The blood moon and its pale little sister hung 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 slope, tensing when he realized how high he was.

  “There should be some kind of settlement around, right…?” Glenn wondered hopefully, squinting as he peered into the distance. It didn’t take long for him to find an absurdly large metropolis, a community built for titans.

  It was a majestic, circular city enclosed in gigantic walls. At the center, a tall tower—the main source of blinding light—reached for the stars. Glenn rubbed his eyes in awe.

  “Wow…” He chuckled. “I want that as my destination, but is there someplace closer?”

  Back the way he came, past the battlefield’s black smoke, stood two smaller settlements. Two cities—one on each side of the plain. They were… not exactly nearer.

  Either way, he was much more interested in that titanic city—without even counting the fact that it would take him far away from the bloody battlefield. That was the last place he wanted to return.

  “Bigville it is then…” Glenn stretched as he determined his next goal.

  He was glad he chose to climb the mountain, even though some elements still struck him as strange. No wind, warm air, a purple mist that warded off predators… And a leveled peak where nothing awaited him…

  Wait, is that true?

  Glenn examined the flat stone curiously. There had to be a reason for someone to carve stairs into the mountain, right? There were no monuments, so that only left…

  He crouched, grinning as he pressed his hand on the ground.

  “Found it.”

  Barely illuminated by the bloody moonlight, Glenn discovered engravings. He also realized that the stone was not as… cold, as it should be. No, it was warm, as if it had been bathing in the sun.

  That’s weird.

  Glenn ignored he had been walking over some… probably important cultural engravings and studied them closer. After blowing on a thick layer of dust, he stood back for a wider view.

  A large circle with a vertical slit at the center—separating it into two halves—drew his attention. Two dozen hooded figures prayed under it, raising their arms towards a falling orb. Runes outlined the artful engraving, in a language he couldn’t decipher despite the strange power that allowed him to understand Father Albenas’ words. They looked primitive but had a mystical feeling about them… almost alien. Well, he was in another world, wasn’t he?

  “Wait…” Glenn frowned. That… That looks awfully like a cult, doesn’t it?

  “Shit, did I really stumble on a sacred ritual ground?” He paled and glanced around with worry.

  Of course, there was no one else on top of the mountain. Glenn sighed, both at his foolishness and in relief. Perhaps it was just the stress of narrowly avoiding death, but he felt very, very much in danger.

  What’s that big circle the cultists are venerating? After pondering for a few more minutes, he gave up and sat on the warm rocks, tired.

  “I’ll take a breather, then head for the giant city…” he decided, his eyelids drooping. He lay down and clasped his hands behind his neck, looking at the starry sky and the crimson moon dominating it all. It was almost stupid how large it was.

  There were quite a few games back on Earth that featured blood moons, like that one Zelda game, or Castlevania. He remembered when, in World of Playcraft, twice or thrice a year, the moon glowed red for seasonal events. Granted, the rewards were cool weapons or mounts—not a nagging reminder of death.

  The more he thought of it, the more probable this event was just that: an event. A rare one, maybe, and that meant the satellite would revert to its regular form.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  And if this was a special occurrence, it could’ve been the reason 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 a lot, but at least the dots were starting to blurrily line up.

  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 omen in the sky.

  For now, though, survival was his top priority.

  “Hmm?” Glenn frowned. He could have sworn he saw the crimson moonlight darken like a used light bulb. He rubbed the corner of his eyes, but he saw it again.

  “The fuck…? Am I… imagining things, or…?” He questioned aloud, his eyebrows creased.

  The white moon, little by little, disappeared behind the larger one.

  And as more of the miniature satellite faded, lines appeared at the center of the blood moon. It stretched vertically, separating the celestial object in two. Maybe separating wasn’t the right word? No, it seemed like it was… blooming like a flower.

  “W- what is this?” Glenn gasped, standing slowly.

  The rift stretched, forming a black spiral at its core. His jaw hung, and his eyes grew wide.

  This was impossible. Simply impossible. A ghoul, a tentacle monster, and a weird cult he could tolerate. But a fucking moon opening?

  “Hah… Haha?” Glenn could only laugh. What was he even supposed to do?

  Suddenly, he checked the engravings.

  “Shit…” His heart raced. “…the engraving depicts the rift, doesn’t it? Doesn’t that mean…?”

  As soon as he uttered those words, the crimson moonlight disappeared, replaced by unnatural darkness. Glenn shivered and hugged himself, feeling as if he was completely naked and monitored by some untold existence. He kept staring at the rift even though it felt like he was watching something… Forbidden.

  A gigantic object extracted itself from the center. Exactly as depicted in the engravings, the object fell, roaring as it approached. A powerful shockwave threw Glenn off his feet, the mountain shaking terribly.

  He failed to maintain his balance and collapsed on all fours, struggling to calculate the object’s trajectory. He didn’t have to search for long; a thundering explosion illuminated the entire region with a bright flash of orange flames. Glenn winced, dizzy. He squinted through the blinding effects and found a section of the forest burning, prey to a voracious fire. The flames propagated quickly, surrounding a small village.

  “This is… insane…” Glenn gasped, realizing he had held his breath since the explosion.

  He clenched his chest, his heart beating madly as if trying to escape from his body. Glenn breathed slowly, trying to calm himself. But it was impossible.

  The void spit one projectile after another—some landing with thundering explosions and some disappearing into the distance.

  After what felt like an eternity, the rift collapsed, melding into the darkness. As if everything had been a hallucination, two beautiful white moons hung in its place.

  “Phew…” Glenn wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.

  “So, that confirms my theory of the blood moon being a temporary event. That means it shouldn’t happen again any time soon, right?” he questioned as he looked at the sky fearfully.

  This world was way too eventful. How could he tell that something wouldn’t just fall from the sky and kill him?

  Hiss…

  He froze, listening carefully. The hissing sound was growing increasingly closer…

  “Wait, no!” Glenn’s head snapped back as a white projectile flew through the air.

  It headed directly for him.

  “Oh. Oh! Oh, shit!” Glenn blurted out, realizing he needed to flee. He looked around, horrified, but there was nowhere to hide. He was on a flat mountain peak; the only escape was down.

  What should I do? Jump?

  “Fuck me!” Glenn screamed as he ran to the ledge.

  The projectile crashed right in the middle of the engravings, making the ground tremble. Glenn rolled, straining his tired muscles to push himself up. He looked back, bewildered, as a large, glimmering crystal sank into the ground with a humming sound.

  Glenn grimaced and waited for an explosion, but nothing happened. He hesitantly stepped towards the gem, watching as it sank deeper and deeper into the stone. Soon enough, the white crystal disappeared entirely.

  “Okay, 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 gaping hole.

  Strange, very strange…

  Cough!

  Glenn struggled to breathe. He shivered, frowning as a cold wind blew around him, threatening to push him off the ledge. He gritted his teeth and crouched, resisting the winds.

  “Damn it, what’s happening now?” He hissed, using the cracks in the ground to maintain his position. The wind’s strength increased, piercing through his skin and chilling him to the bone.

  The stone tremored, and a mechanical sound echoed beneath him. Glenn froze, squinting to 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 swear; it was already too late.