Chapter 3 – A City of Yellow And A Sea of Black

And so after a few hours of witty banter, tests from increasingly strange machines that let out strange noises, and hours upon hours of paperwork Alister was finally hired by a company he knew nothing about.

Munching down on an oatmeal cookie and taking a sip of the earl grey tea provided by the man in Grey himself, Alister found himself scanning over a bright orange piece of paper.

The garishly brightly colored document was titled Employee Benefits And Salary in a rather obtuse and wavey font and was filled top to bottom in some of the smallest wording that Alister had ever seen in his life.

Alister glanced at the document and slammed it down upon the table that was already starting to give out from all the paperwork pilled on top of it. Giving up after failing to read even the first sentence that was squeezed upon the orange paper. Shooting the man in the Grey Suit a look over the wobbling antique table.

" Excuse me, darling. I can't read this at all. The font you used to print this document is somehow smaller than my will to live and you still managed to fill up an entire page. "

Alister looked back down at the document before shooting the man another look.

"Including the margins! "

Slightly taken aback by Alister's intensity the man in the Grey Suit looked up from the document he was writing on and gave a small speech about how it was printed incredibly small to save paper in order to help protect the environment.

In turn, Alister replied by gesturing to the multiple stacks of paperwork that the man had pulled out of his never-ending briefcase that was starting to get awfully close to the concrete ceiling.

Five minutes later Alister was handed a rather large booklet and a small apology from the man in the Grey Suit.

The apology mostly consisted of a refill of tea and another oatmeal cookie.

Glancing over the pink pages of the book, Alister made sure to memorize all the benefits he was entitled to. After all, employee wage and benefit theft was the biggest form of theft that currently existed in the known universe.

Alister had even heard some horror stories of employers withholding annual bonuses from their employees because no one remembered they had an annual bonus in the first place.

Glancing back down at the booklet Alister made a quick mental note after reading every single bullet point.

Citizenship to a country he never heard of

Strange but he was never a geography wiz.

Non-specified payment provided depending on his performance

A little sketchy but doable. In the end, he could always kill somebody if he wasn't satisfied with his payment.

Beachfront housing

Sure why not.

Free health and dental insurance

Ahhhh, the main course. One of the main things that really attracted Alister to this strange company. Even in the age of interstellar travel health insurance was crazy expensive.

Glancing at his watch the man in the Grey Suit noted the time after finishing writing up the final document he was required to fill out after finding and hiring someone.

Casting his gaze to the pale boy across from him buried deep inside the employee benefits manual the man gave a quick nod of approval. After all, it was fairly rare for anyone to actually read it, most of the people he picked up got bored after a few minutes and started tearing it up.

" Cough * Cough *... Excuse me Mr. Alister it's about time we get moving. "

" Finally, I thought we were going to sit around forever, "

Alister and the man both stood up from their padded seats, stretching after sitting for what felt like a good One-Tenth of an eternity.

Sending the mountains of paperwork that filled the once almost empty cell into his bag with a snap* the man turned and held out his gloved hand to Alister.

" Do you mind if I took you for a dance? "

" Not at all sweetie, I would never turn down anyone who could rock teal loafers as well as you "

Chuckling the man grasped onto Alister's frail hand and turned to face an undecorated concrete wall.

" Are you ready to leave your old residence behind? I know some people get sentimental, "

" What's there to miss about a prison cell, toots "

" You'd be surprised, Mr. Alister. You'd be surprised."

Leaving behind two chairs and a half-collapsed antique table for the prison staff to find later within a few minutes of the cell camera system turning back on, Alister and the man in the Grey Suit danced right through the dreary concrete wall and right into a city universes away.

The Smell was the thing that hit Alister the hardest as he waltzed hand in hand with the Grey Suited man as they spun into a different reality. No, it wasn't the yellow sky that struck him the most, nor was it the subtle change in gravity that pulled his prison uniform down. It was not the shock of finding himself in a new location, nor was it the strange figures that he found himself surrounded by that bothered him.

No, It was the indescribable Smell that hit Alister the hardest and made him wrinkle his nose and hold his breath for a moment. It was impossible to describe, it was heavy, it was harsh, it was so light, it was sharp, and sweet at the same time. It was alien and so much more, something Alister found impossible to describe with words.

The smell itself lingered in the air like a cheap perfume infecting everything that it touched.

Noticing Alister's discomfort as they stopped their waltz the man handed Alister a blue lozenge with a knowing smile.

" Everyone has something they find unbearable the first time they find themselves here. For me, it was the sky. Take a few deep breaths and eat this, it will help. "

Tossing the hard candy into his mouth Alister took a few deep breaths and sucked on the seemingly tasteless candy as the strange smell seemingly disappeared from existence.

No longer distracted the that horribly alien stench Alister took in the environment around him. He and the man waltzed through that concrete wall into a strange city. A city with towering, twisting, tumbling buildings and strangely shaped species.

Walking along its streets lead by the Grey Suited man Alister saw many strange sights. From its oddly shaped alien inhabitants, to the ways its architecture impossibly twisted and turned.

He saw creatures covered in tentacles, a naked woman with an uncountable number of breasts strutting down the street, and a bundle of walking bones. There was even a large blood-stained three-armed man that was slowly being lead down the street by a strange man in a Pink Suit.

Most likely someone as new to the city as Alister was.

Alister and his guide only stopped when they stood before a small modern house that faced a never-ending ocean of black waves.

" The city of Alagara welcomes you. We hope you enjoy your time working for us, and we welcome you to your new home in the district of Vermosa. Beachfront of course, but we don't recommend swimming in the black sea, you might come out with a few extra limbs. "