WEBVTT

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The world had been reduced to a single

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color. an endless. blazing gold.

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Kale adjusted the coarse linen wrap around his

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face.

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wincing as the scorching summer heat radiated through

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his boots.

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Around him. the vast desert dunes stretched toward

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a blurred. blistering horizon.

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an ocean of shifting earth frozen in perpetual

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motion.

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Every ridge and crest featured a hyper -detailed

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sand texture.

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carved with meticulous precision by the howling winds

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of the night before.

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But now. in the unforgiving grip of noon.

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the wind was entirely dead.

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Above. the harsh midday sun beat down with

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a physical weight.

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turning the sky into a pale. washed -out

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dome of white -hot fire.

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Kale paused at the summit of a towering

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ridge.

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his canteen dry and his throat feeling like

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sandpaper.

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In the distance. the intense heat haze shimmered

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violently above the distant dunes.

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warping the landscape into a shimmering. surreal mirage

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where the earth and sky seemed to bleed

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together.

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It was a desolate. unforgiving expanse that offered

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no mercy to the lost.

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Yet as he scanned the shimmering horizon. his

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eyes caught a faint glint.

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not of water. but of dark stone breaking

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the monochrome sea of sand.

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It was the ancient marker he had been

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searching for.

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Drawing a ragged breath of the superheated air.

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Kale gripped his staff.

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smiled beneath his veil. and stepped down the

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steep slope.

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plunging once more into the golden silence.