What a beautiful day. Yeah, today was a beautiful day. Both literally and metaphorically. The sun was shining high in the sky but wasn't too hot. The temperature was pleasant, as is often the case during spring. Most birds had come back from their immigrations, singing in the trees surrounding the village. Jado smiled, lying down in the grass, as he watched the clouds in the sky. Near him was a half-eaten ham sandwich, with a few boiled eggs sitting in a woven basket. Seeing where the sun was, it was probably a bit after noon. Jado calculated he would have the time to relax a bit more before going back to work. He sat himself up, his smile unchanging, before finishing his meal.

He washed it all down with a water skin, before attacking his dessert, his little pleasure. He carefully took out from his pocket a little honey cake that had been prepared by the delightful Nari working at the bakery. He took a small bite out of it, enjoying the mellow sweetness of the treat. A slight buttery flavor married well with the sugar imparted by the honey. The young man ate the sweet slowly, trying to make the pleasure last as long as possible, before sighing in disappointment when he finished it. He licked his fingers off, thinking back to Nari Dina.

Jado couldn't help but let his smile widen at the thought of the girl. She was the jewel of Araashir, the most beautiful woman in the village. She was also probably the smartest, sweetest, and nicest. Jado had a crush on her ever since he became friends with the girl when they were kids. Alongside Kale, the chief's son, they made quite the happy trio, always putting themselves in awkward situations, causing mischief in the otherwise peaceful village. The young man pushed himself up, dusting his clothes off. Now that he was an adult, Jado couldn't help but discover that he thought of the pretty daughter of the baker as something else than a friend. Well, there was no way she would fall for him though. Grinning, he shook the thoughts out of his head before heading back to the field.

Patik Mirak, his father, was steadily planting the potato seeds in the large field, alongside a few other farmers. Those raised their head when they saw the young man come back, waving at him before continuing their work. Jado waved back, before crouching beside his father, relieving him from the planting.

"You finally finished your meal? You really–" Began his father with a harsh tone.

"–Took my time, yes, I know," Jado shrugged, placing compost in the hole that his father dug earlier, "But I couldn't help it, mom's sandwich was just that good!"

His father shook his head, placing the seed carefully in the middle of the compost. They couldn't afford to hurt the seeds, after all, they only had a single bag of those. Potatoes were particularly appreciated in Araashir, as it was a new type of plant they had just begun to cultivate. The village chief had tasted roasted potatoes from a wandering merchant and demanded to make this one of the main cultivations in the village. It changed from the usual radishes, turnips, and lettuces, so the chief had bought a bag of seeds to experiment with. If they managed to make it grow in here, the chief would buy a few more bags from the merchant. This important task had been entrusted to his father, who was surnamed Green Thumb in the village. Jado knew that any plant under his father's care grew quicker and had better taste than it did with the other farmers, for some reason. Some said it was because Patik was a druid, but the man always defended himself by saying that the other farmers just didn't care enough about their plants.

They kept on working until they finished the whole row of potatoes, before going for a break under the shade of a nearby tree. Jado took a sip of his water skin, before handing it to his dad, who did the same thing. The two men looked at the fields together, proud of their hard work. Finally, his father began talking about the subject.

"So, did you ask her?"

Jado rubbed his neck, smiling awkwardly.

"No, not yet. I'm waiting for the next merchant's passage to buy her a gift before asking her."

His father shook his head, a disappointed look on his face.

"Listen, Jado. If you want her to be interested in you, it's not with gifts and bribes that you'll do it."

He turned toward his son, his tone extremely serious.

"You need to show her that you love her and that you'll make her happy for your whole life. And that is something that can't be done with gifts or money."

Jado shrugged.

"I'd still rather have a gift to help me."

The young man threw a look at the immense stretch of sand starting a few kilometers away from the village.

"Do you think...I'm good enough for her?" Asked the young man, a crestfallen expression on his face. His father froze, before slapping him in the back, shaking both him and the dirt that had accumulated on his linen tunic.

