Relics of Aether - Homebound (Sample)

Chapter 3

Marina decided that it would be best if she began by heading to the west side of the manor so she could get to work on sweeping the western entrance after she did her work in gardens one and two. As usual, the walk just to get from the middle of the manor to the west took somewhere around five minutes. From east to west, it was estimated that the manor was about half a mile, making it an absolute behemoth of a building.

With the sun rising, the sunlight began to cause many of the light mana gems within the lanterns to dim and eventually turn off completely. If Marina remembered correctly, those specific gems were known as moon stones, and only emitted their energy when in the dark after absorbing light during the day. They were used for the areas of the manor that have windows, or for the places on the third floor that had skylights. The lanterns in areas that would otherwise be dark at all times were lit by standard, replaceable light mana gems that turned on and off by touch.

The walk itself was fairly uneventful, though there was more noise than there was earlier now that more of the staff members were up and about. After finally arriving at the west entrance, Marina exited the building and made her way to the first garden. In tune with everything else in and around the manor, the garden was massive. Marina's water magic could only get her through about half of it before she would run out of mana and have to resort to the well and the watering can. Sometimes when she was lucky, there were some leftover water mana gems to use to refill the can on the move rather than going back and forth to work the well the whole time. Checking the shed, however, there seemed to be none.

That's fine. This'll just make things... difficult. Marina then grabbed the watering can and placed it by the well before making her way around the garden. As she did, she channeled her mana through her hands to spray water across the exotic plants, ranging from odd grasses to wild-looking trees. Using her magic made the work go quick, as she was able to get around half of the garden in what seemed like no time. At this point, however, her mana began to run low, prompting her to return to the well so she could begin the much more arduous task of using the watering can instead. Her progress slowed significantly, as what was probably a couple hours slipped by. It didn't help that temperatures were rising sooner than normal this year, and with the sun now rising into the sky, the heat rose along with it. She repeated the process of watering a few plants, taking the empty can back to the well, dropping the bucket, lifting it all the way back up, and then lugging the filled can back, over and over again. She did this, until finally, her job there was done.

One out of three and I'm already tired. It doesn't help that I had to do the other three gardens yesterday, either... I need to take a short break. She raised water from the well one more time so she could give herself something to drink. After sitting for a while in the shade of a tree to regain some of her strength, one of the manor's supervisors yelled at her to get back to work. Her mana pool had recovered a little bit since its use for the first garden, but not enough to do anything significant. As such, she had to once again rely on the god-forsaken watering can and the well to complete her job. Only difference was that the heat was now beating down even more than it was before with the sun close to taking center stage in the sky. A supervisor also scolded her for doing who-knows-what, to which she just bowed her head, apologized, and kept working.

After hours of grueling labor, garden two was now watered and up to code. Marina made her way to the shed to return the watering can, and stopped at the well to get a few more sips of water. She then begrudgingly walked inside, so she could get ready to sweep the entrance. Grabbing the broom with her sore arms, she completed the task as she had hundreds of times before. Now that it was a little past midday, she would meet Melody at one of the small pantries to help her stock what she bought today. With the thought of seeing Melody driving her, she began her trek to meet her.