“Clay, look what I found!” said Alexander as he pulled up a frog from the filthy swamp. The frog began to croak louder, which made Clay feel somewhat uncomfortable. “Throw it back in, it has no use to us.”

“That might be so, but what about making it a companion?”
“What? Alex no it’s a frog.”
“Yeah, so?”
Clay then gets up and grabs the frog out of Alex’s hand, and throws it across the swamp, in the deepest section of the pond.
“Clay! That wasn’t yours to toss around! Especially like a bag of rotten food!”

“It was useless Alex, besides, a horse or dog is a way better companion then a frog ever would be.”
See the two were different, in some ways drastically. See now Alex was one of the most caring and kind souls to walk the village, but could let logic speak over emotion, even when times needed love. He is smart, logical, intelligent and dopey. Clay was brave and reckless. He made messes all over the town multiple times a day, but made people laugh. He was a natural entertainer. A yin to a yang. The boys would have moments like this all the time. Alex never told him off and Clay never brought into thought Alex’s feelings. 

The boys would use the swamp as a get away, as they did not fit in with the rest of the kids, for they were too boring and predictable. 

The swamp had two huge trees, so tall and noticeable to the fact you could see it from the farm back at the village. From the trees hung lavender moss, held birds nest, and stood on a flat and muddy surface. The way the trees' leaves swung and the wind brushed their faces is what made this place feel so safe. There was a little pond area a few paces to the left of one of the trees, it was clear but had some tint  of green accent. The pond went deep enough to touch Clay’s waist, meaning the pond was quite deep since Clay was quite tall. Then, behind the pond was a few bushes and mud puddles, leading to a gigantic wall.

The wall was the first thing built to protect what was then a small land with hope, eventually turning into a powerful kingdom with citizens. Laws were made, as commonly  throughout kingdoms, but what other kingdoms did not have was the big three. The three laws if you dare to break without good reason, would be executed. The big three was written and signed by the first ever ruler in this kingdom, making it priceless and older than the buildings that stood upon them. 

“Twas the 13th of May, I declare the biggest of three rules thou citizen shall follow, otherwise, one shall be executed. 

One shall not steal one from another, whether it is their life or their quilt.
If one shall be the source of treason and participate in the unholy acts of war and betrayal, they shall be executed without reason
One shall not leave the walls without given the right from authority of the king or queen. 
What was different about the boys, was that they were always curious what was behind them. From what they could see from when the gates opened was land, grass greener than emeralds, trees tall and wide with a variety of colored leaves, bunnies and snakes. It seemed like a whole new land, as theirs was a beige grass, bland green  trees, goats and pigs. Not one person knew why there was such a change between the two lands, for they were next to each other. All the boys did know, was they wanted to explore. The townspeople even tried to frighten the boys. “If you go out, things will come up one by one and eat you bit by bit.” 

“If you go out there you’ll never be allowed back in!”

 “If you go out there-..” Usually the boys blanked them out by then.

The wall was tall, grey, and made from bricks and stone. Moss lived between the cracks, and animals had burrows in the small holes from attempted attacks. The tops had spikes, big and sharp. Alex could squeeze through the space between each spike, Clay most likely could not.

As the boys spent their time in the swamp, they heard from the south side a loud bang. The wall began to shake and some concrete began to trickle down. The boys looked at each other and slowly continued to get back into what they were doing. That was until another bang was heard and the wall shook again. “What is that?” Clay put his hand on the wall, and turned his head to hear. It was quiet, until it was interrupted by another bang, and a stronger shake to the wall. “Pick me up, let me see what's on the other side.”
“Are you sure.”
“Yeah.”
Clay then picked up Alex and held his feet with his hands. Alex then looked over the wall. “A little higher Clay.” Clay stood up a little taller. “Clay. A little high-” Alex’s sentence cut off mid-way. “Oh c’mon. I can’t be here all day. How much more?”
“Put me down”
“What?”
“Put me down Clay!” Clay put Alex down to see Alex’s face pale white. As soon as Alex started to back up, an arrow with fire at the end shot from the other side came over towards the village. “Was that.. An arrow?”

“How.. I mean why..”

“What did you see?”
“Why are they here?.”
“Who’s here?” Alex then started making his way away from the wall. 

“Alex who’s here?”
“I don't..”

“Alex! Pray thee tell me what is going on! Who is here?”

“The army from the Kingdom Cogadh!”
Clay looked in disbelief,

As every Kingdom has it's army and allies, they also have their enemies and traitors. Alex and Clay’s kingdom was known for peace and prosperity, while the Kingdom of Cogadh was for hate and power, as Cogadh would stand for war. 

Another bang could be heard from farther south, and with each bang, got closer and closer to the village. The sound of yelling could also be heard from the other side of the wall.
“We have to go back to Clay!”
“I know!”
As they tried to find their way out, adrenaline kicked in. Getting out seemed like a maze, every turn different and unknown. As if they had never been to the swamp before. All they saw was bushes and trees, and when they ran one way it would lead to a foreign place, and when they turned around, it was just to see more bushes and trees. 

“Shh. Let’s try and listen for the village. We are wasting time here running around like lost lambs.”
As they stood in silence, they heard only but their beating hearts and heavy breaths. Then from a distance, an echoed scream. They ran faster then they ever had, faster than when a goat almost escaped the village, or when the younger kids ran with sharp tools used to make food and shape swords. As Clay and Alex grew closer to the village, they could hear screams and the crackling of fire. They began to run faster, in hopes of seeing their family safe and sound, instead, they were brought to horror when they saw their village in flames and their walls to the ground. People running, some were even on fire. They saw the swarm of people from the Kingdom of Cogadh head towards the farm at the top of the hill, leaving the village to burn. They then began to look for their loved ones, as many bodies laid on the ground from swords or fire. 

That's when they saw the houses they grew up in, next to each other, burning to a crisp.
“This doesn’t mean their dead Clay, it doesn’t. They could be anywhere. We just have to-”
“ALEXANDER.” Clay yelled with tears forming in his eyes. He then began to pick up a piece of plank from the front that began to catch flame, to reveal several bodies behind the now black weak door. There was furniture and bags of items from their homes, the furniture was long gone but some bags were not caught on fire yet.  Alex looked at them for a bit, before going to his house, moving over  planks only to see his mother on the ground before it, and bodies burnt inside. He fell to his knees and began to cry out. Clay then took whatever bags of items were left and Alex by the arm, then began to run. All this, while Alex’s screaming faded from the village, swallowed by the forest.