The Final Cycle

Chapter 2: Inception Point

After being transported back to Earth Zero, I appeared in the living room of the apartment complex that I had been staying at ever since I first arrived here. I quickly scanned my surroundings to make sure it was really my place, (I've been teleported to the wrong house a couple times in the past), before slowly relaxing my body.

I was finally back home. I could shower in an actual shower, sleep on a soft mattress, and eat food that wouldn't give me stomach pains. I looked over at the digital clock on top of my microwave and saw that it was only the afternoon. I was meeting with someone for dinner, but now I had the whole day to do whatever I wanted. In my case, relax.

I slowly eased myself onto the couch that I had bought just before leaving and let out a deep breath.

'Ahh, so soft.'

Right before laziness completely took me, a rapid buzzing sound erupted from on top of my kitchen table. Just the sound alone was able to raise my heart rate a couple beats, and when I got up and looked over at the kitchen table I saw that the loud buzzing sound had been coming from my smartphone. I only had one contact on my phone, so it had to be 'her'.

I quickly ran over to the kitchen and grabbed the buzzing phone before it went to voicemail.

"Hello Grayson." The audio was muffled and static, but I recognized the voice instantly.

"I thought we were meeting up for dinner. It's only the afternoon."

"Something urgent has come up so I need to meet up with you now." She emphasized the 'Now'.

"I'll send you the address; don't be late."

The call ended abruptly without letting me say something else, but I got the gist of what she was trying to say.

'Grayson I need to talk to you now so get your ass over here this instant before I murder you.' is how I interpreted it.

'I wanted to change too.' I thought to myself before quickly exiting my apartment.

***

After about 10 minutes of running, I finally arrived at the place that she told me to come to --- Scavenger's Grub & Chug. No lie, that was the name of the restaurant. I got a good laugh out of that before entering the restaurant. When I walked in, loud upbeat music and the aroma of grilled food was what greeted me. I looked around the place, but I couldn't seem to find her. The person that called me.

"Grayson, over here." A voice called out to me.

I turned around and saw a woman sitting in the corner of the restaurant. She was wearing a white blouse, white heels, and had a white purse hanging from her arm. Her long dark hair blended in with the bleak environment, but her piercing purple irises helped me easily spot her face. The God overseeing Earth Zero, Katalina.

"Grayson, I was getting worried you would be late. The drink I ordered for you is getting cold." She pointed towards the glass on the table.

"I would've been here earlier if you didn't call me out on such short notice, but I'll take a drink as an apology." I sat down in the empty seat and reached out my hand to grab the drink she had bought me, but paused when I saw what it was.

"You got me a Qweata?"

Usually when I went to a cafe to eat or drink in any other modern world I'd order a soda and be done with it, but this world had seemed to have long gotten rid of the drink. Instead, they had replaced all soda in this world with Bug Juice. Yup, juice made from the extracts of real bugs.

Scientists had created this revolutionary drink to try to decrease the amount of sugar the public would receive. They proved its health benefits, so there were overall no complaints about replacing soda with it. It is easy to make, considering the amount of bugs on the planet, and it is environmentally friendly because they would only use harmful bugs that did nothing to help nature in the drinks.