For those that haven't seen it yet, I made a second "Novel" called Story canvas, that's where I will post my little story ideas.
Go check it out if you have some free time, I've already added the magic nuke story along with another special "treat" :3
"What about the cauldron ?" Matt asked
She nodded and selected [Administrate cauldron 4198].
[ [Cameras] [Build / Repair] [Production (Unavailable) ] [Order machines (Unavailable) ] "I am only given the Camera and repair functions, the others are locked" "Hmm, alright that would make sense. The cauldron is probably too damaged to use the other functions, just initiate repairs and we will let everything get fixed while we are away." "Alright." She pressed on the icon and looked out the windows to see a few scrappers starting to salvage their fallen comrades while a bunch of small robotic bugs crawled around and repaired damaged structures with the scrapped metal the scrappers salvaged. "We can always come back here later. For now, let's go home." Matt said as he took Astrid's hand and led her to the checkpoint. "Are you ready?" She rested her forehead against his. "Always." And both vanished, leaving the cauldron silent, once again. … Two silhouettes walked towards a fortified town in the middle of the night. The city was surrounded by hectares of empty fields that were usually filled with diverse fruits and vegetables, now mostly barren from the cold. They were naturally spotted by the guards on duty that didn't have much to do except when a stray animal headed over to their town. As the silhouettes came closer, both clansmen were surprised to see the boy and girl everyone thought were dead. With trepidation, one of the guards in the watchtower blasted in a horn only to be smacked on the head by his superior. "Horn is only for emergencies." As the wooden gates opened up, a few curious inhabitants that had been woken up by the horn left their home to check on what was happening. They didn't know what they expected but they were certainly surprised to see two thinner than average teenagers (for Valhallans) entering through the northern doors, the opposite direction from where they left from. They were covered with small wounds and ripped clothes, an indication of the fierce battles they must have gone through. They walked through the streets of the city, smiling. No one stopped them, no one dared. Matt and Astrid didn't have the energy to celebrate their victory with the rest of the clan, for now all they wanted was to lay in their goatskin bed and get some more rest. The next morning, all the clansmen heard about their return. The elders had previously told everyone about the devil and how two young adults bravely went to free the clan. It was a very effective political move made by the great elder to ensure whatever Matt wanted to do with the council after his return wouldn't have too much backlash. This strategy was very risky however, if the two didn't return with a victory it wouldn't work at all and that's exactly what happened. Day after day no news came from the outside fortress and the people started to lose hope. But now, after almost two weeks, the two heroes came back after having defeated the devil. Their friends were the most shocked by the news with a mix of pride, jealousy, happiness, relief… They had finished their coming of age ceremony almost perfectly and wanted to throw a party, only for the great elder to tell them Matt and Astrid would be gone for a while. So they prayed, prayed for them to come home safely and prayed for them to come home victorious. The two lovebirds laid in their bed, doing nothing but sleep together and recover from their adventure. They had no idea of the turmoil their return had caused and the crowd whispering outside of their small home. Matt was dreaming of making Valhalla great again! Or just make it greater than ever. While Astrid was dreaming of… well… it's better you don't know the details. At some point in the afternoon, both woke up and readied themselves before leaving their home. It didn't take long for them to meet their backer as they just had to open the front door to see the great elder waiting for them, surrounded by a mass of clanspeople that stared at them. "Morning you two… or rather good afternoon. Would you have any time to, you know, take charge over the clan?" He was oozing sarcasm with a heartwarming smile that every loving grandfather has, but Matt could feel something wasn't right, he was tired, tired of handling everything… maybe even tired of living. "Don't worry old man, you can happily take your retirement while I take care of things here." "Mhhh finally… I can have some rest. If you need me, I'll be visiting my wife's grave in the northern forest." With slow but determined steps, the man walked away and out of the village he had painstakingly raised over the years. He reminisced about how it was when he was young, alongside his one and only love of his life as they ran through the muddy roads of the village, playing with small straw dolls and training against scrap dummies. Looking up to the hero that discovered the outside world and freed them from a dark age. A small ignorant hill village that