: Just as the crew claims the territory stone:

"We're almost to that beam of light. Let's hope something good is there. We can't be trapped out in the wilderness forever." Joe said

Joe was Leah's dad. Leah was the only one to run into any other humans since this all began. It wasn't a pleasant run in. She had told her family all about it. 3 men tried to rape and attack her. Then out of nowhere 3 other men showed up and killed them. Her older sister Kim kept asking about the 3 hero's. Leah would not call them hero's just yet. They did save her but they killed those other 3 men like it was nothing. Hero's shouldn't kill without remorse. Atleast she thought so anyway.

Gina, Leah's mom let out a gasp. "The light just went away. You think that's good or bad?"

"No idea." Said Joe "Were only a half hour away from where it was. We should keep going but be careful."

"Dad we shouldn't those men I told you about we're heading in that direction. Trust me they were dangerous." Leah said

"I understand but we don't have many options. Well scout it out and if it seemed dangerous we'll run." Joe replied

*A pulse went through them and a message appeared*

The settlement Providence has been founded. Within this settlement monsters and beasts can not spawn.

"We need to check it out now for sure. If I'm going to keep you girls safe we need something like this " Joe said

"I can keep us safe Dad." Leah said "My light mana is strong and my class as a blessed warrior, lets me sense when monsters or beasts are nearby."

" It doesn't let you know when other humans are near by though. So we're going to go scout this settlement and see what we see. If it looks safe we'll make an approach." Joe shot back

The family hiked in silence for the next half hour. They thought they were close to the settlement but it was hard to keep your bearings when there was no sun in the sky, and the beam of light was gone. The woods were changing a little bit. The giant trees and foliage was thinning a little. The trees were starting to space out more and rather then just dirt and large roots there was actual grass on the forest floor now.

Joe has been leading the family. He was sure they were going in the right direction. He used his old army training to keep his foot spacing even and stay on the most direct path towards where he wanted to go. Leah held up the rear using her senses to pick up and beasts or monsters in the area. Joe put up his hand indicating they all stop.

"What is it?" Kim asked

"Do you see anything honey?" Gina added

"I can see a wall made of wood. It's about 30 yards ahead. Be quite as we approach. Well scout it out and decided if we should find a gate or something." Joe told them

They were all very careful as they made the last leg of the trip through the forest. No one wanted to be the one to step on something that made noise to alert whoever was in this place to there presence. When they made it to the wall they could see the wall was huge. It was easily 20feet tall and looped around what must have been a quarter mile.

"Well circle this wall see if there's a gate. There must be a point of entry." Joe told them

"How do we know people did this, maybe it's monster inside there." Kim said

""I don't think we would have been notified of a monster settlement. It must be people. I have no idea how many it could be. There must be a few hundred to build something like this." Joe said

They must have circled in the wrong direction. They had been taking it slow and quite, and had walked for over an hour. It's was starting to turn into night. By the time they found the gate it was almost dark. They had now gone a whole day without eating.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Well camp outside of the gate tonight and try to make some type of contact in the morning. I haven't heard any sounds." Joe said "If there's people inside it can't be as many as I was thinking we would have heard something by now. It's almost too quite."

Gina and Kim decided to flatten some grass on the opposite side of a large tree near the gate. Joe and Leah were trying to peer threw the small openings. They still had not seen anyone when they heard footsteps from the inside. They dropped back a few feet still trying to peer threw the opening in the gate. A man walked into view. He was wearing jeans and a white Tshirt. Over his Tshirt looked like a bulletproof vest, but it almost appeared to be made from snake skin. Slung over his shoulder was a sword that has the shape of a katana. It had a two handed handle with the same looking snake skin as his vest. The man was tall easily over 6ft. He was a slim build but fit. He has black heard and a short beard. He glanced out the gate for a breef moment and kept walking.

When they knew he was far enough away Leah whispered to her dad " that's not one of the men who killed those guys attacking me. It's someone else. Where do you think he got the sword from?"

"I can see building in there but it's took dark to really make out any details. Well wait till morning and try and make contact." Joe replied

Leah and Joe made it over to Kim and Gina. Joe woke them up "We've just seen a man inside. He's armed. Leah says it's not one of the men she saw earlier. We're going to wait until dawn before we try and make contact."

The rest of the night went by relatively smooth. They took turns waking each other up. No one noticed anyone else walk by the gate. They each took what they thought was a 4 hour watch and then would switch. Finally on Joe last watch the sky began to lighten a little. He could tell dawn was coming. He went over to get the rest of the family up.

"Everyone wake up it's almost dawn." Joe said

"Have you seen anyone else Dad?" Kim asked

"How are we going to make contact?" Leah said

" We're going to wait until we see someone by the gate again, or if we hear footsteps well yell to get some attention. We don't want anyone to think we're there enemy. Let me do the talking when it happens." Joe told them

Dawn came and they still hadn't seen or heard anyone. Everyone was on edge clearly there weren't as many people inside as they first believed.

"Should we just start shouting? It's been hours and we've only seen that one person. Maybe they don't check the gate often." Leah said

"No we may not be the only people who've made it to this settlement so far. Let's wait a bit till we know someone's close to the gate and then make our move." Joe said

"True if those men are around I don't want to bring them to us just yet. They would probably storm this gate. You didn't see them dad. They killed those men like it was nothing." Leah said

"Would you stop already. They saved you. Would you rather they hadn't shown up when they did. You said you would be safe going to grab more water. If they didn't show up you could already be dead." Kim said

"Leah's right we need to be careful the world has changed, and so has civilization with it. Your father's right we need to wait until someone's close then grab there attention." Gina said

"Do you sense any monsters or beasts near by Leah?" Joe asked

"No and I haven't since we got close to this settlement. Maybe the message was telling the truth were safe around it they can't spawn nearby." Leah said

"Ok spread out a little stay close to the wall. If anyone hears any footsteps come back this way. I'm going to stay closest to the gate keep looking inside." Joe said

They spread out around the wall not going to far from Joe. Finally Kim heard foot steps. She was the farthest from the gate on her way back she hurried while trying not to make any noise. She came across her mom and signaled she follow her. They made it back in to the gate but Leah has gone the opposite direction as them.

"Dad I hear footsteps coming from my side. They were walking at a slow steady pace. I couldn't see anything between the cracks of the wall it's to tight " Kim told her father

"Go get your sister and come back this way. It's time we see what this settlement is all about." Joe told her

Kim went off to grab her sister. At first she couldn't find her then she heard her call out from behind a tree.

"Kim what is it why are you running?" Leah said

"Someone's about to make it to the gate. They were coming from my side dad told me to come get you." Kim said

As they were making their way back they heard there dad call out. "Hey, Hey"

They picked up the pace the both wanted to see who was in the other side of the gate.

Joe has seen a man on the other side. He had long hair pulled back. He was carrying a shield strapped across his back. The shield looked amazing. The same style as the other mans vest but clearly steel or some type of metal was reinforcing it. He wore jeans and a black Tshirt with what looked like cartoon characters from a show his daughters watched. Nick and Borty or something like that. He knew now was a good a time as any. "Hey, Hey" he yelled out.

The man froze. He ran towards the gate an looked out. "Listen I'll be back in two seconds just wait right here ok." That was all he said when he ran off towards one of the buildings. Joe was a little surprised at how fast he moved.

"What was it dad?" Kim said as Leah and her made it back to the gate.

"It was a man with a shield. He just said wait here two minutes and ran off. I'm sure he will be right back." Joe said

They were all anxious now who knew what was going to happen next.