Into The Darkness

Prologue

My smile was strained to the point of pain. My fake smile.

The Krisks wouldn't leave me alone. Due to their undesirable appearance, and the fact their women were homosexual, this was their strategy to procreate. Stalking. However, this one was more obsessive than normal.

Krisks were small and red-skinned, with giant eyes and gnome-like bodies. With no viable mates in their own species, coupled with their appearances, I wasn't sure how their species had survived so long. Especially as they were the most boring conversationalists I had ever met. My eyes scanned the room for my parents in hope they would come to my aid. Or at least give me an excuse to leave - not that they've ever done this before, but one can still hope. 

I was currently in an enormous ball room, celebrating some fancy event which didn't really mean anything. Admittedly, it was beautiful - you could see the night-sky through the glass ceiling, and there were detailed ceiling-length roman columns, huge arching doors before spiralling staircases and the most beautiful chandelier that was draped in layers upon layers of crystal. The room was smothered in glass and and the classiest of jewels. There was even a white dress code to match, but some interplanetary species had found loopholes. Like Krisks wearing a sash of white (their species weren't big on clothes), or Ranians changing their skin colour to white. 

Unfortunately, my parents were too busy talking to the Rana Queens to see my desperate gaze. There were 5 Rana Queens. Their species were the largest population on Traq, the planet we are on now.

My parents were intergalactic negotiators, the delegates of Earth's King. Darla and Francis Carling.

"Gwendolyn, my sweet, your succulent breasts could feed a thousand Krisks!" The Krisk pronounced boldly as if that was a compliment. My disgust peaked, radiating off me. That was enough. I stopped minding my manners and walked away, consequences be damned. I rolled my eyes as various "my sweets" followed me in protests.

I weaved between the crowd of people, losing him along my way to the bar. I sat at the bar, my seat lowering to my level automatically, before placing me at the right height to sit at the bar. My head fell into my hands in exhaustion. Too many people. I hated people.

A chuckle sounded from in-front of me. I briefly looked up to meet the eyes of the owner of the laugh, the bartender, who smirked before I collapsed into my hands again. He was a Rana. They considered themselves above all other species. This intergalactic party was a formality to maintain appearances.

"Word of advice, displaying your shoulders means you're not mated in Krisk culture." He smirked, nodding towards the offending shoulders in question. I mumbled a "thanks" back, but I already knew this. It was my silent rebellion against my parents which came back to bite me in the arse. I took the risk knowing most Traqian's were offended by seeing bare shoulders, forgetting it has a very opposite effect on one Traqian species, the Krisks.

I pointed at a random drink on the menu, some kind of alcoholic drink that I didn't want to know what it was made of. I made that mistake once. Being a Ranian bartender was the equivalent of being an industrial trash disposer on earth and as a result their work reflected their attitude. He grabbed a few dodgy looking bottles, poured them in a cup and handed it to me, before leaving to serve someone who looked more important on the other side of the bar.

I tapped the seat twice to turn me around and looked over the crowd.

I could admit there were a lot of gorgeous people here, but with aliens, you could never know if what you were seeing is what you were getting. There were many ways to change your appearance these days with holograms and skins - some species would dress in other species skins on Traq. This was encouraged by Ranians and their high beauty standards, but it freaked me out. To be talking to someone and their face would glitch to reveal their real teeth or when you could hear a Krisks creepy flirting coming from a Ranian was extremely off-putting.