but the raw taste didn’t bother him. The sensation of having something to eat and drink was like gaining a second life.

"Thank you, thank you." They welcomed him and explained about the powers the System had given them. With those powers, they could fight the beasts and hunt.

It was a pack born of desperation and weakness. Together, they could take on beats several times bigger than them, and everyone could eat. They found more people in small groups of two or five, and they joined.

After two weeks, there were over one hundred of them. They had become a hunting nomad tribe. Silvano felt this was the beginning of something good; maybe he wasn’t destined to die a horrible death in this world. Then the sandstorm came.

A massive sandstorm engulfed them all. It was the biggest storm he had seen in his life. There was no way out, the sandstorm was giant, and he couldn’t even see more than two steps ahead.

Everyone fell into a panic; strange sounds and screams echoed across the desert as something attacked them during their moment of weakness. Powers flew everywhere. The only thing he could do was to save himself.

Silvano’s power was the ability to make small portals that could take him to another place. He practiced before, but he could only move short distances. He used all his power to make a portal away from the sandstorm, but it wasn’t enough. He crossed to the other side, only to find himself in the exact same situation.

How big is this storm? another portal, then a third one, and a fourth one. It took him ten portals in the same direction, but he was still in range of the storm. A rock hit him in the head, and he fell to the sand.

My head, I can’t see. He felt the warm sensation over his forehead, the blood covering his vision, his clothes, and then the sand. It was a big pool. He wanted to scream for help, but he would suffocate if he opened his mouth in a second. The sand kept piling over his body, and in less than two minutes, he was almost buried under the sand.

Someone, please, save me. There was no hope; he was wounded and tired after making the portals. All his effort was in vain; this desert was going to be his grave. No one would know or care about him.

He thought about his parents and friends. The only comfort he found was that maybe they weren’t here, maybe they were still on earth, wondering where he disappeared to. That single thought was the last thing he remembered before everything went dark.

After that, a light came, and he could hear a voice. "Hey, are you alive?"

His eyes barely manage to open and look at his savior. It was a man around his age. He gasped for air and felt the sand beneath him. "What happened? I’m still alive. Has the sandstorm passed?"

"I think so. I ran in one direction, trying to get away for a whole day, but I made it. I survived, and you did too."

"Is anyone else here? Or are we the only two who made it?"

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The man nodded. Silvano made it thanks to his portals; he later learned about Edward’s power to hide his presence using some type of capsule.

The two men walked without direction after losing their group. It was hard, but they managed to survive long enough to reach a strange place. He later learned it was called the Rock.

It was a massive rock standing in the middle of the desert. The outside was eroded by the constant assault of sandstorms. It had some holes that turned into a cave system.

"I don’t have a good feeling about this." Edward said, looking at the tunnels. "It could be the home of a predator."

"Yeah, none of us have a fighting power. We should look around; maybe if something is living here, we can find water."

They agreed to look around first, but the plan was ruined when they saw a familiar scene: a massive sandstorm was coming their way.

"What?"

"Again. I don’t think we can’t make it again."

Their chances of surviving were low. The sandstorm was like a sword dangling above their heads. They talked about it, and the path with better chances was to stay inside this rock and wait for the storm to pass.

"If anything happens, we run. Only use your portal when we’re trapped with no way out."

"I know."

They entered carefully into the tunnels. It was like a labyrinth. The paths twisted and turned in all directions. It was probably made this way by the beast living inside, or maybe it was some type of insect. The worst case came true as the sounds of several legs crawling along the floor and ceiling surrounded them.

"Silvano!"

"Is not good; they are coming from the back too." They looked like oversize ants. Bigger than a person, and their bodies were harder than iron.

Edward slashed at them with his knife, but it broke after a couple of attacks. "Run!"

There were dozens of these giant ants trying to catch them. They had no way to pass through them, so Edward used his power. Two small, dark capsules manifested on his hand, and he gave one to Silvano. They broke them, and a strange substance covered their bodies.

It was like gelatin that made them invisible. The ants look around carefully, trying to find them, but they pass between them.

They couldn’t go back outside since there were more dangerous beasts lurking under the sandstorm. Their only option was to hide. After traveling deeper into the tunnels, making sure to avoid paths with ants, they rested in a small corner, just in time before Edward’s power stopped working.

"Uf, we should be fine for a while. Maybe the storm will pass and then we can go back outside." He looked at Edward, who was having trouble breathing. "Are you okay?"

It was a dumb question; it was clear he had used too much stamina by making the capsules. They were starving, and the blood of the small creatures they killed was barely enough to calm the thirst.

"I’m fine; I just need a moment to recover. Take this." He pushed another capsule into his hand.

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"I can make more for myself later. I need to make sure you have something in case we split up."

He didn’t believe that. Edward could barely breathe now; the idea of using more of his power was like a bad joke.

"I have my power; keep this for you." He tried to give it back, but Edward refused.

"I told you I’m fine." Their argument was interrupted by the sound of the ants getting closer.

"How did they find us so fast?"

"It is our smell. These tunnels are cramped. Maybe they smelled something weird and sent a group to check it out."

Just as he predicted, the ants were already surrounding them again. There was no way out. "Use the capsule, Silvano."

"How about you?"

"I told you I’m fine, I just need a minute!" a lie, he didn’t buy it for a second.

Why are you sacrificing yourself for me? He couldn’t understand it, but he wasn’t going to accept it.

"I don’t care what reason you have, but I’m not going to let you die." He jumped and grabbed Edward’s back.

Without letting him protest or get away, he used his power and made the ground a portal. They felt through it into another tunnel. There were more ants in the middle.

"Not good, how about left?" He put his hand in the wall and opened another one. He jumped inside, dragging Edward along.

"Right then!" from right to left, above, diagonal. Silvano opened short portals to save his energy, but everywhere was full of ants waiting to attack.

"Just leave me behind, Silvano. You can escape alone. Use my capsule!"

"No, you think I can just accept my living if it means you died in my place?"

"You don’t understand!"

"Yeah, I don’t get it; I don’t want to. You already saved my life in the desert; if you hadn’t found me there, I would have died. All alone, forgotten. It's my turn to repay you!"

He made another tunnel, but it was smaller. He was getting tired; they couldn’t pass the two at the same time, so he had to push Edward inside and hope for the best.

"Come on!" He crossed the portal and found himself in the middle of a village. The portal closed, and he looked at the small green creatures around him. They looked at him with fear. They screamed, and soldiers came to help the villagers.

"Who are you? Drop your weapons!" the one who looked like the leader ordered.

"Wait, I can understand you! Can you hear me? We don’t want to fight; we need help! We made it, Edward." He was surprised and happy. If they could communicate, they could talk and explain themselves.

He turned to look at Edward and finally understood. Blood was coming out of his mouth, and his eyes were white. "Edward, what happened?"

"The reason I didn’t use the capsule... is because it was too late for me then." He pointed to his leg. He had a small scratch, but that was enough for the poison to act. "I think it was when I fought the one with my knife; it was too fast, so I didn’t notice until we started to run.

"No."

"Silvano, you don’t me owe anything for saving your life. So, don’t think this was your fault… Thanks for trying to save me..."

Those were Edward's last words as he fell forward. Silvano hugged him and looked at his face. The shimmer of his eyes disappeared. He wanted to scream to the green creatures for help, but it was too late. Edward died on his arms.