《Last World Stop》


 World-gazing (Prologue)

    The rain pitter-patters across the tin roof tops. The sound is like an inattentive office worker tapping their nails, waiting for the long day to come to a close. As my eyes open, I see a rip in the sky. Itreverberates across the heavens, like a bat trying to track its prey. The chroma fracture in the sky quickly conjoins both sides and closes with a flash of light, yet not making a sound. Back to work,I thought.I''m lying completely flat on my back. I begin to feel the moisture of the ground dampen the clothes on my back, which are starting to stick to my skin. Fucking great, one minute into the job and i''m already wet. I dig my fingers into the ground to get up onto one knee, as if i''m kneeling to a king. Ironic considering my status. I would never be caught in this position infront of anyone. Standing fully erect, I look at my surroundings. Medium sized buildings line an asphalt street, and steam can be seen coming up from openings next to the street. The smell of food which is foreign to me, is waffing through the air. I''m currently in an alleyway, looking out towards the new job location.I''m in a modern setting this time around?That gets me a bit excited, as I let out a meager smirk. Completely forgetting about being soaking wet due to my discovery, I think about my last job briefly. The world I was previously at was nothing like this world. Old scanty villages were all that the eye could see. Desert sand, plain shrubbery, and a few trees here and there. I''m getting a headache just remembering it.


    I look into a small puddle that was forming due to the constant rain fall, and notice my appearance is still the same. I let out a sigh of relief. Those spatial portals have been known to distort ones appearance according to what the current world standards are. I suppose this would make it easier to carry out the request, but i''ve never gotten used to not recognizing myself. One of the benefits of the portals is that no one but the user can see them, halting any wide spread comotion from something seeing them. As you may have already figured out, i''m not from this world. To be quiet honest, i''ve no idea what my world is called anymore. I''m what you would call a world jumper. I haven''t visited the world i''m from since I left it many centuries back. It was one of the most barren worlds i''ve ever seen. No wonder I was in a rush to get the hell out of there. Nothing but sand and bugs, I shudder.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    I''m employed by an orginization that tries to keep the peace among the cosmos. The CCC is what we''re called, short for Cosmos Correction Company. We aren''t seen under the best of lights, but I suppose we are necessary. I''ve gotten many worlds back together myself, and I know as few as we are, my fellow jumpers have as well. My boss is one of the craziest bitches i''ve ever met. She is the personification of our entire orginization. This is definitley a bad thing. If anyone finds out that i''m with the CCC, you can kiss any hospitality goodbye. Now you are probably asking yourself, "Self, why are the CCC seen in such a bad light?" Well, I got a short answer for you. Besides the majority of us being assholes, we do end up doing some ''damage'' to the world. It''s not like I want to topple over any buildings, but sometimes that''s the best course of action to get rid of some pests.Let''s just say the CCC are lucky to have me and not our several enemies. The pay is good, so I stay. The main attracting point for me, though, was traversing these new worlds. Like I said, i''d always wanted to leave my home world. I don''t even remember my parents faces, probably because they were never around. Gazing into the stars as a kid; I always wondered what was out there. Well, I found that question out. A whole bunch of shit... I mean some really crazy shit. I''ve seen worms bigger than buildings.


    Anyways, back to the CCC. As you can tell from our name, we fix shit on a grand scale. I''m not talking fixing a pipe leak, i''m talking fixing entire planets. We aren''t the put back together type, but we solve problems. If you were hit by a hurricane, we apologize, but we don''t cover that. I''m more into the killing aspect of fixing. Have a bad guy problem? That''s where we come in, and I just happen to be starting my next job. I''m starting to get tired of this whole thing though. I''ve seen many worlds, and i''m feeling my bones start to ache every damn time I go through that portal. I''m not sure if it''s intuition or what, but I think this time may be my last. I guess i''ll make the best of it. I put my hood on and walk out into theconcrete jungle of this new world.

