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What would it take to return to the past? In a land where the stars dance in the sky and whisper their secrets to the souls below, the people make sacrifices to gods long forgotten, hoping for a relief from the present. The world burns quietly, because there's almost no one left to hear the crackle of the flames. They all left in the last great voyage. The rest died.
And the ones that didn't die: they cry to be extinguished. yet they still keep living. Still keep surviving. Not because they want to. Because they have to. It's the human thing to do. The next generation depends on their false hopes; they look to the smiles their elders wear as a mask to hide the truth. The truth is, there's nothing left. There is only the eventual inevitable. But all who remain, find meaning somehow. They keep shadows of the past alive, hoping to return to what was, even though it's impossible. So then, they channel meaning from the things and people in their lives. ultimately meaning-less, but they still create the meaning.
So when they throw their things into the quiet fire as a sacrifice to appease those long forgotten gods, they burn until they are hollow, until they can fill themselves again. A necessary cleansing.
In the days before the quiet fire, before most left, they had promised the world and more to their children. The world would change! All problems solved! No more hunger, no more war, no more conflict. All will have what they need, and more. But then things went horribly wrong, as they are wont to do. It's the paradox of human nature. For every hero, there is a villain. for every honest person, a liar. But, the thing is: each of us are the hero and the villain, the truth-teller and the liar. Humans are generally good, but also often highly self-interested.
The ones who left escaped to paradise. They left everyone else behind to rot and wither. And those left of THAT group are the ones who can actually hear the quiet fire. A desolate world, left with a few desolate souls. Desperate souls. But from their desolation and desperation, they birth hope.
It's the human thing to do.
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