Sea of Azure

Love! War. Privilege! Oppression. Twin sides of the same fated coin. Much went through the mind of the young Rhea. The amber beauty with a massive head of curls had nothing but time to think within her holding cell. She just thought of all that had been told to her. You see, Rhea was part of some upper echelon. Spire-Lord was their title. The crime that had her unfairly locked up? Falling in love with a man named Jericho. 

The sterilized doors hissed open and the clacking of shoes drove Rhea up the wall. Soon enough a gaunt figure with skin and hair to match Rhea’s stood in front of her cell. “Hello Daughter.”

Rhea had been a mess, yet she had more than enough energy to jump to her feet and slam her hand against the plexiglass in a sheer rage. “You!” If she could go through this wall…. “Where’s Jericho!? What did you do with my Jeri?!” The woman practically roared as she continued slamming against the glass. 

The gaunt figure raised a calm hand up and looked down at the one he called his daughter. “You expect. The daughter of the Asimas family. To be allowed to enter the filth and corrupted endless seas of the outside world… with some steward she claims to love?” His tone was cold and logical, a matter of playing the game. 

Rhea continued to futilely try to break free, just so she could show her old man a thing or two. “You can keep your bloodied name! I just want him back!” The last words came out choked with tears. The woman slumping to her knees as she gave up trying to beat the cage through.

Sir Asimas bent forward just a touch, not wanting to expend the energy to properly look at the bumbling mess that was his child. “Well. You both tried to escape the safety of the tower. We granted the low-life his chance. He’s been expelled from the Tower.” Sir Asimas had a tinge of a sweet eagerness in his voice before returning to his cold calculated tone. 

Rhea’s face spoke volumes, shock, disgust, anger, but then. She couldn’t look toward the man or he’d know. Reassurance. “If. Jeri is outside… that just means I need to follow. Please Jeri. Wait for me.” The thought echoed in her head and a small smile waved over her face as she knew she had to keep the facade of being upset. She turned back to her father and gave him a stare of contempt. “And what about me?” She had to ask. 

Her father let out a sigh as he crossed his arms and looked around. “Don’t you know? Our family was one of the first to perfect life on the spire! This can be swept under the rug so you’ll be receiving a slap on the wrist as long as you understand your position. You’re young. Who are we to forgive if not the young?” Not an ounce of warmth could be found while the man spoke. “You’ll remain in here for the night.” 

Sir Asimas pressed a few buttons on the console next to her cell and proceeded to walk off. The wall behind her went from the solid metal to a transparent thick glass. What a cruel man. To taunt her like this. She could see the outside world, away from the spire. The endless azure sea that both plagued the girl, it was also her sought after haven. She pulled out from her bosom a heart shaped locket and held it close. “I’ll figure this out Jeri…” Hiding it back away she had to just bide her time. 

The sun was close to setting turning the sea below a cascade of colors. Such a sight. Another hiss of the door and soon a man dressed in a uniform carried over a tray of food. “Lady Rhea. Some food by request of your father.”  The helmeted no name tapped on the glass as he attempted to feed her. 

She stayed huddled by the transparent glass and didn’t move. “Did you know… once upon a time. We didn’t live in this spire, we lived down there. Before people like my father ruined it. When the floods came, they designed these spires with only their safety in mind.” She started to grumble and explain and the guard just let out a weighted sigh. 

“Look. I don’t care for history kid. As far as I know it was either become a part of the sec team or join the stewards. Now eat.” A man compliant with the system. It seemed perfect for her then. No guilt. The cell opened up for a brief moment and the moment he put the food down, the girl used her position to kick spring off the cold metal wall and sent a fist flying to the man’s jaw, uppercutting him into the wall. He slumped over and soon fell unconscious. Rhea thanked whoever was watching that Jericho taught her how to fight. They had been so close to escaping into the open waters of freedom, she couldn’t stay here. 

Rhea began to undress the man; he could use a nap and she could use a disguise. It was tough forcing all her hair into the helmet but soon she wore the uniform and just thought of the potential exit routes. The detention level was smacked toward the heart of the spire. The tower was split into sections; maintenance, security, hydroponics, stewards, and Lords. Security branched out throughout the internal structure of the spire. Maintenance and hydroponics toward the levels below. Her old home and the stewards above. Jericho had stolen a map from Rhea’s father. She had to commit some of it to memory. Her best bet was through maintenance as both of them had been caught last trying to go through the water filtration system in hydroponics. 

