Linh Cat & Ella Wong (16/12/2021)

please be advised that this story is recommended for people 12+

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

She stood in front of us, forcing us to bow. Blood trickled from her face as a nasty grin spread across her face.

"Welcome to my humble home." Eliza cackled

“As you three know, you have two quests to complete or off with your heads!!!!!” Eliza howled

“Your first quest is to surrender your second heart to me. Your second quest is to travel to the three realms: Nadia, Daria and Polaurus to collect my stolen goods. Keep them safe. Don’t lose them and make sure THAT YOU DO NOT PLACE IT IN THE WRONG HANDS. Now, you better complete both quests. I do not care if it takes you years to complete or if it makes you travel across Centayla and back. GET IT DONE AND BE GONE.”

*3 years later*

Ever since that blasted witch gave us these quests we haven't had a day of rest. I, the leader of this "pack" had been forced to take charge as these other two scums haven't been doing their dirty work. It's been three years since we set off for our "mission" and so far we have only completed one quest. Giving our second heart was the easy part which was done through surgery and we didn't need it so we ticked the first box. But talking about our second mission was a little more complicated and was a pain straight to the ass. This mental lady wants us to travel to Nadia from Daria which is hundreds of kilometers away. Due to the invasions from the Camacounts (Centayla’s notorious gangsters), all means of transportations were banned. So we chose to walk … which made me want to give up already. I miss home in Daria with the nice cool air and water to swim in. Not to forget our other friends that were still in the orphanage, that the three of us had been living in since three years old. Making our way to Nadia was like a total stinkhole with no water and hardly any life in sight.

Our camp had been home to us for three years. Cyrus, our resource collector, first found the campsite when we were just starting the quests. We had been hiking through the hills and mountains when he stumbled across the enclosure. It had everything we needed from edible plants to a private surrounding of trees. But ever since we made "permanent residence'' in the area everything had been slowly dying. Our map bearer, River, said it was because we had "stolen the land". Cyrus and I believed differently but we decided to not say anything. Food was limited and without the flora and fauna, we were sure to die. I'm glad that we had finally left that awful place, it seemed like we'd put a curse on it. While the adventure ahead was something to look forward to, it came with its pros and cons. Pros include: finding a better residency, more food and the feeling of adventure, wait don’t forget being one step closer to freedom. While cons include: the possibility of death caused by literally anything and pain or suffering from whatever God had decided to throw at us, which made our second quest go from hard to impossible.

***

It's been roughly four-ish hours since we left our campsite and it began to turn pitch black. River said that we would soon reach Nadia, about 15 kilometres until we arrived at its outer wall. But who knew, we may not even reach its 1km radius since there will be fierce men and women warriors that could and probably will slit our throats blindfolded.

We had been creeping closer to Nadia in dead silence for a few hours now. Too scared to utter a word I slowly looked around our surroundings. Trees covered in nothing but bare branches, abandoned houses with no trace of humans, overgrown pathways into the woods. It was like a ghost town.

Without realizing it, a deep fog had swept over us. The air had gotten thinner and I was finding it hard to breathe. I didn't want to raise my concerns with the others so I left the matter behind. Trapped in my thoughts I gave a heavy jolt when finally a voice had spoken.

"According to the map, we are only 2km away from the wall." Huffed River.

Cyrus and I did a quick scan of the area as if expecting to see the wall.

"You idiots realise that with this fog we can't see it. Right?" River said with a smug look.

Without looking at him I smirked and responded "Okay well I'll scout ahead to see if it's in front of us." I replied while swaying on my feet. Temporarily forgetting that I couldn't breathe properly.

I started making my way towards the deep fog that had already engulfed us in its cold presence. Blindly walking in an unknown place was a death sentence, so I played it safe and crawled on all fours. Taking one mini crawl at a time. After whatever amount of time, there hasn’t been any success that told where we were currently standing or in my case crawling.

“Hey! Kaya, it's been too long so come back, let's just set camp until the first light of dawn.” I traced my crawls back so I was safely reunited with River & Cyrus. We ate the rations that we prepared from our last camp, slept through the night and in turns were standing on watch until morning. I was first, River was second and Cyrus took the last watch.

When dawn arose we were all ready to keep scouting ahead. My breathing had returned to normal, leading to my assumption that it was the fog affecting my breath.

As I took a quick look around the area I noticed that Cyrus had disappeared. After double-checking the whole area it was almost definite that he had disappeared.

"River!" I yelled while sprinting towards him "Cyrus is missing!"

"What?" He shouts back

"I said Cyrus is missing!"

I could tell that this time he heard what I said as the panic flooded his face. His rich blue eyes drifted downwards as I watched him crumple to the ground in a heap of mess. I rushed over to him to try and comfort him but comforting people had never been my strong suit.

"He can't of gone too far," I whispered reassuringly

“ But where did he go? HOW COULD HE HAVE LEFT US!” River screamed with blazing eyes.

It took both of us a little while to piece back our feelings, we were mad but as time went on we became more worried about him. We went onwards, walking the last kilometer, passing land that was no different from what we saw last. Minutes go by and my thoughts towards what Cyrus was up to was overflowing my mental space. Our once joyous walks were now as quiet as ever, River and I had nothing to share other than our worries for our mate. We weren’t necessarily walking but more of dragging ourselves for 1km. Continuing the silent treatment between us and not long after we had reached the outer wall of Nadia. The wall was what? 7,000 meters tall steel wall that protects and covers the community of Nadia. It reached into the unknown of the sky, which made it impossible to get through as outsiders. This made it the safest place in all of Centayla, the wall was impenetrable and through history, they've had the toughest security and protection system. We can find our way to the other side of this beast without a problem... Definitely.