It’s cold...

  For more than a millennium, it was the first time he had ever paid attention to the weather. On this ordinary day—just like yesterday, and no doubt the same as tomorrow—something had disturbed the desert stretching endlessly into the distance.

  Not a violent storm, a sudden tempest, or even a light rain, but simply… a breeze. A warm breeze that wrapped around his body in a gentle embrace he had never experienced before.

  Strange...

  Extending his senses in an attempt to understand what had changed, he felt faint shivers running along his spine. The sensation was invigorating, allowing his limbs—however slightly—to move, bringing an end to years of immobility.

  If he could have, a smile would most certainly have appeared on his gray, expressionless face. It wasn’t every day that he found something to do in this place. This breeze was therefore a welcome presence, both as his main source of entertainment and, to a lesser extent, his new confidant.

  At least for the next few decades, before he eventually grew bored of it.

  As always...

  This breeze certainly wasn’t the first noteworthy thing he had seen. The desert was unbearably flat, but in some places it could be slightly less monotonous.

  Not far from him were a few small rocks that kept him company. There were three of them, each with a strangely triangular shape pointing toward him. Well, two of them did, at least. The third was oriented toward the desert, as if it found that far more interesting than him.

  At first, when he had noticed those small stones, the detail had made him uneasy—almost irritated. But with time he came to understand what the poor stone might be feeling. As far back as he could remember, he too had been inert, unable to move, as though some duty had been inscribed within his body. A duty so ancient that even his mind had forgotten it, leaving behind only the strange sensation of being trapped here, legs anchored to the ground and arms hanging in the empty air. Unable to understand why, he had simply resigned himself to the idea that questions that lasted millennia had no answers.

  A bitter sense of captivity filled his mind as he looked at the three distant hills. They too sometimes helped him pass the time when they decided to move.

  However, such an event was rare.

  As he recalled the last time one of the three hills had moved, the breeze wrapped around him again, pulling him out of his thoughts.

  Right… I should enjoy it while I can.

  This current of air was truly exceptional. None of his other pastimes had ever made him feel like this. The tingling that spread across his face and the air that seemed to slip into his ears before escaping again left him in a strange, almost dazed state.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  This breeze was now, without a doubt, the best thing that had ever happened to him. It felt as if it knew exactly where to spread in order to bring him pleasure, as though it had known him for a very, very long time.

  He felt as though nothing would ever change, ignoring the true nature of his emotions. They would probably fade away one day.

  His carelessness was punished, and that day turned out to be now.

  Suddenly, the breeze vanished, leaving him alone.

  However, he barely had time to realize it before it was replaced by something far softer, far more comforting.

  A gentle warmth drove away the cold as, before him, the pale star slowly rose over the distant horizon.

  It had been his very first source of interest. It was unavoidable—and strangely captivating.

  Yet it had also been the first thing he had grown tired of.

  His patience had improved since then, and he felt slightly guilty toward it. Perhaps if they had met today…

  He often wondered about that. But right now, he felt that its rays—those same rays that once danced around him without ever touching him—had finally decided to cover him, flooding him with their warmth.

  The pale star seemed to want to reconnect, to set the past aside.

  This reconciliation pleased him, but the gentle breeze did not agree.

  Redoubling its efforts, it invaded his body once again. In its futile assault, it used its old tricks to win him back, struggling to create even the faintest shiver.

  He paid it no attention, completely absorbed by his old companion.

  Nothing could distract him.

  At least, that’s what he thought—until tendrils of air slipped into his ears with a melodious whistle.

  That sound challenged the desert’s presumed silence. At the same moment, his body trembled.

  He didn’t know whether it was from the cold or from something far more dreadful. He was afraid. Normally he welcomed the various sensations he experienced with pleasure, but today he felt nothing but apprehension.

  Why was he feeling so many things? What had happened to the dull monotony that once dictated his days?

  Perhaps he wasn’t ready for anything else. Perhaps he had been too proud, failing to appreciate the desert before him for what it truly was.

  This desert…

  The wind still whispered a graceful note in his ears when, suddenly, almost by reflex, he turned his gaze toward the source of the sound.

  With that simple instinctive movement, his world became twice as large. His eyelids fluttered rapidly, meeting each other again and again, as if those thousands of years of separation had created an insatiable desire for reunion. They betrayed his rising panic as new horizons replaced the old ones.

  That single glance from right to left made him realize just how wrong he had been about the world—how small he truly was.

  Yet his frenzied eyes, darting back and forth, carried a hint of excitement. Inside, he wanted to rejoice.

  Yes, he had been wrong.

  But perhaps that was for the best.

  Perhaps…

  The crackling of the wind could still be heard, guiding the frantic movements of his eyes—until it was suddenly drowned out by a louder sound.

  “—Aghhh… Ah…”

  The strange sound seemed… seemed to come from him.

  A muffled groan captured all his attention. His surroundings no longer mattered. Nothing could pull him away from the vivid memory of that sound.

  He almost forgot the warm, wet sensation he now felt near the place the sound had come from, confirming his suspicion.

  Once again, a frightening noise escaped him.

  He was certain now.

  It was him. He had made that sound.

  His hands trembled as he kept trying to speak. They swung back and forth, from side to side. Those chaotic movements, which resembled alarming spasms, were actually answering him.

  His arms rose toward his face, brushing against his eyelids, then his cheeks, before covering his mouth.

  At that same moment, his legs gave out, nearly sending him to the ground. Fortunately, he was already alert to the slightest change. Everything that was happening to him was stimulating his consciousness in ways it never had before, and suddenly, barely managing to stay upright, he whispered:

  “Where am I?”

  His eyes grew calm.

  His hands froze.

  And everything went black.