Cutting Wood

*Snap thunk!*

The axe slammed into the wood, split the log, and then embedded itself in the stump the log rested on. The split wood flew off to the sides of the stump and landed in two piles. Ralf stood nearby watching Declan skillfully work the axe.

"We're almost done splitting the wood we need." Declan grinned at Ralf as he positioned another log on the stump. "It's about time too! We should have had this done a month ago, but then father hurt his back for a week, the first snows came, and we fell behind. Where are you from, Ralf?"

"Me?" Ralf sorted through Richard's and Alf's memories, "A city a bit south of here. We don't get nearly as much snow, and it isn't quite as cold. We do get some though."

"Ah. Yeah. As much as I like the snow, I wish we could move somewhere a little warmer. But this is where we live, and where we've built our home, you know?" Declan gave an ambivalent expression.

Ralf closed his eyes in thought. Richard knew exactly what that felt like, "I once read something by a man who said, 'A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.' [Author Note: George Augustus Moore, The Brook Kerith] It seems to me that we can choose the location of a house, but a home... that is something entirely different.

"A home conjures feelings and emotions that a mere place with furniture, no matter how ornate, can never emulate. It's a place of family, of friends, of fellowship. It's a place of belonging and of certitude. A home is a place in our hearts, bound to a location or people, and expressed in our longings and desires. It is comfort in the cold, and it is shelter in the rain. It's a measure of a man to reflect upon his life and realize that he has partaken in many homes throughout his life, and- through his striving- left them better than when he had arrived. There is no substitute for a home, and a home is itself the solution for many ails."

In Ralf's mind, he was again picturing his roaring hearth and library. He wandered down the hall to the nearby dining hall in his mind. Each painting on the wall was a family member from bygone eras. He opened the door to the dining hall and observed the room. A table spread out before him filled with food. Candles were lit in ornate silver candelabras. Another fireplace crackled at the end of the hall.

Echoes of laughter from Christmases past played in his mind. Families with children ran through the room, laughing as they stole candies from various bowls placed throughout the house. Christmas music played from an old gramophone in the corner. It was Richard's favorite record. Bing Crosby singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" in his 1943 recording. Richard had just picked it up the year before for his Christmas celebration. The blasted war bred many contemptable things, but it also created a deep longing for home. The American had captured it well.

Sadly, Richard had never had the pleasure of a family. After he retired from the military in 1940, he'd made an effort to invite others into his life and home. Each year on Christmas, he'd open his home to all his neighbors and cater a feast. Gifts, food, and wine abounded. It was a tradition that brought the neighborhood together. He winced when he realized he may never see that home again. He hoped that his neighbors carried on the tradition.

He opened his eyes. He realized that there were tears beginning to well in them. He hurriedly pushed down the wave of emotions. Declan was given him a rather strange look, "What was that? What you said makes sense, but suddenly I felt I was talking with a philosophical old man! Haha!"

Ralf laughed and threw a snowball at him. The rest of the woodcutting would have to wait as their chores rapidly devolved into play.

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"Dear, have you packed all the presents for the kids? Candlelight only comes once per year after all!" Alma spoke to her husband across the wagon, drawing Fredrik's attention away from the party of hunters behind the wagon.

He smiled at her, she was more lovely each day. The lines on her face that came from the difficult life they lived in the wild, and the grey strands of hair that were seasoned in with the blond, those did nothing to decrease her beauty to him. The blond hair reminded him of their youngest, Milly. Her nose reminded him of Addy. Declan had inherited her eyes. They were a piercing bright blue, without a hint of grey. He remembered the first time he had seen those eyes. His smile grew even brighter.

"What are you thinking about, dear?" Alma flushed slightly at his intoxicated looked.

Fredrik coughed awkwardly, "Nothing, my love! Yes, the packages are loaded. These gentlemen are saying their ready to go! We should be at our house by sundown!"

Alma nodded her approval climb onto the wagon seat, "Alright! Then we're all set!" She couldn't wait to see her babies, though they weren't really babies any more.

Fredrik spoke a few more words to the hunters next to him, and then climbed on the wagon as well. "Alright! Let's be off! The hunters will ride ahead to watch for signs of the monster, just in case."

With a crack of the whip, they pulled onto the road and left the town.

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Anger and rage. Those were the two largest emotions going through the mind of the monstrous boar. He dug through the soil in search of roots. He was hungry. Always so hungry.

