"Okay then,"

I stood up and swept my gaze around. There wasn't really much to see, truth be told. The lights in the sky had faded completely now, and the only source of luminosity nearby was the small blue dot above the antenna.

Approaching the metal needle again, I examined it— slowly this time. The blue marble was still hovering, some five centimeters or so, above the socket, gently spinning.

The lines in the metal followed the antenna from the base up, and now that I was paying closer attention, they pulsed with a faint bluish energy.

Makes sense. There has to be some type of energy to sustain this dome, right?

The second thing I did was to circle the entire edge of the barrier to confirm we were indeed trapped. According to my inspection, the barrier had no holes—none that I could find, at least.

"On to the elephant in the room, I guess."

Going over the open trapdoor on the ground, I craned my neck to see what was inside. There were circular stairs leading to somewhere deep underground. The grassy ground had parted perfectly to expose the secret entrance, making me doubt if the grass was even real. Alternating my gaze between the hole in the ground and the hovering sphere on the metal pole, I pondered how the technological level of this world was still a mystery to me.

The antenna was clearly the product of some industrial process, judging by its size and material. The hovering blue sphere might be explained by magnets—nothing I had ever seen on Earth, though. This dome alone was far beyond what we could achieve with Earth's technology.

I mean, there was that saying, right? "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," but...

Well, wondering endlessly about this was a moot point. Being in another world already triumphed over whatever weirdness this dome represented, after all.

I glanced back at Myrra, sleeping soundly in the grass, then back at the stairs leading underground. Should I wake her up?

No, let's do this now.

Step by step, I descended the stone staircase. The walls initially felt like packed dirt but soon turned to stone a few meters deep.

All of a sudden, soft blue lights turned on downstairs, bleeding into the stairs. I stopped in place, mildly startled. It didn't sound like someone was down there. It seemed more like an automatic sensor type of thing.

Hopefully.

"Come on, don't stop now," I said to myself.

Even if something or someone was down here, they were probably restrained, judging by how nothing had come to meet us on the surface until now.

As I kept going, however, what greeted me was something pretty different from what I was imagining, to say the least. One by one, the ceiling lights flickered to life, each casting a growing glow until the entire space was brilliantly illuminated.

"Whoa."

It was huge—far larger than I had anticipated.

There was a massive metal trunk extending from above, like a pillar, inscribed with glowing blue lines. This is the metal antenna, I realized. The thing was like an iceberg—larger beneath the surface than above. Various attachments, including what appeared to be a terminal at the base of it, made me wonder what it was for. Could we maybe control the dome above?

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The space itself was vast, larger than the area encircled on the surface, which was... odd. The iceberg analogy was spot on, apparently. Myrra and I had suspected that the barrier wasn’t a complete sphere when we inspected it.

The entire underground space was circular, shaped like a vast cylinder, and it had a very high ceiling, especially considering this was at least fifteen meters (~30 ft.) below the surface. I was still standing on the spiral staircase, hands on the railing, taking in the scene. On one side, a wall full of books stretched high above, with tables and furniture in front. Adjacent to it stood an armory, its walls adorned with weapons of all shapes and sizes, while armor stands were scattered throughout. The space also doubled as a storage area, filled with crates and barrels of various sizes, adding to the sense of organized chaos. Each section occupied one-fourth of the area.

Was this a safe room or a bunker of some kind?

I continued down the stairs, circling the pillar to see the other side of the place.

The other area was also divided into two spaces. One was similar to the library but with a very important difference. Instead of books, there were... spheres.

No, I corrected myself. Not spheres—cores.

There were cores of different sizes and colors, both on the shelves and on the display units on the ground. This brought me some relief. At least Myrra wouldn't die from whatever it was that she was suffering from.

And wouldn't try to kill us both by hunting a huge, disgusting spider.

The sections were separated by half walls and doors, resembling ordinary rooms. From my vantage point, however, I could glimpse most of their interiors since the walls didn’t extend all the way to the ceiling. The only exception was the fourth area. It was fully enclosed, so I had no idea what was hiding inside.

I continued down the stairs, admiring the view. The work required to create this must have been massive. I took a deep breath—the air was surprisingly fresh, not stale at all.

Upon reaching the polished stone floor, the first thing I did was look up. I estimated I was about 25 meters (80 feet) underground in total.

Glancing around and thinking for a while, I started in the direction of the central metal spiral but thought twice about approaching it carelessly. The thing was too strange.

Instead, I turned around and headed to the armory first, intending to check if there was food and water in those crates. Everything we had was in that bag left outside the dome, after all.

Starving would be a pretty underwhelming way to die, I thought, especially after all we've been through.

The storage/armory had a particularly wide door, probably to make moving things in and out easier. The walls separating it from the other sections were made of wood, but the rest of the room remained in polished stone, including the ground. The only furniture was a single wooden chair, similar to the one that was in my first cell.

Good times.

Despite my eagerness to examine the impressive array of weapons—axes, blades, shields, bows, knives, and daggers lined the walls—I decided to prioritize inspecting the crates.

Duty came first. Without water and food, we’d be in serious trouble.

Choosing a random crate, I gave it a light kick to ensure nothing inside shifted or moved.

There was no such thing as being too cautious.

Satisfied, with the lack of movement, I pried it open with my bare hands. This wasn't possible before, I noted to myself.

Inside were... dozens upon dozens of potatoes.

Well... okay. That was good. Assuming they really were potatoes, of course.

The barrels were next. The two I shook were indeed full of liquid, hopefully water. There were also some sacks full of flour and different grains that I hadn't seen from above. I also found multiple wheels of cheese and an obscene amount of carrots inside other big crates.

One box, however, medium in size, rattled differently when I kicked it, the sound hinting at glass or ceramics inside.

Maybe glassware?

Opening it up just for the sake of it, the content caused me to pause. A bunch of... vials... were neatly arranged on a two-tiered rack, with two different levels in it. The liquids ranged in colors: red, blue, purple, transparent...

"Potions?" I murmured aloud, the thought entirely plausible given the nature of this world. I refrained from touching anything, opting instead to continue my exploration, a childish excitement bubbling within me.

I was in an armory, full of weapons and potions. It was hard to not get at least a little bit excited.

Going to the next medium-sized box, I shook it slightly again. An interesting metallic sound echoed from within.

Promising, I thought.