Leaving the dome

I turned off the shower pipe through a holographic AR hovered beside me, and since there was no heater in this bathroom. I had to use the towel to wipe my body, after I was done showering, I put on new clothes that I brought with me hanging on a nearby hook just barely above me.

There were also a washing machines in another room, so I went there to wash my stinking clothes. It only took 5 minutes for the entire cleaning and heating process. Now it was clean and not wet as well, this was what I love about technology at this present moment.

When I was done laundry, I folded my clothes and put them back into my backpack. Now I looked at the time and it was only 3 pm. There was one hour left, nonetheless, I left the bathroom and sat on an empty bench just observing people walking by and playing sports with their friends.

While I sat alone looking at the sky idly, I heard a footstep approaching me from behind. I thought it was either Shan or Setsuna, but when I turned around to see the owner of this footsteps, the person heading toward me didn't even put on a smile or express any emotion.

Short ashen hair with pale light skin and skinny, doll-like features, gripping on her hand, was a can of energy drink with the thunder logo upon it.

I murmured "Hyun Hee!"

She slightly bent down her knee and leaned forward as she placed the energy drink beside me on the bench.

"You must be tired, please drink it." She said and walked away, not even giving me a chance to speak to her.

Normally she wouldn't even talk to me, I didn't know what was it but I told myself to considered the drink as a gift from her and not suspected much. 

I pushed opened the can and sipped the sweet energy drink into my mouth.

I didn't drink much, just took a few sips, since it was not good for my health to drink too much sweetness.

Nonetheless, I also felt more energetic and alert as if my energy had returned after my sparring session but the aftermath bruise still lingered on my face.

"Thanks..." I talked to myself, thanking Hyun Hee who was already gone from where I sat.

Once again, I mindlessly stared at the sky, the first glimpse I saw was a flickering hexagon transparent blue light acting as a shield in the shape of a dome. Beyond it was a space and barely visible crescent moon.

For a moment, it felt like the holographic sky was glitching and allowing me to see the crescent moon in the daytime.

I wonder what the citizens of the Moon Federation doing right now. Do they also mindlessly follow the system and government like we do here?

Somedays, I wanted to explore the moon but it was a privilege reserved for only the Elites in the Citadel Of High Society and a few elite noble that owns a guild or individual elite who working as one of the best in their industry. 

Even after I managed to get out alive from the encounter with the demon lord, it seems like nothing has changed at all for me in reality. In a sense, it was a good thing for me to continue my daily boring life, however, what is this feeling within me that longing for something to change? 

After finished the drink since I didn't want to waste her gift for me, I immediately checked the time and it was already around 3:50 pm.

 I stood up, stretch my body and returned to the cafeteria, leaving through the same entrance I once entered.

The same guard greeted me, I nodded and put on a half-heartedly smiled at him and walked within the passage that led me back to the cafeteria.

After I turned left and walked for several steps, unexpectedly, I saw my headroom teacher talking to a person who wore a black hoodie and a creepy angelic mask on his face in front of one corner of the passage that was only used for emergency stairs, and the entrance was closed right now.

In this passage and this hour, there weren't many people who used this passage so I was shocked a bit to see the creepy masked man with my teacher in a dead-end corner where the entrance of the emergency stair was locked.

Scythe, who was my homeroom teacher slightly turned to looked at me with confused when he saw me walking past, maybe it was just my imagination.

The teacher said to a man with the creepy masked man before him "Hey, this is not a place for you to wander around!"

The man in the white mask covered with fake blood and a symbol of sun cross on its forehead bowed down and apologized, then he walked away. 

As for me I just walked past him as I waved my hand to greet him as well as giving him a bow of respect, but he stopped me. 

Shit, this man... I didn't want to strike a meaningless conversation with him right now. He gave me a creep every time I looked at his fake smile, since I mostly put a on a fake smile, I knew he too did that.

But his smile was truly spooky, as if he had some hidden motive like a wolf in a sheep clothes.

Scythe asked, his fake smile appeared "Where are you going, Einsamer?"

I replied back with a fake smile  "Oh, I am going to return to the cathedral."

It was a lie, of course. I had no obligation to tell him where I was going, this was my matter and right.

"I see" He sighed, and said to me with a fake concerned voice "Be careful out there, ok!"

My intuition told me to just moved on from him, since I knew he wasn't a kind person as he had overlooked bully in the past in the classroom right before his eyes. 

