The Greek Gods and the Apocalypse

Chapter 28 (Edited)

Dawn has come and Destiny and I are waiting at the exit to Community for Marie and her harpy eagle to arrive. I said all of my goodbyes last night at dinner so that we could leave at first light. I have a fairly large pack on my back and Destiny has been fitted with special equipment that allows her to carry some of the supplies as well.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Marie coming towards the door. As she walks up beside me she says, "I do hope that I have learned enough about riding to be a help instead of holding you back."

"Look at it this way, without you I cannot find the muse, that point has been made abundantly clear. Given that information, you could not hold me back. In fact, you cannot do anything but aid me in my quest. Put simply without you my quest fails."

"Well then let me say this. I hope I can keep up so we can complete your quest and return home promptly. Clearly, Apollo believes you need a muse for ideas soon. These ideas must be very important for us to be going on this quest before my training has been completed."

"Those statements I can agree with so let's go so we can return home as soon as possible."

I exited first after putting in the code and Marie followed.

Once outside I ask her, "By the way what is your harpies name Marie?"

"Her name is Skye."

"That is a nice name," I reply.

"My message from Apollo says to go north, coupled with what I learned from my previous excursion outside the dome, I think we should start by flying north along the same path that Shimmer and I walked a while back. I already know the terrain and what to expect. There should be no surprises before we exit the second dome."

"You and Shimmer left the dome and walked north?"

"Yes, some time back we felt compelled to prove the second dome existed. We proved it and walked home."

"I see," Marie replies.

I did not choose to share the details of Shimmer and I's trip with Marie. There could still be repercussions within Community if everyone knew we had met a god before Apollo's arrival.

"Take to the air," I say and we rise into the morning sky.

We were careful to stay fairly low, just above the tree line. Neither of us knew how high the exterior dome rose. I did not want to find out the hard way like with the fake mountain scene.

When the sky became obscured we dismounted and travelled the remaining distance on foot. I felt it was safer to walk up to the exit than to fly. It did not take long to arrive at the newly installed harpy-eagle-sized exit to the second dome. At least with the door visible in the mountain landscape, we would not run into the dome.

Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw next.

As soon as the code was entered into the keypad, the large door opened, or rather disappeared, just like the other doors in the inner dome. We could see there was indeed a mountain past the door but it was still a ways off.

It was easy to see why the dome was placed here and not at the foot of the actual mountain. Not ten feet in front of us past the safety of the dome the world looked destroyed. I knew within seconds why the second dome was not transparent in any way. The view was awful.

The sky above was hazy compared to the fake sky that was on the top of the larger dome. Nothing but destruction could be seen from here to the base of the actual mountain. A city had once stood here but no more. All that is left is broken, burned, and completely dead.