(Title:A Story That Counts)

In an uncertain time, there was a numerable world inhabited by a colony of digits: One; his fiancé, Two; Four; his friend, Three, Three was known for making magic tricks, that’s why she is nacknamed the magic number, Four’s aunts, the nerdy Six and Five; Eight; her friend and mentor, Nine; and their leader, Zero. They all had one purpose. Every day, they used their tools—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—alongside samples of their "DNA" to create smaller, non-sentient numbers. These were used to form mathematical clouds that traveled into the Innumerable, so that space would become not so innumerable anymore. This process allowed everything in the universe to be counted.

One "day" (not exactly a day), a cloud filled with the number 10 was struck by mathematical lightning. The cloud fell from the sky, and from its fallen remains arose a new entity. He looked as if One and Zero were standing next to each other. He called himself Ten.

Ten wandered the numerable desert until he found the small town where Zero and his people lived. When Ten entered, everyone looked at him with confusion and disgust.

"Hello, my name is Ten," he said.

"Hello, Ten. I’m Four, and these are my friends," Four replied. "We calculate numbers for a living. You look like my aunt divided by Two."

"You’re weird," Ten said. "I ain't someone's aunt."

"No, you don’t understand," Four said. "Let me explain."

Four took him to the math laboratory and gave him primary math lessons. Ten kept staring at those numbers, lost in a mysterious thought.

Four eventually left the room to see Three, who looked at him with concern. "Zero says we should not play around with Ten; he thinks Ten is dangerous!" Three told Four.

But Four objected calmly. "Ten’s cool."

Later, Four and Three went to Five and Six’s place for dinner.

"It’s so generous of you to come visit your aunts, isn’t that right, Six?" Five said.

"Yes, he’s a good boy," Six replied.

"Hey, did you gals hear?" Three asked. "One and Two are getting married this weekend!"

"Oh, this is great news!" Six said.

"I hope you and Three also get married," Five said with a grin on her face, though she did not say it jokingly.

"Five, I told you, Three and I are just friends!" Four said in an embarrassed and angry tone.

The sentient numbers gathered at the laboratory the next day to find Ten and his unique creations. They were confused as they saw numbers far removed from the traditional ones they made—things like 0.5 or 0.12 that were less than 1. One was scared of Ten’s "abominations," but everyone else was impressed; they thought Ten was brilliant.

"I don’t think this Ten is good news," One whispered to Two.

"I think someone is just jealous," said Two.

"This is not about jealousy! Besides, why would I be jealous? The first digit in Ten is 1; look, Two, the first digit in Ten is 1!"

"Interesting. We’ll catch you later."

It was a session of joy as the numbers befriended Ten and found him fascinating—all but one. One believed Ten was dangerous, and the day finally came when the numbers learned he was right.

Ten gathered them all to present a new creation. Every number was present except for One.

"Dear numbers, today I come to present to you a new number," Ten said before he chuckled and smirked. "Numbers, I made more sentient numbers like me!"

Ten revealed his creations as they emerged from the darkness to surround the group. "Seize them!" Ten commanded coldly.

After Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Eight, Nine, and Zero were captured, Ten realized Onewas missing. But One had already realized something was wrong; he had escaped just before the trap snapped shut.

One wandered outside the city in the numerous desert, all alone and searching for hope. He walked through the countable sand, the numerable rivers, the mathematical cacti, and the algebraic hills until he found a cabin. In most stories, entering a stranger’s cabin in the middle of a mathematical nowhere while lost is a bad idea, but One was desperate.

Just as he reached out to knock, the door opened, revealing the occupant of the numerical cabin: Seven.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Seven asked with a disgusted expression.

"You’re Seven!" One exclaimed.

"Live and in person," Seven said, his expression softening slightly. He looked behind Oneand noted that it was getting dark. "You should come in."

Seven’s house had few light sources. The place was a mess, bathed in warm colors and shadows.

"So, what's a lonely number like you doing in the middle of this countable desert?" Sevenasked.

"Actually, I’m not lonely," One replied.

"You are the loneliest number!" Seven teased.

"I am getting married to Two this week!" One shouted.

"Two could be as bad as One, kid," Seven claimed.

