This is the beginning of chapter 2 of one of my stories and I was wondering if you could give examples on how you would transition the first part with the second? To me, the second part seems to start abruptly and ruins the overall flow. (1) The compound stretched further than he remembered when first awoken, the buildings separate from the main structure seeming distant and out of reach. The air was a slightly humid and the earth was as red as everywhere. Even the mountains, that peeked above the crater, had a reddish tone to them. (2) He didn’t know much about the sect he was heading towards, only that they were called the “The Lore Finders” and that they studied everything, body and earth; which was then widely available to the benefit of the rest of the community.
You don't really show the relationship between the description and the narration... is there a way to connect them? You seem to be writing in a fairly distant version of limited third? If that's the case, you don't have to worry as much about the "only describe what your character would notice" idea, but if you're feeling like the description is disconnected from the events, it might be a way to tie things back together. Only describe what's important to what he's doing/thinking. So the redness, really, isn't relevant, but the distance is, so maybe you can use that tie into your actions. [I have no idea if I tied it in correctly in my version - like, I don't know if he's trudging toward a distant shack or whatever. But you'll know that information and can tie it in properly]. Like... The air was a slightly humid and the earth was as red as everywhere. Even the mountains peeking above the crater had a reddish tone to them. The compound stretched further than he'd remembered when first awoken, the buildings separate from the main structure seeming out of reach. He trudged toward the most distant of these shacks [or however it should be described]. The ramshackle building was home for the sect he was heading toward, the “The Lore Finders”. He didn't know much about them beyond their name and that they studied everything, body and earth, then made the information available for the benefit of the rest of the community.
Yes! I think that's it. I kinda make this connection in the next paragraph: (3) Walking alone in the open field, Tom almost skipped along the ground, eager to learn about the questions he sought. Surely, they have already answered a few? Perhaps he would even make a significant discovery on his first day? Grinning and shaking with excitement, Tom didn’t notice a bug-eyed man in red standing in his path, and would have bumped into him if the stranger hadn’t cleared his throat a few paces away. But yours sound a lot better so I simply have to find another way to connect the third paragraph to the second.
