As the morning advanced, the stones of the village began to change color.
At first, the sunlight had touched only the tips of the roofs and the stone rim of the well. Now most of the square lay exposed, and the fine dust across the empty roads could be seen more clearly. Time had left its mark on the walls of the houses, the door handles, and the cracked boards of the fences.
Aren remained by the communal hearth for a while longer.
The pale letters hanging in the air had not faded. Their light was not fixed. With the shifting wind, they grew dimmer and clearer by turns, but their shape did not distort.
The Human Legacy System has been activated.
Main Quest Unlocked:
Relight Humanity's First Hearth.
Preparation Reward:
First Summon Right x1
Usage condition:
Summoning may begin once a secure communal hearth has been activated.
The lines were short and clear.
The communal hearth had to be safe, clean, and ready.
Aren swept his gaze across the square.
The low structure beside the woodpile was the most suitable place to start. After a short walk, he began sorting through the outer layer of damp, deteriorated pieces. A few branches near the top fell apart when lightly tugged. Beneath them, however, were dry short logs and split sections of firewood. Off to one side lay a small axe, its handle cracked but still usable.
He picked it up. Tested its weight.
As he split the first few pieces, the sound carried more sharply than it should have in an empty village. The clean crack of wood separating, the dull split where the axe struck, the scrape of fallen pieces against the stones.
Before long, two piles had formed.
One for tinder and small pieces, the other for thicker wood.
Aren tucked the bundle of tinder under one arm and returned to the bakery. He added the dried pieces he had found in the cloth bag on the wall. Then he went to the well. Before wrapping the rope around the stone rim, he checked the knots. They were old, but they had not come loose. He lowered the bucket carefully. A short while later came the sound of water. The rope tightened, then eased. As he pulled it back up, droplets splashed against the rim and scattered across the stone edge.
The bucket was half full.
He carried the water to the hearth and set it down. Then he filled the second bucket as well.
The woodpile stood beside the hearth. Wet marks darkened the ground in front of the well. The bakery door had been left open.
Aren kept dividing the work into smaller tasks until noon.
First, he cleared the inner circle of the communal hearth completely. Then he checked the seating of each stone one by one. He lifted the ones that had shifted and packed dirt and small rubble beneath them. Between two stones, he found an old metal hook. It was rusted, but its shape had not been damaged. He set it aside.
Then he cleaned the narrow area around the square. He gathered the dry leaves and thin grass that could catch if sparks flew and piled them off to one side. Around the hearth, he laid a stone boundary so low it would barely be noticed, but regular enough to hold its shape.
By the time he finished, the sun was nearing its peak.
Aren stepped back and looked.
The hearth no longer resembled an abandoned remnant. It looked like a communal place ready to be used.
Just then, the writing in the air changed.
Main Quest Progress updated.
Communal Hearth Status:
- Stone safety: Secured
- Flammable perimeter cleared: Secured
- Initial fuel stock: Insufficient
The final line glowed more dimly than the others.
Initial fuel stock: Insufficient.
Aren turned his head toward the woodpile. Then toward the tree line behind the village.
The afternoon's work would not be in the square. It would be in the woods.
The path stretching behind the village looked clearer now than it had in the morning. With the sun higher, old wheel ruts and flattened footpaths had emerged more distinctly. However long it had gone unused, it was still a road. The brush on either side had not fully closed over it. It had merely been left to itself.
Resting the axe on his shoulder, Aren followed the path.
The trees did not begin right beside the village. First came short grasses, clusters of wildflowers, and stony clearings. Then the trunks thickened and the shade began. The air was cooler here. The birdsong was more distinct. The sound of flowing water in the distance suggested that the stream curved behind the village.
It was not hard to spot dry branches on the ground.
He did not make the first load too large. He gathered thin and medium-thick pieces and stacked them crosswise in his arms. On the way back, he found a simple tool by the side of the path, something like an old sled or dragging board. It had two long handles and a flat underside. Suitable for pulling over dirt.
He dragged it back to the village.
On the second trip, he brought larger branches. On the third, two short logs. On the fourth, he gathered only dry brush and thin pieces of bark. By the time the sun had begun to lean westward, a respectable pile had formed beside the hearth.
New lines appeared in the air.
Main Quest Progress updated.
Communal Hearth Status:
- Stone safety: Secured
- Flammable perimeter cleared: Secured
- Initial fuel stock: Secured
A brief blank space remained beneath them. Then a new line was written.
Final condition:
The initial flame must be lit by the user's own hand.
This time, the writing did not disappear. It remained suspended above the square in silence.
Aren arranged the wood one last time.
He placed the thin tinder at the bottom. Over that, the small pieces. Then the thicker wood.
He took the flint he had brought from the bakery into his hand.
The sun had sunk low. The shadows of the roofs were beginning to cover half the square. The rim of the well no longer shone as it had in the morning. It looked heavier now, cooler. The empty windows of the village caught the western light. Some seemed to glow gold for a moment. Others had already gone dark.
Aren knelt.
He struck the flint over the dry tinder. The first spark died out. The second lasted only a moment. On the third, a thin thread of smoke rose. A few more sparks, then a faint orange glow.
The tinder caught.
Aren waited. The flame found its own bed first. The thin twigs crackled. The smoke thickened. Then the fire rose cleanly upward and passed into the sides of the smaller wood.
The communal hearth was lit.
At the same moment, every line of writing in the air illuminated.
Main Quest completed:
Relight Humanity's First Hearth.
Preparation Reward delivered:
First Summon Right x1
Additional Reward:
Settlement Core activated.
Somewhere beneath the square, from a depth too great to be seen, came a faint tremor.
Then pale lines appeared at several points across the village.
A ring around the stone mouth of the well.