"Of course not! She's too good for anyone in the village!" His dad answered, laughing loudly. Jado shook his head, a smile hanging on his lips. His father was right, about the showing thing. He would try to ask Nari when he'll meet her after work in the evening. Perhaps he could bring her to that place that dominates the village, under the big oak tree? Surely she'd like romantic things, right? He should also bring a flower bouquet.

Madam Sabia, the butcher's wife, often told him to always come to girls with flowers. "That's the greenest of all flags!" She always exclaimed while serving him a few pork chops. "Roses are, of course, the surest choice, but I'm sure that girl of yours prefers tulips!" Each time, she would repeat that, insisting on the "tulips", while blinking at him. He suspected that she was trying to play a matchmaker between Nari and him, but he wasn't sure at a hundred percent. After all, she never mentioned her name. Well, he rarely saw roses near Araashir, anyway. He'll ask Mr. Babel for a place where he could find some tulips instead.

Mr. Babel was also a pretty nice guy, even if he didn't talk much if it wasn't related to his studies. He liked to call himself an "apothecary", some kind of weird job coming from the West. Whatever, he's just a nice man who knows a lot about plants. Jado's father knocked him out of his thoughts and he slapped him again in the back before pushing himself up.

"Come on, son, we still have to help Jack cut that tree near the watermill! I said I would help him against three bags of flour, and your mother is expecting it sooner rather than later!" He said while dusting his pants off, letting his son stand up in turn. They threw one last glance to the fields to check that there was nothing they could have forgotten and headed to the watermill. They followed the river nearby, enjoying the freshness of the air around it. In the heat of the summer, it was always enjoyable to be near some water.

A few minutes later, they arrived next to the small house next to the river with big wooden wheels turning slowly, harnessing the power of water to grind grains. Jack was the main producer of flour in the village, thanks to his investment in this watermill. He could create huge quantities of flour without having to work as much as the other people using manual mills. It was something he made himself following the ideas of the western merchant who passes in the village from time to time.

A small dirt path led to the village from the watermill, and a tree had fallen right in the middle of it. Jack had tried another trick of the merchant to move the tree but it didn't work as expected. Or did it work too well? Jado didn't remember exactly how the miller had found himself in this situation, but he knew that he had to help him move the tree out of the path with his dad. They saluted the man, who was sweating all over in his linen tunic, his face as red as a pepper.

"Come on, Jack! I thought you would already be done by the time we were there!" His dad exclaimed, a mocking grin on his face.

"Shut the hell up, Green Thumb! How could I know that my back wasn't as strong as ten years ago?" Jack answered, yelling back at him while grinning. The two were friends since they were young, so they always talked to each other familiarly. The milled threw a glance at Jado, his smile widening. He chuckled quickly, wiping off the sweat on his thick brown eyebrows.

"Aha, I see you brought the real man in the family to help us!" The miller came and slapped Jado in the back, similarly to how his dad would do. Jado chuckled back, hugging the sweaty man.

"Come on, Uncle Jack. I know you're getting old, I didn't want you to get hurt doing hard work!" His dad burst out laughing, while Jack found himself momentarily out of words. But far from getting angry, he simply laughed loudly as well, nodding in appreciation.

"Haha, you're getting better, Jado! I knew you would have the same glib tongue as your father! Oh, did you know that when we were young..." And there we go. Uncle Jack always told him some crazy stories about when they were young with his dad and acted mischievously in the village. The man was a good storyteller, making the work of taking out axes and hacking the tree much more enjoyable. Some would have been annoyed by how talkative Jack was, but Jado wasn't. He liked listening to people anyway, always finding worth in their stories and words, even if half of Uncle Jack's stories were false. But well, it was always fun to see him bickering with his dad when they disagreed on one subject or the other.

