Restart Again: Volume 3

by Adam Ladner Scott

  With the construction finished and thoroughly inspected after our multiple walkthroughs, we piled back into the wagon and began our trip back to Elise’s house for our final night as her guests. Marin, Hana, and Marten had plans to meet with Elise the following morning to procure the necessary furnishings for their new home, which left Lia and me time to finally start our own project. We sat together in bed comparing notes and making plans well into the evening, until Marin knocked on the door and chastised us for being too loud. Our planning continued in whispers under cover of darkness afterwards, ending only after Lia fell asleep mid-conversation.

  We said our goodbyes soon after dawn and, with a box full of Marten’s best tools, made our way to the stash of building supplies in front of the Corells’ house. We parted ways there as planned; Lia sprinted ahead to our clearing with a splitting axe to begin widening our building space, while I stayed behind to sort through our supplies. The small materials like nails and mortar ingredients were thankfully packed in large crates, which could easily be carried three or four high. Likewise, I could carry a bundle of timbers on each shoulder with a small boost from my Strength enhancement. Our stone slabs were a different story; although it was technically possible for me to lift one on my own, I knew that I could comfortably make three trips in the time it would have taken me to haul the slab through the woods by myself.

  As I began my role as our pack mule, I passed the time by watching Lia through my Detection. A combination of Sharpening and Strength enhancements gave her the ability to chop down the surrounding emberwoods with only a dozen swings, which severely emphasized her lack of experience with the task. I couldn’t help but laugh as her first target fell opposite the direction she had originally intended; while falling trees would have been dangerous for most people, Lia merely stomped her foot in frustration as she dodged to the side. She grabbed it by a notch and, after a quick flare of mana, dragged it slowly out of the forest to its intended spot at the side of the clearing. Her skills increased with each attempt, and by the time I had arrived with our first load of crates, she had eight logs stripped and neatly stacked.

  The work passed by quickly once we settled into a rhythm, and we finished our first set of tasks by noon. Knowing that the next task was hauling stone slabs, we both dragged our heels and took a more scenic route through the forest, casually chatting while we snacked on jerky and dried fruits. When her parents’ new house finally came into view, we both stopped short and looked at each other. “We could just...take a break for the day,” Lia suggested with a hopeful grin.

  “I think we’ve earned this punishment,” I groaned, stretching in anticipation of the work to come. “When’s the last time we did any training?”

  “It was, erm…” she trailed off as she scrunched up her face. “Huh. I guess it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

  I nodded. “To be fair, we’ve been pretty busy for the past few weeks. You know, fleeing the country and whatnot.”

  She laughed. “Well, we don’t have to worry about that anymore. No more Virram Yorrell, no more missions, nothing.”

  “You’re right about that,” I said with a smirk. “Now we have to worry about moving these rocks instead.”

  She threw her head back and let out a loud sigh. “Fine. I guess.” With our momentary break over, we crossed to where the first massive slab of stone waited for us. I heaved one end up and onto my shoulder, then waited as Lia spent a few moments experimenting with how much mana she would need to expend to successfully carry the stone. When she managed to raise the slab up to a comfortable enough position, I let her take the lead and set our pace. It was slow going at first, but as she became more confident in her balance, our speed gradually increased until we were cruising through the trees at an enhanced jog.

  We completed the task just before sundown. Lia’s energy visibly dimmed with each successive delivery; by the time we came to the last stone, I had to balance the entirety of its weight on my back as she merely guided me through the forest on shaking, unsteady legs. When we reached the clearing, she immediately collapsed face-first into the ground, landing spread-eagle in the soft grass. I hefted the final stone down where we had piled the others, then returned to check on her.

  “Just leave me here,” she moaned into the dirt. “I’m not moving until tomorrow.”

  “Don’t you want to sleep in a real bed tonight?” I laughed. “I imagine it would be a lot more comfortable.”

  “Yes, I do,” she answered, “but unfortunately, I’m not moving until tomorrow.”

