A Race Against Time

Episode 3

The town wall towered over the duo as they approached the large gates, at the end of the main street. A group of soldiers stood around the gate at various positions, doing all sorts of activities; from playing chess to drinking around a barrel. As Dashad and Snoogle approached, they stopped what they were doing and stared at them. Clearly the soldiers believed that this pair of civilians had taken a wrong turn somewhere. As the pair continued on their path, the soldiers moved and formed a line in front of the gates.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!", shouted the soldiers.

"We just need to go through the gate.", Dashad responded, confused as to why they were being stopped. Snoogle hopped behind Dashad and hid there away from the soldiers.

The line of soldiers was broken by a new face, wearing a smarter uniform than the other soldiers.

"Well, there is a reason why this wall is here, protecting the town. Noone goes outside the wall. Things here, would be much different without the wall.", this soldier, grey haired and clearly in charge, motioned for the pair to follow and take a seat around the barrel.

"Let me tell you a tale of why this here wall was erected and why noone has left since it was built.", this soldier clearly had some feelings on this topic so Dashad felt engrossed by the story.

...

...

"400 years ago, this town was a thriving logistical hub. A route for all kinds of goods travelling from the ports to all towns and cities. Off in the woods, there was rumoured to be a monstrous creature so uncivilised that every so often, it would attack the towns and loot our buildings. Other towns, just increased their military capabilities to reduce the possibility of the attacks, but our town's chief at the time, decided to build a wall strong enough to keep the creature up. After a few failed attempts, they made this wall. Since then, noone has been hurt by the creature and noone has stepped foot outside of the wall.", the soldier took a moment and had a drink from a pitcher on the barrel.

Dashad pondered what they had just been told, and asked, "So noone goes to any of the other towns, and we get no visitors from those towns anymore?"

"Of course we do, but it's all done by air. We have established a large spaceport for intergalactic flights and local flights. That's the only way.", the soldier replied.

"How comes the gates are here then?", Dashad questioned.

The soldier had to think for a minute, but then responded with, "In the event of significant danger, we can open these gates for a mass evacuation, not that this has happened ever. I'm sure that now you know this, you are going on you way?".

Dashad nodded, stood up and wandered back into the town center, looking around for something or someone.