Have you ever wondered why some things look so perfect? This is a story of why we should never forget where we come from, as told by the Archivist

The Parallel Renaissance

By Earth year 2050, humanity had come to accept that their world was not singular. The first glimpses of a parallel universe were revealed during a freak physics experiment in 2027, when a team of researchers at the Hadron Nexus Collider accidentally breached the fabric of reality. What they found on the other side was startling—a world eerily like Earth, but more advanced, more serene, more… whole.

This new universe, quickly dubbed “Gaia Prime,” seemed like humanity’s utopia realized. Cities floated above verdant forests; technology coexisted harmoniously with nature; disease, famine, and war were concepts lost to history. By 2050, selective portals allowed small groups of humans to visit Gaia Prime, though the exchange was strictly one-way. A few brave souls had already left Earth forever to begin new lives in the pristine parallel.

What very few people knew, however, was that Gaia Prime wasn’t always the utopia it appeared to be. A secretive organization called The Rememberers worked tirelessly to preserve the truth about Gaia Prime’s “old times.” Their archives told of an era strikingly similar to Earth’s own troubled history—one rife with exploitation, ecological devastation, and near-total societal collapse.

Hollis Trent was one such Rememberer. A 38-year-old historian on Gaia Prime, Hollis had been born on Earth and arrived through a portal as a child. He had grown up marveling at the beauty of Gaia Prime, believing, like everyone else, that this world had always been perfect. But after joining The Rememberers, he learned the truth: Gaia Prime’s transformation had not been the result of centuries of progress. Instead, it was the consequence of a singular, cataclysmic event.

The Great Rewrite.

In 1986 (their timeline), Gaia Prime’s scientists had developed technology capable of altering reality itself. It was supposed to be a failsafe against planetary extinction, but it was used to erase their darkest histories. The world reset itself, retaining only what was beneficial, harmonious, and just. Wars? Forgotten. Environmental collapse? Reversed. Corruption and greed? Scrubbed from memory. The Rewrite left Gaia Prime shining like a diamond polished to perfection—but at a cost.

There were whispers of anomalies. People who recalled flashes of the “before times.” A haunting sense that something fundamental had been taken from them. The Rememberers gathered these fragments, piecing together what Gaia Prime had lost: its resilience, its hard-won lessons, its scars.

Hollis found himself torn. He loved Gaia Prime, but as he pored over the secret archives, he began to see cracks in its facade. Perfection had bred complacency. Without struggle, there was no creativity. Without loss, no drive to innovate. He began to question whether the Rewrite had truly saved Gaia Prime—or if it had merely pacified it.

One evening, as Hollis sifted through a collection of recovered memories, he stumbled upon a recording. It was grainy, almost dreamlike, showing a group of Gaia Prime’s scientists standing in a ruined city. The leader, a woman with tired eyes, spoke directly to the camera:

“If you’re seeing this, then you live in the world we hoped to create. But remember this: a perfect world without memory is hollow. If you forget where you’ve come from, you’ll never know where you’re going.”

The recording ended abruptly, but it left Hollis shaken. He realized that Gaia Prime needed The Rememberers—not just to preserve its past, but to restore its soul.

In the Earth year 2050, much had changed. Humanity straddled two realities, marveling at the promise of Gaia Prime while grappling with their own imperfections. But in the hidden corners of the parallel utopia, The Rememberers fought to ensure that the old times, with all their pain and wisdom, were never forgotten.

Hollis made his decision. He would become a bridge, not just between Earth and Gaia Prime, but between the perfect present and the imperfect past. For in the cracks of perfection, he believed, the truest beauty could be found.