Sin felt exhausted.

His struggle with the grass felt like he had been trying to push a house. The grass blades had dragged him back, and he watched helplessly as the grove grew further away. The leaves of the tall trees seemed still, not tormented by the wind that assailed the plains. They watched him silently as the plains took him back.

“Fuck!” he screamed, his voice fraught with exhaustion and anger.

The wind had grown less intense as the distance from the boundary of the plains grew, so he could hear his voice again. It also gave him some of his emotions back, and he felt grateful for that. The apathy was mind-numbing and brutal, and he had felt his individuality and mind assaulted by the overwhelming feeling of it.

The purpose of the grass plains was clear. It kept one trapped within it, never allowing it to escape. It went so far as to attack the very mind of its prey, making it apathetic to its own escape.

Sin was on the grassy floor again, similar to the way he had arrived in the grassy plains. The wind swished softly around him, allowing him to hear his heavy breathing momentarily. The stars twinkled above him, seemingly indifferent to his predicament.

Sin looked up. Was he going insane or were the stars in the sky fewer than before?

‘I’m going insane. I must be. The grass plains… drown out sounds, which starve your senses. They drown out emotions, which starves your will. They drag you down before you can escape, which starves your stamina and strength. There’s… there’s no way to escape!’

Sin’s mind was racing. He thought he finally understood what had happened to the beast he had found bleeding out.

No great predator was stalking the plains. The plains themselves were the predator.

The beast had slain himself.

Sin looked down at the dull sword in his hand, which was still stained with some blood. Sin had cleaned it in a rushed manner, so some blood still clung to the sword.

‘What… what am I supposed to do?’ he thought dejectedly.

His emotions were dampening again, however, and he could feel his rage and desperation subsiding. It was not nearly as powerful as the effect near the border of the plains, however.

Sin knew, of course, what his options were. Go insane and end himself with the dull blade, succumbing to the same fate as the beast… or find another way out.

‘Survive…’ he thought with a sigh. This simple instruction was proving harder to accomplish than he had first thought.

With no water in sight, the dehydration would kill him first. He needed to find the way out before that happened.

He pushed against the grassy floor, straining his tired muscles. Standing up with a sigh, he looked around. The grove was there, in the distance. It seemed close, however Sin knew it was impossible to ever reach those trees.

‘If only I was stronger…’ he thought but realized immediately that he was wrong. The beast had not been able to leave this place either. Whether that was due to a lack of physical strength or mental fortitude to fight the overwhelming sense of apathy, Sin did not know. It was useless to dwell on the impossible, anyway.

Sin regarded his best choice of action, sighed, and then walked in the opposite direction of the grove.

‘If the grass doesn’t want me to go that way, then I’ll just follow where it wants me to go. There… there must be a way.’

***

It was fairly easy to follow the will of the grass. Sin just had to pay attention to the intensity of the wind, and the strength of the grass pulling him back. In fact, when he had turned his back to the grove and walked in the opposite direction, the grass almost seemed to part way for him.

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The path was certain. Whether that would be a certain escape or certain death, Sin did not know. But there was only one way to find out.

He felt his emotions become increasingly stronger, which only further fuelled his determination to find an escape. However, his emotions were still dampened, as if a glass encasing had been placed around a flame, only letting minimal amounts of oxygen inside to keep the flame burning. It seemed he would only break this glass case upon escape or death. Perhaps that had been why the beast’s eyes had been filled with pity at its end.

Sin walked and walked and walked, the path becoming easier by the minute. The wind made the grass ripple with excitement as he followed the path of least resistance.

Soon, however, he decided to rest. It would not do to have him be too tired to escape and find himself brimming with exhaustion at the most important moment.

“Where should I sit?” Sin asked himself aloud.

It felt comforting to hear any sound, even if that sound was his voice.

“Hm… over there by that patch of grass, or over there by that other one… such a difficult decision.”

Sin chuckled as he sat down, amused at his own joke. However, the smile was quickly wiped off of his face as he shivered.

