Now feeling as if he was out of place, Zain awkwardly looked around the room that he was still stuck in. It had been about thirty minutes since Devante and his friend started researching the island, and Zain was understandably bored.

  If they didn’t need his help anymore, he would like to go home, thankyouverymuch.

  He rocked back and forth, alternating between the heels of his feet and his toes, over and over again.

  It was difficult to ask to go home: He had attempted to ask Cherry, but before he could even utter a syllable, she had taken out some headphones and discourteously started listening to music.

  Maybe if I slip away…No, that guy is still guarding the door…I want to start working on dinner soon…

  His internal pity party was interrupted by Devante clapping his hands together, slicing through Zain’s train of thought like a blade as he happily exclaimed, “How ‘bout that! Show that to all of them who were saying I couldn’t think things through! Now I have a game plan!”

  Devante’s friend gave him a slight side eye as he stacked some of the papers they had gathered together, “I don’t think having a plan is the problem, you still have to talk your wife into letting you go to Girin…”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem now that I have a convincing reason for a small team to make their way there. She really just needed a reason around the legal blocks, but now that I have one, there shouldn’t be a problem!” Devante waved away his friend's concerns, as if he had completed his assignment.

  In response, his friend let out a long, exhausted groan, slumping his head as he spoke in a more hushed tone. “You just don’t get it…”

  “Shush! Don’t bring me down Javier, I don’t want to lose my nerves!” Devante covered his eyes with his hand, inhaling and exhaling slowly. As if steeling himself, he cast his gaze down, taking an extra glance at the papers below. After psyching himself up more, he resumed his usual jovial demeanor, pumping his fist as he hastily began to walk. “Okay! I’m gonna go talk with Cuddy! Wish me luck!”

  “Hold it, dumbass.” Cherry stopped Devante in his tracks, slowly rising from her seat as she took off her headphones. “What do you want us to do with this dumbass?”

  The one in question was, of course, Zain, who was awkwardly shifting his gaze to everyone in the room.

  LET ME GO!

  He wanted to scream for his freedom, but he refrained himself, solely because Cherry would probably kick his ass if he raised his voice too much.

  “Well, if it's okay with you, I would like to go home now. I don’t think you need me any-”

  “What?! Don’t say that, man! You were essential to us finding this new path! For real, man, I can’t thank you enough! OH! I know! I can take you up top for a day! How ‘bout that! Pick up some souvenirs to take home! Y’know, as a thank you!”

  “Even though it’s tempting, I -”

  Before Zain could politely refuse, Cherry chimed in, wearing a slight devilish sneer, “Maybe take him to tour the facilities up top. You said you wanted to bring him into the organization, this would be a good opportunity to show him the ropes.”

  Zain was starting to think Cherry had a vendetta against him or something because she just kept on burying him deeper in the grave he was already in. What was worse, Devante appeared to like the idea quite a bit as he grasped Zain by the shoulders before he could say a thing.

  “That’s a great idea, Cherry!” Devante exclaimed, slightly shaking Zain as he excitedly agreed with Cherry.

  Cherry placed a hand on Zain’s back, leaning in to whisper under her breath so only he could hear, “I told you I would make it your problem too. There is no escape.”

  And it was like that, his fate was sealed. Part of him expected it, but the bitter part of him wanted to flail on the floor and scream in protest. Would he ever escape their grasp?

  Javier, who had been watching silently with slight pity in his eyes, finally spoke up, “Are you going right now? You’re not going like that, right?”

  He made a general gesture at Devante, indicating that his whole fit was a problem. The man wore a casual tank with cargo pants, and his jacket wrapped around his waist. Zain didn’t really see a problem with it, he looked like a working man, but apparently his style wouldn’t fly where they were going.

  “Not just you, the kid too. What are you gonna do about that?”

  What? Me too?

  Wearing casual clothes was not fancy enough for this place apparently.

  Devante groaned, scratching the back of his neck as he rolled his eyes a bit.

  “Yeah…I have some clothes. I’ll need to lend some to him, though. Nothing too much, though. Don’t want to draw too much attention to him.”

  He turned towards Cherry, then made a gesture with his hand. In response, she reached into her hair and pulled out a fish again. Holding it close to her mouth, she whispered a command to it under her breath, then did a quick flick of her wrist, causing the fish to stream into a line and disappear.

  “We gotta leave now if we wanna get the kid back in time for dinner. Not that it matters to me.” Then she swiftly turned towards the door.

  The other two agreed and, with Zain walking between them, followed her. They ascended the stairs, giving a slight goodbye to the man guarding the door. The guard just silently watched them, unmoving from his initial position.

