Chapter 1: Forbidden Fruit Is The Sweetest

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The stench of something putrid in the air almost asphyxiated Jonathan and he woke up with a start, trying to breathe the air that his body repulsed.

Moments passed, and the disorientation slowly ebbed away. He stared at his hands, articulated his fingers, then put his head into his palms and exhaled deeply. His heart beats mellowed and he felt better, though the stench was still unbearable.

He put his palms on his thighs and pushed his back off the hay bed he had supposedly created sometime in the past.

Trying to find where the smell was coming from, he took a look around his room.

The stone slabs were mossy and few weeds stuck out from the joints in the walls and flooring. When his gaze hovered around his waist level, he viewed his makeshift stone table which had an earthen pot on it, adorned with a pink flower.

However, he could not remember the name of the flower

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However, he could not remember the name of the flower. Peculiar, he thought. The flower was beautiful. The tips of the petals were lighter in colour and from the centre of the flower, it's stigma projected out. He caressed the petals with his fingertips and smelled it. Thankfully, it smelled better than his room.

He exhaled all the air in his lungs and breathed in the flower's scent. Holding his breath, he came out of his hut, barefooted.

He looked from one side to the other. Following the smell was not easy. It was seemingly everywhere.

He groaned. His skin was burning. The heat was bad. It was like he was still inside his room and was being baked inside. There was no air flow whatsoever. He had started sweating the moment he had woken up. Sweat dripped from his forehead to the ground, and he saw it evaporate in an instant.

There was not too much light on the outside. Again, he didn't think there would be. To his knowledge, it was always overcast.

He looked away on the other side. The sight was underwhelming. Red rocks scattered in a sea of sand. Few cliffs stood tall at certain places and the closest was right behind him. Nothing stood out in this place.

It just...was not what it should be.

But why...

It was seemingly contradictory.

How could he expect anything other than this? He had lived here his whole life. What else could be out there? It was all the same, in every direction he looked in. This was the world. It is all there is.

The red rocks that speckled the landscape- there size ranging from some small enough to be held in his palm to ones as large as him in his crouched posture- were haphazardly placed. They had toppled over from the cliff to the back of his hut, most probably.

While looking at those rocks, his eyes alerted him of something.

He stopped in his tracks.

What were those black things? Snake-like necks-

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