She had her goal. She had some tools from the guard. A rather advanced air compression pistol, a taser, an ID labeled ‘7604’, and some hand cuffs. She just needed to hurry and look the part. She hurried off. Her love was already out there, she knew he had to be alive and waiting for her to show up. She left the detention level with little fuss, only being stopped to be asked what was the lunch for the day. She merely mentioned she’s about to find out for herself and sped off. 

Rhea jumped into the first elevator she saw and rode it down below the sea level. The spire was built to pierce into the heavens and with how high the sea had gotten, roughly forty percent of the spire was submerged. Her hand being placed on the locket the entire ride down. The doors opened and it was such a marvelous sight, sure it was accompanied by masses of cable, but the windows behind, the underwater view was stunning but also harrowing as taking a closer peak, countless buildings surrounded the spire, naturally only a handful actually had the length to pierce through the ocean, but only the meager tips could be seen from above. She didn’t have time to admire.

If Rhea’s memory served her well. Maintenance were the select few allowed to go outside. She had seen them scaling the Spire in these specially made suits, the upper echelon was very finicky when it came to the integrity of the Spire. Well, there had to be an access point to the outside, if not several, the Spire was huge. They seemed obvious, so Jericho and herself thought it would be too risky. Well look at her situation. Risky was going to be her best shot. 

Rhea believed she was getting close when she then heard a ghastly alarm like last time. She began to run. Time was running out. The alarms yelled; “Unauthorized use of Maintenance Suit! Sector 21a. Unauthorized use of Maintenance Suit!” Looking around Rhea noticed that wasn’t too far in fact but she hadn’t had the opportunity to even put a suit on just yet. What was going on?

Entering the scene, it seemed the Security forces had already found themselves surrounding this small dock with this individual fully obscured by the maintenance suit’s thick helmet. Rhea had snuck around and tried to play it off as one of the forces. There were maybe about seven others beside herself and… that’s when she noticed him, her father! He stood in front of the suited person and was impatiently tapping his foot.

“Really Rhea? You believe after your last little incident that we wouldn’t be carefully watching the access ports? You truly have surprised me, didn’t expect you to escape already. Now. One last chance.” His tone didn’t seem cold anymore, now it was hot with anger. Rhea did feel a bit dumb; this could’ve easily been her. 

The masked figure spoke through the suit’s intercom. “Rhea? Who? I don’t give a damn about any of that!” The voice was heavily digitized and hard to make out. The being stood next to a console and merely yelled out, “I’m tired of being a tool! I’m a person! I rather risk my life out there then dying under your boot’s heel you damned Spire Lord. Just look at you. I see a mix up. I’d probably be dead now if you thought I wasn’t this Rhea person.” The voice was angry, fed-up. 

Sir Asimas pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. “You’re right. We can repair the suit! Fire!” The Spire Lord issued the command and the stranger slammed their large gloved hands on the console. Now a new alarm. The whole room started to flash orange. “Port 21a, opening for maintenance. Be wary of sea life!” The unit all began to fire their advanced air guns at the suit. The person instantly dived into the water and Rhea could see the havoc these pistols could dish out as their laid several indents into the metal floors. 

Sir Asimas was infuriated and rushed over to the console to try and shut the port before the person could run off with one of their precious suits. Rhea saw her opportunity. She ran forward, the others didn’t notice it as she still wore their uniform. “Hey pops! Grit! Those! Teeth!!” The man looked back to the incoming sec officer confused at first as a fist collided into the man’s cheek, launching him backwards into the water. “And goodbye! Glad you could see me off!” Rhea said in a hurry as she then dived into the water. She didn’t have time to look back. The port could be closed at any moment. She just swam and left the spire she had been pampered in, she had bigger things in mind. 

Now in the underwater ruin, Rhea looked around and noticed she was quite deep, it was a mad dash to the surface. She could feel herself slipping… that’s when as she began to falter. That suited individual came to the rescue, having noticed someone drowning. Helping them up to the surface, they noticed one of the few dry patches in the area. A rooftop right across from the spire. The stranger threw Rhea to her safety and just had to comment. “You really left without a suit or anything? And here I thought I was crazy.” 

Rhea just smiled as she laid on her back looking at the boundless setting skies, she clutched her locket and simply said. “I made it. Now I just need you… Jeri. I’ll find you.”