Dust to Dust

Desert of Skulls

Islana - As you lay huddled against the storm you fell the power of the storm bashing against you. Sand, stones, gravel, all smacking forcefully against your body.

It is still hot, your eyes are closed and you hold to the little protection you have over your body. You are not just kneeling in the dust. You are prostrated in front of the the huge sandstorm, and to anyone looking on it would seem you are worshiping at an altar.

The howling of the wind is almost overwhelming, so much so that you can hardly hear yourself think. You lay there for what feels like an eternity, with your eyes closed, struggling to breath, as you feel the sand accumulate over your body, pressing you down into the ground.

But slowly the pounding of the sand and the howling of the wind become a drone in the distance. A point of light appears in the dark of your closed eyes. It spreads and grows until you are looking again into the desert in your mind eye.

Up ahead a small whirlwind is fast approaching, playing over the dunes, coming towards you. It stops I. Front of you, as it pulls sand from the floor into it as it slowly it seems to coalesce into the figure of a man.

He appears like a walking mummified corpse. Desiccated flesh, where it still remains, clings to his bones and dried tendons.
Where dried flesh has withered or been torn away from from the face, it left open cavities and permanent grins of stained teeth. His eyes are dark pits that nevertheless seem animated by intelligence and awareness. The dark brown shroud he hears is as tattered and half-rotted as his body.

Immediately a name comes to your mind.

Viher... One of the twin gods...