I don't' know if what I experienced was just a very realistic dream or reality, but I know for certain that now there's unfinished business that I must accomplish, in this dead country, which they say was prosperous many many centuries ago.

But forgive me, now I digress, and I bet you want to know the story from the very beginning, where it still was something "normal", before all this mess popped up right out of nowhere…

I remember that I lived in a small town, Rinya, for my whole life with my mother who, for some reason, never wanted to talk about my father or why I felt there was something "wrong" with me: every time I told her so, she had a panicked expression for a second, before relaxing and telling me it was normal for kids my age feeling something wrong…and I'm not talking about puberty, mind you. Anyway I lived a very peaceful life in this small town right beside that huge mountain range we use to call the Great Natural Barrier. No one knew what lies beyond, but legend books tell of an ancient country, whose name was forgotten, that was very prosperous, until a cataclysmic war destroyed it completely. Almost all of its population died over the course of this massacre and the land became hostile to life as forests grew smaller and rivers had dried out. Then they say that the few survivors were guided by a council of wise people, who told them that the only way to survive was to reach the other side of the Barrier. However they were unaware that famelic beasts roamed that place and apparently they all ended up slaughtered. Not a very pretty story, don't you think?

So many told me that I was fortunate to live in a little peaceful town, but I always felt some sort of emptiness inside of me and I knew very well what it was: boredom.

Technology did do it's progress and the machines do most of the work, but luckily occasionally one breaks down and someone can have the chance to be useful by knowing what the problem is and fix it.

There is also something else they don't know, of what I was unaware until a particular autumn night: I wanted to live a little adventure, so I walked away from the town towards the barrier, determined to reach the top. It was cold, but my clothes kept me warm enough. Then suddenly, I heard a howl in the night and found myself surrounded by what appeared to be very very hungry wolves. I wanted to move, to escape, but I felt myself frozen, struck with a fear I never experienced before. I thought that I was going to die there and cursed myself for my foolishness. Then one of the wolves jumped towards me showing it's terrible claws and teeth, and suddenly the fear got replaced by an anger so powerful that I thought it could make me explode. What is this? I said to myself, as I felt with my knees on the ground and kept my head in my hands.

The next thing I remember is that I was in the middle of a ring of burned land, with the corpses of the wolves lying dead all around me. I panicked, unaware of what happened and scared at the same time. I returned home just to see my mother waiting for me at the door. "Well…what's that Alden? Where have you been?! I was so worried…" I felt really bad about her as she yelled at me and I told her the truth when she was finished. Surprisingly enough, she didn't scold me some more, but said that inside of me, and of her, there is some sort of energy beyond our control that appears to take over in situation of extreme danger. She said she felt that way only once, but couldn't tell what it was, then told me to go to sleep and not try strange things anymore. "Next time, you could be not so lucky, good night." She said before going in.

Needless to say, I didn't want to disobey her, not this time…

The following day we received the visit of an old friend of ours: Foster McEvy. Young and ambitious archaeologist who wished to travel all over the world to grasp its many secrets. "What brings you here, in the middle of nowhere?" I asked him, to which he replied: "I just stepped by to say goodbye. I'm leaving for an adventure no other man has ever dared to: I shall explore the other side of the Great Natural Barrier!" I stared at him with my mouth wide open. Of course I didn't believe him at first, but then he repeated the same things to my mother and she looked skeptical at him: "Oh really? Well, do you think you can make it on the other side? You know what kind of creatures lurk in those mountains!" And then she said something that obviously was slipped through her tongue: "Last night, Alden nearly got himself killed!"

"Really?" Foster then looked at me with a less-than-reassuring expression and told me: "You can consider yourself very lucky, you know? Not everybody goes there and live to tell about it." I then asked him: "What about you? Aren't you afraid?""Of course, but the sweet scent of adventure comes from the other side of that mountain range, plus do you really think we'd go without any weapons?" I then stopped him abruptly: "Wait, what do you mean "we"?""I have found other four people that are willing to help me, so I accepted them. I know you too want to live an adventure, so what do you say? Your mother says you should come…" I was very excited, but in deepest part of my mind I asked myself why my mother gave me permission, after the lecture she gave me that night, but then I simply stated that she trusted Foster, so it was a-okay for her. I agreed of course. "Well! We'll leave tomorrow, so prepare your things, and bring a weapon with you. You'll need it…"

This is what I have been waiting for my whole life! I can't turn back now, and finally all those years in the archery academy will pay off! I thought. After backpacking I took my favorite weapon: the Brea, as I named her, although it was just a normal crossbow with a golden plank with her name carved upon it. And I was very proud of it! I wanted to practice with a weapon for self defense, and after failing with swords, spears, guns and whatnot, I found my way with the crossbow, one of the hardest weapons to use properly, but I learned quickly and, not to boast myself, I have always had a damn good sight and a damn good aiming.

