“It’s too late for you to save it. To save them.”

“I know.”

The two of us stared over the edge onto the blazing horizon. The sky was dyed a brilliant gradient of orange and red, fading into the black of night. It looked almost like a sunset. The boundless sea of flames was beautiful, when one took their mind off of what it was burning. We stood there, for a little bit, motionless and silent. The distorted sounds of fluttering flames as loud as a jet engine filled the absence between us.

“I have to try, don’t I? Even if you don’t have any ties, it’s safe to say I owe it to the humans. For all I did to them…”

They sighed, resignedly.

“Can’t we just accept that this world was a whole lot of fun while it lasted? I know you feel guilty, but in the end, the humans brought this about on their own. You were only a catalyst. I can’t let you sacrifice yourself for creatures so selfish when I know you’re not truly at fault. Is there no way I could convince you to reconsider?”

I sat down on the dry, cracked earth below my feet and looked down.

“Why do you even want to stop me in the first place? If you don’t care about this place, why does it concern you?”

A howling wind suddenly picked up, nearly drowning out the distance flames. They looked away, deep in thought. They didn’t speak until the winds moved past.

“You’re talented, Cee. Really talented. You know how useful you could be elsewhere. And you also know the only way you could even come close to putting a stop to all of this would…”

They trailed off, a dark grimace appearing on their face. “Would what?” I prodded.

“It would… prevent you from helping anyone else in the future. Don’t play dumb, Cee, we both know what I meant. Do you honestly think the humans are worth that much?”

I stood back up, dusted myself off, and stared into the blazing horizon. “It’s worth it just for the few that were different. They could’ve changed their entire galaxy, if they weren’t silenced by the rest.”

I turned and looked them in the eyes.

“It’s worth it for them, yeah. I don’t know if they’re still alive after all of this, but… I want to believe in the will of the human race, even if only this once. Okay?”

They stared back into my eyes with an expression of sombre confliction.

“Okay… Okay, Cee.”

The silence between us resurfaced again for a while. They had their eyes closed all the while. It’s wasn’t necessarily surprising that they had a lot on their mind. Suddenly, after a few minutes of shared individual melancholy, they spoke again.

“We’ll all miss you. I’m not even sure we can do it all again without you. I’m sure we’ll find a way but… Seriously. We’ll miss you.”

“Yeah. Sorry about this.”

A single tear slipped down their face. I could hear their voice breaking softly as they spoke their final words to me.

“No… thank you. For everything. We’ll never forget. I bet they won’t either.” They said, addressing the crumbling urbanity in the distance.

And as if they had never been there at all, their presence vanished from the planet Earth. There was an indescribable feeling of absence present in the hearts and minds of any living creature who yet remained in this forsaken world.