death of his dream and passed them down the task of fulfilling it.
A few decades after the fall of the Mongol empire, a descendant of Genghis Khan formed a
tribe which he believed to be the tribe that would conquer the world. The tribe grew in number,
women gave birth to more boys and stronger men were prepared for the battle they were long
searching for. After many generations and leaders passed, the tribe was still the same tribe that
Temur ruled. They were the last remnant of the Mongol empire and the only hope.
The tribe had been looking for the Great Wall of China which they believed, after conquering,
would lead them to conquer more parts of the world. Every leader was born more fierce and eager
than the last and pursued the Great Wall with even more incentive. With leaders eager to finish
the task that the ones before them had failed to do, the tribe was always moving and the desert
did not make it any easier for them.
The bright orange sun began to slowly rise from the east as it started to get warmer in the
desert. The women were already awake and preparing for another day of travel to find the Wall.
Soon after the men rose and got ready for the ride ahead. A horn was sounded to let the people
know that they would start moving.
They rode on south as the sun rose slowly following their slow pace. After a few hours they
began to see darker clouds appear. The people knew that they weren’t rain clouds and took it as
a sign and decided to follow the path of the rising murky clouds. They grew curious approaching
the dark clouds. Temur showed no reaction to the dark clouds. He rode in silence but deep down he
believed it was the sign to the Great Wall that was to be conquered.
The tribe grew even more curious and carried on marching towards the dark clouds until a
large mountain stood between them and their path. Temur decided that he would go and see for
himself if it as truly the Wall they had been looking for. He told his men and they passed the word
along the tribe. Soon the men knelt and sounded their horn to Temur’s departure.
Temur took his horse and rode it up the largest mountain he had ever seen. Although, he
would not show it through his expressionless face, he grew with anticipation. He would soon be
the one that fulfilled the Great Emperor’s wish after many others who perished before they could
even find the Wall. He would soon ignite the fire that would grow to once again be the Great
Mongol Empire. Finally, he reached the top. He was as high as the shadowy clouds. He went closer
to the edge to look down at the wall.
He stared down the other end of the mountain in disbelief. There was no wall where he
expected it to be but something else, something he had never seen nor had the word to describe.
He saw long pillars sprouting from the ground with countless warriors inside. He had always
heard tales of flying beasts as a boy growing up but he’d never imagined seeing a real one in
his lifetime. He questioned if the spears his men carried could skewer the winged beasts. He was
scared by the demons that he saw move at such speed. This was no wall but a village. A village
with large towers filled with warriors, flying beasts and demons that moved at great speed.
At least that is how Temur saw it, when it was actually modern day China. He was looking
at buildings. He had been looking down at a town near an airport. He saw planes land and take
off and the noise alone frightened him. He saw cars drive by in the street. When Temur and the
others before him searched the desert for the Wall, they had never thought that the world around
them might have changed. It was not years ago nor decades since the tribe was searching in the
desert but it had actually been many centuries. Everything Temur laid eyes one was alien to him.
He knew a life of traveling on horses and sleeping on sand at night. While his tribe had been
