A well of pain exploded across Tejeda’s chest as he fell onto the sand. He got to the other side. A familiar crimson sun hung high above his head, bringing back lost, unwanted memories. The air was so hot that it was barely breathable.

Dunes extended as far as the eye could reach. Blazing heat blanketed a desolate wilderness. He stood up and brushed the fine sand off his clothing. It adhered to the tips of his fingers and hair strands as he wiped his face, his tearful eyes piercing through to the horizon. Everything felt incredibly familiar. This was a replica of his homeworld.

The humming of an engine disrupted the silence. Finally, something Tejeda wasn’t familiar with appeared. He crawled on all fours to the top of a dune. Watching in the distance, with a hand above his eyes to protect his sight, his heart sank. This was a case of deja vu. Now he was back in that moment, a twisted, pain-wracked form, writhing and gibbering like a shaken child with a fever of a thousand degrees.

A ship gently dropped, remaining high enough to avoid the dwellings and low-lying hills. It cruised through the powdery sand stretch. Purple octopuses strewn across the light brown ground moved safely away as the ship approached. It landed on the planet's surface under a scorching red sun.

Tejeda squinted, trying to see the new arrival through the glare of the sun, drifting through the haze and a blanket of dust. He knew what was about to happen. He had lived it. The wind blew his hair into his eyes and pulled the sand from the dune around him.

A woman appeared next to him at the top of the dune. They sat and waited, watching. Every muscle in their bodies tensed, ready to respond in an instant if the other attacked.

The Nubilae hurried inside the ship, no better than rodents. But they had a worthy goal. To save themselves as a species. Nubilonia couldn’t provide the resources needed for their kind to evolve and thrive.

They said they would find a new home for the Nubilae. But it was a lie. All of it was a lie. The Nubilae just had traded one curse for another. Tejeda had remained alone in the empty, dark universe, the only one with a scrap of sanity left intact. Alone, forgotten, the madman of a forsaken planet.

“Don’t board that ship!” Tejeda yelled till his voice became gruff and scraped against the back of his throat. It was like sharp spikes scraped down his windpipe and dug into his larynx. His eyes bulged as his face jerked, and everything halted, frozen in time.

When Tejeda remained breathless, the spell faded, and he recovered his composure. "I don't understand why I should be here.” Nonetheless, he kept a watchful eye on everything, rewatching the event as if summoned by a siren's song. He had reached the pinnacle of his masochism at this point.

Tejeda pondered what would have happened if the Nubilae had not boarded that ship. If they had stayed on Nubilonia and were never subjected to those experiments. He struggled with these thoughts.

He felt as if he didn't have any eyes. The sockets held the picture of memories and feelings; his memories, the memories of people close to him. It was the moment he took those memories and hid them deep within his core, a treasure for himself only.

She clicked her tongue. Her first audible sound since arriving at his side. When he failed to say anything, the woman shrugged. “This brings back nasty memories, doesn't it?” She shifted her gaze to him. “You want more? I can bring back the screams and suffering.”

That brought Tejeda back to his senses. Why was he allowing her to crawl inside his soul? "No, thank you. That's not why I came here." His teeth locked together, making a sound similar to a harp's strum. The soft flesh of his upper lip pressed against his teeth. "I'm curious if you're one of us or one of them."

“I’m glad to see you still consider the Nubilae as your kind.” The woman sneered. “From what I could gather while watching you for countless lifetimes, it didn’t seem like you were proud of your people.”

"Who are my people?" Tejeda turned to face her with a frown. "During the experiment, the majority of the Nubilae perished. Those who survived were hardly the fortunate ones. They are barely conscious, crazed knuckleheads battling for survival in a world that makes no sense to them."

“There are others,” the woman said with a calm voice. “Few, but there are others. Me included. Maybe you remember me. My name is Rahul. We used to be friends.”

"Friends?" Tejeda snickered with a huff. His lips curled in that way of his, and his eyes narrowed to slits. Even the way he stood, with his shoulders hunched over in a way that drew his hands into his pockets, exuded anger and contempt. "I have never been the friendly type. You were probably her friend."

"Yes, indeed. I felt honored to be Carmen's friend." Her speech conveyed strength, a power that rocked and disturbed Tejeda's very bones. That was the power she, or should I say, he, possessed in this universe.

Tejeda’s hands tightened into fists. He didn’t like how that name sounded coming from this avatar. “Why are you stalking me?”

"Our interests aren't in sync. I'd even go so far as to say they're at odds. I was asked to find out if you're on our side or against us."

"I'm not even sure who you are or what you want." Tejeda's eyes burned, yet his mouth clinched as if he kept his anxieties within.

"You search for lethal weapons and chemicals to have them destroyed for the sake of the universe's wellbeing." Rahul's eyes furrowed as he studied Tejeda's features. "We do the same thing, but for a different purpose. We intend to exterminate all sentient lifeforms in the cosmos, leaving just the Nubilae."