19 - 19 -

What waited on the other side of the portal was underwhelming, to say the least. The atmosphere had changed drastically, with the air becoming significantly more stuffy and the surroundings resembling that of an official facility. Mildly pushing against the other group of students to look around, I saw several aliens that appeared to have fairly low qualities of lives. Their skin was brown with soil, their eyes drooping and posture heavily compromised, most likely from working inside mines. I sighed. That was the only logical explanation that I could come up with. Other than these negative observations, I began to subconsciously take mental notes on the physical appearances of the new species of alien. They were fairly stocky and natively of a muscular build. They also had wide, dark eyes that I figured were for seeing in the dark and four arms.

My train of thought was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice that seemed to startle us all. In front of us was another one of these aliens, who gulped and looked down at a sheet of paper. He didn't seem like all the other creatures that I had laid my eyes upon, instead looking rather groomed and in formal attire.

"Is this on?" The alien semi-haphazardly shoved a wide finger into what looked like his slender ear, eventually pulling it back out. "Hello, everyone. I'm honoured that you all showed up to learn about our culture! As you'll see, it really is quite fascinating and full of intricacies."

He looked over the sheet briefly before putting it away inside a bag he slung around his shoulder. "Now, is everybody through? Yes? Alright, good! Follow me, I'll walk you through the town!"

"Now, I will have to advise you not to interact with anything you see or stray too far away from the group. You won't want to miss anything on our tour, no?" The alien cautioned us as we approached a narrow set of double doors. I was able to fit through them quite easily, but the larger classmates had struggled a fair amount. With time, however, we managed to squeeze into the dark city that lay before us.

For a moment, I was absolutely stunned. Above me, I could see objects that appeared like stars. I knew that they were not what they seemed to be and guessed that they were, in fact, small crystals that hadn't been dug up yet. It seemed as though I wasn't the only one taken aback by this, however. It took the tour guide's voice to get us back on track. "Please, we still have much more to discover! I'm sure that none of you will be able to get the answers to your questions standing like that!"

The other parts of the city brought my view of the whole area down drastically. Everywhere the guide went and beckoned us, we almost exclusively encountered aliens that were in the same state as the ones back where we began the tour. They all seemed to have distressed faces displayed on them and were either slumped against a wall or miserably walking around.

One of us decided to question our guide while he monologued. "Excuse me, sir, why does everyone look terrible? I've only seen three people that looked happy in the slightest."

The guide stopped abruptly, causing us all to lurch forward a small amount, closing his fist. "Well," he started to say, his enthusiastic attitude rapidly disappearing, "I was going to get to that. If you would please give me a token of appreciation and hush until we get to the hotel at which you all will be staying, I will elaborate in due time." From there the tour guide started walking again, shaking his head in an effort to dismiss the question that was just asked. He started speaking once more, resuming where he left off in his scripted explanation of everything that was commonplace within the city.

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