Galvanised [Nyx x Reader]

1.: Encounter

You closed your eyes and concentrated solely on your movements. Effortlessly, you glided forward with one push of your arms. The deep buzz of the water pumps surrounded you, no other sound disturbed you. The silence calmed you down, along with the knowledge that you were the one in control of this situation. To go up, down, forward or backwards, everything was your decision. Nothing could catch you, nothing could hurt you. Nobody expected anything from you, you were not needed, you didn't make a difference. But you were completely at peace.

Then you ran out of air, so reluctantly you started pushing yourself upwards again. And as soon as you broke the water surface, the feeling of calm that you had cherished for the last few moments, was pushed away by the sound of water splashing and children screaming. You inhaled deeply to fill your empty lungs again.

All the stimuli that you were able to block out under the water were pushed on you again. Your senses returned, and suddenly you felt your aching muscles.

That was enough for today, you decided and returned to the pool edge. You passed many people, way too many for your liking.

But the summer was going to start in a few weeks, and as soon as the temperature would allow it, nobody would see you in this indoor swimming pool again. Instead, you would be diving through the ice-cold water of huge lakes, undisturbed by the masses. You smiled at the thought.

Once you stepped out of the water, the heaviness of your limbs took an even greater toll on your body. But that was the proof that you had worked hard today and should be proud.

With a small smile on your lips, you headed over to the shower to rid your body of the chlorine. Another thing you didn't like about pools.

When you were back in your clothes, your hair was dried and your things packed up, you left the building and finally took a look at the watch. There was no need to hurry, your appointment was set for 3 pm. You still had forty-five minutes, and the flat was within walking distance.

So you started walking in a slow pace, enjoying the warm rays of sunshine that had fought their way through the clouded sky.

This district was not very familiar, but you would soon get to know it, if the owner decided to rent the flat to you. It was a nice and quiet neighbourhood with a park nearby, so you hoped for the best. Even though your dad was not home very often, as he was a hard-working scientist, you still wanted to finally live by yourself, in your own place. There was no doubt that paying your own bills would make you more mature. You couldn't wait for starting your own life.

And for not having to wake up at 5 am.

The university you were attending was quite far from your current home, so actually, the main reason for your decision to move out was the possibility to sleep for another one and a half hours every morning.

You had to smile at the thought of the university, ever since you had started going there, you felt so autonomous, you felt like finally becoming an adult.

Three years ago, you would have never dreamed of that possibility. You had expected the end of the world. Because that was when the monsters, the Skotáds, had started to appear. Not only you, everybody had been expecting the destruction, because nothing had seemed to work. No gun, no fire, no bomb had cut through their thick black skin. Everything in their way had been destroyed, and they had been marching forward unstoppably, leaving only desolation behind them. Even your mother had fallen victim to their march.

But then, the organisation had appeared.

DARWiN.

Nobody knew where they had come from, or how they had created their superhuman fighters, but it hadn't mattered, because DARWiN's Glaive had been able to defeat the Skotáds. And until today, they were the shield of mankind.