A thousand thoughts raced through my head.

Should we get closer? Should we just ignore this? What the heck was powering that light? And why did it look so much like an alien antenna?

That last one was self-explanatory. Technically, if this world really wasn't Earth, then I was the alien, was I not?

From my perspective, however, that thing was screaming "alien technology."

Anyway, what caused me a bad feeling was how the area around it was only grass. It was simply too strange.

"Let's see."

I picked up a small rock from the ground and threw it toward the pole, not bothering to aim carefully. Myrra stood beside me, watching curiously.

The rock hit something in the air and bounced off, falling to the ground without a sound. I knew it. I fought the urge to look smug and instead turned to her with a perfectly serious expression.

"Did you see that?"

"Ya. Looks like a sortii, but not. Dunno translation," she whispered.

"A shield?" I suggested

She shrugged, "Dunno."

There seemed to be an invisible dome around the antenna, protecting it from the outside.

Maybe we could dig under it?" I murmured to myself, while Myrra busied herself trying to throw something at the barrier too.

'"Let's go," I said, motioning for her to follow me.

We approached cautiously, frequently throwing objects ahead to estimate how close we were to the invisible barrier. Myrra had found a long stick and was using it like a cane to probe for anything hidden in our path.

"Here," she said.

We were standing right in front of the invisible shield.

"Myrra, is that stick burning?"

"Oh." She pulled the stick back and examined its tip. It was slightly smoldering, a thin trail of smoke rising, but it hadn't fully caught fire.

Not a good sign.

"Krohem," she said, seemingly inspecting the air and poking it with the stick. Each time, the small area she poked glowed a bluish, very soft light.

This thing looked like it came straight from Star Wars or something.

I kept looking at her, waiting for an explanation that never came. Instead, she threw the stick aside and approached the invisible barrier.

"Hey, I don't think—"

'Zap'

"Ouch," she yelped, pulling her hand back quickly.

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"Shit, are you okay?" I hurried over. I knew this wasn't a good idea.

"Ya," she said, shaking her hand to ease the pain.

I glanced around to make sure nothing was nearby—the zap had made a little noise, after all—but all I could see were trees and the faint mist hanging in the night.

"Dunno if we can go inside," she said, still shaking her hand.

"Should we even go inside?" I asked. Sure, it might be safer than staying out here, but...

Urgh, what the heck am I supposed to do? This is a goddamn invisible force field. Shit's magical.

"Let's circle around it. See if there's a mechanism or something." I told her, trying to sound convincing.

She agreed, and we started circling the barrier counterclockwise.

It seemed to form a dome—or at least part of one—judging by the curvature. We couldn’t be sure about the top. Myrra stuck to her strategy of using the stick as a walking cane, letting us test as we went.

One thing we quickly noticed was how nothing we did outside affected the inside—not even air. The area beyond the barrier was completely undisturbed. The blades of grass inside didn’t move, no matter how hard we jumped or what we threw at the edge. It was as if the space inside was entirely disconnected from the world around it.

We exchanged looks and continued.

The second thing we tried was digging to see if there was a way to go under. No luck. The thing continued even beneath the earth. While we hadn’t dug too deep, the lack of curvature in the underground section made it seem more like the barrier went straight down rather than forming a complete sphere. Or it could be just our impression.

The third and last thing we concluded was that this thing only burned objects if they stayed in contact for too long. The zap had only happened when Myrra touched it that one time. We hadn't tried touching it ourselves again since.

We finished the lap, not really finding anything noteworthy.

"Isn't it kinda cold?" I asked Myrra, shivering slightly.

"Ya," she said, pulling her sheets closer. She still didn't have proper clothes.

I looked at the antenna.

"Well, good thing we have a huge firestarter right here."

It probably wasn’t the smartest idea to light a fire in this forest, but this would be quick. Just so we could enjoy it a bit and eat something warm; it's important for morale. Besides, I was interested in testing if the barrier would really ignite the stick or not.

Before doing it, however, I remembered the pouch on my neck. If this thing really was explosive, we were taking a huge risk by getting this close to this barrier. A shiver went through my spine. Holy crap, I should've thought about this sooner.

Taking the pouch off my neck and giving it back to a surprised Myrra, I checked on the other one inside the supply bag. Thankfully, it was still closed, even after all that running we had—

What the hell?

Sticking my arm deep inside, I grabbed a small blue sphere from the bag and turned it around in my hand, examining it. I had completely forgotten about this thing.

But why is it glowing?

Myrra looked curiously over my shoulder. The small sphere was glowing, not brightly, but with a dull azure hue, just like...

I glanced at the tiny dot atop the antenna.

Just like that.

Huh...

I got up and, very tentatively, extended my hand toward the barrier, brows sweating. We'd put some distance between us and the shield, so I kept inching forward, intent on stopping at the smallest spark of activation of the dome.

But it never happened.

When I noticed, I had already crossed a meter past the edge of the shield.

A smile of relief spread across my face.

"Myrra! This is the key!" I said, holding the small, glowing sphere high and turning around. "This is it!"

She was looking at me, confusion etched on her face.

"What's wrong? Just— Ouch." Something hit me right in the nose, making me flinch.

"What the..." I reached out and touched the solid air, the shape of my hands lighting up in a transparent glow, indicating where the dome was.

It had turned solid again.

"What the hell? Myrra?" I banged on the surface. "Myrra, can you hear me?"

She wasn't even looking in my direction anymore, seemingly inspecting the area around her in confusion.

"Fuck! Myrra? Hellooo? Hey!"

It was no use; she wasn't even hearing me.

"COME ON!" I kicked the dome, frustrated.

What the fuck happened? I could see her retreating to the forest and grabbing a stick, even amidst all that fog. So this thing was a kind of one-way mirror?

Not even sound passed, but that seemed to go both ways; I couldn't hear her either.

I pressed the tiny sphere on the dome, hoping to change something. Myrra hit the dome with the stick, but absolutely nothing traveled to the interior. No impact, no dull sound, nothing.

Even the temperature was different — slightly warmer. The cold outside didn't even...

I squinted, focusing on the fog behind Myrra.

Isn't that fog a bit...weird?