The Blood Moon and its pale little sister hung high in the sky, covering the land in a crimson, mystical hue. Glenn smiled softly, exhausted.
“At least the view is nice…” he muttered. He glanced down at the mountain’s bottom, shivering when he realized how high he was. No way he climbed that much in so little time, right?
Wait, how much time did it even take him?
…Glenn had no idea.
What he did know was that the ground was so far away, that they appeared like ants in his eyes. The huge cloud of black smoke rising over a plain over there should probably come from the battlefield he woke up on.
From a distance, it was impossible to tell that this black cloud came from burning countless corpses, the product of a bloody war between two unknown parties. There was no smoke without fire, and fire meant civilization. Nonetheless, Glenn was still convinced that he would risk more than he’d earn if he went back to the battlefield; between being treated as a deserter and an enemy, he wasn’t sure what was worse.
“...There should be some kind of settlement around, right…?” Glenn muttered hopefully, squinting as he peered through the distance. Beyond the black cloud of smoke, there were two masses of small lights. Two cities, probably, one on each side of the bloody plain. Both of them were already out of choice, for the reasons mentioned previously. He’ll have to try and find something else…
Glenn turned around, frowning when he realized that the mountain he was perched on was surrounded by a massive forest. Seems like he wasn’t out of the woods any time soon.
His frown transformed into awe and shock when he found a mass of light so bright the two he previously found were simply incomparable.
It was so bright he could see it in its entirety; a massive, majestic, circular city enclosed in gigantic walls. In the center, a tall tower seemed to reach for the sky, the main source of all the light. Glenn rubbed his eyes, before shaking his head.
“...I suppose that’s my next destination, then…”
He was glad he chose to climb the mountain, even though some elements still struck him as more than a little strange. No wind, no birds, no predators, a warm temperature…The stairs that led to a flat peak that seemed to have been cut with a knife, where nothing was awaiting him…
Wait, was that true?
Glenn looked at the flat peak curiously. There had to be a reason for someone to carve stairs in the mountain to lead up here, right? There was no construction or anything so that only left…
He crouched, grinning as he passed his hand on the floor.
“Found it…”
Barely illuminated by the bloody moonlight, Glenn managed to find some engravings covering the ground. He also realized that the stone was not…cold, as it should be. No, it was warm, as if it had been bathing in the sun for a while.
That was weird.
Glenn ignored the fact that he had been walking all over some…probably important cultural engravings since earlier, and took a closer look at them. After blowing on a thick layer of dust covering them, Glenn stood up to have a wider picture.
The first thing that drew his attention was a large circle, with a vertical slit at the center, separating it into two halves. There were some random items he couldn’t identify in the circle, so he ignored them for now. There were also two dozen hooded figures depicted standing under the circle, raising their arms toward it. Runes were carved all around the artful engraving, in a language he couldn't decipher, despite the strange power that allowed him to understand Father Albenas' words previously. They looked primitive but had a mystical feeling about them...almost alien. Well, he was in another world, wasn't he?
“Wait…” Glenn frowned and rubbed his forehead. That…that awfully looked like a cult of some sort, didn’t it?
“Shit, did I really just happen to stumble on some sacred ritual place for cults?” He paled, before glancing around in a worry. Of course, besides the blood moon and its little sister watching him, there was no one else on top of the mountain. Glenn sighed, both at his foolishness and in relief. Perhaps it was just exhaustion or the stress from avoiding death so many times, but he still felt very, very much in danger.
Glenn shook his head and looked back at the engravings. What even was that big circle the cultists were venerating? After pondering over it for a few more minutes, he gave up and sat on the warm ground, tired.
“I’ll take a short nap or something, then head for the giant city…” he decided, his eyelids drooping down by themselves. He lay down and clasped his hands behind his head, looking at the starry sky and the blood moon dominating it all. It was almost stupid how large that thing was, compared to the smaller white moon.
When he thought back to it, there were quite a few games back on Earth that used the mechanics of Blood Moons; the moon would become crimson red for some special events. They’d also be called total lunar eclipses, for real-life events, and could happen quite often, twice or thrice a year.
The more he thought of it, the more probable this event was probably that; an event. A rare one, maybe, but it shouldn’t take long for the Blood Moon to change back to a white one like its smaller sister.
And if that was a very “special” event, perhaps it was one of the reasons he suddenly woke up in this world. Special things happened during special times, and a Blood Moon did seem like a special moment. That didn’t explain many things, but at least the dots were starting to line up in a blurry way.
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He still had no idea as to why he was in this world, what fuckery brought him here, who did it, and all that… But there was a good chance it was linked to the Blood Moon.
Glenn promised himself to try and investigate this event if he could, in the future. For now, survival was still his top priority. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, but the ground, even though it was warm, was far from comfortable. There was no moss or leaves he could gather to try and make it a little softer for him, so he’d have to be satisfied.
Glenn turned and turned, grimacing as he forcefully kept his eyes closed. He was going to need energy to reach the big city the next day, and he wouldn’t get that if he didn’t sleep.
He struggled for a dozen additional minutes when he suddenly grunted and sat up, his eyes bloodshot. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, giving up. Perhaps it’d just be better to head directly for the city, then?
He’ll just have to push himself a little more…
"...Hmm?" Glenn frowned. He could have sworn he saw the crimson moonlight darken slightly, or tremble, like a used light bulb. He rubbed the corner of his eyes, but then, he saw it again.
