Luka, Franky, and Eve—on their mounts—walked through the village slowly, a dozen stacks of timber following closely behind from the deconstructed barn by Todd’s Bar. The stacks moved as if they were a giant’s feet, “stepping” in short bursts of magic and moving a few meters at a time.

I could move them faster, Luka told himself as a headache started to form, if I controlled less at once. Maybe next time, then.

As they crossed Emberwood, quizzical villagers stepped out on their porches or peered through their windows, watching the… show? Oddity? World Walker? Eve and Frank waved to everyone, even stopping to talk to a few. Luka gladly took a break when this happened.

“—And so, Luka here is building something special for the kids,” Eve explained to an old married couple.

“And he’s cooking meat for anyone,” Franky added.

The couple eyed the World Walker. Luka tried to smile at them, but sweat poured down his face, and he hunched over Leo’s reigns. If he did smile through the magical exhaustion, it looked more vile than not.

“He has a bad headache,” Eve said to his defense. “Moving timber like this may be above his magical abilities.”

“No, no,” Luka quickly said, the words slurred. “I can handle this—feels like I’m lifting the perfect ‘weight’ for myself.”

Franky flexed his massive muscles. “Good analogy, bro. Did you lift on Err-ph?”

Luka glared, as did Eve.

The couple wished the World Walker good luck and left, promising that they’d be by the courthouse later to see the “special thing” for the kids.

The group continued walking, the stacks of timber following.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Eve asked as Luka slumped further into the saddle. “No crime in admitting you need rest.”

Strands crisscrossed Luka’s vision like a quilt, blanketing his vision. The village turned several shades darker as if he was wearing sunglasses made entirely of magic. The strands connected on either side of every piece of timber, thus defining the number of objects he was moving.

I wonder if I can connect the slats into groups, then move each individual group, rather than a few hundred individual slats, Luka asked himself.

“Hellooo?”

Luka glanced up, finding Eve. “What? Oh, yeah, we should stop for a minute.”

She snorted. “No shame in going slow.”

He shook his head. “I think I’m doing this wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Am I straining myself because of the number of items I’m carrying or the ‘weight’ of the items?”

“Weight, I’d assume.”

“That’s what I’d assume, too.” Luka ‘let go’ of the slats of wood, instead taking control of a few hundred fallen leaves. “But I think I may be wrong.”

He tried to lift the leaves. And failed. He let go of half, then retried. The leaves rose to knee height—but he noticed something. The strands of magic in his vision, each one connected to a single leaf, unlike earlier with the rocks used to make the griddle base. Back then, a handful of strands rushed around the yard, collecting the rocks and depositing them into a small pile where a single strand then moved the pile around.

Luka eyed the leaves. They are a single entity—‘fallen leaves.’

A single strand connected to the few hundred, lifting them high with ease. Luka laughed to himself and dropped them. The trio and their mounts watched the leaves fall like snow in the wind.

With the concept in mind, Luka thought, The slats piles are each a single entity. He picked each pile up, holding them level above the ground—no “walking” necessary.

“Okay,” he announced, “I’m ready to go.”

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Eve glared while Franky laughed.

They arrived back at the courthouse without any more issues. Luka, still sitting on Leo, unfurled the folded pieces of paper from his pocket. They had many glyphs sketched into them, but a singular page was fitted entirely with a single blueprint.

Magic’s amazing, Luka told himself. Construction is as easy as design. No vendors to deal with, no harsh labor to organize around, and miss measuring something? A thing of the past.

The base of the carousel was, by far, the easiest section of the ride. It, like all other foundations, was just a flat surface pinned to the ground and level with the dirt.

One by one, Luka pulled together a few slats of wood and random rocks. Both materials melted into each other, devolving into a lumpy form before stretching against an invisible mold. Thick teeth formed on the edges of cylinder and rounded cones, creating dozens of sets of gears, varying in size and toughness. The massive, load bearing gears had a stone center.

If they snap, I’ll rebuild them out of metal. I wonder if Cam and Forgemaster Adam will make a deal with me for more than just those two fence posts? There’s not a lot of metal I can just have around here.

