SURVIVORS
Chaptre 64. Mysteries
~Dear diary,
It's our 35th day here. This should be December 20, 2021. It had been a month more living in this strange world, but it felt like it had been so long. I miss both my parents. I miss my office friends. I want to live comfortably in modern civilization.
This week we were busy checking the cave which turned out to have quite a lot of space. It looks like Dean was right, there was more than one person living in the room before, but we only found one who seemed to be dead. It is not clear where this man came from and what century he was, because we could not read a single letter from all the scrolls he left behind. It remains a mystery to us.
Alan and Sunil learn how to make bows and arrows on Dean. We honed again those weapons that had lost their sharpness. And also very encouraging, we found an urn full of reddish-colored salt in the dining room. That's an incredible blessing.
We also found some seeds, tubers and vegetables in another room that looked like a barn to me. There were a lot of grain, potatoes, yams, and other vegetables I didn't recognize. All of that still looks fresh as if in here time has stopped. Were these orchards, vegetables, wheat fields and sheep once theirs?
Despite seeing so many strange things since the shipwreck, I still can't believe I saw this miracle.
From the night Dean yelled at me, I no longer had any desire to refute his words. Is it true what Goddess and Nastiti said? Am I starting to fall in love with her? To that arrogant guy? Just be right.~
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"Widuri, it's your job to fan the furnace." cried Sunil.
"Yes, I'm coming" said Widuri folding her notebook and getting up from her seat.
They were both tasked with separating the iron seeds from the rocks taken in the bat cave. Nastiti is preparing the arrow prints.
While the Goddess seemed beaming to see the chilies planted flourishing and show prospective flowers. They also planted yams, potatoes, corn and some other seeds found in the cave. Widuri also ended up planting the grape seedlings she got in the expedition package. The seedlings look miserable because they were hit by rock ruins in the cave.
The vegetable garden looked more and more vibrant. In the distance the gray-white sheep ate on the green grass bed quietly. Every afternoon they return to the cave without being forced. A female appears to be getting tired with her pregnancy. Maybe soon there will be an additional baby sheep in this flock.
What was surprising was a few petite white rabbits playing near the mouth of the cave. It seems that during the earthquake, 2 snow rabbits jumped first to save themselves.
Dean and Alan were busy printing bricks out of clay. Already quite a lot of stone molds were dried in the middle of the meadow. More stones are already dry and arranged in such a way. Dean's gonna burn it all at once tomorrow.
"Looks enough. Alan, I want to make an earthenware bowl for a water container. Tomorrow it can be burned with bricks" Dean said.
"alright. I'll help you" Alan said excitedly.
He's had a lot of knowledge from Dean since they got stranded. Trivial things that he had never considered important, now attracted him. Who would have guessed that to build a house, he now had to start from making bricks first?
Who would have guessed, to make arrows, they had to separate the iron seeds from the rock crevices by burning the stones? And to fuse the iron seeds, Dean built a fire furnace so that the high temperature was maintained. Alan was amazed by Dean's science like that.
Dean also taught him to make cement-replacement adhesives to build their residences. Alan initially did not believe that the ashes of firewood left in the furnace could be adhesive bricks, until Dean made a fireplace and a cooking place from the stone arrangement in the cave room as evidence.
"The arrowhead is ready" said Nastiti.
The clay mold contains several holes to hold molten iron.
"What do you want to make prints now?" tanya Widuri who keeps the furnace fire.
"Dean asked to make a knife and axe mold," said Nastiti who was again busy playing mud clay.
A week later
The residence in the middle of the meadow was just waiting for the installation of the roof. The men prepared roof support logs, while the women dismantled and removed the roof from its burning.
They noticed the men installing and nailing the roof on the support wood so as not to slide down in case of an earthquake in that place. By the afternoon, the roof installation is complete. They looked at the hard work in amazement. In addition to wood and foundation stones, the bricks, roofs and nails are their own making. It feels amazing.
