The cave

After an eternity I came to a hillside where, at last, I was able to seek refuge from the searing heat through a small opening in the rockside. I sank into the hole drinking in the cool, dark air feverishly. I kept going deeper until I was enshrouded and completely lost in the Cimmerian shade. Panting in the cool darkness, I finally had a chance to draw breath and recover.

Then, impossible to locate in the caliginous depth, a gravelly voice scratched the silence. A fear gripped me: at first I thought some beast may have caught my scent and was roused by my sweaty presence. My breath quickened and, after an interminable pause, I heard the voice again. I was seized by a terror as the voice spoke; one I had not heard since a time now forgotten; since the desert heat ravished the civilised world. It came again: 'Never weaken, my boy, never weaken.'