Dominion

Chapter Ten: The Cloud

Chapter Ten: The Cloud

The Cloud consumed us, wrapping us in its mists as we ventured within its borders.

I could feel it on my skin, leeching its way inside me. Or at least, that's what it seemed like it was doing. As if it had to occupy every space within its borders. A glance back at Vera folding her arms, holding them close, told me she felt it too. This was not a place meant for travelers.

Maybe that's what made it a good hiding spot for the rebels.

Beyond that, it was cold. But not the kind of cold that made you shiver or that you could evade by wrapping yourself in warm clothes or a blanket. No, this was the kind of cold that made you feel like you might never be cheerful again. The kind that ate away you more and more the longer you let it surround you.

"What else do we know about this place?" Vera asked as we ventured forward, one step at a time as the rough and uneven terrain continued on a downward trajectory, towards what was the bottom of the lake at one point in time.

"Not much," I replied. "Whispers every now and then that Clouds aren't places you want to go if you can avoid it."

"Great," She replied. "Wait, Clouds?" She asked. "This isn't the only one?"

"You have not been on Earth for very long, have you?" Lizard asked her.

"There's one over every large body of water." I explained. I'd seen them from outside many times, even some of the larger ones from Star Hall. But I'd never been inside one.

"And no one really knows why?" She asked. I shook my head.

"No one's had the guts to search one. At least not completely." I replied, and then shifted my attention to Lizard. "Have the rebels seen anything since setting up camp in here?" I asked.

"Our arrival in thisss placcce wasss eerily...quiet. If The Dark Onesss have a presssenccce here, it isss not known to usss." Lizard replied.

"There has to be something here," Vera said. "Why would The Dominion make...this...for no reason?" She asked, looking around us. But all she could see, all any of us could see, was the mist. The grey-white air, never ending. A person could lose his or her mind if they got lost in this place.

"Why The Dark Onesss do the thingsss they do is not known to any of usss." Lizard replied. "They are without facccesss, without wordsss. Their reasssoningsss are beyond usss." He added.

No one said much after that, we just made sure to stay close and keep moving. But the terrain made even that a challenge. The deeper into The Cloud we got, the worse it became. It was more barren than any surface beyond it, as if whatever life this ground had once held had been sucked out of it. It was completely void of...anything. Everything.

It felt as dead as the corpses we had left in the village. And that made me wonder that, even if The Dominion was gone day, even if we ever reclaimed our world...would the Earth ever recover? Would it ever be as my grandmother told in her stories?

No, Paxer would've told me. He wouldn't give anyone false hope. The Earth could one day recover to an extent, but it would never be as it was. The impact of The Dominion would always be felt. By one and by all.

I learned that lesson, among others, the day Paxer and I had visited what was left of the village I'd grown up in.

"This was your place, kid?" Paxer asked me, his arms folded as our eyes settled upon what was left of the house I'd grown up in. Like most of the buildings in the village, it was still standing. But it was burnt, charred to the last inch.