The Desert
There is something arcane about the desert.
Something about that sun and wind which are dwarfed by nothing. There is no feature out there to relieve you from the wind - groaning, collecting, penetrating. Desert wind fills your lungs and pores with the vigor of an ocean. There are no clouds in the sky for the sun to hide mercifully behind. And though the hills are small by some comparisons, our being is much smaller, so that you lose your way as soon as you leave high ground; the sand sits higher than it seemed to from the hill you just descended.