“So how exactly do we get past that wall exactly?” The wall was only a couple hundred meters from me now. Looking up made me feel a little nauseous from just the sheer height of it.
“We go through there.” Doom pointed at a large door about a story tall.
In front of the door were two guards dressed in trench coats and what looked like a plague doctors mask. A source of light that looked like a thurible was held in one hand and a sword in the other.
Doom got up, walking towards the guards. The guards did not react kindly to Doom, raising their swords prepared to kill him and one of them took their first swing. It was directed right at Doom’s chest. With no time to react there was nothing Doom could do to avoid the attack, not even his cane would be able to defend him in time. All of the odds were stacked against him, and there was nothing I could do as my gun was still holstered. As the sword hit Doom’s chest, it bounced off, reared off course, making the guard slip. Doom took his cane and drew out a dagger from it. It had a semicircular guard on its hilt and its blade looked like an oversized box cutter. Doom hit the first guard in the side, under his ribs, with the hilt of the dagger. Whilst the first guard was winded, Doom allowed his blade to morph into a longer short sword, and with the blunt end of the weapon Doom struck the second guard in the back of the neck leaving the man unconscious and then struck the first in the shin making him collapse on the floor, curled up in pain.
“Do not worry. These two will recover by the time we are inside.” He assured me as I approached him.
Doom opened the gates to show a long, lit hallway leading to another door. The hall stretched for another half-kilometre. It felt like an eternity to reach the end of the hall but once I did, I was greeted by large, beautiful fields filled with workers harvesting crops, green grassy hills stretching out for kilometres. Overhead was a beautiful blue sky with warming light, the sun seemingly absent. The towns, the roads, the people, all of it reminded you of the medieval period that you learned in your Earth history textbooks.
“It doesn’t seem so bad here.”
“Agreed, however we must be cautious. My friends captured by the residents of this area, so we must stay cautious.” Doom’s face was impossible to read, the chitin on his face prevented any movement, but in this one moment, I thought I could see a tinge of grief flash in his eyes.
“Don’t worry I’m sure your friends are fine.”
“There is no need to worry about them at this point in time. Even though it might look safe we must remain on guard.”
We walked down a dirt road that led to a small village made up of buildings made of wood and straw. There was one building that was built higher than the others, made of stone and had windows of stained glass.
“We must have our stories synced.” Doom stopped me from entering the village. “We are traveling merchants. We lost our caravan and are trying to get back to them. I am your grandmother and you’re my granddaughter.”
“Wouldn’t grandfather be more accurate?”
Doom paused to think. “Yes, you are right. My skeletal structure does more closely resemble a male of your species rather than a female.”
We continued into the village.
“So how are we meant to find our ‘caravan’?”
“They told me that they would be going to a town called Farwell. That is the last time I heard from them.”
There was a man dressed in crude leather armour outside the village’s entrance. As he saw us, he stopped leaning on his spear, standing up straight, waiting for us to approach.
“What’s your business here?”
I greeted the guard. “We’re just passing through, trying to get to Farwell.”
“Oh, then you would want to stay at Nelda’s inn. It’s the one in the centre of town with the pig with an arrow sticking out.”
“I would love to, but I don’t have any money on me, plus I’m in a hurry, so I can’t stay a night.”
“Money?” The guard thought out loud before exclaiming, placing his right fist on the left side of his breast plate. “I didn’t mean to disrespect you, my Lady. I can set up transport for you right away. It won’t be as good as a chariot, but I will grant you the best this meagre town can offer.”
As the guard left, I turned to Doom. “What was that?”
“I am not versed in the culture of your race. I assumed you would be more familiar to what happened.”
“I can only guess that I was mistaken for being a noble.” I looked down to double check that I was still wearing the same cloths. “Do I look rich to you?”
“I do not know, as I have no concept of wealth. To me, your apparel gives you the appearance of a civilian who has no concern for war.”
“Astute observation.” I replied sarcastically.
The guard returned, looking nervous. “Please follow me my Lady.”
As I walked through the street, everyone I passed kneeled as they saw me, keeping their eyes pointed to the ground, even a mother forced her child to bow with them.
