Chương 4: An Enigma, Wrapped in a Puzzle, Wrapped in a Question

Unknown Archaeological Dig Site — Alpha Sector — Falotopia — Eight Years Before Prophecy Birth Alex's words describing the discovery inside the tunnel and chamber ricocheted fiercely around Elena's mind, firing every synapse. His description left her with more questions than answers. There was simply no way to find logic in the illogical. Chrono isotope testing suggested that the site was more than two hundred thousand years old, far older than anything anyone had discovered before.

Something had to be missing, something that would make the impossible make sense. If this place existed, there would have to be other sites waiting to be found. Elena jumped down into the excavation pit, her boots crunching against loose shards of stone. The pit walls were jagged, carved by time and meticulously by tools. Once below the surface, the striations became visible, each one catching the light like long healed scars. Dust hung in the air creating an ominous fog-like atmosphere.

A shiver ran up Elena's spine as she motioned toward the tunnel tucked away on the side, the entrance swallowed up by the darkness of the corner.

"Alex? Have you been in there yet?" Elena asked, gesturing toward the tunnel.

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"What I wanted to show you is in there, and it's extraordinary." He spoke with the eager enthusiasm of a small child about to receive a reward. He walked over to a dented gang box, its green paint long faded with time and its edges curling like leaves waiting for the wind to carry them away. It stood as a silent witness to the discoveries they were making, the ones science insisted were impossible. Elena watched curiously as he approached the worn box.

It seemed to cower in the corner against the support beams, as if it knew more than either of them. He knelt and opened it. The hinges creaked, straining after years of sand and rust accumulation. Alex had told Elena long ago, when she requisitioned a new one, that this box held the keys to uncovering every secret he had ever found or could ever hope to make. He called it his good luck charm and refused to use anything else.

It sounded like a scream as it echoed through the narrow tunnel that had just been discovered. He reached inside and drew out two helmets, their surfaces dulled and scarred by time.

"Here, you will need this," he said, handing a helmet to Elena. Elena put the helmet onto her head, snapping it into place. Green streaks threaded through her bright purple locks, hinting at her maturity. She made a few half‑hearted attempts to tuck the unruly strands under the helmet, then gave up with a huff. She pressed the button on the headlamp and the yellow glow flickered before shining brightly.

She hated this light, it always made her ruddy-orange complexion deeper, but she knew it did not diminish the picture of health and vitality she emanated to all those who saw her. She was proud to be a goblin in her prime; she had worked hard to get here. She glanced over at Alex. He was about her age, though he could easily pass for a much younger goblin. The memory of their debate over his goatee made her smile.

He had wanted to shave it off because of the increasing green in the brown, but she had convinced him he looked more distinguished with it than without. For a man his age, he was in remarkable shape. Broad shoulders, strong arms, the kind of build that came from years of fieldwork rather than vanity. She caught herself wondering what it might feel like to be held by him, then pushed the thought aside. Working this closely for months, sometimes years, meant anything beyond friendship was off‑limits.

It always made things too complicated.

"Well," Alex began, unable to contain his excitement at the discovery, "if we didn't have confirmation before, we sure do now."

"Confirmation?" Elena asked, her nose wrinkling in confusion.

"Confirmation on what?" He turned to her and placed a hand on her arm.

"We're not dealing with an unknown race of goblins," he said, meeting her deep brown eyes. He glanced down at his hand, then pulled it back before continuing.

"There are similarities, sure, but the differences are too vast to consider them part of the goblin race. They're not even a cousin to it." Elena stopped mid‑step.

"I don't think I heard you correctly, Alex," she said, putting a finger in her ear and pretending to clean it out.

"I must be getting sunstroke or something, because I could have sworn I heard you say they are not early goblins." She paused, her brow furrowing.

"No goblin remains… at all? That's just ridiculous, Alex." Alex turned back to her.

"Oh, you heard me right. They are not goblins."

"And you're sure of this?" Elena asked skeptically, pushing an errant strand of hair behind her pointed ears. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Positive. I had them run it three times, just to be sure there wasn't some contaminant in the sample. They are unique in their physiology despite displaying..." He paused as he stooped to enter the tunnel.

"... some physical characteristics similar to our own."

"How so?" Elena asked, following him down the tunnel.

"Well, see for yourself," he said as they entered a large cavern.

"Whatever happened here, happened quickly. It looks like they didn't even have a chance to react." Elena gasped at the sight. She rubbed her eyes, unsure if what she was seeing was real.

"Are those them?" she asked, looking around, shocked at the level of preservation in the chamber. A group of individuals she could not identify stood frozen mid‑motion around equipment she could not even venture to name, alongside things that looked impossibly familiar. Monitors lined one wall, keyboards sat on desks, and printers of varying complexity were arranged throughout the space. The sight sent a chill through her despite the warmth in the chamber.

