Of Trails and Snails | Chapter 12: Under the Dome (Patreon)

Once they’d moved beyond the turbulent ripples, the landscape morphed into a completely different world. The thin tendrils that connected the lily pads on the surface to the lake’s floor followed their descent. Tiny fish swam between branches discarded from nearby weeping willows and old lengths of wood long forgotten. Vividly green flora touched with white and purple blossoms carpeted the floor beneath them.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Mia murmured, clasping her hands to her chest.

“Yeah. It is,” Jack said.

As the bubble traveled deeper, a formation of rocks with bright fungi came into view. Between them were smaller, dark structures, lit by tiny rings of green light that spread across the tops of each block. When they drew closer, Jack realized that the “rings” were actually created by the shells on the backs of hundreds of tiny creatures crawling across the buildings.

Skye touched Jack’s shoulder, then pointed toward the glowing lights. “That’s Pomacea.”

“What are those lighting up the city?”

“Little beetles, I think.” Skye shrugged.

“Oh! I know! Those are called luminous whirligigs,” Mia said. “They live off the algae on the rocks and keep everything really clean on top of providing light. They’re really amazing!”

Skye placed a hand on Mia’s head and ruffled her hair. “Good job, Mia.”

Mia grinned, and Jack chuckled.

“That’s not exactly where we’re staying, though,” Skye said, lowering her arm.

“Right. We’d drown.”

“Yeup.”

Mia plastered her face and hands to the wall and sighed in awe. “The girls here are so pretty.”

Snailgirls with neon-colored shells moved and floated between each building in Pomacea. Jack mused that they were pretty damn close to mermaids. One drifted from the city to their bubble, laying her hands over Mia’s and peering inside. Her shell was hot pink with darker stripes, and her hair was much the same. Interestingly enough, her lucid skin had…glitter? embedded beneath it. It was difficult to describe the flecks of light that Jack caught in the sunlight as she moved.

She smiled and waved at Jack before Skye pushed him aside, knocked on the globe, and reached for her greatsword. Pink Hair pouted and pushed herself away from the sphere.

“She was just saying hello.” Jack laughed.

“They have darts, too, Jack.”

“They can’t hit me from the other side, can they?” He looked at Skye, and her frown deepened. “Seriously?” I guess the bubble’s material isn’t as solid as it feels.

The tracks circled the sphere deeper inside Pomacea twice before sliding inside an alley between buildings. More of the beetles wandered over the rooftops and fronts of the dwellings, where Jack caught sight of snailgirls at work. One seemed to be in deep conversation with a fish, another wove threads into an intricate net, and a third stood hunched over a table, mincing a green cube into bite-sized pieces. The bubble moved too fast to focus very long on any one of them, and before he realized it, they came to a stop.

Jack faced forward while he mused over the deals the girls made with fish to find a large dome that encapsulated a separate segment of Pomacea. There to greet them was a snailgirl with her foot attached to the outside of the dome, flipping through what looked like a magazine. She peered up at the newly arrived bubble, her flowing yellow hair the same color as the speckles on her shell. She waved, tucked the magazine beneath her arm, and raised her hands. Her lips moved, but all Jack could hear was a muffled hum of her voice. The dome rippled where the sphere made contact, and before he could ask if that was normal, the sphere was sucked inside.

He caught sight of the ripples smoothing on the dome before they rolled down the bronze pipes into the village proper. They swept past a line of buildings crafted from the same dark rocks as they’d seen used in the underwater city around the dome. Between the black stone, there were a handful of structures carved from thick branches that had journeyed from the surface, and one large building with layers upon layers of bright green lichen growing from all four sides.

Skye pointed at one lichen-coated wall. “That’s the Guild Hall for land girls.”

“You want more Quests already?” Jack raised a brow.

“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and a pink hue rose to her throat. “Just thought I’d help you get your bearings.”

Jack gently pressed his shoulder into hers. “Thanks.”

“I may stop there after we find a place to stay. Everyone can use an extra pair of healer’s hands,” Mia said, wiggling her fingers.

“This is your break. Aren’t you going to relax?” Skye asked before Jack could.

“Of course I am!” Mia swept her arms behind her, looked down, and rocked her shoulders back and forth like a little girl about to ask for her big birthday present. “Helping people is part of how I relax. I promise not to spend all night there!”

“Then you owe us the whole day at the hot spring tomorrow,” Skye replied.

“The what?” Jack looked between them. “Where?”

“Oh, yes, that would be wonderful!” Mia clapped. “Pomecea has a hot spring here for the land girls. They found it as they were digging to create this area, and I’ve always wanted to go.”

“It’s expensive. But you don’t mind, right?” Skye asked.

And I’m the one who gambles away our Shells? “I’m too curious not to go.”

