Beneath the Glow | #ONC2023

Chapter One

I was born in the darkness without the warmth of light to kiss my soft innocent cheeks as I entered the world below, seventeen years ago. Above land, the war has been raging on for a century now. We are stuck underground, as if we were already in our tombs waiting for the earth to crumble from the fallout.

It has happened before. The whole west side of the Inferiors and Middlers in our underground trench shelter completely disintegrated. All that's left to show for is boulders of cracked rocks and rubble at the entrance. I was told the smell of the dead had found its way through the debris. Its unwelcoming perfume lingered for many years before finally settling back behind the rocks.

That day, we lost many including my biological father who was helping expand the trench for our side. Although I was in my mother's tummy at the time of the tragedy, voices of the lost can be heard whenever I walk past it. The delirium has taken its toll on me from time to time, but that is the cost of living in the dark all your life.

The things we have been fighting had come from a small planet that orbited in our solar system long ago. During the first contact, they showed themselves with ships as big as the salty sea. Second contact, they used force in an attempt to take over our world, because apparently theirs was doomed. We were determined to fight back. But the aliens fought harder and smarter. Atomic bombs went off in all parts of Earth to try and get the upper hand. In the process, we ended up destroying almost everything on our planet.

Many more passed down stories from our ancestors have circulated among us through written books from the fallen. The bombings seemingly had no effect on some, while more from their kind are still showing up from other parts of the galaxies.

This war will never end.

Ever since the west wing was obliviated, my mother occasionally expressed the concern that living down here hasn't been the same. I didn't know whether it was because she had lost my father or if it was the fact that the west side of all three levels housed our electrical wiring system. Thankfully, the fallout had not reached the Third Level, which is where the Foundationals lived, but they were now in charge of the power. They were the only ones who had the source.

The trenches had three sections that stacked on top of one another. Foundationals living further down below—the lucky ones—wouldn't get any of the aftermath from the war above. The Middlers resided at the middle level. Last but not least, we were at the top of them all, the front line of the war nearest the earth's surface. I mean, yes, we were way deep beneath the soil but there's been more repairs of wall breakage here at this level than with any of the other two.

But that's how we found the glowworms, which have been a natural resource in helping fertilize our plants and go about in our daily living. I had read many of the Chronicle books from those before my time. There was no peace of mind on whether it would be the day they wouldn't wake up. They told stories of the roars of bombs that shook the entire place, with debris so bad that it would cause them to choke up blood. Our ancestors lived a horrific life, but they survived and stayed strong so that we could continue. Even through all the turbulence and wreckage came something so beautiful and bright.

I remember being told stories of the boy called Kenu. Born with no sight, he found the glowworms through a large crack in the wall. It was as if another world was peeking through to greet us. A gift from Lampetia herself justifying we were worthy of living. Our goddess of light gave him the gift to see through the obscurity so that others could too.

Although it was pitch dark in the room, I lay there unable to sleep anymore. My eyes stayed opened as I looked around for anything to focus on. Instead, my mind went into imagining streams of light as if they could really be there.