  They all entered Cherry’s car, with Zain still wedged in between Devante and Javier. To Zain’s surprise, Cherry pulled out a phone.

  If she had a phone, why not use that instead?

  “You’re probably wondering why I don’t just use my phone instead. Well, my preferred communication leaves little trace. And with your kind, y’all tend to disappear.” Cherry responded, as if she could hear Zain’s thoughts. She glanced at her rear view for a second, before she pulled out onto the street. “Not that the police care most of the time.”

  “Don’t scare him Cherry…” Javier remarked, giving Zain a few more pitying glances. “She doesn’t mean that. You’ll be fine.”

  Zain could only really nod silently. To be perfectly honest, he was scared shitless and he was clamping his teeth shut in order to prevent them from chattering. Everything felt so surreal, as if this wasn’t really happening to him.

  If only he had the guts to say no. But, even if he did that, he got the feeling as if Devante would ignore his protests and continue to string him along. He hoped he could regain some semblance of control over where his life seemed to be heading, but at this point it seemed to be out of his hands.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  As he remained in his head, the other two started discussing things. Zain was not really paying attention to the conversation as it didn’t really involve him. What he was more focused on was finding a way out of this situation.

  He went through some simulations in his head, and the best he could come up with was possibly coming up with a different career path he would be pursuing. It would be lying, but what else was he supposed to do? But…fooling Cherry would be hard to do….

  It was while he was thinking so deeply to himself, that they had made a stop at a store. The other three got out of the car so readily, Zain almost stayed back because he was caught off guard, but with a reassuring beckoning from Javier, he followed them.

  Without him noticing, they had made it towards the center of the city, where there were more skyscrapers and pristine looking buildings. All of the things around them looked upper class as the sidewalks, roads, and light fixtures appeared to be well maintained.

  The people walking around them had more modern looking outfits; Their unique styles made everything look so individualistic and the area looked expensive as a result. Robotic drones hummed around in the sky, some hovering downward to pick up trash, others pruning the strange aquatic plants in the landscape.

  Zain couldn’t observe everything that was around him as they so quickly entered the store, but he couldn’t help but feel underdressed. Of course, he only had three outfits to his name, but there was a slight anxiousness that rose within him.

  Not at all helping with his self consciousness, the clothes that were in front of him were high class suits, something that you would expect to see down a runway. AKA - out of the question for him to ever be able to afford.

  A great range of colors were there, along with accessories most people wouldn’t even be able to buy. Zain was out of his depth.

  “Matteo! Can you hook me and my buddy up? We’re in a bit of a hurry, so I’ll pay extra for the rush.”

  An old man from behind the counter walked towards them, squinting his eyes as he looked at Zain. He let out a small grunt as he whipped out a tape measurer and started taking Zain’s measurements. “And you are going above, no? A rush job is not good for them up there…”

  Devante nodded, “We aren’t staying for more than an hour or two. I just need to talk to my wife. As long as we don’t look out of place, it’s okay.”

  The old man let out a judgemental huff but didn’t argue any further, quickly shuffling to the back of the store after he finished measuring Zain. It took him only a second to return with an embroidered blue suit.

  He pressed it against Zain’s frame and silently nodded to himself. Passing it off to Zain as he looked around the store. Additionally, he grabbed a pocket chain, a black tie, an undershirt, socks, a watch, and braid clips. After he stacked these on Zain’s arms, he gestured to a changing room.

  Apparently, these were for him to wear now so Zain hesitantly changed into the expensive looking clothes. They all fit very well, and after a good ten minutes of changing, he put on everything. All he needed were shoes, but his outfit looked really well put together.

  He exited the changing room, feeling a little confident in how good he looked.

  The old man merely glanced at him, then snapped his fingers. Out of nowhere, some men in uniforms gathered around Zain, nitpicking his outfit. They adjusted his suit, added additional trinkets and accessories, and put make up on him.

  Zain just stood stiffly as he looked helplessly around, assuming a T-pose as he was meddled with like some sort of ken doll. They even put his shoes on for him along with grooming him; Once they were done, they exited as quickly as they had arrived.

  Zain didn’t really know how he felt being treated like a car at a pit stop, but at least now he could be confident that he looked passable.

  In the time he took to get ready, Javier and Devante had also changed. Each of them looked rather dapper, wearing suits with coat tails, capes, and hats. To be honest, it was a little jarring how different they all looked but they all looked pretty good.

  Devante exchanged a few words with Mateo, and after he assumedly paid for the services, met back up with them.

  “Okay! That’s that! Now we can ascend!” He looked around, raising a brow as he gazed around. “Is Cherry not back yet?”