“I hope this carriage will satisfy you, my Lady.” The guard directed us to a horse drawn wagon that had a fabric covering over the top. “Do you need us to send some soldiers with you?”
“No, I should be fine. I have my own personal guard here with me.”
Doom leaned into whisper in my ear. “I thought I was going to be your grandfather.”
“The story’s been heavily derailed as you can see. We need to adapt a bit.” I whispered back.
“The carriage will be fine.” I reassured the guard whilst I got into the carriage.
“Forward.” The carriage coach commanded the horses clearly.
The carriage started moving, the bumps in the road causing the carriage to shake. The carriage drove by farms and other small towns throughout the journey. Other carriages were rarely seen during the journey. The further west we went, the less overwhelming the massive wall felt, eventually looking like a regular cliff face.
Something flew over the carriage incredibly fast, scaring the horses. The carriage coach didn’t seem at all fazed by it, calming the horses before continuing forward. Doom pulled her hood further down, obscuring an already obscured face. I looked out the front of the carriage to see what it was, but it was now far in the distance, only a winged silhouette could be seen. In the distance, there was a beautiful body of water, a small town built right next to it.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing towards the town in the distance.
“That’s the Faerberg port town. You should be able to get a boat over to Farwell from there.”
As we drew closer to the town, I could see more detail of it. The town was set up like a giant port, hanging over the sea, boats docked in the middle of the town, market stalls surrounding them.
“I’ll part ways with you here my lady.” The man kneeled, before returning to his horses.
I looked around the town, never seeing something like it before. The streets were made of wood, with the wider streets facilitating the movement of carriages carrying fresh produce. The buildings were built in a similar manner to the other villages, the wood walls blending with the wooden streets. Most of the stores in the market sold fresh fish, giving off its iconic pungent smell, while some of them sold wheat products, straight from their wagons. By the entrance of the town, there was a notice board filled with jobs, news bulletins and wanted posters. The most prominent notice on the board was a warning that talked about the rise in witches, stamped with a symbol that looked like a broken circle with a line piercing its two o’clock.
Two men, wearing what looked to be technologically enhanced full plate armour that had kinetic shielding added, were going around the town asking people questions, but more noticeably, accompanying the knights was a droid that resembled a Christian angel that hovered off the ground. The droid seemed to be looking for something, rigorously searching the crowd.
I looked over to Doom, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“May I ask who you are looking for?”
I turned my head to see who was talking to me, to see the knights standing inches away from me, making the height difference between us feel larger.
“Oh. I was looking for my grandfather.” I stuck to the story Doom came up with as it felt right to use in this situation. “He gets lost really easily you see.”
“I see. You must be careful. We picked up a tip that a demon was within the area.”
The knight looked over to the droid as it approached. When the droid set its eyes on me, it made a strange grunting noise.
The knight snapped his head back to me. “May I see your ID.”
The other knight looked at me more carefully before quickly putting his hand on his swords hilt, tensely gripping it.
“Oh, I have a form of identification right-” I only finished my sentence when I had pulled out my business card. “Here!”
The knight looked over the card. “This isn’t identification provided by the church.”
“Church? I’ve never been to church before.”
As I said that, I felt like a small brick wall had slammed itself against me. Rough, keratinous arms carried me away from the knights, powerful legs slamming against the wood streets, pushing us forward. Doom let go of my legs, letting me hit the ground running. Once her hands were free, she pulled out a canaster with a tab that stuck out and lights that surrounded the canaster, glowing green. She pushed down the tab, the lights turning red and starting to turn off subsequentially. She threw it behind her. I looked behind me to see the droid getting ready to through what looked like a bolt of lightning. The canaster exploded, releasing a thick cloud of smoke. Doom pulled me into an adjacent street, the bolt nearly missing me, ending its path with a large explosion down the street I was just in.
Once we had almost reached an opening in the thin streets, Doom grabbed me by both shoulders and looked me in the eyes. “Get on that boat and get to Farwell. I’ll be close behind you.”
She nudged me towards the about-to-depart boat, leaving me to travel to Farwell alone.
