The cool rubble sits delicately in my curled fingers. I watch my blurring thumb rub over the rough inscription painted on its surface.

Ashten steps forward from the back of my thoughts.

“Why?” He remains silent. I close my eyes. “I don’t understand.”

He hovers over me, and I can feel his starry eyes drilling into my head, but he remains silent.

Smoky wind whips between us, and a sick sense churns in my stomach sending pain throughout my body.

“This-” I gesture to the destruction. Strong sky-scraping towers now cower on the dirty earth. The sounds of the city are silenced in a lingering smog. The bright lights that illuminated my walk home are crushed, leaving the glass of their bulbs spread out like litter, over the torn up streets. “-is unforgivable.”

The gun’s cold tip chills the nerves on the back of my neck.

“This is war and you have let them win today. You are going to let the sun set with the anger building in your heart, and you are going to give me that pleasure.” He pushes the gun harder against my spine. “I will have the pleasure of breaking you.”

I break my gaze on the smog and step forward into the destruction. “It’s too late.”