The Land Behind the Mirror | ONC 2022

Chapter 8

An enormous dome cradled the city in its embrace, glistening in the setting sun. In some places, the sun reflected off its surface, creating a magical rainbow of lights, as breathtakingly beautiful as it was surprising.

Inside the transparent dome, houses of different shapes and sizes settled comfortably. Each of them was more beautiful and diverse than the next one. Still, none of them were higher than a two-story building making the view even more all-encompassing.

As far as the eye could see, the buildings sprinkled the surface of the earth clustered into smaller or bigger groups with large amounts of green space filled with trees and flowers.

"Wow," Alba said unintelligently.

"Wow, indeed," Ana said, smiling with gentle affection at the place that had become home when she had none.

"What? How? Why?" Alba started firing the questions in a flurry without realizing it.

"We'll talk about that later. We really need to get inside. It's already dusk, and some creatures don't mind starting their hunt early," Ana said, cautiously looking around.

As they stepped into the clearing, Alba heard the sound of snapping branches, making her quickly turn towards the dimness of the forest they had just left behind.

Do not fret. It is just me.

After Grandma Bertha said that, her body pulled away from the shadows, joining them on the hill overlooking the dome.

I shall walk you to the front entrance.

Together they quickly descended the hill, getting to the entrance just as the last rays of sun fell behind the faraway mountain.

"Jerome, Jax, I am back," Ana said into a small machine that reminded Alba of an intercom.

Her words were followed by a mighty roar as if to accentuate the danger they were in. It was the one Alba recognized as the one that had been chasing her into her nightmares ever since she met Terrance.

"Hurry up, we seem to have company," Ana said hurriedly to those on the other end of the line that they still couldn't see.

As the doors started hissing open and sliding to the side, Alba noted with terror that the ground was already shaking, signaling the beast's approach. It took all the strength she had left not to wrap herself in a small ball and scream her heart out.

"Grandma Bertha, are you sure you can handle him? Don't you want to come in and wait for him to calm down?" Ana asked, pointing at the larger entrance nearby.

I will be just fine, don't you worry yourself, my dear. I wouldn't have gotten to be this old if I didn't know how to take care of myself.

"But..." Ana started to say.

Ana, it's okay. This is how we dinosaurs live, in constant danger of something. Don't worry, I know what I am doing. I'll draw his attention. Terrance might be dangerous, but he isn't very bright.

Then Grandma Bertha smiled brightly at them and ran off to draw Terrance away. It was the bravest thing Alba could think of anyone doing, but Grandma Bertha didn't seem to see it as risky. It was more like she was having fun dealing with the enormous T-Rex that terrified Alba.

As the doors finally opened, Alba threw one last glance at the dinosaur's retreating figure only to see that the plan was working. Terrance was already chasing after the brontosaur. Blinded by anger, he didn't seem to be doing too well as Grandma Bertha kept throwing large branches in his way as she ran, slowing down his progress.

"Don't worry. Grandma Bertha will be fine. Her herd is nearby, and even Terrance knows when to give up. If he was a bit smarter, he wouldn't have been so easily antagonized and could have had a nice meal of the two of us," Ana said factually.

Alba followed her through another set of automatic doors with disgust on her face. She couldn't understand how her friend could talk so casually about such a horrible death, as if it was something that just happened, like a car accident or a plane crash.

"I am sorry. I know how this might sound cruel to you," Ana quickly said as she saw horror clearly written on Alba's innocent face. "It's just that when you are here long enough, you learn to accept some things like normal when they are anything but. One of them is that some of the rebel dinosaurs still eat humans. I guess it's similar to wild animals in our world sometimes attacking humans when they are hungry."

The explanation helped Alba somewhat to get over the shock, but she still hoped she wouldn't stay there long enough to get used to such awful things. Her biggest wish was for someone to find a way to send her back home, to forget that all of the madness even happened.

No matter how adventurous she was back home, even Alba knew that there was such a thing as being too adventurous. Being in the land filled with talking dinosaurs, some of whom were trying to eat you, was her definition of too much.

Finally, they reached two guards with enormous guns standing by what seemed to be the final set of doors.

"She made it completely unscathed. Pay up!" Jerome said to Jax without even greeting the girls.

"Wow, you were betting against me?" Ana asked Jax teasingly.

"Well, it's your own fault. Every time you end up with at least a few scratches and bruises, making me lose the bet. And the one time I bet against you, you come back in perfect shape," Jax said, seemingly undeterred by her tone.

Alba couldn't understand the exchange. It made no sense that they would bet on something as serious as that, especially since they seemed to be friends with Ana. Even humans didn't make any sense to her.

"Alright, I need you two on your best behavior," Ana said firmly upon seeing Alba looking at the guards with judgment in her eyes. "This is my friend Alba, and she just arrived. Let's not make her think we are savages."

"Sorry, we don't mean anything bad by it," Jerome said first. "I am Jerome, and this idiot here is my friend, Jax. It's nice to meet you."

"Ahem...nice to meet you, too," Alba said cautiously.

It was clear from her posture and the facial expression that she didn't mean it, and Ana was happy that at least her friend was still as easy to read as she used to be. She understood her reactions better than Alba thought, as Ana was no different when she first arrived. And even though, with years, she got used to the way things were, she often still felt like an outsider.

"Alba? As in that Alba?" Jax asked, fascinated.

Ana bobbed her head in confirmation.

She could already see him speculating what it could mean that a mirror ended up bringing the best friend of one of the people who was already sucked into it. But she didn't think Alba was ready for the questioning.

"Welcome to Heartforest, Alba. I've heard so much about you. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Jax said, bowing like that was a normal thing, which it wasn't.

"Jax, we are tired. Let's chat later when we are not exhausted," Ana said, fearing that Jax might start questioning Alba then and there.

"Fine, fine," Jax said, opening the big heavy door by turning the wheel situated in the middle of it. "But don't forget to meet up with Wisetail. He is eager to meet the 'fun new human'."

"Of course," Ana said, leading Alba to the housing area.

"Who is Wisetail?" Alba asked, not sure she wanted to know.

"He is our resident historian and the friendliest dinosaur you'll ever meet," Ana said affectionately.

"Oh," Alba said at a loss of what to say to that.

She had to content herself with breathing the more bearable air under the dome and enjoying the sights. Her questions would have to wait for her to get her wits back and ask just the right questions.