Cold. It was cold. And not in the way which the desert became cold at nights and allowed for easy hunting across the still warm sands. It was still quite chilly during daylight hours, when the sun should be scorching the skies and pressing heat into dark back. As it were, the sun had not come. At least, it could not, though it tried. The blue sky could not be seen. A sheen of cloud covered it completely, bring darkness to the day.

Was another week of darkness and blood moon to come? Was it the same clouds she had encountered before? So strange, that the lands had once been so fiercely on fire, they could not walk them and now, even in midday, the phoenix walked with a chill in her bones.