"Gasp!"
Eric's eyes shot open as he frantically sucked in air, the action immediately filling his lungs with a gritty mix of sand and dust.
He was half-buried in a sea of red sand under an alien, hazy sun. With a grunt, he thrashed his arms, freeing them from the sandy prison, then pushed himself to his feet. He dusted himself off, scanning the vast, empty landscape. The sky was a hazy, orange-red hue, and a blistering wind whipped across the barren dunes. He was on a desert planet, a world of rust and emptiness.
"Good job, Eric," he grumbled to himself. "Always going from one bloody mess to another."
Just then, hacking cough from behind him broke the silence. He turned and saw a figure slowly rising from the sand, struggling to stand. It was Jimmy.
"Ah,my head. Where... where are we?" Jimmy gasped, his body still in shock from the crash.
Eric squinted, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. "Hey, you're the kid I saw on the ship earlier. What the bloody hell were you doing in there?"
"I... I was hiding... hiding to get... to you," Jimmy replied, still coughing and trying to catch his breath.
"To get to me? Why?" Eric asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"You're Eric... Eric Blackmoor... The genius." Jimmy was finally getting his body under control.
Eric rolled his eyes. "Argh, this again. Tell me when you're done dying so I can rejoice for being alone." He turned his back on Jimmy and started walking.
Jimmy, now with enough strength, ran to catch up. "You're him! You're Blackmoor!" he said, his excitement almost blinding.
"Trust me, you've got the wrong damn guy," Eric replied without turning around, his pace steady.
"No, it's really you! Eric Blackmoor, with over twenty PhDs!" Jimmy's voice was filled with a reverence Eric hadn't heard in years.
"You're the same guy who invented all six of the Nebulux Cores, the one who brought Level five Quantum Encryption to almost every technology today, the guy who created a pocket universe just from the stuffs he found in a junkyard—"
Eric stopped and turned, his eyes narrowed. "Listen, kid. You wanna to talk to me so badly? You better have booze. Got any booze?"
"Uh, no?" Jimmy said, confused by the abrupt change in subject.
"Then piss off." Eric turned and resumed his walk, leaving Jimmy in his dust.
Unfazed, Jimmy ran to catch up again. "I'm sure it's you! I've read about you, and I've seen your works. It's all so outstanding and irreplicable."
"For your information," Eric said, his tone turning cold. "I left all that crap behind. That's why I'm telling you, you've got the wrong bloke."
"But I'm—"
"Kid, take a look around you," Eric said, stopping and turning to face him. He placed a hand on Jimmy's shoulder, gesturing to the vast, endless desert around them. "It's nothing but nothing for miles away. You can literally pick any direction to head toward, and I won't ever bother you. Ever."
The words cut deep. Jimmy watched as Eric turned and started walking again, his figure slowly shrinking in the distance. A wave of loneliness and hurt washed over him. He felt unwanted, abandoned. He turned the other way, intending to find a way to survive on his own. But then, he spotted something in the distance.
"Huh... I think I see a building of some sort," he said out loud, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the setting sun's glare.
Eric froze. "Where?" His voice was sharp, a newfound hope in his tone.
"There," Jimmy said, pointing.
"Alright, thanks. See you never." Eric walked past him, heading straight for the structure.
Jimmy ran after him, a mix of anger and annoyance in his stride. "Hey! I found the place! Aren't you supposed to be heading the other way since you want to get rid of me so badly?"
"I'll do that after I check if they've got booze," Eric said, without missing a step. "So, no need to worry mate."
Twenty minutes later as the sun sets, they arrived at the building, which surprisingly turned out to be a bar. The sounds of cheers and clinking cups were like music to Eric's ears.
"Heaven at last," he said with a wide smile, tears of pure joy in his eyes. He pushed open the door, stepping inside with Jimmy following close behind.
The bar was a hive of activity, filled with an eclectic mix of humanoids, aliens, and monstrous-looking creatures, all lost in their own pursuits. The air was thick with the scent of fermented liquids and strange spices.
"Smell that, kid?" Eric said, a sigh of pure contentment in his voice as he walked toward the bar. "That's the sweet smell of success."
He reached the counter and sat down in front of a massive, pig-like humanoid with rings in its ears. The creature was polishing a glass.
"Hey, what can I get for ya?" the pig-like bartender asked, his voice surprisingly gentle.
"Got something I could swallow? Something hard and spicy?" Eric asked, pulling up a stool. Jimmy sat beside him, taking in the unfamiliar scene.
"Hmm, I got something you'd really love. Gimme a minute." The bartender shuffled through a door behind the counter, leaving the two alone.
Jimmy studied Eric, a feeling of doubt creeping in. This man, this cynical, uninterested man didn't match the genius he had read about. He leaned closer.
"I know it's really you, but you don't look or sound like him. You're more of a..." Jimmy hesitated, searching for the right words.
Eric's eyes widened slightly, a serious glare on his face. "Don't you dare finish that sentence. Don't you dare!!!."
"Haha, I like the chemistry between you two," the bartender said, reappearing with two full cups. "You're like what?... father and son?."
"Over my dead body," Eric shot back, a seriously annoyed frown on his face. He grabbed the cup placed in front of him and took a long drink.
"Real funny. The name's Pitt. I run this little hellhole."
"Ahhh, sure looks like heaven to me," Eric said, a refreshed moan escaping his lips.
All of a sudden, a cool breeze swept into the room, diverting everyone's attention to the entrance. Standing in the doorway was a tall, beautiful young woman with blonde hair, a grim and fearless expression on her face. She scanned the entire room, her gaze sharp and focused.