Building A House 1/2

Pandora struggled to pull her feet under her but with the aid of the reluctant Wart, she got to her feet, albeit slowly and limped to the window facing the lake.

She watched with gleeful eyes as Artemis continued to cut down tree after tree, leaving a trail of fallen trees that would be screaming in terror if they could speak.

Wart could only make sure that she did not push herself too much. His magic needed more time to take hold of her wounds and with her fatigue, it would take possibly one more day for her to feel normal again. 

Artemis, noticing that the two were watching him work, paid them no attention and continued with his slicing and dicing.

After clearing the first layer of trees around the lake, Artemis then began gathering each log and putting them into a pile not far from the hut. Wart and Pandora watched with intrigue, curious as to what Artemis was going to do.

Artemis, having seen that the shack was too small of a house for three of them, decided that he'd take it upon himself to build a bigger hut. A proper house. 

Combining his knowledge of constructions with the limited resources in and around the lake, he went to work. First, he needed to find a cohesive to stick the logs together. 

For that, he needed to make cement. The shallow parts of the lake had some deposits of limestone and so, he jumped into action.

First, he needed to gather enough limestone and clay. Surely enough, there were some deposits of clay by the side of the lake. 

To make cement from limestone and clay, he needed to first find a way of heating up the limestone together which would make it a good source of calcium.

To heat up the limestone together, he needed to make a device similar to a rotary kiln. 

But that was impossible. A rotary kiln itself is an industrial grade machine and so, needed to find another way to heat up the limestone.

An idea then came to his mind.

He would just make a small furnace to heat up the limestone.

And so he did. 

He dove into the river to collect the limestone he needed by punching and clawing it out of the lake's floor. 

He then came out of the lake 10 minutes later with a pack of limestone strapped to a bag made of various underwater flora which he happily took but made sure to not harm the ecosystem therein.

Wart and Pandora were in awe with the amount of hardwork and skill Artemis was displaying. 

Wart knew that making cement required large amount of magic, specifically to heat it up. Knowing this, he was actually curious on how a magicless warrior such as 'Erik' would make cement without it. 

Artemis then began digging a hole and reinforcing it with mud he mixed with sand. After this, he formed a sort of underground furnace with enough room for the limestone.

He took the bag of limestone and began breaking the limestone into small pieces, that way, they would breakdown once the heating process started. 

"He is grinding down the stones, what is he doing?" Pandora asked.

"Ah?.. eh oh, ugh, I think he is going to make cement, my dear," Wart answered.

"Huh..," Pandora tilted her head, exposing her clear right eye to Wart. Wart, seeing Pandora, realized that she was a fair beauty and complimented her in his head.

But of course, he won't make a move on her. Since, its either he looks older and she looks young, making him look like a pedophile, or shes way older. Or logically speaking, he has a wife to wait in the distant land.

Artemis began to put the limestone inside the furnace he had made but not before shoving down some wood underneath the furnace itself by digging another hold and forming a sort of floor.

He then pointed his palm against the wood and activated his thrusters. This time, it was to burn the wood.

"Alright, just a little bit," Artemis said as a fiery flame exploded out. 

The explosion alarmed Wart and Pandora but before Wart could run to help, the smoke had cleared and Artemis came out of the hole unscathed, albeit a bit darkish due to the ash that covered him.

The furnace was now heating up with the wooden being a constant supply of heat. 

Artemis sensed that the temperature inside the furnace itself was already beginning to rise above 200 degrees. He needed a temperature of at least 900 degrees celcius and he needed that temperature to be constant for 4 hours to bake the limestone, turning it into baked lime.

Thinking that he had enough limestone being baked, he proceeded to begin laying down the foundations for the new house.

The new house was located at a clearing he made that was far enough from the lake for it not to be in danger of being engulfed by either a high tide or if the lake ever overflowed after continuous rains. 

Artemis then looked through the pile of logs for the longest and biggest looking logs he could find.

"What the hell?" 

"Oh my," 

Wart and Pandora watched in awe as Artemis carried not one, but two logs on both his shoulders. The logs huge, over 100-150 meters in height, his display of strength made Wart rethink how he was going to use 'Erik' from now on.

Pandora, could watch her hero all day, everyday. 

As Artemis disappeared into the clearing he had made. Wart decided to go do some work himself and fish on the lake.

"Young lady, please don't push yourself. Just stay inside the house for awhile longer. Alright?" Wart pleaded.

"Yes, sir," Pandora said.

Wart then went to his room and got a long stick with a thread on the tip. The thread had two worms stuck in a hook at the end of it.

He walked out the hut and towards the spot where he knew the the most fishes would be and started fishing.

As Pandora's eyes wandered all around the view she had of the lake and her two saviors, she began to wonder.

She left someone behind when she fled from the Northern Fortress City. She could only hope that she was still alive after being captured for aiding her escape.

"I'm sorry," She broke down in tears.