The first time it happened, Kareth thought he was dying. Which, in the wastes, meant very little. The sun had already taken his water, his strength, and most of his thoughts. It burned overhead like a merciless eye, waiting for him to stop crawling. Sand filled his mouth. His tongue had swollen so badly it felt like a second throat choking him from within. He remembered falling. He did not remember getting back up. But something inside him refused to stay still. It wasn’t courage. It wasn’t hope. Those things had dried up days ago. This was something uglier, something desperate. A clawing, blind instinct that pushed against the inside of his skull. Then the world moved. Not the wind. Not the dunes. Something else.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://athas.org/articles/unlocked-potential-training-the-untrained-mind