Once upon a time, far far in the future, Humankind is not the only life form alive in the universe. In fact, they weren’t even the first. The Aellyni race was a brilliant scientific race that experimented with their DNA and created offspring colonies. Earth was experiment 179. But when they come to earth to check up on their experiment in 3007, they got a nasty surprise. War. The Great Cosmos War demolished all of the continents save for Australia and western U.S. as well as many Aellyni spaceships. Humans were afraid of the intelligent race that looked and communicated like them. So they abandoned their home planet in the First Human Exodus, setting up colonies of their own in different solar systems. Aellyni-Human relations between the two governments were hostile. The Aellyni wanted to absorb the Human race into their empire but the Humans wanted to be independent. Then there was the Second Cosmos War, unlike the first war, the Humans were prepared. Humans almost wiped out the Aellyni. However, a minority of Aellyni escaped prosecution and blended in the Humans. The offsprings between Aellyni and Humans were mutations that looked like Humans but had strange physical characteristics and powers. Mericle is a teenage orphan, she grows up in the slums of Swyncrest, Earth. Somehow, the authorities find out that she’s a half-blood, half Aellyni, half Human. So she’s sent to a training center before the ETournament, the government’s sick idea of half-blood population control. Somehow, Mericle has to rank in the top ten or its game over for her. But then again, this isn’t exactly a fairy tale.
Not so long ago, humanity fought the gods above them. The war against the Ethereals was long and bloody, and only the discovery of magic saved humanity from total annihilation. With the fusion of magic and technology, they clawed their way to a stalemate; in time, the war was over. Humanity had secured their freedom...or so they thought.
The Ethereal War changed life on Earth forever. The world is now plagued by glyphstorms-- constant, magic-infused dust storms that drive those who linger too long to insanity. Traveling within them is thought to be impossible, and the only shelter comes in the form of magical shield domes over humanity's cities. Progress is rapid, yet isolated to pockets of civilization. In the same world where some people thrive, many others struggle, their spirits kept alive only by the hope of a better future. But the future is uncertain; until humanity can discover the secrets of shield tech and brave the storms that divide them, they will never be truly free.
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This is a collection of short stories that take place within Solace, a fictional science-fantasy setting I have been working on since January 2025. This is not the mainline story, but may involve side plots, alternate perspectives of story events, etc. Basically this is my way of getting back into writing on Wattpad and having a catch-all for any short stories related to Solace. This will be updated as I go, and I'd love to hear feedback!
[This cover is a placeholder and I don't take credit for the art. It was taken from a copyright-free source]