Elijah slammed his fist into the concrete foundation. The impact hit with massive force, sending deep cracks to spread across the area. Then, Elijah scooped the pieces up, throwing them into a plastic, fifty-five-gallon drum he’d found in the displaced railyard. It was that discovery that had given him the idea that he’d begun to implement. Whether or not it would work was still a mystery.

Because for all Elijah’s knowledge, he only knew the basics of making homemade concrete. And what he did know relied on the ability to run down to the local hardware store and buy the materials. For obvious reasons, that was no longer possible, so Elijah had been forced to improvise.

Typically, making concrete required three parts sand, two parts aggregate, and one part cement. The first part was easy enough to gather from a nearby train car that had been filled with sand. The second part was just rocks, of which there were plenty. But the final part was much more difficult, considering that cement was made via a complex process that required heating a mixture of limestone and clay, letting it cool, grinding the result down to a powder, and adding extra materials he didn’t have, Elijah was forced to improvise.

He was aware that, before Earth had experienced the touch of the World Tree, the process he had in mind would almost assuredly fail. Yet, he was banking on the presence of ethera to bridge the gap. If it failed, he would be forced to go to Plan B, which would require him to somehow retrieve the natural treasure at the bottom of the pond, then relocate to somewhere else.

Elijah wasn’t even sure he could do that first part, much less get the family of deer to follow him across the wilderness. So, he was pretty well invested in making the first plan work.

With that in mind, he continued the first part of his process – gathering concrete. He’d already filled twelve barrels, and he still had eight more to go before he would be satisfied. So, over the next day, he engaged in the arduous process of breaking apart the foundation of the railyard’s lone building.

All the while, the deer remained nearby. The doe still hadn’t completely recovered, so she wouldn’t stray far from Elijah’s Healing Rain. Which was fine by him, considering he didn’t know how long it would take for the Valosta hunters to marshal their courage and return to the pond. If they did and found the deer, they would inevitably attack.

And in that event, people were going to die, either by his hand or at the end of those light beams the stag could utilize.

Elijah wanted to avoid that, so he channeled that attitude into his work.

Fortunately, with his guardian form’s enormous Strength, Elijah could accomplish quite a bit of destruction, and in a short amount of time. So, by the end of that first day, he’d managed to fill his barrels. However, he didn’t stop there. Instead, he spent that entire night pummeling the shards into powder.

It was a tedious process, largely because he wanted to avoid bursting his drums. But as was the case anytime Elijah had an established process with a verifiable endpoint before him, it was oddly therapeutic. He sank into the task, and by the time the sun rose, he’d managed to reduce the gathered concrete shards into twenty barrels of fine powder.

Only then did he allow himself to rest.

Of course, the moment he retrieved a couple of his berries from his pack, the deer came sniffing around. Sighing, he tossed one to each, saying, “You only get one apiece.”

The two adults caught the thrown berries, but the pair of fauns missed. Elijah let out a chuckle as they scrambled to recover the fallen morsels.

After that, the animals warmed up to him, and by no small degree.

Once he’d rested for a while – he didn’t dare let himself sleep, for fear that everything would go wrong while he was unconscious – Elijah began to gather the other ingredients. Fortunately, he had plenty of drums – he’d counted almost a hundred of them in one corner of the building – so he had no issues gathering the sand for the first ten batches. Then, he collected two empty barrels and headed back to the pond, where he retrieved some water before turning to the railyard.

As far as he could tell, he had enough materials for five batches, and once confirming the process in his mind, he started forward.

Only to stop a moment later.

He was no expert builder, but he did know that rebar was typically used to give support to concrete. Fortunately, there was plenty of that within the foundation. So, he began the arduous task of gathering enough for his purposes, which was much more difficult than it probably should have been. Not for the first time, he wished he had modern tools, because repeatedly bending rebar back and forth until it weakened enough to snap was the epitome of tedium.

Once Elijah had managed to gather enough, he took a few minutes to rest. Predictably, the deer saw that as an opportunity to get more berries, and Elijah didn’t have the heart to refuse.

Despite his fatigue, he couldn’t help but grin a little as he saw the fauns prancing about excitedly afterwards. But that only lasted as long as it took him to remember that he was on a timer. Eventually, the people of Valosta would come. He was certain of it. And while Elijah didn’t blame them for trying to take whatever advantages they could, he certainly wasn’t going to make it easy for them.

So, he got back to work.

Mixing the concrete was even more tedious that gathering the rebar, but he persisted until he’d created a gray slop consisting of the now-powdered pieces of the foundation, some rocks he’d gathered, quite a lot of sand, and just enough water to mix it all together.

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Even so, the first batch was ruined when he added too much water. The second was better. But the third was when he managed to dial it in. So, after shoving pieces of rebar into the barrel where he’d mixed everything together, he left it to cure. Meanwhile, he started in on the other batches.

For his plans, he needed three barrels for each pillar. And it would take eighteen pillars – as well as a different, larger piece for the capstone – to complete his design.

So, Elijah got to work.

As he did, he made certain to flare Nature’s Bounty. He wasn’t certain if it would have any effect on the inorganic matter, but he wasn’t going to take the chance that things wouldn’t work by varying his methods.

As it turned out, the drums made perfect molds, so after four days, Elijah managed to complete the sixty-fourth pillar piece. After that, he began the demanding process of moving them from his workspace in the railyard to the pond.

That harkened back to his days carrying multi-ton rocks from the mountains to the site of his Dragon Circle, though instead of carrying only one at a time, he now carried two. Still, it took some time to get everything from one spot to another. Once that was accomplished, he arranged the base layer around the pond. Fortunately, the small body of water was perfectly circular, so it was easy enough to position the cylinders of concrete appropriately.

