#apathean

The air is relatively calm despite being a desert, not a sandstorm or cyclone in sight. No surface animals bother you, all of them keeping themselves buried.

Then, the ground begins to rumble... by comparison to the sand beneath your feet, the suns rays might as well feel like a cool autumn day.

The rumbling quickly grows, the sand within several meters of you all looks like quicksand, until it turns to molten glass and coats your skin. You don't have time to process the blisters, peeling, and pain, as a massive maw erupts from the ground below, shutting out all daylight and silencing any screams you may let rip. The world turns to black as you're pulled down a throat with ridges and papillae rough enough to catch and pull on your skin.

After you've been here for months, you've grown cold and numb to the treatment of the animals. Whips are frequently used to get them in line when they get all snippy. The fact they're all sentient and highly intelligent is completely neglected, and nobody cares to learn their language.

You never whip them yourself unless their behavior is putting you in immediate danger, others are more relaxed about it though, doing it when the urge strikes them.

Today, you hear a bunch of whipping behind you, and the frantic movements and hushed noises from the animals. You go to quiet them and get them in line, but you stop when suddenly, all around you, is this rumbling that drowns out everything. The rumbling is followed by a sonic sound loud enough to rupture unprotected eardrums, and then a wave of heat hits everyone. The heat is intense, it feels like the air itself is burning your skin. Screams would fill the air, if only you could hear them. It only lasts two seconds, until the walls and ceiling of this cave passage turn to molten glass, the body of a massive worm pushing through easier than a hot knife through butter. Its gaping mouth takes with it your crew and their animals.

Your skin bubbles and burns with even the brief proximity to this massive beast, though with where it came in, you won't be getting medical attention, not soon, not ever... your one path to the exit having been blocked by its molten glass. You know you'll be alone, in pain, in the cold dark cave. The most you can do is scream and hope it comes back to take you with, since it seems to be attracted strictly to noise.