As a Vuurian from the planet, Vuur, Chanyeol was used to the hot climate, scorching atmosphere, rivers of lava, natural caves and springs with healing properties that his home had to offer.

According to old tales, the Vuurians were said to be the oldest and first race to exist in the galaxy. It was believed that the star Isioh, which the planet Vuur orbited around, was the oldest star in the entire galaxy.

Like the planet which the Vuurians had come from, they were resistant to fire, able to thrive under extremely hot temperatures and even control this said fire themselves.

The people of Vuur lived in several massive cities throughout the planet, in buildings made of strong black rocks only found on Vuur. The cities were built atop sturdy tall mountains, above the flowing lava river on the surface of the planet.

For millennia, Chanyeol’s planet and his people thrived. They were renowned throughout their galaxy for exporting rare rocks and minerals. The Vuurians were known as doctors and healers who could treat almost any ailment with the knowledge and resources they innovated from the natural healing springs the planet had to offer.

Then, one morning, Chanyeol woke up to find a commotion going on outside his house. From the window in his room, he could hear chatter from the people on the street, talking and murmuring to each other and they didn’t sound too excited about it either.

Chanyeol rushed out of the dome-shaped house where he lived with his mother, only to find her worriedly looking up at the sky with their neighbors.

Chanyeol too looked up to the sky and then realized what the commotion was going on about. It was snowing on Vuur.

It wasn’t a rapid change, it had slowly occurred over the course of centuries. Temperatures in Vuur had begun dropping over the years. Some parts of Vuur had even begun to rain more than once in a century.

Some rivers of lava had become cool enough to solidify and turn into rocks. Chanyeol’s city in the northern region was now too experiencing winter for the first time ever.

Although the winter didn’t last long, the government of Vuur was forced to admit that the star, Isioh, was indeed dying, weakening, as it burned through the lasts of its energy.

Vuur would gradually turn into a planet with a moderate climate and then finally freeze over before it was rendered uninhabitable for Vuurians.

Over the next decade, the Vuurians began mass migrating from their dying planet to other solar systems within the galaxy. The Northern Regions of Vuur where Chanyeol once lived was abandoned, as those who remained migrated down to the South of the planet, where it was hotter.

Chanyeol was an adolescent when it first began snowing in his city. Over the next ten years, as Chanyeol grew into an adult, he was forced to uproot his entire young life and move down South with his mother.

He was forced to say goodbye to his friends and family who chose to migrate and leave Vuur.

Chanyeol was forced to live on a planet with an expiration date, forced to live through several chaotic changes of government sparked by Isioh dying.

Chanyeol’s mother was a healer but he was trained to join the national Vuurian guard, or whatever was left of it by the time he was an adult.

Chanyeol was too forced to see his mother readjust to their life on a cooling planet, and continue to serve and care for the remaining Vuurians because she hadn’t given up on their home yet.

Chanyeol couldn’t see why she tried so hard when it would all be futile in the end.

Chanyeol didn’t quite like the idea of all that and thought that if he left Vuur, his mother would eventually give up and move elsewhere.

But Chanyeol was selfish and thinking of himself when he left Vuur one night, after a long hearty talk with his mother in their living room at the table also made of black rock. Chanyeol just wanted to be elsewhere that wasn’t dying. It was depressing to stay on Vuur. 

When Chanyeol told her he was leaving Vuur, she gave him a big warm hug. She wished him well, told him to be safe and reminded Chanyeol that he would always be welcome home if he were to ever return.

Chanyeol’s mother declined to leave Vuur with him, stating that her place would always be there, despite his efforts to make her come along.

Like the millions of Vuurians before him, Chanyeol left his home planet and took one long last look at their fading star in the distance from the viewing gallery aboard the one-way spaceship taking him away.

After leaving Vuur, Chanyeol arrived in Anam, a natural tidally locked moon orbiting a gas giant planet. Anam was famed as the galaxy’s main trading outpost where people from all corners came to obtain supplies, sell their goods, service their spaceships and even sell their services.

Chanyeol looked for jobs in Anam while surviving by selling whatever he had on him. Chanyeol’s skills were mainly in fighting and combat, aided by his ability to control fire.

So he sought out to find a job as a hired bodyguard or mercenary, but nobody around wanted to hire a Vuurian unless they were a geologist or a healer.

The sector of the galaxy was relatively peaceful and Chanyeol was even told by the shadiest person around on Anam, to go a different sector of the galaxy where some planets were still at war with each other.

After a few months on Anam, Chanyeol was unable to sell anything else for money unless he was to go . All he had were the clothes on his back. He didn’t have shoes anymore, no money for food or lodgings.

Chanyeol lived in the alleys behind repair shops on Anam, hungry and cold in the constant night on Anam. Chanyeol drank water from pipes and scoured food through the garbage.

There was a thought to return to Vuur, where he would have a relatively comfortable life, but Chanyeol was determined to not return there.

After two days of not being able to even find scraps to eat, Chanyeol decided he would just rob the next person walkin