Tarnished structures, collapsed and torn, lay scattered and tossed across the now desolate desert. Though the bitter sand tugged and toiled to just drag him underneath, amongst the rotting flesh and scarred bone, bury him amongst the lurking creatures whose eyes still twitch, whose ash hearts still pulse…

Gouging his sword into the sand, ripping it apart, he tugged and toiled to drag himself up against persistent nature. He was not going to give up. No, its dust and cruel wind wildly tore at his skin, scratching and pulling his back, back, back, again. Slashing and shredding at bone and flesh, groaning, screeching its chaotic hymns, calling on beasts and critters from underneath. He was not going to give up.

And yet. Something was coming.

Through the scratching, howling wind, a faint grunt could be heard as someone trekking through the ghastly Hell.

Three shots, and the dunes, the Sun, the Heavens, fell silent. For a moment. While the familiar feel of his hand on the blade was oddly comforting, both he and the figure knew there was no life left in that body. Wild eyes, darting, left, right, focusing, blurring… the landscape was but a mere sea of pale golden shimmers.

He held tighter.

Clasping the burning handle, tighter, tighter, ‘till the heat was etched into his delicate skin.

------

A blurred creature.

The creature, whose outline emitted a heavenly, if not malicious, pale glow. Like that of angels and saints, a golden ring hung around its neck, a collar, to restrain. To encage. It seemed to be, with pillars encircling the black haze like bars on a weary cell; their stone was starting to wither, its skin exposed to the rays of the spitting sun and creature alike. Beaten and torn by the harsh winds of sand, whose hands clutched and scraped and clawed against the towers… or, another creature? An attempt to escape, lest an ancient god find them here? A cry for mercy against some feral devil?

Or does something more sinister lurk in the depths?

No matter. He went on ahead.

The sand softened slightly, as it slithered between the masses of collapsed structures. Remnants of ancient kingdoms, now held hostage by nature’s cruel shackles of time. Sinking in the sand. Looking closer, curious flecks of [ash-like] dust seemed mixed in with the

... He pondered for merely a second, and carried on, only stopping to occasionally rest his sick bones against the tip of his blade.

The blurred creature.

It seemed to be crawling away, hiding behind the sinking sun, pulling it into the depths of the earth, like a treasure to bury beneath the mountains. Slowly its shadow became fainter, its outline now a mere haze. Slowly the creature faded into a murky fog, encaging the dunes forevermore, wrapping the scarred skulls and torn structures with a blinding, hurling mist of sand and ash.

The creature faded into the mist. And where will his bones go? With no god to serve mercy or provide haven, no god to whip or punish, which realm would he be delivered to?