"... and this is why I chose you. Ahh I see you are awaking, it is time I made my departure. Your sub conscience shall hold the knowledge of the Mambas secrets. But that is all I will tell. Farewell young one."

A small fly landed on my nose. It sniffed around before deciding there was better pickings elsewhere. I watched the fly disappear from view before my senses came back online. Standing up, I viewed my surroundings. That's when I noticed it, I didn't have surroundings. I was in what seemed to be a spectrum of colours and lights. Flashing and pulsing every so often. I reached out to touch one. It moved from my grasp. I cursed at it and re-tried. Again it jumped out of reach. Angered I jumped at it with all my strength.

My fingers touched the light and it opened up. My whole body shot through the pulsing patch of light. I landed with a thud on the other side. I sat up, where was I? The pulsing lights were mostly gone here but there was still some floating above me. A patch pulsed a purple colour above me and began travelling forwards. Seeing no other option, I followed the light to its destination. Within minutes it had arrived, before me was an elderly man wearing a midnight-blue robe. The light entered the plain ground and in its place grass grew. I began walking towards the mage...

A short man with bright red hair stepped from behind the redwood and noticed the mage and another man talking.

"Stonehawk?" Flame asked, taking in the mage and the other.

"Flame. Welcome back."

"What happened? All I remember is blackness." Flame said, trying to think back.

"Your training commences. Try to make more grass; this will be much more difficult then fire; destruction is easy compared to trying to create living things." Stonehawk said, and stepped back slightly to lean against the redwood.

Flame turned to one of the vast expanses in front of him and concentrated. He had watched Stonehawk create the grass with ease, but he knew he wouldn't be able to do it as fast, or as much. slowly, in front of him a small tuft of grass appeared, and slowly more grass sprouted around it. he worked for a minute, and he had roughly half of what Stonehawk had made, although not as green and thick. He had however tried to make a small tree, and a baby oak now stood slightly to the left of the red wood.

Flame sat back on the grass, visibly exhausted.

The last thing the infamous Pirate Captain, Jack Buckley, saw was the ground and his feet as he dropped on the gallows. The next thing he knew he was falling down and slammed into a hard, white surface. He had been an educated man, then turned pirate and rules the seas for nearly thirty-six years, but finally the Law had got him and exacted revenge. His crew had died in the final battle between him and the Law. He remembered before being hung asked if he had any last words, he replied simply: "I fought The Law... and The Law won."

Now he used his hands to feel his body and recognized he was in his full pirate attire, which had been burned several days ago. The next thing he realized was his two pistols, single-shots, and his personal sword, forged in the great smithies of Jerusalem, were with him. He also felt his dagger hidden in his left boot. The next thing he noticed was that he was back in his prime, he laughed and stood up. His boots were new and he found his hat on the ground next to him, bending to pick it up he noticed his trench coat and also scooped it up, finding his Uncle

Sensing what was going to happen, Flame stepped back to avoid the roots and watched as Stonnehawk took control. Suddenly, Flame noticed the raven in the tree, watching everything from the highest branch.

"Why don't you come down?" Flame called, as Stonehawk held the sword to the pirates throat.

"The name's Stonehawk," the mage said, brushing dust off his cloak. "There was no need to attack me, unless you mean to start a war?"

"Just testing you," Captain Jack Buckley said dismissively.

Stonehawk raised an eyebrow, and the ground below Captain Buckley vanished, revealing a bottomless pit into which the Captain fell, too surprised to scream.

Stonehawk twirled his staff, and Captain Buckley appeared out of a portal in the sky, falling toward the ground, slowing down as Stonehawk concentrated, landing gently on his feet as Stonehawk opened his eyes.

"Finished testing?" he asked wryly. "Or would you like to attack me again?"

"You call this Heaven?" Lieutenant Matthias Bloodmoon stepped out of nowhere, dressed in black robes and carrying a staff not too dissimilar from those of the other two mages. "I call this our second chance. We've all come here because of unfortunate incidents that have happened to us. Remember the rain of death?" He nodded at Stonehawk, who nodded back.

"I was caught in that too," Flame said.

"It's time for us to start over," Matt responded. "To rebuild. Someone's given us an infinite blank space to work with. Let's see what we can and can't do."

He raised his own staff, and wooden planks appeared out of nowhere, hurling themselves at a point not too far away as if hurled by giants. As they slammed together with a terrific noise, nails conjuring themselves and flying like bullets through the air to secure the planks together, Matt spoke out loud.

"The most important thing any empire needs is resources, and the most important resource is food. Without food, no empire can sustain power for very long. As this is still a primal world, we can still conjure food from thin air, but the day will come when only mages will have the correct tools. And a few mages cannot sustain a strong civilization."

Wooden poles flew from the sky and dug themselves into the ground in an orderly pattern, and planks flew against them and nailed themselves in, fencing off the newly created farmhouse.

Stonehawk, taking the hint, stepped forward to continue the construction. He sweeped away the grass with a stroke of his staff, leaving bare soil inside the fenced-off area. He tapped the soil once, and it plowed itself. He waved his arms once, and seeds appeared out of nowhere and landed on the soil, sown as if by an invisible hand. Stalks of golden wheat shot upward where they landed, ready for the harvest.

