The Chess Revolution had come to an end three days ago, and things were quiet on Glindale Boulevard. Zask's mother had asked him to check if Anton's shop was still standing after the chaos. 

"Milk, eggs, and potatoes," she had told him. He kept muttering the list under his breath not because he was liable to forget - Zask had an excellent memory - but because it helped him from focusing on something other than the ruined aftermath visible around him. 

"Milk, eggs, and potatoes" He muttered again, looking down, avoiding eye contact with the soldier standing in front of Anton's shop. The soldier, an elf, put their arm in front of the door to block Zask's path.

"Papers?" They said. Zask looked at the soldier. Were they still taking people away? Not that Zask had anything to worry about, he wasn't a witch or a wizard or mage of any kind. "Papers!" The soldier grabbed onto Zask's clothing this time.

"Yes! Sorry!" Zask squeaked and frantically searched for his identification and presented it to the soldier.

"Zask Vissard. Shade Elf, No Magic... Alright," The soldier handed Zask his document back and let him pass through the door.

It wasn't like this before. After the revolution, Katlin's citizens were instructed to stay indoors until they received documentation. Zask wasn't sure what would happen if you left without your paperwork and didn't want to spend time diving down the horrific train of thought. Instead, he continued muttering to himself inside Anton's Grocery.

After grabbing a carton of eggs, a crate with 6 glass bottles of milk, and a sack of potatoes, Zask made his way to the counter and was face to face with the grocer himself. Anton was an old family friend of the Vissards. An ordinarilly jovial human, Zask had never remembered him looking so frail. So scared. The grey in his hair looked almost white now, even though it had only been two weeks since the last time Zask had paid a visit to the grocer.

"How's your mother?" Anton asked. Zask forced a smile and tried to give the smallest indication that she was as alright as one could be right now. Anton nodded and asked, "Your sisters?"

"Lupita is okay. I don't think she realizes what's happening." Zask thought of what his younger sister's memory of this time in her life might be years from now.

"And Elaria?" This made Zask stop short, and tears started welling in his eyes as he remembered the soldiers taking his sister away. He didn't look at Anton and simply handed him his proper payment. Anton didn't press the situation, which Zask was thankful for.

The soldier let Zask out of the shop, and he made his way back home. It was only on his way back home that he noticed the faces of the people who shared the street with him. They were all a mirror of his own. Hollow. As if they all had something, or someone, taken from them. As if they all had an empty space in their heart.