245 Dalki or Vampires

The two boys froze for a moment once they exited from the tunnel. Looking at what lay in front of their eyes, they paused for a moment. Somehow it didn't feel like they were actually really underground.

"Hey, can you see what I'm seeing right now, man?" Fex asked.

"If you're talking about those buildings right in front of us, then of course I can." Quinn replied

Exiting from the tunnel, it seemed like they'd arrived at what looked like a type of town. It was impossible for them to measure how large the entire place was. Buildings stretched out far and wide and it was comparably as large as any one of the shelters they've seen before.

If they were to give a rough estimate, it looked like a few thousand people used to live in such an establishment.

The ceiling seemed to be unreachable. Although they could see the peak, it felt like there was no way to reach it. Their gaze moved on towards the tallest building that stood in the centre of the place. It was a round tower like structure that was tall and high, but it hardly touched the ceiling. If one wished to even touch the ceiling, they would have to build a similar size building and place it on top of the already existing tower.

Although a town underneath a mountain and town was surprising to them both it didn't seem impossible. There were rumors of such shelters being built on other planets where the temperatures could reach extreme levels at different times of year, underground shelters were the only answer to such uninhabitable places.

And so the reason why both of them were shocked was for a different reason entirely. The two of them could already observe that the design and materials used to create the buildings were different. One of the main features was the solid black material that it was made from. Instead of brick, cement or metal it was a different kind, a special black substance that was more stable and stronger was the primary material of all the buildings.

The substance was said to be just as strong as galthreium. Although the place looked abandoned and was void of people, the buildings were a different matter. The structures themselves looked perfectly fine and hadn't deteriorated a single bit. The only semblance of passage of time of abandonment was a layer of dust or rock like substance from the ceiling that coated the top of everything.

And finally the design. Although the substance was strong it wasn't as flexible and nimble as glathrium. This meant that the edges weren't smoothed out giving everything that was made a slight rocky look.

After looking at the buildings the two of them had both come to the conclusion that the structures built in front of them were not made by humans. This was the true reason why both of them were in shock.

"They're Dalki structures," Quinn muttered.

If the two groups were to meet, regardless if there was a treaty signed or not, a fight would break out until one side was completely annihilated.

As Fex heard these words come out from Quinn's mouth though, there was confusion on his face.

"Er, what are you on about?" Fex replied. "These aren't Dalki structures. There vampire structures."

Hearing these words equally shocked Quinn again. He was almost positive these were Dalki structures. He had seen them in his lessons and on the news time and time again.

"The boy is right." the system replied. "These resemble the structures that were built in my time."

The system didn't really answer any of the questions Quinn had right now and only confused him even more.

"Fex, have you ever seen Dalki structures?" Quinn asked. There was one possibilty Quinn thought. Perhaps the two structures were similar and Quinn himself was being confused. Maybe there was something that he couldn't spot.

"Actually no, I'll be honest, maybe you know more about the Dalki because you live on earth but we don't even really get taught about them. I've never seen a Dalki either, only heard them being mentioned form time to time by one of the elders."

From Fex's answer there seemed to be a couple of possibilities. The fact that the Dalki and vampires use the same material, perhaps their technologies are on par with each other and it would make sense why their structures looked similar.

The strange black substance, the humans were never able to figure out just how to use it properly, so they stuck to using Glathreium over it.

The other possibility was somehow the Dalki and vampires were linked together, but this seemed even more farfetched, especially since Fex didn't even really know what a Dalki was.

"Well, do you know why the vampire and Dalki structures look so similar?" Quinn asked, hoping to find an answer. "Also, if it is a vampire structure why did they build one here underground?"

"They do? Well, that's strange. I'll be honest I'm not the best person to ask. When it comes to vampires I'm really young. I'm sure the elders or others will know the answer to your question or maybe even a better student, I never paid attention in class." Fex said laughing nervously.

"For your second question i really don't know either, it looks like this place has been here a while, maybe it was one of the planets the vampires used before, moving to another. It would make sense why it was built underground in the first place as well."

"What about you, system, did the Dalki exist during your time?" Quinn asked in his head.

"The Dalki did not exist while I was still active." the system replied.

Quinn made a small note in his head about how the system replied. It seemed the choice of words it had used was oddly specific but he knew if he pressed further, the system would just give his usual resistance.

"There is one thing we can do?" Quinn said. "Why don't we check out some of the buildings, maybe there will be something inside which will tell us if it was the Dalki's who made this or the Vampires. I'm especially interested to see what they would have in that tower structure."

"Hey, it looks like you read my mind." Fex replied with a chuckle.

The two of them started to walk through the strange building structures, and the more they started to walk the more it looked like a town to the both of them. There were streets with buildings lined up on both sides. If you followed the streets far enough it would eventually lead them to one of the tunnels they had come through.

When looking around at the walls, it looked like there were several tunnels that lead to the town.

The two of them had entered some of the first few houses, but they seemed to be void on any items whatsoever. There weren't even beds inside, but it was clear they were normal family structures.

As Quinn entered the place he could imagine a family living here, with all the different rooms, but while looking at the place he just wondered what happened here.

They entered a few more buildings on their way but still there seemed to find nothing. Eventually they decided to no longer enter the small buildings as it seemed to be a waste of time. If they were going to find anything, it would be in the tower structure near the middle.

For the first time, as they got closer to the tower, it looked like some of the buildings had been destroyed. As if they had taken part in a battle. The top of them had crumbled to the ground and some structures no longer existed.

Seeing this caused Fex to worry a little. He knew how tough the material was and if something was able to destroy that they needed to have some level of strength.

They continued to walk down the street. They still had some distance to go, but the tower could be seen directly in front of them.

Just then, the sound of growling could be heard coming from the sides.

"Where is that sound coming from?" Quinn said.

They could both hear the growling clearly but it seemed like they were several of them and if he was right they were currently surrounded.

"I guess it's time to call on some extra help." Fex touched his ear and pulled on his dangling earring. Suddenly in the palm of his hand the earring started to glow until eventually, it started to change its shape forming what looked like a cross between a bull and bat.

"Ham here at your service!" the bull said excitedly as it flew in a circle.

*****

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