The harsh desert sun rises over a city that hasn't felt its warmth in over a thousand years, the inhabitants within begin to stir as a gentle wind welcomes them to the surface once more. There is nothing else for hundreds of miles and their awakening will go as unnoticed as it did the last time and the time before that and the time before that.
Joints creak gradually regain their flexibility as the city steps outside to greet neighbours they haven't seen since a sandstorm forced them all inside and set off the curse that kept them alive and imprisoned. Any grudges they once held against each other, any bad blood between family has long since faded as much as the city's name in the annals of history.
Even their names had been forgotten and instead all they spoke of was how much they had missed the sun's warmth and the sweet taste of air in their lungs. Their voices were coarser than limestone, lungs ragged and worn from eons of filling up with sand and emptying it out as soon as the sun hit their brittle skin.
Tonight or tomorrow another storm will come and the city will be buried once more.
The desert will keep them hidden for another thousand or more years bring them back to the surface.
For now they dance and hold familiar faces close, praying the sun will never set and knowing it always will.
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