2 Delia (1/2)

At dawn on the fifth day of his swim, Dyon was greeted with a scene that made him forget the pain in his tired limbs. From about 10 kilometers away, he saw three risings of about 20 meters each, implanted directly into the water. They were covered in tiles of hexagonal stainless-steel that reflected the orange hues of the early morning sun and topped with a combination of small villages and endless lush greenery. But what caught Dyon's attention the most was the Skyscraper that was even further ahead.

It reached a height of at least 2000 meters. Covered by endless glass, it had a dominatingly beautiful sheen to it. But what shocked Dyon was the fact that each of the 3 risings were connected to each other by underwater passageways.

Dyon was stunned, 'why are there passages underwater?'

He dived down and nearly took a breath. The 3 risings were actually 6. Further beyond the area where Dyon had seen the skyscraper, were 3 more identical risings. The 6 formed a perfect hexagonal pattern around the base of the skyscraper. The reason why they were connected by underwater tunnels was because the risings weren't the end of them. While the tops of the risings had fields, forest, and small villages, they merely topped off impressive underwater structures. The 6 risings were actually just a portion of underwater skyscrapers akin to miniature versions of the massive 2000-meter skyscraper Dyon had seen in the middle of all of this.

They stretched at least 1000 meters below the surface and were made up entirely of glass with stainless-steel ascents.

'Seems that these 6 sub-skyscrapers are not only connected to each other, but also the skyscraper in the middle of them by these underwater passageways. The ceremony is probably held in the middle.'

Dyon mused about whether you could really call an underwater building a skyscraper as he pushed himself forward.

Knowing he had a few hours left, Dyon decided to swim as fast as he could towards one of the risings that was mostly forest. He shook his head, chuckling to himself; after all, he couldn't very well step into a village with no clothes on, he would have to change first.

'I'll have to scale the 20-meter rising. Considering I could make out the shape of the tiles that made up the rising from this far away, it's safe to say that they're massive. That'll make climbing more difficult.'

Around noon, Dyon sighed. Sometimes, he hated being right. He was just a half meter from the top of the rising he had chosen. Because of the size of the tiles, he had to alternate between a weird spider crawl between the tiles and climbing up the incline of its sides.

Dyon reached up, flexed his back with all his remaining strength, and hoisted himself up. He jumped over the barrier and fell about 3 meters. Luckily, he was prepared for this and ducked off into a roll to ease the impact.

”Finally!” Dyon roared at the top of his burning lungs before dropping his hands to his knees and taking deep breaths. He was about to raise his head when he felt cold metal rest on his shoulder.

”For fuck's sake,” Dyon muttered to himself before even looking up.

”Explain or your head flies,” the voice sounded so melodic that Dyon almost couldn't take it seriously.

However, Dyon had more thoughts than that running through his head. He had already understood his situation. This girl sounded like she was about his age, yet she had a weapon capable of killing him from the looks of it. That probably means she goes to this school.

Dyon smiled, this would make finding his way much simpler. So, instead of answering he flicked his wrist calling upon a control panel and selected a sleek black bag.

”Well, I could explain, or I could put my clothes on. Which do you prefer?” Dyon said while looking up.

Without hesitation the girl responded, expertly hiding the surprise she held at the device Dyon just used, ”I prefer both”.

Dyon was a bit surprised. It didn't usually take much to fluster teenage girls. He thought it would only be easier if he was naked, but this girl seemed different.

”It's not within my personality to disappoint such a pretty lady,” Dyon said while unzipping the bag. He slipped on his boxers and a crisp white shirt. He pulled up light blue jeans and rolled up the hems before slipping on a sky-blue dress shirt that he kept unbuttoned.

While rolling up his sleeves, Dyon finally got a good look at the girl holding a sword to his throat. He slipped on some black flipflops while doing nothing to hide the glint of attraction in his eye. Before, he had called her a pretty lady just to try and fluster her, but now, if he said it again, he'd mean it.

Her skin had a tanned sheen to it that had to be of Hispanic origin. Dyon couldn't figure out if her eyes were a pale green or a dim hazel and that only served to transfix him even more. Her hair flowed in the wind well past her shoulders with ascents of a golden blond permeating its light brown. Her lips were as full as her facial features. Everything about her was warm and inviting.

”My guards will be here soon considering how loudly you screamed. So, you have about 10 more seconds to convince me not to kill you,” she spoke in a steady tone as if unbothered by the scene she had just witnessed.

Dyon was about to speak when the wind carried her scent to him, ”kiwi and strawberries. Excellent choice”.

The girl raised her eyebrows, before realizing what he meant. She pressed the side of the sword more firmly into Dyon's shoulder.

Dyon didn't seem to notice as he continued, ”I doubt you have guards coming honestly. If you do, you should consider firing them.”