Dome Chapter 20
The Daughters
Greasy sweat hung on Nadia’s brow. She pulled her sleeve, brushing the sticky residue off her forehead.
Ash fell and blew all around her. Her nose clogged with black filth. Her mouth, huffing–each breath harder than the last.
Skald’s small body landed on her shoulder like a gentle hand. Looking over, they looked at one another. Her large black eyes stared into Nadia’s with a soft perplexity.
She must not need to breathe, Nadia thought. How fortunate.
Another huff as Nadia pulled herself forward. The pain in her chest made her imagine her lungs crusting and hardening into ashy rocks like the ones that surround her.
Steam whistled as a powerful puff of hot gas escaped from a crack in the earth.
Is that what happens here? Could these gray rocks have been people at one time? Tired and exhausted, fallen into the ash to become a rock?
The speck on her desk flashed into her memory.
That troublesome speck. The reason for her outburst. The moment she showed Mother her frustration, hiding underneath. The questions. Questions without answers. If there were no answers, why did they exist?
Except that there are.
Hidden underneath the clean sterility of the Dome. Only for a small, ugly black head to hint at something else.
Millions of these small specks now descend from the sky. Covering her. Merging into her.
N-85. Mother. The Dome. White. Sterility. Perfection.
Meaningless.
What was it all worth? When facing something like this mountain. How long has it been here? How much longer will it remain?
Yet the Dome, her world, her perfect world so small in comparison. The city itself, even the tallest building insignificant to this enormous pile of ash..
And she had to climb it.
No matter how small she was. She had to climb it.
She lay in the dirt, letting the ash cover her.
What does it matter? Even if she does find this Zoroaster, it’s probably too late anyway. Her life is as meaningful as each piece of ash. Perhaps that’s why she hated that speck so much. It was a reminder of what she is. A speck. Falling ash, blown by the winds of fate, piling onto one large pile of ashes until the pile becomes a mountain.
Her body was covered in a layer of ash. Her skin had been growing into a lush reddish-brown, but it was now gray. Gray to black. Soon, a small mound on the side of the hill.
The struggle, the pain, the anxiety. None of it matters in the face of an immortal monstrosity like the Burning Mountain. What is the struggle worth when, in the end, she and Winsor would also become one with the ash? What is one speck of ash worth?
Winsor’s sketch of her comes to her mind.
Her heart flutters at the thought of the beautiful young woman in the drawing.
Who is she? Why would she be worthy of someone making markings on a piece of paper to make her face? What was the point of it?
To create, the thought faded into Nadia’s head. Create. So easy for Winsor to do. I could never do something like that. At best, my face only inspired it.
Is that all I am? A face. What even is a face?
The warm ash tightened the pores of her skin. The smell of burning relaxed her nostrils.
What am I? I cannot create the way Winsor can. I was trying to free him from it, but it would be like trying to free him from his own body. Maybe it is possible, but if I did, it would kill him.
There was something enviable in that. To have something so you that to take it away would be to erase yourself entirely.
What is it in me that’s worth fighting for? What could be taken from me that would kill me? What am I?
She sniffs a flake of ash. Her lungs contract as her whole body jolts out of the pile of ash in a panic.
Gagging. Coughing. Exhaling. Inhaling.
Sprawled on the ground, she arches up her body, begging for life.
“I’m tired.”
Skald drifted to Nadia’s forehead. Placing her small, soft hand on Nadia’s brow, she closed her eyes.
A warmth flowed through Nadia, followed by a cool puff of air that blew into every muscle of her body, inflating them with a small burst of energy.
She pulled herself up the staff when she felt the earth beneath her shake. It shook and even dipped a little. The muscles in her legs tense, waiting for another tremor.
It came.
Small at first, but before she could react, it grew into an explosion of dirt and dust as a massive orange trunk emerged from the earth.
She stared up at the strange shape. Like a long orange finger with a curved black nail at the end.
It retreated back into the earth.
