Bachelor Party!
“Ok, ok, but like, what if…”
“Zeke, buddy, you’re going to be fine. Just breathe.”
“But marriage, I love her, sure, but the moment we tie the knot, everything goes downhill from there.”
“What knot are you tying?”
“The proverbial one!”
“Bro, you need a drink and, oh, a party! Yeah, let’s throw a party,” Jaxon said as he paced back and forth, thinking more and more about how awesome it would be. Jaxon was my best friend in this world. He, like all the inhabitants of this world, was a Kojin, specifically a foxkin. Kojin were beastfolk and had various stages of transformation. Some looked human with only slight changes, like the ears or the eyes. They might even have a tail. VeLana, my fiancé, was almost fully human but only had the ears and tail showing. However, all Kojin could transform fully into their beast forms. In that regard, they were similar to me being a werewolf. Jaxon fell into the “stuck in permanent transformation” category. When I met him, he looked like the Disney version of Robin Hood, since he was wearing a green cloak and that silly hat with a feather.
The major difference between my transformation and theirs was that mine was painful and more beast than the Kojin. My legs would invert like that of a canine, whereas their transformation would still be humanoid in overall shape. I also grew exceptionally large compared to them. They, unless using a skill or ability, would stay the same size when transitioning.
“Jaxon, I love you like brother, but I don’t think…”
“That’s right, you’re not thinking. It is party time, and you’re getting drunk!”
~~~
“VeLana,” Kaelyn snapped her fingers in front of her face, “hello?”
“I’m getting married…” was all she could say. She had repeated it over and over again since returning to her room with Kaelyn and Zarrah, who were sisters but of different catfolk species. Kaelyn was of the snow leopard variety, whereas Zarrah was a cheetah type. Kojin, when marrying outside their race, could have children that resembled either of the parents, not like humans, where we get fifty-fifty of both. Both girls had the ears, eyes, and tails showing only.
“Yes, and you’re happy about that, right?”
“I’m getting…”
“Married, yes, we know,” Zarrah slapped VeLana across the face. Kaelyn looked at her, shocked. “What?” Zarrah asked. “We need to get through to her. You know what she needs?”
“A stiff drink and some pills?”
“She needs a party!” Kaelyn looked at her sister like she was crazy, then thought about the idea and smiled.
“Yes, I believe you are right, my dear sister.”
“I’m getting married…”
~~~
“VLADT VLADT VLADT VLADT VLADT!” the Lykaians chanted while I downed yet another shot. I don’t know if it was the S rank booze or my translation spell going haywire, but whatever they were saying, it was motivating. That reminds me, when did Lenny upgrade my booze to S rank? Or did someone else figure out how? And if it has spread this far, does the entire Northern range of cities have alcohol now? I need to check my bank account, I’m probably uber-rich. Even more uber-rich, I should say.
I opened my mouth and showed my tongue as the drink was gone. “Aaaaahhhhhh!” The shouts and cheers reverberated off the walls of the pub we found ourselves in. Normally, there weren’t strippers at this pub, but someone, cough Jaxon, cough, ordered some strippers. As we drank and hoped, ok, I hoped, the strippers would leave me alone, that didn’t seem to be the case.
As I found myself in a chair being bounced on by several women, I tried to close my eyes and endure it. My mates didn’t seem to have such reservations as they shouted from the sidelines at my discomfort. Even TelVurn was inebriated enough to cheer me on, I think that was the most disconcerting thing.
“Friend, perhaps you’d like to sit over here and have a water?” Avencast asked, but more directed me to a cleared-out table.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Thanks, so I know we never got to finish our conversation.”
“No worries, friend, we will. Just for tonight, let’s make it through the night without anything too bad happening. You know how women are.” I acknowledged his point with a raised glass of something resembling whiskey, then I took a swig, nodded at him, and started to pass out.
~~~
“Whoo-hoo!” the women shouted as the male strippers danced on their laps. VeLana had three men humping her from all sides, and her face was beet red. All she could think of was this was not kosher. However, the server girl pouring wine down her throat made her head feel like it was all ok.
Both Kaelyn and Zarrah realized things were getting out of hand but could do little to the Lykaians celebrating their princess getting married. The party raged on, and the shots kept coming.
Eventually, VeLana let go of her anxiety and cut loose during her party. She drank, danced, and shamefully grinded against several strippers. Then she started a fight when a male stripper went too far, and suddenly the entire party was mixed up in a brawl.