A fine mark above the bakery door.
Short white lines on the threshold of the long building believed to be a storehouse.
Then all of them went dark.
A new window opened.
Settlement Core: Active
Initial Functions:
- Safe communal center detection unlocked
- Basic settlement boundary established
- First summon available
Please stand within the communal center boundary to begin the summoning process.
Aren rose to his feet. The stones of the square looked slightly warmer than they had a moment earlier. The fire in the hearth continued to burn, small but steady. It remained low, then spread without dying to the side of the wood.
He moved to the center of the square.
The last line in the air remained fixed.
First summon available.
Beneath it, a pale circle formed. It did not fully enclose the hearth, but it clearly marked the center of the square. The edge of the circle passed in front of the well, brushed the leg of the communal table, and curved back without blocking the path to the bakery.
Aren stood inside the circle.
For several breaths, the square remained unchanged. The fire burned. The well stayed silent. The empty houses waited.
Then the writing changed.
First Summon Interface opened.
Summon Type:
Basic Settler
Available Pool:
- Settler focused on manual craft
- Settler focused on soil work
- Settler with a background in protection
- Settler focused on household production
Warning:
The first summon will be shaped according to the current needs of the settlement.
The last line was smaller than the others.
Selection does not belong to the user.
The decision will be made by the Settlement Core.
Aren looked at the words. Then at the wood stacked beside the hearth, the water in the well, and the empty houses around the square.
The writing narrowed into a single line.
Initiate summon?
Two symbols appeared beneath it.
[Initiate] [Wait]
Aren raised his hand.
The moment his fingers touched empty air, the symbol on the left lit up.
Summoning initiated.
The fire in the hearth did not flare all at once. Its color did not change either. Instead, white lines began to turn above the flame, resembling the screen lines from that morning but denser, more concentrated. At first they were scattered. Then they drew inward toward a single center. As the air above the fire grew hotter, the image seemed to ripple. The stones of the square, the shadow of the well, and the communal table all looked distorted for a brief moment.
Then a pillar of light, nearly the height of a human being, appeared at the exact center of the circle.
The light was not strong enough to dazzle the eye. It was more like condensed morning mist, pale and layered. A shape could be seen within it, but not clearly. First the line of shoulders, then the head, then the torso. The knees were slightly bent. One shoulder hung a little lower than the other. One hand was half-closed, as if accustomed to gripping something.
The light slowly dispersed.
A man past middle age appeared in the square.
He was not standing at first. One knee touched the stone ground, then the other. His left hand braced against the earth. His right hand lingered in empty air for a moment before slowly lowering. His head was bowed, and for several breaths he seemed to be looking only at the lines between the stones.
The fire in the hearth burned quietly.
He wore an old style of work clothes, heavy but still reasonably clean. A dark tunic of thick cloth, simple work trousers ending below the knee, and a worn leather belt tied at the waist. On the left side of the belt hung small wooden wedges and a short tool resembling a carving knife. The back of his right hand was calloused. His knuckles were thick. His hair had gone gray, and his beard was unevenly trimmed, but not untidy.
After a few seconds, he lifted his head.
First, he looked at the hearth.
Then at the square.
Last, at Aren.
The writing in the air formed again.
First Settler successfully summoned.
Identity:
Daren Holt
Primary Specialty:
Carpentry
Secondary Competencies:
- Basic repairs
- Wooden storage organization
- Fence and door construction
- Support for communal structures
Settlement Compatibility:
High
Aren looked at the writing. The man looked at it too. For a few seconds, the light of the letters left the same pale reflection across both of their faces. Then the interface narrowed, leaving only the name and specialty visible.
Daren Holt.
Carpentry.
The man stood. Straightened his knees once. Then rolled one shoulder. His hand went first to his belt, checking whether his tools were still in place. After that, he stepped toward the hearth.
He stood by the flame for a short while.
"Well lit," he said.
His voice was not deep, but it carried weight.
Aren did not answer. The man did not seem to find that strange. He slowly surveyed the square. He looked at the well, the bakery, the communal table, then at the roofs of the nearby houses.
"Most of the doors are probably still seated," he said after a moment. "But the hinges will have swollen."
Without turning his head, Aren said, "Most of the houses are still standing."
After a short pause, the man nodded. He looked across the square again. Then at the name still hanging in the air. Then back at the empty houses.
"The population will grow," he said. "If we look at the roofs before the rain comes, it'll be easier."
The hearth crackled once more.
Daren turned his head toward it. Then back toward the center of the village, and finally to Aren.
"Have you chosen a house?" he asked.
For a brief moment, Aren looked at the house on the left side of the square, the first one he had entered that morning. Then at the sturdier building across from it.
"Not yet."
"Good," the man said. "Then we haven't chosen the wrong one."
Daren's hands were calloused. His right shoulder sat slightly lower than his left. His gaze did not linger long in the square. It moved in short stops, passing over doorways, crooked fences, and rooflines.
As the sun began to sink toward the mountains, the light of the fire was needed now not merely to be seen, but to prepare for evening. Daren went to the woodpile and separated the thick pieces from the thin ones. He did it without being told. Then he picked the axe up from the ground and looked at the handle.
"This needs rehafting tomorrow," he said.
Aren placed the metal hook he had found that morning on the communal table. The moment Daren saw it, he picked it up, turned it over, scraped at the rust with his fingernail, and nodded.
"Large cauldron hook. Not bent."
He looked up at the hearth.
"If people cooked here once, they'll live here again."
As the village darkened, the light of the communal hearth remained on the stones of the square. The water in the well disappeared into shadow. The mouth of the bakery faded into darkness. But the fire did not go out.
Daren finished sorting the wood and lifted his head.
The square was no longer empty.