22 - To-do List

By the time we had caught up with Thomas, during which he had gutted and cleaned the lizard monster I had killed, the moon was only light competing with the campfire.

We chose to sleep in the Temple, like before. But I found sleep elusive. The to-do list of moving forward overwhelmed me, if I was being honest with myself. We had our full manpower again, but was that going to be enough? We needed comfortable housing. The Temple served well temporarily, but it wasn't designed to be lived in.

We needed a change of clothes. Thomas and myself less so, because I had more rugged clothing from a world I visited and he wore what he would've worn going into the field, but Juliana and Katie weren't so lucky. And I doubted Silence's clothing would last long while she was moving around so much.

Food and water were both supplied by Silence, while the rest of us were trying to keep up and not be useless.

The builder had said the beginning was a kiln. An oven to cook clay and bricks, as Thomas had explained. The second order of business - after our food stock had been replenished, would be finding clay for it.

Giving up on trying to sleep on the hard floor of the Temple of Swords' entry hall, I stepped out into the clearing. Brilliant stars shone uncontested overhead, except for the moon, which appeared as a half-circle.

My gaze caught the roof of the Temple, about thee stories high at the lowest point. The roof was sloped down from the middle, with square pillars at each corner.

*Is there a way up there from inside?* I asked the Ancient.

*There is not.*

*Then another way? Other than flying?*

*No means has been devised to allow a man onto the roof. It simply was not considered.*

*How did the Temple get built? It's seamless stone that has lasted longer than it should've.*

*The Builder created a cement durable as steel. With his powers, a mortal of the past constructed the Temple as a resting place for the Soulblades who had good intentions for humanity.*

*Couldn't one of us pick up the Builder and just magic up housing?*

*It is impossible to bond with more than one Soulblade. And such a bond only ends in the mortal's death. Additionally, creating the Temple was the last act of the mortal wielding the Builder. It ended their life.*

I took some time to internalize what the Ancient had explained. There was no simple answer. Thankfully, the accomplishment would probably be more satisfying anyway.

Disappointed, I walked a lap around the clearing, trying to work off extra energy. When I arrived at the temple entrance again, I entered, laid back down, and meditated in another attempt to get myself to sleep. At some point, it worked.

The next day, we split up after breakfast. Silence went hunting. Juliana and Thomas stayed back to work wood, rope, and tools. Katie and I went exploring to look for clay after making a proper shovel with spare wood and chiseled shell. We went north, judging our direction by the sun's place in the sky.

In our search, we encountered the river, about half an hour away. Much closer than the part we had crossed to get to the Temple. We followed Silcence's technique of marking the way back on the trees to prevent from getting lost or turned around. We encountered the occasional monster. Some ran away on sight, burrowing like scaly moles or climbing trees like monkeys with feathers. The rest were easily scared off with a small fire from Juliana or by hitting an impact barrier I practiced making.

But by the time the sun reached its highest point, we hadn't found any clay like dirt with the shovel. We returned for lunch.

It was a quick meal, made of cooked mystery meat wrapped in the edible maple leaves. Silence brought in a heap of more dead creatures - all at least the size of a house cat, but some of them the size of humans - and ventured to look for clay.

That was the plan. Silence looks - and would probably find - clay after hunting, while Katie and I also look in a different place - probably futile, but worth the effort.

We went west, opposite of Silence's direction, and encountered the river about fifteen minutes away from camp. I roved up and down the river, digging the shovel into the ground occasionally to test for clay-like hardness.

Hours of monotony passed, and we finally returned to camp for the evening with nothing to show for our efforts.

Two more days repeated like that. Explore, eat, explore, rest. Katie and I searched the riverbed and riverbanks - where the Builder had suggested looking when I asked. We finally found some at the end of the second day - or third day, if you counted the original day we had split up - which brought smiles of victory to our faces.

I dug up a piece that was densely clay about the size of my fist to bring back.

Ww returned a little early, to the surprise of Juliana and Thomas. They were making a cellar of sorts with their own shovels, but paused at our arrival. We needed a place to preserve spare food for winter, as well as emergencies. Another thing on the to-do list.

I sighed at the consideration of all the remaining to-dos, then held up the clump of clay I brought back.

"You found some?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah! It's about half an hour away from camp, but we found clay." I replied.

"We'll have to celebrate," Katie added.

For the next hour, while we waited for Silence to get back, I helped dig at the cellar while Juliana restarted the fire and maintained it. She didn't even have to close her eyes to start a fire now. I had some confidence with the energy barriers now, but my progress was slow in comparison to Juliana. And somehow, it also seemed as though she might be gaining weight. I didn't say anything to her, but I took note.

Silence returned as expected, and we ate a happy dinner that night.