Chapter 267: Just Sad

[Day 1/1825 on The Godless Green Earth A.I World]

The cave was a tunnel just a little over two meters tall and the walls had been carved out, but I still had to watch my head. I was about the same high, and the carving wasn't perfect, but my cute little Mikota made it better and helped soothe my mood as we walked, following Kaz and the others. Tal and Gar walked just in front of us and then Mia was up front with Kaz, but they all kept apart not touching, unlike the two of us.

Each time I would duck down to avoid a lower portion of the roof, Mikota would pull me into a kiss. We got told to hurry up more than once, but after about the eighth time, I whispered for her to stop, rubbing noses with her. The girls were both looking back longingly, and I could tell that it was doing something to them that they weren't used to. 

This was really bothering me. It was like something or someone was forcing something on to these people, and preventing them from expressing the way they really felt. Maybe I was just not understanding everything and jumping to conclusions before I had all the facts. Still, if this was all just an elaborate game with a human spy or just the elders being arrogant and not listening to me, heads would roll. Yet, I couldn't just go in cowboy, guns firing.

There was a hundred years of culture and rules that they had been following. Me coming in and saying this wasn't right, then cutting some heads off was not going to send the right message. Plus, I might smell like one, but I don't look like one, and that will forsure be used against me.

I wasn't an idiot anymore, and I had the years of experience to back it all up. I would just have to react, and be patient. If I wanted to earn the trust of the people I would have to show my metal before expecting others to follow me. The best route was the elders asking me to take over, or handing the position to me, the rest was just not good for the long game.

The first thing that I had noticed about these people is that they don't beat around the bush. Hopefully the elders would be the same, but I wasn't about to hold my breath. The old singular tribes like this were usually very strict with their rules; that was their way to control and hold the power. Yet, I was just jumping to more conclusions, when I should be paying more attention to my surroundings.

We finally reached a more open area, and there were other Gialazsaur working on different tasks, most sitting on the ground working with tools to craft more hand tools that would be good for digging and working with soil. Tequila and I had planted countless gardens, so I had a very good understanding of how to grow things and make them flourish.

As we passed, the people would stop working and then give us a brief look, but then their eyes would snap open wide in shock when they saw me. Each one of them put down whatever they were working on and started to follow us deeper and lower. Each area was bigger than the rest, and it was almost like it was a box in a box kind of thing in a row, but they all had small doors.

It was really weird the way no one made a noise, and there was a clear space between every pair of male and females. On top of that, each pair stood two meters apart. It was depressing, and I really hoped this was something that could be explained and not told to me. I was having a hard time keeping my cool composure, but I took a deep breath as I entered what seemed to be the last and largest cave.

As I walked, there were cracks everywhere in the ceiling that had let in light, but in this massive room, there were no cracks. Instead, there were large crystals growing from the roof. They gave off a weird pink light that was warm, and that worried me a bit. After waiting, it seemed to have no adverse effects, so I kept going; Mikota let out a soft moan of contentment from the light hitting her skin.

Ahead of me there was a raised slate stage and three older and large looking Gialazsaur, but not nearly as big as the ones I had fought. These were all men, and they looked straight forward, but it was too early to say anything.

"Welcome, we do not get visitors, ever. Why are you here? The reason you came? Are they the same as this?" The first man with dark red skin and hazard orange stripes asked, while gesturing to carved writing on the walls.

Interesting, I looked to where he pointed, but I was intrigued by his directness. I looked at an image burned into the wall, it had to be burned, the letters were too perfect, and I was pretty sure I knew who left it.

"Whatever you do, don't react or talk to me, just keep looking ahead and send me thoughts if you need to. I did leave the message for you, but you were supposed to find this before they did. It is just a sign asking you to save the Gialazsaur form getting found by the humans and...a way to get to them."

I kept looking forward, and nodded my head to the dark red Gialazsaur. I knew what they were going to ask next, and there was a good chance that it was going to be impossible. Oh I was going to get my leader spot alright, but then I was going to be asked…

"Then we would like you to lead us all back home to get to the lost ones to return them to us!"

'You just told me that I didn't need to go down there!'

"And nothing has changed, these elders are just convinced because of something that happened a long time ago. You need to change their minds and show them how to live again. There is nothing evil going on here, It's just sad," Gripton said with a long sigh.