Raziel stumbled over the sand, swinging his head back and forth. His vision was blurred, his mind foggy. After he had left the forest, he remembered driving rain and a massive, rumbling storm. He remembered running for cover somewhere, but finding nothing... and then darkness.

To his left, Raziel observed just that: an unending plain of deep blue darkness that seemed to stretch on forever. Below him, he felt sand, but all he saw was pure, white land. Sand coated his body, leaving him looking and feeling ragged. His confusion increased as he stepped to his left, toward this strange deep blue, and found water. Though as his vision slowly cleared, he realized what he was looking at.

"The sea," he whispered, awed. Seeing clearly his sand-covered coat, he plunged into the water, hoping to rid himself of the nuisance. The saltiness of the ocean was unlike anything he had ever felt in water, and he found it irritating, but still wondrous. As the sand washed away from him, his whole being began to sting as the unrelenting salt entered the scratches and cuts that ran all over his body. His muscles began to ache, and he noticed many bruises developing over his skin.

I probably got off easy, he thought. Sighing, he stood in the surf and let the tide wash over him again and again.