How long had it been since she had been awake?

Too long. A voice answered her. She was unsure if it was her own voice or one of those she was formerly bound to. Still, beneath the beating sun of the desert, all she saw was darkness. Time was passing, she could feel it. It was always the first thing she could feel when she was revived. The sand phoenix they called her. Each time she rose, she clambered from the piles of sediment rather than the ashes. It was no different this time around. After she began to feel the passing of time, she felt how the heavy sands pressed on her bodice. The way they scraped against newly formed flesh as she rose from the depths of the sandy seas. Then she felt the metal as it pulled itself together along her frame until she was bound again. The djinn breathed and sputtered the sand from her lungs as she crawled from the dunes. Her body erupted from the sands like someone crawling from a grave. It is a grave. The voice responded to her thoughts again. It was true, this was her grave. The seas of sand created her each time she perished.

Apollune felt the sand rush from her throat and lungs. It spilled from her mouth until that too became flesh. It poured from her like water until her flesh was whole again. The shimmer of ivory beneath the sun's hot rays appeared on the horizon. She turned her gaze to the city of the Sun. Her golden voids squinted to shield themselves from the assault of light. Apollune glanced back over her bodice once after she spotted the grand structure. She woke each time, facing the city. Some say that her immortality might be a curse, but she didn't think of it that way. It had a familiar pattern. It was no different than the cyclical nature of life and death. It was life and death. Her limbs moved awkwardly at first. The fresh muscles began to ache as they snapped and pulled her bodice forward. The only thing she was sure of was the fact that the deserts still weren't safe. That had never changed, no matter how many centuries had passed since she last took form.

The gray dappled djinn bound in gold moved swiftly. As swiftly as she could without gaining too much fatigue. At a moment, she began to feel the heat of the sun less, and the heat of another's eyes more. Apollune paused her movements and looked around. The feeling gnawed on her nape and caused her to twitch the skin of her withers. "You can come out, I know you're there." She called out. That voice she was hearing definitely was not hers. That could be a problem for a different day.