Waking up the next morning with a fuzzy headache, I slowly stood up and walked outside to find the sun had already risen. I covered my eyes with my hand as I listened for the river and followed along it until there was a small waterfall.
'Ah that's nice' I put my head under the waterfall and let the water flow into my mouth. I took a seat under the waterfall until I felt awake enough to go about my day, which took a minute or two, took off my wet shirt and pants, and headed back to town.
When I got there everyone was talking outside the town hall, so I snuck through the back entrance, grabbed a change of clothes, and then exited the front door.
"Good morning, everyone. What'cha talking about?"
"Ah Prestin, I was jus' mentionin' that Troy here," Mr. Smith patted Troy on his shoulder, "is a new man today and that's when Holly and Jack made the announcement."
I looked at him with a bit of confusion and before I could get a word out I was interrupted when he continued, "I think it's best to let them tell ya."
"Yes. You see," Jack pulled Holly close to him, and Holly finished his sentence, "I'm pregnant."
I was surprised as a smile formed on my face, "Congrats you two." 'What else do you say to that?'
"An' so," Mr. Smith interjected, "these events have given me an idea."
I wasn't listening too closely to him. Rather I was looking at Holly's stomach, which she kept rubbing, and I noticed it was a little larger than normal, but not something you'd noticed without trying to.
"I know what to call the town." Mr. Smith said, which got my attention.
'What! I wasn't paying attention.' "What was that? I wasn't paying attention."
A sigh escapes Mr. Smith's lips as Mrs. Smith interjects, "We're gonna call the town 'Newman's Quarry.'"
"Honey!" Mr. Smith pouted, "I wanted to be the one to tell them."
"Well, you took too long to say it."
As Mr. Smith continued to not act his age, Mrs. Smith explained the reasoning, "You see, Troy became a new man yesterday, and soon a new man will be born here. Hence Newman's Quarry."
"Congratulations Troy," Diana said without hesitation, "the town is half-named after you, sorta."
While Troy and Holly were both getting praise for their corresponding reasons, everyone gradually dispersed and went about their day as usual. Gradually, things came back together, and the first big trip into the cave was scheduled. Troy had finished surveying the entryway and the tunnels a good way in, and Mr. Smith was eager to set up his forge proper, currently only having a clay furnace and the tools he brought with him.
"I'm gonna need an anvil." He said to Troy, Bravo, Conner and myself when we were discussing the expedition, "I couldn't bring it with me, so I'm gonna need a new one."
"Well the four of us will be going in once we get a few more things set up." Troy, who was leading the trip, responded, "If you're really that desperate, then you should come with us."
"You know what, I will."
The look on Troy's face said, "Oh shit," but he said, "Great."
"And I can tell you all about metalworking, maybe you could be a master of both masonry and smithing."
"Maybe," Troy didn't want to flat out reject him, but didn't want to accept just yet, "just don't tell Diana, or she may give you an earful."
"Ah, sure."
We went to gather what was needed for the trip, but I followed Troy to talk to him before I went to go get wood for torches and fibers for rope.
"Hey Troy,"
"Hey Prestin, what's up?" He asked, "Any problems?"
"Oh no, no problems," I paused, "but, are you sure about Mr. Smith coming. I know you were just saying that to try and get him to stay quiet."
"Yeah, I'm sure." He looked down as we walked, "He'll know more about the metals we need than anyone. Maybe I'll actually take him up on his offer."
"That's true," I chuckled, "even though he can seem eccentric and not focused, when he wants to do something, he'll get it done."
"It's his best quality I'd say."
"Same here."
After Troy got to the cave to finish carving places to put torches, I headed off into the forest to "gather" rope fibers and branches.
I arrived in the place I blacked out yesterday in about an hour. I could feel something was off about it, and the lights, and how the amber rock I found started glowing the same color as the whisps of light.
'Ok, here we are. Let's get it out and see what happens.' Taking out the amber rock, I held it out in my hands and waited. I waited until my hands got tired and then I set it on the ground, which is when it started to do something.
All the plants around it started growing rapidly. Grass grew taller, and flowers sprouted from seemingly nothing, as the whisps of light gathered to it, causing it to glow green.
