by Noah Layton
I selected the Hearth option in the menu, and the blue box for its placement appeared before me on the ground.
I would work clockwise around the land, creating hearths and chimneys in each and every home until I had completed a full cycle.
From there, all it took was firewood from the forest (plenty of which we had in storage) and flint and tinder, and the houses would be filled with warmth.
Order wasn’t my only reason for starting in the north, though – keeping the newest member of our tribe warm was a top priority.
I knocked on the door of the well-built home that stood among the crop fields in the north of my land.
A few moments later the door opened, and I was greeted by one of the very first tribe members that I had brought into our community.
‘Master Jack,’ Tormus said with quiet excitement, ‘what a pleasant surprise!’
‘Hi Tormus, mind if I come in?’
‘Not at all, I would only ask that you keep your voice down – Eri has only just managed to get Oden off to sleep.’
I winced comically and tip-toed into the house. Tormus closed the door against the cold, but the temperature wasn’t much better inside.
He was wrapped up in several huge shawls and blankets, exposing only his face, his skin a shade of blue that was dotted with white blotches.
He and his wife Eri were the only ones of their kind that I had met in Agraria.
‘Can I offer you a drink, Master Jack?’ He shivered.
‘You can offer me some stew made from our crop stores once your new fire is roaring.’
‘New fire?’ He asked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Quick question – what do you value more: keeping Oden asleep or being warm? I’m not being sarcastic, by the way. It’s a genuine question.’
‘Oh, I didn’t think you were being sarcastic in the slightest,’ Tormus replied, considering my question genuinely. ‘I certainly value heat more. Why do you ask?’
‘That’s a good answer. Now I don’t feel so bad about the prospect of him waking up while we make a racket…’
I crossed to the wall where the stove resided. The fire was burning, but it was too small and too weak to sufficiently heat the house.
The hearth placement square stayed red until I moved before the stove.
Select replacement: Hearth
A replacement, I thought.
I had never done this before.
I tapped the Hearth option and its setting, and another option appeared before me.
Replace with Hearth?
I tapped accept, and with a shuddering of the ground the hearth suddenly fell into place.
Tormus and I both waited in the fading echo of the hearth’s arrival for sign of Oden crying.
Pleasant, peaceful silence was all that awaited.
Tormus shuffled madly with a sudden series of flustered movements.
He cast off the blankets and rushed to me in nothing but his undergarments, wrapping his arms around me in a bear hug and lifting me off the ground.
‘Bless you, Master Jack!’ He said with hushed excitement. ‘You are a great man.’
‘It’s no problem at all, man.’
Tormus readjusted me in his bear grip, knocking my head against the wooden ceiling.
‘Ow,’ I said flatly.
‘Gods, I’m so sorry,’ he said quickly, setting me down.
‘No need to apologize,’ I smiled. ‘Let’s just get this chimney set up outside and hope that it doesn’t wake Oden.’
‘I am a lucky man,’ Tormus whispered. ‘Evidently my boy needs his sleep. He is putting all of his energy into growing into the strongest man he can be!’
‘We’re not out of the woods yet,’ I smiled.
We headed back outside and rounded to the back of the house. The stoves that the houses currently possessed all filtered their smoke through a hatch in the walls, but they were way too small for the size of the hearth’s that we were currently creating.
I tapped the hatch and received a similar message to before.
Select replacement: Chimney
I tapped the Chimney option and its setting, and a similar option to before materialized.
Replace with Chimney?
Agraria’s building system was generally reliable, but a construction of this size, especially one that affected the overall structure of a building, was never something that I had attempted before.
Back when we had created the spear gun in an effort to kill the mother wolf, the amount of noise and dust that had been kicked up in the process had almost brought down one of my buildings.
Here goes nothing.
I tapped accept. The ground immediately began to shudder, and so did the house.
With a blustering crack the chimney suddenly popped into place.
The moment the dirt, snow and dust settled there was a brief moment of silence, until-
‘WAAAHHH!’
‘Sorry about that,’ I shrugged at Tormus. ‘Oden doesn’t sound very happy.’
‘Good gods, are you trying to bring the house down?’ Eri’s voice called from within.
Tormus and I shared a fearful smile and returned inside.
Upon closing the door behind us inside we found Eri cradling Oden, admiring the hearth.
‘Okay,’ she started, turning to us both, ‘on this occasion I will forgive you both for waking him. Thank you, Master Jack.’
‘No problem at all. Grab some firewood from the stores. We’re lighting them up shortly.’
‘Gods be with you, Master Jack,’ Tormus said. ‘My son will sleep warm and safely at night thanks to you.’
‘Just doing my job,’ I nodded with a smile.
I made my way around the rest of the homes on the land – the fox-people, the five warriors who currently occupied a house, the satyrs, as well as Cass and her brother Aden on the western side of the land.
By the time everything was in place, most front doors were open as my citizens admired the new additions to their homes from both inside and outside of their dwellings.
