OVER THE COURSE OF THREE MORE DAYS, the burgeoning Order of Shiv, comprised of two teenage boys and a young lady of a huntress, and their off backwoods laborers, made great strides toward their greatest accomplishment yet -- digging up an old war fortification. Of course, just as they were to finish the dig and herald the next stage of their lives, Molly-Holly returned with complaints in tow.

  "Young Master Zan Chaplin?" she asked in the same condescending way as every adult who was ever mean to a child, said.

  He turned and addressed her as an equal. "Ma'am? If there an issue I can help resolve?"

  Affixing to them a firm glare, she replied, "Yeah. Actually... so, from this bunker thing, there are these strange roots. They're all over the place, you see. And since this here wasn't a problem until you and your merry band came to town, would you be so kind as to fix it?"

  A bing. It was Sigma-Prime. She spoke and as she spoke, he rooted Molly's gaze. "Zan," she said. "Tread carefully. Although Molly is right about the Order bearing responsibility to help others, do not let her lay all of the blame for her community's problems with these cables, what she calls, 'roots.' Fact is, there is nothing we can do about the bunker location. It was here long before their community formed. Over and out."

  Rejoinder from Sigma-Prime aside, he knew he had to say something. He looked Molly square in the face and said, "I hear you, Molly-Holly. I will look into this matter. IF there is an easy solution, I will hasten its implementation post-haste! If there is no ready answer, I will join you and the mayor for talks. If there anything else?"

  "Uh, well... no. I guess not. I only wanted you to know there was an issue. So, that being done, I will leave you all be. Pleasant evening, everyone," she spoke before promptly leaving the small encampment.

  "You handled that well!" Jiehong shouted as he walked over to him. "I'm not sure I could have said it better myself. What was she going on about, though? Something to do with trees?"

  He saw Whiskey look over from the other end of the bunker. She surely had her interest raised about the matter, so he pressed his earpiece and spoke into it so everyone on his team could hear. "That was about some cables from the bunker causing a problem in town. Sigma-Prime warned me against taking the blame. Something about... the bunkers being here a long longer than the town. So, I said as much, and she left, looking weirdly disoriented. Did she not expect me to be so curt with her?"

  "Probably," Whiskey said. "People like her thrive on catching people off-guard. You did exactly what you should've done -- be firm. We should investigate this issue, however. If cables from our base is screwing up the local villages, then we have to investigate what's happening."

  Jiehong mouthed his agreement and the day's labor resumed. And so, for the course of a couple more days, they labored away on unearthing the final section of bunker. By then, his mending skills had grown to mending a pickaxe to a usable quality in about an hour. Not bad for only a few days of moderate training!

  Plus, he had the notification to prove it: [Magical Use Level Increased!]

  He brought up his Status View on his HUD. Now, the parenthetical number after 'magical artes,' read "2."

  Cool, it is so cool... I'm actually improving? Wow! I hope I can keep this going as long as possible. How high can that number climb? He wondered.

  He had lots of time to ponder numbers and how they climbed during the final day of labor. With everyone helping out, the labor ended. Was there still much labor to do? Yes. But that was labor was of concern for the Order. It was stuff like fortifying the land. It was not anything which the commoners could assist with as it was outside of their purview. Only Order initiates needed to concern themselves with defensive measure. Not the labors hired to bust up rock and earth.

  "It's done!" Jiehong exclaimed after wringing his bandana free of the sweat which soaked into it over the course of the day's long efforts.

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  He was so tired he didn't respond. Whiskey looked the same. But she said, "I feel ya. My paws are a-hurting! Okay -- guys!" She now announced to the workers. "Let's tidy up and then I will pay you!"

  Helping Jiehong assemble the payment, which consisted of nothing more than counting out sums of unrefined copper lumps, as they counted ore, the workers swept up sediment, filled wheelbarrows with particulate, and heaved the final larger boulders away from the dig site. By the end, the bunker jutted toward the sky totally uncovered. As though it were a mountain top whose glinting tip finally had been freed from its terrible ice-cap prison.

