Chapter 1
Motes of light lazily swam before his eyes as heslowlywoke up.He blinkedgroggily. He wasn’t a morning person.Rooms bathed in golden lightof the morning sun greetedhimas he went to get up.A doorslid open.He focused on the door and wandered why it opened, but not for long. He noticed he hadn’tactuallymoved,buthe felt himself move, weird.He jumpedoff the bed, tryingto wake himself up. The door swung itself into a wall.Again,he felt himself move, only hehit somethingthis time.
His hazy mind,finally clamberedout of its morningmuddiness,started paying attention.He felt likefalling on hisbehind.He felt himself move again as the doorslowly closeditself.The reason for his slight nauseawas,thathe couldstillsee what was behind the closed door anyway.It wasa small living room.
Why can I seewhat’s…He thought before he realized he couldsee more than just the living room. He saw three roomsin total.A kitchenconnected to the living roomand a bedroom.
What’sgoing on?
Hetriedto move,he felt himself move, but all that happened was a door swingingitself,again,plus some cabinetsbangingthemselves openin the kitchen.
Wait, am I moving those?
Hemoved a bitand a cabinet closed itself to a crack.I am.Weird, how I am doing it?He moved a different part and the door to the bedroom closed.Apparently by moving around.Heslowly closedall the cabinets, after several attempts.What’s going on? Did I turn into a house?He added jokingly.
Wait, I didn’t, did I?No, no, no, no.This doesn’t make sense, what happened?He tried to remember but all he had was a memory of going to sleep the previous night.Something clickedinside his mind and he had an epiphany.Reincarnation? Aren’t you supposed to turn into, oh I don’t know, something that’sactually alive? Why a house?He was starting to get irritated and panic. And the itch,that was starting to make itself known,wasn’t helping.
What is this? How cana house be itchy? Oh my god, don’t tell me I have termites or something!It’s my first day, give me a break.He tried to feel where the itch was coming from, but neither the walls, cabinets,floor, ceiling ortable felt itchy.It felt like it was coming fromdeeper inside, andthenit hit him. It was coming from his mind.He focused on the itch, instead of trying tobear it, and a screen appeared.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Name:
</td>
<td>
Race:Living House
</td>
<td>
Subrace: Wooden Cottage
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Level: 1 (0%)
</td>
<td colspan="2" rowspan="2">
Skills: Self-Maintenance, Self-repair, Food Creation
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="1" rowspan="3">
Health: 1000/1000 (5/hour)
Mana: 10/10 (1/hour)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
Traits: Construct
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
Titles:
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
I did turn into a house.Darn.
My name is blank, huh.He went through his memory, but he couldn’t recall what it was supposed to be.New life new me, I guess.Let’s see what I got.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr style="text-align: center">
<td>
Race:?Living House
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
A structure which absorbed enough magic to turn sentient.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Cool, cool, doesn’t tell me much.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Subrace:?Wooden Cottage
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
A cosy wooden cottage that gained sentience through magic?If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Still nothing.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr style="text-align: center">
<td>
Racial skill: Self-maintenance
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Allows the user to do house-related tasks
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Cost: 1 mana per hour
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
What is considered a house-related task?He wondered before checking anotherpart.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">
Racialskill:Self-repair
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">
Damaged parts automatically regenerate
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Passive
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Would theyregenerate without it, just slower, orwould I be stuck with the damage?That would be worrying.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Racial skill: Food creation
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Allows the user to create?rawfood?ingredients.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Cost: Based on items created
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Seems useful to have, nobody livesinside me though.Thatfelt really weird to say.Wouldsomebody really live here?
Helooked over the rooms.Akitchen with a stove, some cabinets and a wooden table with three chairs. A living room withastone hearth, anarmchairwith small table besides itand awardrobe in the corner. And a bedroom with abed for twowith white linensand aclosetin front of it.There was a door he couldn’t seebehind and he guessed it led outside.After a bit of fiddling around withdoors and cabinets he openedthe correct one.
Hisviewpointchanged and he sawa small L-shaped cottagestanding inside a circleof grass.Hesight didn’t reachpast the edge. There wasa half of a tree stickingfrom the outside, which made him laugh as it reminded him of bad graphicsin somegames.
Heglanced at the cottage.I really became a house.
He looked around some moreand started wondering how to get back inside.He closed themain door and his view switchedback.He remembered what he was doing before and began looking through the menu again.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Trait:?Construct
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Holder is immune tomundanenegative effects.
Holder is immune tomind afflictions.
Holderdoesn’trequire sustenanceor rest.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Really hammers home that I am not a humananymore.Never thought losing my humanity would only make me slightly sad.Well, can’t do anything about it, at least the trait isnice.
He dismissed the status window,done with examining it, andthought aboutwhat to do.There really wasn’t muchexcept trying outhisskills.
Hespentfew days byexperimenting, he createdmeat and fruit,he looked through thecabinetsand closets,he floated pillows around, he cut stuff,even himself,with knivesfrom the cabinets,he tried cooking,he lit a fire in the hearthand under the stove,caused a small fire, extinguished itand cleanedeverything afterwards.
He had funtryingthings out, and exceptthe fire accident, nothing bad cameout ofit. He even gained a level, which gave himmere10 bonus hp and1 point in mana. He was a bit disappointed with the poorgain butconsoled himselfthat he was just level 2.Now, however, hewasout ofideaswhat to do, his level refused torise,andhewas starting to get bored.
Pondering what to do, he noticed aweird feeling. It was like something was missing, an unoccupiedspace that wasn’t meant to be empty.And once he noticed,it stuck, andhe couldn’t letitgo.
What is it? Whatam I missing?Somethingfrom before I became a house?He asked himself.Games?I went without them for more thana couple months once. Moving around?Moving doors feels like moving.Family?
He paused. Howhad he not thought of his family before?Heberatedhimself.Thinking of his family made him feel warm, but when he tried to rememberhow they looked ormoments from their lifehecouldn’t recall anything. He knew they lovedhim,and he loved them back, but hecouldn’t remember them at all.He was sad helost the memory ofthem butwas happy heat least remembered how they made him feel, it pushed the hollow feeling away.
Somethingpinged insidehis head and he couldfeel hismindput two and two together.Families live in houses. I am ahouse;nobody lives inside me.Therefore,Ineed somebody to live hereto not feel like this.Easy.