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The gate slowly opens with an ominous creak echoing to the silence of the midday Spring. The line of guard dogs in front of me blocks my view of the main gate, but I can see the guard dogs bending their knees and straightening their backs so they can have a better chance of holding the shield wall they had built in front of the main gate.

Then suddenly I hear a voice say "what are you doing outside of the city"? There's a huge release of tension that brings all the guard dogs to stand straight up and lower their shields. Out of curiosity I slowly push my way through the dogs towards the gate. With my curiosity overwhelming my fear I push myself past the front line of dogs and see two guard dog standing at the opening of the gate, while Jedrick is marching towards them. The two guard dogs have only opened one side of the gate leaving the other door completely closed.

"Why the hell didn't you notice us as we were coming out of the forest" Jedrick shouts as his expression turns to pure rage. "If we were the enemy, by the time you have reached the gate, we would've broken through and have burned half the city to the ground".

The two guard dogs standing in front of us notice the black color of Jedrick's shield and immediately say. "we are sorry Captain" as they straighten their backs and bring their sword handles against their chest. "We were not here to guard the gate. We were busy grabbing whatever supplies we could before evacuating the city when we heard commotion behind the gate".

Suddenly the crowd of guard dogs behind me burst into whispers of what the dog just said. Jedrick expression immediately changed to shock. "Why in the name of the grinning reaper, are you evacuating the animals of the city."?

Both of the guard dogs look at each other and simply respond with "the city has already been evacuated. We're getting ready to evacuate the remaining animals that couldn't fit on the ships".

"Who gave the order to evacuate the city"?

"Well Captain, the noble elector of the city started evacuating the animals last night" the guard dog says as he gets more nervous from Jedrick frustrated glare. "How did the noble elector evacuate the majority of the city"?

"He had all the ships in the harbor commissioned to transfer as many animals as possible to the city of Kouneli".

Jedrick gives out a sigh of annoyance and says "let me guess, the noble elector went with them". The guard dog simply nods his head nervously while trying to avoid eye contact. Jedrick turns his head to the side and frustratingly says "well that's probably a blessing in disguise. Where's General Jeval"?

"He's at the Westgate preparing everyone for the long march to Kouneli".

Jedrick turns to us and says "alright everyone with me. We are going to head straight to the Westgate".

"You two" Jedrick says as he turns around pointing to the two guard dogs standing beside the gate. "We have more animals coming to this gate, so you're going to wait here for them before heading back to the Westgate".

"Captain I'm sorry to ask, but why is there a group of guard dogs coming into the city from the south gate"?

Suddenly everyone around me gave out an annoyed groan and I could hear a guard dog beside me mutter "here we go again".

Jedrick immediately straightens his back and shouts to the guard dog "where in the name of DUNAMAI'S FURY did you get the idea that captains are here to tell you stories"? The dog slowly starts to back away while saying. "I'm sorry Captain, I didn't mean any disrespect". Jedrick closely follows the cowering dog as he continues to say "last time I checked it's the job of a guard dog to stand there and take orders. Not to ask questions that are not going to help us win our battles". With one final step the guard dog hits the closed wooden door with his back and Jedrick slams his hand against the guard dog chest, pinning him to the door. "Is that understood"? The guard dog nods his head repeatedly and says "yes Captain". Jedrick takes one more good look at the guard dog and turns towards the other guard dog standing beside him. "Do you have any questions for your Captain". The dog standing beside the gate with fear in his eyes, straightens his back and says "no I have no questions Captain". With that Jedrick turns to us "alright, everyone else with me" and with that, Jedrick runs past the gate into the city.

We all run through the gate trying to catch up to Jedrick, who by now is jogging at a quick pace. As I pass the two guard dogs that were just yelled at, I can see frustration and annoyance on their faces as they whispered to themselves. I wonder why Jedrick treats his guard dogs with such anger. The thought of what Jedrick did to his dog's escapes me as I realize that I'm running through an empty city that should've been filled to the brim with life. Now the only thing that I can hear is our footsteps on the cobblestone street and the sound of critters rustling in foreign homes that only come out when no one is there to hear them.

The street is far wider than any other I've seen and stretches off into the distance with an endless amount of stores placed along it. The road itself is covered in all kinds of materials from wooden boxes, which some are smashed to pieces with all kinds of fabrics scattered all over the street, to fruits and vegetables which by now are either crushed under the weight of panicking animals or thrown about, as if the fruit itself was trying to escape the chaos. The buildings are covered with banners and flags of all different kinds of colors, bearing symbols of different types of shops. The buildings are closely pressed against each other leaving no room for alleys between them. Most of the shops look empty and deserted with their doors wide open and the shelves that are placed against the windows for showcasing their wares are now completely emptied of anything useful or valuable.

