Novaris: Adventure in the Shattered Fang Continent

Earth. June. 2022. CE.

Tesilim was tired. As a matter of fact, he was beyond tired. Tesilim was ready to give up. He wanted to lie down and just let death claim him, but he wasn’t able to. No matter how bad things got, there was something within him, within all living things, that would always thrive to survive.

Many called it an instinct, others called it a spirit, and some even said it was resolve. Whatever it was, it would push all creatures to thrash, bash, and claw their way to any minuscule chance that led to their survival. And it was that very thing that had kept him alive through the last few years of his life.

It was also this same thing that was now keeping him moving forward as he attempted to stay alive for the last few days of his life, even though he knew that it was all hopeless since by the end of the month, every living thing on Earth would either be dead or imprisoned.

However, he was still alive, which meant he had annoying physical needs to take care of. As such, he found himself jostling through chest-height grass on a warm summer day as he approached an abandoned house.

The house was a large two-story structure with ivy-covered red brick walls. Its roof was covered in shingles and framed in the traditional triangle shape found in many homes. The roof held many bare and scattered patches across it, clearly the work of various storms throughout the years.

From Tesilim's current point of view, the house had six frontal windows, three of which were in various states of disrepair. Much like the windows, the house's long front porch also showed signs of abandonment, with a few of its columns missing, all the while being covered by leaves and branches.

The house was in the middle of an enormous peach orchard that was just as abandoned and overgrown. Thanks to this abandonment, crossing the entire thing had taken Tesilim a couple of hours as he could barely see the ground through the overgrown grass. This partial cover also had him on alert for any slithering snakes that might try to take a bite.

Ultimately, the real danger had been the tree roots he had kept tripping over and the overgrown branches that had kept catching onto his backpack and clothes. At one point, Tesilim was so annoyed that he had even considered blasting a path through the grass with his magic-augmented rifle. However, he had decided not to, as it could start a wildfire, which was the last thing he needed.

Eventually, Tesilim had found a trail connecting to a path network that led to the house's front yard.

As he crossed the yard, Tesilim ignored his growling stomach, hoisted his rifle from his shoulder, and gave it a quick glance to check if the indicator for a full charge was lit. Seeing it lit, Tesilim slowly approached the building in front of him.

Quickly but quietly, Tesilim did a perimeter check, which netted him a few new pieces of information.

First, the house was indeed abandoned, considering he did not hear a single sound coming from within.

Second, there was a mix of a garage and a barn-like structure behind the house. There was one tractor in this structure but no cars or trucks.

Third, if it weren’t for the clouds in the sky and their shade of doom, today would have been a perfect day, given the birds chirped and the summer breeze blew.

Fourth, doing a cool tactical military-type check around the building did, in fact, make him feel awesome.

Fifth, and most importantly, he was an idiot. If there had been anyone in the house to begin with, and they had meant to kill him, he would be dead ten times over. After all, it was hard to miss the five-foot-seven idiot wearing a cool, at least in Tesilim's opinion, anime shirt with a bright red backpack that was also leaving behind a trail of mushed green grass.

So, with all that in mind, Tesilim returned to the front of the house and found the door locked. He quickly resolved that issue by melting the lock with a quick rifle shot. Sure, he could have climbed in through the broken windows, but he would rather avoid being cut by the shattered glass.

Tesilim was met with a wrecked living room as he walked through the door. The room was relatively large and held two couches, which made an L shape as they faced the wall where a TV had once been hung. In front of the two couches stood a medium-sized coffee table whose glass top was shattered and scattered throughout the rest of the room.

Also scattered throughout the room were a bunch of books. The books had once been on the two toppled wooden bookcases on either side of the TV table. The TV table held a couple of cracked and overturned picture frames along with two gaming consoles.

Finally, the whole room was covered in a mix of dirt, leaves, and mold that had built up over years of neglect.

Separating the living room from what had to be the kitchen was a hallway that ran across the house. Also separating both rooms was a dirty marble countertop with a few mugs and farming magazines.

As Tesilim observed the room, his stomach growled again, reminding him what he was there for. However, he wouldn’t feel at ease without briefly searching the whole house. Just in case there were any surprises.

Tesilim was currently in the living room and could clearly see across the house to the kitchen. So, he headed to the right side of the house first. The hallway on this side of the house was a bit dirty, but its clutter mainly consisted of a few fallen picture frames that depicted beautiful landscapes.

This side of the house, adjacent to the living room, was what could only be the barren guest room, which held a bed and some drawers. Across the guest room was a small bathroom and laundry mat that connected to the kitchen through a shared doorway.

Passing through said doorway, Tesilim entered the kitchen, which was huge, almost the same size as the living room, if not bigger. The kitchen was also connected to all the other areas of the house.

Its back wall held two double doors that led to the backyard. There was also the doorway that led back to the living room, and finally, on the far left, another doorway led to a small dining room.

The dining room then connected to the main hallway, which could be followed to the master bedroom, the stairs, and the living room.

At the top of the stairs, one would find the family bathroom and all its amenities. The rest of the upstairs floor consisted of four large rooms, three of which were filled with left-behind belongings.

Two of these rooms were heavily decorated with children's imagery and clearly belonged to the family's younger kids.

The third room had game posters, a much plainer bed, and a gaming setup.

Seeing the gaming setup, Tesilim stared at it, remembering the old days when he could relax and play some video games. Sadly, his thoughts were brought back to the apocalyptic present as his stomach rumbled once again.