I picked up one of the flowers, feeling it in my hand, smelling its fragrance. 'It's real.' I smiled, 'I knew I wasn't crazy' I thought as I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Alright," I said out loud as I picked the amber off the ground, and noticed the plants nearby immediately stopped growing, "let's see what this can do."
I held it in my hand in every way I could imagine: tightly clenched, resting in my open palm, help in my fingertips; thinking about something, anything, to happen, but nothing happened.
Keeping it in my hand, my mind wandered, searching for ideas as to how to get it to work, and my mind wandered a bit too far, back to the mining trip.
'If this doesn't work, I'll need to be extra quick about gathering things for the mining trip. I still need to find thick sticks for the torches, which shouldn't be too hard, but the rope…that'll be more difficult. I'll need to find some vines, or some strong fibers, maybe from long strips of splintered wood, and twist them around, and then tie off one end… Oh man this is gonna be a process.'
Then I noticed a different sensation in my hand, something long and thin had slowly moved across it, like a snake. 'The hell!?'
As I flinched and dropped what was in my hand, I heard it and the amber fall to the ground, and there I saw it wasn't a snake, but a length of rope, tied off at one end, it looked perfect, exactly what I had envisioned I'd make.
The other end of the rope wasn't tied off, however. Instead, it was connected to the amber.
I stared in shock for a while, before trying to get the orb to produce more rope, and it worked. As I willed it the orb produced more rope and when I was satisfied with the length, the orb tied off the other end.
Sitting the amber back down, I pondered about what is was, and exactly why and how it worked, and what it can do. I tested a few things and was able to have it make branches for torches and produce rope from my other hand, as well as cause flowers to bloom in my hand and on the ground without touching it but wasn't able to make clay or fire.
Because of this I figured out what was needed to make it work and its limitations. I needed to have an exact thing in mind for it to do, and it'll do it, but if I want something too general, it won't work. It also needs the glowing lights to function, as when I was walking back to Newman's Quarry, I tried to make a walking stick, as I left mine in town. But it wouldn't work, and the amber didn't glow, unlike when it was near the lights, as it would draw them in, glow and then do what I wanted.
What it created also seemed to be nature related, since all it made were the fibers for the rope, and shaped them how I wanted, but it couldn't make clay pots, or lit torches.
So, if I wanted to use this in the future, I need to go back to that place so it will work, and I can only use it for nature related creations.
I thought about what it could do in silence on my way back, wondering if this was the limit, or if I had only scratched the surface.
I got back to town a bit late, but Conner was there to greet me at the town hall.
"Ah Prestin," he said as he headed over, "you were gone for a while so Troy asked me to keep a look out for you. Did you find the branches and fibers for the trip."
"Yep, sure did." I showed him the torch handles in my bag and the rolls of rope strapped to its side.
"Wow, no wonder you were gone so long, you made everything we'd need while you were out there. This'll save us some time tomorrow. Thanks man."
"Oh yeah, no problem."
"I'll take them in for you, Madeline and Holly made dinner just a bit ago, you should join everyone."
"Ah thanks." I handed him the bag and started head over to here Maddie and Holly were cooking, when I heard Conner talking to himself.
"It's crazy how he managed this in such a short time, having to find everything would've taken half the time, at least…" is all I caught before I got out of earshot.
'Crap, I forgot this would be a bit suspicious. I didn't have an axe or anything to cut with, I hope he doesn't ask too many questions later. I feel like I should keep this from them for a bit, just until I understand it more. It feels like this isn't something that could happen in the old world.'
With these thoughts on my mind, I sat around the fire pit with Maddie, Holly, Jack, Troy and Bravo and sipped from the rabbit stew Maddie and Holly had made. I knew I should tell them about what's been going on, but I felt this wasn't the right time.
As the night progressed, my worries about the amber subsided as we laughed and joked and stared at the stars long into the night.
When we woke up the next morning, we had more energy than normal as Troy, Bravo, Conner, Mr. Smith, and I gathered out things and set out into the cave for the first mining expedition of Newman's Quarry.