"Noli attendere ad dolorem erit mox dimisit." The sound smites me in face as I am thrust back into the present. I look around to see if a bird is crowing, and I see a female staring back.

I don't even note the colour of her eyes before I turn my head, but it is too late. A river of fire ants begin to plunge their limitless pincers into my flesh, and I scream in bitter agony.

A tiny rod is shoved into my arm and suddenly the ants wash away as I focus on this single, agonizing object. The woman's hand are wrapped around a shiny stick protruding from my leg, and it doesn't take me long to realize she's just stabbed me. I punch her wrist and don't bother to watch as the thing splits in half, a significant portion still extending from my now profusely bleeding leg. Trying to exploit her surprise, I leap to my feet and make a frenzied attack. I put all my weight behind my right fist and release it straight into her neck.

The female withstands the blow, her collar tightening into an impenetrable defence. I can feel every fragile bone in my hand shatter on the impact. Retreating back slowly, I cradle my useless appendage and hope that I'll find cover from a cave or hole in the ground, but my frantic surveys reveal a vast, open plain I've never seen before. My only hope is to run.

Unperturbed, the woman gradually collects herself, and then climbs aboard the hooved animal. The next time I look over my shoulder, she has nearly made up the ground between us.

I turn my head and decide not to look back this time. Holding my broken, throbbing hand near my torso, I focus every last piece of energy into my tiring legs and propel myself towards something that may be a forest a long ways in the distance. I can almost see the outline of the trees before a hoof strikes my leg, and I fall heavily to the sandy ground.

The impact of the fall knocks the air out of my chest, and for precious seconds I am totally unable to move. I lie paralyzed before her and cannot turn my head as she dismounts the massive creature and moves towards me.

"Ego iustus volo ad auxilium vobis."

The sound appears to be emanating from the female's general direction, but I'm far too concerned with shielding my eyes to investigate further. Without any movement in my head, it's nearly impossible to keep from meeting her gaze, but thankfully her face is now entirely shadowed with an expanse of thick, black hair that encompasses the sides and top of her skull, and covers her entire body.

She doesn't move, but I understand that I am being watched. I try not to twitch as feeling slowly ebbs back into my body, but I start to become impatient. Breath returns to me and sit up, but still she chooses not to approach me. I simply stare silently at her fingers as they gingerly poke out from beneath the blackened hair.

Although she is still a few paces away from me, I can see that each finger is shaped with endless, overlapping scars. Mostly they appear to be the remnants of old scabs that years of traversing the forest have left on my feet, but a few are indicative of larger cuts or burns. The calluses on the insides of her palms must be-

My head begins to ache, and I move my gaze to the sand beneath her feet. It's boring to see it shifting in the light breeze, but it at least gives me something to do while she silently examines me.

The day has nearly been entirely wasted before she makes her first sign of movement. In the end, all she does is sit cross-legged on the ground, revealing that her feet are covered in toughen hide that looks entirely nothing like my own. They are an extreme dark brown, though the tips are bone white and if I look closely at the right foot, I can see that that brown only goes a little farther past the heel, where it's replaced with more familiar, pinkish flesh.

My curiosity in regards to this woman has been completely exhausted by the time night falls. However, I hear the sound again, and I have something new on which to fixate.

"Sustinete hic."

Without warning, the sound stops, and the female rises from her position. Without ever turning her visage my way, she leaves into the gathering darkness.

I consider attempting another escape in her absence, but the animal is left behind. I still remember the hoof on my leg, and I have no intention to anger it further. Fatigued, I lie in a foetal position with my eyes fixed on the creature. Deciding that I couldn't possibly defend against the beast even if I wanted to, I close my eyes and try to sleep.

I fight desperately for even an inkling of rest, but my efforts are futile. I choose to lie still instead, my eyes scanning the barren landscape under the light of the night's sun. I cannot see the forest anymore, and I start to wonder if it has moved, or whether it was ever there to begin with. I can at least spot some form of vegetation a short distance from me. The sand seems spotted with tiny plants and thin vines of many varieties.

