Salva petals were what surrounded the small outbuildings, which only remotely resembled houses, in a matter of seconds. Whitish, they fell from the sky, reminiscent of early snow, laying a thin layer on the damp, frozen ground. The girl exhaled raggedly, examining the small puff of vapor that showed from her mouth. It was getting colder. The inhabitants crowded here and there, frozen in anticipation, staring up at the sky, seemingly unable to see anything else in front of them. One of the petals, slightly torn by the prickly wind, landed on the girl's palm, immediately scattering ash and, seeping through her fingers, disappeared into the clods of earth. The immense horror that froze in her veins made her heart clench so tightly that a single breath of fresh air would have felt like an indulgence from above. If someone had chosen to tell it centuries later as the unfortunate legend of the place, they would have repeatedly mentioned that the petals still had no way of ending, dotting everything around them and turning their backwater town into a soft featherbed.

- It couldn't be.

- It can't be.

The girl turned at the slightly trembling voice of the boy, whose fingers were blacker than night, and from each touch of a petal, as if charred by something, slowly crumbled into dust. Her pupils narrowed and her heart galloped. Kellian covered her ears with her trembling palms and fell to her knees, unable to watch her beloved place disappear before her eyes. Such beautiful flowers, which the locals were increasingly proud of day after day, had turned into mangled and unrecognizable creatures, their faces contorted in grimaces of horror and pain.

- I don't want to see that. I don't want to.

A shroud of tears flooded my eyes. The noise in her ears made it impossible to hear anything that was happening around her. For a moment, Kellian could assure anyone that she felt the air leaving her lungs, causing her to gasp for air, occasionally breaking into a hoarse cough. The delicate petals swirled inexorably around her, more like a whirlwind whose one of her few desires was to turn her to dust. The gusts of wind were only getting stronger, and the frost that burned her skin could easily leave a few small scratches on her body. 

She raised her head and blinked, trying to see anything further than her own nose. It was more like chaos: salva petals falling silently to the damp ground, blackness engulfing the small town, ash blown away by the wind, and people screaming in her ears. Kellian sobbed. Salty tears rolled down her cheeks in a flash, falling to the ground frozen by the cold winds. Pain filled every cell in her body and she wanted to scream. She clutched her chest near her heart, silently opening her mouth, unable to squeeze out a single sound: she was desperately short of air.

- Wake up.

The booming voice made the girl shudder and plop down on the ground, feeling her body convulse.

- Wake up, Kellian.

The girl took a convulsive breath. Her gaze unfocused finally. Kellian blinked, trying to make out the out-of-nowhere figure in front of her that was calling her so insistently, holding out her palm. She could have sworn that at that moment she could feel the slight warmth emanating from the stranger's long, thin fingers. The figure was almost impossible to make out, but somehow Kellian knew it was a girl.

- It won't be long before you're completely earthbound, little girl.

Kellian squinted, not immediately realizing the meaning of the stranger's words. When she looked down, she was horrified to see the thin threads of her skin and flesh slowly intertwining with the dirt and earth, becoming one. A petal, light as a feather, fell on her cheek, burning her.

- I warned you, didn't I?

A laugh, more like a shriek from hell, cut through the overwhelming silence. Kellian gasped, shrieking, but not a soul could hear her anymore. The sound sank into the vacuum of silence that hung over her like a huge glass dome. At once the world shuddered with heartbreaking laughter, and in the same instant it was extinguished, leaving behind only a thick void. There was no pain, no tears, no soul-destroying bitterness. There was nothing else.