Submission (#8842) Approved

When entering Ahza from the south, one would think it an eternal desert. Sand dunes stretch from horizon to horizon, punctuated occasionally by strange rock formations and small pockets of lush oasis. In the far distance, the great hazy form of a massive banyan tree stands, its branches endless and strong, and reaching with yearning towards the sky. Its shade falls upon the land in parts, like the shadow of an enormous sundial, and the areas that escape it are furled in ever-present heat. For much of the day it can be quiet, save for the howling of the scalding bone-dry wind; day by day, it whittles away at the scatterings of sun-bleached skeletons hidden across and beneath the land. If one lowers an ear to the ground and listens carefully, the scratches of small animals and other peculiar living beings can be heard as they scuttle to and fro within an invisible sandy world. Ahza’s desert region is a wide expanse that can be treacherous to cross, but it is nevertheless a place full of a strange beauty that demands wonder. The sparse oases decorate the land like shining jewels upon a tapestry, framed by great varieties of verdant vegetation and flora. They are pockets of safety, offering a small reprieve from the long journeys ahead. As the long day edges on, the sun arcs through the sky, playing with the shadows upon the dirt and weaving them with wider and wider strokes until the ground disappears into the sky. And around twilight, the scorching day heat is replaced by the cool chill of the evening breeze; the sky is cast from orange, to red, to blue, to an endless dark. The shadows above are speckled with the light and laughter of stars, and the world waits until the breath of morning to be reborn anew.