I've never been to this side of the city, but the major difference I can see is that almost every building is made completely out of stone. The walls are made out of stone bricks that are stacked upon one another with thin white lines in between them. The stones themselves are jagged as if they were roughly cut, but I can see that they are somewhat smoothed down to create a soft surface The doors and windows have a thick frame of wood that surrounds thick glass, which would bring a sense of awe and inspiration to the beauty of cobblers and blacksmiths but now leaves nothing but empty stores with forgotten memories. The roofs have slanted angles which are made of long planks of wood to stop the rain from pouring in. Some of the stores are one story tall, with what I would guess about three rooms in size, and others are over three stories tall and almost triple the length of the buildings around them.

Suddenly Jedrick turns to the left and starts heading down a cobblestone road as if he knows exactly where he is going. We all immediately turn and follow him down the road frantically trying to keep up with this pace. This road is also filled with stone buildings, but these look more like homes then stores. They don't bear any flags to display anything major except some bearing the symbol of God, which is etched against the walls that is used as a form of blessing towards the house and whoever may live inside. I can easily tell that this side of the city is much larger. From the overwhelming length of these roads, all there is is nothing but stone buildings as far as the eye can see. It looks like they needed to dig up mountains just to build this side of the city, let alone the wall that surrounds it.

In the distance I can see the Westgate starting to appear at the end of the street as it rises up much taller than the buildings around us. Once Jedrick sees the gate he changes from a light jog to a full sprint down the street. The guard dogs around me give out a loud groan as they also start to speed up into a full sprint.

A group of guard dogs appear on the street slowly walking towards the Westgate while groaning in pain from carrying large wooden crates. We easily pass them by and I notice that both groups of the guard dogs take no notice of each other as if it was just another day working as a guard. That's when a realization hits me. The guard dogs have been very calm and collected during the whole battle in the city. During battles they have shown their ferocity, but before and after they always seem calm and prepared for whatever situation might cross their path. I truly wonder what training they went through before becoming guard dogs.

Suddenly the street opens up to a huge cobblestone courtyard filled with animals putting bags and boxes into carts. On the other side of the courtyard there is the Westgate, standing over 15 feet high with a massive circular tower on each side that are taller than any other part of the wall. The cobblestone courtyard is shaped in a circle and has a 5 foot wall surrounding it. The wall surrounding the cobblestone courtyard is made of this weird stone that has large white blocks with long black lines carving through it. The wall also has gold engravings scribed all along it. In the middle stands a large circular pillar made of the same weird stone, and gold engravings covering the whole body of the pillar. There is a large mixture of animals kneeling around the pillar with their heads lowered and whispering amongst themselves.

We finally reach into the courtyard and everyone including me falls to their knees and starts trying to regain their breath, while Jedrick runs among the animals, frantically trying to find something or someone.

"Why the hell is he in such a hurry?" I ask while holding onto my chest because of the pain coming from my heart.

"First rule.... of being a captain" Cola says as he gets back onto his feet, while trying to catch his breath. He reaches his hand out to me and says "any information the captain knows must be told immediately to the general".

I grab his hand and he helps me get back onto my feet. I look around and ask "what is this place?"

"The pillar in the middle is a shrine to Zao, on the wall surrounding the courtyard are stories about her engraved in gold."

I stare at the pillar for a couple seconds then turn to him and ask "what is it made out of?"

He looks at me with a questioning look and asks "you don't know about the heart of Zao?"

I simply shrug my shoulders in response to his question.

"Well as the story goes, that this land we call Zao was once just a barren desert that nothing could ever live on. It had endless heat waves that scorched anything that dared to cross its land, and there were no mountains filled with minerals of any value, nor rivers to help you quench your endless thirst, nor trees to use as shade from the heat; nor lakes to find any fresh fish to help you traverse the unbearable terrain with a full stomach, but simply a plain piece of land that stretched off in all directions. Then one day our goddess Zao came to this land and gave it life. She turned her Fur into endless forests that cover all the land and made her veins into the endless rivers that we use to connect with all our cities. She turned her bones into mountains filled to the brim with raw minerals and with her mind she created the five gods that created us."

I give out a big sigh and say "well yes I know about that, but that still doesn't explain about this weird stone".

Cola chuckles and says "sorry got bit carried away there. Now do you know the city of Kardia"?

I nod my head and say "yeah, it's the capital of Zao".

"Yes it is the capital of Zao, but do you know why"?

I once again shrug my shoulders at his question.

"It is the capital because of two reasons. The first reason is that the capital is built around a mountain that is believed to be where the children of Zao created us. The second reason is because when they dug into the mountain, they found an overwhelming amount of this stone inside it, thus believing that if this is the mountain is where we came from, then the stone must be her heart. That is why all shrines of Zao are built out of that stone".

"I never knew that" I say while looking back at the shrine.