I climbed to the top of the storage structure by my home and got the attention of everyone across the huge space that my land occupied.
‘Let’s light them up, people!’ I yelled out across the land.
Within minutes the echoes of my voice became reality; smoke puffed from the chimneys of the houses all across our land, filling the sky in noble plumes.
Cheers of rebellion against the cold roared out from my people as they watched the smoke rise.
We were warm, safe, well-fed and protected from harm.
My people retreated into their homes and I climbed down from the building, crossing to the steps of my treehouse where my wives were emerging in the doorway.
‘Hopefully the smoke does not bring any unwanted attention our way,’ Ariadne said. She moved to my side and nuzzled into my chest, and I wrapped an arm around her firm waist, feeling the slender curve of her behind.
‘We can’t put the possibility of an attack above the warmth of our citizens,’ I replied.
‘Very true,’ Santana agreed.
‘Besides, I’m guessing that we’re not the only ones planning to start burning firewood. Give it a couple of days and we’ll start seeing plenty more smoke in the sky.’
‘Just one question is begged, though,’ Elera added, emerging from the treehouse wrapped up in several blankets. ‘How do we heat the treehouse? I feel that starting a fire next to a tree would not be the wisest decision… Or in a tree… Or anywhere near a tree.’
‘You have that little faith in me?’ I asked my nymph.
‘Not at all, husband,’ she insisted, rushing up to my other side and kissing me softly. ‘You saved me from the horrors that lurked beneath that terrible swamp. I will never forget it, and I will never stop repaying you dearly…’
‘To answer your question,’ I smiled, enjoying the sensation of her lips grazing my neck, ‘We’re going to use a stove.’
‘Like the
ones already in the houses?’
‘Exactly. We’ve got plenty.’
‘We also had enough iron for one in storage,’ Lara said. ‘How come we didn’t create one days ago, before the shipment came back?’
‘Because if I did that, we would be cooped up enjoying the heat while the rest of my citizens froze inside their homes. I might have power, abundant companionship, and control of thousands of gold pieces, but I draw the line at living in warmth while the rest of my people are out in the cold.’
‘You are truly a generous leader,’ Ariadne smiled.
‘I just don’t want to stand around living in luxury while my people freeze. It’s not good for morale.’
While my wives returned inside, I headed back to the Building Totem once more and deconstructed the stoves that I had removed from my citizens’ houses.
I used the resulting iron to create a Large Iron Stove. With a few more unlocks I was also provided with the option to extend the extraction pipe.
I transferred the stove into the treehouse and set it down atop a stone slab that would protect the wood from the heat of the metal.
After adding a few logs and extracting my flint and tinder from my inventory, I ignited the wood and watched the smoldering firewood quickly become engulfed with flames.
Warmth swiftly followed, and as it did my women shed their clothes, letting them slip to the floor around their ankles.
Having them skimping around in their underwear in the seclusion of the treehouse was the last motivation I had for building the hearths, chimneys and stoves, but it was definitely a perk that I appreciated more than words could say.
Chapter Two
It took only another day for the sky around us to light up with smoke.
Tens of billowing channels filled the sky from all around, rising up into the heavens like smoky beacons of life from hidden tribes across the land. Each one said the same thing; life continues through the cold.
Just like the humans on Earth, the different beings and races of Agraria would do anything to survive. There were more threats in this wild world than back there, and as a result people were willing to fight harder to stay alive.
It was both a comfort and a threat; while the signs of life out there in the distance were a reminder that Agraria was vibrant and filled with life, any one of them could pose a danger to my people, my wives or myself.
But we were well-defended at our borders; four watchtowers were constantly manned by a rolling schedule of my people. Beyond the high, well-supported wooden fence that marked our perimeter were a further range of defenses.
It would take a coordinated attack to bring us down, and in weather like this the chances of that happening were minimal.
After relaxing with my wives, I checked up on the land and took a walk around the perimeter before finally stopping in the frozen crop fields.
I kneeled among the snowy field in the north of my land, sweeping aside freezing snow with my gloved hands until I reached the remnants of the crops beneath.
Crops in Agraria weren’t like those on Earth. In fact, most things in Agraria weren’t like those on Earth.
Crops in this case grew quickly in a matter of days, and could also be harvested with relative ease.
As a result food was in abundance, but when you were providing for an increasing number of people the need for food expanded rapidly.
Thankfully I had kept plentiful stores in advance of our current circumstances.
I heard footsteps behind me as I kneeled, and a moment later a comforting voice spoke.
‘There is no need to fret, husband,’ Santana smiled, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. ‘We have enough food to last for weeks, and not just the crops we harvested, but the spoils from the homestead too. We have milk, eggs, and plenty of meat. The pigs will be growing fast, too. We could last for months if need be.’
‘I know,’ I nodded, standing and wiping my hands off. ‘But a man always has something on his mind.’
