Chapter 7: Venturing Endeavors – Chapter 7

The man gently shook the man, putting his mouth next to his ear, "Wake up," he said softly, "you need to wake up." Yet, his creation didn't stir, seeming just as content as the woman in his rest.

Seda sat at the head of the body, attempting to assist in the waking by using his fingers to hold open its eyes. Still, it remained motionless, the only signs of life being the faint breathing that lifted the chest up and down ever so faintly and the air being exhaled from his mouth. Seda raised his head to look at the man, "I suppose you should make this one a bed, maybe he'll wake along with the woman."

The man sighed heavily, "You're probably right. At least we know he's alive, that's certainly better than before." With a lift of his finger, a bed raised itself from under the body, allowing the man to sleep comfortably should that somehow quicken his awakening.

The two men began to walk side-by-side into the crater clearing. Seda patted the man on the back, "Hey, maybe while you're on this roll you can find a little more success."

The man paused his step and turned towards Seda. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that you should try creating those animals like you did earlier. Summon something with a shorter lifespan, like a mouse, it might wake up sooner than that man," suggested Seda.

"Why not," shrugged the man. A flick of his wrist wrought the air, creating a small stone cage complete with a functioning door.

Seda had made his way over to the bench, "Fancy," he said, sitting down.

"Alright," the man said impassively, "here we go." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. With another wave of his finger, he created a mouse out of thin air, materializing it on the floor of the cage. Both men leaned towards it, eager to see if anything would happen. Initially, the mouse sat still, though neither men could tell whether or not it was truly sleeping. Then, movement, as the mouse lifted its head and sniffed the air.

Seda looked at the man, "Maybe I should be the one with the powers." The man only shot a scathing glare in return, causing Seda to break his gaze and turn his eyes back at the mouse.

The man knelt down beside the cage, studying all he could about the mouse, though, what knowledge to take from this he wasn't sure. Seda meanwhile, continued watching from a distance, enjoying the heat of the fire as the night air chilled. "How about you try something bigger," he suggested.

The man looked back at him, "I was doing that earlier, you saw it too – nothing but corpses of deer and rabbits."

"But you couldn't even create captain lethargy over there when you were doing it. Just focus on giving each one a mind and soul, seemed to work for the man after all."

Putting his hands up in the air, the man relinquished to Seda's idea, "Fine, a rabbit it is." Once again closing his eyes, he dropped his hands and a rabbit appeared from the air. Unlike the mouse, there was no question whether this one was conscious, as it immediately took to hopping around frantically, overwhelmed by the odd environment of a rocky crater.

The two men locked eyes, both shocked by what had occurred. While Seda had championed for this, he had at least expected the rabbit to appear asleep, not for it to be so eager in life. The man, too, was befuddled, as he only halfheartedly participated in Seda's musings. Yet, even with such lackluster effort, the rabbit lived, and not only did it live, but it was going berserk, almost as if to rub its liveness in the face of the non-believers.

Seda again, broke the silence, stammering, "W-well, I guess you have to go even bigger."

The man nodded for a few seconds with increasing vigor and smiled, "Yeah, I guess so," he replied. "I'll try a deer this time."

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Wasting no time at all, the man lifted his hand and waved it in the air. Once more, a deer emerged from the void and, like the rabbit, energetically tried to flee, only to run itself into the crater wall before veering out of the cavern opening and plummeting into the forest below.

Seda laughed, dumbstruck by the ridiculousness of the situation made worse by the deer's mishap, "For a minute there, I thought you had created a life," he joked.

The man shook his head, "You'd think they wouldn't be so fearful of their creator."

"What's there to be afraid of? You're only the most powerful being in world, I mean, you didn't even close your eyes to create it that time, you just freehanded its existence!"

"I guess I'm getting good at this," he said, shrugging. "So, what now?"

Seda's laughter dried as he thought of an apt reply, yet one could not come to him, "I don't know. Maybe the guy over there's just a dud or something. You could try making another one," he proposed.

The man couldn't think of a good reason to refuse, so he indeed began his creation anew. While he seemed to have proven himself with the deer, he took careful steps to create a human. This time, he raised his hands into the air and brought them down rhythmically, then repeated the motion, matching his breathing with the swing of his arms.

Up and down – Seda tracked the movement of his arms, "You're like a pendulum," he laughed. The man ignored him, continuing his dance. The man's breaths increased in volume to a comical degree. With each exhale it seemed as though he was trying to start a new wind, and he inhaled as if he hadn't breathed in years.

Finally, the man reached his peak in both motion and volume. Slamming down his arms with a sharp exhale. A woman formed at his feet, unmoving. The man looked over her nude body, checking for signs of life as he did the man. She too, breathed, but likewise was unconscious, impervious to any measures designed to stir her. The man ran his fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp in frustration while he pondered what his error could possibly be.

Seda looked on, and he too had adopted a dismayed expression, "I really did think it would work this time. Maybe they're tied to the woman after all," he reasoned.

"As exasperating as it is, I think that's the most likely answer," responded the man as he walked back towards the bench.

"Can you at least clothe her?" Seda asked.

"Oh, right." He apathetically gestured with his arm, causing silk clothes to drape themselves over the body of the woman like blankets, rather than properly functioning as clothes.

Seda, raised his eyebrows, then relented, "I suppose that's good enough."

For a while, the two men sat on the bench and cozied up to the fire, neither saying a word, still downtrodden by the results of the man's attempts at creation. This, of course, wasn't helped by Seda's rather exhausted state. But before he could fully succumb to slumber, he said goodnight to the man and climbed into his bed, once again leaving the man by his lonesome. The man then freed the mouse from its cage, whereby it promptly set to exploring with its newfound liberty.

The man spent the rest of the night from the bench, staring into the crackling flames.

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