Chereads / Lost in Limbo / Chapter 6 - 6. …the sto… Wait-what the moon doing?

Chapter 6 - 6. …the sto… Wait-what the moon doing?

When he thought back to it, there was nothing in the way of his climb, like it was his fate to get up there. Glenn glanced back to where he began his ascent, using the short moment to rest. The ground was pretty far down, far enough for the trees to seem like ants in his eyes.

He couldn't tell how high he was, but he could see the battlefield from up there, looking kind of like an indescribable black-red mass in the darkness, illuminated by the crimson moon and its little sister. A few lines of black smoke rose at different places on the plain, forming small grey clouds above it.

One couldn't guess it was a bloody corpse carpet seeing it from so far away, filled with monsters. The view of it could almost be enjoyable if it wasn't for Glenn's horrible memories. Quite further away, probably a few kilometers from the plain were situated east and west of it were two cities. Another forest seemed to separate them, but it was hard to tell in the darkness, even with the help of the crimson moonlight.

Glenn sighed in relief, as he finally got to find somewhere with living beings that wouldn't want to eat him. Well, at least he hoped they wouldn't. That still meant that he needed to pass through the cursed forest he just escaped once again, but he had to see the positive. At least he'll know his direction this time! The young man smirked, mentally congratulating himself for his wise choice of going up the mountain, even if going to the very top seemed a bit overkill. Well, now that he was there, he wasn't going to regret it.

He stared at the red moon and its white counterpart. Once again, he couldn't help but be surprised by how well the land was illuminated by those incredible astral objects. He knew there were some events called "Blood Moons" in games he played back on Earth, where the moon would get colored crimson red like now and where the enemies would get strengthened, or that it could happen every century or something in reality.

He mused as a thought came to him: perhaps the night of his awakening was a Blood Moon, a special event, a hypothesis that made much more sense than his previous idea of the perpetual red moon. He turned around, taking the entirety of the country in his eyes with a 360-degree look. He got a certain idea of his surroundings and where to head later on. The mountain he was currently perched on was surrounded by a thick oak forest, going for quite a distance. He could see two rivers flowing down, the one he washed himself in and another that flowed in the opposite direction.

The stream separated in two at the end of the forest, leaving a place with less vegetation, before leading to a majestic, gigantic city that was incomparable to the two he saw earlier. After discovering it, Glenn decided it would be his new goal.

'The bigger, the better.' He decided, sighing at the idea of walking such a distance again. He made himself comfortable as much as one could be on a cold, hard stone ground, his pained body desperately needing to rest. He could at least stay on top of the mountain until the sun rose, maybe that'll help him to not meet any more disturbing creatures. He laid down on the stone, wincing as he stretched his whole body when he froze. Something was wrong. He touched the ground, feeling that it wasn't...cold. The stone was warm as if it was bathing in the sun for a few hours before Glenn arrived there. The heat was soothing, making him more comfortable. Puzzled, he sat, checking the ground visually. He discovered that additionally to being warm, some...drawings were engraved on the flat stone.

Engravings he had been stepping on since earlier. Trying to ignore the fact that he might have disturbed some kind of ancient or sacred place, he stood back up, trying his best to ignore his legs' pleas to leave them be. He gazed at the drawings, looking at them as a whole. He strained his eyes, trying to let as much of the crimson moonlight illuminate the engravings. The most prominent object was a big irregular circle, a vertical opening slightly open at the center separating it in two. It seemed to be a passage of sorts, with unidentified items going through it. Below the circle were some hooded figures, raising their arms toward the big object.

"Did I just stumble upon a...cult?" Glenn asked aloud, a bemused look in his eyes. It seemed pretty evident that the figures prayed toward the massive circle, but why would they revere...whatever that was? And more importantly, are they going to punish him for finding this place? For his defense, he didn't see anyone nor was the ascension complicated. The crimson moonlight illuminating the engravings suddenly dimmed, as if a cloud passed in front of it, before starting to blink, like a light bulb about to burn out.

Glenn frowned, his eyes raising to gaze at the red moon, ignoring the smaller one. There seemed to be something wrong with it, but he couldn't place his finger on it...

"Wait...what is this..?" Glenn asked, rubbing his eyes to check if he was hallucinating because of how tired and traumatized he was, but no matter what he did, was he saw didn't seem like it was going to disappear any time soon. In the center of the red moon, a vertical line began to appear slowly, separating the celestial object in two. Maybe 'separating' wasn't the right word... No, it seemed more like the red moon was...opening from the inside. What was he witnessing?