He didn't understand why. He remembered eating that shiny plant a month ago, and then everything went foggy. When he woke up again, his sounder was dead. He couldn't remember what happened to them. He had assumed it must have been those human hunters again. He didn't know when they had started eating boar raw. He had licked blood off his jaw and tusks. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

He snorted in anger as he used his tusks to dig up a mushroom buried in the snow. Humans were bad. They killed his family. He lifted his head and sniffed the air. Nothing.

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Declan and the other children were eating lunch. Ralf had already finished. They were busy chatting and not paying attention to him.

"Hey, I'll be right back. I'm just going to step outside for a bit," Ralf said.

Declan took another bite and said around a mouthful of stew and bread, "Alright. Don't go too far, and make sure you bring that bow with?"

Ralf nodded, "Of course!"

Even if Declan hadn't reminded him, there was no way he was going to leave the bow here. After all, he didn't intend to return. Alf's memories called to him. He had a monster to kill. He was worried with it out there. For the first time since he had left the city, he had another reason to kill the boar. Monsters didn't stop growing. If the thing didn't die, it would grow into a man killer. Then it would grow into a building killer. Finally, it would grow into a city killer. That last one would take a while, but from what Ralf had seen, the boar wasn't that far away from upgrading to a building killer. Ralf wouldn't let that happen or an untold number of people would die before it could be brought down. Likely, that could even include these kids. That wasn't a thought he could tolerate.

Ralf dressed into his warmest gear, gathered up the bow, and strode out the door. The sky about was a bright blue and birds chirped in the air.

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*Ding!*

Quest: Kill the Monstrous Boar

Objectives:

- Step 1: Find the tracks of the monstrous boar.

- Step 2: Unavailable until step 1 is completed.

Reward:

20 Experience Points; 100 Commoner Faction Points

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Ralf felt like he was forgetting something again and thought for a moment... oh yeah! The status points! As he walked towards the place he had woken up, he pulled up the status screen. 'Status!'

Name: Alf Strouski

Age: 14

Level: 2 (0/15 Experience)

Available status points: 3

Status:

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Vitality: 10

Spirit: 10

Intelligence: 10

Health: 10/10

Skills:

Elementary Compression (Active), Level 1

Elementary Decompression (Active), Level 1

Potential: Baby steps! You're finally taking a step forward.

Current Contribution:

-None

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'Hmm, now where should I put those?' Ralf examined his stats. 'I suppose I could always use more intelligence, and strength or dexterity would definitely help in hunting... in this case, I suppose that a point of intelligence wouldn't hurt, and then two of strength?'

He added a point to intelligence, to his surprise a new category appeared on the status screen.

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Skill Energy: 50/100 (Recharging 10 per hour)

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'System, what is skill energy?'

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*Ding!*

Skill energy is the require currency to activate skills, magic, or special abilities.

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'Huh. Alright. What do my skills currently cost?' Ralf checked their descriptions. Each skill cost 1 skill energy at this point.

'Speaking of which, I haven't tried those either.' He held up his hand and thought about activating elementary compression. To his surprise, a small blue whirling ball appeared in his hand. It grew smaller and smaller. As it grew smaller, it also changed into a deeper blue color. 'System, what is this?'

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*Ding!*

This is a small globe of super compressed air.

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'Compressed air?' Richard's memories tingled inside his head and Ralf's eyes opened wide. 'Compressed air!'

He drew an arrow and aimed it at a nearby tree. He willed the blue ball to move over the shaft of the arrow, he drew the bow. As he fired he activated his other skill, decompression.

*BAM!*

The arrow launched forward so fast that it couldn't be tracked with his naked eye. It slammed into the tree and... vanished? He walked towards the tree. What had happened? As he neared the tree, his eyes grew wide. There was a two inch hole completely through the trunk. He could see light on the other side of the hole. With a slight sound, the arrow reappeared in his quiver. He leaned down and peered into the hole. To his surprise, there was another hole in a nearby tree, and another, and another. He ran down the line of trees, how far did the arrow go?! After twenty trees, he finally ended up by a large rock. The three foot thick rock was cracked in two, but no trees had been pierced after the rock. Either the arrow was diverted, or it had stopped here.

A gust of wind blew, and Ralf heard a cracking sound behind him. He turned around. To his amazement all twenty of the pierced trees, creaked, lurched, and then with a crash they fell into the snow.