I hear muffled footsteps and turn around just as the woman returns. Her entire right hand is exposed now, but the night clouds all but the general shape. She is holding a tiny, beige furred animal, its head hanging in a deadened, contorted posture.

The female sits and places the miniscule beast in her lap. She proceeds to break, with thorough precision, every single infinitesimal toe on each foot before using the tears to skillfully pull away the hide of the animal first from the legs and then from the rest of the body. The head remains covered, but she snaps the neck, and separates the skull from the rest of the corpse, with the spinal cord slowly being pulled from the carcass. She then disinterestedly tosses the head into the night and keeps still again.

I feel an intense hunger burning in my belly, and I start to lunge for the beautifully lobotomized foodstuff. I realize too late that the hoof must have crushed my leg, for I immediately stumble and fall at her feet.

She has no noticeable reaction, and I quickly hobble back to my previous spot. Acting somewhat more urgently than before, but still which enormous pauses between her actions, the woman parts the black hair around where her breast would be and removes a sphere of a terrifically bright colour which I have never before seen.

She places the sphere between us in the sand and then gently makes a wide curve around it with her finger. A short sound this time, "ignis", and then the inside of the curve is engulfed in flames that reach far into the night sky, like lightning coming up from the ground. I am too mesmerized to fear the heat or the awesome power before me.

"Parva ignis." The flames immediately lower and crackle with the sand below it. Without any further ceremony, the female plops the skinned creature unto the fire. My stomach growls as I watch her destroy the food in such a manner, but I have long since submitted to whatever hideous plans this woman might have. After the one side of the animal has been thoroughly ruined, she flips the creature and allows the flames to do their devious work to the other side. Finally, when the thing is now entirely devastated, she cradles it in her hand and moves her outstretched arms towards me. The flesh is still sizzling, but her hands do not tremble in the slightest at the heat.

"Manducare." The fire illuminates the lower half of her face and I can see how her lips move as the sound is made. I am no closer to understanding this process, however. She seems only interested in making some vile display of the wasted meat.

"Manducare," she repeats. She waits for several moments before picking a charred morsel of flesh from the wretched carcass and placing it into the ambiguous depths of her mouth. It seems for a moment as if she is chewing the putrid meat, but that obviously cannot be. No being of any intelligence would eat such a thing.

I see her swallow and pick another piece off the singed corpse. My earlier assumption seems to have been somewhat too hasty. I can feel whatever sparse contents there are in my stomach swiftly coming back up. I have to close my eyes or risk vomiting.

I open my eyes again and to my great fortune, she seems to have made little progress on the carcass. Her arms are now further extended to me, however. It is impossible to not comprehend her intention, but there is nothing she can possibly do to force me to eat such a nauseating meal.

I decide to test her patience.

First, the night's sun descends into the plains. Although I have laid back into a slouch long ago, she continues to hold her arms outstretched, with the scorched creature in her open palms. The pangs of hunger in my stomach are slowly becoming distressing.

Second, the morning sun rises and illuminates the surrounding. I'm afraid I might see her face again and so I cover my eyes with my hands and lie motionless in the sand. I'm reasonably certain that the woman hasn't moved. My belly is now making audible growls, and every so often I confronted with a bout of dry heaving.

Third, the sun hangs high overhead and sears the world below. I can feel my back being singed ever so gradually. There is no point in being stubborn any more. I can survive without food, but I need water as soon as possible. I can only get that once I leave, and I need to consume that roasted carcass before she'll ever allow me to leave. I hope.

My head's already swimming by the time I lean myself up again, but I convince myself through the pain that this makes sense, somehow. I find the female in the same position as she's been all night, the cooled creature still lying in her hands. I take the corpse from her, a move which elicits no reaction of any kind.

I soak my fingers into the carcass and search for any portion that may have remained raw and juicy, but the animal has been thoroughly charred dry. I whimper to myself, but I have been more or less forced into what I do next. I unhinge my jaw and shove the entire corpse into my mouth before pushing my teeth closed and going about the despicable task of chewing the burnt, dehydrated meat.

