"I had wandered through the desert dazed for as long as I could remember. From slipface to slipface I walked, the harsh desert sun burning my skin, my legs heavy with exhaustion. My mouth was dry and my lips bled from where they had cracked. I found my mind wandered, venturing off on its own adventure of delirium. My walking became instinctive, constant and in moments of brief lucidity I felt the presence of death surround me. I embraced it and longed for the desert to claim me in its warm embrace. Eventually, I succumbed and fell to the ground, the granular sand stinging my skin. I felt sure I was to die.
And then a miracle happened. I felt water pass my lips, acrid and dirty but wonderous. A hand cradled my head. As I opened my eyes, a hazy sillouhetted figure kneeled over me. I heard voices. "What can this mean? An albino in the desert...again?". "We will take her to Kyöpelinvuori.". I felt arms around my body lifting me to the back of what I would later know as a sand skimmer. I passed into unconciousness.
After several weeks I broke the fever which had limited me to brief moments of awareness. There was a pungent odour in the air. The walls were made of stone and the room was illuminated by floating balls of orange light. An open window looked out upon nothing but rock and I realised that we were beneath ground. As I sat up in bed, I heard a commotion at my door and shortly two men entered the room.
"You're awake. We thought the desert might take you as its prize after all."
"Who are you? Where is this place?" I asked, touching my head as the pain arched across my skull.
"They call me the Preceptor. A grand title, isn't it? My given name is Cadiz. And this place is known as the Santwarju, or the Sanctuary."
Extract from the Adherent's Apologue
Book Four of the Jadeist
Scriptures.