 Chapter 1: Getting Settled

    I saunter out into the hectic street and survey around me. Masses of metal buildings are strewn along a wide black street that meanders like a river. The rain is still coming down in heaps, but it doesn''t seem to be bothering anyone. It falls onto my ghastly hood, sliding down the seams. I breath in through my nose, and the strong stench of oil stings my nostrils. Their are also a lot of indistinguishable smells. Such is coming to a new world. The CCC base is roughly 33 light years away from this sector, which is named Golokrond7. I''m a long way from ''home''. The street has a massive amount of different looking races passing by. They are all bumping into eachother, laughing, and yelling. I recognize a couple of the races. So far i''ve spotted humans, which i''m apart of. I''ve also noticed a race of hostile lizards called the Serek. My eyes caught the glance of a race that resemble animals of all types, and a race of humanoids which are very similair to us, yet are much taller, slender, and sleek. Their skin is pale and fragile. They are very breath taking to look at; giving off a strange alure.


    The street is so busy that no transportation is coming through. It''s more like a market. I look at the signs of the first few shops infront of me, and hold up my translation device. It''s actually fairly simple to use. It''s a device that''s similair to a watch. It can analyze data from up to 480 meters and transfer it directly to me. Although it only translates into my native tongue; English. Sometimes the words still make no sense. The words start to unravel infront of my eyes like a puzzle. The first shop must be some sort of restaurant, as it translates into ''Jhin''s Eatery''. My stomach grumbles as I start to walk towards the building, bumping into numerous strangers. It will be nice to get out of the rain for a bit. I open the slick metal door, and step inside. The floorboards creek with each step I make. I can feel eyes peircing me like daggers. Makes me feel at home again. Although they don''t know im part of the CCC, no one likes strangers. Atleast from what i''ve seen. I sit down on a wooden chair that looks like it could give you a splinter or two.I hope a human works here. It would save me the hastle of having to try to order and point at the fucking menu like an idiot. I hold up my device, and have it translate the menu for me. I have never seen any of the items on this damn menu. What the hell is a Schlockne. Guess i''ll give it a shot.


    A tall and slender beauty starts to walk towards me. Although she is taller than me, it''s definitley not a turn off. Her face is gentle and without blemish. She is wearing an apron, which I assume means she works here. Ah, she is one of those strange humanoid races. Her entire figure is magnificent. She walks with poise and grace, almost like a dancer. I feel like i''m going to start drooling any minute here. She finally arrives to my table. "Geh ful steen pokt zvezx?" she mutters.Great, I was hoping to have an actual conversation. It''s been a while."Do you speak English?" I ask bluntly. "Oh, yes I do sir, what can I get you?" I''m almost about to start breaking down into tears hearing something I can understand. Worthless damn translation device only works on written words. "You are the most beautiful person I know right now!" I yell.Fuck, I just said something weird didn''t I.I''m honestly just happy to talk to someone. The last job I think i''d spoken roughly three words: fuck, shit, and damn. No one to talk to last time. The villagers were too primal to even bother talking to. I look back and our eyes meet. She has a reddish tint highlighting her cheeks. "That was strange, but I suppose i''ll take the compliment. Now, what can I get you?" she looks at the menu. "I''ll get the Schlockne." I ask. She starts giggling, which makes me give a confused look to her. "It will be right out, customer" She starts to leave, looking back to give me a wink. Women...


