章 27: Chapter 27: Earth and Sky

Vix stood with one foot through the door. A large atrium, lit by smoking torches, lay beyond. A bizarre pattern of splotchy tan markings covered the floor, with a mess of blue trickling between them.

Vix stared at it, uncomprehending, for a moment. Then she realized what she was looking at. ‘It’s a map,’ she thought to herself.

Vix had never spared much time for maps, but she could tell what was displayed beneath her feet – continents and oceans, the landmasses of the world, all contained within the atrium.

She let out a soft gasp, her eyes traveling upward. Tiny, white lights twinkled down on her, shimmering like countless chips of diamond set within the velvety blue ceiling, which was painted the exact color of the night sky. Vix felt as though she had been transported yet again, out from the impossible jungle nestled in the heart of a mountain, and back to the outside world, under a clear and cloudless sky.