Karyn felt like she was on fire, being burnt alive. It was agonizing, but it didn't quite block out another sensation...she was falling. She tried to scream, but she wasn't sure if anything was happening. Burning and falling were everything to her. Looking back later, she wondered if that was what the space shuttle felt coming back from orbit.
But at that moment, there was only burning and falling...for time she could never accurately count later. It ended with a massive slamming impact and then...she wasn't in pain any more. She didn't feel burnt or broken, although her whole body was vibrating like a guitar string. She couldn't see anything, either, until she worked out how to open her eyes a few seconds later. She was looking up towards the roof of some kind of cave, far above her. She could brown-veined red stone with occasional hot pink flecks above her just as she could feel it below her. (Especially on her poor, crushed tail.)
She smelled a faint whiff of brimstone on the air and a big bulky creature strode into her view. He looked like gray gorilla with large bat wings, the winding horns of a ram and the genitals of a healthy adult male horse. Standing astride her, he opened his mouth and spoke a series of harsh syllables that Karyn immediately understood, "You are back..."
