Samantha P. O. V

Red lanterns floated to the sky, forming a pathway of fire under the gibbous moon. The residents of the Central Plane gathered under the Emberspine, the only tree that had managed to grow in this deserted land.

On this sacred night, each of them offered silent prayers... not just for the ones they've lost but for the lives they'd left behind.

I could see the pain in their eyes, feel the heaviness in their hearts. They were a community bound by grief, and I was just an outsider, watching with curiosity.

The hot air of the latern burned my skin, but somehow, I felt numb to...