Secrets of the Golden Sea

First ring

"Dumb Macaque, dumb desert. Not blaming you or anything, Mk!" Mei huffs, holding her jacket on top of her head so the suns rays couldn't get her.

"You know what? I can't even at you right now, Mei." Mk says, drained from running away every time. And also drained of liquid.

"Don't worry, gang. We just have to keep moving forever and ever until we're—" Sandy says, exhausted by everything that's been happening. The sun scorched down from above. Sandy collapsed, the blue guy just could handle all that weight on his shoulders.

"Sandy, no don't—" Jingshen falls face first in the sand. The sun stinging his sore wounds.

"Oh no they're dead..." Mei ushers out weakly, also falling unconscious.

The birds, or vultures, fly above them. Hoping for a wonderful and tasty snack. Mk groaned and punched the sand. He just couldn't move at all. Soft steps on the sand alerted him that someone was there. He cracked his eyes open, only to see red flaming hair and glasses.

***

Crunching, gulping, swallowing. His friends were happily enjoying their meals. A ravenous gleam in their eyes. Jingshen's head laid flat on the wooden table, fighting the urge to scream. The last time everybody saw Redson, was when the hot headed boy helped Mk defeat his possessed dad. What didn't make sense, was why Redson was giving them food and water. Was it because of Mk's deed? Or was Redson just nice like that.

"You don't look too good, guy." Mei says through a mouthful of food.

"MMMHHHH!" Jingshen groans out, lifting his head up just to glare at his cousin.

"Yes, those wounds are turning sour. Might want to clean them out if you want to stop an infection from happening." Redson says, like the nerd he truly was.

"I never would have guessed." He deadpans.

"Thanks for the food, Redboy!" Mei says, swallowing what he could only assume was an entire chicken.
Redson, despite being disgusted by this entire thing. Angrily slamming one foot onto the table.

"It's Redson! I should have just left you to the vultures." He angrily snaps.

"Wait that's actually your name—" Jingshen says, snapping his head towards Redson.

"What did you think it was, peasant?" Redson snaps, folding his arms together angrily.

Peasant? Wow, does Redson really not know who he was? He actually liked that, cool. Somebody doesn't know he's a Prince. Well, his friends didn't know for a bit... but they didn't seem to really care about that. They never even mentioned the murders he accidentally committed. Thank the gods. He didn't want to break down while explaining that mess.

"You're so nice." Jingshen says dryly. "I thought it was Redboy. Because that's what I read at least."

"Read, wait! Jingshen, have you read the Journey to the West?" Mk beams like a bright light, hopping over Mei and Sandy to stare him in the eyes.

How menacing, Jingshen thought. "I—Yeah, I guess?" He said, looking away nervously. "After I got my job at the anti-gravity arcade, I'm totally fired by the way. I found out that there's a book! A book about Sun Wukong and how-how murderous he was." He trailed off, tapping his hands on the table.

"Oh right!" Mk said, walking back towards his chair with a look of defeat. "Sometimes I forget about that stuff!"

Jingshen only blinked at him before turning back around. How did Mk...forget about the murder? He grabbed a vegetable looked thing and chomped on it. Enjoying the flavor of it.