Anyway, the following day I met the other members of Foster's crew: Joshua, a youngster with a very short temper, Elina, a kind girl, but not of the kind you would want to mess with, Zhara, another girl that scorns everyone she doesn't like, and Rual, just an ordinary boy who wanted to live an adventure just like me.

After a brief breakfast, we got ready and started our journey for good. Needless to say, Foster seemed to see everyone's excitement as we all wondered what of place could the other side of the mountains hide…

We went deep into the mountain's forests and again we found ourselves surrounded by wolves…I stared at them in terror, fearing that power that burst out of me last time, but strangely nothing happened. "Everyone, defend yourselves!" Foster shout as he pulled off his rifle and fired a shot, splitting one of the predators in half.

"Wow, those new bullets really ARE something!" he said proudly, and shortly after he shouted at me. "Behind you Alden!" I quickly turned around just to see a wolf lunging for me, and as quickly as I possibly could, I fired an arrow from the crossbow, that planted itself in the back of the animal's wide open mouth. Then I saw something strange: Rual, who just killed another wolf by throwing his spear like a javelin, was tending his arm to it and it immediately came into his hand. He then looked at me, staring at him and said: "Nifty, huh? It's a subtle but very strong wire that I can retract at will. That way I don't have to walk all the way to take this babe!"

Foster then came in and said we should hurry. We spent about five days in the woods, without any landmark to guide us, except the stars in the sky, and we kept walking without stopping until the fifth day, when we camped in an open area in the woods. "If we're lucky, we should reach the top by tomorrow if we move at this pace.""I don't think I can stand it all, at THIS pace!" said Elina. "Why must we go so fast, anyway? I mean, are we going to miss something?""No Elina, but it's better that we arrive on the other side as soon as possible: we don't have infinite supplies, and we don't know what lies out there, so we'd better save them, don't you agree?" She didn't reply and went in her sleeping bag. "Good night, everyone." she said before falling asleep. "Man, what's wrong with her?" I asked quietly. "She comes from a wealthy family, so she's not very well trained in walking such great lengths…she came because she thought this was a promenade…but then again, she didn't back down after discovering this is not." He paused for some seconds, staring into the dying campfire, then turned back to me and said: "You should go to sleep too…we're going to wake up early tomorrow.""But…what about the wolves?" He smiled at me: "I'll guard the camp, don't worry.""You need to sleep too, Foster! You can't keep up like this!" I said to him, to which he replied: "Well, that means we'll do a longer stop once we reach the other side…""What makes you so sure we're gonna make it?""What, giving up already? Anyway, we should be close.""Close to what?""I read about a narrow passage in this range between the Twin Peaks, and look up behind you…" As I did so, I noticed two big shadowy figures, like titans dooming upon us. Those where the Twin Peaks, the highest mountains in the range, and one seemed the mirrored image of the other, hence the name. After a while, I went to sleep and rested.

The following day, we woke up at dawn and after a brief bread-and-jam based breakfast, we resumed our journey, but never I would have thought of how different it could be. The path started going in a very steep uphill and we ceased to encounter unfriendly beasts. Every step was a pain and more than once we risked to slip and fall down. No wonder why no one came in those places! Rual, Joshua and Zhara used their weapons (a spear, a scimitar and a bow) to help themselves, while I and Elina resorted on big fallen branches to aid us.

I don't know how much time passed, but after what seemed an eternity we finally saw an open red sky as the sun was about to set. That sight gave us new energy and we rushed to reach the top, and our efforts eventually paid off: we reached the narrow passage and we took a gaze on the other side: a forest turned gold by the light of the dying sun lied in front of us, followed by wide plains that stretched as far as our eyes could see, and they were occasionally split by sparkling rivers. These words cannot do justice to that landscape. "So, it was worth it after all! It's…amazing" said Elina, and everyone agreed with a nod of their head.

After that, we decided to set up a campfire and sleep there, as Foster fell to the ground exhausted. "I guess those non-stop five days walking starts to show its effects…" said Joshua. "We should too, now we can relax for a while." We all agreed and went in our sleeping bags, without fear of the wolves. For some reasons they didn't climb that high up. Before sleeping I thought.

And so the adventure begins…I wonder how will it be...