The view from the Wall was great. Mist hanging over mountain ranges stretched around him, enclosing
him and the wall. The vast green forest carpeted the land. The wall seemed endless; so did his surroundings.
Josh felt respect but at the same time fear for the Chinese monarch who ordered people to build these walls.
“
Millions of people sent to build the wall in hostile conditions, and it stretches for more than 6000 kilometers.
That is nuts!” he muttered. He pressed on. Josh had trekked for about 10 minutes before clear signs of a
decaying wall appeared.
Josh was on the Wall. It was deserted. He felt isolated. There were mosses covering the stones. There
were roots growing out of cracked bricks. Parts of the withered wall crumbled every second, rocks rolling
down to the dark abyss. The forbidding path however didn’t stop Josh. Josh walked with extreme caution.
The climb wasn’t what he thought it would be. It was dangerous, tiring and he was utterly alone. He stepped
on a loose rock which went tumbling down. Josh flinched and shuddered at the thought of falling. He finally
reached the first tower from where he started. The tower was a goner; brick and stone lay scattered on the
ground. There were holes everywhere. A part of it was collapsed and it looked as if it was going to tumble
down any minute. Normally a person would stop here, but he pushed on. Josh Wall stepped inside into
building, into the mouth of the tiger.
With the barbarians pushed back, Wang ordered his men to help the injured and clean up the place. It was a
bloody mess. Night came, like a blanket, covering the mountains and land; birds flew off, no longer chirping.
Vision slowly reduced and the place was only lit by torches. It was eerily silent; it looked as if a predator was
waiting to strike any time. They had this every day, but for some reason, Wang thought it would be different,
especially what happened earlier. With that in mind, he ordered his men to be on guard at all times. Wang
retreated back to his room. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched.
The room was gloomy and chilly. Josh scanned the room. It was two stories high and it looked like it had
been abandoned since forever. Stones and dirt lay strewn on the floor. Josh spotted a book half buried in the
rubble. “Wow, that is an ancient artifact,” he exclaimed as he picked it up. The tattered and torn book was well
preserved for something that was 500 years old and not in a museum. He flipped through the book. It was
ancient Chinese writing. Ancient Chinese is similar to modern Chinese but it is not the same. With his
knowledge, Josh was able to interpret some of it. He made out that about an eternity ago, the room was
occupied by an officer by the name of Wang. Just then, his cell phone rang. Suddenly, the tower started
collapsing; it literally disintegrated by the sonic boom of the cell phone. With normal human reflexes, Josh
covered his head with his hand. With a thud, he fell onto the ground after being hit by a stone, rendering him
unconscious.
Josh regained consciousness in a room which was lit by a torch and there was a desk and a bed. He saw
that the room had two stories and it was made out of stone. Behind him was the entrance. He was in the same
tower, except it was in a different condition. He noticed a man sitting in a chair, scribbling something onto a
book -- the same book he had found, except it was in a better condition. He walked towards the man who was
dressed in armor, the kind he’d see as statues, or as characters on Chinese television shows. He slapped himself
and yelled, “Come on, I couldn’t have gone back in time!” It was so loud it echoed but the man didn’t even so
much as turn his head. Josh walk towards him and touched him, but the man simply ignored Josh. Josh felt
insulted, “Hey, I am talking to you, can you least look at me!” Wang felt something behind him, but when he
looked back, there was no one.
Josh did not know what happened. He thought it was only a dream. The last thing he recalled was the
tower starting to fall on him. Maybe he was dead, but he felt so alive and he was in the same place. He
remembered he had a phone. He took out his phone and checked -- 20missed calls.
Swish. It flew so fast, like a jet fighter in a straight line. It cut through the air and stuck right into a neck;
blood squirted out like a hose. “Thud,” a guard fell. The other guards were alerted. But like the domino effect,
one by one, they all fell, all by arrows shot by the barbarians. The second attack commenced. Josh was trying to
call his wife when suddenly, the man stood up, and there was a commotion outside. Wang rushed out after
hearing battle cries; the barbarians attacked again. This time however, the tide changed. They had not
recovered from the pyrrhic victory earlier and their attacker appeared as if they were launching a full scale
invasion. Josh stepped out and he was horrified. There were people killing, people dying, people crying, people
slashing. He was in the middle of a bloody battle. Josh thought,”What the hell, I just woke up and I am in a
middle of a damn battlefield from like a billion years ago!” He thought they would kill him, yet no one seemed
to care about him. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the man he’d seen in the room earlier. Wang was fighting
three barbarians at once. He saw his men being chopped down like trees and at the end, he was the only one
left. Wang retreated back into his room. Starved wolves followed, cornering their prey with swords ready to
strike. Josh followed them and tried to attack the barbarians but to no avail. He could not even feel them.
He was felt like he was in a movie. Wang’s sword cut through air. With a sickening sound, a bloodied