  I knelt down beside her and scooped her up into my arms. “If that’s the case, I’ll just have to move you myself.” She wrapped her arms around my neck as I stood up and began our final trip through the woods for the day. “You did a good job today, Lia.”

  “Mhmm,” she nodded sleepily into my neck. “You too.”

  Marten had promised us that they would arrive with the furniture before sundown, but we returned to find the house as dark and empty as we had left it. Without a key to the door, I had no choice but to rest my back against it as I sat on the front steps, still holding Lia in my arms as she slept soundly against my chest. I had nearly dozed off myself when a floating lamp in the distance signaled the return of our missing trio, all of whom sat on the front bench of what I assumed was a fully packed wagon from their day of shopping.

  I quietly handed Lia off to Marten, then moved to the wagon to unpack the most crucial furniture: three mattresses, each stuffed with what seemed like separate, cushioned layers of cotton and down feathers. I quickly brought one to each bedroom and retrieved a crate packed with blankets and pillows, then whispered a quick goodnight to the group as I took Lia back from her father. She never stirred during the entire ordeal, and we were sleeping comfortably side by side on our floor-bound mattress a few moments later.

  ---

  Lia bounced on the balls of her feet as she watched me meditate. “Do you really think it’ll work?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but we’re about to find out!” I activated the network of mana beneath my fingertips and was rewarded immediately with a rumble beneath my feet. A huge cloud of dirt kicked up from the clearing in front of us, settling a few seconds later to reveal a large, perfectly rectangular depression in the ground. Tentatively, I reached my fingers down to the disturbed dirt, and was delighted when they sunk into the ground without resistance. “Yes, I think it’ll work,” I laughed.

  She let out a wordless victory cry and clapped her hands. “Alright!” she yelled, running a lap around the edge of the disturbed dirt. “Let’s move on to the next one!” Without waiting for a response, she pushed me excitedly to the edge of the clearing where the freshly cut emberwood trees were stacked.

  “Why the rush, all of a sudden?” I asked, laughing. “We have as much time to do this as we want.”

  “We’ve got to keep the momentum going!” she urged. “If any of these tests fail, we’ll have to do a bunch of replanning, so we should find out as soon as possible.” Her fingers tapped against the closest log insistently. “Also, I’ve really been looking forward to this one.”

  As much as I found her enthusiasm entertaining, I also agreed with her reasoning. The building plans we had drawn up relied on us using our magic in ways that, while straightforward, were entirely untested, and we would have to pivot sharply if any of the proposed applications failed. “Okay,” I nodded, pointing to our stash of tools, “get me the hammer.”

  While she dashed across the clearing, I reached out a hand to the closest log and suffused a thin cross-section with mana. When I was satisfied I had picked the right spot, the Shatter rune inside my ring flashed for the second time that morning, and the log groaned beneath my palm as a five-foot-long section separated from the rest of the wood. This would have been a helpful ability for Lia to learn before chopping down all of these trees. I hid my rueful grin as she returned and handed me a simple craftsman’s hammer. “Thank you,” I said, taking it in one hand and closi
ng my eyes.

  I examined the tool through my Detection, rotating the mental image end over end to observe it from every angle. When I was confident I had every detail mapped, I carefully recreated the hammer’s outline just below the surface of the emberwood log beneath my empty hand. The process created a unique strain inside my head, feeling almost as if I was crossing my eyes to observe an object that sat too close to my face. It also came with a more familiar sensation of vertigo I had come to expect from new uses of Detection, so I clenched my jaw in an attempt to push through and hold my focus.

  “Is it working?” Lia asked insistently, her face hovering just a few inches away from my ear.

  The sudden noise startled me, and I let out an exaggerated sigh. “It would be, if I had a few more seconds of silence to focus,” I answered, cracking open one eye to glare at her. Her hands flew up to her mouth, and she stepped back with a contrite look on her face. “Thank you,” I said more gently. Restarting the process was simpler on my second attempt, and I soon had the outline of the hammer traced in a thin sheet of mana within the log. After a final moment of focus to trace out a few extra tendrils of energy to the surface of the wood, I activated the Shatter rune.