"Resources," Stonehawk said to himself.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by a forest of oak and redwood trees. Stonehawk smiled. "Second chance indeed," he commented.

As Stonehawk moved further and further away from the redwood tree that marked the center of their domain, helping Matt build a granary, then a flour mill, he noticed a raven circling overhead that he didn't remember creating. He looked up, gazing into the raven's soul, and realized that he had created this raven by accident.

Accidental though its creation may have been, Stonehawk recognized its potential and knew its devotion to him, as he had created it, given it life. He extended his arm out, and the raven glided down, landing gently on his outstretched forearm.

He gazed into the eyes of the raven, which looked back unblinkingly.

"You have good eyes," Stonehawk said. "And you can fly. You're also smart for your kind, given powers reserved for no one else. You'll serve as a good scout, and future generations will revere your kin as such." He stroked the raven gently. "Go forth and discover all you can of this strange land. Your kin will need the knowledge in ages to come."

The raven nodded, then took off into the sky as Stonehawk extended his arm again, to explore the whole wide world, as future generations of Invari ravens would do so for millennia afterwards.

He suddenly noticed that the sky was still colorless, having never been assigned a color. He thought a moment. Everyone knew the sky was blue; why should this world be any different? And so the sky was blue.

He also noticed that there was no sun, that the light came from everywhere. Objects still cast shadows as if there were a sun, and the shadows moved as if the sun were moving across the sky, but the light had no obvious source. Stonehawk wondered if this realm had a sunset; he decided they could find out later, as there was work to be done in the present moment.

Stonehawk and Matt began building roads connecting the buildings; they unrolled themselves like carpet before solidifying into cobblestone. They then built a bakery to supply the fledgling settlement with bread, while Flame and the nameless one, beginning to catch on, began building houses.

As houses and dwellings were built, people began to appear, sketched first as outlines on blank paper, before being colored as if by oil pastels and colored pencils, then textured and animated. The first to arrive was a baker, Chad Westlake, with his wife Alice and son Roger, who set up their humble abode on the second floor of the bakery. Then, a farmer, Robert Greenwood, with his wife and two children. Then, as Matt finished off the forge, a blacksmith, Argyle Black, was sketched into existence; shortly afterwards, the sound of hammering could be heard throughout the village.

Three more farms were constructed, and farmers with their families were summoned into existence to tend them. A schoolhouse was built for the children, and a teacher took up residence nearby shortly afterwards.

When the armory, the village's first stone building, was finished, another old friend walked in to keep custodianship of the building: Joshua Tremir, veteran of many battles and former Head of House Tremir, before he helped reestablish the Kingdom of Zaroth, centered at Kingston, and retired. Showing the signs of age, as well as the scars of time travel, he was nevertheless still anyone's match in a sword fight or an archery competition and would make an excellent Captain of the Guard.

Matt built some watch towers at the entrance to the village square, where most of the buildings were placed, while Stonehawk and Flame constructed a guild-hall for the Guild of Magical Arts and Crafts. Another old friend, Melinkus the spellsword, arrived to tend to the guild-hall. Stonehawk knew Melinkus would turn the hall into a center of learning and wisdom that would last a long time indeed.

Finally, it was time to construct a town center. Everyone pitched in, even the nameless one, and even some of the village's residents. Before long, they had constructed a fine town hall. Two stories tall, it had a meeting-hall for the village elders and a record hall for the village scribe. It was constructed around a courtyard, the center of which held the first redwood tree - a reminder of their humble beginnings from the vast blank emptiness.

The small dock area was nearly complete when a series of people began to appear. The first, he noticed, was his life-long shipmate and friend, Leo Crow. Soon after all of his fellows began to appear. Soon the entire had been accounted for and, for the first time in many days, Jack laughed out loud.

The crew boarded the ship and began to set about duties and prepared it to make sail if needed. Jack sent up a tavern and then was thinking of a good wood source when trees and grass began to flourish behind him. For a long distance along either side of the, a great Oak forest sprung up with bountiful other life within it. Animals and birds were sketched into existence and the air was field with the song of birds. Realizing the true extent of his powers, Jack turned back to his ship, the Revenge, and decided it was time for a refit.

An hour or so later, Jack gazed around his completely refurbished ship. It was bigger, longed and had the heaviest guns of Europe mounted upon it, with a massive array of smaller arms, with full stored of ammunition and food. He stepped off of the ship and looked around at the flourishing town. He set up a few watchtowers and created a pair of fishing ships, before heading into town.

The realm did have sunset and night, though there was no sun to be seen. The sky turned dark, and everywhere around them they could see stars. They had decided on this point when they had determined the presence of sunset, as it would be simply bizarre and otherworldly to see anything else. And it seemed to be the consensus that they sought to bring little pieces of home into this second chance.

They were gathered around a campfire in an outdoor amphitheater large enough to seat the village's population, with the notable absence of Flame, who had wandered off into the westward lands. Matt was on the stage, calling upon his storyteller's training to provide the evening's entertainment.

