The Barren Court

An eerie, mercurial map fragment, depicting a series of strange and unfamiliar landscapes. Its contents seem to shimmer and dance before your very eyes, like the Gauromydas fly on the desert winds, as fast as you can decipher them. The primordial fabric it is etched upon appears weightless, so much so that on a still day it hangs in suspended motion when released from gentle fingertips, and you hardly recognise the familiar sensation of touch as you grasp it. It occurs to you that this map could be a representation of the Sand as viewed from another plane of existence, or perhaps tracking the trajectory of the dunes themselves across time. The map is labelled in an ancient script you do not understand, and yet recognise from a faded memory.

If this map is meant to be used as a navigational tool, it is impossible to say for sure where it leads. Perhaps once day the intended message of its long-forgotten cartographer will become clear.