She was crying again.  The woman that Riest followed, the woman that always seemed just out of reach and barely visible.  Pinpricks of light blanketed the sky, providing a glow the sliver of moon failed to generate.  Even still, the sand was dark, always so dark.  Despite the darkness, heat from the day burned at her bare feet and hands as she tried to struggle up the dune.  Falling back as the loose sand shifted and slid, sending her further from the woman she desperately needed to reach.  Every sob tore at Riest’s heart, physically paining her until it was near debilitating.<br/><br/>“Please.  Please, Mother!  Help me!  Guide me!”  Calling out to her goddess, the shroud wrapped priestess continued to struggle, sinking deeper and deeper into the dune.  Sand found its way under the wrappings, grating against her skin until she was sure it would be rubbed raw.  But still Riest struggled.  The cries grew distant, the ever elusive woman moving deeper into the Waste.  Always moving away from Riest.  She just needed to find the woman. Needed to quiet her tears, then all would be better.<br/><br/>Panic began to replace despair as the pressure built on her legs and then her hips.  She was sinking faster and faster, no matter how she struggled.  “No! No!  Don’t leave me!”  Up her stomach and chest, tightening like a vise.  “No!”  Granules spilled into her open mouth as she screamed, no longer able to move, to struggle.  Drowning in a sea of sand, eyes ever skyward, looking for some sign of her goddess’ favor.<br/><br/>Something brushed against her leg, something that shouldn’t be there.  Then it happened again, harder, sharper.  Breaking Riest free from the tormenting dream with a start.  Heart pounding, the young priestess jerked away from the offending boot that had nudged at her leg, trying to remember where she was and why.<br/><br/>“We leave now.  If you come, you come now.”  The Wastelander’s accent was thick, telling just how far he was from his normal hunting ground.  Looking up in time to see him turn away, Riest simply nodded, not yet trusting her voice. The dreams were getting stronger the more time she spent out of the Wastes.  Taking in several deep breaths of cool air, the woman looked through the pre-dawn gloom.  She’d slept outside, unable to bear the thought of being confined in a stifling building.  Merchants were starting to set up their wares under flickering torches, caravan masters calling for their people.  There would be several hours before the heat of the day chased everyone back inside.<br/><br/>Rising stiffly Riest followed the retreating Wastelander, listening to the rise and fall of the various tongues such a place attracted. She was lucky, this tribe did not know what she was or didn’t care.  Either way they were happy to take her gold as well as have a healer along for their next journey.  From what little she’d gathered they were heading deep into the Wastes, seeking treasures from the time before.  Exactly where didn’t matter to her, she just needed to get deeper than she had been.  Needed to find what called to her.<br/><br/>Cramped muscles protested as she rose, the pack she carried made for poor bedding.  Pulling her waterskin, she took a small sip, just enough to rinse the taste of grit from her mouth.  The dreams were too real, tasting the sun blasted sand that threatened to choke her in her sleep.  The Wastelanders were finishing their final preparations, securing the last of the supplies.  “I’m coming.”  Calling out so she wouldn’t be left behind, Riest hurried as best she could through the growing crowd.  The eastern gate was difficult to miss and was where she found the caravan master shouting his crew into movement.  Unseen through the high walls, the sky began to lighten to the east.<br/><br/>The Wastes were a varied place, hard packed earth and broken lands to mountainous dunes of loose sand further from the center.  As the world changed with the aftereffect of the magical destruction so too did the land.  What was once fertile farmland wasted away, lakes and even small seas drying in an instant.  That was where she found herself, in a city on the edge of the Dune Sea.  Once it was a thriving inland sea, now it was nothing more than wave upon wave of shifting sands.  A proper Wastelander could guide a caravan through it in two weeks, knowing the few places where shade and water could be found.  Others simply never made it to the far side.  Either way was no matter to Riest, she simply needed to get deep enough to find her way once more.  Hopefully this time she would not be forced to turn back before she found what pulled at her soul.<br/>