The merciless sun was setting,

Its heat lessening as it went.

It reminded me of a vicious dog

After its anger has been spent.

I was enjoying a new, cool breeze

When sounds came to my plugged ears:

Some of it laughing or screaming,

Some of it curses through tears.

As the last of the day’s light faded,

I felt as if I were shoved.

When I turned around to look,

My hair was pulled from above.

I looked up and saw nothing,

Nobody, no stars, and no clouds.

It was as if the whole desert

Had been covered by a black shroud.

The sounds were now all around me,

I was pinched, kicked and punched to no end.

I tried to fight back but I couldn’t…

There was nothing there to rend.

I tried running but just kept on falling,

Thought of hiding and didn’t know where.

Finally I curled into a small ball

Protecting myself from…the air.

I must have slept like that somehow,

For suddenly it was morning.

I finished the last of my food and water

And thought of the crazy man’s warning.

Had that been the Dark he had mentioned?

Were those the invisible beasts?

If both, only one danger remained,

One more obstacle left to defeat.

I walked the whole day without stopping,

hoping to find that night’s shelter.

All I found, however, was sand and heat

And bones laid out, helter-skelter.

I sank to my knees as the sun set,

Of courage and strength I’d run out.

I couldn’t face the Dark once again,

Of that, there wasn’t a doubt!

But with the sun down, I heard nothing;

Stars met my up-turned gaze

No sign of last night’s insanity…

Just a mist that was more of a haze.

I fell into blissful slumber

Where I dreamed of a world of mirrors:

My reflection was trying to speak to me,

But he’d have to make himself clearer.

All was riddles and nonsense, you see,

Nothing I could understand.

Frustration won the day in the dream

As the mirror was shattered by both of my hands.