Novaris: Adventure in the Shattered Fang Continent

Novaris. Quattur (April). 905. AGC.

Nodel. Waxing Crescent 🌒. Day 5.

The fifth day went much like the previous ones, with some training and learning. However, it ended rather annoyingly as Tesilim once again reached the threshold late into the afternoon.

🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷

Warning! Chaos Meter has reached 100. If Chaos Mana is not spent within 24 Hours, it will be forcibly dispelled and cause a Chaos Event.

🔷

The following afternoon, Lili and Tesilim found themselves walking out of the city once again. They headed out to the same area that they had gone to last time and relaxed in the wilderness for an hour or so until Tesilim got the same notifications again.

🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷

Warning! Chaos Event Imminent, prepare yourself.

Rolling d20. 12. Rolling 1d4. 1. Rolling 1d4. 2.

🔷

Lili was the first to notice the change; her magical senses were on full alert. There was a slight ripple of space magic around ten feet or so from Tesilim. She watched the ripple grow as a portal manifested itself out of nowhere.

The portal grew from the size of a marble until it was as wide as a door. It swirled white before it settled and showed the inside of the employee room at the Rusty Boar. Completely confused by the scene in front of them, the two elves just stared with wide eyes before finally, Tesilim, in all his great wisdom, decided to walk through it.

Still shocked by the portal’s appearance, Lili just stared as the idiot in front of her walked through the randomly appearing portal.

“Wait! Tesilim, you can’t just go through an unknown portal!” She yelled before going through herself after seeing Tesilim walk into the Rusty Boar room just fine.

“What the hell are you thinking!? You idiot!? How are you just going to go through a portal like that!”

Tesilim, for his part, just looked confused, as if his act of walking through a portal did not warrant such a reaction.

“What? It was the fastest way home? Also, I am not going to ignore my first portal. Not going through it would have been a magical fantasy sin.” He replied with a straight face, causing Lili to slap her face with annoyance and walk out of the room.

Seeing Lili walk out, Tesilim followed and was very amused by the confused look Coins gave them as they just randomly appeared from his back room without ever seeing them go in.

“What the! Hey! How did you even get back there!?” The gnome yelled after them as they walked out of the busy tavern.

On the way back to Lili’s shop, Tesilim got an earful about going through unknown magical portals and all the bad things that could happen to him if he didn’t properly inspect them first. And to be fair, Tesilim saw her point as he didn’t want to be cut into a thousand pieces because he went through an unstable portal.

After their portal fun, Tesilim spent the rest of the afternoon refining his body and learning more magic words.

Day six began just like all the previous ones.

- Chaos Meter: 7/100

Tesilim got up and went to Lili’s, and they began training just like they always did. However, things went off course at noon when they were having some food at Lili’s shop.

It began with a simple knock, which was odd for two reasons. One, the shop was closed, and two, it was a shop, so even if it was closed, the door was unlocked, and most would just be able to walk in anyway.

So, as the shop owner, Lili got up and went to see who was at the door.

Alyx had come to Wildwood City for two reasons. The first reason was that he was looking to help some poor bastards whose souls had been tampered with by some Astral entity, probably an aberration. The second reason had to do with an elf named Tesilim.

Alright, maybe just the second reason, as finding people with messed-up souls had become common over the last few hundred years. Yet another thing probably attributed to having an Eldritch God relaxing on their moon.

This time around, it had been some commoner's kidnap by some aberration who then attempted to combine their souls with the souls of some nature spirits. The creation didn’t go well, and the spirits took over some of them while others fought the influences and overcame them. Some even merged and became a new entity with two minds or one mind with aspects of both. Ultimately, it didn’t matter as the change brought by the merger caused their bodies to mutate, and the result of that was even worse.

There is a reason why treants aren’t able to have kids with things of flesh, and it is more than just not having the necessary parts. The fact is that wood and bark don’t translate into mixing very well with flesh, and when the change is forced, the outcome is less than pleasant.

Still, regardless of the outcome, Alyx would not deny that the change was rather interesting, and he was intrigued by how exactly these new creations would develop. Would they be able to have children? How would their children’s souls look? Even more intriguing, and one of the reasons he enjoyed soul research, was if it was possible to separate the soul back to the original components. Was it possible to divide two merged souls and give them separate bodies, effectively letting them live their own separate lives again?

The soul was such an interesting thing and Alyx loved every minute of research in his field. Well, truthfully, he loved research, period.