"Are they alive?" Her eyes widened at the thought. They couldn't possibly be dead. They looked too alive. She looked from Alex to the scene before her. It was beyond description.

"Considering the test results date them to about two hundred thousand years ago, I'd say there is little chance that they are still among the living." Alex walked up to the closest set of remains and touched its face. The skin was warm to the touch, its eyes bright and clear and its hair still soft.

"At least I hope you're not still alive," he muttered to the man, eternally frozen with his fingers mid keystroke, before turning back to Elena.

"We removed one set of remains and took it to the lab for analysis. They were hoping to find out more about them or what caused this." Alex said, with sympathy.

"I can't even imagine going about my day and then… two hundred thousand years of well… this."

"And what did the test result have to say?" Elena asked eagerly, approaching another of the beings.

"They couldn't determine what caused this, but they found no signs of life either," he sighed, stepping closer to a different body.

"They did find that they are in a perfect state of preservation, internally as well as externally," he said, glancing from the body in front of him to Elena.

"There are no obvious signs of trauma, disease, or injury?" Elena asked.

"There are also no signs of decomposition, insect activity, absolutely no degradation whatsoever, it's as if they died mere moments ago," he replied.

"To be honest, I keep expecting one of them to get up. It's as if they were all frozen in time," he remarked, seemingly hypnotized by the body standing in front of him. Elena moved closer to get a better look.

"Look at them, they all have variations in skin tone. I have never seen such a variation in hair color, skin color, or eye color."

"It's remarkable how the lighter the skin tone the more diverse the eyes seem to be. They range in skin tone from a light pink to a deep ebony. Their eyes range from blue and green to a golden brown." Alex added, his excitement bubbling forward.

"Look Alex, their ears are rounded, and well…" she paused.

"They're also much smaller than a typical goblin as well. I'm thinking on average they are between five and six feet," she said, moving from one to the next.

"This is so much more fascinating than finding skeletal remains. We don't have to guess what they looked like, or piece together their physiology, it's all right here."

"If only we could ask them what happened. We have already ruled out poison, suffocation or a form of advanced stasis." he said, shaking his head.

"It's as if someone accidentally pressed the pause button." He made his way through the chamber.

"It looks like this was, I don't know, maybe a laboratory of sorts. Some of the equipment looks like things in our own labs, but some of it appears to be years beyond our current technology." Elena picked up a stack of papers and began thumbing through them.

"Look at these diagrams, Alex," she said, walking closer to him.

"They're quite incredible. I don't know what they were building, but it looks pretty complex," she added, handing him the papers.

"You would think that something as delicate as paper would have disintegrated long ago, but it looks like it was put here yesterday. There is no yellowing, no fading," she remarked, running her hand over a sheet on the desk.

"Everything in here is like that, Elena. It is like walking into a snapshot. These people, whoever they were, are frozen in their final moment, along with everything around them. Look over there," he said, pointing to the right.

"There is a man sitting down to eat a sandwich… even the sandwich looks fresh enough to take a bite." Elena walked, glancing at each being as she passed.

"Alex, this one is holding something and…" Elena took in a sharp breath when she pulled at the fabric from the being's shoulder.

"Alex, did you see this?" Alex rushed to her side.

"What?" He paused, his face turning from its normal ruddy orange to peach.

"Is that a…" he broke off.

"A child? Yes, Alex I think it is." The two of them stood silent as the excitement of the discovery gave way to the reality that these beings were alive and then suddenly they weren't. The peacefulness on the child's face was little consolation to the fact that its young life had been paused with no chance to continue. Alex skimmed the papers, desperate for answers.

"We must find a way to translate this language. Maybe it holds the key to understanding…" He paused, his eyes darting around the room.

"Whatever it was that happened in here," he began rubbing the back of his neck gently, "or potentially is still happening, is mind-boggling." he said, goosebumps forming on his arms.

"Sorry to break up the party, folks, but we will take it from here," a voice called from the chamber entrance. Elena and Alex whipped their heads toward the entrance. An official-looking goblin stood with a military unit covering his back. Their stomachs dropped as the sound of soldiers' guns cocking made them both raise their arms.

"Who are you?" Alex asked, fear and frustration tightening his face and stance.

"What is all this about? We're permitted to excavate this site," he said, keeping his voice calm and measured.

"I'm sorry, how rude of me. I am Elios Tusk and it does not matter what your permit says, or who I am. All you need to know is that we are shutting you down," he said, motioning to the two soldiers that had come up behind Alex and Elena.

"We are shutting this," he said, waving his arm, "down and it would be in your best interest to forget…" he gestured to the chamber "this even exists." Elena and Alex cast a sidelong glance at one another as the armed men moved closer.

"If you don't mind going with my friends here, everything will be fine," he said, looking around the chamber.

"Oh, and I will take those," he added, ripping the papers out of Alex's hand.