The Anchor,

In a city where happiness makes you weightless, being heavy is a curse. Tik was never light. When the sky begins to fall, he is the only one who remains on the ground — and the only one who can descend low enough to uncover the truth. Beneath the floating city of Etheria lies a forgotten world — a place buried under fear, illusions, and a burden everyone tried to escape. When a mysterious violet fog spreads through the streets, turning joy into madness and dragging the city to the edge, Tik becomes the last anchor in a world that has forgotten how to stand on its feet. To save it, he must go where no one returns — deep beneath the clouds, where lost creators, broken truths, and dangerous illusions await. Along the way, Tik will face the reality the city refused to accept: true strength was never about avoiding the burden — it was about carrying it. Because in a world obsessed with lightness, only the one who cannot fly can be strong enough to hold everything together. This is my first step as a writer. I am from Ukraine — a country the world knows mostly from war news. But Ukraine is also full of people who dream, imagine, and create. I wrote this story to prove — to myself and to anyone who wants to read it — that a man from Ukraine at 54 can still build a world worth getting lost in. The Anchor is that world. I hope you find something real in it. Note: I used AI as a tool for translation and grammar checking. The story, characters, and ideas are entirely mine. — Oleh Kolisnyk