Nadia’s mind raced, trying to gather together every possible memory to try to piece together what she saw. Nothing. It was so strange and bizarre that, even though her body told her to run, the desire to know what it was led her to the hole.
As she approached it she could see that not far down into the dark hole, there was something glowing a deep orange hue that danced into other colors, turquoise, jasmine, and aqua. She looked down into the hole to find an eye.
A large eye.
A big, round, wet eye, its iris an amethyst galaxy. It peeked out of the hole. Searching. Contemplating. Planning. When it found Nadia.
Her two small green eyes were lost in its one large round portal.
Its red, fleshy lids blinked, and what appeared to Nadia to be a large, sparkling tear poured out. A knife struck Nadia’s heart.
She is trapped.
It was not clear to her that it was a “she,” Nadia did not know. All that was clear was that she needed help.
She thrust her staff into the rock and pushed.
Skald waved at her to stop, but the eye, the sad eye in her memory, told her to push.
Little by little, bit by bit, rock by rock, it tumbled.
A thump beneath Nadia’s feet. A thump of life that reverberated from her feet into her stomach. Whatever she was, she was with her. Trying.
Stones tumbled off one another. The thump grew stronger until a deafening crack echoed through every grain of sand in the mountain.
An even louder, deafening shriek cried from within the mountain. It seemed to break the very mountain itself as the earth burst open in a blur of orange, red, blue, and green.
Nadia fell on her back. Skald tucked behind the nape of her neck.
She watched the creature dance through the sky. Its dark gray wings flap with a power that bursts holes in the ashy gray sky. Blue light penetrated, transfiguring the gray clouds into golden orange and pink hues.
With every flap, the creature’s form became clear.
A long, sinewy body slithering across the sky, sparkling in a rainbow of colors.
Her apartment. Winsor’s sculpture. The lights they made.
All those images connected to this creature dancing around her. Shimmering from emerald, to sapphire, to ruby. Its wings were two large feathery triangles that moved, less like a machine keeping itself in flight but more like she was embracing the air around her, embracing her colors, embracing life.
Gliding down from the air, she swirled around Nadia and Skald.
Nadia stood up. The creature’s feathers, glinting impossible colors, shone all around her.
One large purple eye on each side of the creature’s narrow head that tapered into a long, sharp beak that glowed a hot orange and red. Crowned with a feathery crest of prismatic colors and a bob that hung like a crown jewel.
Her long tail had two feathery bulbs glinting like gems as they flicked.
The two stared into one another’s eyes.
Nadia’s chest expanded as she felt a familiar feeling overwhelm her heart. She placed her hand over it as she stared up at the magnanimous bird.
She speaks to me, but not in words.
A word formed like a bubble from her chest and up to her mind, Schicksal.
“That’s your name, isn’t it?”
Voiceless, the great bird opened her wing toward Nadia, presenting her back to her like a royal entrance.
Nadia accepted the invitation.
Saddled on her back, Schicksal rose on her orange hind legs and leaped into the air, and with a strong flap, they took flight.
Skald held tight to Nadia’s shoulder and Nadia to the great beast as she ascended. Through the ashy white clouds, past the glowing red peak of the burning mountain, and up until they broke the breaches of smoke and death.
The sky was a soft purple haze. Nadia could see hints of stars peering through the atmosphere. Beneath them, an endless ocean of clouds illuminated in a soft golden tone from the sun’s rays, flecked with rose and lilac hues.
As she scanned the vista, she saw the sky's purple fade into a hot red glow as it neared the earth’s atmosphere, and as they reached the end of the cloudscape below, she saw a world so vast and undiscovered. Mountains, rivers, forests, and plains in the setting sun appeared as though they were all cast in gold.
There is so much to what is real. So much more. The boundaries of the Dome that once felt so large to her are now nothing compared to everything beyond.
Nadia closed her eyes to let the sun touch her. Feel its rays brush her skin. Smell the warm air of the evening. The coolness of the clouds sprayed her cheek.
