We Dream of Hope

A New World

Inside the illusion, the city appeared before them. Towering buildings coloured with red brick. Windows stretching high into the sky. Nadia craned her neck trying to view the top of the closest one casting a shadow over the group but the sun reflecting down above left her speechless at the wonderment. A thousand people could fit inside one building and she couldn’t help but think of the campsite. All those tents nights spend battling the wind and cold. There was this massive town just a few days away. 

"The sun's out?" Nadia looked over questioning everything, it was just the middle of the night, inside this wall it was a completely different world.

The sun was the first thing that was noticed? Sera shook her head at the innocence of the poor girl, "Yeah, the guy who made this town made sure it was completely separate from the real world. The sun shines a lot longer here thanks to a bunch of magic."

The ground beneath their feet was a hard black covering stretched all over leading up to the various buildings. There was little green space, but every so often grass could be seen poking through the cracks in the pavement. There were trees on the side of the roads, but they were odd. Each one had a rusted cage around the base, some were growing so thick they consumed their prisons, others were showing signs of decay with branches split, about to fall to the ground.

Letting each of them take in the view was a sight to behold for Sera. She almost forgot that some people had never seen the old cities. The demons took over the developed areas, it was ages ago that the last of the free humans were sent running to the mountains. When she decided it was enough she started to lay the ground rules for each person, it was a different life here and if they were going to make sure they could stay lifestyles would have to change along with beliefs. “Inside the city, we will be safe, trust me, but there are some things you’ll need to know.” Sera took turns pointing at each and every one of them taking particular notice at Ma’at, “The lord of this place is very strict about violence. He knows when it happens so you have to be sure to not draw any kind of hostility to yourself.” She gave another pass at everyone still paying extra close attention to Maat, “We cannot fight the owner of this town, it will kill you and ruin everything. Do I make myself clear?”

All three nodded, but Sera wasn’t convinced, “I will leave you behind if you can’t control yourself. There are some less maintained buildings outside the wall, if you cannot behave you will be leaving.” 

Again they all nodded to which Sera turned and started off. They followed and though they were expecting something to happen nothing did. 

“We will be quick, once we get to Shanty then we will have more free reign. Follow me.” She kept her head down and moved swiftly. She made sure to keep everyone close but still kept a brisk pace. It wasn’t so much that she travelled scared, she travelled with intent. She wound her way around buildings and through streets paying careful attention to travel on certain sides of the road. As they continued on the buildings became more rundown. The ones built of brick and rock turned to wooden structures with no beautiful windows filtering light, even the streets became more ragged. Sera was able to dodge the rocks and large holes with ease, but the others had to pay more attention to the ruined roads. They finally came to a simple house, it looked a little more out of place since it had windows though they were empty and completely open instead of glass-filled. No lights were on, and the door was terribly hung on the frame. She slipped through a window and the others followed. Inside it was packed with rations. Large cans of food some of which the group had never seen before.

Sera seemed very proud of herself when she showed them around. She handed them all a can of food showing them how to open it, it was cold, but it was edible. “So guys, this is home.”