It takes me some time, but I do manage to swallow, although I shudder as every piece goes down. My arms visibly shake from the effort, and I can feel my entire body go cold. Without really thinking, I look up at the woman to see any response, and in the light of the day, our eyes meet for the second time.

I cannot explain what makes me forget about the inherent dangers of this explicit form of contact, but I am caught for a moment by some exotic quality in those eyes. They remind me of ash, as if seeing an entire forest burn to the ground scratched itself unto her corneas. I see more in those tiny orbs more than I have ever witnessed in my entire existence. For those precious moments, it is my entire existence.

Then she moves towards me, and throws me over her shoulder. With a few well-placed steps, she manoeuvres over the sand and lays me down on the back of the massive animal before mounting it herself. She smacks the creature on its haunch, and it begins moving across the plains, in the opposite direction of the forest and weeds.

The woman uses one hand to direct the animal and the other to straighten me and wrap my hands around her torso so that I'll keep some stability while the creature continues to quicken. We go further and further into the desolate, sandy hills before I decide to give up hope and nestle into her black fur to die.

∞

It's not without a slight wisp of remorse that I awake to find I am not yet dead.

We are still on the back of the great animal, but the darkened sky makes it clear that the day will soon meet its end. Clouds gather in the distance.

I have never seen so much beige in my life. It is an endless landscape of sand, a river of sand although even the river has a bank on both sides. This is a forest of sand, a forest that stretches across the whole plain of existence.

Unlike the plains, however, these sands are uneven. Our animal plods carefully as we scale mountains of the beige stuff and descend into vast, sandy gullies. The difference between the top of one and the bottom of another is perhaps more than ten of the tallest trees I have ever laid eyes on, each stacked on top of the other.

When the sand begins to return to a predictable flatness, the woman takes something from under her fur and holds it in her hand. It seems like a heap of dried hide with an opening cut from the top. She dips into this repository and fishes out a handful of grey orbs which shine brightly when they catch the light. The female tosses a few of these tiny moons to her right, left and front.

Several paces ahead of the beast, an enormous crevice suddenly appears, ready to swallow the woman and I in moments. I throw myself from the animal and run away from it as fast as I can.

Ignoring the paths that lead back to the sandy hills, I choose to continue along the flat surfaces, so as not to impede my running. I turn back to see the woman throwing more orbs in my direction, but choosing not hunt me down. Perhaps I am free of her at last.

My foot is stuck. By the time I take notice of it, my knee has been entirely covered in sand. I feel my body sloping below the surface. I'm falling even as I stand above ground.

My waist sinks under the incredible weight of the sand. I attempt to twist my torso and see how the female is reacting, but as I struggle, I only sink deeper.

The sand begins to press at my lungs, squeezing the breath from my chest, and I realize what is becoming of me. Frantic, I claw at the sand with my arms, throwing it out from under me in giant, gaping handfuls, but it does nothing. I fall farther into the pit, my shaking hands the only thing still able to move.

"Manere tranquillitas." The sound emanates from somewhere behind me, but it's difficult with place it with my head falling below the level of the plain. I try to twist myself towards the direction of the sound.

"Subsisto movens." The screech collides with my ears just before they are engulfed in sand and I am lost from the world forever.

I cannot tell if my eyes are open or shut. A total, awe-striking darkness encloses me. The pressure of several mountains is bulging against every piece of my skin, and I can feel my hide ready to burst from the impact. My lungs are trapped under collapsing ribs, and I've already forgotten what it was like to breathe. How many times must I die before I have my final death?

It do not understand what happens to me next. It is akin to those times, in my childhood, before hunger became my primary concern, when I would float along the river, swimming with the fishes instead of so desperately trying to catch and eat them. I would lay on my back and let the water lift me to wherever it may choose to go. I feel like that again, only standing upright, floating through the sand. The pressure falls from my chest, and the blackness slowly recedes around me. I spin as I am doing this and spurt from the sand like an animal from its den.

