It's cold. Unbearably so.
Dry, chilled air slipped in with every breath, slipping into Aurelia's lungs like shards of broken glass. Each inhale once stung. Now, not as much.
Each exhale vanished into the wind before it could become mist. Every step was heavy for Aurelia, and walking endlessly in this land with no end in sight made her hollow.
The land stretched without end, flat and barren. It wasn't snow that covered it but pale, powdery sand, frozen hard beneath her bare, chipped feet.
Back hunched, Aurelia moved in the line. Cuffs attached to thick chains wrapped around her wrists and ankles. It stretched to the others in front and behind her. The line was long. Once she cared, once she was frightened, calling out for her parents, for her brother, that never came.
But now…