Luka eyed a small pile of nails—the rusted ones that held together the old barn. He’d need more than that if the gears broke.

Eve appeared without Olive, the emu, thrusting a mug of water into Luka’s hands.

“Thanks,” he muttered, taking a sip and wincing at his headache. “Magic fatigue is no joke.”

“You still got that last prismpuff cig?” she asked. Luka nodded. “You may want to smoke it tonight. I get the feeling you’ll need it after today.”

Strands of magic connected the gears together in a test fit. They slotted between one another, from the base to where the carousel’s horses would move up and down. Luka glanced at his notes on rotational glyphs—Eve was right; non-organic glyphs were far easier to draw than organic ones.

Hair-thick glyphs etched perfectly into the main driver gear. The contraption of connected gears all moved, spinning and galloping.

“So far, so good,” Luka said, moving all the gears to the foundation.

From there, he meshed together the spinning platform—which was a simple flat donut shape completely made of wood—then built-up the inner spine. He added designs and patterns, equipping the spinning section with very small light glyphs, each different colors and with timer effects. Colors started flashing, each a dull glaze rather than a powerful, focused light.

“Wow!” Eve said, her eyes wide. Then, a thought occurred. “Did you remember to add the control box glyphs?”

Luka gasped, flipping his papers over to the glyphs in question. Quickly, he added the on/off switch, as well as a plethora of glyphs Eve drew for functionality. A few spikes of wood jutted into the foundation and connected to the driver gear. Acting like a wire, Luka kept adding spikes until they lead a safe distance away from the carousel. From there, he built a small platform with a singular glyph on top.

“Want to do the honors?” Luka asked.

Eve didn’t answer with words, instead, she took a step forward and tapped the glyph. Instantly, the magical power spinning the main driving gear stopped, slowing the ride to a stop.

“Works like a charm,” Eve said, smiling.

“Of course, it does, you designed it,” Luka said, adding another on/off glyph to the main spine of the ride. If someone needed to stop the ride while on it, they could. “Now, let’s just hope the rotational glyphs keep up with the needed torque.”

Eve forced herself not to blush. “They should. Glyphs are magical, remember? They’ll rotate.”

During their conversation, Luka had been constructing the roof of the carousel. It was rounded with an angled top, decorated with wooden details like many of the carousel’s from Earth. The roof fit perfectly.

“Last thing to do is make the wooden mounts people’ll ride on,” Luka said, slipping off of Leo. “And I can think of no mount better than our fluffy little buddy right here.”

Leo tilted his head as if asking, “little?”

Eve gave him a mighty scratch as wooden slats started flying through the air. They melted together, forming a large block about a fifth of the size of Leo. From there, Luka removed sections from it until Leo’s profile was made—all six of them, top, bottom, and all four sides.

“That’s you, bud,” Luka said. “You like it?”

Leo sniffed the finished creation hesitantly, eventually giving it a slobber lick.

Eve and Luka laughed as three more dire-beasts were created. Soon enough, Sebby’s wooden counterpart was finished, as were two copies of Olive, the emu.

“Think the kids will like it?”

Eve turned on him. “Are you kidding me? They’re going to love it.”

The carousel spun, and the wooden seats bobbed up and down, galloping. Lights flickered as well, the only thing missing was a song to with. It wasn’t fast by any means, but it didn’t need to be. It was made for kids, kids who’d never heard of a waterslide. Slow would be fun until it wasn’t, but by then Luka knew he’d have something else to entertain them.

What’s next, Luka wondered. A simple roller coaster? Maybe one of those rising swings? Hell, why stop there? Why don’t I just build an entire amusement park?

What was stopping him? Materials, he supposed, and the place to build it. But that got him thinking.

The village could use the money. Tram said she wanted me to become part of Emberwood for just that. And there’s plenty of land to build on if I get her permission.

Luka packed the idea away.

“Hey, um…” Eve didn’t know how to broach the topic.

“Want to ride it?” he inferred, tapping the off switch. He turned, finding Franky across the yard at the griddle and eating another freshly made burger. “Want to ride!?” he yelled.

“Hell yeah, I do!” Franky screeched, tossing his unfinished food to Sebby—who snatched it from the air.