“I’m going insane… I really am going mad.”

The place he had decided upon was as good as anywhere, seeing as though he was surrounded by the same damned field everywhere. Though beautiful, he knew that the plain was harrowing. He even tried to distract himself from thinking about it, as he felt it would push him even closer to insanity.

He pondered the safety of sleeping in the plains. The beast had been wandering these plains too, so there were bound to be more creatures. However, Sin still decided to sleep. He couldn’t afford to be exhausted and groggy when the time of his escape came.

Sin lay down and closed his eyes, welcoming the embrace of darkness. Before his consciousness slipped into the realm of dreams, he had one thought: ‘What if the grass absorbs me like it did the beast?’.

But he was already asleep.

***

When Sin awoke, his eyes shot open.

Sin had woken up on top of the grass, at least. The last thought he had had before sleeping had been the first thought upon awakening. He breathed a sigh of relief.

The grass plains had changed. Or rather, the grass plains seemed different.

The suns were rising into the sky in the east.

‘Wait, what? Suns? Plural?’ Sin thought as he regarded the new sight.

Everything was a lot brighter than back on Earth, not that he could remember much of Earth, but weirdly it seemed to work.

The strangest thing, however, was that the stars above that had filled the night sky were still there, in all their brightness, during the day. They twinkled, unbothered by the overwhelming brightness of the suns. Were they really stars?

Shaking his head, Sin got to his feet, watching his surroundings cautiously, but it seemed that nothing had found him. The grass swayed in the wind as usual.

‘Is it just my imagination, or does the grass look… weaker?’ Sin suddenly thought.

If he tried to brave the boundary of the plains to get to the grove, would he be able to do it now?

Probably not. It seemed the daylight had weakened the grass, though this was only a hypothesis. However, it still would’ve been too strong to fight against.

Sin grabbed the dull sword that was lying by his side and stood up clumsily. All his muscles hurt from the previous night.

With a sigh, he glanced in the direction of the grove. It was so far away that the trees seemed hazy, like a trick cast by the light. Running a hand through his dirty coal-black hair, he turned his back on the grove and continued the journey.

With the two suns’ heat present, the journey was much more arduous. Sin’s dark clothes absorbed the heat, making him feel as if he were in an oven. With not a single cloud in the sky or tree in sight, shade was nonexistent.

At least his pale skin was protected from the rays.

Dehydration would arrive sooner, though.

After what felt like forever, Sin finally saw something in the distance. It was faint, but he could make out a large stone monolith. The distance made it seem small, but he could tell just how massive it was.

Sin knew that this must be the center of the grass plains. It would be where the winds were weakest and the grass most amiable. He was being led to that monolith by the very plains themselves. Would the monolith spell escape or certain doom?

Invigorated by a new sight in the empty, monotonous grass plains, Sin persisted.

The closer Sin got to the monolith, the more awed by it he became. It stood with solitary might in the center of the fields, spanning upwards of approximately 100 meters. Intricate engravings in the dark stone of the monolith became evident. It was the same language as he had seen the Voice’s writing in, at the very beginning. However, he was unable to know what these engravings meant, unlike how he had known at the time when the Voice had spoken.

Finally making it to the base of the monolith, he circled it to the shaded side, which offered him some reprieve from the sun duo’s might.

He stared up at the monolith, which rose high into the sky. There was an air of solemn mystery to it.

He then fell to the ground, leaning against the large structure, and wiped the accumulated perspiration from his forehead. With a grimace, he licked the perspiration from his hand. He couldn't afford to lose all of his body's moisture.

‘Water… I wish I had water…’ he thought moodily.

‘Let me just take a breather and then I’ll think of a way to escape.’

However, his plans were disturbed when he heard a sudden movement in the grass and felt an abrupt, intense pain in his right shoulder.

Startled, he looked to the right with a scream of agony and fear. An arrow was protruding from his shoulder and beyond that…

A human stood with a bow in their hands.