Fiction: Group 2
What the Future Holds
Singapore International School, Hui, Ming Hei Adrian - 11, Fiction: Group 2
orld War III was what nearly caused the total demise of humans. The world lay in ruin, cities
scarred with the marks of war, reduced to nothing but piles of rubble and broken glass. It was
in one of these cities, to be exact the metropolis of the combined cities of Hong Kong,
Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta, that I lived. This once-splendid utopia had been turned
into an empty, derelict shadow of itself, no remnants whatsoever of its former glory.
Every day I would roam through the labyrinth of streets, scouring for anything that moved. One
day, I wandered across a disused train station. Rats might hide there, in the dark! Rats were not exactly
delectable treats, but food was food. After going down the stairs, I took in my surroundings. Scintillating
light from the Sun poured through a fair-sized hole in the ceiling, below it an unstructured pile of rubble. It
was probably caused by a bomb. The derailed Beijing-Hong Kong Maglev train was lying on its side. Then,
I saw it.
A dim patch of light. It was eerie, very far away and nearly undiscernible, originating from the
ninth carriage of the train. With my heart walloping against my chest, I slowly walked towards the light.
Five carriages away. Three carriages away. One carriage away. Instinct told me to run away, but I
persevered. The object seemed to be emanating some kind of perpetual fear, some kind of gloom and
darkness, but that only made me more determined to get to it. I saw that it was a diamond-shaped crystal
which seemed to be filled with some kind of murky, caliginous substance, with the exception of a tiny spot
of light in the centre. Ever so slowly, I inched forward, bent down and touched the crystal. Nothing
happened. Cautiously, I picked it up. Fingering the extraordinary crystal, I felt an engraving on its surface -
With Every Darkness Comes Light.
Everything happened in a sudden. I accidentally cut my finger on the razor-sharp edge on the
crystal, causing a single drop of blood to flow into the engraving. Then, a crack appeared on the crystal, and
the crystal cracked just as I put it back down. Walking back towards the now fragmentized crystal, I realised
that the Stygian substance was nowhere to be seen, instead there was a dog-eared map. Unrolling it, I
realised that it was a map of the city. There was a red “X” on where the old plaza was on the map. I had
read enough pirate stories to know that “X” marked the spot. Rats could wait. It was an hour later when I
finally arrived at the old plaza. I took a swig of water, then set off to find whatever the “X” on the map
represents.
I was surfeited with searching. Two hours had been wasted fruitlessly looking for something that
might not even exist. I was just about to give up when I thought of something. Maybe a vantage point
would help. I clambered onto the mound that used to be the Canton Tower and peered around. Finally, I
saw something. There were a few bricks just a bit darker than the others and it formed an “X”. Fingers
crossed, I made my way back down the mound and to the “X”. There in the centre of the “X” was a tiny
slit, big enough only for a piece of paper. Then, I got it. Paper! Frenziedly, I rummaged through my
backpack and took out the map, then inserted it through the slit.
Soon, the bricks that made up the “X” disintegrated and instead there was a staircase leading
underground. On the first step was a torch. How apt for the situation. Switching it on, I took the stairs two
at a time. Down and down it went, twisting and turning until I lost track of the time. Finally, I saw the end.
Renewed energy coursed through my body, and I practically flew down those last steps. There must have
been a sensor on the second-last step, as immediately after I stepped on it a hologram appeared. It was one
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