The asterisk in his eye.

I had myself a prince. He was pure and wholesome, and all who knew him thought he was the most magnificent creature they'd ever met. His eyes were clear and brilliant. They always caught mine when I suspected it least and held me where I stood. He was perfect. He was mine.

One day the monsters came for him, but he didn't see fit to mention it to me. He'd sold his soul to them in the days of his youth, in exchange for a taste of a smile. In his childhood, he'd never known happiness, and he'd given his life to achieve it.

The monster tore off to shreds the soul that I loved so much, totally obliterating anything that I could have salvaged. I know I should have heard when the castle walls split open, but I was engrossed in a deep slumber. I was negligent. I paid no attention.

When I awoke, all I saw was the man, and I missed the beast that had replaced him. In an ignorant daze, I opened my arms, but the man I loved did not exist anymore. Instead, the creature pulled me apart, digging through my chest cavity and rendering it empty. Heartless, bloody, and alone, I wandered from the confines of the palace I had once felt so safe in.

The wasteland beckoned me, and I took it as my home.