  There was no visible or audible response to the magic, but my Detection told me that the attempt had succeeded. I opened my eyes and ran my fingers along the surface of the log where I had been working, then dug my nails into the bark and pulled. A perfectly square section of wood released without resistance, revealing a hole that held a wooden replica of the hammer in my left hand. “Wow,” I whispered to myself as I pulled the replica from the log, “that actually worked.”

  Lia bounded forward and stared at the two objects over my shoulder. “You did it!” she exclaimed, shaking me excitedly by the arm. “It worked!”

  “It did,” I laughed, still amazed. As I held the two objects side by side, I marveled at just how thoroughly our plan had succeeded; every detail of the original tool, from its worn handle to the initials carved into the metal head, had been perfectly transferred to the wooden replica. The seamless nature of the wooden tool gave it a bizarre look, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of our time in Atsal, a city which seemed to have been carved from a single, impossibly large block of pure white marble.

  “If that worked, and our first test worked, that means we can actually get started today!” she said, running over to our pile of tools and returning a moment later with a large shovel. “I’ll start clearing the first layer of dirt now!”

  “I like your enthusiasm, but don’t overwork yourself. This isn’t a project we can finish in a day, no matter how much magic we know,” I cautioned her. She waved off the advice with a huff and rushed to the loose patch of dirt I had created. My earlier magic had completely separated the packed earth, allowing Lia to shovel it out into a pile with minimal effort. “Let me know when you finish that layer, and I’ll get the next one ready for you.”

  While Lia rushed her way through her task, I read through my notebook and prepared the materials we would need for the day. Many of the timbers and planks of wood needed to be cut and shaped before they could be used, a process that occupied five workers for an entire day during the construction of the Corells’ house. Armed with a measuring stick and a piece of chalk, I marked out every necessary cut, then performed them all simultaneously with perfect, magical precision.

  Between the inhuman efficiency afforded to us by our enhancements and our intricately laid out plans, we managed to finish the foundation of the house by the end of the first day. We both continued to work on our next assigned tasks as the sunlight faded, neither of us wanting to put an end to the momentum we had built. The clearing was entirely dark as we began to lay down the first story’s flooring, but our enhanced senses meant typical working hours were only a suggestion for us. When I finally decided to retire, the moon had risen above the treeline and cast a silver glow over our day’s work.

  Although my hands were scraped and my muscles were sore, I felt nothing but satisfaction as I sat on the newly created floor and looked over what we had built. “Alright, I’m calling it quits for the night,” I said, patting the spot next to me.

  “Not yet!” she insisted, scanning our surroundings. “We could at least get the exterior walls framed, and then—”

  “Lia,” I interrupted, tapping the empty spot beside me more pointedly, “sit with me.” I watched her face fade from conflicted to resigned, and she sat down beside me with a loud thump. “There’s no need to rush. We just did more in one day than a group of fifty men; I think we deserve a rest.”

  “I know,” she sighed, staring at the floor between her feet.

  I put an arm around her shoulders and rested the side of my head on hers. “Something’s on your mind.” She nodded after a short pause but failed to elaborate any further. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No. It’s silly,” she answered, absentmindedly fiddling with her hair.

  “That shouldn’t stop you from talking about it,” I said, giving her a playful nudge. “I think about silly stuff all the time.”

  She laughed and nuzzled her head against mine. After another pause, she sighed again. “Every time I feel like things are going well for us, something bad happens. It happened in Atsal, it happened with Val...and I keep feeling like it’s going to happen again. Life has been so great lately that I keep waiting for something to come along and change things.” She shook her head and kicked at a pebble on the floorboards. “I thought that maybe, if we finished the house as fast as possible, we could beat life to the punch this time.”