I face the woman in the harsh light of the surface. Compared to the complete darkness, the shade of the gathering clouds is nearly unbearable. My eyes water, but I cannot seem to close them. I cannot change my gaze either, and thus do not see that my feet still fly above the sand. I realize that when I try to walk forward and feel no ground beneath my toes.

There is something different about her face. It is still dotted with scars like a system of roots at the base of some great forest, but they do not hide a very visible change. Where once there were gentle prairies, steep hills have been forced upwards. Her face seems sharp and some part of me, far beyond my control, begins to fear with more ferocity than I've ever feared before.

Her grey eyes do not blink or waver as they stare at me. No matter how many times I look her over, I cannot see a single muscle move or sway. This is, no doubt, a new form of cruelty being thrust upon me, and I begin to weep, despairing this unrestrained suffering that has become my intolerable life.

It brings a slight response on the part of the woman. Her eyes roll upwards and then down again as my tears fall to the ground and sizzle in the latent heat.

Her lips tighten and shift to the right. She moves her mouth and creates a new sound, "demittatur." I fall to the ground. The female patiently walks back towards the great creature, still where I had left it. Not wanting to be left alone with swallowing sand pit beasts, I choose to follow her.

∞

When we return to the animal, she begins to manipulate a piece of hide attached to its waist. She removes a giant mound of black hair and throws it in my direction. "Est quia pluvial."

I stop and look down at it, expecting it to do something, like her various other possessions, but the object is totally undiscernible. I decide simply to wait and not take any chances.

She mounts the animal and glances in my direction. After only one look to the sky, she leaps from the beast and approaches me. She takes the mound in her arms and stretches it out so that now I can see that it is greater than her size in length and height. She then walks behind me and tosses the fur unto my shoulders, whilst another piece is pulled over my head. Finally, she returns to the front and attaches one side of the fur to the other around my neck.

The woman then moves back to the animal. I follow, barely weighed down by the new hair that now covers me. I feel my arms, but they are not soft, as I expected the fur to be. Instead, my hand is pricked by countless sharp edges hidden in the hairs.

The female lowers her hand to me and I grab onto it, using it for leverage as I hoist myself onto the beast. She doesn't even wait for me to be seated comfortably before the animal is forced onwards.

It isn't long before the clouds come to darken the world below. I start to shiver with trepidation; the rain must be coming soon. I scan the now black landscape, hoping to find an enclave of some kind, perhaps a tree or a rock, but it is entirely bare.

My arms are compressed tightly against the woman's stomach, and her slow, rhythmic breathing remains unchanged. Perhaps this is because she doesn't know the rain is coming, or even what rain is. Perhaps she does know, but this has no effect on her. Perhaps...

My head begins to sting, and I shake my skull to clear all the images from it. My only concern now is how to make her stop.

If I fall from the animal again, she will undoubtedly leave me. I'm certain she was planning to do so already. If I shake and scream I will become a nuisance, and suffer the same consequence. If I choose just to shiver and vibrate with all of my strength...

Just as it forms in my head, the pain returns and I am forced to retreat back to reality. I surrender to the present and cling to the woman, hoping she will stop soon.

As the first drops fall around us, I realize she has no intention of doing so. I softly pat her leg, imitating the action she uses to make the beast start moving. I can't feel any reaction.

The air suddenly tastes wet and heavy. This will be a storm greater than most. I need her to stop now. I begin thumping her leg, but still there is no response.

The rain streams from the sky in long, sticky torrents, and I can feel it fall across my back. Out of fright and frustration, I strike the thigh in front of me with a force that would split the trunk of a full grown tree. For a moment, I fear I might have broken her.

In the midst of the chaos of rain all around us, the woman carefully stops the animal, lifts my hand from its resting place near her belly and places it calmly in my lap. She then slaps the beast's haunch and we continue moving.

Her hand comes away slick with rain, but the droplets that caught on to the hair of her arm simply fall back to the ground. With utter amazement, I realize that the rain is doing the same with me. Instead of sticking in one place and paralysing me, the rain just runs off my back and shoulders and into the sand. I lean and see that the rain is also running off of the fur of the animal as well.

Perhaps this woman is not as crazy as she seems.