The window of the bar broke as a female Lykaian was thrown through it. The bar’s enforcers attacked the group but were soundly defeated by the S rank party since both Kaelyn and Zarrah had fully crossed the threshold in Astra rank. With the loss of Sera, it was only the three girls left to rank up. However, while they were there for fun, they were able to watch each other’s backs. The fight was inevitable. Not because the women were strong-willed but because Lykaians loved a good brawl.
The humanish face transformed into a wolf as a mighty roar escaped the bouncer’s lips just as a spinning glass crashed into the side of its head. VeLana, in an instant, was there and delivered a mighty uppercut.
“Now, this is a party!” She exclaimed. VeLana wasn’t wearing a wedding dress, but she was wearing a white dress for the theme of the party.
~~~
“HAHAHA!” Avencast laughed hardily, watching TelVurn spin in circles while he fought against falling asleep. “I give him thirty more seconds,” he said as he slammed fifty gold coins onto the table.
Jaxon slammed fifty as well. “He’s got less than twenty seconds!”
I flipped a plat coin onto the table. “I say eleven exactly!”
We counted down the seconds and watched TelVurn crash into a table exactly eleven seconds later. The other two groaned and tossed more coin to match the wager, and I scooped it all up while grinning.
“So, Zeke. If you have an object that hasn’t been compromised by this world’s magic, then I could use it to home in on your world. Every world vibrates at a different frequency. So, if you have an object of any kind, I could use it.”
“You said you lost the earth path, what did that mean exactly?”
“Earth has infinite variations. In my variation, magic was very much used and explored. However, I was part of a team that believed in the multiverse. Through our experimentation, I was able to create a portal to other realities. I… I had a key that kept my earth’s vibration, however, I landed in a world far greater in technology and magic than my own. There, I was captured, and my key was taken. I was imprisoned with anti-portal technology, not as powerful as Astramarta’s barrier, but still powerful. I used a lot of power to break out of there, only I broke out of the earth’s multiverse and landed in the void worlds.”
“Void worlds?”
“Yeah, like this world,” he said while tapping a finger on the table. “Outside the known universe, there is the void. A vast emptiness, except for single independent worlds and strange monsters that travel the void.”
“Monsters?”
“Yeah, if you travel up,” he looked up as if looking at the sky, “you’ll notice that the sun, moons, and stars are all fake. There is a barrier protecting this world, and outside of it is the void. And in that void are many strange monsters completely alien to the types of monsters you have down here. Out there, they are the true terrors. Anyways, once I left the earth’s variations, I lost my way back and have only been hopping void worlds ever since.”
“I have a suit that I haven’t used or worn since I’m no longer the right size to wear it. It is unmodified by this world’s magic system. Could you use that as a new key?”
His eyes lit up. “Yes, that should work perfectly.”
“Can you make a way to my earth and a way back when I’m done with my business there?”
“Yes, my friend. I can do one better,” he said, grinning. “I can make it so that hardly any time passes on this side while you’re over on that side.
“That sounds almost too good, what is the part you’re not telling me.”
“Well, I can’t guarantee the time period you land in your world. The thing is, portals break both space and time, so we may not land exactly in the year that you left.”
“Would it be close?” I figured it would be years later, which would be fine for me, my enemies would’ve had plenty of time to get relaxed at my disappearance. Just for me to show up and wreck their world.
“Maybe?” Avencast said while his grin changed to more of an uncertain grin. “But it is worth exploring, right?”
“And you can guarantee that we’d be back here before the wedding?”
He suddenly realized I wanted to do this soon. The wedding was in two weeks, and I wanted to settle my business before accepting a new chapter in my life. “Yeah, easily. Your suit has the frequency to get us there, however, it is likely old, and there will be a deviation. But, when I create a key from something in this world, it will be new, and so the return point would, at worst, be hours later, not even days.”
“Perfect. I’d like to go tomorrow after we sleep off all this booze. You said we, by the way, I guess you’re coming with me?”
“Yeah, I want to get back to the Earth multiverse. Even if it is not my earth and even if I don’t have a key to my world, I would still rather be there than here. So, yes, I’ll be coming with.”
“Can I come?” Jaxon asked.
“I guess? But you will stand out quite a bit, you know, because you are in full transformation all the time. “You might cause more problems and deaths than necessary, now that I think about it.”
“Fine, I’ll stay, but get your affairs in order and get back to us. Ok?”
“You bet.”