Beyond the Dome ✨☀️

Enjoy~ ✨☀️

Selene, like most of the population on her island home, Skyros, had never seen the stars before. Or the sky, or the world outside. It was her single greatest wish.

The Island of Skyros had a large dome engulfing it, plunging deep into the sand in its beaches, as if trapping the population inside. It was sort of like a trap. At least that's how Selene and most of the inhabitants felt.

Hundreds had tried escaping, whether it be by attempting to break the unknown material of the dome, digging tunnels in the sand, or even by sneaking into the Collectors. They were a band of men (and occasionally women) who were paid by the Skyros government to leave the dome through a secret exit and collect food, resources and supplies for the rest of the island once a month. They were sworn into secrecy, and generally kept away from the public in order to keep the secret of what they saw.

What lay outside the dome was always a popular topic. It was common knowledge that the fourth World War had destroyed much of Europe's land, and that even their own island was not immune to such destruction. A dome was erected on the remaining half of the small island, and shielded the surviving people from any potential dangers. Nobody knew how the dome was built. The people were simply thankful for it.

Selene's grandmother used to tell her stories that she herself was told by her own mother, of the days before the dome was raised. The festivals on the mainland, or how people would sail into the unknowns of the oceans, or the Aegean Sea. But Selene's favourite stories were the ones of the night sky, the endless sea of bright, twinkling stars that existed in the dark, and the moon, in which she was named after, that was said to shine light down into the crashing waves below.

More than anything, Selene wanted to escape the dome, and see what was beyond her small island, see the stars and the moon resting in the sky. But she knew it was a foolish dream, one that would probably never come true in her lifetime. Others had tried to escape the dome, starting from when it was first raised. That was nearly a hundred years ago. It was likely that no inhabitant of Skyros, besides the Collectors, would ever see beyond the dome.

Or so Selene had thought.

✨~☀️

Rus had golden hair, golden brown eyes and even gold-looking freckles covering the bridge of his nose. He always wore an obnoxious crooked grin and made sure it was well known that he was five full inches taller than Selene. Icarus was his full name, but he told Selene when they had first met three months ago to call him Rus, as his full name made him seem more important, more heroic than he actually was.

Selene would never get to tell him, but as they scaled the watchtower on the tallest mountain of the island that late summer night, she thought the name suited him perfectly. He was a leader, a go-getter, despite his mischievous personality. And if the golden boy knew how to get out of the dome, she would follow him. She was determined to see the stars.

The two were joined by three others on the tower, and nearly two dozen more, a fact that surprised Selene greatly when she had first joined this escape team. She had no idea there were so many others who wished to escape the domed island they were forced to call home. But now, knowing their complicated plan, she was grateful for their high numbers. There were too many components, too many things that could go wrong.

Two smaller groups were to divert the government officials from the watchtower on the mountain, where the main escape plan was to be held. One group would start to dig tunnels by the caves on the far side of Skyros, and the other would ambush the Collectors who were to head out of the dome that very night. This would draw the officials away from the main action, the real escape at the top of the tower, where her own team would break a hole in the dome using tools they had been testing for months.