...

"You awake? Come on now, rise and shine. We're burnin' daylight!"

"Five more minutes..."

"Little brother...you need to...Augh...fine. You. Who are you?"

"Mm? Me? Name's Kyle. Resident Guide, at your service, sirs! And you two I'm guessing are candidates for the heroes?"

"The what? Please stop talking so loud."

"Oopsie, sorry there. You two are probably pretty confused. I guess I can explain that part later, but go ahead and start cutting some trees."

"Oh gods. Don't tell me this place has the zombie plague too."

"Afraid so. You guys're from somewhere else on Terra, right? Plague got the whole planet, don't forget."

"Great. ...All right, little brother. Get up."

"Mh...? Oh...we're alive...that's always nice...Better than the alternative...heh..."

"Get working on the trees with me. Kyle, how much area can we work with?"

"Well, all that's around here are trees and sunflowers. Nice flat plain for a while, then some little caves. Just watch out for out to the east, though. Hope you don't mind, but I was scouting around waiting for you two, and, uhhh...East is trouble. There's Crimson over there. You won't last a second there as you-what's with the look?"

"Big brother? What's wrong?"

"...Is there blood. Is there blood on the ground everywhere."

"Well...yeah...the Crimson's kind of bloody and gory and all that, that's why we call it-whoah there, partner, calm down, I said DON'T go over there, you look mad enough to blow..."

"He's right! Wait! Stop! Why're you so upset...?"

"...The Fleshlands. He's talking about the Fleshlands. It's here, too."

-:-:-

Spaz awoke to a shaft of the morning's brilliance peeking through the door, falling over his eye and warming his face. The younger brother turned over onto his face, stretching out and yawning before opening his eye and propping himself on his hands, turning around to survey his companions' status on this dawn while absently rubbing his aching neck.

Ret was sprawled facedown on the ground, near the back wall. The elder of them had attempted to argue he should sleep nearest to the door in case anything unexpected happened, but Spaz had managed to win the fight, claiming the noises bothered him less than they did the other, and Keeper had told them not to worry about anything breaking in, anyway. Still, he could see his brother cradling his axe like a child's toy, and Spaz himself had slept with his shortsword nearby. Things were clearly different here than whatever world their vague memories implied they'd been in before. Even Spaz knew you could never be too careful.

Keeper, meanwhile, was in the exact same position that the twins had left him in last night; sitting at the workbench reading the crafting guide, though now his feet were on the bench and his head was tilted ninety degrees to the side, for some reason.

"How can you read like that?" Spaz blurted.

Keeper didn't even flinch, "Can't see that well. Trying to figure out what to do to make it easier."

"Oh! Maybe you just really need glasses!"

Keeper looked over his shoulder and gave Spaz a withering glare, though it was rendered a bit ridiculous considering his eyes were pointing in different directions. Spaz tried very hard not to laugh as their guide turned back to his book.

The young man pushed himself to his feet, peeking out through the holes in the door to check for hostiles before swinging it open to let in the morning air. He gave one of his trademark toothy grins at the sight of the world bathed in sunlight.

For some reason, it made him feel nostalgic for nothing in particular.

He turned back, striding over to peer over Keeper's shoulder. "Hey, I might be wrong, but aren't Guides supposed to know everything? Isn't that their little ability?"

Keeper didn't look at him, simply tilting his head to the other side. "You already forgot. I am not a Guide."

"Well sheesh, sorry then. Are we getting a proper Guide?"

"No."

"Why?"

"If you keep asking me foolish questions, you'll never find out."

"Someone isn't a morning person. Hey, did you sleep at all?"

"No need."

"...That's not creepy at all. By the way, your book is upside down."

Deciding he wouldn't get anything more out of Keeper than he already had, Spaz sighed and took several long strides over to his sleeping brother. Spaz wondered briefly why he was so open to the idea that this man-this man he had barely any memory of-actually was related to him. But he felt it was true. It was almost like a spiritual bond. Even if he didn't know Ret in his mind, he knew it somewhere in his soul.

He also knew not to try and wake Ret up within swinging distance of that axe.

"Ret! Retty, wake up. We've gotta get going!"

Ret's eye flew open and he abruptly sat up, taking up his axe in one hand and dusting down his shirt with the other. "Don't call me Retty," he replied, sounding and looking as if he'd just laid down a minute ago rather than having slept for several hours.

Spaz rolled his eye and offered a hand to help Ret up, which he took. "You aching as bad as I am?" he asked, half-jokingly.

Ret grunted, "Yesterday was worse." He stood, rolling his shoulders and testing the balance of his axe with a couple of practice swings. "All right, we should get right to it and see what's around here. Any resources we can get from the surface. Keeper, did you look around any before we came to?"

"Did you expect me to?"

