Hours have passed since we first landed and started walking through this blizzard with no sign of life in sight on the horizon—yet, no matter how much time goes by, it will always break my heart to see these lands once filled with smiling faces and lively Vlexidian’s empty, without the hope of finding another held in my heart.

Nero’s been cheerful. I don’t think the cold affects him as much as it would a human. Every now and then he’ll shiver ever so slightly, but that’s it. “This is so exciting, there are so many new sights to see!” he cheers, jittery on his feet.

I groan. Although I can’t blame him for enjoying what ultimately killed my kin—since he is oblivious to it all—I can’t deny it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. “It’s not that great.” I huff. My skin itches, and my vision is blurred at its edges from the snow that keeps on getting on my face. “There isn’t anyone to talk to. We’re alone here.”

Nero pauses. He turns to face me with a curious tilt of his head. “We are?” he says. “But I sense other life forms.”

I raise a brow. “That’s…quite unlikely… The planet has begun to freeze all over. In a year, none of this will be left. Everyone…” The image of the ships carrying my people being struck down by asteroids come to mind. To think father and I would have died along with them if I’d not been late that day. “Everyone’s been evacuated,” I tell Nero. “They fled. They’re gone.”

“Oh.” Nero squints and shuffles closer to me. “Is that a sad thing?” he asks.

Huh?

I frown. “Why would it be?”

“Because you are making a sad face, Aster. Did something happen?”

“No,” I blurt, a little too quickly for my taste, as I step forth and continue fighting against the storm. “Nothing happened. Let’s just go. I’m resistant to the cold, but the temperature just keeps on dropping along with the sun. If we linger, I can’t promise you it won’t end in my demise and your solitude.”

He tugs on my sleeve. “W-wait.”

I take a peek at him from over my shoulder. “Did you not hear what I just—”

“Where are we going?”

His question catches me off guard.

I shake away his touch.

With my back turned towards him, I say, “The palace. It’s likely it holds a spare ship or two we could use to get out of here.” I don’t bother checking in on him, for I can already guess what kind of disappointed expression he’s making, and I’ve no need to see such sights.

It would only make me more attached than I already am, and that’s dangerous.