“The fuck…?” Glenn muttered, before looking up at the sky to see what was wrong with it. The blood moon was still there, as was its smaller white sister, but…something felt wrong with it. He simply couldn’t pinpoint where his feeling was coming from.
Glenn squinted, staring at the red moon, ignoring the white one.
“Am I…imagining things, or…?” He questioned aloud, his eyebrows creased. The white moon was, little by little, disappearing behind the larger, red one.
And as more of the white moon disappeared, the more a line appeared at the center of the blood moon. It stretched vertically, separating the celestial object in two. Maybe…maybe separating wasn’t the right word? No, actually, it seemed like the red moon was…opening from the inside, like a blooming flower.
“W—what is this?” Glenn gasped, standing up slowly as he witnessed an impossible event. The opening, or rift, as it seemed more fitting of a name, stretched horizontally, widening on a black, dark space. He stared, jaw hanging, eyes wide.
This was impossible. Simply impossible. A ghoul, a tentacle monster, and a weird cult, he could tolerate. But a fucking moon opening up?
“Hah…haha?” Glenn could only laugh, desperate. What was he even supposed to do in this situation? He suddenly looked down at the engravings and the large circle, then back at the rift.
“Shit…” His heart began to race once more as he realized, “...the engraving depicts the rift, doesn’t it? Doesn’t that mean that…?”
As soon as he uttered these words, the crimson moonlight disappeared, replaced by a deep, unnatural darkness. Glenn shivered and hugged himself, feeling as if he was completely naked and stared at by some untold existence. He kept on looking at the rift, even though it felt like he was watching something…forbidden.
Even in the unnatural darkness, thanks to some strange twist of the light, he managed to see a gigantic object extracting itself with difficulty from the opening. Exactly as depicted in the engravings, the object began to fall, roaring as it approached the ground. A powerful shockwave suddenly threw Glenn off his feet, the mountain shaking terribly.
He failed to maintain his balance and fell on all four, struggling to find the object’s landing point. He didn’t have to search for long, for a thundering explosion illuminated the entire region with a bright flash of orange flames. Glenn winced and blinked, dizzy. He squinted through the blinding effects and found a part of the forest a few kilometers away burning down, prey to a voracious fire. The flames propagated quickly and brightened their surroundings, letting Glenn perceive a village at the edge of the fire.
He couldn’t imagine himself in their places; the shock must have been incredibly more powerful than it had been here.
“This is…insane…” Glenn gasped, realizing he had held his breath in since the explosion. He clenched at his chest, his heart beating madly as if trying to escape from his body. Glenn breathed slowly, trying to calm himself, but it was an impossible struggle, for more objects were falling from the rift.
He heaved with difficulty, silent witness to the thing spitting one projectile after another, some landing with thundering explosions, some more discreetly, some disappearing in the distance.
After what felt like an eternity, the rift’s edges were pulled inward by some mystical force, and closed down, melting away in the darkness. And as if everything had been a mirage, a hallucination, the rift disappeared entirely, replaced by two beautiful white moons watching over him.
“...Phew…” Glenn wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. This had been very, very tense.
“So, that confirms my theory of it being a temporary event, a blood moon. That means it shouldn’t happen again any time soon, right?” He questioned as he looked at the sky fearfully. Only the sound of the night replied to him.
Glenn sighed and shook his head. This world was way too eventful, it was terrifying. How could he tell that something wouldn’t just fall from the sky and kill, at this point?
Hiss…
He froze, listening carefully. What was this hissing sound? It seemed like it was getting increasingly closer…
“Wait, no…!” Glenn’s head snapped back toward the sky as he watched a white projectile flying through the air. And strangely, it seemed to be heading directly for him.
“Oh, oh, oh shit!” Glenn suddenly blurted out, realizing he needed to get out of there. He looked left and right, horrified, but there was nowhere to hide. He was on a flat mountain peak, the only escape was down.
What should he do?
Jump?
“Fuck me!” Glenn screamed as he ran to the mountain’s edge. The white projectile landed right in the middle of the engravings, making the ground tremble. Glenn rolled on the ground, straining his tired muscles to push himself up. He looked back, bewildered, as a large, white shard of glimmering crystal sank into the ground with a humming sound.
Glenn grimaced and waited for a few seconds for an explosion or anything, but nothing happened. He hesitantly stepped toward the crystal, watching as it sank deeper and deeper into the stone. Soon enough, the white crystal disappeared entirely.
Glenn blinked confusedly and moistened his lips.
“O~kay, so that was weird? Where did it even go?” Glenn asked aloud, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer. The engraving was still in perfect condition, and there was no hole in the ground, so the crystal didn’t just dig its way through…
Strange, very strange…
Cough!
Glenn hissed, struggling to breathe. He shivered, frowning as a cold wind suddenly blew all around him, threatening to push him to the edges of the flat peak. He gritted his teeth and crouched down, resisting the winds.
“Damn it, what’s happening now?” He hissed through his teeth, using the cracks in the ground to try and maintain his position. The wind’s strength increased, piercing through his skin and chilling him to the bones.
The ground shook a mechanical sound echoing all around him. Glenn froze, squinting through the winds to try and understand what was happening. A few clicks and clunks later, the ground shifted under his feet, letting him fall through the void.
Glenn didn’t even have the chance to gasp or swear; it was already too late.