After assisting the poor souls, it was time for him to track down this Tesilim. Which wasn’t hard at all, considering the elf’s rather peculiar looks. He tracked him down to a small alchemy shop owned by another elf who went by Lili, and it didn’t take long before he was en route to the building. Alyx was rather interested in this Tesilim fellow as, according to the goddesses, he was supposed to have a rather interesting soul.

Even so, Alyx was under direct instruction not to cause Tesilim any issues as he would be a great help in dealing with the problematic Eldritch God on their moon. Specifically, he would be a great help if he made it to S Rank or higher. Either way, Alyx had been told to help guide Tesilim through their world. Though apparently he couldn't throw around too much of his own influence as Tesilim was supposed to struggle to the top or die trying.

Alyx was okay with the whole thing, as he didn’t like to pull rank when it wasn't necessary, as that was a way to make a lot of enemies. However, Alyx knew that even if he did act like an entitled prick, there were only a handful of people who would attempt to remove him permanently. After all, he was Alyx Vinci, and he was part of the family that helped found the Magus Empire. They were also a primary part of The Knowledge Keepers and had a little friend called Maxkalin that was really good at scaring the living shit of even the highest celestials. Of course there was also the small little detail that he was a chosen of both the Goddess of Magic and the Goddess of Knowledge. However, even with all that backing, Alyx liked to stand on his own merit and only pulled rank when people began making annoying comments about his height.

Alyx was half gnome and half crystal elf, which meant he was a bit shorter than most folk, though not as short as his dad. That alone still perplexed him. Alyx would never know how his dad managed to land someone like his mom. However, he wasn't complaining as he had gained the best aspects of both. His mind was as sharp as any of his kin, and he had the same knack for fidgeting with things they had no business fidgeting with or building at all. Then, mixing that intriguing mind with a natural affinity for magic, any magic, and you get Alyx. Who was such a prodigy at the art that their Empires, two patron deities chose him. This, of course, only gave Alyx even more of an advantage with magic of any kind that the only reason he was still a D Ranker was the fact he was 24 and had spent most of his time so far studying the arcane arts.

And now, with a long journey ahead of him as he assisted this elf, Alyx was finally looking to ascend ranks and also get some ladies. Sadly, as handsome as he was, the call of research kept him from pursuing the strew of ladies who wanted to be friends with someone from the Vinci family.

Reaching the shop, Alyx got out of his thoughts and knocked on the door of the small shop. Thankfully, only a few seconds passed before a dark-skinned elf with white hair opened the door. She was pretty but not his type, so he moved the day along.

“Hello! I would assume you are Lili?” Alyx said joyfully. The gnome spoke in a slightly high-pitched voice, though not too much, and it all mixed into a rather cheery, monotone, yet straightforward sort of speak.

“Yes, and you are?” The elf questioned.

“Oh, apologies. I am Alyx Vinci, and I am here looking for someone named Tesilim.”

Now that got the elf's attention her eyes going just a bit wide.

Hearing the name Vinci and seeing the gnome's robes, she cursed internally. She knew it was too good to be true. There was no way someone like Tesilim just appeared out of nowhere. She just hoped he wasn’t some sort of criminal wanted by the empire.

“No, no, no, calm down, Lili. If Tesilim was actually a criminal, they wouldn’t have sent some D Ranker to deal with him.” Lili thought.

“What exactly do you need with him?” she asked, trying to keep the surprise and panic out of her face and voice.

“Well, I am supposed to be helping him.” The gnome calmly stated.

“Ah, I see. All right, hold on just a sec.” Replied the white-haired elf before looking inward and yelling. “Tesilim! Get your ass over here!”

“Hold on! I am almost done with this page!” Tesilim screamed back.

“Tesilim! I swear to Kryn! If you don’t get over here, I will beat you half to death during our next training session!”

Hearing that, Tesilim’s mind and head snapped up, and he began to get off the chair, but not before yelling back.

“Wait, who’s Kryn!?”

“He's the God of the Destruction! I felt it was relevant as I was going to destroy your ass for being such a pain in the ass!”

“Damn, alright, sheesh. Also, you guys have a God of Destruction that’s kind of crazy. Does he want to destroy the world or something?” Tesilim questioned as he got closer to the door.

“Yeah,” Lili replied straight-faced as she leaned to smack the back of Tesilim’s head.

“Ouch! Hey! Relax! Stop abusing someone lower rank than you.”

“Shut up! Look, this guy is here for you.” Lili replied, pointing at Alyx and causing Tesilim to look towards the door.

“Holy shit guy! What happened to your eyes!?” Tesilim yelled as he stared straight into Alyx’s eyes.

Alyx, in turn, just smiled. He was going to enjoy this journey.