The opening, or rift, since it seemed like a more fitting name, stretched horizontally, widening the opening. As he stared at this impossible spectacle, he glanced back down at the ground, comparing the drawing to what was going on in the sky.

"Wait..." He said slowly, his eyes shaking with bewilderment, "The red moon...IS the circle? Logically, does it mean that...?"

As he had guessed, things began to exit the opening. He had a hard time telling, the crimson moonlight replaced by a strange, deep, and unnatural darkness. It felt as if he was looking at something...forbidden. Even in this darkness, he was still able to distinguish a massive object extracting itself with difficulty from the opening. A roar accompanied it, powered by powerful shockwaves, making the mountain and its surroundings tremble. Glenn fell on all four, his panicked eyes struggling to follow the object.

A sudden silence made him feel like the world had just stopped, before the sound of the impact could be heard, a thundering explosion forcing him to try and plug his ears. A blinding red and orange flash illuminated the region like the sun would for a few seconds. Glenn stood back on his feet, dizzy. Probably a few dozen kilometers from the battlefield was a massive fire, at the place that should have been the crash point.

'Damn, what the hell was that? And what is going on?! Is this the Armageddon?' He mused, still shaking from the shock.

The plain was wholly illuminated, letting him see what could be a small village. Glenn couldn't even imagine how the shock must have been for them. Imagine living your life peacefully before a literal meteorite crashed on your doorstep...

He wished them luck, breathing slowly to try to take back control of his heart and restart it. He was almost sure that he spent a few seconds with his heart stopped from the shock when the explosion happened. Glenn glanced back at the rift in the sky, a silent witness to the thing spitting more and more things, none that he could describe. After what felt like an eternity, the rift closed on itself, disappearing slowly. A few seconds later, a beautiful, white moon was watching over him.

"Okay, so the big moon can become red, but is usually white...Or is it the opposite?" He muttered, his eyes not leaving the sky. The moonlight was back to what it should be, a white, cold light that barely illuminated anything. The two moons hung in the starry sky, silent, peaceful. Glenn felt soothed by the change of pace, his heart finally calming down. If he wasn't going to get killed by a damned monster, he'll probably get terminated by a heart attack.

'So it was a blood moon. Okay. So it will definitely not happen again anytime soon. Good. Can I hope there won't be monsters on my way to town? Please?' He prayed, taking his face in his hands, as he tried to rub the shock off his face. Too busy recuperating, Glenn was unable to see the strange object heading toward him at a stupidly fast speed.

Of course, when he finally did, it was a little bit too late, and he could only watch, powerless, as he was probably going to get blown to smithereens like the plains earlier. And he couldn't even run away, he was literally on top of a mountain. What was he supposed to do? Jump off? He fell, staring at the projectile.

So when the object just planted itself in between his legs, only a few centimeters away from a certain disaster, he didn't know what to do. His mouth was opened wide, confusion, fear, and relief strangely mixing themselves on his face. The item that almost pierced his family jewels was a white crystal, glowing lightly with a soft, white light. It was even humming a little. Glenn looked down, to discover in surprise that the crystal had landed exactly in the center of the moon engraved on the ground.

Glenn hurriedly pushed himself from the ground, trying to get away from the thing. Who could tell if this was going to explode, or worse? Happily, for him, the crystal didn't explode, or do anything threatening for that matter. It simply...got sucked by the engraving, like a heavy object slowly sinking in water. Soon enough, it disappeared completely, as if it never existed. Glenn waited for a few seconds with a baffled expression, expecting something else to happen, but it seemed like it was all that would happen to him tonight.

Still puzzled, he kneeled beside the engraving, following the cut in the stone with his hand. He then realized that it wasn't warm anymore. Why? Glenn shivered, disturbed by a sudden coldness. Powerful winds began to push him from left to right. He gasped when a cold feeling jolted him in his neck. He quickly understood that snow was starting to fall on the previously peaceful peak. He looked down at the engraving. Gritting his teeth, he hurriedly tried to understand where the crystal went, pressing his finger in the center of the moon, where the rift was. His finger slightly sank into the stone, activating a hidden mechanism.

A few clicks and clangs later. Glenn felt like something was going to go wrong. The ground shook slightly, and he could feel something moving under the stone. Without having the time to say "shit", he felt the ground give way beneath his feet, as he fell through the passage he managed to open.

"AHHHHH, I DON'T WANT TO DIE BY FALLING!!!" The young man yelled desperately.