Beneath the Endless Yellow
A few days later.
A lonely sound filled the air as gusts raced over the golden sands. Silence never stood a chance out there.
Heat had washed the sky white, leaving it empty above shifting dunes. Waves of sand moved slow, like something half-awake, never still. Far off, where ground met air, everything wavered - unclear, unstable. Breathing here took effort. Dying needed none at all.
Broken mounds of carcasses stretched over the dunes - twisted forms of creatures, some large, others small, sinking slowly into shifting grains. Dry air pressed down, sharp with a trace of iron from spilled blood. Not even breeze stayed long enough to whisper through.
Fog settled where words had failed. A weight stayed behind long after voices left.
A shiver ran under the broken desert floor. Out came a Red Fire Lizard, warm light humming along its skin. From buried stillness, it lifted its snout into open air. Watchful eyes, pale gold, moved across the empty land.