"The most interesting part about the stone is that the city states of the endless lake have a word for it too".

I look back at him and ask "really"?

"I heard it from a cat" he says as he starts walking over to the Westgate. He simply looks over his shoulder and says "they call it marble".

With that, Cola goes through the crowds of animals, heading towards the Westgate. I was starting to follow him when I look back at the shrine and felt somewhat fascinated by the stone it is made out of. The pillar in the middle is completely surrounded by animals preying to Zao, but the wall surrounding the courtyard has grabbed no animals' attention.

I quickly start making my way to the wall. Other animals all around me frantically put bags and boxes into carts, as if their lives depended on it. The wooden carts have two wheels on each side and a large wooden pole coming out from the front, with two long wooden boards crossing it. I finally reach the wall and am surprised of the smoothness of the stone. It looks like a pure white wall with long lines of black moving through them in all directions, as if they were black rivers going through forests of snow. I pushed my fingers along the golden engravings and noticing that it is written in a language that I can't understand. Pushing my fingers against the gold engravings brings back the memory of dad telling me that these words are written in the ancient language of Zao, which very few if any know it to speak it, or let alone read and write it.

The thought of mom and Sam crosses my mind. I quickly turn around and start frantically looking amongst the animals, trying to find them. Then I see Cola running through the crowd towards me. He finally reaches me and says "the captain wants me to bring you to the general".

"But what about my family"?

"Don't worry Marco, I hear that the enemy hasn't crossed the river so they are in no immrdiate danger".

I simply give out a sigh and say "lead the way". Cola comes up to me and pats my shoulder. "Thanks Marco. I know it's hard, but we must all make sacrifices". With that, Cola turns around and starts heading back to the Westgate. I follow closely behind him while trying to keep an eye out for mom and Sam.

The courtyard is a complete mess of animals running around, but somehow seems more organized, with guard dogs telling them where to put the supplies. As we get close to the Westgate, I notice carts starting to form a line all the way through the gate with around fifty guard dogs lined up beside them. On the left side of the gate I see Jedrick and what I presume to be the general talking to each other. As we get closer I overhear their conversation.

"But general, Grimsson's law states that there must be at least three captains in any force of guard dogs to properly allow flexibility for the Army."

"Captain, there are more pressing matters than promoting a couple Guard Dogs. Grimsson's laws are to help us lead our armies, not take command of them".

"Then what do you consider more important".

"Getting the last remaining animals of Georgos behind some walls, and the closest walls to us are in the city of Kouneli".

Cola and I reach Jedrick and the general, but they are so engrossed into their conversation that they only notice us when Cola straightens his back and says "Captain I have brought you Marco".

Both Jedrick and the general turn to us with a surprised look from the unexpected guard dogs statement.

The general quickly regains his composure and says "So you must be Marco, the hamster that led my guard dogs to victory."

"Yes sir" I say while looking up to the commander who was a golden retriever. His hair waving in the breeze of the spring air but when I look closely at his face, I can see small strands of hair going gray.

"The captain already told me of all your strengths" then he looks back to Jedrick while saying "and your negatives". Then once more he turns back to me with a smile while saying "but the important part is that you saved a lot of animals yesterday and I am indebted to your hard work".

"But general there's still one glaring issue that we haven't talked about" says Jedrick with a stern voice. "Grimsson's law also states that the guard dogs of any city must stand to defend it to the last dog".

The general gives out a big sigh while looking back to Jedrick and says "Captain I want you to oversee the remaining carts that are being filled up with supplies".

"But general"?

"Captain, are you disobeying an order" the general states with a smirk on his face.

Jedrick immediately straightens his back and says "no general, I will do as you say". With that Jedrick heads down towards the center of cobblestone courtyard. He passes by me and Cola showing a frustrated face, while looking as if he's trying to hold back his tongue.

"I thought it was against Grimsson's law to criticize a general's choices" states Cola with a chuckle in his voice as he watches Jedrick run towards the last remaining carts in the middle of the cobblestone courtyard.

"If that was true; you'd be in a lot more trouble than Jedrick".

Both Cola and the general laugh. I can tell from how friendly they are to each other, that they have been close friends for quite a while.

Cola looks over to the general and says. "I've never used the new road. I've always heard that they were slower than the rivers".

"Well, if you're going by boat and the wind is on your side, then it will take about a week. We on the other hand, have to take the new road to the city and that will take us about a month, depending on our speed and how many villages are along the road".

"This is going to be a long march, isn't it"? The general simply nods his head to Cola's question and says "well they weren't built for speed, that's for sure".

The thought of walking for a month straight sends grimacing thoughts through my mind, but I will be safer the farther I get from the city. The thought of safety immediately brings the image of mom's and Sam's faces to my mind and I quickly turn to the general and ask. "Excuse me general."

