THE CROWNS DOMINION

I sipped on my coffee as I looked at the endless pitch black darkness that ran throughout the sea. It made me feel empty and definitely bored. There was something haunting about it. I was raised underwater and I grew up with the same longing - to just see a different color of the sea that my mother always told me about. She would call it the deep blue sea,blue like the sky I have never seen and that is why she called me Aria Blue .

"Aria!" Lilah called out to me running into the library "your mother is looking for you,why are you still here?"she asked breathing out. She must have ran the whole way here,it was just like her to be so dramatic.

I rolled my eyes "I needed a break I am tired of learning about silly trees and herbs. Whats the point when we are never going to have to grow any of them under water."

Lilah narrowed her Asian brown eyes at me ,she was half Chinese "Don't say that,Clarke has faith that one day we will return to GORDO and you will need that knowledge."

I scoffed still staring at the endless blackness of the sea. This must be what hell looks like-dark. "Easy for you to say. You have the fun job working with machines and exploring the deep sea while I poke tiny plants and play with sticks. God I just wanna be out there."I groaned

She stood next to me, "Aria just have faith in your mother and the council. They teach us these things for a reason. She is already mad at you for being late to class. You better run." she winked at me as she walked away.

Lilah has always been optimistic about 'GORDO' still existing,heaven and space being real.They used to call it earth, thousands of years ago. She was one of my closest friends,while she was optimistic I was the opposite and always brushing the happy dreamy thoughts away. The red virus destroyed earth before I was even born and up until now nobody even knew if GORDO still existed. Maybe there was nothing up there but just a toxic inhabitable world or worse another endless black sea.

I arrived to class fifteen minutes late,well it was better than the twenty five I usually tried to exceed. Besides classes were all the same its either we were learning about leadership and what makes a great leader or we were learning about plants.

The white small room was already filled with the usual fifteen students-I knew them all. Our class was called the planetarium class. AGUA carried 5000 human bodies,it was one of the biggest submarines built when the people of GORDO learned of the virus. Within these 5000 people once the teenagers turned twenty like me we advanced or graduated to class A studies were we got separated and distributed to different classes according to our talents.

From the age of seven Lilah,me and every other child were put in one education hall were we learned almost everything. The Bible,science,new technologies and earth studies. Lilah was great with machines that is how we got separated,she was taken to the engineering hall while I got stuck in what I would call the class of the low performing students.

"Glad you could finally join us Aria" my mother said looking annoyed as usual. I seriously didn't see the purpose of this class.

I sat on my usual seat which was at the back of the class were I could pretend to pay attention. "Sorry Mrs Clarke Roon" I apologized in a bored tone.

I could feel Emily glaring daggers at me and her friend Sam. Unlike me they actually appreciated this class and I guess they hated my 'negative energy'.That is what they called my behavior, I smirked at them as my mother began Teaching. I really wasn't bad but I just wish my mother would have spared me this ridiculous class-who was it going to help? I could be useful elsewhere, we all could.

"Today we are going to be learning about the root that heals. Who wants to guess what this is called, anybody?"my mother asked as she held a brown herbal root in her hand with a smile that almost dropped when absolutely no one raised their hand. Not even Emily and Sam her favorite grade A students.

I rolled my eyes and spoke out "ginger" .

I was also a grade A student but I rarely tried,it was because I actually secretly liked reading about GORDO and how people were healed by natural remedies in the early centuries before technology existed. My mother's smile returned and it reached her eyes. I loved it when she was happy. I just hated it when she tried so hard to make me like her. She tried so hard to mold me into this happy, radiant ,loving and peaceful person but I wasn't. I was ...me.

"Thank you Aria that is correct,now let's dig deeper into it's uses and origins" she said as I zoned out.

*** *** *** *** ***

"Aria," my mother called out before I could escape and I groaned

"Mother" I said with a forced grin tucking a stray dark hair behind my ear. My dark pitch black hair resembled the pits of this sea.

She sighed "Eat before you start exploring okay."

I looked at her innocently " I ate already"

"Your cereal is still on the kitchen counter cold and you didn't carry your snacks. Please Aria would you do as I say just once in your life. Your blood sugar is already very low," she said with worry showing in her eyes. I never wanted her to worry so much but sometimes I just got so distracted. Like this morning I heard Lilah was going to dive into the sea again for her training. I had to see that although I ended up being banned in the Engineering class section .

"Okay mom ,please don't worry too much. I am going to eat something right now plus that cold cereal as punishment" I meant that as I felt guilty for making her so upset. We already lost dad to a very low blood sugar and a brain tumor three years ago. I was the only child and I knew she worried about losing me too since I inherited my father's low blood sugar.

She smiled softly at me "good girl. When I get back I want to see that tuna salad gone"

I kissed her on the cheek and ran off.I was going to keep my promise and head off to eat something at home. Well that was until I overheard something as I passed through Jack Slim's office one of our head council members. He was yelling and that definitely caught my attention.The door was closed and I listened breathing slowly.

"We can only save less than two thousand people on this submarine Cohan! We have no choice,this sacrifice must be made and it will be made!"he shouted leaving no room for debate

"You cannot possibly leave the rest to die in here. The pressure of the water is increasing,soon the pipes will burst,water will flood the whole of AGUA and people will die. There has to be another way to save everyone."Cohan said frustration evident in his voice.

"There is no other way and you know it.We must do what we have to do for the survival of the human race.Prepare the pods,we have a few days left."Jack said sternly and I quickly walked away with a head filled with so many questions and fear.