By: Isabelle Wang

In a faraway land known as Amarum, there was a small town called Solaria. Solaria was renowned for its perfection. No troubles ever burdened its serene streets, and the Solarians lived in harmony.
There happened to be two young girls, Zelda and Noora, who lived in this town. But one fateful day, the ground beneath Solaria trembled with an unfamiliar force, an earthquake, a phenomenon that had never before touched their perfect world.

For Earthdwellers like you and me, an earthquake might have been a frightening, though not uncommon, occurrence, but for the Solarians, it was an unprecedented event that disrupted the foundations of their town’s existence. The architects and programmers of Solaria, who had designed every part of this realm, rushed to fix the disturbances that now slowly destroyed their creation.

As Zelda and Noora wandered through their town, they began to notice peculiar glitches. The once crystal-clear rivers constantly flickered into a dull murky green, and the sky looked like shattered glass as the once-small cracks grew. Droplets of dark, salty water started to fall from the sky.

These glitches, once subtle, grew more frequent and pronounced. The two friends were soon able to look into the real world. The items from their old world flickered and faded. They saw the President of Solaria ordering families to be beaten and locking animals up in cages for entertainment.

Now, although these two girls were friends, they had different ideas. Zelda was furious that her whole life was a lie, and just wanted to escape from the illusion, while Noora was just trying to cherish her last few moments in Solaria because she knew, that one day, their town would fully unravel. Noora and the townsfolk tried to refuse what was happening before their very eyes. Zelda and Noora’s friendship began to deteriorate slowly because of their ideas, and they drifted apart and acted like strangers. Every day, Zelda observed her surroundings and realized they were trapped in an underwater glass dome. Zelda tried to crack the barrier, and soon, a gap barely large enough to fit her was created and she managed to escape. Water rushed into Solaria. The last thing Zelda saw was Noora, who had given up escaping and accepted the fact that she was going to die. And then the world went black.

As Zelda floated in the cold, open ocean, the last ruins of Solaria disappeared beneath the waves. She floated on the water for hours. Some of the workers noticed Zelda and rescued her. The workers consisted of children, adults, and even elderly people. They had originally lived in a democracy, but soon, the President, a persuasive young man, stepped forward as the leader. The President was very ambitious and ordered Solaria to be built as the “perfect” city; a city that required the workers to toil in misery for the other citizens. Zelda learned that the workers had planned the earthquake so that they could escape. They told her about their experiences with the President, and how the President had died because he had been trapped under a rock. Zelda was also shocked when she was told that she and Noora had not been children of the rich who paid their way into Solaria. The workers had sneaked them into Solaria hoping that they could help them escape.

The exhausted but hopeful workers found an uncharted land on the surface. They were determined to start anew, using their knowledge and skills to create a new town. They called it Aurorium which meant new beginning, as they were making a fresh start.

Zelda joined the efforts for the new city, channeling her anger and sorrow into building Aurorium. The new town was constructed with a sense of transparency and cooperation which had been absent in Solaria. The community flourished, as it was determined to avoid the mistakes of the past.

As time passed, the town of Aurorium prospered. However, in the course of its development, a new pattern began to emerge. Among the residents, a leader, a charismatic individual named Elara, began to rise to prominence. Elara had a vision for Aurorium that was ambitious and grand. Her ideas and charm swayed many, and she gradually assumed a central role in the governance of the town.

Aurorium became a bustling city under Elara’s leadership. She envisioned creating an even larger city, one that would surpass the achievements of Solaria and Aurorium. This new city, which she named Luminary, was designed to be a marvel of architecture and technology, a testament to the progress of the new society.

As Luminary took shape, the workers who had helped build Aurorium watched with a mix of hope and trepidation. The grandeur of Lumina was impressive, but some were wary of Elara’s growing influence. They worried that the new city might repeat the same errors as Solaria.

The political circumstances in Aurorium shifted as Elara’s vision became the principal point of society. Elara’s supporters grew in number, and quarreling voices were greatly decreased. Despite the warnings of the older generation, Elara’s charisma and promises of prosperity persuaded the majority.

As Lumina continued to grow, Zelda began to notice familiar signs of unrest. Glitches in the environment, subtle but disturbing shifts in the city’s infrastructure, and the emergence of a ruling class that seemed to be consolidating power. The echoes of Solaria were creeping back into the new world.

Zelda, now more experienced and wary, sought to confront the issues before them. She reached out to those who shared her concerns, working to expose the flaws in Elara’s regime and to advocate for a more balanced and transparent governance. Her protests about the delusion were quickly shut down, and Zelda was imprisoned for them. From her prison cell she could only watch as Lumina became a copy of Solaria.