Somewhere in the void of space, on a rock hurtling through the void, there sits a curious building. From the outside it looks like a rather ordinary office building, one that would not be out of place in a big city, where skyscrapers like this are commonplace, This would just be another building, if not for one particular peculiar thing. The building was in the middle of nowhere, in a place devoid of human life, sitting there waiting.
Inside its carpets were still new and fresh, the marble freshly polished, the smell of fresh paint permeating the air, all while the faint far-off sound of water trickled in from a fountain in the center, giving the atrium a bit of ambiance. Here a man and woman stood surveying the place.
The woman wide-eyed took it all in and found the entire thing, a bit eerie. She thought offices should be filled with people, the sounds of phones, or the clicking of computers, but there was none of that. Just the wide open space, with an empty reception desk, and a man looking proudly all around. Despite the strangeness, there was beauty, and power here. One that she couldn't help, but be awed by.
The man turned to her proudly, “Well. What do you think?”
“I can’t believe you’re actually doing this.” She couldn’t hide the awe in her voice, as her eyes scanned everything, even going so far as to look behind the reception desk. Seeing just an ordinary desk with a computer, and a sign-in sheet. It was all so mundane and that was rather impressive.
The man let out a laugh, “Hey, it was your idea.”
She straightened herself, and turned back towards the man, “Yeah, but how did you come up with…” she paused, gesturing all around, “this.”
“I needed a way for them to feel, comfortable, and make it easy for them to understand what happened.” He answered, assuredly.
The woman looked at him assessing, before smirking. “You started small and just kept adding on didn’t you?” She looked around, “I bet this was a school at one point.”
“Ha, you know me so well.” He chuckled, “Kept thinking of more things to add, in fact, it was originally just a couple rooms, then thought a school would be better, then it didn’t make sense for what we were trying to do, and it all just kinda spun out of control.”
She raised an eyebrow. “So, how much did it end up costing?”
“Way more than I expected. Almost too much.”
She looked at him concerned, “Do you have enough still?”
“Plenty enough.” He held up his hand as a shimmering orb of yellowish light formed in his hand, radiating an immense amount of power. Enough to make even her feel it pulling her. “Think this will be enough?” A hint of playfulness in his tone.
She could only stare at the power, wondering how could this much divinity not be enough, when she realized she didn’t actually know. “I have no idea. I pulled mine back home, not summoned from elsewhere. Honestly, though it feels like overkill…by a lot.”
“It's my first time.” He defended, “Never had one before, and honestly I don’t know if it's enough.” His eyes never left the sphere worry etched on his face.
“You and your dramatics.” She laughed, “I still don’t understand why you can’t be here when they show up.”
“Tradition.” He smirks, and the sphere fades as he becomes thoughtful, and asks, “How about one more ride? For old time’s sake?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
She looked at him surprised. It had been years since they last rode together, and smiled, “Why not.”
#
In a place just off to the side, both right next door and an eternity away. In a concrete jungle filled with a strange race known to most as humans and to one particular species, Hr’kmns , which translates to contact travelers, came about by a complete and utter misunderstanding of the word and the species finding it an appropriate description. Not to mention, them finding the human attempts at correcting them endlessly entertaining.
Now, in this city a man is having a rather dreadful day, having just lost his job, as a data entry clerk after three years of dedicated work.
“What am I going to do?” He said for what felt like the thousandth time, as he rubbed his face. His name was Nicholas Knight, Or Nicki as he is known to his friends. He was stuck, trying to do anything except go home and face his mother. Nicki had been counting on that job to let him finally get his own place, he had even applied and been accepted to a new department. It wasn’t in the best neighborhood, but it would have been his.
He had been talking about it for weeks, everything at home was in boxes and his parents were excited to have the room. His dad was already talking about turning his room into an office. With this though. He would never be able to afford the rent. He had just enough for three months, and that was the only way they approved his application. Maybe three months is enough to find another job? He tried to think positively but was quickly disabused of that notion, as he remembered how long it had taken him to get this job.
Nicki felt a shiver go through him as he remembered all the resumes he uploaded, then had to reenter the exact same information again. It was quite enough to make him want to scream at the idea of it.
Now he had three weeks before he moved out, and three months to find a new job, or one week before the final signing of his lease, and he’d be out three hundred bucks just for the application. Tapping his foot head in his lap he jumped up with a decision. I can do it. He was going to apply to a hundred, not a thousand jobs. No matter how much the process melted his brain. He would grab the first thing for money then grab the one he wanted. Though he knew he would probably end up stuck at the first job, and mistreated way longer than he should have. Going from his past experience.
With newfound determination, and a healthy dose of hopeful delusion, Nicki started to frantically apply to every job he could find. Almost four hours later his hands hurt and he already had two offers from pyramid schemes, a plethora of new spam emails, and one text offering an interview, from a place he could find no information on. Best case scenario, its a startup. Worst case it’s another place that will make me want to kill myself. Most likely its a multilevel marketing; a serial killer; or a cult. With a long sigh, Nicki replied that he would be open for an interview.
Letting out a long sigh, leaned back into the bench, and looked up at the slowly descending sun. At least I can explain I have an interview lined up. With a self-deprecating laugh, Not that they’d believe me until I had an actual offer.
As Nicki stared out into the city just trying to not think about his day his phone rang. Without thinking he answered, “Hello?”
He was greeted by a man’s voice, “You ready for your interview?”
“What?” He pulled the phone away to see it was the number that had texted him earlier. They must be desperate. Pulling his phone back he shrugged, “Why not.”
“Great. I’ll pick you up.”
“What?” The call hung up leaving Nicki confused, as a bright light suddenly appeared behind him, as his brain short-circuited as he began to let out a scream as he was engulfed by light. Nicki could have sworn he heard a loud horn as he was engulfed in light.
#
In a place where a truck is shaking as it runs over a curb, speeding onto a road from a place no truck could have come from, inside a woman sits holding tight onto the oh shit bar looking annoyed, as a man drives laughing at the woman’s shaking.
Despite being shaken she found herself smiling, “Since when do you go off-road?”
“All the time.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Sometimes you have to…” He paused searching for the right words, “change things up.”
That made little sense to her, but he did always surprise her. It made her smile remembering when she used to be his passenger. “Why not just wait till he was at an intersection.” She missed this.
Raising an eyebrow he asked, “Do you know how many people I pick up like that?”
“A lot?”
He barked a laugh, “That's underselling it. Besides” He began thoughtfully, “I wanted this one to be different.” Turning back to the road his smile stretched, “After all, he is mine.”
She couldn’t hold back her smile, “Drama Queen.”
The man laughed as the air warped, and a portal to a place both there and not, a place between what could be, and what was. An impossibility opened, and the truck entered into the rift all unnoticed.