Sajid lay on the ground motionless. Blodd was sweeping into the ground. He was finally able to leave the dome, but alas, fate had other plans. Just when he thought he would be able to try his luck, his body was cut down by the reaper. Just as he was reminiscing about his life, his body started dissipating again, and this time whole body truly disappeared into fine dust in the air along with his blood, which slipped out of his body.
But as fate would have it the fine dust again started reassembling and Sajid's body was whole again.But the reapers scythe mark were there in his body as if to remind him of death.Sajid questioned himself how he was alive and what had actually happened?
He stood there motionless and just started thinking without noticing his surroundings.As he was thinking he recalled back the peculiar reaper that was hunting him down.No matter what the reaper was always stuck close to him, and the powers that the reapers had, that reaper could have already hunted him down before he reached the edge of the dome barrier.
But the reaper waited until he reached the dome barrier, and as if the reaper knew he would try to get out of the dome. The reaper also waited until the last second to strike him down. After understanding this, Sajid realized that the reaper was intentionally delaying killing him. But the question was why?
He couldn't find the answer right now. His main priority is to check what is still happening in the city, and it is safe to go there, as outside is very dangerous, according to the city dwellers. Sajid took a moment to look at his surroundings. He has never been outside of the dome before. Right now, he was in the middle of a forest with lush trees and dense forest & some wild animals. Sajid has already guessed that there would be predators in this forest.
After looking at his surroundings, he looked towards the dome barrier. At the moment, the was quite a few distance away from him, but the vague outline of the dome barrier could be seen. Sajid was curious about what was going on in the city.
So, he started walking the barrier. After reaching the barrier, he realised that the barrier looked kinda dark from the outside and some hazy mist was blocking his view from the outside. As he tried to get inside, he realised he was being blocked. Sajid started to panic, but just then the barrier vibrated and the misty haze was gradually clearing up.
Sajid looked inside the barrier and saw that people were laughing, working just as on a normal day. Inside, he even saw himself waking up from the morning and going to the old man's workshop started working. Sajid was shocked beyond belief. He started questioning what was real. Then after time, the same occult-like ritual takes place and the sun is eclipsed. Just as the same as before. This he also saw that peculiar reaper, and for a moment, the reaper seemed to glimpse into his being . Sajid's whole body was drenched in sweat, and he was ready to run. But the same scenario where he ran from the reaper and was chased to the edge of the barrier didn't happen.
Instead, he saw himself getting killed the moment he touched the door handle of his house. After everyone was killed, the sun was fully eclipsed, and the reapers were gone, and so was the body of the people. Then some strange symbols lit up in the air in the now eclipsed sun, and the day started again, and the same thing was happening again and again.
Sajid realised that they had been lied to and he had been long dead. He, like everyone else, was trapped in the illusion that the dome barrier was safe and it was meant to safeguard the townspeople from the outside dangers. But it was meant to keep them in some deranged, twisted barrier to keep the ritual alive.
But somehow the ritual was disrupted, and the ritual forced the eclipse, which killed everybody, but even that was not enough. Then, the illusions began to hoard the despairs of their mortal self and trap them into the illusions.
Having realized all this, a chill ran down his spine. How could a person be so evil and cruel as to place this cursed ritual on people? He recalled that as long as he was 5 years old, the barrier had been there and his parents and the townspeople had been saying that the barrier was placed by some black monks and it was to keep them from harm from the outside horrors.
But now everything is clear. All this was a hoax. Realising this only made Sajid angrier and angrier. He could not wait to get to the bottom of this culprit and smash him into pieces. But right now, he has no clue as the barrier is rejecting him from getting inside.
Having found nothing else, he made his mind to venture into the outside world and try to find clues about this curse. Although he had never been outside of the dome barrier, he knew there was a village nearby from the geographical knowledge that had been carved into his brain by his parents.
As he started walking towards the village, he started thinking about himself. Was he still alive or just another illusion? Was he still a human being? He found no clues to this answer. But a new problem now arose. Though he knew there was a village nearby, he did not know which way it was. He started climbing a tree to get a better view of the area and hopefully to find the village. Upon climbing the tree, he saw a settlement about 1km away from him beside the river.
Sajid was very happy to find the village on his first try, as he thought it would take quite a while to find that village. But luckily, he found that. He started walking towards the village, then again passed some sort of invisible barrier, and this barrier was transparent. He realised that his town was hidden behind a thin layer, and it might be the reason why outside people did not come to the town, as they simply could not find the town.
After exiting the barrier and walking some, they found the river. He sat beside the river to drink some water and just saw his reflection. He saw a teenager wearing grim clothes with dark blue eyes and tan skin. His body was basically skeletal. His clothes have some shades of red with blood now dried.
He started scooping some water to drink. After drinking some water, he started looking for ways to cross the river.
In the meantime, a creature of unknown origins was silently coming to him to have him as its prey underground. Just as the creature was close enough to him, the creature jumped up from the ground and opened up to maw to chew his head. Sajid instinctively jumped and maintained quite a distance away from the creature.
This time, he saw the creature, and it was a crocodile. But Sajid questioned himself that a crocodile is supposed to live under water and not on land, and why was this crocodile pitch black?