Pretty much all the others before me had entered the building, leaving me last with only a couple of others. The line continuously got shorter. At some point, the one in front of me got to enter too and right after that was going to be my turn.
After waiting for a while more, the guides finally indicated for me to enter. I stepped forward towards the entrance, both excited and full of anticipation of what was inside.
Pushing the doors open, the long-awaited interior presented itself to me. For the final destination of the tour, I was adequately satisfied by my first look.
It was spacious, with groups - two as the smallest and five as the biggest - of mostly white-haired members of the race situated all over the place in various arrangements. Among others, standing next to a flat and rectangular upright piece of rock, sitting in a circle above carved energy lines and symbols or having behind them a boulder, large piece of rock.
On the side, separated from them, was a small group comprised of a few visitors who entered before me. I couldn't pinpoint the location of the rest of them, leading me to believe that they had left to choose a different tour.
One member of their race a few steps away from the entrance, who was holding a few pieces of paper, gestured me to approach him as soon he saw me enter.
Having stood in front of him, he went on to ask me a few things. From all that he asked I only managed to understand the word "name". It was an easy word to understand as the essence behind its sound and its overall meaning was pretty much the same in all the cosmos, no matter what the language used to speak it was.
In all of them, "name" was usually one or two words used by a sentient being to identify and differentiate themselves among their race. In rare cases, a race can use a large quantity of words for a "name", but its essence and what it represents were everywhere the same.
I never had a "name" to call myself and I never needn't to. But it seemed that to continue this tour experience I was in need of one.
In my infinite wisdom I selected a simple one from the myriads in my knowledge.
"Pete" I said, using their way of speaking.
The person in front of me froze for a moment and then went on to write on his papers. Thankfully, he didn't press for the ones I couldn't, yet I understand, sparing me the need to force my way to the "tests" and potentially ruining the experience by doing so.
He proceeded to guide me through the different arrangements, starting first with the boulder.
It was round, solid and of natural composition. It had the height of two and a half of this race members when placed on top of each other.
The moment we reached it, the two males who were standing there, a black-haired and a white-haired, stepped forward to greet me. Right after, they went on to introduce in their language the boulder and the "test" it was a part of.
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to understand a single word being spoken by them, but a few gestures from the black-haired one with his clenched fist and punching in the air, and after seeing a few dents on the boulder's surface, helped me understand the nature of this "test".
After they were done with their explanations, I was very eager to try on this attraction of the tour. I stepped forward in front of the round piece of earth and clenched my fist. Following that, I pulled my arm back and thrusted it forward, imitating the black-haired one's earlier movements.
Since this "test" was part of the final stage of this tour I decided to give my minimum best to really immerse myself in the experience.
My fist made contact with the rocky surface, the impact silent as if it had never happened. The force, produced by the minimum amount of strength I could muster though, got transmitted through its interior.
A few moments later, cracks appeared across its surface, and I watched it crumble into a pile of smaller pieces as it could not handle the applied miniscule force.
The outcome seemed to be well received as all the people around exclaimed in awe, clearly impressed by my achievement.
They kept exclaiming or stayed speechless, while others began commenting on my execution of the "test".
Concurrently, they were enjoying themselves by watching my performance on the boulder, causing me to theorize that the arrangements in here were some kind of attractions for the visitors to try completing or winning. Instead of the hosts doing the performance, they created ways for the guests to perform, allowing them to take part in the entertainment.
'So, "tests" must be a word for entertainment attractions!' I concluded.
Excited to figure the final stage of tour out and desiring to experience the others too, I glanced at my guide signaling him I was ready for the next one. But although my guide was looking at my direction, his eyes appeared to be unfocused. He required me to make an exaggerated movement with my arm to regain his focus.
Right after that, I impatiently waited for him to finish writing something on his papers before I could follow him to the next attraction.
The next one he brought me to, was the one where five white-haired members of the race, three males and two females, were sitting in a circle above intricate, carved energy lines and symbols on the floor. Their heads were already turned towards me when I approached them.
The guide proceeded to indicate me to sit in the center of their circle. The five were now all faced in my direction and without saying anything they went on to close their eyes. Immediately after, they began making specific movements with their hands, all of them identical and at the same time.
As I watched them making their movements, my anticipation grew by their every single move, wondering what this attraction was all about.