After the battle of Zero when the war ended, everyone somehow broke inside some lost their families, some their wealth, some their lives, and some everything, now those who were breathing asked themselves.

Were they the fortunate ones?

As chaos took over every corner of the earth and humankind was left alone with his darkest side was it worth continuing, wasn't it supposed to be the end?

Of course many lost hope and give in to the oblivion and finished their lives, but there were some who hadn't the courage to face death yet or had something to live so they kept moving on, and doesn't matter what is it that kept them going if they were a living being they needed water.

Southern parts of both empires perhaps knew better than everyone that how precious was that liquid form of life. Maybe it was its sunny weather and drylands and the hostile nature of the south that made them value water above all but whatever the reason was whoever had it now was the king.

Doesn't matter how much one needed you will always need more and those who could take arms, each took control of part of the south. In a matter of months south was in hands of tens of violent gangs who did whatever they liked with the ones who were in need of water. Every single drop of water had a value of more than an alive man if not more.

People tired of gangs high prices and slaved by what they needed they had to do what gangs wanted without question some tried to leave the south but passing through the vast desert of Ma'ash with not enough water was a suicide plan so people of the south were but prisoners of their basic need of water and the gangs which had it.

Noah was a man with nothing, he was homeless even before the war so he never really experienced how does it feel to lose or how does it feel to be happy but he hated the mobs just as much as the next guy. Gang members made him work like a slave day after day he witnessed how they treated people and what they demanded, for the little they gave. Noah was a quiet man in his fifties and he was a good listener each man who sat beside him would talk for a long time about his hard day and complain as Noah would just sit and eat and listen but it was how he looked outside, inside he was planning and trying to hold his emotions back if there was any left.

Seasons passed and Noah saved some water little by little or if he was in luck with some rain he would manage to save as much as a week of hard work. He did it until he had enough water for three months, it was enough to pass through Ma'ash so after two years of working like a slave he gathered what he could and got ready to leave the south. all this agony and things he saw soon would be but a bitter memory.

Noah never felt how is it to lose something but living and working beside people who had to sell their wives and daughters for some water as watching their sons working like adult men day and night made him understand that pain and it was no ordinary pain it grows and doesn't stop until it completely consumes the man.

On his way he constantly remembered what his people said about an ancient lost valley in Ma'ash which can have underground water fountains it was no fairy tale since even before the war both empires searched years for that ancient city for its treasures but the war ended faster, it was merely a dream, an idea but it was growing by each step inside his head.

Days he kept that near-impossible idea in his mind and as he took his first steps on Ma'ash Noah found himself with two decisions, either can keep moving and finally reach the central lands or to search for that valley which could save all his people there would be no more slavery no more dying under hard labor and no more humiliation for a drop of water.

Noah looked at his hands covered in calluses a bitter reminder of how hard he worked for this dream to finally leave the south, it was quiet, no one was there to help him or makes him make his decision he was alone and free.

"god damn it" Noah said as he took out his shovel and started his search, he made a decision that only a mad man would make. But as most flowers die in the darkness there are some that bloom in it.

Three months passed and it didn't pass quickly under that burning sun of the day and the cold wind of night beside his loneliness and mind full of doubts which could lead any man to his insanity.

The hardest part was though that Noah wasn't able to find that ancient valley and now he was out of food and water he had to meet his end alone knowing it was his doing.

On his knees covered in dust with dry lips and sunburnt skin Noah took off his clothes and grabbed his knife, it was easier and faster to die by a blade than by starving and thirst he looked and the clean dark sky the cold wind didn't seem to affect his naked dark skin anymore.

He burst into tears, all those emotions the anger, the hatred, the years that he wasted achieving noting and being ignored all were getting hold of him Noah shouted louder than ten angry men, it was his last moments so let it be as he wants he kept shouting until his larynx gave up and his eyes ran out of tears. He felt calm at the end as he put the edge of the knife in his vein to finish this horrible nightmare and he would if it wasn't for a sound of a bike horn coming from a distance.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Why that weird man on his racing motorcycle came to Ma'ash at the very same moment Noah wanted to kill himself still is like a mystery to him but whatever the reason was it was an unforgettable moment for Noah.

The man was anything but usual or ordinary, if a person has one trait that makes him remembered by this guy had ten.

He wore a cycling jacket colored in neon pink and blue which glowed in the darkness of the night, the same color as his bike. He had a blonde mustache slightly darker than his hair a pair of sunglasses with a shiny visible diamond earring on his left ear he put off his headphones and smiled as if it was a completely usual moment for him.

