20 - 20 -

Some time passed and we made our way to an unusually clean-looking building that the guide called the hotel. Creatures that wore the same sort of clothes as our guide were inside of it, politely greeting everyone with what I assumed were fake smiles that attempted to cover up the town's secrets.

"We're here." The guide seemed to wholly regain his professional attitude, with his grin spreading wide enough that his vision was instructed at times. With a friendly-looking wave, we were all ushered into a spacious elevator that was heavily decorated with large jewels. Even I was astounded, feeling a limited amount of astonishment. Shaking my head, I assured myself that this was all artificially extracted; it would in no way compare to the natural beauty of the cave's roof.

The guide pressed a button that signalled for the cabin to rise until we all reached a higher floor. As we waited, he turned and started to give us a brief overview of the rules the staff would impose on us. Most of it was standard, with guidelines like not excessively trashing the rooms that we were about to be assigned to.

There were some that were specific to us students, too. Our guide also instructed us to not venture around the hotel during night hours. While he said this, he directed emphasis towards the basement levels. According to him, regulars frequently visited there and he was suspicious that is foreigners would attract unnecessary levels of attention.

A few moments later, the metal cabin stopped and everyone stepped onto the carefully groomed carpet of the expansive hallway full of rooms. I blinked, relieved that we were no longer in the blinding elevator.

"Alright," the guide coughed into his hands and pulled out yet another sheet of paper, flipping through its contents before speaking up. "To save space, each room will be filled with three people. Complimentary foam mats will be issued, one to each room, since the design capacity is two. Listen for your name and remember your assigned room number." His eyes shifted from us to the paper, and he began to assign our rooms for the night. "Oh, please be back out in half an hour. This is merely a pit stop in our extensive dive into this wonderful country's history."

This was just as eventful as the roll call we conducted the moment we entered the city, with the only addition being that people were slowly disappearing as they retreated to their rooms.

"...Feste We... Weaver. Feste Weaver," the guide stammered, his eyes squinting as he attempted to read the text before him. "Room 1034." I turned around, finally outside of the swarm of classmates that had still lingered around me. Looking over at the incrementing room numbers, however, I realized my mistake. I hurriedly apologized to everyone as they parted, still directing most of their attention on the guide. Rushing to my new room, I opened the door.

To my dismay, two people laid their eyes on me. From what I could gather, they both have scaly skin, the only point of resemblance between them and I. The two creatures also appeared to be feminine, but those were the only points I could make out before they both gave cold stares, since it seemed as though I had interrupted the conversation that they were currently hosting on the two large beds. I slumped my things down and quickly fled to a corner, as far out of sight as possible. Partly sullen, I took out my set of papers and began to fill in whatever questions I could answer at that moment, even predicting what information the guide was going to leak to us in the future.

"I guess it's time to head out," I heard one of the girls' voices around the corner of the room. A few rustles and soft grunts later, they both appeared in my view. I was already set for heading back out and resuming the tour, so I exited the room early to avoid any extra conflicts.

Back in the hallway, I noticed that a group of students was starting to form. At the end of the hallway was a small line of them that gave somewhat pained expressions, so I naturally guessed that the washrooms were over there. I approached the ever-expanding group, noticing that the tour guide was in the center. He frequently glanced at his watch to check on the current time, glancing around at everyone that correctly assumed that the allocated time had passed.

"Alright!" He rose his voice, alerting everyone around and most likely some unfortunate non-student guests. "It's time to leave! Finish up what you are doing and we will leave in five minutes!"

Suddenly, everyone that was getting out of their rooms had panicked expressions displayed on their faces. Some looked back into their room, making sure that they had organized properly, and others simply grabbed what they could reasonably carry throughout the rest of the trip.

After the guide looked down at his watch once more, he readied his voice by clearing his throat with a fist. "Time's up! It seems like everyone's here, however." He pulled out the class roster one last time, announcing that he was doing another round of roll call.

"...And yes, everyone is here." The guide sighed, putting his sheet away. He turned and faced the elevator. "Let's go, then!"

The rest of the tour proceeded normally; we would visit a landmark, the guide would drone on about it with the intent for us to listen in eagerly, ask around for questions, almost none of which were unique and insightful but merely repeats of what the guide had said, then move on to the next one.

The glum expressions of the citizens around us, however, seemed to get deeper and more permanent, as if they had been frowning immensely since the day that they were born. I was sure that the guide noticed since he winced and looked back at us a number of times. A few hours before sundown, he brought us to a run-down shack.

"Alright, here it comes," the guide said to nobody in particular. "This is when I explain everything that has been going on around here recently. You see, it was just as painful for me to display my persona for you to witness all the miserable citizens." He looked to the side, avoiding eye contact with everyone. This, of course, included me. I couldn't blame him since his behaviour had made me fairly suspicious that he had a role in all of this. Looking around, I could see that everyone else seemed to have him under a negative category.

The tour guide went on. "You see, our country has been in a sort of... civil war with itself." He bravely turned to face us all, without his usual smile. " Do any of you remember the two races that live inside of Crystalline Cave?"

A half dozen hands went up into the air. One voice near the front blurted out the answer: "The Liilae and the Stasins, sir!"

The guide nodded, although he was expecting to pick someone to answer. "Yes. Also, I haven't given my name yet, have I?" His voice was sounding much less professional, most likely to make up for the teacher-like stigma he had created around himself. "My apologies. It is Tslahsyliththyl, but you can refer to me by the name Slith."