VanKcrow was walking through the forest alongside the others,after a while,they reached a point were there seemed to be nothing ahead but pure darkness,At this time,Zion started performing certain weird chants,after a couple of seconds...

  A sort of gate or rift colored blue appeared out of thin air,Zion went through it and the rest including VanKcrow followed after him...

  ...

  From a rift floating in the air,four figures got out,they now found themselves in a forest with strange plants,these plants had a sort of meat like texture in their leaves which were colored blue.

  VanKcrow looked around to see that there were many other people around,most looking to be in their late teens and early twenties.

  "Well,I guess this is where we separate,once again,thank you for the help."

  Upon hearing Seraph, VanKcrow nodded slightly before walking away,he had no idea where he was heading but couldn't ask too many questions to not sound suspicious.

  'I will follow the crowd...'

  As Seraph watched VanKcrow walk away,she thought to herself,

  'I wonder where did such a monster come from...I've never seen him before or heard of someone similar which is strange for someone who could single handedly kill an abomination...'

  "Hey,where do you think he came from?"

  "I don't know, Probably the Sombras,I can't think of any other faction that would hide away someone that strong."

  "Yea,maybe...

  He doesn't really look like a Sombra however,And why exactly would a Sombra enter a free Zone?"

  Huh,wanna investigate?"

  As Zion proposed a question to Seraph, Sephyr gave him a slightly intimidating look and said,

  "Don't even think about it, Independents like us shouldn't meddle in faction business,you better keep your mouth shut about what happened today lest you want to suddenly disappear."

  "Alright, alright..."

  ...

  VanKcrow was wandering through the blue forest,since he had no planned destination, VanKcrow was simply following after the Crowd,As he was walking, VanKcrow could spot countless abnormal looking zones,these Zones covered the vast majority of space leaving only relatively narrow roads filled with the Weird trees and plants.

  The people before him were constantly making turns to avoid the zones,after a long walk that lasted a couple of hours, VanKcrow could finally spot something that seemed man made,A massive black wall made out of some type of metal,the size of the wall dwarfed any building he had ever seen back on earth.

  The wall was composed of many long and thin segments, the top of the segments were pointy and sharp looking,like if someone had built the wall from numerous spears, VanKcrow followed the other people to the wall and after a while...

  Two massive hands came down from the sky and pulled one of the segments towards them,the people all started getting inside the wall and VanKcrow followed after them.

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

  When everyone had gotten inside,the hands placed the segment back where it previously was.

  ...

  VanKcrow was now inside the wall,He could see countless constructs with different types of designs,some looked like European buildings,some like Eastern style Minkas,some like Arabic allhambra's,some like Aztec teocallis,some like African huts and even a couple of skyscrapers.

  The city looked like a conjunction of different human territories from earth.

  After seeing the city, VanKcrow was feeling suspicious...

  'These structures are remarkably similar to those of earth,and the people as well.

  I wonder how that came to be...'

  'Even the language used by the Three people I met was very similar to English...'

  VanKcrow was walking through the city when he spotted what looked to be a inn...

  ...

  Many different people were inside a bar, some quietly drinking and others dancing around or loudly chatting.

  Suddenly,the doors opened and a man dressed in all white except for a black scarf entered the bar,some of the people looked at him for a little bit before going back to their business.

  VanKcrow had come to the inn to look for a temporary job,He had no money on him and no place to live either.

  Maybe the inn could offer both, VanKcrow went to a section next to where drinks were being served,there,he saw a young woman with long brown hair and green eyes,she had a very basically attractive face, upon noticing him she said,

  "How many rooms do you need..."

  The woman said this in a not so enthusiastic tone,she probably knew he would only need one.

  "One,but I have no money on me,is there another way to pay?,By temporarily helping around maybe?"

  "No money?..."

  The woman stayed silent for a bit and was scanning him from head to toe.

  'He doesn't really look homeless though...'

  "Huh,We are indeed needing some help,but I don't know whether you're fit for the job..."

  "What is it?"

  "Cooking,A chef recently left and we haven't been able to replace him yet, It's been quite hard on me to both work as a receptionist and Prepare food...That damn geezer won't stop reprimanding me all the time..."

  "Oh,I apologize,I got carried away for a bit..."

  "You may take a test maybe,if you cook something the old man likes, I'm sure he would give you a job,even if just temporarily until we find an actual chef..."

  ....

  VanKcrow was now standing before a couple of ingredients, beside him was a pretty young woman and a muscular, strangely attractive old man,the old man looked like a model despite probably being around 70 or so, VanKcrow assumed he may be that old because his hair was extremely white,if not he probably would think he was in his early 40s.

  Although,in this world it seems humans have a wider variety of hair colors, VanKcrow had seen a couple of people with odd colored hair,but they were still quite rare.

  And counting the fact that the woman called him an old geezer,his white hair probably came from age.

  "Now brat, Quickly get to the cooking,I don't have time to waste around you know..."

  Upon hearing the man, VanKcrow quickly got to preparing food, VanKcrow was quite confident in his cooking skills,after all he used to be a cook back when he was a soldier, despite being only 21 years old when he was in Earth,he had learned to cook from a young age.

  After a while, VanKcrow had prepared a dish known as butter chicken,he paired it with fried potatoes,mashed potatoes, lettuce, cucumber,and rice.

  VanKcrow's suspicions deepened even further, somehow,even the food was similar to Earth...

  Although he could also spot some ingredients he had never seen before...

  The old man made an disgruntled expression and proceeded to eat the dish,after a while...

  "Kid,would you like to become a permanent chef?"

  The young woman made a stunned expression,she looked quite cute at the moment.

  "Huh???"

  "No,I plan to hunt Beasts and abominations, therefore I must decline."

  After hearing him,the two of them made an even more stunned expression than the one the woman made before.

  "NANI???"

  "Wait, You're a Hero?,no,considering how young you look you would probably have to be a prodigent..."

  "How come you're not at the Akademie?"

  The old man loudly exclaimed something before the woman started questioning him, VanKcrow,upon hearing the woman,Had already decided where he might need to go.

  'Akademie...'