To find yourself, first you must recognize what isn't yours to carry.

December Valence writes for the only newspaper in Pluto City—a digital refuge hidden from the raging civil war above. When mysterious power outages begin plaguing the city and her paper remains conspicuously silent, December's carefully constructed reality begins to fracture.

With each blackout, memories return—fragments of her forgotten role in bringing people to this sanctuary. When her attempt to report the truth is blocked, December initiates a covert exploration of what Pluto City really is, and what that makes her: savior or accomplice?

As the boundaries between simulation and reality blur, December must unravel the city's secrets while confronting her own complicity. The more she discovers, the more she questions whether this refuge is worth preserving—or if she should risk everything to help its citizens face what waits beyond.

With haunting prose and startling vision, INTO THE QUIET BARREN examines the stories we tell ourselves to survive and the courage it takes to seek truth in a world built on gilded fictions.

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