The Greek Gods and the Apocalypse

Chapter

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 that I can keep up so we can complete your quest and return home in a timely manner. Clearly, Apollo believes you need a muse for ideas in the near future. 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 asked her "By the way what is your harpies name Marie?" "Her name is Skye." "That is a nice name" I replied.

"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 at least not before we exit the second dome." I replied. "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 replied. 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 said and we both rose 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 sure did not want to find out the hard way like with the fake mountain scene.

It did not take long by air to arrive at the newly installed harpy eagle-sized exit to the second dome. We had dismounted back when the sky became obscured by the dome. I felt it was safer to walk up to the exit than to fly. At least with the door clearly 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 the top of the larger dome. Nothing but destruction could be seen all the way 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. I knew then that if after one hundred years the view was still so desolate that I was lucky to be alive. That everyone I knew was lucky to be alive. I had the gods to thank for that, but most of all Shimmer. She is the one who found us all. She is why I am still walking on this planet. I owe her my life. I have my memories of Shimmer finding me half dead but I was so young I really do not have memories to prepare me for what I am looking at.

When Shimmer came the destruction had not become large scale. It was something you heard about in far-off places. It was not happening in my backyard. That being said the ripple effects were happening all around me. With everyone disagreeing on a global level friends and neighbors in my town had begun collecting what they would personally need to survive what would soon be our reality. Even if it was still not happening in my home per se. The repercussions were.