  “I am, I’ve been waiting for you.” A voice called from the corner, causing everyone to jump a little. Cherry didn’t react, simply holding out a card from between her fingers. “I got clearance, here you go.”

  The statement was pointed at Zain, who was understandably confused. Nonetheless, he grabbed the card as prompted, analyzing it further as soon as he could.

  It was a temporary ascension card, which had a disclaimer about the expiration date for its validity.

  Devante patted him on the shoulder, smiling as he gave his approval, “Now you can come with us no problem!”

  “Um..Yeah. Thanks.” Zain swallowed. Though he couldn’t avoid the situation he was in, he had to admit that there was a slight excitement in seeing the upper level. It was the irrational part of his brain, the part that craved adventure, that wished to witness what the upper floor had to offer.

  They exited the store, walking a short distance away. Many people wearing tailored outfits also walked near them, and within a few minutes, they made it to a terminal.

  The terminal was decorated with colored stones and glass, lined with holographic screens that advertised the upper floor. There was a line that led to the ticket booths, but their group paid it no mind as they approached one of the suited employees. Without even saying a word, the employee guided them to a separate area, where there were much fewer people waiting.

  They walked along a decorated path, which led to a hostess at a separate ticket area.

  “IDs or visitation cards, please.” She said with a smile, holding out a scanner screen. One by one, they all held out their IDs, with Zain being the last to scan his ascension card.

  Once they all finished, the woman nodded, then led them to a luxurious seating room; there were a few people with them, all grouped up in different areas. There was catering and entertainment in separate areas, looking kind of like a first class waiting room.

  Their group simply sat in one of the sitting areas, near a window. Cherry placed her headphones on immediately, ignoring those around her as soon as she was able. Javier and Devante were still looking at the notes they had stowed away in their coats, whispering to each other about specific details. All Zain could really do was look out the window; he would’ve looked at his phone, but he wanted to conserve his low battery.

  People passed around them, a lot of them wearing fashionable clothing. He looked closely at some of them, and he noticed some magical elements melding with their clothing. One woman had glittering shells in her hair, a man wore a cape draped with vines, and another woman had watery seahorses adorning her ears.

  Maybe I’ll learn how to use magic…or not, I don’t want to spend too much time here.

  Just as he was listlessly wondering to himself, the view from outside shifted and a man on a speaker began to speak.

  “Attention passengers, we are now beginning our ascent to the Nu age layer. Please be advised, the last descent elevator is at 9 pm, so please plan accordingly. Decent elevators tomorrow begin at 5 am. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the front kiosk at the closest terminal.”

  What?! This was the elevator?!

  The ascent was slow and smooth, and it didn’t feel as if they were moving at all. Everyone in the elevator was just going on about their day, appearing to be used to this journey. They ascended upward, and the higher they got, the more of the city Zain could see.

  It was much bigger than he expected, with almost every bit of it covered with buildings and homes. There was still so much of the city he had yet to see, but it seemed so small now.

  Soon they broke past the highest skyscraper of the bottom layer, and they began to break past the false sky. Again, he saw the complex layers which held the city within the bubble and after a few minutes of passing this barrier, they were met with the darkness of the sea.

  Automatic lights illuminated the elevator, with the light unable to break past the deep blues of the sea. All that could really be seen were falling debris which were being moved by the will of the currents.

  After a short amount of time, they entered another barrier, this one smaller than the one they had come from. Once they broke through the floor of the layer, they were met with the image of dense forestry and vivid greenery. There were picket fences and more suburban looking homes. Some areas near the edges of the bubble looked more like fields and farmland. It was almost indistinguishable from a normal countryside, with the only identifying factor being the false Van Gogh sky.

  The trees within this layer were quite tall, with a few of them looking as if they could house buildings within them. How they were able to thrive was out of Zain’s purview, but maybe he could show it to Brayden. Taking a second to take a few photos, he stashed away his phone soon after.

  This layer was not as big as the beginning layer as it did not take long for them to exit to the sea once again.

  Finally, they entered the third layer, with it not taking long to break through the bubble barrier. Once they finally broke through the ground, the elevator slowed as it entered the final terminal.

  Immediately, Zain could see the high class buildings surrounding them through the windows. Strange animals flew through the air, unidentifiable to Zain because there was no equivalent where he had come from. Flowers and bubbles remained in stasis within the air, and beautiful flora decorated the landscape within the immediate area.

  After a few moments, the doors finally opened and a man dressed like a chauffeur stepped through the doors, taking a bow as he announced their arrival.

  “Welcome to the Nu Age layer.”