At the end of the afternoon, they finished cutting the tree into smaller parts to move it out of the way. His father quickly made fun of Jack for always trusting weird techniques from the West, making the latter gawk in disagreement: "That's the future, Green Thumb! Soon, you won't have to break your back planting your damned potatoes!"

The father and son carried the three bags of flour to their home, situated in the southern part of the village. The day was practically over and most villagers were done with their daily work, so the place was quite lively. A woman was practicing with a long stick in front of the home, swirling in clouds of dust as she did fast movements with the wooden staff, cutting and stabbing through the air with it. It always mesmerized both of the men, her training looking like a dance in their eyes. A dangerous dance, yes, but still a beautiful one.

She froze when she saw them, smiling widely upon seeing the flour bags, before putting down her staff and wiping her hands on her tunic.

"Dear, you finally helped Jack? Excellent, we were coming up short on the reserve, so I needed to get a—"

"—refill, yes, I know. Come on, let us put that in the pantry." He cut her, finishing her sentence, before bending a little to kiss her. She received it with a smile, looking in silence as her two men walked past her. She threw a worried look at her son Jado, seeing that he was the one holding two bags of flour instead of her husband, but it seemed like he had no problem doing so at all. She shook her head slowly, a nostalgic smile hanging on her lips, discovering that her previously small, cute boy was now an adult.

The only thing she truly was worried about was him finding a vocation. The kid wasn't stupid, no, far from that. Each time he helped someone in the village, he always did it skillfully and without making any mistakes, which is much better than most if not every young adult of Araashir. Happily for her, Jado didn't turn badly like the chief's son who couldn't do anything of his hands. But still, her son had no affinity or preference over any future. He was just...living, without dreams of owning a farm or being a lumberjack, or anything. He never voiced any thoughts of wanting to leave the village, which was quite surprising. He was, after all, always in the front row when the Western merchant came and told his stories to the villagers.

But besides liking those insane stories, it seemed like Jado simply didn't have any...dreams. Despite how sad it sounded, the young man looked very happy living in Araashir. She shrugged, picking the staff back up and taking on an aggressive stance. At the very least, the matter of finding a good match was pretty much done. From what she heard from the other women in the village, Nari and he turned around each other for quite some time now, and it wasn't a matter of "Is it possible?" but more a matter of "When is it going to happen?".

Jado quickly came back out of the small house, having slapped together a clean white linen tunic. Interest lit up in Maria's eyes as she grinned toward her son who seemed to be leaving in a hurry. He barely spared her a glance while running out, only freezing when she called to him.

"Don't forget, tulips are your best bet!" She waved at him while chuckling. Jado ran away, his cheeks colored red. Even his mother was aware of his interest in Nari, and the tulip thing! He knew those kinds of gossip were always fervently discussed between the villagers, but it never felt good when you were the subject of the said gossip!

He quickly arrived at Mr. Babel's house, the apothecary. He knocked on the door, waiting for only a few seconds until the stern man opened the door. He looked up and down at Jado, his face annoyed, before closing the door. Jado stood there silently for a few seconds, confused, before knocking back on the door. He had to be a bit more insistent to have Mr. Babel come back this time, annoying the man even more.

"Listen Jado, today isn't the day to bother me with—" Mr. Babel opened the door once again while sighing, not even finishing his sentence before the young man cut him in the middle of it.

"Mr. Babel, do you have any idea of where I could find tulips?" He asked without waiting, jumping from one foot to another.

The man sneered and rolled his eyes.

"Well, there's a patch growing five minutes away from the eastern part of the village in the forest, near the ravine. Now, will you tell me why you're pestering m—" He explained as if it was evident, only to discover that his interlocutor had disappeared in the middle of his speech.

"Thank you, Mr. Babel!" Jado yelled, running toward the place the apothecary indicated. See? Mr. Babel was probably the nicest guy around, always willing to help. The young man quickly arrived at his destination and entered the forest without any hesitation. The ravine wasn't far from the edge of the forest, so he arrived there pretty fast as well. He knew the forest almost by heart by now, but he never cared enough for tulips to remember their emplacements before.

