In the midst of twilight, golden light shining down from a thousand stars big as grapefruits, gilding the leaves on millions of trees for miles. Memories came flooding back to her of a time before the war, before the darkness knew her name. Before she ever looked down into its depths and saw her own reflection. Many of those memories had been lost, she thought, but this one came raging back in a flash like finding a long lost photograph buried in the dust and cobwebs of her mind. That night, so many years ago was much like this, golden and alive with magic, but not nearly as quiet. Music echoed from every corner of the square, all the townspeople gathered there dancing, laughing and loving under the light of a half full, yellow harvest moon. It was more peaceful then, or so she thought. She was young and naive and unaware of the schemes of those with an insatiable appetite for power. It was the calm before the storm that most mistook for a peace and security that would last for years to come. The darkness had come for their entire village and it would show no mercy and take no prisoners. It would separate the weak from the strong and the corrupt from the righteous, but in the end, it didn’t care which was left standing. She wished she would have known that back then. Now here she stands, alone after all the destruction. After everyone has gone. It feels like standing alone at the edge of a dying universe again. And although lonely, it’s so much better than the other world. The one filled to the brim with souls she was always so desperate would notice her existence just for a brief moment. At least here she never had to pretend she was anything more than she was, a ghost of a forgotten land. One of the very last inhabitants of a dying star.