I slightly nodded my head, maintained my fake smile and continued my walk, while at the same time thinking it was very fishy for them to have a conversation until Scythe spotted me.

What were they talking about?

As I was thinking while walking, someone called out to me in front of the cafeteria.

"Einsamer!" Shan waved his hand at me, with a subtle smile.

As soon as I arrived beside him, I asked "Is Setsuna here yet?"

"Check the group chat, it seems like she is waiting for us at the parking station," Shan replied.

I pulled out my tablet and saw one unchecked message from the group chat the three of us were in, I guess I was too occupied with my thoughts to even notice her message.

We decided to return to the hall where the classroom was located since there were many elevators aligned next to each other, after we exited the passage, we immediately arrived before the elevators.

We took one of the elevators to the 20th floor where the parking station was located, as soon as we stepped into the elevator we could see a blank wall that turned into pristine glass that allowed us to see through the landscape of the dome.

This elevator was built with many safety features such as barriers that could even withstand of crumbling building, which was only one of the impressive features of this elevator. It was big enough to carry around 20 people at its maximum weight carry.

I took time to look at the other building and floating city, even though within the dome there was a clear sky, beyond the dome I could take a glimpse of a desolate landscape, even the ocean looked unclean and filled with junk with red ashes sky.

The dome acted as a protecting hologram shield against the radioactive land as well as toxicant air.

Shan pat me to gain my attention out of nowhere, so I looked at him with odd.

He said, "There is a bruise on your cheek, I guess Geralt no longer goes easy on you?"

I replied with a deep sigh "Damn right, today is our last boxing lesson after all."

"Don't let Stella see your bruise, she will be going to be angry." He said.

My eyebrows fused, as I didn't understand what he meant. I meant she must be slightly concerned for me since I was her childhood friend so of course it was normal but she wasn't the type of person who would be overly concerned over someone else small injury as well.

A few moments later, the elevator came to a halt, and the gate split open, unveiling a sight that took our breath away.

Before us, a pristine white platform floated in the air, extending into the distance. Suspended within the heart of a hollow white building, its holographic roof deactivated instantly upon sensing the approach of flying vehicles. 

Along the side walls of this magnificent structure, numerous small garages were nestled, providing a secure haven for parking the flying vehicles.

Stacked on top of one another, creating a mesmerizing circular arrangement.

First, I crossed a bridge with Shan, then we stepped onto the gigantic platform the size of a football pitch, and we found three more bridges connected to the first floor of the parking garages stretching in three different directions.

Then I heard a voice coming from a few floors above.

"Come to C5!" A female voice so loud could be heard even from a far way.

From one of the garages on the top floor above, I noticed the edge of the room equipped with a handlebar for safety measures, I saw Setsuna lean on it as her hand gripped on the handle iron bar and shout to us.

There was a sign on each garage, representing the letters and numbers to easily identify each garage.

Then my eyes laid upon the C5 one, it was two floors above us. Crossing the left bridge, we arrived at another room with multiple elevators and took one of them, the elevator levitated and then we arrived at the C floors. 

Exited the elevator, I came across multiple doors and one of the doors had the sign [C5] on it.

Shan and I knocked on the door, and immediately the door split open revealing a stunning SUV and a long black hair girl tight in a tail working something on her tablet display projection.

"Okay, nothing out of the ordinary. We can now go to the vibrant district." Setsuna said as she looked at her tablet and diverted her gaze at Shan and me.

She excitedly smiled and said "Let go! And why aren't you guys bringing your suitcase with you? We are going to stay there for two days you know!"

Shan facepalmed and said "I said we shouldn't drive the flashy cars to the vibrant city, it will attract bad attention.

You didn't listen to anyone, don't you? Not to mention, we are going to stay there for many days, just who knows what we will attract."

That was right, the vibrant district was different from all the sectors. Not only is it situated outside the dome territory, but it is also run by different guilds and criminal activity is also common there.

Therefore, most people just said it was an entirely lawless dome on its own, but for a small band like us, the vibrant district was the best for us to gain recognition.

I know it, this girl wouldn't listen to anyone. After all, she was dancing to her beat, and not to mention her father spoiled the hell out of her. I was still surprised that she didn't grow up to be a bully like Chad.

Setsuna smiled widely and said "This is the only second time we exit the sanctuary dome, so we need a vehicle that is built like a tank. Our safety is more important."

