Prologue - The World We Seek
"The last bastion of humanity", that's what we're called. At least that is the title the Priest gives us all. All we're taught when we're growing is that humanity is trying their hardest to find a way to survive behind the walls. Time and time again they drive it in us that we're warriors fighting for the freedom of humanity, that we have to conquer the land that awaits us beyond the walls.
But that isn't what they want. The Priest, all of the higher class, ruling bodies are scared of what lies beyond the walls. They send a few of our strong, capable adventurers out every year, knowing damn well that nothing will return except at most, a broken person.
They want to confine us to these walls, show us that we're fighting by showing us small little gestures while in reality, they have no hopes of ever leaving these walls. All they want to do is waste away without knowing anything about what lies outside. People have forgotten what it truly means to be human, to be seekers.
I understand why people are afraid. Nobody has ever truly made a successful trip beyond the walls except a lucky few, and they were traumatized enough to ruin their lives.
"The outside", a place filled with beautiful, bountiful forests, waterfalls and arable land. Yet, what lies out there are creatures beyond our greatest fears. Giant insects that are impervious to our tools, that can fly faster than the eye can see. Mindless beasts that can sever your head with but a swipe of their hand. Mysterious diseases, dangerous plant life, and entities beyond our understanding. So many mysterious, dangerous factors lay outside those walls. However, to let that stop us is no more than lying down and accepting defeat.
In my opinion, there isn't a worse fate out there for humanity than letting go of what truly makes us human in order to survive. To me, what does it mean to survive if it means to live in fear of the unknown each and every day? To fear that those walls will one day collapse and we will all perish, powerlessness against the cruel world outside. That is how we always survived, thrived even before this, we conquered the world through the catalyst of curiosity. That endless thirst to find answers for that which we do not know is what drives us to improve, to become better than what we already are. Such a simple factor has been lost upon us within these walls, people have stopped wondering what lies out there for the sake of the future and only care about the present.
That is why we can't waste any time, not anymore. The elders refuse to admit it, but I've seen it myself. The walls have tiny cracks forming, and while I don't think these walls will fall anytime soon, I do think the future generations will not live to worry about it. We must take the initiative, we must find what lies out there. Expand our territory, build new walls, analyze each of these creatures and how to eliminate them. We must do what we can to ensure humanity pushed onward as we always have.
It is all too tragic to leave such a beautiful world unappreciated, to be left only looking upon these stone walls which have stood here for centuries. This is a trial for humanity, as I see it, as we shall not be the last bastion, but the one that creates the next.