DISCLAIMERS: Journey is not mine. This is merely my interpretation of the game "Journey", a creation of Thatgamecompany for the PS3. In this story, I plan to dwell in the nameless regions of the game, with recreation of the game play, environment, music, and majesty of the universe that is Journey. Also, I plan on making small voiced interaction with "players" of the game, stressing the online gaming aspect of the game. I will do it justice, I promise. Not to offend fans to the game, interaction with "players" will remain as chirps. As for moments when cut scenes do come in, I plan on making a script at that point to fully voice my thoughts of the lessons learned: the history, the meaning of certain symbols, and why the game is how it is. Please note, this is purely fan made. Any names made up are purely to differentiate one entity from another. I do hope you enjoy my interpretation. Now, press start O.~

(BGM: The Call - Journey™ Original Soundtrack from the Video Game)

"…Where…am I?"

A pair of eyes opens up slowly to the sight of bronze sand just an inch away from their focal point. A head moves slightly only to be blocked from an immense amount sand entrapping the entire body.

"Aghhh…it's too heavy here…"

A haunting gale of wind picks up spreading even more sand along the buried body. Feeling a sense of sinking from the incoming weight, the body begins to panic.

"Help! Please! I'm trapped!"

The body cries out helplessly, hearing the wind pick up and mock them from ever escaping its sudden grave. The heat of the sand intensifies with the scorching heat the air floods the body's senses with. It struggles with a passion, but only sinks further down as if smothered in quicksand. The body cries out once more before feeling limp and fading from its few seconds of life.

"Please… Don't leave me here…"

As if by magic or by divine intervention, the small pleading prayer was answered, as a new wind sails just overhead from the place of the uttered wish. It soared past the buried being while following an overwhelming torch of light that blew away all the sand that buried it, releasing its head and upper body. Giving off a warm sensation, hundreds of times more bearable than the arid burning sands and air, the light rejuvenated the being albeit blinded by its miraculous brilliance. As its eye sight began to focus, the being blinked from the harsh glare of the sun and gasped from the mass amount of sand that neighbored its body. Where am I, it questioned to itself. Looking down for a moment, it saw that it had plenty of legroom to actually stand, and as it took its lift above the ground level of sand, it was taken back from the form that it had. Roughly 5'1", the being was fashioned in a crimson red cloak that clung onto the very top of its shoulders and danced whimsically to the blowing air at its knees. And oddly enough, the being's entire body seems to be of a matching red torso, lower body and legs, made of the same material as its cloak. The only difference was a very small detail of gold hem that was etched and haloed around the cloak.

What is this? Am I wearing some kind of flannel pajamas or a very itchy jumpsuit, the being groaned as it tried to scratch itself. It would stop itself short as it realized that it did not even possess a pair of arms; seems that the cloak was in place of arms, which were highly desired as sand was felt up in a rather unwanted place.

Oh…please don't tell me that I have to move around with all this down my crack… I'd chafe by the time I take 40 paces from here. Hold on…where is "here"?

The being turned quickly to its left, taking a hastened step and accidentally tripped from its other leg, falling right its face upon the hot sand. Quietly huffing from the fall, it picked itself up using its knees and looked about its environment. Sand, sand, dune, sand, dune, dune, more sand, another dune, and a face print of its fall just a second ago. It kicked its print in utter frustration and roared out onto the land, which make it pause in fright. Was…that a chirp?

"Chirp? (Hello?)", it whispered, noticing the small pocket of light that circles around its head and disappeared as the sound faded into the wind. "Chirp? (Hello?)" It frowned as it realized that its words only came out as an airy, sing-song chirp, as if harmonizing to an unknown tune. "Is this the only way I can talk out here?" it chirped. "I really feel like a bird 'singing' like this…" And with every chirp, a small light flickered in unison, revealing a strange glyph. If that wasn't strange enough, the glyph from its chest hovered high in the small light pocket that echoed out with every chirp.

With another quick look around, it thought of looking for any kind of high ground. At least then it would have a clear idea of where it was and how to proceed from here. I quick shadow wiped across its field of vision. Wincing from the sudden change, it slowly looked for the cause. The sun light was bearable as the constant cloud of sand kept the rays from being too bright. Squinting to the area of sand just below the sun, it noticed a large dune to the left that rose up as big as a small hill. "Oh good, a vantage point; I do hope I can find my way from there" it chirped hopefully.

It took quick steps avoiding its rather stubby legs to avoid another fall. It noticed how it moved along the sand quite gracefully. Must be some sort of dancer, it wondered. The hill was ever flowing downward towards the red being as the sand poured down to its feet like a small stream. The trek upward was more work that bargained for. As soon as it finally made its way to the top, it noticed three slabs of stone: a small one to the left that tilted at 45 degrees to the right, and two taller ones, at least two feet higher than the red being, standing parallel to each other sharing faded dull ribbons that danced dryly with the wind. "Someone's clearly been here…" it chirped. "It almost looks like a starting point. But to what?" A bright light emitted from afar, causing the figure to look out in the distance. "Ooooooh~" it gasped in long awe. "That's what."

Poking out of a mass cloud of sand, a large forbidding mountain, with a glowing crevice that splits its peak, stood proud and tall in the far distance. The cloaked being couldn't help but take a long pause at the sight. The mountaintop carried a powerful ominous air, looking out of place from the grim view of the barren desert.

Journey…

An odd voice echoed in its head, snapping it out of its trance. Journey? As in head for the top of THAT? That's…a long way, it thought. And yet it could help but feel something about the idea and the mountain. It was like it was calling to it, urging on the feeling of completion. Was that the place where it could get the answers it was looking for? Who it was? How it got to this place? Why was it in the middle of the desert? And what that bright light was that saved it from the sands? The Light! It forgot all about that light: the very thing that brought it back from an early grave. It gave a brave huff as it knew what it was going to do next. The who, what, when, where, why, and how was going to be answered as soon as it got to that mountaintop. With one step down the large dune, the cloaked one's journey began…