PUBLISHED UNDER LIB Note: If you're not into flawed characters who make wrong decisions, don't read this. Save yourself from stress. Started: 09/09/2020 Ended: 10/07/2020 Solene Clemente was a typical Civil Engineering student who struggled to put up with her studies. Kung pwede ngang i-bake na lang ang napakaraming itlog sa test papers niya, ginawa niya na. At a young age, she experienced the harsh reality of life-poverty, abuse, and a broken family. But, as someone who could see the bright side of everything, she knew she could make it with only her mother and best friend, Duke Laurence Sanders, whom she secretly loved. Kahit pa naghihirap, basta kasama niya ang ina, kaya niya. Kahit pa madalas niyang hindi maintindihan ang lessons, ayos lang kasi may Duke naman na tuturuan siya. Na kahit gaano kalupit ang tadhana, patuloy siyang lumalaban sa buhay dahil may dalawang taong sumusuporta at nagmamahal sa kanya. She became too dependent on the love they could offer. But little did she know, like the sun she adored, she was destined to be alone.

• ° . * : .⋆ 𝓨𝙾𝚄𝙽𝙶 𝙶𝙾𝙳 ᵎ ❛❛ 𝗌𝗈 𝗐𝖾'𝗋𝖾 𝗌𝖺𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝖺𝗅𝖺𝗑𝗒 𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗂𝗇 ? ❜❜ ━━━ ❛❛ 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 ? ❜❜ ▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆ 𝙄𝙉 𝙒𝙃𝙄𝘾𝙃 . . . 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝗎𝖺𝗋𝖽𝗂𝖺𝗇𝗌 𝗆𝖾𝖾𝗍 𝖺 𝗆𝖺𝗇 𝖼𝗅𝖺𝗂𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗉𝖾𝗍𝖾𝗋'𝗌 𝖿𝖺𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋. 𝗁𝗈𝗐𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋, 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗅𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝖿𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗒 𝗏𝗂𝗌𝗂𝗍 𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖾𝗍, 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗒 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗓𝖾 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗌 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝗐𝗋𝗈𝗇𝗀. ━━━━━━━ 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘩 ◡̈ 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗦 : 𝖢𝖮𝖬𝖯𝖫𝖤𝖳𝖤 𝗀𝗎𝖺𝗋𝖽𝗂𝖺𝗇𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝖺𝗅𝖺𝗑𝗒 𝗏𝗈𝗅 . 2 𝗉𝖾𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗊𝗎𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗑 𝖿𝖾𝗆 ! 𝗈𝖼 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝗍𝗐𝗈 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 © -𝗦𝗘𝗕𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡 , 2021

A possible future in less than 500 words, if plastic wins. This was my entry for the WattPad/National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic competition back in late 2018. It reached their Top 10 Submissions which, given that there appeared to be well over 5000 entries, was a very pleasant surprise! The competition itself had a limit of 500 words so, for those who keep asking if I intend continuing the story, the answer (for now!) is no - unless I can find a very good reason for adding any more. Many thanks to everyone reading and voting on this story and getting it to number 1 in the #sciencefiction category in May/June 2020! I did try to thank the voters individually on their pages but Wattpad have a daily limit on the number of times I'm allowed to do that and there are now too many of you (not that I'm complaining)! Here's the top 10 submissions page: https://www.wattpad.com/list/738243473-planetorplastic-top-10-submissions If you want to read the story in Polish please head over to https://www.wattpad.com/story/236405960-m%C4%85dro%C5%9B%C4%87-staro%C5%BCytnych-t%C5%82umaczenie-pl where @juliatlumaczy has done a fine job - thank you, Julia! @juliatlumaczy has now sent me a version of the cover she used for her Polish translation - thanks again, Julia! @alex_sokolova has also translated the story into Russian as well. You can read that here: https://www.wattpad.com/976002417-мудрость-древних - many thanks, Alex! We now have a third translation! @AlfonsoLucassen has kindly translated it into Spanish and you can find it here: https://www.wattpad.com/1063634347-la-sabidur%C3%ADa-de-los-antiguos

In 1866, ships of several nations spot a mysterious sea monster, which some suggest is a giant narwhal. The US government assembles an expedition to find and destroy the monster. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist (and narrator within the story) receives a last-minute invitation to join the expedition. As the expedition travels south around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, the crew finds the monster after a long search and then attack it, but the ship is damaged with the three main protagonists thrown into the water. They are quickly captured and then meet the enigmatic Captain Nemo. ~ Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne and was originally published in 1870. The novel was originally serialized between March 1869 and June 1870 in Pierre-Jules Hetzel's periodical, the Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation. An illustrated edition, published by Hetzel in November 1871, included 111 illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is regarded as one of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne's greatest works, along with Around the World in Eighty Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Cover done by @sinadan