The General looks over to me and says "is there a problem Marco?"

"Well you see, I was separated from my family when they crossed the river and I stayed behind to defend the city".

The General raises his hand and stops me from saying anything else. "Marco I understand you're in a terrible situation, but sadly telling me to find your family in an entire city of animals is quite hard to do."

"Marco, how about you try to describe them to us and I'm sure the general will try his best to help you", Cola says with some hope in his eyes.

"Well, my mother has black fur and blue eyes. She's very religious and caring."

Cola and the general look at each anothers expression, and then the general looks over to me while saying "I'm sorry to say Marco, but that is not very specific. Do you have any other family"?

"My sister who is entirely covered in white fur, except for her black ears and has brown eyes. She's very enthusiastic and wants to join the..."

"Guards". the General says before I can finish my sentence.

"Wait, how did you know that?" I ask feeling overwhelmed with hope.

"You see, when we were getting everybody on the boats, we knew there weren't enough ships to carry all the animals who lived in the city. So we started picking out animals to march with us to Kouneli and possibly help us if we get attacked by the enemy along the way. I believe we were going to take her mother when your sister started yelling that she wanted to go instead. But she was far too small to carry a sword, let alone swing it; sadly her mother was the only one cable of calming her down. So I chose to let them both go on the ships."

I feel a sense of overwhelming relief and the thought that mom and Sam being safe brings a little hope to my heart.

The general suddenly interrupts my thoughts and says "that's right. I know about you but you don't know me. Where are my manners?"

The General straightened his back and clears his throat. "General Jeval Worser, head of the Georgos guard".

"Nice to meet you General Worser" I say giving him a big smile, thankful that I was no longer in despair over my family.

"Please call me General Jeval. Even though I may lead an army, I do not consider myself superior to any other animal".

What he said took me by surprise. Why would he want to be seen as an equal, when he was the one giving the orders? I look back at him and am about to ask him why but I'm interrupted.

"General Jeval we are finally ready to start our long march to Kouneli," Jedrick shouts while standing beside a line of animals and wooden carts.

"Have the animals from your village reached the courtyard yet"?

"Yes general".

General Jeval starts heading towards the gate saying "Captain, start the march".

Jedrick immediately runs out the Westgate waving his sword over his head. I stood there for a couple minutes in silence when I hear a horn echo in the distance and the whole line of carts starts moving forward. I quickly follow behind the general through the gate, which luckily was extremely large and easy for multiple carts to pass through.

In front of the gate an unimaginable amount of carts and animals are moving along the road. The carts are two side-by-side and each is being pulled by four animals while there are four guard dogs on each side. The city built on a hill that looks down into a valley and the road winds down through a small village and disappeared when reaching the forest.

"Come on Marco, you better start walking or we might just leave you behind" Cola says passing by me with a chuckle in his voice.

I look off into the distance and see the endless forest in front of us. I stand there as if I'm frozen in fear from the thought of this forest and what hides within it. Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder and I twist my body around to see Eros standing behind me with a smile.

"Marco, what's wrong? Aren't you excited for an adventure"?

I look back at him, feeling a sense of anger brewing within as I spout, "Adventure? I was pushed out of my home to the sound of horns in the distance. I watched as I saw my mother and sister cross the river to a place that I wish to have been taken to, and held my father to his dying breath as his blood soaked my hands. I don't want an adventure; I just want to go back home. I don't want to be some great general, I just want to sit under my tree and listen to the wind blowing through the branches. Is that too much to ask for?" I finished my speech with a question I know there is no simple answer to. I can already feel the fur on my cheeks starting to become wet from my tears. All my emotions boiled over to the point that my entire body is shaking, thanks to the anger and fear that is overwhelming me.

Suddenly Eros wraps his hands around me and holds me tight to his chest. "I know how it feels to lose your home. I know how it feels to be forced out and sent adrift upon a land you've never seen, just because of someone else's decision." He releases me from his grip and looks down to my face with a smile. "But did you know you have something that I didn't?" I look at him and with a simple smile Eros says "you have a mother and sister terrified of the thought of what has happened to you and their only wish is to see you safe and sound".

I slowly lower my head and chuckle to what he said. "I wonder how many times I can tell that to myself before I have no reason to keep moving forward". I feel a hand under my chin as it slowly pushes me up to see Eros with the most innocent smile ever seen on his face. "When the time comes that you have no reason to keep moving forward, then I have no choice but to..." Eros suddenly turns me around, and with a chuckle in his voice, pushes me forward while saying. "Push you myself".

Thus I took my first step by the help of a close friend, which I had made only a day before, whose smile sends a sense of warmth to my heart and makes me feel as if there is something in this world worth fighting for. I might have a long journey in front of me. No, I DO have a long journey in front of me and I do not know what the future may hold, but I know that I will not be taking this journey alone.