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"Near the ravine, near the ravine he said..." Jado muttered, walking beside the dangerous edge of the ravine. If one didn't know the forest as well as he did, they would probably fall in the rift from carelessness. The ravine was pretty small, but very risky to navigate to the untrained eyes and feet nonetheless. He pushed through the bush after bush, exclaiming in happiness once he finally found what he had been searching for. He gasped in surprise, not expecting such a beautiful spectacle.

From the shape of the flowers, he could only assume that they were tulips, but instead of being a flashy red, they had pure white petals with deep crimson flames running along their edges, creating a stunning contrast of ice and fire between the white and red colors. It looked magnificent, and it hurt Jado's soul to ruin the natural arrangement of the flowers. Instead of mindlessly ruining it, he carefully picked a few loose flowers from around the patch, gathering enough to form a small bouquet. He didn't need many, only eight of them actually, as these tulips were quite large. Proud of his harvest, he stood back up, smiling. He carefully tied the flowers together with a small string and walked out of the forest.

A few seconds later, from a nearby tree, a young man jumped down from the branch he was perched on. His face was contorted in an angry rictus, his fists tightened as black veins ran on every part of his skin. His gaze loomed over the beautiful patch of tulips, before he stepped on it violently, thrashing the flowers with hate.

"No...She's mine..." He muttered, his eyes bloodshot as he kept on destroying the flowers. The black veins on his arms were pulsing slowly, giving them a disgusting and malevolent look. The young man glanced over the veins and simply hid them under his long sleeves that were previously rolled in. Red grains of sand fell from the fabric when he did the gesture, gently landing on the ground before dispersing in a gust of wind.

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Jado took a large breath and straightened his clothes, worriedly mingling with his haircut. He gave up after understanding that his hair would never give up looking like he just woke up permanently, and clapped his hands together. The bouquet was placed strategically in a nice romantic spot, all he had to do was bring Nari there. Right now, he was in front of her family's house, trying to muster all the courage he could. His heart was beating so loudly in his chest that he was scared of her hearing it.

Steeling himself, he stepped forward and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a scary, tall man with a huge scar tracing down his right eye looked down on him.

"What do you want?" He dryly said, his tone filled with contempt.

Jado forced a smile under the pressure.

"Hi, Mr. Dina. I'd like to meet Nari if possible?" He asked politely. Mr. Dina stood there silently for a few seconds, before closing the door. Jado waited patiently, used to the scary baker by now. Mr. Dina was quite an overprotective dad and could look intimidating at first glance, but he was just a loving father. Nonetheless, the young man was certain that the madman who would dare hurt the baker's dear daughter would probably end up baking in an oven overnight. Even if initially he never had any intention of hurting the young woman, this was just another argument on top.

The door opened once again, letting him gaze at a smiling, beautiful young woman with brown curly hair and a slender figure. She had a round face with a few freckles and deep, blue eyes reflecting his brown ones. She was wearing an apron above a brown linen tunic, probably in the middle of preparing something. Nari often said that she loved cooking with her father, as it was the only time she could see him smile and relax his scary face.

"Jado, how are you?" Nari asked, pulling a strand of her hair back behind her ears. Jado loved it when she was doing that. She just looked so...beautiful.

"Hey, Nari. I just wondered if you were free to go see the setting sun from that place we used to play at, you know?" Jado said, his cheeks slightly flushed with a light tint of red as he rubbed the back of his neck. The young woman turned back toward the inside of the house and shrugged before nodding with a charming smile toward the young man.

"Give me a minute so I get rid of this apron, alright?" Jado agreed with a nod, not saying a word. Phew, the first step is done! Now, the hardest was coming.

"Jado?" A voice called out to him from behind. The young man turned around, seeing that his best friend was heading toward him.

