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.

I tilted my head when it began to nibble on the end of my finger and began to pull my hand towards the water a little.

“What, you want me to come in? Sorry but I just bought these jeans, they look fucking chic,”

The fish dipped, before jumping out of the fucking water, launching itself at me.

I screamed as it began to slap me silly with its tail and tiny little flippers.

Gravity hit, and it fell to the floor with a sad little plop.

Panicked, I quickly scooped up the little guy and tossed him back into the water.

Within seconds, the little shit tried to jump back out again.

“Okay, okay, I’ll get in the fucking water. Happy? I must be nuts for arguing with a fish,” I muttered out the last part.

It nodded.

A fish. Nodded. Do fishes even have necks?

It leapt into the air and back into the water on its side, splashing me in the face.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The audacity!

Grumbling, I parked my butt on the edge of the wall and swung my feet over into the water, grimacing at the feeling of cold, sopping wet jeans clenching your calves.

Gross.

With a nudge, I completely submerged myself into the lake, and the bastard swam in between my fingers and nudged me deeper.

There wasn’t anything else on the surface that I could reach by the end of the week anyway - might as well go in further and investigate. I could always come back up later.

I took a deep breath and dove in.

The lake was deeper than it appeared from the top - it was something you could dive into from an eighty-nine feet diving board and never hit the bottom. It was full of more fish, octopi, fluorescent sting rays - a whole aquarium of aquatic creatures, jam packed with other sorts of flora that definitely didn’t exist back home.

The underwater glowing mushrooms were definitely psychedelic.

I sneaked one into my pocket.

And all the while, the little fish continued its dive deeper, and deeper and gently guided along.

But I was not a fish - at some point my lungs began to burn for air and just before I gave up on going deeper, it dove ninety degrees to the right into some sort of hole in the wall.

I was running out of time to think. Bubbles escaped from my lips, and my lungs tried harder and harder to fill itself. I followed it in, desperately flailing my arms continuously.

Light shone from above, and I swam faster and faster until broke to the surface just as the black spots overtook my vision.

I coughed violently, hurrying to suck in the beautiful O2 - at that point I didn’t care if the air was damp, stale and smelt like something that belonged in Shrek’s swamp - I needed to breathe.

The little shit bobbed its head above the surface of the water, taking in my pathetic state with a smug wiggle.

I flipped it off.

The orange fish flicked some black seaweed, hitting me directly on the bridge of my nose.

I grimaced, wiping away at the funky green slime that now coated my face.

It dipped up and down, as if it was laughing.

“Shush, not everyone can breathe underwater that long,” I swatted at him pettily under the water.

He slapped my hand with his fin

“Fine, fine I’ll go in. Stop slapping me,” I stroked it again before heaving myself onto the rocks with a plap.

My soggy clothes hugged my body tightly, and I knew if I kept these on for too long, I’d get sick.

I shed my jacket, tipped out the remaining water from my shoes and tossed off everything else other than underwear and bra. I tried my best to wring the clothes and dry myself, but it was still freezing.

I ended up putting my white top and jeans back on, despite how wet they were - I didn’t like feeling so vulnerable.

Just up ahead, the surface of this underwater cave transitioned from a rough calcite surface to something smooth and purposely textured to mimic a grey skirting board and glossy wallpaper patterns. A bright light emanated from further in.

Was someone still here?

I grabbed my belt from my jeans and ventured forward cautiously.

This cave appeared to be an old home that hadn’t been touched in years despite being brightly lit - the whole area smelt extremely damp, and each surface had a smooth sheen of moisture, slime and dirt covering it. The room was made up of a bed, cupboards, some depressions in the walls and a large table. Luckily, or unluckily, no one appeared to be here.

The depressions were smoothly carved into bookshelves and the books that rested on them were of different shapes and sizes. They, too, were wet.

I dropped my belt and yanked one off the shelf.

It was definitely a spellbook of sorts, but the ink ran and soaked into the pages in discoloured, messy splotches so that I couldn’t even see what language it was, nevermind attempting to decipher the absolutely horrid handwriting.

I shook my head and shoved it back on the shelf - any of those books would be useless anyway - it's not like I could have used any of them anyway.

Opposite to the bookshelves was a really long worktop, and a painfully uncomfortable wooden chair tucked neatly underneath.

Naturally, that wood had long rotted by now.

On the table was a large glass jar full of knick-knacks, and bits and bobs were littered all over the table like tweezers, shreds of paper and little metal chain links that would belong on a necklace.

Underneath, the largest pieces of paper had glued themselves to the table, mimicking the grey colour of the stone underneath - at this point it would be impossible to remove them without tearing them.

On the other wall were weapons - a knife, sword, and even a scythe taller than Dad, stored diagonally so it wouldn’t hit the ceiling. Whoever lived here before was dangerous.

But what did the fish want me to see?

With a frustrated sigh, I shuffled everything around. Nothing but miscellaneous items.

Something shiny and round glinted out from the jar.

I tipped it all out onto the desk, ignoring all of the little bits that rolled off.

A heavy, beautiful amulet made of an obsidian metal was carefully sculpted around an oval aquamarine gem, totalling the size of a 2p coin. Despite how expensive it appeared to be, the edges and the jewel were a little scuffed - probably from when the owner put it in a jar full of other sharp, hard little bits.

Well, if he wasn’t going to appreciate it, I would.

Remembering I didn’t currently have pockets, I put it around my neck.

The lights went out.

Wind tugged at my hair from seemingly nowhere, carrying whispers of a deep voice with a language I couldn’t quite place.

Blue eyes, the same colour as the gem, emerged from the darkness. His face was sculpted with a sharp jawline, pointed nose and framed by short unruly hair the colour of dried palm leaves.

His body was covered by a black-hooded long coat that extended into the darkness around us.

“Thank you! I was waiting for someone to finally pick me up - wait. Why are you practically naked?” Panicked, the stranger slapped his hands over his eyes, peeking at me through the gaps embarrassedly.

I looked down at my bare feet and sighed.

This was going to be… a ride and a half.