"It really is a behemon bead."

The holographic representation gleamed as Arin twirled it around in his hand. The description on the Barter page confirmed his suspicions.

  Looking at the very low barter requirement needed for this bead and how much more other beads there were that could be traded, it seemed that the heavily coveted behemon bead wasn't as rare in other dimensions. Infact, one could call them too common.

[ How many beads do you want? ]

The sudden direct message that appeared caught him off guard. Without his reply, another minute passed by before another message appeared.

[ You've been on this page for quite a while. Got anything you can trade for it? ]

[ How do you know I've been on your page? ]

[ Eheh. You must be a new one. The centre has a function that enables you to see the accounts lingering on your page no matter how many. ]

[ Really? ]

[ Yes. =_= Enough about that. What'd you got to trade? ]

[ How does a spicy Mongolian beef sound? ]

[ What's that? Some kinda weapon? Nah weapons are too high for something as low as a chistra don't you know? You're lucky this Bigpapamargov isn't a bad guy. Do you new guys enjoy cheating yourself so much? ]

[ No no it's not a weapon, it's food. ^ w ^ ]

[ Food? Hmm... Does it taste good? ]

[ Of course! ☆ w ☆ ]

[ ... ]

[ ☆☆ w ☆☆ ]

[ .....Oh well hahah. It's just a chistra anyway. So when can we trade? ]

[ Right now! ]

[ Oh how beautifully enthusiastic. I'll send you the coordinates. Meet me up {sent an attachment. Click to view} ]

Thinking it was some kind of document, Arin didn't waste too much time before clicking on it; only for his entire world to change the next second. He was no longer standing in the middle of his dining room but in the middle of a somewhat deserted terrain filled with the colour red. It looked like he was on a mountain like area with some few brown leaved coloured palm trees laying around. If one looked far, they could see the surrounding vast sea water that encircled the island.

"What the he-"

"Are you... User1645?"

In this red world with red sand, water and plants which seemed somewhat familiar, the childlike voice caught his attention. He turned around and didn't see anyone until he looked down. A lizard reaching a little over his knee with a brown robe like attire wrapped around his body looked up at him with wide eyes. They both stood dumbstruck for a few seconds before speaking.

"You're a child?"

"You're an adult?"

"I was expecting some kind of middle aged roguester or some or old wise guy."

"I was expecting a young cute female specie or something. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Did you bring the food?"

"Ah. Yes here it is."

A plate of food appeared in his hand which he handed over absent-mindedly to the little lizard. 'I feel like I've seen this place before... But I don't think I've ever been-' His thoughts were interrupted when the blue bead was placed in his hand. "Here." Without further ado, the lizard picked up a strand of beef and placed it in his mouth. A few minutes later, three more beads were shoved into his hands.

"Do you have any more?" Arin still hadn't been able to fully digest being in another dimension(?), plus the familiarity of the place and the strangeness of it all caused his dazed state to last longer than usual. "Yes..." he brought out three more plates of the same food and handed them over to the lizard who went away with them happily; leaving him with a shiny stone as a tip. "See ya... Nice tastes by the way."

"....."

  It wasn't until the lizard completely disappeared from his sight for a while did he finally recover from his somewhat tranced state. "Ah... ah wait wait! Don't go! How do I get back?!" Receiving no answer, he went back to the chat room but it seems the little lizard wasn't online yet. He thought of going for a short walk to check around but decided against it.

What if the time frames of the worlds are different and by the time he finally gets back, the apocalypse has already happened? Even if they weren't different, he really didn't have much time to waste.

He could always come back after his preparations. All he needs to do is bring food to trade with.

The most decisive factor of it all was his fever. He feels his mind and body deteriorating in strength with every second he spends here.

"Ahhhh how do I get out of here?" He was about to ask online when suddenly a roar that felt loud enough to to burst his ear drums pierced through his head causing him a severe headache. Its roar shook the ground, ripping across the air- through the red world like thunder. The roar of the beast struck his ears like a wall of pain. "Ugh!" He instinctively clutched his ears as he fell on his knees to the ground with a thud. His brain was ringing. He wanted it to stop. But the pain. The pain didn't stop. His lungs felt out of breath. His heart trembled and his knees became weak. His whole being wanted to coil into itself to hide away from this onslaught of sound.

   The ground beneath his knees shook like an after math of heavy footsteps hitting the ground.

  By now, cold sweat had begun to form on his forehead. He was already very weak from the fever, now with the shock from the loud noise blitzing through his now banging brain, Arin was practically mentally powerless to do anything at the moment.

He was even on the verge of passing out.

A severely cold chill suddenly ran down his back as a sense of death took him by the neck. He didn't know why but an enormous amount of fear surged up in his heart like a warning.

If he didn't leave here soon,

He was going to die.

"No I.. I can't... I have to get out of here." With this determination, he struggled to get up and run as far as he could.

* * * *

After what seemed like a long time, he finally slumped down behind one of the tall red trees he could find. His breaths were heavy and his already weak state was even weaker now. If it wasn't for his physical fitness, with the extent of his fever, he probably wouldn't be able to get this far.

"Haah... Haah... haah... What was that..." He checked through the online help centre on coordination and return areas hoping to find a procedure he could follow or something. Just anything that could help him get back home.

He didn't want to be stuck here. Even if that world was going to face an apocalypse, he atleast knew a few ways to survive it. He didn't know anything about this place!

He was still searching when he suddenly felt the ground beneath him move again, and again... and again. The movement didn't seem to be caused by an external force,

...It felt like it was caused from something inside.

Arin then heard loud cracking sounds from behind him and turned to look, only to see the far sides of the ground lifting up towards the sky! It was like the middle of a bridge being split it two and a lever used to lift up the edges to form a vertically slanted line.

Boulders and other unhinged particles began to roll and slide downwards; including him. He finally caught on to a vine and held on with as much strength as he could summon- which wasn't much for someone who was already extremely exhausted. Time seemed to slow down as different thoughts flowed through his mind.

'If I'm as mentally weak as this how will I survive in the apocalypse? Just a little fever and I can't help myself? Do I plan on staying in the safe zone forever? What about when it disappears and we're forced to move on? It would be far more dangerous by then wouldn't it?'

'Will I even be able to survive?'

'Can I survive?'

Tears slowly streamed down his eyes. All the emotions that he'd been bottling up since he'd found out about the impending future he would have to face. All the fear and anxiety he'd been hiding behind the facade of a man who knows the future began to flow out at once; without withdrawal, breaking the mental fortress he tried hard to build. Like a dam, cracks began to fill and things that didn't even relate to his situation... things that been buried deep down in his memory, began to surface.

'They were right.'

'They've always been right.'

'I'm too weak.'

'Too useless.'

'I can't do anything.'

'I'm a disgrace.'

'Even with all this knowledge and ability. It's still ending up like this.'

'Mother was right.'

He slowly let go of the vine he was holding.

While watching the familiar four blue suns move in a circle over the red skies, he plunged into the icy red waters; sinking deeper and deeper without a trace of resistance.

'I should just die.'