Game of Destiny, Book I: Willow

by J Seab

  The Oak Cove Doma was the first permanent structure started by the fledgling community in the middle of the last millennium.

  It was old and impressive by the standards of the day.

  The walls were built from white granite blocks discovered some four hundred kilometers to the east by the legendary trekker Rene Bilther on one of her frequent explorations deep into the Chain Mountains. They were already cut and smoothed; they just sat there, only a few meters below the surface of a small mountain lake, begging to be put to use. The Oak Cove founders granted them their wish. The blocks were hauled to the site of the new community and fitted together to form the exterior and supporting walls for the Doma.

  The project spanned decades. Only a few who laid the foundations were alive to watch their grandchildren craft the oak roofing structure atop the three-story central arch. Tall, rectangular windows of clear glass were then mounted in the east and west wings that soared from the central arch. Finally, with both joy and sadness, the community fitted the final element of the project beneath the arch: a stained-glass window depicting Oak Cove’s young community nestled beneath the spreading branches of a giant white oak.