"That's a no. So perhaps we can find some chests at surface level and start making a mineshaft and a plan." Ret quickly moved to the crafting table, picking up some of the logs from yesterday. "I'll get us some wood armor in case we run into trouble, and I'd like at least one of us to have a broadsword. Spaz?"

"Broadsword for me if there's enough. I wanna get right to stabbing things."

Ret nodded, "You take the sword and I take a bow?"

"Sounds fine to me."

Keeper watched their conversation like a tennis match, having finally put down his book. There was some amount of silence as Ret worked on the armor, throwing pieces back to Spaz as they were made. Again, the work went as if they'd done this a thousand times.

It wasn't long before they were both geared up, Spaz taking a couple of mock swings with his new broadsword and Ret testing out his bow's string tension and how he'd go about aiming with one eye.

They were as ready as they could be.

Ret said not a word as he walked out the door, with Spaz giving a cheerful goodbye. Keeper, as expected, said nothing, and they were off.

Birdsong echoed overhead and a squirrel brushed by the twins' ankles, the grass they'd cleared of trees earlier swaying in a slight breeze. The sun overhead brightened and warmed the vast land it touched before them, there was the blue glint of a pool of water in the distance, and overall, the place appeared to be downright idyllic.

The two knew not to believe that for a moment.

"East."

"...can...we go west, first?"

Ret eyed his brother before letting out a sigh. "All right, fine, west. We're looking for surface ore veins, chests, pick up stone if you find it."

Spaz simply nodded as the elder took the lead, two sets of wooden-clad feet crunching the grass below. Spaz turned his head rapidly to try and take it all in, smiling his eerie smile and squeezing the hilt of his new broadsword-it felt good to have the weight of a proper weapon on him. He tested his sword on a nearby squirrel, which exploded into bloody pieces that scattered some ways over the plain. His grin widened.

Things were looking up already.

The level plain they'd built on began to slope downwards, and there was a slight overhang rendering the land dark. Ret used some of his gel and wood reserves from the previous day to craft a few torches, quickly fastening one of them to the wall before kneeling down. Spaz ran up behind his silent brother, cocking his head.

"Lesser Healing, one Recall, and a wooden boomerang."

"You take the boomerang. I can keep the potions?"

Ret nodded and handed back the items, before standing and tossing the chest into his hammerspace inventory. They walked a ways more in silence.

Something was nagging at Spaz's brain, something that had been bothering him for the entirety of yesterday. He decided now was as good a time as any to bring it up.

"...hey...Ret...you worried at all?"

"About what?"

"You know...we show up here with no memory of where we've been or where we're from...?"

Ret went silent for a moment, getting to his knees to mine a surface copper vein and some underlying stone. The copper was all gathered before he spoke. "...I'd say we do remember some things, wouldn't you?"

Spaz frowned, "Like what?"

"We haven't been trying to kill each other, so we accept we are related. We know how things work in this world. The laws, the cycles...we know those. Wherever we were, it was a world like this."

"...True...But are you worried at all?"

Another pause. Ret sighed through his nose, "A bit. Yes. I don't know what could've taken our memories, or why..."

Spaz hopped into the little hole Ret was creating to help him mine the stone faster. "Think we knew too much about something?"

"That isn't it."

"Then what?"

"...Keeper knows."

"What makes you think that?"

"Those Guides always know more than they tell."

"He isn't a Guide, though. Slime on your six, by the way."

An explosion as boomerang met green slime, and Spaz jumped up to catch the gel and coins.

"True," Ret replied without batting an eye, "But he gives me a strange feeling. And this world...We know it is similar to, but different from the one we must've come from."

"So what do we do?" Spaz pouted, climbing out of the hole and helping Ret up before they carried on west. "Do you have a plan?"

"...We survive until we can find out more. Perhaps if we attract a merchant, we can get more of an idea of what this world is about."

"That's boring. When do we kill things? I mean big things."

Ret chuckled, "In time."

"I'm starting to really hate that saying, you know..."

The two carried on, marking possible cave entrances with torches and cutting down some trees as they went, with Spaz setting down acorns from time to time. Little was found in terms of loot other than a couple of pots, much to the distaste of both brothers. It was almost midday when a shift in the ground from green to orange-yellow indicated that they were approaching a different environment.

"Desert. Careful."

Spaz trailed his sword through the sand, causing a rut marking his path as accurately as any footprint. He kept glancing behind them for enemies, but turned upon hearing the odd squeaking of a vulture in pain.

Ret was shooting it with a stony gaze as it attempted to swoop down at him. Spaz ran up behind and swung his sword while jumping, catching it with the very tip. Finally, something interesting...

Though Spaz noticed something unexpected as he jumped. Something off in the distance.

As the vulture exploded into feathers and loot, Spaz stood stock still, staring ahead at the small dune in front of him, squinting to see anything behind the cactuses.

"Uh...Ret..."

"What is it?"