Having toured the whole house, Tesilim was confident the place held no more secrets and headed back down and into the kitchen.

The kitchen had two large counters up against the front wall.

Above and under the counters were many closed cabinets and drawers, which Tesilim hoped held some food. The rest of the kitchen included two fridges on the back wall and a large square island in the middle, with sinks, burners, and ovens.

Finally, in the kitchen again, Tesilim hastily opened the cabinet closest to him, revealing some canned beans. This revelation filled him with relief and excitement, and he couldn’t help but quietly shout.

“Jackpot!”

Excited now, Tesilim hurriedly opened every cabinet and drawer in the kitchen. Most were empty, but some still held enough loot to satisfy his current needs.

In total, he had found twenty cans containing beans, fruits, vegetables, and some sausages. The best part was that they were all still within their expiration date.

After searching the cabinets, Tesilim then headed to the two fridges, which were primarily empty and smelly.

It seemed the rune that cooled the fridge had broken, and all the goods left inside had gone to waste. So, without much consideration, Tesilim moved on.

Now that he had some food, it was time to cook it and rest for a while. Then, if he was lucky, the supplies would last until the world ended, and then he wouldn't need to worry anymore.

Shooing away those dark thoughts once again, Tesilim quickly unpacked and set up his cooking gear.

About fifteen minutes later, Tesilim sat on the kitchen countertop, happily eating some beans and sausage, and as he sat there, he finally began to relax.

Tesilim had been on a high alert and stressed out for the last few days while trying to find more food. He was worried about running into more humans or aliens because they were the ones that could cause the most issues for him.

Tesilim knew that the end of the world was more worrisome for many when compared to other hostile humans or mind-conquering aliens.

However, the end of the world didn’t worry him at all as he tended to, for the most part, live under one personal rule. If he couldn’t do anything to control or change something, why worry about it? After all, nothing he did or didn’t do would change the final outcome.

As such, he had accepted Earth’s destruction and even his own end. The issue was that he couldn’t sit and lay down to die because, at the very least, he had some more days or weeks to live and enjoy life. This attitude caused him to worry more about the aliens because if they captured him, they would likely take his freedom along with his sense of self. Humans, on the other hand, might just kill him on sight to eliminate another mouth to feed.

So, now that he had a full belly and was in a relatively safe spot, Tesilim could finally begin to relax a little.

In this relaxing moment, when his brain could finally process less critical information, he realized he hadn’t showered in a week and smelled awful. Even if there wasn’t anyone else around to smell him, he could still smell himself and couldn’t stand it.

So, with a grunt, a can of beans in one hand and a spoon in the other, Tesilim got off the counter and began properly inspecting the house, hoping to find cleaning and first aid supplies.

He began his search by heading to the guest bathroom on the far right of the house. He didn’t find much there but was still able to get some hand soap and a few bottles of cleaning supplies, along with a pack of band-aids and floss.

From there, he moved on to the small laundromat, where he found some old clothes in the dryer and some detergent, which he also took. He then headed to the master bedroom and, to his disappointment, only found clothes, jewelry, and makeup. He did find some men's clothes, which he would sort through later, hoping to find something that fit him.

After the disappointing master bedroom, Tesilim headed to the upstairs bathroom, where he guessed most of the goods would be.

His guess turned out to be true.

The upstairs bathroom held multiple soap bars and bottles of body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. He also found a small first aid kit tucked at the back of the bathroom cabinet, along with some toothpicks and a sealed toothbrush, which he desperately needed.

Finding all the stuff he needed around the house, Tesilim prepared to spend the night there to clean himself and his gear before heading out again.

The first thing to do before being able to start his maintenance work was to secure the house properly. As such, he went around the house, locking doors, closing and barricading windows, as well as the front door, which now had no lock, thanks to him.

After securing the house, he took all his goods upstairs and into the fourth unused room, where he began laying it all out. Once this was complete, he headed to the upstairs bathroom and inspected the shower head.

Tesilim had been worried that the runic shower head was broken like the other runic appliances in the house. Luckily, it seemed the runic shower was functioning correctly, which meant Tesilim didn’t need to take the cold shower he had been dreading over the past hour.

After the shower, Tesilim felt like a new man, and as he checked in the mirror, he definitely looked like one. His brown hair was no longer dirty and filled with dust, and his brown eyes no longer showed his tiredness and stress.

The thing he enjoyed the most was the feeling of cleanliness all over. He had felt sticky and icky before, as sweat, dirt, and gods knew what other things had stuck to him. Yet now, not only did he feel clean and fresh, but he also actually smelled fresh. He had even trimmed his beard a bit.

Feeling refreshed, he returned to the room that held all his stuff and spent the next couple of hours tidying up his camping backpack.

He threw away old items that weren’t needed and cleaned up his cooking and camping supplies. Then, when his camping gear was clean and maintained, he headed downstairs to sort through some of the clothes in the master bedroom.

Sadly, none of the clothes fit him, but he did take two jackets, some pairs of socks, and underwear, which were close enough to his size. After looting the main bedroom, he took all his clothes into the shower and washed them properly before leaving them to dry.

A couple of hours later, Tesilim was wearing freshly cleaned and dried clothes and was beginning to feel rather tired as the week of worried hassle began to catch up with him. However, before he could embrace the calmness of sleep, he made his way to the house's roof. He knew it was futile, but he hoped for a last-minute miracle that would allow him to see the sunset once more.

Sadly, but expected, there was no miracle, and the ominous dark clouds were his only companions as he watched the world get consumed in a dark, starless night.