I very much understand the instinct to brush off praise for your work as kindness or even as people having low expectations of you, but you should believe your friends because this is really good! The stark descriptions you use at first really set the oppressive tone, so getting outside feels like a relief!
The only thing that jumped out that I could give you constructive criticism of, is that done of your sentences are a little redundant, like the line:
"Will he agree that my father could have created these people in his imagination, possibly what he hoped an ancient society could have been? "
You don't need that line, because your setup had lead the reader to already wonder this themselves! That said, I wouldn't worry about doing small edits like that until you've got a finished first draft! Keep your momentum up, and know that you're writing something really exciting and fun to read, which you can polish and perfect later! :)
thank you !! I definitely see what you mean with the repetition, thank you for that it was really helpful. its hard to tell what a reader might take away and be curious about.. I'll be sure to edit out some if those over written segments at the end.
You've made my afternoon! So glad you enjoyed it :)