She laughed.
The warmth of the sun evaporated as something dark and cold rose above the clouds, enveloping Nadia.
She could feel a cold finger run up her spine, but she did not open her eyes until she heard the scream. So loud it filled the infinite expanse around them. She felt her blood coagulate and twist in her veins.
She opened her eyes.
A black shadow eclipsed the sun, engulfing all three of them like a pebble. Its body—an ashy earthen curtain with veins of dying magma. It was as though the mountain itself had come to life.
Its head a sharp black triangle with huge orange disks. Hot and angry. They stared down at her, glinting with a hungry desire.
Another bubble of a word flowed up from Schicksal to Nadia. A soft and frightened voice, Urdhu! Urdhu!
Nadia tightened her grip on the bird’s feathers.
Urdhu’s sharp beak opened. Lava flickering like saliva from its maw, but shot down at the three like asteroids.
Schicksal plummeted down. Nadia hadn’t noticed until she felt her stomach lifting up. The black head followed them as the purple haze of the sky faded back into the grey smoke below. The beak, however, always near. Snapping. Screeching.
Holding her staff close, Nadia pressed her body closer to Schicksal’s as the bird soared through the spinning, dipping, and ascending until Nadia felt a jolt that traveled from Schicksal’s back to her beak, freezing her in place.
Turning back, Nadia saw the enormous fiery orange beak closed tight on Schicksal’s glittering tail and had to reach out and grab hold of Schicksal’s back as the momentum of flight left her, leaving her limp in Urdhu’s beak.
The great head reared back, dragging the small party, and with a great thrust, she threw Shicksal against the side of the mountain.
Nadia and Skald fell to the earth. Hot pain coursed through Nadia’s body as it struck the rocky earth. She pulled herself up to see Urdhu descend over them, wrapping them in a small, feathered arena. The head of Urdhu cast a dark stare at Schicksal.
The once proud and beautiful gem-speckled bird that Nadia knew was now a small and frightened worm compared to Urdhu.
A low but loud growl echoed somewhere from Urdhu, while Schicksal bowed her head and began pecking at the earth.
Nadia and Skald watched; it was not them Urdhu was after. It was Schicksal.
They watched as Schicksal pecked a tunnel into the earth.
Nadia’s eyes darted toward Urdhu. Her large orange eyes, squinting solely on Schicksal. Watching not in bewilderment, but in observation. Ensuring Schicksal continued.
She’s forcing Shicksal to bury herself.
Gripping her staff, Nadia rose and ran toward the two, but before she could even come close, an enormous black wing blocked her path.
Able to get a closer look, she realized that the wing itself is part of the mountain. Dry, dead twigs, ash, rock, steam, fire, all part of this enormous being’s body.
It’s hopeless.
Her stomach seemed to release from an unconscious knot. Her muscles untying themselves.
Urdhu’s head snaked over the wing and bore down on Nadia.
Nadia’s body did not flinch. If it was going to happen, it would be quick.
How meaningless is anything when confronted by something so vast, ancient, surreal?
Urdhu’s mouth opened, the fiery heat tightening Nadia’s flesh as she observed the world writhe into a hot, steamy blackness.
A dark fire is waiting for her and Skald.
With a roar that rang in Nadia’s eyes for days afterward, Urdhu pulled away.
A small bright beak was attached to her throat.
Schicksal!
Her beak snapped hard and hung on to Urdhu’s neck. Urdhu swayed back and forth, struggling to throw the small, colorful creature off her.
Nadia ran with Skald hanging on to her neck. The two raced across the mountainside. Where she was going and whether she would make it was lost on her. All she knew in that moment was to run.
The ground dipped, wound, and rose. As long as her feet touched earth, Nadia moved one more foot in front of the other, never giving a moment to look back or wonder where she was, until the edge of her boot caught on a jagged rock and she fell.
Off the side of the mountain and into the grey white ash.
