Chapter 460 - Days MCMXXXI - MCMXXXVI

It took us three days to finally climb out of the valley. We couldn't see it from the cliff originally, but it all was like a giant hole in the ground.

I spent the most time with Tihana since she was sticking close to me. We started playing chain of words, which actually somehow worked on Sudarshana Patel. She overcame her fear of me, and we engaged in few conversations.

I learned that she could speak Hindi, English, French, Latin, and Greek. She was very accomplished and was working as a teacher at the University of Delhi.  She was smart as hell and really vell educated, not to mention, hot, so I actually really enjoyed talking to her, even if sometimes she made me feel dumb.

Not because I couldn't understand, but because I lacked the knowledge. She even started educating Tihana a bit on English grammar.

On the other side of the hole, we emerged in a forest, almost the same, that originally hid the valley from us. After cutting our way through it, we finally emerged in a place familiar to Hailwic.

There were vast hills ahead of us, which looked kinda suspicious to me.

- They are not real - she informed us. - We saw the same thing when we were about to exit the dome.

- So we just have to go through it, and... And what? - asked Mika Sawamura.

- Everything will change when we will exit the dome. The environment, the sky, even the weather, so be prepared because it might be raining out there - she explained.

Others weren't so happy about the news of the rain, but I and Nil just looked at each other, and both smiled. Tihana had to notice and slapped me on the shoulder.

- Pervert - she whispered.

- If anything, I'm a connoisseur of women's beauty - I argued.

- Perv - she whispered again.

- Brat.

We went like this for several minutes, as the caravan resumed its journey. It took us around fifteen minutes to reach the barrier. Hailwic just walked through it, gaining a strange, blue blow, as she left us, and vanished on the other side.

Martin hesitated a bit but followed her after few seconds. The rest had a similar experience. They were stopping, to first put their hands past the dome, then their heads to see what's on the other side.

Eventually, my turn came, and I used 'Eyes of the void' to feel what is behind me, and I found the people were where they were supposed to be. What my eyes normally saw was just an illusion. There was a normal world on the other side of this supernatural curtain.

I walked past it confidently. Discovering an astonishing, beautiful world. It was very earth-like with all the green plants. Although I had no idea what they actually were.

We had vast lands of hills, slowly descending into another valley. There was a large river that was flowing across it, from the right to left, ending somewhere below. The hills were full of small, dense groves of plants similar to bamboo threes. I immediately thought of the tall flowers my friends told me about when they returned from the previous trips, but I didn't see any flowers on those plants at all.

I looked at the shy, and it was nice and clear. Blue, although darker in coloration than what I was used to on earth. The more surprising thing was two giant moons, clearly visible at this hour, as soon was slowly setting on the horizon. Its position was slightly different from what we had under the dome.

- The Uhms' settlement is down in the valley - informed Hailwic. - It should take us around two days to get there, so let's push a bit more, and then set up a camp.

We did as she said. All of us decided to stay late and look at the sky, to see the stars.

There were so many of them, and they all seemed so close. People were just watching them in absolute awe of such incredible beauty of nature. For me, this view brought a strange sense of peace to my mind. I can't really explain why.

Just as Hailwic said. It took us two days to finally arrive at the settlement of the alien race. It was strange, as their homes were entirely built from stone-like material. It was similar to the white towers I witnessed behind one of the gates, although the coloration was different. These were browner and shaped like eggs.

There were only a few of them around.

The village we visited was very synchronized with nature. Living close to the river, there were plenty of groves of those tall flowers around, and also strange yellow, and red mushrooms. Very big ones. Some were reaching my knees and had wide heads.

A bit deeper I noticed some farms with strange crops, and large, horned animals leaving behind fences. They were similar to bison, but much larger, with short legs, and long fur. Even their horns were more like you could see on a ram.

One of the Uhms came to greet us.

- Welcome travelers - he said. - It's been a while, since I saw you, humans. Do you speak our language, like the ones who visited before did?

- Yes, we do - I informed him, coming to the front of the caravan.

The researchers I passed by were simply stunned by the massive alien in front of them, wearing a bamboo hat, and supporting himself with a long stick, which was basically a whole tall flower.

- Good. Do you come in peace?

- Yes. We came to learn more about you, your culture, and your language. We came to a long distance, and are tired of our journey. Can we set a camp here for the night?

- Yes, you might. Do you have food? We have plenty in this village, and would gladly share.

- We do. Thank you.

- What are your names? - he kept asking.

- I'm Peter - I said to him, then turned around, to tell others to introduce themselves.

They did.

- I'm Ooah - said Uhm, which I translated. - Set up your camp, and rest. Tomorrow, we will talk more.

- Thank you - I said, and then translated everything to others, as he left.

We set up our camp, but despite the exhaustion, people didn't go to sleep too early, too excited.. I on the other hand had the first night of sleep since we started this journey.