The cold wind moaned as it swept across the wasteland, kicking up fine ice crystals mixed with dust that whirled in the air, echoing like smoke on the barren land.
Gradually, the outline of an ancient building emerged from the sandstorm, with the broken tower gate resembling a giant's fractured ribs, slanting between the yellow sand and snow.
The originally gilded lintel was now adorned with ice crystals forming inverted clusters of thorns, glinting with eerie blue light in the twilight.
Twelve massive pillars stood solitary, with the dome they once supported long gone, leaving only fragments of carved giant stones on the ground, buried by sand and frozen by snow.
The meticulously carved reed motifs had been gnawed blurred by sand and wind, leaving only incomplete outlines.
Scattered on the ground lay fragments of blue and azure glazed tiles, with golden scarab beetle designs now frozen by snow.
