Fourth Winter (Working title)

The engines on the Alexandria roared to life as it prepared to take off one last time on its annual voyage. The Alexandria was a luxury ship, used by the elite class, that once a year traveled the world "seeing the sights" and reminding the elite why they were there.

There was a steady drop in education, which stemmed from a steep rise in poverty. The "elite" class, as they referred to themselves, had managed to pool enough money to keep their city and the surrounding areas unaffected, while the rest of the world crumbled.

A few of the "sights" the Alexandria flew to were once the World's greatest monuments. The first stop was always the Great Wall of China. It landed on its own special landing strip, and allowed its occupants to walk along the wall. Not much was left of the "Once Great Wall", a nickname they had given the wall for its current state, but they all knew, and talked of, the stories of this magnificent wall that spanned 8,851.8 kilometers, and was visible from the moon. From there they made their way down to the Great Pyramid of Giza. The years had been cruel to the pyramid, the continental plates had shifted and caused the pyramid to split in half, which was followed by a flock of looters, hoping to get their hands on the lost wonders of the pyramid. The Alexandria then traveled to Alexandria in Egypt to visit the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The elite had decided to restore the Lighthouse to the state it had been in before all the earthquakes and its ultimate disappearance by 1480. The investors, who had payed to restore the Lighthouse, liked the idea of having the Wonder that was the inspiration for the ship on the stop, to inspire those who made the journey to strive for the greatness that Alexander himself achieved. The final stop was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There was only a monument for the Leaning Tower now, since it had fallen many centuries earlier. It is ironically fitting that after the stories of Alexander the Great they were treated to the rubble of the Leaning Tower, a fallen Wonder.

A teenage boy stirred in the hold. A look of fear crossed his face, and he jumped up, looking around the room in a panic. Nothing but luggage surrounded him, and he let out a sigh of relief as he slid back down to the ground. His hair was black, and his eyes were a bright brown. His clothes indicated he was from the "middle" class, which was barely a step up from the lower class in the eyes of the elite. They were able to sustain themselves with housing, and a decent job, but weren't able to afford any sort of education, only learning what was passed down through the generations. On occasion a book would make its way into the world of the lower classes and those who could made an effort to spread it to as many people as they could. The boy showed signs of nourishment, which was rare among any of the lower classes, and pointed to his higher status among them. His name was Shiro Winters, and this is his journey.

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