188 ---

¬ INGRID

There are no nearby stars, no life forms, no planets and no worlds. Earth remains in plain view, but at the same time invisible to everyone else. 

Despite the overlapping darkness, we can still see. And there is something oddly comforting about a blank dark sky gazing down on us… but I do miss the beauty of the stars… amongst other things. 

The first few months after Ember's disappearance was difficult. We were all in a state of confusion. Our emotions were all over the place. We could not keep our thoughts straight. On many occasions, we did not even understand what we were supposed to do. 

Ali was not exempt from this. 

But there were several times Lunar would appear and ease us, telling us it would all pass as it was a temporary side effect of consuming a higher being. And it didn't help that we had been through so much prior to this.