Nothing Is Here

The Prompt

Write a story that ends in a desert setting with this last sentence:

Engulfed in the desert's parched silence, I was nothing but another grain of sand in the wind.

The story below contains further information on the nullinarc.

Nothing Is Here

I don't know how it happened, this was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime.

The holiday village was completely cut off so there was no internet access and there was just a single landline available in the site office, but we were assured that we could make calls out during the day.

I had my own small apartment cottage in the holiday village that was about a hundred miles into the Sahara, and there were meant to be some impressive "lost" temples, which we were scheduled to visit.

We were told not to leave our quarters after dark as nullinarcs (sand golems) were common in the area, on the lookout to reap human souls. That was a local legend so I went to sleep but there was a storm coming and the wind was really getting up.

I tried to sleep but it was difficult, the sand was hitting the door and windows, like bullets. There was no way anyone could go out in that.

The night was just pure noise but I began to drift and in the morning I woke and decided to get something to eat at the cafe.

I had difficulty getting the door open and when I opened it the village was gone, my place was all that was left and all there was, was sand as far as the eye could see.

I was in shock, this wasn't meant to happen, I did not sign up for this. If I stayed any longer my place might be destroyed with me in it.

I had a mobile phone, a flask of water, which was still full, and a few biscuits. The phone was no use at the moment, but if I travelled south there may be somewhere I could get a signal.

Then I looked and saw some tracks, I wondered what they were, they were not human or any animal that I was aware of. I think I started to wonder if the nullinarcs were a truth.

They stole your soul by ossifying your body which slowly changed from flesh to bone and eventually to sand to become one with the desert. When a nullinarc took you, you became a nullinarc.

I was stood in an area of nothing but sand although there were clouds of sand which seemed to contain something solid and they were coming towards me.

These were nullinarcs. I tried to run but sand is not the best for running and the nullinarc clouds were coming closer. I started to get scared. I couldn't call for help, and I couldn't run.

I thought if I could get back to my accommodation I might stand a chance but they were between me and any possible safety. I turned to try a run south but more of them had appeared.

They came closer and then I was touched.

The touch of the nullinarc dried my skin to parchment and literally started turning me to sand. I felt awful.

Its touch started making savage inroads into my body. My breathing became laboured. My lungs and heart felt filled with needles and the rest of my body began turning to sand.

My mind was changing.

I was becoming one with the desert.

I needed to find a human on which to feed. I needed to taste a soul.

I was now a nullinarc.

I stood alone on the sand.

The desert was silent but I was now part of it. The desert was huge and I was so small.

Engulfed in the desert's parched silence, I was nothing but another grain of sand in the wind.