  “That’s not silly, Lia. That’s exactly how life has been ever since I showed up.” I stared up at the moon and took a moment to reflect on the path my life had taken since arriving in Kaldan. “But it doesn’t mean life will always be that way. Now that we’re here in Lybesa, things can be different. Virram Yorrell can’t hurt us anymore, and if he tries to…” I trailed off as the corner of my mouth curled into a dark grin, “...he’ll regret it.”

  The clearing fell quiet for a while, and I watched Lia chew on a question out of the corner of my eye. “Lux?” she asked eventually. “Why didn’t you kill him? After we fought the Trinity Guard, back in the throne room...you could’ve done it.”

  “I won’t lie to you, Lia. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to crush his head against the back of that stupid, golden chair.” My hand clenched reflexively at the memory of punching Virram’s perfect nose and the gush of blood that covered his face as it broke beneath my gauntlet. “When a king is murdered, the only people who really suffer are his citizens. A slimy, underhanded king like Virram leaves behind a vacuum that’s always filled by someone just like him. I imagine that Gullen would’ve taken over if I had killed Virram; do you think anything would’ve changed?”

  “No,” she answered with a sullen realization. “Gullen was in on the plot with the Strategist.”

  “Exactly. Gullen and the other councilors only benefit from the king’s death. Virram doesn’t suffer at all, because he’s dead—a fate far too kind, in my opinion,” I added bitterly. “No, it’s always the civilians that suffer. They’d use his death to justify some new goal of theirs: a war, a new draft, heavy taxes, anything they can scheme up. Despite the catharsis his death would have given me, I couldn’t do that to all those innocent people.”

  Lia wrapped her arm around my waist. “It sounds like you’ve seen that before.”

  “Yeah, in Hedaat. I didn’t remember it until...recently. I’d rather not think about it too much.”

  “Well, let’s not think about it, then,” she said, holding me tightly. “Virram will live a long, sad life while we start our happy one right here.”

  “Now that is a punishment I can get behind,” I chuckled, thankful for her distraction. “I think the first step towards starting that life is getting some sleep, though.”

  “I guess you’re right,” she admitted with a resigned sigh. She slid out from under my arm an
d walked over to our pile of supplies, returning a moment later with our well-worn sleeping rolls. We had originally intended to return to her parents’ house to sleep after our work was finished each night, but it was clear now that neither of us wanted to leave until the project was finished. Lia rolled out the mats on our freshly laid floorboards and sprawled out beside me. “You know, despite all the hard work, I had a lot of fun today.”

  “I did, too.” I unfastened my cloak and tossed it to her unprompted, which was rewarded with a soft, satisfied hum a moment later. “Lybesa has been pretty nice so far. I think I could get used to living here.”

  She knocked loudly on the floor beneath us. “You’d better. We’re not moving this thing.”

  I threw my head back and laughed. “Yeah, that’s true.” I took her hand as I lay down beside her and stared up at the stars. The forest around us was silent and still, empty of any human life for miles in every direction. “We’ll beat life to the punch on this one, Lia. I promise.”

  Her fingers tightened around mine. “I know we will.” She rolled away onto her side, pulling my arm along with her like a blanket. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” I echoed softly. After a final pulse of Detection to ensure we were truly alone, I closed my eyes and nestled my face against her braided hair, and we quickly fell asleep.

  ---

  The following days of labor were filled with a series of nonstop successes. Our careful planning paid off in spades; every room of the house was predetermined with an intricate level of detail and multiple variations to accommodate any unforeseen issues, which facilitated a perfectly efficient workflow. Our enhancements allowed us to drive nails in a single blow with complete precision and carry entire wall frames into place by ourselves. Any angled cuts or wooden fittings were crafted with an otherwise impossible accuracy through my new shattering technique, allowing us to chase our most ambitiously outlined designs. Each success emboldened us to work harder than we had before, and we reveled in the challenge.