I woke up with a start when I heard multiple knocks on the door. Someone was calling out my name. Groggily, I opened the door trying my best not to let out a yawn; Dans was standing there waiting.

“Yeah?” I called out.

She stared quietly without saying a word.

“What?”

“Nothing. Get ready. We’re here.” She pointed at my hands. “And don’t forget the gloves.”

“Yeah, I got it,” I grumpily responded.

“Be at the exit in five minutes.” She paused for a moment as if thinking a lot of things through. “Oh, and Mel?”

“Huh?”

“You can stay here if you want.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Like be a part of the crew?”

“Well, if you want. I’m not sure what kind of situation you’re in, but you can stay here for the time being.”

Free home #2. Nice. “Sure! I’d be glad to.”

“Good,” she smiled. “I have one more request.”

“Whatever you need, Captain!”

“Stick with me or Mark. Don’t lose sight of us.”

“You make it sound like Sakoria’s super dangerous.”

“Just behave and you’ll do fine.” She turned to leave. “Be at the exit in three minutes.”

Behave? I’m no troublemaker. “Wait, didn’t you say five minutes—” And she’s gone. “Ugh, whatever.” I closed the door and headed for the bathroom to get ready.

When I got to the bathroom, I realized that there weren’t any toothbrushes anywhere. I stared at the sink. Now what am I to do about dirty teeth?

I’ve used the toilet before, but that didn’t require a toothbrush. I’ve got no time for this. The soap was there, so I took the soap and rinsed my face. I decided to gurgle the water from the sink as a last-ditch effort. I thought of showering, but there were no showers or bathtubs. I’ll have to ask about that later. I took my mask and hurriedly left my room. After all, I was excited to know what Sakoria looked like.

I got to the entrance of the sakoar and two people were waiting for me—Mark and Dans.

“You’re late,” Mark called out.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Is it just us?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dans replied. “The others will keep the Moribus on standby.”

“The sakoar, right? Moribus?”

“Yes, Moribus,” she replied. “Let’s go.” She opened a hatch above us and started climbing out.

There was an opening there? I quickly followed after Mark.

When I popped my head outside the sakoar, I gasped. We weren’t underwater at all! We were encased in a large glass dome-like structure. I could see the light glint off of the seemingly invisible bubble around us. There didn’t seem to be any type of structural support either. It was just a clear hemisphere where I could see everything that was outside and above. I kind of pictured the entire place as a snow globe without the snow.

I looked across the yellow waters outside of our current bubble. We were floating in the middle of the ocean surrounded by more similar sized dome structures.

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The place was much larger than I had first anticipated. There was some kind of platform at the very top of the dome, kind of like another smaller bubble encased within the larger one.

A very tall cylinder structure connected the top to the bottom. It reminded me of a space elevator considering how thin and tall it was, but it didn't seem like it went past the ceiling of this large dome.

I stood on top of the sakoar and took another look around. The surrounding buildings were also very tall. They weren’t as high up as the platform bubble up top, but they were just as tall as the skyscrapers I’ve seen in my previous world. These buildings were also very weird. They curved in the most extreme ways possible as if gravity wasn’t a problem, yet it still had a semblance of style.

Unlike the interior of the sakoar, these buildings were extremely detailed and unique. And in some sense, it resembled Greek architecture because of how they were in various shades of white and grey; it had a very wavy and marble-like aesthetic.

There were a bunch of sakonians strolling around us too. However, unlike these absolutely gorgeous buildings, the people here were still wearing the same old achromatic wetsuits like Dans and Mark. The colors of the suits did match the buildings, but there was absolutely no variation in style. The only difference I saw between some of the suits were the little children wearing colors that were brighter than their adult counterparts like yellow, blue, or even red.

I looked down at my red suit now feeling more self-conscious about the color choice. No! Don’t feel embarrassed now, I told myself. This is fashion!

Dans and Mark had already climbed down the sakoar. They were waiting for me at the very bottom. I looked around nearby. I was so focused on the buildings in the far distance that I never noticed my own surroundings.

As I climbed down, I realized that this place vaguely resembled a dock of sorts. When I turned to glimpse at Dans’s sakoar, Moribus, I could finally see what it actually looked like. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it was just a plain and simple submarine. Not much color to it either.

I broke free from the sightseeing aspect of the trip and asked, “so, are those domes out there also Sakoria?”

“No, the place across the ocean from us is the Kingdom of Solia. This place”—Dans pointed down at the ground—“is Sakoria.”

This is so cool! I hadn’t felt this excited in a while. “So, what are we waiting for? Where’re we going?”

“There,” Mark pointed to the bubble at the top.

Perfect, I thought. I was just about itching to find out what that was.

We walked for what felt like hours, but I knew it was just a couple of minutes. For such a cool and grandiose looking place, I couldn’t believe there was no means of public transportation for us to take. “Walking is good,” Dans told me. Well, Dans. Sorry, I’m not as fit as you.

For the first time since travelling the Dagaea Desert or whatever, I was sweating profusely. I looked at Mark, hoping to at least see a small bead of sweat, but he was as dry as a desert. How wonderful. I was walking with two athletic gorillas.

There were a few sakonians around us who were walking in flippers, but most of them were barefoot or in closed-toed, rubber shoes. I didn’t know how flippers were supposed to be more comfortable or faster than shoes, but I decided not to question it.

Other than the line of submarines moored at the docks, there didn’t seem to be any large means of transportation. I supposed it made some sense since the sakonians were underwater species to begin with, but they weren’t even living underwater. All they had were a few webbed hands. They even breathed in air. I didn’t understand why they didn’t have better options for land transportation. Their entire city was above water anyways.

It surprisingly didn’t take as long as I expected to arrive at the base of what I had first thought was a space elevator. It only took, maybe, about an hour long. The benefits of foot travel in this giant city was that I could see a lot of the city that I couldn’t see before. Except for the initial surprise I had when I first saw the architecture, most of Sakoria was what I’d consider a city was supposed to be like. It had a bunch of food stands all around the city and a few restaurants sprinkled into the mix too. I also saw a clothing store full of wetsuits and all sorts of weird breathing masks. Those masks had a lot more going on with them than the suits; some lit up like neon LED boards and others reminded me of cybernetic masks you’d usually see in video games.

The closer I got to the city center, I actually started to see more variation in the wetsuits. Some of the sakonians walking past us were clad in gold and silver-plated wetsuits. There were a few that had gems and crystals infused into them. The stones sparkled like opals under the suns. Now this was what I’d consider fashionable.

Dans and Mark entered the cylinder. It really did look like an elevator with all those buttons on the side. When I followed them in, I realized there was actually music. Wow, I thought to myself. Elevator music! And as I had expected, the circular, see-through platform we were standing on started to move up.

The ride to the top was as smooth as butter. Before I could completely soak in the city, Mark tapped me on the shoulder. I abruptly looked up at him. He gestured for me to get out. Oh, we’re here. I was finally at the very top—the second floor of Sakoria if you could call it that.