The Walls Beyond

Prologue

Monsters. Such a word cannot be described to a species but rather the behaviour of a beast. We hate those who affect our physical well-being but never pay attention to those who affect our mental and emotional well-being. Monsters that very well make us question our nature and force us to answer without knowing the formula. However, monsters do need to live as all creatures do.

That was the reality for the monsters that lived in the Castle of Yokuatsu. They needed to find a way to live but without working themselves as they fell into the feeling of leisure. A small population of humans were scattered across the ground floor. Humble little living, one they seemed pleased with. The monsters sought to exploit that for themselves and they took their garments stashed in the closets of their many lavish bedrooms and approached the people downstairs.

Upon arriving in the village, the villagers were petrified and blood-curdling screams from man, woman and child echoed throughout the village. However, after some convincing, the monsters showed them no harm and simply expressed great interest in their way of life. They asked for the highest man in the village, and a few minutes later. Lady Lutchman, the village's leader and mother emerged.

Her eyes resembled those of flower petals brushing softly against skin while her eyebrows were sharper than the blade she wielded daily in her hand to both cook and kill. Her body was chubby and fluffy like a pillow to embrace and her hair was that of a blonde colored river down her back. The monsters took her personally to see the castle and all of its riches that lay within. Their deal was that in return for a cut of their labour and production being used to pamper the castle's inhabitants. They would get the riches inside to improve their society. The woman saw not only riches but a future for her home and the homes around her and made the deal.

They worked and worked and worked and worked and while the village thrived. The people did not and soon revolted. Lady Lutchman seeing her people in such a low state, committed suicide with her body being burnt in the fires of the protests. The monsters came down and started to make examples of some of the protesters in front of all by brutally eating or dismembering them. With Lady dead, they governed the village themselves and soon forced the village to build walls to not only expand the castle but also close off any ability for the outside to be accessed.

Years turned into decades, and decades turned into a century where the village became advanced and the monsters and their doings became myth, and work culture became the norm, regardless of the price to be paid. New roles were to be filled, and systems were put in place to see if they were worthy to be paid, and those who weren't were taken away to meet a fate only rumoured. It wasn't all doom and gloom however. A couple of stories of those who escaped from within the walls surfaced and while too the majority. Seemed like a hoax, a few saw as hope, hope that life outside the walls was possible and was just a dream away.