Waking up, the first thing I noticed was the lack of sunlight flowing into the room. I was immediately reminded of my new location when I peered at the window that showed the vast sea of glittering jewels. Stretching, I started the day.
Heading down the elevator with a few other classmates, we were served food in the same room we had our dinner the night before. Instead of exquisite flavour, this meal tasted bland, almost skin to the meals that I would haphazardly throw together in the morning.
As we were sent back to our rooms to gather our belongings before heading out once more, I started to catch some hushed rumours about the girls who were now inexplicably absent. It was easy to avoid this as nobody seemed to suspect me for anything. After all, I hadn't been in their line of sight until they came back from the bar.
"I hope you all slept well," Slith greeted. He assumed his role as a leader and quickly hushed the crowd of people with his loud yet firm voice. "Today we will investigate the civil war in greater detail." His tone of voice didn't change significantly, but it still gave a serious atmosphere. "This includes going to the more... unpredictable parts of the city. Now, it is essential that everyone stick together. Am I clear?"
Everyone nodded, myself included. If that was a problem, then I would just have to drift towards the center of the group more.
With that, the tour guide nodded and led us all out of the hotel once more. I looked back and some natives were shooting us harsh glances. I awkwardly swivelled my head back towards Slith and kept walking.
"And here we have the statues." Slith waved towards a pile of rubble with smooth surfaces hidden among the pieces of stone. "Or this is where they used to be a number of months ago. You see, the civil war was officially declared mere days after these statues were first defaced. When some Liilae revolutionaries smashed the newly constructed statues to the ground, the Stasin-majority government began to send military personnel to 'subdue' everyone that they found even remotely suspicious, even being ordered to arrest any Liilae on sight." Slith giggled slightly with gratitude since his ears had signalled that he was a member of the Liilae race. "They do not do that anymore, though. Although Liilae can still be prosecuted for no particular reason."
This process of explaining landmarks within the ruined city continued for hours on end. Slith, when he encountered a particular place, would start spouting tangents and actively sparking discussion among ourselves. Only some students seemed to talk during these sessions, However.
Partly from boredom, I felt my body become heavy with tiredness. Rubbing my eyes, I figured that I had simply woken up on the side of the bed. I attempted to focus on my tour guide, but his words would often slur and fail to stick to my memory at all. Still, I could keep moving.
That was until the guide's voice gradually faded. When I came to, I found myself standing in the desolate street, adrenaline starting to flow in my bloodstream. I immediately began to strain my ears in the hopes that I would somehow locate his bombastic voice, but nothing had come up.
Now shaking with panic, I hurriedly looked through all of the alleys that were close, carefully listening for any voice inside of them. The only thing I got, however, was absolute silence. I shook my head and started to dash back the way I came, but I discovered that I couldn't recall the turns I took getting into this situation. I debated on whether or not I would call out, but I quickly decided against it. If Slith's voice couldn't reach to my location, then my weak call most likely wouldn't either.
At that moment, I felt an unfamiliar hand on my shoulder. Then another. I spun around, thinking that someone in my class had found me after all, that they had actively searched for me after they noticed I had gone missing.
Instead, I was met with speech in a foreign language. It sounded like the faint trace of an accent that my guide had, only in full swing. Judging from the speaker's neutral expression, I assumed that they either asked me if I was lost or simply greeting me.
When I failed to respond, confusion plastered onto my face, he started to smirk. He asked something one more time in a gravely voice and waited for another response. As each second passed, his grin grew wider.
"H-Hello?" I managed to say, my voice a shy squeak.
Before I could process what was happening, the alien quickly grabbed my arms with his own, putting them behind my back. From there he began to forcefully usher me onward along a specific route. The instant I tried to fight back and kick the alien he simply shouted what I assumed were insults and twisted one of my arms. The pain heavily discouraged me from continuing and I was on the brink of tears as I silently walked onward.
What felt like ages later, we arrived at a metal door with a small, currently covered window that prevented us from seeing what was on the other side. With a hefty knock from one of the alien's spare hands, however, an unknown alien that was of the same race partly pushed it out of the way. The set of eyes that were suddenly visible then peered up and down, squinting at the alien that brought me here before disappearing.
A second later, the door opened and both creatures began conversing with each other in this place's native language. With a strong push, I was taken inside.
Looking around, I could see two beat up and heavily worn couches, an equally worn coffee table and a few chairs that were on the brink of breaking. There were also two other doors that were made of wood which lead to unknown locations.
The escorting alien almost shoved me into the couch and stepped away a safe distance, supervising me. The alien that was originally behind the door dashed off to likely retrieve something. All the while I sat, avoiding eye contact with the alien that was unwavering in front of me.
Within a few minutes, the other alien came back into the room and tapped at an unknown device. From there, he began to approach me. Before I could decide to move out of the way or resist, he quickly held up a finger and muttered something. Slowly, he began to push the device, which was a small black orb, into my own ear. It went down and I almost assumed that it was a sort of torture device that would be activated shortly.
"Testing... testing..." The alien said smoothly. "Ah ha, it works!" My eyes shot open and I froze, something the two aliens immediately noticed. "The device works..."
"Wh-What did you do?" I started to become a bit reckless in my tone due to the new wave of confusion that swept through my mind.
"Do not worry," the alien replied once again. "We only want to become friends with you. Yes... friends. You see, I practically blew my entire month's savings to buy that translator. Does it work wonders?"
"Y-Yeah..." My nervousness began to seep back in and my body froze.
"Good. Well... I didn't think we would get this far with our plan... Er, my name is Ittisk, and this is Thrack. You see... We need some extra hands to help out around here. Ever since we lost our jobs, we had to sell most of our things to keep living. I know that you can help us, maybe even connect us with some people that can get us good jobs. Are you in?"