Another Stupid Isekai

They were all different in some manners, but there was one thing that they had in common. Their heads were long. The one with dark grey skin had high-set eyes, almost no forehead, and seemingly no mouth. His face was all covered in feathers.

The other one, on his left with the dark greenish skin, had really big, black, pupilless eyes. His head was big and round at the and got thinner at the bottom. Mout with plumb, pale lips that reminded me of caterpillars.

The one on the right had lighter greyish skin and his head was in the shape of an inverted water drop, with no chin. Where it was supposed to be, was a short sucker - closed. Where I expected a nose was a flat protruding bone structure of darker color, with two long holes - nostrils.

- Welcome, the chosen one. We are happy to greet you in our city - started the first one, with no forehead.

Between the feathers was hidden a small mouth with thin lips.

- My name is Shu\'ah Oot Atso Yeingem. I\'m the person in charge of this city - he introduced himself in perfect English.

His voice was very calm, and flat. I couldn\'t feel any emotions from him.

- This is Lott Ghiabba Mer Uh\'uni - he made a very reserved gesture towards his right, indicating the one with greenish skin. - And this is Moozo Ire Xei\'beim Tsasheing.

He gently pointed to his left.

- What may we call you, the chosen one? - he asked finally.

- Peter.

- Very well, Peter. Please follow me. I am sure you have a lot of questions, and we are very happy to answer as many as we possibly can.

He turned around. Meanwhile, Lott spoke to Ki\'rei:

- C-27. Iypun aol khah av fvby zbwlycpzvy, aolu zbitpa h klahpslk yhwvay, huk hdhpa mbyaoly puzaybjapvu.

I tried to listen carefully, but my linguist class wouldn\'t pick up on anything besides the C-27, so I ended up following Shu\'ah through the opposite end of the brightly lited up room, past the door that opened before him.

Then I saw the inside of a man-made cave, filled with many buildings connected by bridges, and floating platforms. There were also constructions supporting the ceiling above. It was very high, at least a hundred meters.

Most of the building was illuminated by white lights from many lamps. The platforms had red ones, and a few had green. In the center was a dome-like structure, made out of something that to me looked like stained glass. Milk-white. The rest was different. Simple. Cubic. Made out of metal. It reminded me of stacked-up containers.

- You can live your cart here. Nobody will touch it - he said.

I was hesitant, but in the end, I left it, only taking the backpack with crystals. Then he led me on one of those strange hovering platforms, and we flew to a small complex of buildings, straight to the heavy door. It opened just because of his presence, revealing an unexpected view.

It was a completely normal living room you would expect in a normal, well-off house, back on earth. There was a beige couch with a low table and two armchairs. A few bookcases, filled with actual literature, and a big window overlooking a small beach and ocean.

p It was clearly fake but still pretty.

- We prepared this to make you feel comfortable, based on data brought by C-27.

- You mean Ki\'rei.

- Yes. Please sit. We have much to talk about - he said while going further, to sit on one of those armchairs.

I took the other one, putting the backpack right beside me.

- As you already know, we have a common enemy. A being calling himself The Great One. He is the one behind the incident your people call commonly \'The Invasion\'. That\'s why we want to join forces. Because, as you can see, it\'s hard for us to leave this place. We are hiding her from him. He would destroy us if he knew we exist, but you and your people can work on the outside just fine. I understand you might be suspicious, so I will answer all of your questions to the best of my ability, and also provide you with a gift, to showcase our good intentions.

His voice was so damn flat, that I couldn\'t read anything from it. He was clearly confident, serious, and calm, but that was it. His eyes remained focused on me. He wouldn\'t use any gestures or anything. His body was frozen in time.

- I want to know what happened. I want to know how you hacked the device and made all of the Bahumdabar\'s go mad. I also want to know how you survived. I want to know your plans. I want to know everything.

- We never hacked the tree, or the device as you call it. It\'s very advanced biotech, too complicated even for us. But not for The Great One. He came to us and told us we will get our freedom back if we help him with one small thing. We were supposed to bring an object, and connect it with the tree in Aaraam\'soturi, so the Bahumdabar\'s would turn against each other, and annihilate themselves. We did just that, but the promise was not fulfilled. At first, it seemed like it did, as most of them rushed to kill the king, Yashasvee\'mies. It was a terrible battle according to our records. A small part of us managed to hide here, but the rest got caught in the fight or got killed by those who were too far to participate. In different worlds, or planets.

He paused for a moment to let me digest what he just said.

- The king fell, and the true slaughter began. In the beginning, this place was but a small hideout for our underground resistance movement against Yashasvee\'mies and his tyranny. But it grew through the years to a whole city, as the mad Bahumdabar\'s roamed the worlds that they used to rule over. They died under the influence of the tree and turned into ghosts that are kept alive by it. The danger is still there, although bound to the old empire.

I kept nodding to his words, trying to put everything together in my head. So far it all matched with what I knew from different resources.

- But let me tell you the story, from the very beginning.. Although It might be vague, as our chronicles lack the information from the time before the rise of Bahumdabar\'s and their king, Yashasvee\'mies.