Intentions of a Dark Mage

Chapter 3

I woke up with my back on... grass? It was as if I had been teleported elsewhere.

But who could have built something like this?

I was in a gargantuan geodesic dome that could fit at least fifty football pitches - there was no way I was going to reach the edge of it anytime soon. Though it was mostly spherical, the glass making up the sphere was created from large diamond shapes of different lengths and sizes, creating a sort of appearance, as if the glass was cracked from the very top, and its fractures spread throughout the dome to the base. All of it was framed by clean, white bars, like a greenhouse. The land was completely vast, lightly decorated by a few trees here and there. Nothing supporting the centre of the dome though - how on earth was this still standing?

Beyond the barrier, the skies were azure; clouds equally misty and light looking, much like the skies we have at home, but what gave it away that we might have been in a different realm, was that there were fishes swimming in the fucking air. And a whole stream gushing forth to boot.

At the top of the dome was a hole that let in a portion of the heavy rush of water, which fell to a large pond at the centre of the dome, not far from where I stood. A little fish from above decided to fall and join the rest at the bottom, swimming happily and mingling with the others.

And despite the fact that this place was isolated from the outside world, a gentle breeze tickled the back of my neck, and the scent of pollen, water and sandalwood wafted through the atmosphere soothingly.

This mini-utopia had the same sort of serenity as the abandoned building back home - peaceful and seemingly everlasting.

All I'd ever known was the bustling, deathless hustle of daily life, only caressed by a feather of joyful moments from long ago that were now tainted with ink.

Mum and Dad told me that this realm was dangerous - all that humans could access was the lower layers of the world, all dyed black by the shadows of the other floating land formations above.

I didn't know that the other side had places like this - tranquil and bright, like the surface of a sea that forms a mirror of the sky at dawn.

Yet, it was fragile like tissue paper - there was no way that this kind of place would be sustainable. Someone was bound to ruin it later, especially with all of the horrible people out there in the world - humanity was selfish, prideful and greedy. It was in our nature, and a place like this wouldn't last for long in our clutches.

I hoped that other people would never find out about this place.

I spun around, looking for any other sort of formation. Although there were a few fruit-bearing trees littered around, there was nothing of interest out there that was actually within walking distance - it would be better to see the body of water first, since it was closest.

I approached the water carefully. What appeared to be a pond turned out to be more like a medium sized lake, contained by a wall of mismatched rocks of different minerals, shapes and sizes - all cemented together with hard-packed sediment. On the surface were a few pink and white lilies and vibrant green lily pads. Some reeds extended from below the surface, and the water itself was transparent and clean as if someone went and triple filtered it.

A little orange fish that somewhat resembled a carp (did they even have carps on this side?) bobbed its head in greeting. I dipped my fingers into the water, watching it ripple. It headbutted my hand and swam closer to the edge, towards me.

"Aren't you cute?" I cooed, tickling its underbelly with my forefinger.

It was no larger than my hand, and it was very, very expressive. The fish swam back and forth, encircling my fingers and prodding at me again and again.