Night fell quickly on the sea, the waters toying with the little vessel like a falling leaf against the wind. Salt spray stung the sculptor’s eyes while thunder growled overhead as jagged forks of lightning ate the clouds. The boat’s battered timbers creaked beneath each surge…

The dusty plain gradually gave way to softer soils. What had been a dead, stale flatness became a salty tang that tangled hair and provoked nostrils. A cool breeze came in erratic gusts, gathering force at once before slipping into sudden silence, echoing the sculptor’s own heartbeat…

Dawn broke over a landscape devoid of warmth or welcome. The sculptor and companion emerged from those last fringes of foreboding forest and stood on the edge of a barren plain…

The storm had just passed, having shattered the world into a million confused pieces. It took with it the blue sky, coloring the heavens a burgundy red and then a pitch black…