The gloomy clouds swirled. Light broke through. Schicksal shot out, the smoky clouds exploded as she breached the crest of the smoke. Burning golden light glittered on her feathers.
Nadia rose to find herself once more on Schicksal’s back.
She turned, her staff as well lying on her back, Skald frightened beyond her wits but still clutching to her neck.
Everyone was once again together, but Nadia’s heart kept her from relaxing. The danger was still present.
The volcano boomed. Fire so bright grew beneath them that the clouds themselves glowed white-yellow. For a moment, they seemed to grow like a bubble before hot magma erupted in an apocalyptic column.
Burning ash and rock came down like comets.
Schicksal dodged.
Nadia saw a clod of burning rubble breaking apart. There was no way they could outmaneuver it. Not without Schicksal dropping them to their deaths to save herself.
She needed something to cover her, but all she had was her staff.
Her heart once more spoke, and again not in words but in feelings. A desire to pick up her staff.
She did as he was compelled.
Something was now moving through her, from her heart and extending through her limbs to her head. She could feel it begin to overwhelm her, a warm feeling of blue and purple swirling through her.
Eyes closed, she took the staff and squeezed it against herself as though she were a conduit, transferring the swirls from within her to it.
Her sculpture began to glow. Refractions and dispersions of light danced inside the glass like a prism. In her mind, she pictured the fiery debris evaporating into smoke.
Lifting her staff up, she opened her eyes to see the burning debris now coming down, surrounding them in fire. Red rock and fire surrounded them, and yet, looking up above, Nadia could see that something invisible was keeping the rocks from touching them.
She held the staff up, her arms exhausted, but her fear focused her energy to not let her staff down. Not for a moment.
The debris gave way, and finally, the deep, dark purple and orange of the evening sky became visible.
With the stars visible, Nadia set her staff down. In the deep, distant night, she could hear something old, powerful, and sorrowful calling out.
As though in response, large droplets of shimmering water flew by Nadia. It could have been the condensation in the air, but she knew it was Schicksal’s tears.
It had been several decades since a wizard arrived in the village of Dento, and the old villagers were not expecting a new one to arrive.
However, it was a leathery-faced old man, finishing a day of harvesting corn in the wasteland, who looked up and saw something. It reminded him of his youth, when he saw Zoroaster riding his wyvern, Mainyu.
His heart ached at the sight.
Could he have returned? It’s been so long.
For twenty years, Zoroaster had disappeared. What would bring this on? Either the greatest of tidings, or, and he braced himself because he lived long enough to know it was most likely “or,” the most horrible of omens.
More villagers had begun to notice the old man looking up, and they too stared up with tired, wrinkled eyes.
Heavy eyes. Knowing eyes. Fading eyes. Dying eyes.
As the shadow descended, it was clear that it was not a large flying lizard, but rather a large colorful bird, a young phoenix.
Whispers grew. Some fearful. Some hopeful.
“It’s a young phoenix; it means children will return.”
“How? There’s no one left to make them.”
“It means death is coming.”
“That’s old phoenixes.”
Guards, the youngest being no older than forty, swarmed in a circle where they could estimate where the creature would land.
Their old spears, rusted tin on shaggy sticks. Their entropied muscles, sitting on saggy skin, trembled as the bird came for a landing in the center of the village.
A flap of her wings and the dirt below swirled a small sandstorm. Dirt covering the glass bottle windows. A gust blew over an aluminum shingle from a shack.
As the sand settled and the air calmed, they could see a figure standing atop the Phoenix.
A woman.
A young woman.
A strange young woman.
Her head was bald, and though her skin was burned, it was clear she was much paler than they. She carried a large wooden staff with a shiny green glass orb on top. Some would later claim that they saw a Sprite on her shoulder, but others would say Sprites are only an old wives’ tale.
Whatever disagreements they had, what all recalled was how she descended from the back of the Phoenix as though she were royalty and spoke, addressing the guards as though they should have expected her, “My name is Nadia. I came from the Dome, and I seek Zoroaster.”
That's a really good last line!