Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams

(Short Story -XXVII.) *Beyond the Wall*

Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams

Copyright © 2011 Sky_Knight

(Short Story -XXVII.)

*Beyond the Wall*

The Wall is being demolished

Sledgehammers resound on both sides.

The Wall marked the national borders for decades ---until yesterday. "Border" might not be the right word, however. Originally, both sides were part of a single nation. The country became divided owing to differences in ideology, and the two sides remained so mutually antagonistic that a high, thick wall had to be built. Those days are gone now.

A year ago, the leaders of the two sides shook hands in a historic recondliation.

Today, after much preparation and coordination, the wall that symbolized the two sides' antagonism is being demolished. The sound of hammering signals the end of opposition and extols the beginning of peace.

"C'mon, give me a break!" says Yuguno, spitting on the ground and glaring at the backs of the people swarming at the wall.

"Look at them, smiling like idiots. I can't believe it!"

He glances at Kaim by his side as if to say: "Right?"

His still-boyish face wears a scowl of disgust.

"Tell me, Kaim, you've been to a lot of different countries and seen all kinds of people. Can people just take years of hatred like that and throw it out the window?"

Kaim gives him a sour smile instead of replying.

Yuguno is a young man, the first person that Kaim became friends with shortly after he arrived in this border town. He is pleasant enough except for is stubborn hatred of people from the "other side"

"One lousy handshake and I'm out of a job. I mean really, give me a break."

Yuguno used to be a border guard -in other words, one of the men assigned to keep watch on the wall. He had volunteered, eager to kill anyone who dared to come over the wall from the other side. If his superiors had permitted it, he would have gladly crossed over and attacked the other side rather than waiting to fend off an invasion.

As a mandatory part of recondliaton, however, the border guards were disbanded. Unlike his brothers in arms, who quickly started new lives for themselves, Yuguno was left behind by the changing times.

"Tell me, Kaim, can people be allowed to just slough off their resentments so easily? Do they just not give a damn?"

Kaim does not respond to this.

He knows Yuguno is a victim of the age of confrontation.

Still just a young man ---a boy, even ---Yuguno has been thoroughly conditioned since childhood to view the other side as the enemy.

Watch out ---the other side could attack at any time.

Watch out ---the other side are all cruel, cold-hearted villains.

Watch out ---if the other side ever invaded us and occupied our towns, they'd burn down our houses, steal our property, kill our men, and assault our women.

Watch out ---the day is not far off when they will be invading us. It could be three days from now, or it could be tomorrow. They might be climbing the wall today. This very moment.

Watch out ---they've already sent their spies among us. And you can tell for sure who they are. They're the ones who extol and sympathize with the other side by word and by deed.