had transformed into a lively town driven by knowledge. He was proud, proud of what he experienced, proud of what he accomplished, proud… of his people. Sadly, this would be the last time he would walk amongst them, his final shared breath with his brethren, but no one knew this except he himself. For he finally achieved his dream, and was given a chance to take his final rest by his early love's side. Matt didn't know why but his sight lingered on the old man's back. "Matt. We should get going." "Yeah… we should." Both walked up towards the council, observed by the curious and thankful bystanders: As soon as they came in through the big stone doors that led inside the council, they saw all the elders kneel or bow down respectfully. There was one new elder amongst them who didn't kneel that Matt knew very well. "Oslo? You became an elder?" "Bah! Didn't want to at first but the old man told me I had done enough. He knows that craftsmanship is my life and he still dared to say that to my face… I'll let him buy me a drink to make up for it. I trust my friend after all. " Matt smiled at this before making his announcement. "As you know, I have been offered the place of clan chief if I manage to liberate us from the devil, and I did. I do not plan to laze around so I will immediately announce a few changes. I will not dissolve the council of elders but I will make some changes, the places for the new council will be determined by specific skills and knowledge for each seat, anyone whether young or old, man or woman can ascend to a seat. The nine seats will be agriculture, hunting, construction, science, artisan, military, intelligence, economy and culture. I will specify what I mean later. The new power system will be quite simple, each chair is in charge of their respective department while interventions requiring multiple departments will take place with all chairs present. I will 'only' take care of creating new laws and directing all of you towards the best direction for our clan… and can order drastic changes without complaints from you. The second change will be a new societal structure that will work together with the first change. So ranks, titles and nobility to make some order. And third will be a change in resource management. I can't have all of our scarce resources wasted, so from now on, everything will be state owned." The elders were quite shocked, they expected to cease being in power as soon as he stepped up but that didn't seem to be the case. The council could now be made up of other people depending on their qualifications in a certain domain instead of being an old Valhallan that had the most points when an elder passed away. They expected him to try and take control of everything, and while he did just that with his new laws, they didn't contribute to him directly controlling Valhalla but instead sought to direct everything through others. Oslo on the hand was heartily laughing by himself. "Great, that means someone can replace me and I can go back to my furnace!" "This won't work in your case Oslo, you are the best artisan we got so I doubt anyone can beat you in this domain." "Fuck... In that case I won't give you the presents I made." "You made presents? How nice of you." "Yeah well you ain't getting them anymore." "We both know that when you make something you put your soul into it. There's no way you'll keep it for yourself." "..." "Fuck, alright… Here, come and take a look kid." He took a flat maple wood box that was hidden behind his sturdy build and presented it to Matt and Astrid. Lifting the lid, Oslo presented the two with a pair of beautifully made crowns that looked like intertwined golden thorns and leaves with such intricate and realistic craftsmanship that the leaves looked like real leaves that were covered in gold. Probably made out of copper since it was easier to handle and then covered in a thin sheet paint of gold. There was no need for jewels or any other decorations as it was already a masterpiece. "I didn't have the size of your little heads so I made them more or less at the right width. There might also be some trouble with the weight or w-" "You did an excellent job Oslo. It's beautiful." Oslo smiled with a proud and thankful grin. "Thank you chief." "If I'm not wrong, this is the first time a chief has a crown. In that case, call me king or highness instead of chief." "... You little brat… You really became cocky since I last saw you, did you think I'd call you that ?" He gave off another wide smile. "… Will you do me the honor of putting them on, your highness?" Matt nodded before taking the smaller crown with both hands and facing Astrid. He kept eye contact with her as he lifted the crown above her head and slowly placed it down on top. She replicated his movements, in an event that would be remembered as the crystal crowning, the dawn of a powerhouse. Both stood there in the moment and only gazed at each other with a joyous smile at becoming the pride of their tribe and future kingdom. Matt changed his happy smile to a business smile before once again facing the elders. "I think there are many other things for us to discuss… let's get started, shall we?" 1819 words