The Golem
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Zahara continues to walk across the desolate expanse sprawled around her. The winds no longer buffet sand into her face. The deep groans and shrill howls that the wind usually carries to her ears is ominously silent. As though the desert could read her mind, the air instantly turns oppressive and the brilliant blue sky takes on a threatening dullness. The sun dims and the clouds turn dark, and forked lightning darts in and out of them.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, this streaming chaos turns into a sandstorm, a full-blown assault that threatens everything in its path. She pulls up her shirt over her head and tries to breathe, hoping the sweat and the stitches will keep the sand out.
The unnatural sound of shifting rocks reaches her ears. Chills run down her spine. The grinding rocks seem to edge closer towards her. She hears a low-pitched growl that makes her hair stand on end. All her senses scream ‘Run!’, but she decides to take a fleeting look.
A shadow looms in front of her, seemingly shifting in shape and growing by the minute. A colossal figure of mud and stone towers over her, with fiery flames for eyes that shine with malice and contempt, but what terrifies her the most is an engraving on what seems to be its forehead, which is glowing as though it were branded with iron.
Glossary:
Golem — an animated being created from inanimate matter by a powerful wizard or demon.
