Dark.

That’s how it has been for years.

Dark.

Every since the sun went out and never came back.

Cold and dark.

Everyday I wake up, no light to tell me the time, just the handy clock that tries to keep up with the passing days.

I don’t even remember what the sun felt like, I was too young then. But I always hear stories of how it felt to have sunlight shining on your face. It sounds like magic.

I light a lantern and look around my dark room. I grab a can from the shelf and open it up.

A wonderful bland-flavoured breakfast. Not much can grow without the light.

Then I get dressed and head out of my house to the main square.

There are pillars with lanters attached, lighting up the whole square.

It is pretty, but not in the way you wish could last forever.

The square is always busy. It is the main hub of the city.

The only place we know exists.

I’m not sure if any of us actually know what’s outside the edge of the city.

It’s not safe to venture out. One lantern isn’t enough to light the depths.

So we all stay in out city and make the best of what we have.

We are all assigned a job to help keep. We all have to do out part to make it work.

I make candles at the wax shop.

There’s ten of us at the one I work at. It’s at the edge of the city so it’s always a peacful walk on the way to work.

I hold my bag in my left hand and my lantern in my right.

I got it as birthday present when I was ten. We all get the same birthday present when we turn ten.

It’s the age when we are allowed to go out by ourselves.

It’s the beautifully engraved lantern with our names on it. The twisting metal creates intricate patterns that cast shadows in the glow of the lantern.

I greet my coworkers at the door and head to my work station.

It’s ten hours of hard work. But the candles are beautiful and one of the most importang jobs there is.

By the end of the day I am so tired that I just want to head home and sleep.

But we all eat dinner together in the square. Thousands of us. The whole city.

It’s the time of day (night actually) where we gather as one. It builds community.

I’m halfway back when I see a little kid run past me, much younger than ten.

His caretaker tries racing after him but doesn’t have her lantern with her. She can’t go further than the glow from the city.

I call to her and take her place. I have my lantern so I chase after the boy in the direction I saw him go.

He’s fast for his age, and it takes me a while to find him after his head start.

I keep chasing him, past my work, and further than I’d ever been before.

I don’t run much, it’s hard to run in the dark.

“Where are you?” I call out into the dark.

But I don’t get a response.

I lost him.

I look around. I don’t know where I am now. I can’t even see the glow from the city. I have no idea which direction to go.

I sigh and make a guess on direction.

Then I keep walking and walking. I know I must have chosen the wrong way by this point.

I was about to give up when I hit something.

Hard.

I hold my lantern up, but all I see is dark.

I hold my free hand in front of me and it hits something hard as well.

A wall.

My hands hit a dark wall that matched the darkness itself.

This was really strange. I had never heard of a wall being in the void before.

A wall must mean people, and people would me I could find help.

So I ran one hand along the wall, and used my other hand to raise my lantern.

I must have only walked for minutes, but it felt like hours.

Suddenly my fingers caught on something. I stopped and tried to look.

Looking didn’t do anything, even with the light from my lantern. It was almost out now, the wick was down to its end.

I moved my hand back and forth until I caught it again.

A latch.

My fingers moved delicately around it until I got it free.

And I opened the door.

The door led to more nothing, but I must have been close by now to something.

I felt around again until my hands hit something.

I moved them up and down and took hold of a long cylindrical piece of metal.

After a few more moments of exploring, I found more and more of these rungs, one on top of the other.

A ladder.

I dropped my lantern to the ground, it was useless now, and hoisted my bag over my shoulder.

Then I started to climb.

My arms got tired in a moment.

There’s not much physical exercise going on in the city. It’s not safe to do in the dark.

I climbed and I climbed until I hit my head on something very hard.

I held my arm up and felt around. There was another latch.

It took me a moment to get it free and, once I did, it took all of my might to push it open.

And what I saw was absolutely magnificent.

There was light.

The light blinded me and it took at least five minutes until I could see.

The colours were stunning.

And there were people.

People!

They were bustling about their day and had so many machines going about with them.

Some had wheels and some flew.

And the city.

Just absolutely magnificent.

It was at least a hundred times the city I knew.

The city I thought was the only one.

But this whole time, there was a whole world waiting above us.

A whole world to be seen.

All in colour and light.