When Alice had sensed this smell for the first time, two days ago, she had already an idea what it could be as it came from the same direction she was walking in. But now that she saw it for the first time, her suspicions got confirmed.
It was the smell of the ocean. A long time ago, her father had told her stories of his past, and one of the things that fascinated Alice the most was exactly this, the ocean.
Alice had just walked up a small hill and now that she stood atop of it, she had a clear view of the scenery. From one side the hill was only very small, but on the other side, it was actually a rather steep and long way to the water. That was why, right now, Alice stood above everything else.
The land stretched out for about an hour on foot below her, before it hit the ocean. She had never seen anything comparable. Water stretched out for as far as she could see in roiling waves, and then even further until they merged with the sky. Even though her father had told her about the ocean, the largest body of water she had ever seen was the lake in the middle of the forest, so even when he told her that the ocean was boundless and never-ending, she couldn't imagine it at all. Now that Alice saw this scene for the first time, she understood what her father meant when he said that, compared to the ocean, the lands where the humans lived where unimaginably small.
But, even though it was small when compared to the ocean, what she saw next was even more astonishing to Alice. The last village had over twenty huts and small houses, quite a few more than even the farming village, so it had already been a little shock to Alice, but now that she saw the city in front of her, she was speechless. There where hundreds of houses, small and large ones and one even so large, Alice thought, that it was bigger than her whole village. Some were built with stone, some with wood and some of the larger ones with bricks or materials that she had never seen before. And just as colorful and diverse the houses where, the roof were even more varied, creating a big patchwork of chaotic colors.
And when she looked closer to the sea, the buildings suddenly started to be all made of wood, creating a strange sense of unity in the chaos. And from there also started the large piers, piercing into the wide open see like large spears trying to hold back a gigantic monster. At the end of those where the ships, some so small that no five people would fit in, and others so large that they were even larger than some of the houses. Seeing them, lying there calmly on top of the water, Alice couldn't imagine how someone could have built those giants that seemed to try conquering that ocean, yet still being only a speck of dust in comparison.
It took Alice a long time to take in the view, but she started walking again in the end, finally with a goal in sight. She wanted to know everything about this city. She had only ever seen small villages in all her life, so she wanted to see how all these people managed to live together. What they did all day long and how those large buildings looked from the inside, or if that largest one was actually one of the castles her father had told her about where a beautiful prince or princess would live.
A little more than two hours later, Alice finally reached the entrance of the city. She was already walking half a meter beside the road for quite a while as everything was blocked with people that came in and out of the city. Some were on foot like Alice, others were riding horses and then there were those that were using carts and carriages pulled by horses, oxen or other animals.
Then Alice saw something puzzling, some distance away from where some people wearing what seemed to be armor, who were stopping everyone that tried to enter or leave the city. Only when she got closer could she see that they were searching every single person and cart.
"What are they looking for?", she wondered, "No wonder everyone stands outside without getting in!"
Not pondering much more about it, Alice kept walking until she finally reached the point where those armored people stood.
Suddenly one of them stood right in front of her and said: „What do want here? Piss off!"
Thinking that she should be nice, Alice said: „I want to go in there."
"Tch, I can see that. I said piss off!"
"Sir, I don't know what you are looking for, but I don't have it, I am rather sure of that.", Alice continued.
"Ha! I can see that much myself! Street rats like you don't have anything at all and we don't need more of your kind! So get out of my eyes before I get angry!"
Alice couldn't understand the situation at all, she definitely had not what those people were looking for, the man even said so himself, so why wouldn't he let her in?
"But why...", she tried to say something.
*Thump*
The large leather boot of the man hit she directly in the stomach. Without knowing what was happening, Alice flew back almost two meters before she rolled over the ground. A sharp pain assaulted her all over her body and she had the urge to vomit that little bit of food out that she had eaten this morning.
"Now scram! For f*cks sake! Scram, we don't need more of you thievish pack! Just go back to were you came from!", screaming that the man turned around and walked away.
Alice body hurt all over, especially her left arm that had hit an especially large rock. Being assaulted by all that pain that she wasn't used to and not knowing what to do now, Alice kept lying there for quite some time without moving.
"Did you kill that kid?", she faintly heard one if the armored man say.
"I hope not, I don't want to clean that up, you have to kick them so that they are barely alive. If they still manage to run away, you won't have to take care of the corpse yourself!"
Hearing that, Alice threw the man a hateful glare and stood up slowly.
"See what I mean? The only way for them to contribute to the world that's left would be if they dug their own graves!"
"Wasnt that what she was trying right now?"
"Huh?... Puhahahahaha!"
Hearing the guards laughter, Alice knew that she wouldn't get in the city like this. She almost despaired. It was then that she suddenly remembered something that a kind man had told her a few days ago.
"...when I know that no one is looking.", Alice mumbled and slowly limped away.