“Then it’s settled! Tonight I’ll help out at the Guild Hall, and tomorrow we’ll go to the hot spring!” Mia cheered.

The sphere came to a halt at the end of its track, and the door slid open. A stone ramp awaited their exit, and a snailgirl with electric purple hair and shimmering skin waved to the group. She wore a mask similar to the woman at the ticket booth, and her baby blue eyes were friendly.

“Welcome to Pomacea!” she said as they descended the ramp. “Oh, a two-legs! What an honor!”

“Hey there, I’m Ja—”

“This way.” Skye snatched his arm and pulled him off the ramp—away from the purple-haired girl.

Mia giggled. “I’m sure she’s just being nice, Skye!”

“So was Lina,” Skye grumbled. “We’ll find a room and figure out when the next tortoise leaves for Haliotis.”

Jack nodded, his attention focused more on the ground beneath him. He’d expected sand, or maybe stone like the buildings. Instead, the floor of the city had the greenish haze of sea glass and was polished to a shine. The girls quickly moved along the smooth surface without resistance, much like they did on the slimshade back home. He toed the material, then took two hesitant steps. The modifications to his boots seemed to hold, and he sighed with relief.

“Afraid of falling?” Skye teased.

“Just when other people are looking.” Jack shook his head. “Is this glass?”

“Mia?” Skye tilted her head.

“Haha, um, I’m not sure,” Mia said nervously and touched her hair. “I’ve never asked about the floor.”

Jack waved a hand in dismissal. “Just means you’re on the same page as the rest of us. Now, where are we staying?”

Skye led the way to their lodgings, and Jack drew many technicolor stares as they walked. The walkway was lit in part by the afternoon sunlight glistening through the water, but moderately assisted by fireflies in lanterns and glow worms on either side of the path. The warm light of the bugs helped offset all of the black rock they’d used for their structures, which made it feel more like a comfortable evening walk than a nefarious dark alley.

But what really lit up the place were the girls. Based on the more neutrally-toned shells he’d seen in Lymnaea, Jack had never imagined that they could come in radioactive green and robin’s egg blue. Even Mia’s shell was a warmer orange tone that suited her foresty lineage rather than a color that rivaled caution tape like the two he caught sight of in Pomacea.

“Good day! The Larina welcomes you all.” The woman who greeted them at the inn had a shell that captured every pearlescent color of an opal gemstone, and her hair was a fiery tangerine. Despite the modest, friendly lighting of the fireflies, she was still hard to look at. Her color palette left an afterimage when Jack blinked. “My name is Claire, and I am happy to serve you. How long will you be staying with us?” Her mask made the same sucking sound when she finished talking that he’d heard from the ticket booth.

“When’s the next turtle to Haliotis?” Skye asked.

Really cutting to the chase, aren’t we?

“Ah, very good, let me see.” Claire shuffled through a stack of papers. Jack wondered if paper was imported from the surface or crafted somewhere in the city, but kept it tucked away. He could always ask later. “It will arrive three days from now, then depart two days later.”

That was plenty of time to ask about the paper. And the glass floor. And relax, of course. “Then I guess we’ll be staying four nights,” Jack said.

“Wonderful! It has been years since we have had the honor of hosting a two-legs. Thank you for your patronage!” Claire took out a fresh sheet of paper—seriously, where did she buy it from?—then turned toward the wall. She retrieved a chain around her neck, fingered a tiny key at its end, and opened a cabinet with more keys inside. “You will be in room five. Might I offer a few dining recommendations?”

Jack stole a glance at Skye from the corner of his eye. She licked her lips. No dining suggestions, she wanted to cash in on his favor as soon as possible. “Maybe later. Thank you, Claire.”

“Of course. I will be here should you need anything at all.”

“Actually…” Skye began, then shooed Jack and Mia away.

Jack stepped outside with Mia. She glanced over her shoulder and fretted at her lower lip. “Are you sure it’s alright if I help at the Guild Hall?”

“It’s what you want to do, isn’t it?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then go. Skye will forgive you. You’ll see. Here,” he fished a bag of Shells from his pack, “make sure to get yourself something to eat.”

“Thank you, Jack.” Mia kissed his cheek, then accepted the Shells. “We’ll have lots of fun before the next tortoise!”

“Hey, every day with you is fun.” He squeezed her hand and turned back to the Larina. “Don’t work too hard.”

“I won’t!” Mia waved and set off toward the Guild Hall.

Skye was waiting at the door of room five, holding the key between her teeth and a dark bottle in each hand.

Jack grinned. “Is that dew?”

Skye’s eyes glittered. She nodded.

He trailed his fingertip along her lower lip and took the key from her in the same motion. “After you, then.”