After it had been decided it was best to go to the rooftop by an uneasy Altonio, we walked out of the apartment into a long corridor with a high ceiling.

Simple chandeliers- if ever they could be labelled that- hung at even intervals from the ceiling, illuminating the hallway in a warm yellow light that almost felt welcoming. The floor was carpeted with a rich crimson red material, and so comfortable to walk on that one would probably have no issues taking a nap on the floor.

As we walked to end of the corridor, it opened out into another room where two silver lift doors could be seen next to each other. There was a control panel between them with backlit arrow displays used to call one of the lifts to our current floor. According to the number above the lift doors, we were on the eighth floor. Octavius moved ahead of us and pressed the arrow pointing upwards, and in less than a minute we were on our way up to the rooftop.

Much like most of the building's interior I had seen so far, the lift we took was similarly elegant, yet comforting to stand in. There were mirrors on all the walls, with floral patterns etched into surface along the borders, and the floor was once again carpeted in crimson. It was as if the entire building had been designed to ease people's minds.

I felt the lift slow in its ascent and a slight ping sound as we reached our requested floor. The highest we could travel up was the twelfth floor so the remainder of our trip was spent climbing a small stairwell to reach the rooftop.

We only had to climb a few flights, but I was exhausted by the time we had reached the rooftop door. I bent over with my hands on my knees to try and catch my breath, and in the process reminding myself of my jog around the park before my fateful meeting with Altonio.

With an industrial light bolted to the concrete wall above the door as my only source of illumination, it was hard to get any hints about what Altonio and Octavius thought of this expedition.

Altonio placed his hand on the doorknob of the door and turned to look over his shoulder at me.

Without even asking if I was ready, he said: ‘Welcome to Sanctuary' and turned the doorknob.

As he opened the door, he motioned with his other hand for me to go ahead of him.

I did as he suggested and stepped out onto the rooftop, almost hearing my jaw drop upon witnessing the sight before me. Familiar buildings I had only ever seen from the ground came into full view. As I walked further out onto the rooftop, I turned to survey the area. I was amazed at the vantage point this building had managed to capture. Never had I seen the city like this before.

‘Well, at least he isn’t crying,’ Octavius muttered behind me.

I turned around and saw Octavius frowning with his arms folded a few metres behind me. He stood stock still as the winds whipped at his clothes. His silvery hair blew in every direction, as if defying his stubborn nature.

Meanwhile, Altonio was striding the length of the rooftop, peering into every pipe and vent that he could find. 

In terms of the location, not much had changed about the buildings that made up the city. At least nothing appeared to be damaged from where I stood, and no buildings had been knocked down or destroyed. But much like I had been personally affected by the goo, the buildings had never stood a chance, and they were all stained black. On this building's rooftop, black lumps of the goo had stuck in large clumps and so I avoided them for fear of getting stuck again. 

There was also one other large problem with the city’s appearance- or rather, what it was lacking. When normally the city skyline was filled with towering buildings going back as far as the eye could see, you now couldn’t see beyond a certain point in the distance in any direction. Instead, the skyline view stopped only a few kilometres away and met a great shimmering wall of… something… blocking the horizon. Like a giant umbrella, it covered a portion of the city, the shining wall dropping down on all sides past the city horizon and possibly touching the ground. 

The fact of the matter was that we now appeared to be living in a humongous dome-like structure. Meanwhile, inside the dome, every once in a while strange flickers of green light danced in the air like birds, and then disappeared. Whether they were harmful or not, I had no idea, but could be seen fitting through the air all over the enclosed part of the city.

My eyes followed the arc of the dome as it rose high above the skyscrapers. As I turned towards where I estimated the centre of the dome to be was the most preposterous spectacle I had seen yet: A giant bush. It rose above the city skyline and its branches and foliage stretched out to cover the city in its shade for at least a good five-kilometre radius in every direction. The branches had gaps in their foliage so that you could peer through the branches at certain angles and glimpse the other side of the city. How had I not seen it when I had surveyed the area before?

Before I could question my sanity any further, Altonio interrupted my thoughts. ‘I know what you’re thinking. Why is there a giant shrub in the middle of this place?’

‘Yeah and how come I didn’t see it before?’

‘Perhaps it could have been a tree if it had been growing slowly, but do you know how hard it is to actually maintain the shape of something like that? This thing shot up over the span of a day! As for why you didn’t see it, awe and shock can blind people to even the most obvious of spectacles.’

I frowned. ‘I don’t know what to say to that…’

‘Just deal with it and move on. We could be up here all day with your questions,’ Octavius said with a yawn, and began to walk back to the door.

‘Oh, don’t be so cold, Tavi! Show the boy a little compassion!’ Altonio said as he trailed behind Octavius.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the wind!’ Octavius said without turning around.

I raised my eyebrows in bemusement, following the two off the rooftop.