As always, he continuously flared Nature’s Bounty when possible throughout the whole process. Fortunately, it was usable in all forms. Otherwise, he would’ve had to complete his tasks in his human form, which, while strong enough to accomplish his goals, lacked the long arms that made everything easier.

Once everything was arranged into nine groupings of two cylinders, he began the second layer, placing one piece atop another. Of course, he was forced to carve tenons and mortice holes, but fortunately, Elijah had plenty of experience with that. Still, he made certain to take his time so he wouldn’t run the risk of cracking the pillars.

He didn’t think it was necessary, though.

Despite cutting a couple of corners while mixing the concrete, it had turned out to be far more solid than he could have expected. It might’ve been Nature’s Bounty that had given it the extra strength, but he suspected that it was the addition of the ethera-infused pond water. Whatever the case, aside from being a bit time-consuming, carving the tenons and mortice holes wasn’t difficult, and he completed that part of the project in good time.

Finally, he repeated the process with the third layer.

In the end, it took another entire week before he finished the collection of twin pillars. Throughout the process, he’d been forced to take a few breathers. When he did, he retreated to the railyard. But he still kept breaks to a minimum.

He knew he couldn’t keep going like that, though. So, once he’d finished the pillars, he retreated deep into the woods before settling in to sleep.

It was not a peaceful rest, mostly because he expected disaster to strike at any moment. However, when he awoke the next morning, he found that nothing had changed during the night. Of course, that was probably because of the powerful guardians – both the stag and the doe were at least as strong as the bear had been.

Whatever the case, he enjoyed a cup of tea, then a couple of berries before heading back to the railyard. Once there, he took a few hours to construct the first mold for his capstones. It had been constructed from a pair of drums which had been cut in half. Then, he’d laid three halves, end to end, like a trough.

It wasn’t perfect.

He’d used some clay harvested from near the pond to bind everything together, but Elijah was certain that some of it would inevitably leak. Yet, it was the best Elijah could do.

So, he mixed some more concrete, then carefully poured it into his makeshift mold. It worked, more or less, though when it dried, Elijah was forced to chip away some excess bits where it had leaked through. Still, it was good enough, so he quickly proceeded to make the other nine.

That took two more days.

When he’d finished, Elijah carried the capstones to the pillars where he took another day to carve the appropriate mortice holes and tenons before piecing everything together.

After that, Elijah stepped back to admire his handiwork.

“Impressive,” came a familiar voice.

Elijah whipped around, Storm’s Fury ready. However, when he saw who’d come to visit, he relaxed. A little.

He and Ray had had a friendly conversation, but that didn’t mean they were friends. And Elijah expected that the man in the white cowboy hat was probably the most powerful person in the entirety of Valosta.

“Thanks,” Elijah said. “It took a lot of work.”

“I know. Been watchin’,” the man said. “From a distance. Didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Why are you here?” Elijah asked.

“Curiosity, mostly. But I gotta admit, seeing those monsters right behind you and feelin’ whatever that is in the pond has got me a bit antsy,” Ray stated. “What do you intend to do with it?”

“They’re not monsters.”

“Eh?”

“The deer. They’re guardians.”

“That s’posed to mean somethin’ to me?” Ray asked.

Elijah shrugged. “Guardians are supposed to be here. Monsters aren’t,” he said. “But that’s just a working theory. I plan on investigating it next time I visit a Branch. Or I’ll ask my tree spirit.”

“Tree spirit?”

“His name’s Nerthus. Good guy. Getting a little uppity lately, though. Especially when I mess with his garden. Which is technically mine, but it’s also his home. So,” Elijah babbled, holding his hands up as if he were weighing two options. “My point is that these are good guys.” He glanced back at the family of deer. “Plus, look at those fauns. You ever see anything that cute?”

Of course, with the stag standing over his progeny, cute probably wasn’t how anyone would describe the scene. After all, the deer was the size of a moose, with crystalline antlers that could shoot weaponized moonlight. So, Elijah supposed that the word intimidating would be a better descriptor.

“Didn’t answer my question.”

“Relocation,” Elijah said.

“And this circle?”

“The means by which I will relocate them.”

“How does that work?”

“None of your business,” Elijah said. “Look – this conversation is a courtesy. I don’t want this to get ugly, so I’m trying my best to keep it from going in that direction. But make no mistake – I’m not asking permission. If it comes down to you or these four,” he said, gesturing to the family of deer. “I’ll choose them every single time. So, don’t push it.”

“That sounds a little like a threat.”

Elijah shrugged. “Just the way it is,” he stated tiredly. “Was a time I’d have just killed everyone involved and got on with my life. But I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. Be a better person, you know? I’m holding onto that, but if people start pushing, I’m going to let my instincts take over. You probably wouldn’t like that.”

“You sound pretty confident,” Ray remarked.

“Just experienced.”

The man stared at Elijah for a long moment, then sighed. “Goddamn. You don’t flinch, do you?”

“Not where anybody can see.”

“Fine. I’ll keep them away,” Ray said. “At least for another week. After that, you’re on your own.”

Elijah nodded. “For your town’s sake, let’s hope that’s all I need.”

Ray just shook his head. Then, he unshouldered a satchel and dropped it to the ground. Elijah heard the clink of bottles. “Your payment.”

Elijah almost refused. But then, he remembered that he’d actually done the job he’d been asked to do. So, it was only fair that he be paid.

“Thanks.”

After that, Ray turned and left. Once he was gone, Elijah went back to work.