10 Chapter 10: Outside the walls

To go outside of the Wall of Omire's protection and venture to the outside world, she needed to head south.

She walked as fast as she could until she came upon a large gate that glowed lightly with the hue of the sky and hummed low like a snore of a mighty dragon.

The Gate of Merhu.

The only way in and out of the kingdom was through its gates and bridge as the rest of the kingdom was covered in the several transparent force field walls named after the wizards.

By crossing the gate, she would be outside of the protection of the Wall of Omire.

She had heard countless tales of the outside dangers past the walls. Of necromancers, witches and goblins.

But nothing quite made her as fearful as the tales of those involving a dragon. How they roared and in that single roar, a thousand lives will fall.

She saw at the foot of the large gate that multiple wizards and knights were patrolling the carriages that carry goods from different places and kingdoms through trade.

The security leading into the kingdom itself was heavy but leading out was no problem.

She walked right past without a word and no one paid even the slightest attention to her as she walked past.

She was about to go through its gates and venture unto the end of the bridge, but stopped a mere few inches short in front of the force field.

The force field was right at the end of the bridge. She looked back and saw the gate still glowed and hummed. It almost looked like it was beckoning her to come back in.

Before she could step though, she stared upon the transparent force field of the wall. It was see-through, but reminded her a lot of staring into a small lake of water.

You can see past it, but know there was something there due to the waves and the rushing sounds the water made.

She took a deep breath and stepped carefully out of the force field.

She knew the spells only work on dragons or any other magical beings with malicious intent, but it still made her nervous. Maybe because she always thought the wall looked so intimidating up close.

As she stepped past the end of the bridge of Merhu, she felt the protection of the walls flow past her as well.

It felt....wrong and surreal.

Like if you were wearing a protective blanket that always made you feel safe your entire life and suddenly you had to lose it.

She shook her head to wish away the discomfort she felt and headed towards the forest near the kingdom, where the boys surely were as they were getting wood for their home.

She threaded carefully and hesitated in calling out their names, lest a creature that intends her harm might hear her calling out to them.

After a few moments of wandering around, she cursed under her breath as she worried she might not find them like this and called out to them.

"NULU! LAEUS! WHERE ARE YOU!"

A few birds flew in alarm as she shouted, and after they flew, she realized how quiet the forest suddenly got.

Before, it was bustling with sounds from birds, insects and different kinds of animals from somewhere far away.

But now, it suddenly got so quiet that even the wind stopped rustling the trees to make sounds.

Her heart started pounding in her chest and her breath quickened. She felt uneasy with this kind of silence. With a more quieter tone, she called out again.

"Nulu? Laeus? Please. Where are you...."

Suddenly she heard rustling from behind her. She quickly looked at the source of the sound and stepped back as fast as she could until her back slammed against a tree behind her.

She grabbed a fallen tree branch beside the tree and held it up as though it was a sword, her whole body shaking in fear as she stared at the bush that continued to rustle.