I reached the wall. It was dark, I was both tired and thirsty, but my excitement overrode those feelings. The two shining moon gave the wall a faint hue of yellow and red like a ripe grapefruit. The smooth wall, at least twenty feet tall, was a welcome sight to me. The road however stopped at the base of it. Once I looked closer, I notice a faint line on the wall. I rubbed it with my fingers. It was a faint crack. I felt around to the other side of the road. There was also a faint crack there. Both of them extended to the top of the wall high above me. I guessed it was some kind of gate or doorway. It would be logical to assume it was closed during the night, so I figured I would need to camp out tonight.

I made my way back from where I came on the road. I didn’t want to be found sleeping under the gate defenseless. Once I was a safe distance away as not to be seen right away I made my way left off the road. Once I could not see the road anymore I walked some more, then sat down. I make a small mark on the ground to not forget the direction of where the road is. I would have to spend more time looking for it again otherwise.

I decided not to make a fire. My outfit is actually quite warm when it’s not wet. I also think the wall is blocking the cold wind around here since there is no draft. I eat some more of my cooked deer. I hope can get some other food. Honestly I still don’t know if there are people behind that wall, but the used road with wheel marks makes it quite likely. I think,

Save.

Then I drift off to dreamland.

----

I wake up. I get up feeling tired as ever. I want to sleep on an actual bed. I now remember why I never camped even with the allure of clean air. I could hear talking, though I could not make out a word. Hmm.

I check my body, then my surroundings. Looks like no one found me. It’s time to enter civilization again. I make my way back toward the road using the mark I made yesterday. As I reach closer the voices stop, I wonder who was talking.

Once I am closer to road I hide behind a tree, and think,

Save.

This will be my starting point for exploration. I don’t want to end up in a situation that would force me to rely on luck again. I step out on to the path.

----

That did not go as planned. As soon as I made it to end of the road I saw it. The gate was open. From what I could see the whole slab of whatever it was made of was first pulled into the wall then to the side. There should be a very strong mechanism to pull that amount of weight. There was what looked like guards standing out the gate. Three men, one was obviously in charge since his nose was way up in the sky. The other two were definitely lackeys. They stood on the left and right side of the gate why the boss was sitting on a comfortable looking chair behind a desk full of papers peaking out just behind the gate.

The man was dressed in a dark robe, with a few badges on his left side. His hair was neatly trimmed, no beard or mustache. Quite young, I would put him in his early twenties. The two lackeys were wearing what looked to be like medieval armor, nothing fancy, the armor looked quite thin too, open-faced helmets, breastplate, shin-guard, and holding spears. The tips of the spears looked like the forest leaves, rhombuses with the longer end acting as the tip and the other buried in the shaft of the spear.

As I got closer the guard they were eyeing me as a cop would a shifty looking person at a bank. The youth was still focused on his papers. Then the left lackey opened his mouth and said,

“emqpPAkmdF9V5Nt4IEJM9qXFNLHH3eclkOnTR3BwwcHnFlQs3bNcR7zMfaoYlwRq9JMEepgymqHrOGh3WscXyuhMzDm6at0IUwEljLzg3xPYoi1xTqh48nYjy+ErQ59f”

The only thing I understood is that it was a question based on his tone of voice. After he repeated it once more he lowered his spear towards me. The youth finally lifted his head up and looked at me. There was a look of pity on his face. Not the kind of pity one would give a homeless man, but the look of pity one would give a bleeding bird that fell from its nest. On the third repeat of the question the second guard lowered his spear. I could kill all three of them and get into the town. But I don’t know what kind of defenses they actually have. I don’t want to get shot at by a machine gun or worse. So I decide to

Load.

I would need to plan and test this out slowly.