Sheol Valley

The next morning, I woke up early, eager to take a better look at the map. The map shows some interesting details. There are three continents. The continent to the west is Gan. The continent in the middle where we live is Rosh. And the continent to the east is called Ploutos. However, there are two massive pieces of land to the south, between the continents of Rosh and Ploutos. Those two pieces of land are called Kor Erets and Chof. And there is one last piece of land northeast of Ploutus called Pegnumy.

The map also shows the names of the seas. The sea to the north of the Rosh continent is called Sucios. The sea to the West of the Gan continent is called Polemos. The sea to the south of the Rosh continent is called Kalos. And the Sea to the southwest of the Ploutos continent is called Eirene. There are two straits in the map, one between the Gan and Rosh continent, and the other between the Rosh and Ploutos continent. The continents appear relatively close compared to how distant the American continent, for example, is from Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” I didn’t notice Dad coming to the dining room.

“Good morning, Dad.” I kiss him.

“Are you looking at the map? Excited about the journey to the Gan continent?”

“Very excited.”

“Let me show you. We will go west, crossing Wood Crest and entering the kingdom of Orion. Orion has multiple mountains on its coast, and it will take us a considerable amount of time to reach Katuranos, the capital. From the capital, we go to the port, the Harbor City of Orion, to finally cross the Arok Strait and get to the Gan continent. After crossing more mountains, we will arrive at our final destination, the kingdom of Peradama. If everything goes well, it will take us around a month to get there.”

“Wow, I have never been far from home for so long. Is it dangerous?”

“We will be in a large caravan, and we will have three adventure parties with us the whole time. Thus, there should not be any dangerous situation. It’s more probable for a cart to break down, or someone to get sick, or an accident to happen than any other danger.”

“What about food?”

“The adventurers will hunt and give us the meat.”

“Can you teach me how to hunt, Dad?”

“Sure, in fact, once we enter the kingdom of Orion, you will be able to use magic. Only the kingdom of Eleutheria prohibits children from using Magic. Also, we need to take care of Albus because slaves are not well-treated in other parts. He should be good as long as he is with us, but let’s be extra careful.”

“Okay, Dad. Have you done this trip before?”

“I have, I went with your grandpa, Drausus, once. We come from a family of blacksmiths. We are well recognized in the kingdom, so my father has good connections. We will go to the capital someday, and you will meet the family. They visited us once when they were traveling for a short time and stayed one night with us, but you were sleeping.”

“I don’t remember.”

“You were months old, obviously, you don’t remember. Anyway, I went with my father to Peradama in the Gan continent a couple of months before getting married to Mom.”

“Why did you two go to such a place?”

“The same reason we are going this time, adamantium.”

“I heard about that before, that’s the strongest metal in the world, right? Mom has a wand that grandpa gave her as a marriage gift.”

“The adamantium wand is true. However,  what most people don’t know is that adamantium is not a metal.”

“What do you mean?”

“You would think adamantium is a metal because of how strong it is, but it is the wood of a species of tree.”

“A tree? What kind of tree is this?”

“The three is called Hypadama. This tree can grow more than 500 ft. with a 20 ft. diameter. As far as we know, this tree is only found up north in the Gan continent, south in Kor Erets, and northeast in the kingdom of Dikausyne. So, I went with Dad north of Peradama to the Sheol Valley.”

“Sheol Valley?”

“This place, where the Hypadama are, is ice-cold most of the year. However, during summer, for one month, the Ice defrosts, revealing the scenery. The whole valley is full of a shrub called Eucalacer. When temperatures go up, this shrub secretes a mixture of highly flammable oils. And, during one week in summer, the temperatures surpass 75 degrees F., causing the shrubs to burn. The whole Valley is in flames for a whole week, and the Hypadama tree gets hurt, but it doesn’t die. When the fires are off, the Hypadama tree secretes sap that heals the tree, making the wood stronger. Over centuries, the tree becomes the strongest material in the world, to the point that after a certain number of years, these trees are uncuttable.”

“Then why do carpenters not use it to make furniture or build houses?”

“They can’t, it is too hard. That’s why blacksmiths are the ones who work with it. However, not every blacksmith can. This wood is so expensive that only a few have the experience to work with it. Here in Dale, I’m probably the only one that have worked with adamantium. We cannot make furniture with it because it's too hard to work with. Now, ancient furniture and different weapons made of Adamantium have been found, but we don’t know how people in the past made them. That is technology that was lost.”

“How do people cut the three today?”

“At least in the Sheol Valley, the Hypadama trees are well taken care of. People measure them every six months to know which ones to cut down. The trees take centuries to grow strong enough to be used. And to cut it, they have specialized mages that only use fire magic with absolute perfection. The magical technique they use is the same technique I use for designs. Let’s go to the shed outside to show you.” Dad took a wooden pencil-looking tool from the shed.

“This tool is called Leptophos. It is made from different kinds of wood and has a core made of metal. With this tool and magic incantation, you can cut, mold, clean, and solder metal. The difference with those experts who cut the Hypadama trees is that they can use a lot more magic than I can, so their tools are bigger, like an L shape, holding it with both hands, emitting a strong beam of concentrated fire. It takes them about a week to take one tree down, and then it takes months to cut it into pieces.” I imagine that it is like a laser beam of fire. 

“And you can work the adamantium?”

“Yeah! I’m really good with the Leptophos. I can use it for hours without getting tired.” Dad was very proud of himself.

“Wow, Dad, you are amazing.”

“HA ha ha, thank you, my daughter.”

“I can’t wait to go!”