At the teleporters located in the center of the city.

"Man, I can never get used to those damn things. They never calibrate them properly and always end up screwing with my fluids. Luckily, I took some moonlit mend before jumping into that piece of junk, or else things would have gotten real ugly." 

Finnian had just entered the bastion of Lumindor and was finally able to take in the breathtaking view before him. What he saw in front of him was a beautiful white city floating on the clouds, with a bustling town center filled with merchants and travelers. Although there were all sorts of sentient beings present, the overwhelming majority of those there were made up of odd-looking humans, known as Cirrusians. 

In humanity's search for other life, they had inevitably become the aliens that they so desperately searched for. Over the eons, they had conquered any celestial object containing the smallest traces of life and had become the de facto rulers of the cosmos. Although, to say that humans were still a cohesive species would not be entirely accurate. They had mutated themselves to adapt to their environments, so although they retained a human semblance, they were no longer part of the same species they had once been.

At one point there were over a million different unique human subraces, but the number that survived to the present day was not fully known. These Cirrusians were one such race that persisted to the present day. 

Though this is the true history of these people, it has long been forgotten to the alms of time and is something that only Finnian remembers now. The Cirrusians thus view themselves as the "cloud-touched." Their fabricated history attributes their creation to being born from the essence of the clouds themselves, a people created to care for and rule the skies.

Nevertheless, Finnian reacclimated himself to the cloud-like surface he was standing on and set out to his first destination of the day, the "Nimbus Bimbus Cup." It was an event where the best nimbus racers of Lumindor went against one another for the opportunity to win extraordinary prizes. Cirrusians were a people that were born with an innate control over the elements, where they were able to control portions of the skies to their liking. The first thing they did with this power was use it to create small Nimbus clouds for the sole purpose of racing one another, a tradition that evolved over time into the infamous Nimbus Bimbus Cup.

Finnian had been anticipating the Nimbus Bimbus Cup's 5,000th championship for a while now and was excited to finally enter the grand stadium situated high in the sky.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Damnnit, why is the line already so long? I thought that I got here early enough to skip having to deal with this crap!"

"Wait, what's that small line I see over there?"

"Hmm, I don't care anymore. Even if it's an express line, I don't mind forking over some extra cash so I don't have to deal with wasting my time in line."

"Might as well go over there, not like I'm going to do any better by waiting here."

He proceeded to walk up to the line that was moving at an exceptionally fast rate and quickly got to the front of the gate. The Cirrusians stationed there said, "Hello sir, it will be 400 gluons to enter via the VIP gate."

Finnian replied, "Sure, that works for me." He then paid for the ticket and was about to head into the stadium when the attendant stopped him.

"Sir, before we let you in we have to do a mandatory ball inspection, it's part of the procedure"

Finnian gave a blank stare a second and then raised his hands in defeat, signaling that he was fine with it.

"Thank you for cooperating sir, I'll call over the chief ball inspector for you real quick then."

"Oy, Alfonzo come over here!"

A big burly man came over and quickly approached Finnian. He proceeded to take off his gloves and told him to pull down his pants.

"Wait, why the hell did you take off your gloves dude?!? "

"Nothing to worry about sir, just part of the standard procedure for outsiders since this tournament is bigger than usual and requires extra scrutiny of the balls."

Finnian replied, "Fair enough, just be quick."

The guard then proceeded to do a thorough ball inspection and found no issues with Finnian, so he let him pass through the gate smoothly.

"Damned terrorists, hiding explosives in their balls and making these stupid ball inspections a requirement."

Eventually, Finian entered the inner stadium and was eager to find his seat for the main event. 

While searching for a seat, Finnian began thinking to himself and pondered for a second.

"Wait, why was that fucker wearing gloves in the first place if he was just going to take them off for every inspection?"

Thinking about this, Finnian came to a startling realization. 

"Those fuckers pulled a quick one on me. Extra scrutiny my ass, they just wanted to fondle my crown jewels."

"Years of being a recluse have seriously taken their toll on me, I have to take my head out of the gutter and be more attentive to these sorts of things."

"Since the universe is coming to its end, all those sick perverts have finally left hiding and are being so brazen now. Now that they have nothing to lose they're willing to risk it all."

"I need some snacks to cheer me up now, where was the food court located again?"