"So, once upon a time, there were three little pigs, who were sent out into the world at a young age. Well, they needed to build houses for themselves so they wouldn't be cold at night. The first pig built his house out of straw. The second pig built his house out of sticks. The third pig built his house out of brick.

"It just so happened that there was also a big bad wolf who roamed the countryside, and this wolf was big and mean with daggers for teeth and red eyes with a dagger-like glare. One day, this big bad wolf was roaming the countryside as he always did, when he came upon the first little pig's straw house.

"The first pig was inside at the time, and as soon as he saw the big bad wolf, he barricaded the door and hid behind the house's straw walls.

"'Little pig, little pig,' the wolf cried out, 'let me come in.'

"'No, no, not by the hair of my chinny chin chin,' the pig replied.

"To which the wolf declared, 'Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down!'

"And the wolf did just that. Well, houses made of straw are not the most durable things in the world. It probably didn't help either that the house was built on sand. So, predictably, the house collapsed with the pig still inside. Needless to say, the wolf ate well that day.

"The wolf wandered off after he had eaten, and wandered for a week, before coming upon the house of the second little pig.

"Houses made of sticks are perhaps a little stronger than houses made of straw, so the big bad wolf could not blow the house down so easily. But then again, when has that stopped a big bad wolf? When he could not blow the house down the first time, he simply jumped on top of it, and it too collapsed with a fantastic noise. Needless to say, the wolf ate well that day too.

"The wolf wandered off again and soon came upon the house of the third little pig.

"Houses made of brick are, of course, incredibly difficult to blow down, so the wolf could huff and puff all day and the house would easily remain standing. But then again, when has that ever stopped a big bad wolf?"

Matt gestured behind him to the Pillar main battle tank that was thundering not too far behind him. It was a massive piece of United Earth Federation engineering, so large that it rested on two pairs of standard-sized tread assemblies. About as tall as a three-story building, wide enough to take up four lanes on a roadway, about as long as four atomic-age automobiles, the Pillar was giant; the mere presence of even one had a massive psychological effect. The dual 133mm cannon it mounted as primary armament was equally as impressive, capable of dealing twice the damage of lesser tanks, though it was able to crush most enemies with sheer weight.

"He just climbed into his Pillar," Matt continued, "and ran the house over."

As the Pillar, possessed of a mind of its own, thundered off into the forest, they could hear the crashing of trees being felled. Matt continued.

"But the pig was smart. He had anticipated this problem, and so he had dug a tunnel to a fourth house made of calcicrete, shielded by an advanced shield generator, and surrounded by pop-up heavy cannon turrets. And it was to this house the pig retreated when he saw the tank bearing down on him.

"So the big bad wolf roamed around the countryside in his tank, and soon came upon the fourth house. He could not blow it down, and he could not run it over, and it would take ages to demolish if he tried shooting it down - not to mention the damage he would take from those turrets. So he thought, and he thought some more, and finally he built a nuclear missile and blasted the fourth house to pieces.

"And so the big bad wolf slew the three little pigs."

Matthias thought for a moment, then said, "Every story has a moral. This one is no different. However, I will leave the moral as an exercise to the listener. It is getting late, and I must sleep. In fact," he said, gesturing to the sky, "we should all get some sleep."

Jack felt dizzy as he walked around the town as night fell. He stumbled over to a barrel of water and splashed some into his face. He shook his head vigorusly and blinked several times before falling backwards onto the ground. He looked up into the sky and saw the many stars above him, and noticed one of the was shining more then the others. He pulled out his compass and found the star was in the West, but this puzzled him more, for his compass worked in this strange world. He understood what he must do and sturggled to his feet, he still felt light headed but figured he just needed sleep. He stumbled up the board onto his ship, the Revenge, and waved Leo Crow over.

"Take us out of port. Head down teh river and find where it leads... I'll be in my cabin... I, uh, need some... rest..." He said slowly as his eyes drooped and Leo helped him to his cabin and bed. Jack fell into a deep sleep and Leo walked out onto the deck, stirring the crew and pulled up the board connecting the ship to the dock. Within a minute or two the Revenge had its sails up and the current began to push it down the river.

And so Jack Buckley, Infamous Pirate and Captain of the Revenge, sailed to sea and his destiny.

It was morning. The fledgling village they had constructed had grown overnight. The very world itself was continuing the work Stonehawk and the others had begun.

Stonehawk and Matt woke up to find a bustling town of almost a thousand awaiting them. During the night, the town had built itself up, spreading outwards to the point where it merged with the port town Captain Buckley had built along the river. The buildings they had constructed were still there, but now they were surrounded by buildings of a similar pattern. In addition, the world had filled in a few things that made sense with the larger size of the town.

"It recognizes patterns," Stonehawk said quietly. "The patterns shape the world like water crystallizing into ice; all it needs is one seed, and the pattern spreads. Another characteristic of a Primal World."

Far away, he heard the call of a raven.

"I must go," Stonehawk said to himself. "Other things remain to be done."

After granting Matt custodianship over the town, Stonehawk set off on his journey, heading into the Far North, and he was not seen again for a long time.