In the shadows between the Eastern winds and Northern lights she sheds the last of her skin. She shakes off the last remnants of her caul.  The terracotta slices dissolves into soft grey ash. The familiarity seeps into her brain, the sulcus of emotion and logic slowly separating from the inert gases she inhales. Her senses adjusting to the lack of nitrogen, for no matter how many animals they sacrificed on this land it would never fully enrich the air quality. There was too much oxygen; it burned her lungs with each breath. Had they not shown the humans how to be destructive? What had altered their plan and attitude? What had slowed the human race in its quest for annihilation of all living species of earth?

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