"...Zombies don't show up during the day, do they?"

"No. They hate light."

"Oh...Uh-and-Demon Eyes. Them too?"

"They can't see in the light."

"...Right. Demon Eyes aren't orange, are they?"

"Spaz, what are you talking about."

Spaz pointed ahead with his sword. Ret shielded his eye with one hand and took a couple of steps forward, trying to see, just barely missing the figure that shuffled behind a cactus.

But Spaz caught something else.

"...I don't...see anything..."

"Look out!"

Spaz leapt in front of his brother, practically throwing his sword at the odd sandy-colored Demon Eye that dive-bombed at the skeptical young man. Rey cried out and readied his bow as two more Demon Eyes appeared, as well as a zombie. Spaz fumbled and dropped his sword, but quickly scooped it up from the sand, standing with his back to Ret's with a wide, confused eye.

"Why are they here?!" Spaz yelled.

Ret said nothing, just grunted and fired at the already-injured Demon Eye. The arrow struck, but didn't seem to do much other than make the eye angry. It flew over them and tried to sweep at them from Spaz's direction, but Spaz caught it with his sword, inadvertently pushing the two back. Spaz turned to his brother for instructions, but caught nothing but that angered, bloodlusting look in his sparkling eye.

It was instinctive.

You get the zombies. I have range.

Spaz obeyed the unspoken command at once, running deeper into the desert and past the rapidly-firing Ret, sword swinging wildly and a growl tearing from his throat. His eye was practically lit up with the prospect of the fight as he jabbed the wooden blade into the zombie's chest. The zombie hopped back a step or two, but kept coming, and Spaz could see another approaching out of the corner of his eye.

Another stab. Stab, stab, stab. He could hear a demon eye exploding into bits behind him, and Ret letting out a war cry. The noise distracted Spaz just enough to let the zombie catch up to him, and he felt it biting down hard into his arm.

Spaz yelled and swung at the zombie once again, managing to lop its head off and cause its body to crumble. His eye was wide-the creatures of the night were powerful, and could tear through weak armor. But had they always hit that painfully? Had they always been that resilient?

Spaz was getting further and further away from his brother, but didn't pay attention, knowing his brother could handle himself and instead flying at the second zombie and praying a third one didn't show up. It was difficult to swing with the injury in his arm, but he managed, advancing and advancing, driving it back. It managed to strike him once or twice, causing a significant amount of pain and damage, and it seemed to be taking an interminable amount of hits

"JUST...DIE...! GO BACK TO HELL!"

As if obeying him, the next strike downed the zombie, and Spaz quickly fumbled in his inventory. He was weak and hurting, though hated that he had to resort to this simply because of a zombie.

Spaz downed the Lesser Healing Potion, feeling the almost-familiar burning and bubbling in his gut that he somehow knew would last a solid minute. Catching his breath and allowing the potion to work on his injuries, he turned to check on his brother.

Spaz was surprised at how far away he'd gotten battling the zombies. Ret was many yards away, throwing his boomerang at what now amounted to five Demon Eyes and a vulture. Spaz offhandedly wondered just how many arrows Ret had found, if he was using the boomerang now...

He was about to run to help, when he heard something behind him-a low, raspy, gutteral growl that turned his blood cold.

Ret heard it too, and turned, a Demon Eye striking him in the process, though he didn't seem to care. He was staring at something over Spaz's head.

"Spaz, get down!"

Too late. The thing struck him hard, and Spaz yelled, falling to the ground and feeling as if the blood were being sucked out of him. He swung blindly at his adversary and turned himself over to see it.

A very bulbous, flesh-colored, spider-like creature that seemed intent on tasting more blood.

He stared, then looked past the creature to see red stone nearby, skeletal trees blighting the landscape ahead.

...we went too far...

Ret leaped at the Blood Crawler, managing to knock it back a bit with his axe before glancing at Spaz.

"Potions?!"

"Just took, still sick. Got a couple extras from the pots."

"You have the recall?"

"Y-yeah-"

"Drop the healing potions and use it! By the time the sickness wears off you'll be dead."

"I want to help!"

Another swing as the Blood Crawler made another pass. "Don't worry, I don't plan to die this early, that'd be humiliating. I'll take care of this and get out of here. That thing hits hard with our armor, we can't wait for you to regenerate after knowing it nailed you. Just wait back at the house!"

Spaz hesitated, but he knew to trust when his brother made a promise. He wasn't about to die to a single Crimson enemy and a few rogue eyeballs. He was too stubborn to.

"...I swear if you aren't home in ten minutes I'm coming back there!"

Spaz pulled out five red vials and dropped them to the ground. Then, he took the light blue potion from his inventory and downed it in a single swallow, his eye slamming shut as a feeling of weightlessness suddenly overtook him. Blue light could be seen through his eyelid as the noise of the altercation faded away.