"Kale!" Jado smiled as he called out back, walking to his friend. Kale Toren was a man with a handsome physique, and who was set to inherit the most important position in the village. Jado was friends with him ever since he knew him, and they always used to play together when they were little. As they became adult a small rift was created between them as Kale was forced to learn the hows and ins of being the village chief while Jado was learning and doing his part in the village. They were still friends but just had not as much time to spend with each other as before. Becoming an adult had this effect on some people.

They shook hands, and Kale grabbed him warmly by the shoulder.

"What are you doing over there, Jado? You're still living with your parents on the other side of the village, right?" He asked with curiosity. Jado blushed a little and coughed before answering.

"Well, yeah, but I'm here for—" He got cut off by a young lady's voice.

"Jado?" Nari was done preparing and was waiting in front of her house. The eyes of both young men lit up and they walked to the young woman.

"Oh, hello Kale!" She exclaimed with surprise, "It's been a while since the three of us were together!"

The two young men nodded, mirroring her thoughts. Kale smiled, before taking out a small pearl bracelet out of his pocket.

"Here, I just wanted to give you this. The Western merchant sold it to me last time he came, and I thought it would suit you." The young woman picked up the bracelet with a shocked expression. The pearls were of a flawless white, shining gently under the dimming light of the sun.

"I...I don't know what to say?" She said, flustered and confused, not knowing what to do with the bracelet. Kale smiled, before shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, you could say thanks and yes to me inviting you to eat?" Jado could only watch as his best friend was flirting with his crush. He smiled sadly, knowing pertinently that Nari would much rather go with the wealthy and powerful Kale instead of him. He wasn't that interesting of a guy, after all...

"I...I'm sorry, but it's too much for me to accept. And I already have something planned with Jado, so maybe another time?" She said, handing the bracelet back carefully, apologizing with a shy smile. Kale's smile had frozen on his face, and he accepted the bracelet mechanically without saying a word. He forced himself to answer, his tone of voice lacking emotions.

"I see. No problem then, I'll see you later." He turned around and left without even bidding farewell to his best friend. Jado's mouth was gaping widely in shock, but he quickly closed it to not embarrass himself. Nari, who was staring at Kale's back, sighed with a troubled look.

"Are you alright? What just happened?" Jado asked, completely lost.

Nari twirled one of her locks around her finger, scowling.

"Kale...He changed since when we were kids." She said, not giving any more explanations. Jado understood that she didn't want to talk about it anymore and decided to go with his initial plan.

"It's been a while since we had a nice chat, let's get to the oak tree, alright?" Nari quickly agreed to the proposition, smiling at him. She snatched his hand, making his heart jump in his chest, before pulling him toward the place. He chuckled and let her guide him, her smooth and warm hand tightened around his. They arrived at the oak tree just in time to see the setting sun coloring the village in hues of orange, red, and purple, painting a breathtaking sight. Far from the village, probably a dozen kilometers away, they could see a vast, endless stretch of sand, golden and red. Nari plopped down on the grass with a sigh while leaning on the tree, inviting Jado to join her.

"Come sit and let's enjoy the sunset!" She said, but he shook his head slowly.

"Give me a second." He went to the other side of the oak tree, grabbed one of the branches, and pulled himself up high enough to grab the bouquet he had hidden in the leaves. He took one last decisive breath, before standing in front of the sitting young lady. He kneeled in front of her and offered the bouquet.

"Here...That's...That's the actual surprise, haha..." He said with his cheeks flushed red, holding the bouquet with a shaking hand. Shock was inscribed in Nari's eyes, and she carefully took the bouquet from his hand, enjoying the scent of it.

"It's...It's very beautiful, Jado...Thank you!" She said with a trembling voice. Jado carefully sat beside her, making sure to not touch by inadvertence. He didn't want to make it even more awkward than it already was or make her feel weird. This carefulness quickly went down the drain when she leaned her head against his shoulder, making his heart flutter once more. He felt conscious of everything, even his breaths, as they watched the sunset silently.

Jado finally mustered the courage to open his mouth and declare his love to Nari, but he was overtaken by the young woman.