    While it may seem i''m slacking off a bit here, which I am, i''m also going to try to collect some information. I have a meeting with the princess of the ''famed'' steam castle in two days. The reason i''m meeting a princess, and not a king or queen? They got offed, which is part of why i''m here. The princess is going to become queen in the next few weeks, and it''s my job to take care of the problem before then. I''m just going off of what my higher ups told me. Which now that I think of it, I should probably listen to more than two minutes of the debriefing on the job. It would be nice to get some information on the place before I go there. Although, it''s nice to get the local opinion of a place. As i''m collecting my thoughts; im abruptley interupted by the waitresses sweet voice. "Here you are sir." she says, while handing me a plate. It has steam coming off of it.I guess it''s a hot meal.I look down at it, and I instinctivley shudder. "Woah woah woah woah, I can''t eat this." I say, as I stare right into a bug looking thing. I fucking hate bugs. As strong as I am, if a spider ever gets near my ass i''m running out of there at full speed. "Please sir, give it a try. I promise it''s good!" she says while smiling. That smile is captivating. Damnit, am I really going to dig into a bug because of a girl? My manly pride won''t allow me to back down now. I stab into it with a fork like untensil, which has 5 prongs instead of the usual 3 that i''m used to. Guess they need more stab effect to get into these damn bugs. Sweat starts to roll down my cheek as the bug gets closer and closer to my mouth.I can''t believe i''m about to do this, but damn i''m hungry. I take a bite out of the disgusting thing, and prepare myself for the worst. I chew a few times, and swallow. "This is actually really good, is this actually a bug?" She giggles, "It is a local delicacy. At first I thought you were a refined gentlemen for choosing such a thing, but I suppose you just guessed." she laughed.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I couldn''t help looking at her breasts jiggle as she laughed. She honestly is stunning. "Hey, since I was brave and ate this thing, can I get some information? Nothing too big." I ask her, while taking another bite of the Schlockne. "Depends, what type of information are you after? My sizes?" she giggles. I roll my eyes, this woman is such a flirt. "While I wouldn''t mind knowing that information, i''m actually interested in the castle. You know, the one with all the steam coming from it." I ask in a sarcastic manner. "Well, their''s not much to tell. The common people are forbidden from entering without a special badge. The steam comes from all of the machinery in there. It powers the entire city of Zehev. Of course, the dreadful news of the king and queens death shouldn''t be any suprise, unless you were under a rock for the last month." she says, with a hint of sadness in her voice. I guess the king and queen were good people cherished by the locals.I take another bite, and wipe my face with a brown cloth that was given to me. I chug down some water, and stand up. The CCC had transfered some of this worlds currency to me beforehand. To be honest with you, I have no idea how much I owe. Would it kill those bastards to give me some more information? I guess they think I like suprises.They aren''t wrong. I set one of the green star shaped coins down on the table, and look at the waitress. Her eyes widen, as she looks at me like im some sort of freak. "Sir, the meal was much less than what you have just set down. I would feel bad to take this." I start to walk out of the door, as I hear her complaints start to get quieterand quieter.


    I guess I should listen to the debriefing and see if this princess has a name, but first, I need to find lodging. I scan some more of the signs until I see one that unravels into ''Kataro''s Inn''. I stride past the crowd and step inside. "Welcome customer! What can I do for ya!" yells out a middle aged human with a long beard. I also noticed he is bald. I say a little prayer for him. "I''d like lodging for one person, whatever works. Just don''t give me the biggest shithole in the joint." I mutter. "Of course not sir, all of the rooms here are top notch." I give him a gaze that could kill, as droplets of rain start hitting me from a leak in the roof. He looks at me nervously. "W-well sir, let me just get your name so I can add it to the active register, and then we can head to your room. Also, that''ll be two Glockts."Which one is a Glockt?I guess randomly and pull out two brown star shaped coins. Not my money, not my problem. "My name is Zed." He begins writing down my name in his guest book. "Thank you, please follow me" he stammers. I follow him up a flight of stairs that looked like moss was growing on them. I''m usually not too picky, but damn this place is a mess. He opens up a door, and enters a small bedroom. It seems to have all of the basics. "I will be leaving tomorrow morning, now get out." I tell him. "Right away!" He shouts, as he skimpers out the door, closing it behind him. I''ll check out the debrief later.I let out a sigh of relief as I let myself free fall onto the bed. Closing my eyes, Idrift into sleep.