10 Minute Tales

Jan 23 - Creation, Survival

Creation awaited. Before him laid nothing but a wide, grassy plain, populated by a sparse few trees. He tilted his head to the side until his neck clicked, then straightened up.
"They will want a place to stay." He muttered to himself, stretching his arm out. By his will, wooden planks sprung into being, forming a floor, then walls. Glass smelted itself from the air, pouring into the walls to form large windows. Some planks sparked and set on fire, becoming torches to illuminate the house. The roof was last, quickly forming itself. Within minutes, he had created a home. He smiled, pleased. "They will need food." He summoned a fence, next, making it surround a herd of disinterested cows. "They will need water." He made a small hole in the ground and filled opposite corners with water. A simple, whispered incantation made that water fill the hole, forming a beautiful - and infinite - pond. "They will need protection." He started to summon a beast of iron, a protector, but soon stopped himself. "They can dig for resources. They can harvest what this land offers." He smiled, and closed his eyes. His body started to glow as he faded...

     She awoke with a gasp, sitting up. A gentle breeze danced over her, toying with her hair as it carried on its way. The gentle rustle of the leaves in a nearby tree seemed to be her only companion. She looked around, getting used to her surroundings, before getting up.
"Where the hell...?" She muttered. This definitely wasn't where she was before. "What is this place?" It seemed totally uncivilised, nothing like a building in sight. "Need to find someone." She decided, heading towards a nearby hill. She climbed up it, and froze for a moment. The view was beautiful! She had never seen a landscape quite so... pure, before. "Holy jeez..." she murmured, glancing around. A patch of pale brown caught her eye. "Aha!" It was a building! A small pen held some cows, and she could make out a pond on the other side. She scrambled down the hill hurriedly, eager to knock on the door and meet somebody else, anybody else.

     It took a minute to reach the door, and by the end of it she was panting softly. She knocked on the door and waited. Nobody replied. She knocked again, a bit louder, but still nobody came.
"Um... hello? Is anybody...?" She tried the door handle, and was surprised to see the door open. She had expected it to be locked. She looked around, remembering. There was no other building in sight. Who would the door be locked against? She took a few cautious steps into the house, the gentle crunch of the grass beneath her feet turning into a solid thunk of the plank.