One ate some of the finite food and asked, "Is it true? Did you actually try to... eat Nine?"

Seven looked at One with aversion. "No! I don’t know why Six is spreading that around. I would never eat my sister’s best friend."

"Then why did you leave?"

"Some things are just better left secret, kid," Seven answered cryptically.

"Well, I need your help," One said. "There is a new number. He has two digits instead of one, and he captured all my friends. I don't even know why he did it!"

"I knew something like that would happen one day," Seven said. "I think I know how to help you."

The following day, One and Seven went to an abandoned grotto near Seven’s man cave. The grotto was full of strange objects and the corpses of Roman numerals. The walls were covered with tally marks. Seven said there might be something buried in the center of the cave.

"What makes you think that?" One asked.

Seven avoided the question. "Enough talking. Start digging."

One and Seven dug for hours until they found the forbidden relic known as the Calculator. Its display flashed "0.1134," which, when turned upside down, revealed its greeting: "hELLO." One thought the Calculator was incredible, but Seven remained concerned. One told the device that the numbers were desperate and needed its help.

"O N... E... I T... One it," the Calculator pulsed. "H O P ... hop on ME!"

One and Seven did as the Calculator instructed. It began to hover slowly, then, in an instant, it traversed the numerable desert and reached the city in algebraic time. The city looked abandoned. A newly constructed tower stood there, topped with a glossy green globe and a strange setting at the base that hadn't been there when One left.

"What’s the plan?" One asked.

"According to legend, the Calculator can solve any equation or math problem in less than one second," Seven answered.

Ten, sitting in the tower’s office, saw them flying through the sky. He ordered his decimal subjects to attack, but the Calculator was too strong even for Ten’s minions. It subtracted them from existence in the blink of an eye. One felt certain of victory as the Calculator landed.

"Seven, go inside the laboratory and free our friends," One commanded.

"You got it, boss," Seven replied.

Seven found the prison cells within the laboratory and freed the numbers.

"Is it really you?" Six asked, astonished.

"Six!" Seven cried.

"Seven!" Six celebrated.

"Brother!" Eight added, and she and Seven hugged, finally reunited.

One and Two were also reunited. "My number Two!" One shouted.

"My sweet number One!" Two replied.

All the numbers gathered around the Calculator in front of the tower, wondering where Ten was. A moment later, Ten revealed himself.

"It’s over, Ten! You can’t stop us now that we harness the spectacular power of the Calculator!"

"Oh, I can. Behold!" Ten shouted. "From the secrets of binary and the might of mathematics, I govern the most powerful force of all!"

Ten hadn't given his ultimate weapon a name, so he glanced around and saw a cafeteria. "I call it... Cake!"

"Cake? That is a ridiculous name!" Four shouted.

"Fine then! I call it... uh... Pi!" Ten announced.

As the numbers wondered what was so special about this new arrival, Ten revealed the truth: unlike the finite bodies of their world, this number had infinite digits that could unravel reality itself. Pi was so powerful that it destroyed the tower and began hollowing out the sky with lightning bolts. One bolt disintegrated Ten; another struck and broke the Calculator.

"No! Calculator! How is this number besting you?" One grieved.

"S-O-R-R-Y... but I am not a scientific calculator," the device flickered in its final minute. It scrolled one last problem across its display: 128√e980.

"No!" One cried out.

"There is one last way to stop Pi," Six shouted over the chaos. "We could round it! If you distract it, I can reduce its digits in the programming office!"

The numbers agreed, knowing this could be their final day. They began shouting at the infinite force.

"Hey! You know why we don't want to talk to you? Because you go on forever!" Three yelled.

"What's your favorite type of snake? A Pi-thon!" Seven added.

"I’m thirsty! I want a Pi-ña colada!" One shouted.

While Pi was distracted by the puns, its settings were altered, rounding it down to the non-sentient number 3.14. It floated into the sky like a balloon, never to be seen again. From this day forward, all the numbers lived in peace. Seven and Eght where reunited,Seven is no longer isolated, Two and One got married and most importantly the calculator was repaired by Six, so everything ended well and everyone is cooler

                                               The End

                                 By Omar Sohail Mayada