"Jado...I think I'm scared." She said slowly.

Oh, that's not what he expected at all.

"Scared? Scared of what?" He asked, pivoting to place himself in front of her, gazing into her blue eyes.

She turned her head away, tightly closing her eyes, before answering.

"Kale...I...I told you he changed, right?" She began explaining, her eyes shaking slightly.

Jado nodded, wondering what the hell was going on.

"He...He wants to marry me," Jado's heart stopped, and his eyes widened slightly, "...But I already told him that I'm not interested." She finished, letting him catch his breath. He gulped difficultly, inviting her to resume her explanation.

"After I said that, he became obsessed with me, offering me priceless gifts like that bracelet, as if he was trying to...to buy me!" She insisted on that last part, her disapproval loud and clear, "He then asked my dad, my mom, the ones I'm working with at the market, everyone! Saying that he would marry me soon, asking about my favorite everything, like some kind of stalker!" Nari seemed disgusted, shivering when she said those words. Jado couldn't believe his ears. When did his best friend become such a weirdo?

"But more than anything, I simply couldn't let him try and court him when in reality I...!" She stopped herself from talking, peeking at Jado's face before blushing.

"I...What?" He asked, confused.

She took a small breath, standing back up, Jado following her in the movement.

"I...I...Argh, whatever!" She muttered, her tiny fists tightened.

"I...I love you, Jado!" She blurted, her eyes tightly closed, as if scared of what she would find once she opened them. Jado took a second to digest, before replying very naturally, trying to hide the sweat pearling down his neck and the shivers shaking his body.

"I love you too, Nari!" He blurted back, grabbing her by the back of her neck and approaching his face next to hers. She opened her eyes, flustered and her cheeks redder than ever, before closing them once more and propping her lips forward for a kiss. Jado closed his eyes in turn, his lips near hers...

"NO!" A yell interrupted them, and they brusquely separated each other, looking in the direction of the scream. Panting on his knees, Kale was looking at them, sweating all over with a crazed expression on his face and bloodshot eyes. He pointed at Jado with an accusing finger.

"YOU!" He walked with heavy steps toward him, his finger still pointed at Jado, "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MY BEST FRIEND!" He yelled, foaming at the lips. Jado took a step back, but not before placing Nari behind him.

"Kale, you're scaring me. What is wrong with you?" He asked, a hand in front of him in a calming manner. Kale saw the bouquet on the ground, and in a raging roar, jumped on it and destroyed it. He stepped on it until not even a petal was left of the beautiful gift. Each of his violent stomps made grains of red sand fall from his clothes, and his sleeves moved up and down, revealing black veins running along the crazed young man's arms.

"NOTHING!! IS WRONG!! WITH ME!! He spat, running up to Jado and pushing him away. The young man caught himself from falling, his eyebrows creasing in worry. He didn't want to fight the Kale–as a matter of fact, he didn't want to fight anyone!

"I see what you're doing here...Trying to steal what is MINE!!" Kale's sentence began in a much calmer way, sounding particularly insidious, before bursting into rage once again. His eyes shifted from Jado to Nari, who was shaking in fear at the bloodthirsty young man.

"You BITCH! I would have given EVERYTHING to you!" He yelled, holding the right part of his face with his hand. Black veins began bulging underneath it, barely hidden under the blackened fingers. Jado couldn't help but feel deeply disgusted by those veins, and instinctively wanted to burn them to ashes.

"I knew, I knew you were right..." Kale muttered, repeating the same crazed sentences. More red sand began falling from his clothes, forming a small pile underneath him. More and more black veins covered his skin, transforming him into a bulging mass of black flesh. His face was the only thing that wasn't completely gone in the mangled skin and veins that made his body. The more his body transformed, the more red sand fell from him, covering the ground red.

Jado turned toward Nari, pushing her away.

"Run! Go get the village!" He tried to whisper to the terrified girl, thinking of a way to try and stop whatever became his once best friend.

