Introduction: I landed on the ground with a sickening crack. A shearing pain from my left forearm screamed out to me as I lay splayed out on the ground face-down. Taking a deep breath, I ignored the pain and used my other arm to heft myself into a sitting position. Wiping the dust from my eyes, I squinted and took in as much of the scenery as I could. Beneath me, around me, and even in the distance, sand touched everything. The picture that the rolling dunes and far off mountains depicted was something I had only seen in textbooks on the Gladiator.Trying to memorize the picturesque scene before me, I didn鈥檛 sense someone was falling above me until I was forcibly pressed against the sand by said someone landing on me....