Part One: Red Planet, Violet Sky

Nero opened his eyes and then immediately he shielded them, wincing and groaning at the intense light above him.

His body hurt too, the muscles ached terribly and he found that the rest of his senses were also overwhelmed, there was this horrible swarm of crackling sounds, like angry flames, his nose and mouth assaulted by what tasted and smelt like thick patches of black smoke, He rolled around on the hard ground for a moment, protecting his face from the Smoke and ash only... He groaned again as something hard thudded against the ground as He spun, something on his head that stung and flashed with pain when it knocked against the stone ground.

Nero reached up to feel what it was, He at first thought it was a strange hat snagging on his hair, but as His fingers journeyed upward, touching his face... which felt normal, touching his thick curls of hair... they felt fine, then to his forehead... "WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Nero felt up his forehead, felt how hard it was, felt the deeply ingrained stalks that ached as he felt at them and ran his fingers up the long, smooth spiralling bone-like structures that protruded from his head, Nero couldn't hyperventilate, it would have meant breathing in more of the smoke, instead, he simply lay there for a moment, touching what was unmistakably a pair of horns with panic raging through his mind, He shouldn't have horns, was this prank, or... a joke, where was He? if He could just open his eyes, He could figure out where He was.

After about a minute of trying to suppress his fears and control the raging and chaotic feeling inside, He had come to the decision that He should try and get up. pressing his hands against the dusty ground, He pushed himself to sit up, He felt a mixture of hot and cold air tickle the patches of skin where his clothes were torn, Nero rubbed his eyes gently, trying to encourage them to open and though they eventually did, He had to shield them and allow them to adjust but after a moment, He was able to properly observe his surroundings.

Nero froze. It was not that bright outside, only the relaxing rays of the afternoon sunshine kissed the smooth surface of the ring that He sat in, It had to be at least several miles in length and width, most of it was smooth from the obvious impact the rest of the hard stone, mixed with dusted piles of Red-orange sands that blew in the wind, Nero saw where all the smoke was coming from, a lot of the Crater around him was a cooling red hot mass that Skirmishing patches of orange fire battled across.

Whatever had landed here, Nero thought this is must have done a lot of damage... and how did He get there, by the looks of the place, the sand, the stone, the sky above which He peered at from his low position in the centre of the deep crater, it seemed like some kind of Desert or something, but it was quite cool, not overly hot... Where the hell was he, and how did He get here... why did his head ache so much, it was preventing him from thinking, remembering what happened prior to this, everything was a blur.

There was no argument for it... He was insane, this wasn't right, He wasn't right... his skin... it was... Red? not inflamed red, not rash red, but bright, smooth, natural Scarlet, He checked as much of himself as He could... He was definitely Red "What's happened to me!?" He cried, touching his arms, touching the thick, spiralling Horns that protruded from his head and feeling his heart pump with anxiety "What's happened to My body!?" He said, confused as to why his Panic, though very much there, wasn't more intense, it's not like He woke up with a tattoo, the pigment of his skin was fucking Red, he had Horns! GODDAMN HORNS! but he found himself calming now, his mind clearing, his body relaxing as if He had returned home after a long journey "I need to find someone, someone who can help me" He thought, picking himself up and standing on wobbly feet.

Nero's head span violently, it took a while to steady himself, but He eventually managed to lift up his Horned head and look around. The Crater was deep, getting to the edge would be easy enough, the climb out of it would be a challenge, he was easily 15 meter deep and the wall was mostly smooth, it was then that it clicked, strangely... when his eyes fully focused, He spotted a more jagged part of the crater's edge to his left... half a mile away, How the hell could He see that far? it wasn't a large space, yet He could clearly see it "That's My ticket out of here... I guess?" He whispered to himself, taking his first step towards the jagged corner of the desolate Crater.

He tried to go over everything in his head, trying to collect his thoughts and memories, but the throbbing in his head continued as He dodged the patches of flame, jumped over the pools of red hot stone, He couldn't put the parts together, all He remembered was being in the station, his... interesting talk with aunt Minie, after that was just blank. He wasn't sure why He could remain so calm, maybe it was because He wasn't sure if it was even real, maybe he was in shock? maybe this was all just a very realistic dream that his mind had whipped up in order to escape his tragic fate? "Just keep moving, You need to get out of this hole and find out where You are, just. keep. moving." He thought, pushing himself onward.

When he had reached the jagged surface of the crater, latching on to the rocks he could grab and beginning pulling himself up, pushing his aching body upward from the dark hole that He had found himself in and up into the light.

The light had been dimming, the day falling to Dusk as Nero grabbed over the edge of the Crater, hoisting himself up and wincing as He nicked one of his horns on the jagged rock "Ah these fucking things!", forcing his body forward, Nero struggled but managed to roll around and unto the soft sand, laying flat for a moment and looking up at the darkening sky, He huffed picking himself up and dusting his torn clothes off and taking a quick look around... a Quick look around it certainly was, because compared to the Sky above, the Ruins below were nothing.

Nero stared up into the Twilight, partly mesmerized, party terrified, not because of the sight's appearance, but because of what this picture above him triggered in his mind, what it implied.

Above him, piercing through the red Haze of everything around it, was the sunset as Nero knew it... only, instead of the golden-orange that He had known all of his days, the Sunset was a Blue-Violet in colour, it's Majesty casting itself through the red clouds to paint the sky as a Purple sea. Nero couldn't look away, he didn't even want too, it was beautiful, hauntingly colourful in ways that He didn't even know were possible, this was the only thing that had stopped his mind from collapsing with knowledge almost eldritch in its nature... He remembered, or at least He remembered some of what had happened. A Flash of carrying crimson light, a Void dotted with many shining stars and a great Scarlet Orb beckoning him to meet its surface.

He tore his eyes away, clutching his head as it throbbed with mind-shattering pain, He couldn't think on this, He had to put it out of his mind before it exploded out the back of his head "I... need to find someone, somebody has to help me." He said to himself, putting all of his focus on the path ahead of him.