I stepped forward and said, "I know you wouldn't listen to anyone, just go with it then."

Raising both hands above her head as if she were celebrating something, then she walked toward the SUV and typed the code as well as scanned her bio-chip. The front door slid open and she stepped into it, then she looked at us and beckoned.

Immediately the rear seat door also slid open like a wing, we entered it and upon sitting on it. I felt very comfortable, the same premium felt as the flying car I sat in this morning with Stella. Moreover, the legroom was so spacious.

There was also an entire area for cooking and sleeping in the third-row seat!

The ambient light in the car was red and blue, it gave a very futuristic feel to it. When I heard the EV engine start, the car began to levitate from the ground.

Then the handlebar placed near the cliff of the garage gradually slid itself back into the wall like it never once existed, allowing the car to ceaselessly fly out of the garage into the hallow center where the giant platform could be spotted from below and flown toward the ceiling which had a device that scanned the incoming vehicle and the holographic roof immediately deactivated.

Opened to reveal a stretching artificial holographic blue sky, though it was also just an artificial sky to mimic the real sky as the real sky was contained with the radioactive reddish sky.

As the car flew through the opening ceiling, an entire landscape of the dome could be seen.

Then the flying car halted in mid-air to reposition itself, afterwards the sound of the engine at the back and the power projectile below to keep the vehicle floating could be heard as it propelled the vehicle forward while maintaining stability in the air.

It took the direction of South, and since we were in the city flying zone. The limit speed was only 100 km per hour, there was a line only the driver could see on both sides of the vehicle indicating the road.

As far as I know, the world government did it to not make the sky filled with light indicating the road that could obscure the sky, so only the driver could see the AR road before them, and the vehicle could sense the dashing line that indicates the path as well.

Venturing through the city for about several minutes, I looked out the window to see a golden sunset on the horizon. A moment later, we arrived at a place where skyscrapers weren't as tall, and not many were present there except one tower that seemed like it pierced through the sky.

However, there were many floating islands and towers with a giant laser cannon pointed at the sky.

Below us was an ocean with many solar panels stretching for many kilometers acting as a source of energy to generate energy for the tower.

Several seconds later, we arrived at the checking station where many flying vehicles could be seen slowing down aligned in a row.

There was a hovered small island where many petrol-flying cars with their roofs shimmering in red and blue lights could be seen flying toward each vehicle that stopped by to check their document. 

One of the petrol-flying cars on the side glided toward our vehicle and halted beside it after checking the vehicle in front of us, then a voice could be heard from the AR dashboard in the center of the driver's seat.

"Please send your document by scanning your Bio-data chip on the world government logo on the AR board." The petrol guard broadcast his voice.

Setsuna placed her right hand on the floating hologram logo beside her, and immediately I saw a loading icon for about a split second.

After successfully sending her document through her bio-data-chip to the man in a spaceship, immediately a voice could be heard with nervousness. 

"Please excuse my impoliteness, do you need a mini-cruiser to accompany you, because there might be scavengers and pirates outside the dome sector."

Setsuna responded, "Thank you, but I am taking the global highway so there will be no safety issue."

The man broadcast his voice, replied" The global Singa Skyway is protected by the world government military, please have a safe trip. Nonetheless, we will be tracking your vehicle in case of an emergency."

He probably noticed that Setsuna belonged to the Hono's guild and not to mention she was the daughter of Suzuki Hono as well! One of the five pillar guilds of Singa Sanctuary continent, they even had their own floating fortress and military. Normally, the border guard wouldn't even offer to accompany a civilian vehicle but in her case it was different.

That was a giant circular gate floating and attaching to the dome shield, when the shield opened, it only activated within the circular gate.

Therefore the entire dome shield wouldn't be affected regardless of whether the dome shield within the circular gate reactivates, right now there are so many vehicles that exit through the giant circular gate including ours as well that approaching the opening gate.

Looking through the flying window's car, I saw the transparent dome shield, I hadn't had many chances to see it this close before so it was important for me to take this scenery in fully. 

Many citizens stuck within the dome, they didn't even have time to leave nor care to leave since they thought other domes sectors and other planets must be the same.

I was once one of these citizens as well until I visited the vibrant city, it was a true entertainment city while still holding law and order without people going overboard with their impulsiveness in pursuit of pleasure.