  The work finished, and the sun closer to setting than being in-rise, the men came to them for their last payout. He handed to each man who came to him his payment, plus an extra bonus. He gladly gave the men their due, happy he had managed to come so far with his Order involvement in such a little time. He conversed with himself: "If someone had told me two months ago, how, a couple months from now, I would be unearthing an Order bunker with two teammates and friends, I wouldn't have believed them. Clear as day, though, the day is here. This is so awesome!"

  He watched the final worker leave the site. An instance was all it took. The rumble and cackle of tools ceased. The sounds of the day vanished. Leaving only the yet to be discovered sounds of the bunker ready to be unveiled.

  "I say we keep this party caravan going and get into that bunker," Zan said.

  "I agree! How about we celebrate, first? This is a major accomplishment," Jiehong said. "And I have some Medy-Em on me!"

  Not even Whiskey could resist the call of Medy-Em and said, "Bring it in. As long as it is not going to make us too loopy, I say we give it a go."

  Smiling by way of response, he gave his consent and dropped down to his knees. The workers left behind some handcrafted sitting pillows. Ultra-soft and (he assumed) filled with waterfowl plumage, the pillows made him feel like he was kneeling on clouds. Jie and Whiskey brought over pillows of their own, though due to Jie's weight crushing his pillow to the earth, he turned to sit on a stool not long after.

  Jiehong removed from his satchel a specially colored 'herb sack.' Made from silks soft and smooth to the touch, they kept all of the smelly herb contained. No aroma would escape from pouches like these! Which normally wasn't much of an issue. Although certain members of his community had made it an issue at times when the younger folk partook to smoking the herb at the ends of labor-intensive days.

  Jiehong produced for his teammates several smoking pipes. "This herb strain is called Azure Dream."

  He inserted the flower into his nicely carved smoking pipe -- wondering all the while Jiehong bought such well-made wooden pipes -- and struck a match before carefully lowering the flame into the pipe. From his end, he inhaled, breathed in, and let the herb fill his lungs -- but only briefly -- and exhaled.

  "Whoa," he said aloud. He felt it right away.

  The effects took hold in his mind before his body. Although nothing about the world changed, the way he saw the world changed. Everything looked more significant. As though the leaves on the trees blew in the wind not only for the God of Wind -- whoever that was -- but for he, Zan.

  "Everyone feeling it?" Jiehong asked. "Feeling good?"

  Whiskey giggled. "Yeah. I'm feeling good. One more pull and I will be good."

  Opting for one more pull himself, on the second pull, he found the world shaky. For lack of a better word. He stood up to breath but found he was pulled in one direction or another. Pushing back against the idea that 'spirits' were shaking him, he knew he was merely dizzy. A side-effect of the herb. Still, he remained standing and appreciated the swaying of his body in the cooling evening breeze. He felt the hairs on his body stand on edge, but in the good way.

  "I'm feeling good," he muttered happily.

  He saw Jiehong with a goofy look on his face. "What is up with you?" he asked.

  "Nothing. Enjoying the vibes. I've had this strain before. Whenever I have it, I feel like it is a holiday. Like, I am with everyone I care about, and we are milling about as we play the many carnival games. The stars are shining overhead. Everyone is having a good time. No fear. No anxiety. Only us and the good times ahead..." Jiehong said, his thoughts trailed off as he become lost in thought.

  A quarter of an hour had perhaps elapsed before the more disorienting effects of the strain wore off. Of course, they remained under it influence, but not to an irresponsible degree. It was within their bloodstream, affecting them, but not to the point where they couldn't make sense of their surroundings. To confuse and dismay was not the intended use of Medy-Em as a plant.

  "Is everyone ready?" Zan asked his friends breathlessly. As he talked, he realized his muscles felt relaxed for the first time in weeks.

  As a leader should, he led the way. With Jiehong to his right and Whiskey on his left, they approached the door. A final layer of gunk coated the door. Using their handheld shovels, they cleared off the gunk before incinerating the remainder with a gentle flame-burst. Activated, perhaps, by the magic, a voice called out from inside the bunker. "SCANNING," it said, in the same artificially inflected voice Sigma-Prime and MAC shared.

  Slowly, the door opened. In they went. To begin the next step of their journey.