‘You worry too much,’ she teased, taking the collar of my coat and pulling me towards her before kissing me gently. She teased my lips with her gentle tongue.
‘I prefer being called ambitious,’ I replied, lost in her shimmering eyes.
But these moments of peace never lasted for long in a land like this.
‘Jack?!’
The unmistakable call of Lara’s voice rang out from behind me. She stood at the top of the winding steps of my treehouse, her bow in her hand but no arrow at the ready; instead she was pointing out into the distance, over the tops of the trees to the north-east.
At that very moment, a sound I hadn’t heard in some time buzzed across the land.
It was an unmistakably high bird call, specifically those of the xevea. On the advice of my learned citizens, we had been using their beaks as alarms to be called by those on the watchtowers in the event that an outsider was approaching.
It was coming from the south – the opposite direction that Lara was pointing.
Santana followed me at a quick pace as I hurried to my home base, moving past my totems and their respective buildings and grinding to a halt at the foot of the steps.
‘What is it?’ I asked frantically.
I followed Lara’s line of sight, but still saw nothing.
Only after climbing onto the steps alongside her did I see it.
There, above the trees many miles to the north-east, I saw it.
Blackness was filling the sky, peeking over the treetops.
This wasn’t just a pluming tube of smoke emanating from a log burner, either. It was thick and heavy, blanketing the white sky.
The bellowing of the bird’s alarm call sounded again from the south.
I sprinted down the steps, my hand gripping the handle of my sword in an unconscious reaction to this threat. My citizens were emerging from their homes already, and the squad of five warriors stationed upon my land were emerging from their homes.
‘Orders, Master Jack?’ One called across to me.
‘Follow me!’ I shouted back. The warriors sprinted after me to the southern gates.
The fox-man stationed on the southern watchtower was pointing to the north-east, indicating the exact same angle as Lara had been.
I rushed to the steps and climbed them two at a time, finally pushing onto the platform and looking out to the north-east.
‘What the…?’
Now I realized why he had been the one giving the signal; he had the best view of all from this angle.
I surveyed the skies.
The initial line of smoke that I had seen from the steps of my treehouse was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
The smoke pushed further back, much further than I had previously thought.
Even from this distance, it took up its own puzzling chunk of the sky.
Already my people were flocking in our direction, congregating in small groups and pointing up at the sky where the smoke began.
Elera and Ariadne quickly joined me, hurrying up the steps in their wrappings and joining me at my side.
‘By the gods…’ Ariadne muttered. ‘What is that?’
‘I have no idea,’ I replied. ‘But it doesn’t look good.’
***
‘It’s huge! It must be at least a large section of land that’s gone up in flames!’
‘Anything else?’ I called up into the reaches of the tree.
‘The wind seems to be moving it further north, which is good for us… I suppose.’
Talia quickly descended from the tips of the tree at the center of our land. She reached the lowest branch, dropped to it by her hands, then landed deftly on the damp grass before my totems.
We both headed to the Map Room, where key members of my tribe were waiting; Alorion, my wives, Tormus and Eri, one of my warriors, Cass, and her brother Aden.
I placed my hand on the slab and activated the map. Its holographic blue images sprang to life, spreading a grid out that was scattered with three-di
mensional images of the surrounding lands that we had already trekked and discovered.
Directly to the north was the trading post; beyond that the road that led to The Market where I had freed the satyrs from slavery and first met the warriors before breaking them from their cages shortly after.
To the north-west was an old bandit’s camp that I had attacked shortly after arriving in Agraria, and beyond it the Rourke Homestead where we raised the tribe’s livestock; further west resided the mining town of Grayholde, and north of there the land of the vanquished tribe that had been led by the evil Werger.
South-west was the tribe of the sun-elves of Morelia, whose master Mariana was a strong ally to myself, and whom I had rescued alongside Santana from the wood-elves that lived further to the southwest.
In the south was Ichabod’s Cove, a common stopping point for ships and traders, and beyond it the Black Patch.
But further east? That part of Agraria was foreign and unknown to me.
To the north-east, where the smoke was rising, I knew of a waterfall where I had first taken Elera on a dangerous midnight journey to get her fresh water. Its current led to an underground river where a power well resided, and further along it led to the caves just off to the south-east border of my land where I sometimes went to relax with my wives.
But that was all.
Anything could have been out there.
‘Has anybody ever travelled east?’ I asked my tribe members. ‘Our map only updates your voyages from after you became tribe members, not before that point. I’m clutching at straws here.’
‘Clutching at what?’ Talia asked.
‘Straws – I’m clueless, basically.’
As a leader you were never meant to admit when you didn’t know what you were doing, but right now I needed the help of my people.
‘Uncharted forest,’ Tormus said. ‘At least that’s what I’ve heard. I’ve never been out that way myself. A lot of exotic things, creatures and fruits and mysterious places.’