"I knew HE was right, all along!" Kale's voice had morphed into a much more inhuman tone, cavernous and duplicated as if different people were talking at the same time each time he opened his mouth. Jado didn't spare a glance at the fleeing girl, his eyes fixed on the creature. He emanated a nauseating scent, a mix of rotten eggs and putrefied flesh. Jado had never smelled anything like that in his whole life, even when he was helping flush out the sewers. This scent made him want to fall to his knees and vomit all over his insides. His eyes teared up from how much it affected him, but he remained straight, staring at the monster.

"The...ARGHH!!!" The creature tried to say something, but something seemed to pain him more than anything. His clothes were mostly gone, replaced by writhing, black flesh similar to dark worms, and he could barely distinguish what was once Kale's face. The creature jumped back, its feet smoldering red from stepping on the red sand. Red sand that seemed to still originate from the creature.

"KALE!" Jado yelled, trying to find any trace of his best friend in the creature. He looked at the sand on the ground, gritting his teeth before grabbing a handful. The move seemed to displease the creature, who pounced at him with a grotesque limb stretching over a few meters. Jado was swept away by the attack, but he held his fist tightly clenched over the handful of sand. The creature seemed to get damaged by it. These few grains of sand were probably his only solution to defeat the monster!

He almost lost consciousness when his back hit the solid oak tree, the pain jerking his whole body. He coughed a mouthful of blood, trying to regain his breath. He looked back at the tree, seeing that the place he just hit had been replaced with a small mound of sand. The tree fell, its trunk having been transformed into sand. It simply wasn't held by anything anymore. Jado pushed himself up, wiping off the blood on his chin. The monster was in pain, small black tentacles wriggling weirdly from him as it screamed without stopping.

Jado jerked himself forward, almost slipping when he saw that the ground previously covered by green grass was now made completely of red sand. Strong winds rose around them, blowing clouds of sand that obscured the young man's vision. He tried to make a visor with his left hand, still grabbing the sand with his right. A tentacle suddenly surged through the sand, stabbing a hole in Jado's stomach. The young man couldn't breathe anymore, and he coughed even more blood. His vision began to blur, the world distorted in his eyes. The only thing he could see was the black monster burning at each grain of sand that touched his skin, moving crazily around.

There was sand everywhere, but he couldn't care less about that. In some kind of heroic tentative, he punched at the creature, spraying sand mixed with his blood weakly. It seemed extremely effective, as the black tentacles began to fall off the monster, wriggling on the sand before disappearing under mounds of the red grains. The tentacle that pierced Jado's stomach was gone, leaving only a hole the size of a coin in him. He fell on one knee, trying to press on the wound to stop the blood from falling out. Raising his eyes weakly, he saw the creature scream before half of its body seemed to get eaten by the sand, letting him see what remained of Kale under the bulging black veins.

His face was black and contorted in pain and rage and had lost any of its previous human features. Between the two of them, some kind of stone altar was standing, half buried in the sand and made out of weathered, crackled stones. The creature bearing Kale's face opened its mouth, a mouth filled with squirming worms. Jado couldn't even muster the strength needed to puke.

"I..! I just wanted to..! No!! WHY!!!" Kale's voice seemed to be mixed with the creature. The monster screamed, before lunging at Jado over the stone altar. In one last attempt, the young man thrust his fist forward toward the mass of black flesh going for him, his hand filled with red sand. The fist connected, and time seemed to stop. The next thing he knew, the young man fell on top of the altar, his strength gone and his life fleeting away. He didn't know what happened to Monster Kale, but he was sure of one thing:

He was going to die.

When this thought hit him in his mind, he could only think of one thing. That he didn't want to die! That he painfully, wanted, no, needed to live!

A tinging sound echoed in his ear, making him understand that the hallucinations coming before death were upon him. Why else would he see some kind of blue screen and hear a voice saying what it was saying right now?

You've been chosen as the Servant of the Sand.