"Hello dying old man, my name is prince Gaffi Quetro the second but you can call me GOAT which I prefer myself too" he lift up his sunglasses and continued as he reached for his motorcycle saddlebags to bring some water for Noah "I mean which man doesn't like to be called greatest of all time constantly, right"

The bike sounds its horns on its own making sure that GOAT introduces her too "oh yeah and this is Destiny my ever loyal companion beside my lance" GOAT got close to Noah to give

him the bottle of water "she said hi"

Noah still shocked and dazzled, wondering if it was a dream or reality slowly reached for the bottle but as soon as he wanted to grab it GOAT got up and refused to give him the water.

"you know I've been thinking why on earth would Destiny bringing me here to the worst place on earth where no one sane would be but here. I am amazed by how fool a man can be but then I remembered no sane man ever achieved anything big"

GOAT stared at Noah wondered if he was mute "can you talk sir"

"my… my name is… Noah" Noah got up and tried to slowly with caution touched GOAT's face to see if he was real.

"wow, you were quite alone, old man" GOAT moved away from his rough hand from his face.

"I'm real, don't worry but please don't do that again, it's weird"

"ok enough talking and let's get to business" GOAT threw the bottle at Noah so he can at least understand what he was telling him "I know you are here for Besara the ancient valley that no one ever found"

"you know where it is?" Noah asked with a subdued voice as he was drinking quickly like a wild man.

"yes, but I know that you can never find it with that thing without the right direction" GOAT pointed at Noah's shovel.

"and it is far bigger than you might think and far more fascinating than anyone could imagine, so I'm going to make a deal with you"

"if you really know where it is and how to find it," Noah said

"marvelous, I give you this…" Goat showed Noah an object that looked like a small pyramid "and you promise me to build the most massive ship you can in there be big enough for thousand people at least and hold enough food that can last for let's say three years, what do you say"

Noah didn't know if it was even possible "where do I get the wood and iron that I need because look around you there is nothing but dust here"

"your doubts hold you back your entire life but this time have faith and don't worry about it, I trust Destiny she can't go wrong"

"do we have a deal, Noah?" GOAT asked

Noah hesitated for a few seconds and stood still "sure" he said calmly.

"great" GOAT gave Noah the ancient key and got ready to ride away "go ten steps to the west and start digging a little you'llreach to a platform that works as an elevator then you'll see how great humans once were"

"wait," Noah said "when do you come back for your ship?"

"when it's ready of course" and before GOAT starts to ride he said "you could've walked away and would have a happy life full of lies but you chose the sad truth full of bitterness just to save your people I wish I could see more of your kind on earth Noah, we wouldn't be in a messed up world like this" GOAT put on his headphones and with no more words rode to where Destiny would take him.

Noah was surly still confused but he did as GOAT said and he found exactly what he described a platform which took Noah to the underground, there Noah found not just a simple city but a whole new form of life. A complete lost and forgotten civilization full of houses made of clay as he was getting closer to the ground he saw a massive forest with trees that were not founded at any point of the world a river which flowing in the middle of the city, even animals, it wasn't a lost valley, Besara was a lost world. No human lived there for thousands of years yet it seemed so full of life. This valley with its own fascinating ecosystem didn't even need sunlight since the leaves of trees glowed, lighting up the whole forgotten valley.

Noah could already see how happily can his people live here with no one to order and force them to slavery it would all be over and of course he cannot keep his word to build a ship alone he needed help.

Noah in his entire life never achieved anything worthy maybe all those pains and sufferings were just preparation to save thousands of innocent people to save the south it would be because of him that generations will live a life without misery hunger or thirst and GOAT will be the name which Noah will never forget.

As soon as people saw Noah coming back alive with water and telling the tale of the new city, the exhausted poor people all got what they had and left territories of the gangs which controlled them with water they could keep whatever they had for themselves now and they didn't have the numbers to keep them with guns too so they could do nothing but to stay in the horrible lifeless place that they made themselves.

All the mob leaders witnessed how people followed once a homeless and slave man as a leader, a savior, an angel but Noah

with all the respect and the love he earned, gained a crazy nickname too, which until this day he keeps dear 'Mad Noah'.

For the mobs and gangs, however, they had to face the fear itself as their downfall was at the same time that the greatest army in the world was rising. They were called Gorgans and they took whatever they wanted by the brutal force and those who were once masters became slaves themselves as their leaders were skinned alive in front of their eyes just to be a good example for others to show who was their owners now.