"Leave the door and the window," said Sunil with eyes still stunned.
"Tomorrow we continue again. Today we're back for a break" Dean said.
"Are our nails still enough?" ask Dean.
"So we have printed 5 more prints. You have to melt the iron seeds first if you want more," replied Widuri.
"Well, tomorrow. Just get all the prints, let's get them out in the cave. We have to go back." Dean lifting equipment and 2 nail moulds. They went back to the cave. The flock also followed behind.
While the women take turns bathing in the shower, Dean, Alan and Sunil remove the spikes from the clay mold. The shape is still rough, so they have to smooth it a little tonight so it is easy to use to puncture wood. That's what they always do. All tools are made of iron liquid, the shape is still rough, so it must be sharpened, smoothed and sharpened for easy use.
They eat with gourmand. The crispness of freshly baked bread combines with the savory taste of the broth in the soup, and is eaten when really hungry. It really feels good.
"Widuri, you're getting better at making bread" said Alan.
"Well, thanks to Dean for teaching me how to make bread developers. Without it, I can only make flatbread." Widuri laughs.
"Well, thank you Dean. I now know how to make cheese and butter from sheep's milk" Dewi said with a smile.
"Do you not want to thank me for making bread molds, cheeses and pans for cooking? Even a tear I made, too" Nastiti protested and pouted.
"Hahahaa.yeah, thank you very much for Nastiti who is really cool for pottery equipment. If we come back later, you can open a pottery making business and become a master, must be successful," said Dewi seductively.
The others laughed. Dinner was in warmth and laughter. Eventually they shed an already exhausted body.
Dean got up and walked into the cave passage.
"Where'd you go Dean?" ask Sunil.
"You need to check inside if there's any medicine that could possibly be used to treat the wound" Dean said.
"You hurt? Where's?" sunil asked worriedly.
"Here," Dean pointed out his finger dripping with blood.
The blood even flowed to the side of his palm. Sunil surprised.
"Wounded because what is it? Wrap it down first to stop the blood. Widuri, give me the scar bandage," cried Sunil.
"Who's hurt?" Widuri opened the backpack and thrust a roll of pieces of cloth at Sunil.
"Jari Dean luka's. It looks pretty big on his wound. The blood doesn't stop coming out. Let me take care of him." Sunil ran after Dean who had disappeared in the cave hallway.
The cave is not so dark anymore. In some places, light crystals are placed as street lights.
"Dean, where are you?" sunil shouted at the intersection of the hallway.
"Here" Dean's reply came shortly after. Sunil followed the voice.
"Did you find a cure?" Sunil watched Dean who was inspecting some small bottles in the recess of the wall. Dean shakes.
"Then let it be wrapped. To have his wound covered and his blood stopped. Because what was this?" sunil asked while showing a roll of wound dressing cloth.
"I was careless while smoothing the nail, the sharp part slicing the finger. So this is it. I'll wash the blood stains soon."
Dean extended his hand to where the water was dripping. A drop of his blood fell on the frozen person's forehead. Dean and Sunil didn't notice if there was a pattern formed by the droplets of blood.
Dean cleaned up the bloodstains on his hands with water droplets. It feels so painful. A wound in the liver dripped with lemon water (cieee, othor lebayy 😄.
Dean grimaced his teeth, not expecting the pain in his finger to spread all over his body.
Sunil who waited for Dean to wash his hands was astonished to see a golden yellow light circling Dean and the stone tub. Panicked, Sunil pulled Dean's arm out of the halo. But Sunil actually bounced and hit the wall of the hallway.
"Ughh... What is this? Dean, Dean!" sunil shouted in panic.
Dean's body was almost entirely covered in a golden yellow light. Then came the loud scream of Dean.
"Wellooooooohhhhh..."
Sunil was silent when he saw Dean only a faint shadow remained in the halo that enveloped him. Sunil couldn't see what Dean was going through inside that veil of light
***