Kai awoke in a shallow ocean.
At least he thought that's what it was. No matter where he looked, there seemed to be no end to the water beneath him.
How…
…did he get here?
It felt like he knew, like the reason was an integral part of his existence, but he couldn't quite place it.
His memories seemed to lie beneath his feet as sand, but each time he bent to inspect them, a wind would pick up, shifting all of them around
And on this beach beneath his feet was one name.
Kai.
Was that his name?
It was important at least.
He tried to step forward to see if something else was there, but was assaulted by the shock of knife-like stone shredding away at the soft tissue under his feet.
Looking down, he expected to see the sandy beach that lay in his mind, holding all his memories, only to find a sea of muddy water beneath his feet.
right.
He was imagining the beach.
That wasn't right, though.
If he had been treading through muddy water, how come he couldn't feel it under his feet?
How come all he felt was ragged stone?
And why did it smell so rancid?
Blood.
He was wading through a pool of blood.
He took a step back, causing a sharp stone to pierce through his foot and break off, causing pain to shoot through his system.
He brought his foot up to his eyes. He'd somehow broken it, which was weird, since he didn't remember the impact. But the thick bone jutting through the skin was undeniable proof.
Only, upon inspection, there was no swelling.
And it wasn't tender to touch, aside from right around where the bone was sticking out.
Something else's bone had pierced through his foot
The "rocks" weren't rocks at all.
They were bone.
They were all corpses feeding into some horrid ocean beneath his feet.
Oddly enough, it was a familiar sensation.
Suddenly, he was back on the beach of his thoughts.
A rigid handle pressed tight into his palm, causing hot liquid to drip down his knuckles.
Looking down, his hands were empty — yet the weight remained, the phantom outline of a rusty knife resting where his fingers curled.
Beyond it lay a body, drained pale, with a missing face.
No.
He just couldn't make it out, like a painting he himself had ripped apart.
Guilt and horror ate away at his core.
And yet he felt strangely relieved.
Why?
Hadn't he killed the man?
Fingers sifted through his hair until they took root, pulling until they released abruptly, accompanied by a stabbing sensation and a heat running down his scalp onto his chin.
The pain eased his rapidly escalating heartbeat, allowing him to think clearly.
What if it was just water?
Very dirty water.
Yes. That worked; he was wading in water, that's it, the thought eased his mind further. Even though a tiny part of him denied the unsteady lie he wished were true.
He needed to get out of here.
Kai looked around, hoping to find something solid that would free him from the liquid.
Surprisingly, he did.
Salvation stood before him in the form of a bone-white, jagged hill.
By all means, it should have made him feel elated.
Strangely enough, it didn't.
It actually…
Irritated him?
The bone white was far too yellow for his taste. Like a favorite shirt that had been washed in coffee.
He almost felt the need to bleach it white.
Somehow.
But as the hill inched closer and closer, Kai found it easier to notice details he hadn't before.
Like how the hill was more like a crooked island, with three conjoined lengths, each smaller than the next.
And how said island seemed to resemble the shape of his pointer finger.
In fact, it didn't just resemble a pointer finger; it was a pointer finger.
Blood…
He could feel it coat his hands in a sickening warmth that wouldn't go away.
The sight of the man beneath him was even clearer. Enough that he could make out the dark hair resting on the man's scalp, as well as the fitted suit he was wearing.
Bile rushed through Kai's throat as he felt himself expel the contents of his stomach onto the wretched filth beneath him.
He wiped his mouth, suddenly. The realization that this amount of blood would definitely attract danger of any form.
A loud screech from the sky confirmed his thoughts.
He looked up. Wishing the universe had enough mercy to allow the creature to be small enough that he could deal with it, only to freeze at the sight above him.
He'd expected to be greeted with the silver light of the moon, given how dark it was, but it seemed fate had other plans.
Hundreds of moons of descending shape, like a diagram of the moon's phases, encircled the sky in a vast ring.
The largest blotting out what looked to be the sun in a solar eclipse, another closely following, causing the sight to be perfectly symmetrical, which oddly calmed him.
It was honestly quite a beautiful sight.
If only there weren't spots slowly creeping through his vision.
What was up with that?
A sharp pain stabbed his eyes before he could finish the thought, leaving him kneeling on the ground, clawing at his face to try to alleviate the pain.
But the pain remained just the same.
Leaving Kai sprawled on the ground, blood coating his tanned skin, turning it from a soft maple to a heavy red.
By the time the pain subsided, the blood on his skin had dried, making movements slightly difficult.
He tried to open his eyes so he could scrub it off, only to find the blood had sealed them shut.
No.
He could feel the cold wind stinging against them, so they were open.
He reached up to rub his eyes, pulling his hands away once he had done so.
Only to find that the sight of his hands leaving his face didn't greet them.
In fact, nothing did.
He rubbed them again, hoping something external had caused it.
It hadn't.
He had doomed himself by looking up without thinking.
Kai was blind.