The Lost City on Mars🔊

In a time when Earth was saturated with technological advancements and human population was exploding beyond its limits, scientists discovered a life-sustaining city on Mars, mysteriously abandoned.

Mars had enticed humanity for centuries, with its reddish glow and possibility of life. It was on a cold September night of 2087 when Professor Grace Sharma, a renowned astrophysicist, saw something peculiar in the whispering red sands. A city, vast and ancient, so elegantly embedded into the Martian landscape that it had gone unnoticed till then.

The city, later named Aetheria, looked as if it was designed by artists, not architects. Towering structures echoed the baroque style, adorned with radiant gemstones and metals that sparkled under the Martian sun. Surprised, scientists welcomed this unprecedented era of Interplanetary Archaeology, hoping to understand the city's ghostly inhabitants better.

Dr. Jaxon Ellis, planetologist, and his team were the first explorers of Aetheria. Despite its forlorn state, the city was far from dead. An indecipherable energy fueled the city's functioning - lights illuminated the interiors despite a lack of traditional energy sources, doors opened automatically in response to human presence, and a strange melodious hum pervaded everywhere. It was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating.

For years, scientists poured over decrypted alien scripts, texts, and data. They examined teleportation tree-like structures, enabling instant travel across the city; the sky-high towers that acted as an energy source; the central mainframe dubbed as the 'Knowledge Repository'. Pieces of the city's history found in the central mainframe painted a vibrant civilization, technologically superior than Earth's but strangely identical in socioeconomic dynamics.

Aetheria was home to the Aethers, an advanced civilization. However, the city was abandoned due to a catastrophic event -the Great Polar Shift- a phenomenon Earth too was facing presently. This horrified scientists. But the Aethers had found a solution, escaping to another dimension, leaving behind their city and the path to deliverance.

An Earth on the verge of a similar catastrophe saw hope in Aetheria and its secrets. Dr. Ellis led operation 'Survival of Species', attempting to replicate the dimensional spike that the Aethers used for their escape using Aetheria's technology. Years later, it was a success. Humanity tested the portal and found another planet inhabitable and untouched.

Now was the turn of decision-making. With Earth's imminent catastrophe, the leaders contemplated - should they abandon Earth, like the Aethers did with Aetheria? Or should they stay, hoping for a miracle? But time was against them. The decision was made, and with a heavy heart, humans started the exodus - to a planet they christened New Earth.

Over centuries, Aetheria remained Earth's saving grace. However, the city was never vacated entirely. A group stayed back to protect, study, and remember the ghostly city that saved humanity. They turned out to become the Guardians of Aetheria.

One cannot help but wonder when looking at Mars if it's the towering structures that shimmer on the surface or the intriguing mysteries of Aetheria underneath that's the real charm. Either way, the lost city on Mars, paved the way for a unique chapter in humanity's existential saga.

As writings on the Martian sand narrate, 'Aetheria might be lost, but in its loss, Earth found its survival.' The story of a lost city on Mars is a reminder that the survival of the fittest may not always be bound to a particular realm; it might as well dwell in the mysteries of the universe and the courage to venture into the unknown.