Strange Cravings

[Moonward]

A keening wail... nnA rush of scintillating light and vast shadowy forms hurtling through the void...nnThe very stars somehow cried out in unison, yet there was no sound save that which welled up from within her. The firmament roiled and writhed, yet remained motionless. The only movement was grounded deep inside her core.nnSuddenly Dyana found herself streaking toward the edge of waking reality into stark awareness as if over a precipice--spinning over the topmost pinnacle of a vast mountain whose foundation was rooted in the world's very soul. And yet she was nowhere in the world. Nay, this lonely expanse was inexplicably more vast. Larger than the world itself? nnIndeed, yes. Somehow the rushing void was both between and behind her familiar realm. The world she had known was truly only the smallest mote buffeted on the winds of creation. The fundament over which the silent gale howled was older than any single world, and alien beyond imagining. She was alone. Totally alone.nnHe could not bear it. He bolted upright and leapt from the bedroll that had been rumpled and tangled by his unconscious thrashing. Staggering to the cold mountain stream nearby, he plunged his great shaggy head into the rush of water to loosen the grip of the nightmare that plagued him. Cold as the crystalline waters were, yet their familiarity was comforting. It was real, not like the icy blackness of the void in his tortured dream. Once more, as had come to pass every morn of the last fortnight, Moonward the Tauren forced the strange and fevered imaginings out of his mind. nnSitting now on the bank of the stream, he gasped and drew in the crisp morning air with great heavings of his barrel-like chest. What was wrong with him? He was no child to be frightened of phantoms! There was work to be done. Still flushed, he stretched out upon the grass and focused on his morning meditations.nnAh, he felt better now. Good enough to consider what would break his fast. Should it be some spiced kodo jerky, or perhaps some crispy lizard tails? Strangely, neither seemed all that appetizing. He thought it quite odd that of late he had begun to hanker for... spider legs?nn------------------------------------------------------------------nn((Moonward used to be a night elf named Dyana on Kargath))