Year 2400 marked the end of social, technological, and physical growth and development. Instead, the temperature soared higher than it has ever been, the weather became dangerous and erratic, and wars destroyed most of the cities intricately built over the decades. As a result of this, poverty, world hunger, and water shortages escalated in a short period of time. People became desperate to the point of stealing for food and murder for resources. However, just as humanity was about to lose hope in itself, a chance at revival opened the door to a new future.
The Great Hart Expedition, it is called. Named after Adrian Hart who discovered an ancient map dating back to the 21st century. Unknowingly he uncovered the greatest prize of the century, an opportunity at a better life. The map holds information to a location where, if found, could grant that person everything they need to live a rich and comfortable life. The word quickly spread, and soon everyone holds the sacred map that seems too good to be true. Determined to return home rich, millions of people left their homes in hope of finding the grand prize. Over the course of a decade few people kept on searching, some people gave up, and most never returned. What happened to them, no one really knows.
This is the story of an extraordinary young girl who was brave enough to leave her home to chase her dream of finding the ultimate treasure. But, she was not prepared for the lonely and treacherous journey ahead of her.
The sun never wavers here and the wind never stops. For miles upon miles, the air glistens like waves and the red sand cuts into skins like knives.
Up close the sand looks like something you would find on a vibrant vacation beach filled with laughter and beauty, but looking out into the desert from above, it is as if looking into the black void: a vast emptiness of space and isolation with the outside world.
Covering her face with her worn out scarf, Amaya glances out into the horizon, desperately hoping for signs of life. Instead she is met with red, open space spanning in all directions. For a week now, Amaya has been wandering and staggering across the desert without a clue of where she is, and for a year, she has been without contact with any human beings. Her hand falls awkwardly at her side and her mouth seems dry from all the muttering she’s said to herself. Amaya suddenly drops to her knees, forgetting about the burning sand, and bursts into fretful tears.
Her sobs seem endless, filled with regret, sadness, and insanity. She screams at society for not taking care of this world, she screams at the universe for trapping her in a hopeless place, she screams at herself for agreeing to this useless journey for a selfish and delusional hope. Amaya pounds her hand in the sand over and over again until her eyes dry, her sobs stop, and her arms begin to ache. She has no energy left, no anger left. Amaya lay on her back and began to explore her now burned hands and knees with curiosity. She didn't even feel the pain.
Later that evening, when the sun already set, Amaya is still laying on the now freezing cold desert land, with no motivation to move. She does not feel her feet go numb nor the stabbing cold wind slamming into her face. Instead, her eyes wonder at the sky filled with millions of stars. Her head starts to spin, and her eyes blur, she no longer feel her body except for the faint inhale and exhale of her mouth in the cold, dark emptiness. Everywhere she looks she seems to see shadows of people, her mom, her sister, or even her dead aunt. Every once in a while, her mom would turn around, stare at her with a frown and whisper, why did you leave us my dear daughter? The isolation is messing with her head.
She squeezes her eyes shut and focuses on the life she used to have. The life that was hard but worth living. The life that was scary and rough but she was happy in that life. She was with her family with her friends. They were surviving together, living together. Filled with remorse, Amaya remembers the day she gave her life up for her false and selfish dream that she would return with everything she needs to live a better life, that she would return without losing anything in the process.
Now, she realizes that the journey, the map, the promised riches were all fake. It is all just a trick to prove who the humans really are. There is no such thing as a treasure that can save them all, there is no amount of riches that can buy back what the humans did to each other, and there is certainly no solution to get back the years Amaya wasted. Tears streams down her face but Amaya could no longer feel anything. She was truly alone now, floating in the black void, with no one to save her.