Jayani Naresh Patel

AR2048

Some time ago, in the distant future from your perspective, global warming and earthquakes created a rocky desert with cliffs blocking the monsoon clouds. It was in this desolate world that Sookhad emerged as a place of refuge. Though semi-ruined structures still stood, a survivalist community with no specific hierarchy among them came together to create their own way of life, conducting a barter system in the evening market to trade for the resources they needed. One group of survivors stumbled upon a mysterious bulge in the earth. Curiosity got the best of them, and they began to explore. Being stoneworkers possessed the skills that helped them go deeper, away from the heat and sun, in more lively conditions, eventually finding water there and settling around it. With a combination of private chambers, and shared courtyard and a bathhouse to savour their secret- the water, theirs was a world apart, cut off from the blinding sun that beat down on the wasteland above. But even in the depths of the earth, life went on. They built a community around it that thrived in the shadows, seeking solace and tranquillity amidst the dark.