I landed back in my new ‘living room’ with a sigh and looked around with a small, satisfied smile at the home I’d literally built with my own two hands.
The property that I’d bought was shit for building houses, that much was obvious from the steep grade of the ground and how much rock was present. But since I wasn’t using traditional building methods and instead utilizing magic, it didn’t matter to me. The only real question was how I’d explain it to my friends if they bothered to ask.
Not got a lot of those left on this side, I thought grimly, remembering how I’d started ignoring the people who had only wanted to use me after the situation that had landed me in Cortha to begin with. The only reason I’d been out on the side of the highway was because someone I’d thought of as a ‘friend’ had called me to borrow my spare tire since he’d never bothered to replace his own. It was the kind of call that I was all too used to getting, since those people only contacted me when they wanted something.
“Still,” I muttered, “I have Jameson and Gloria on this side, though is Gloria really a friend anymore since she works for me?”
I went through my usual ritual of moving about the room and uncovering the light stones set into the walls and pillars to ‘turn on the lights’ now that I was back in my little cave home.
I’d done as I had previously planned, adding a guest room and a workroom as well. The main living space was centered around the fire pit that would warm the entire complex, and I had finally gotten around to acquiring those outdoor cushions that people liked to use for patio furniture. They were comfortable as long as I was wearing pants when I sat down on them, so they did the job. I had also picked up some thick fleece blankets at a flea market and had them folded over the backs of the benches around the fire pit. I didn’t need them yet, but winter was only just settling into Colorado.
My little underground home was growing and while it did a wonderful job of insulating me from the heat of the late summer, the real test would be the winter.
After all the lights were revealed, I started a small fire in the pit. The crackling, dancing light that it shed melded with the waves of warmth radiating out through the cool stone to make the whole place quite comfortable for me.
While I watched the flames creep over the kindling, I reached out with Manipulate Element and sent a ripple of energy through my little cave.
This effect was one of the many ‘formless’ spells that I’d developed over the last several months. It combined a sort of sonar-like ping to detect presences based on the pressure exerted and sensation of movement against the ground while also sensing for instability or damage to my surroundings that might signify traps or dangers.
The ping came back within a second and I was gratified to find that I had no four-legged mousy invaders this time. The thin metal and stone grates I’d shaped into my air and smoke vents were holding up just fine. Additionally, there was no sign of any problems like the stone cracking or shifting in my roof.
That took longer than I would like to admit to firm up, I thought grimly while I watched a curl of smoke lift up into the air and vanish into the vent that would disperse it and then allow the smoke out from several points in the hill above my home. I probably could have gotten it done quicker if I’d consulted with Jameson or even Jane. My mousy scholar knows quite a bit about architecture even though it’s not her focus.
Reminded again of my friends, I pushed myself upright and strode over to where my phone sat on the shelf by the door to my ‘bedroom,’ which was really just an alcove off the main room.
Powering the device on, I checked its charge and nodded in contentment.
“The power supply is doing good too,” I murmured, glancing around the corner to the large power bank that I’d set up.
The whole arrangement cost me a fortune, but I’d bought and installed super efficient solar panels on the hillside above, concealing them in a mixture of thorny bushes and stones so passersby wouldn’t notice them. The cable ran down through the stone to the large modular power banks that were set into the wall there. It wasn’t as convenient as modern power, but it would do the job for now. Since I wasn’t using the electricity for anything beside keeping my phone charged, the full bank would last for quite a while.
“Should probably look into something hydro-based,” I murmured while skimming through my emails to check on the business stuff. “Just need to see if I can use Manipulate Element to create a channel to funnel water through from a nearby creek, or maybe access some underground water supply. Deep enough down it shouldn’t ever freeze.”
Most of the emails were just automated updates from the Bitsy storefront about pieces going up and being sold, reviews left, and specialist commissions being logged. I’d initially worried that the long delay between someone reaching out to me and my responses would cause problems, but from what I was seeing here as well as the number of emails coming from Gloria directly with requests, my slow responses were actually pushing more commission requests.
Guess folks are assuming that because I’m not responding immediately, I’m either super busy or elite, so they are putting them in well in advance in hopes of getting a slot before they are gone, I thought with a wry grin. They don’t realize that I could clear out the whole queue in a single day if I work hard. Especially with Manipulate Element being upped to the moderate tier.
Jameson had sent his usual check-in texts: a mixture of profanity, accusations, abuse, and actual care. I fired off a quick reply to him, letting him know I was back ‘in signal range’ to see if he wanted to hang out.
I’d been using the excuse of being outside of cell range as to why I wasn’t responding to emails or texts for days at a time. Jameson teased me often about being at some kind of wild cult-orgy-retreat with my ‘fictional’ girlfriends.
“Not so fictional… though Jameson would shit himself if he saw the girls,” I said with a grin, flipping over to the messages from Gloria.
Most of them were the usual commission updates and statement notes regarding sales. There were two separate emails thanking me again for the opportunity to build her resume as a business manager like this. The most recent one was dated for yesterday, stating that she was almost entirely out of stock for the Bitsy store and that if I had more to give her that would be best and to call her ASAP to set up a time to meet up.
I’ve got a few dozen pieces in my Dimensional Pocket that I can give Gloria to tide her over for now, I thought, having spent a bit of time in between working with the girls and training to build up my stocks. I’ll need to spend a good chunk of time rebuilding my supplies though, which means more ‘gold-panning’ in the local streams.
Thinking about everything that I needed to get done while my girls were safely ensconced in a carriage was a bit daunting, but the improved intelligence scores that I was finally learning how to use assembled a plan of attack.
Head into town to meet with Gloria and drop off the finished pieces I had. Stop by my usual haunts where I used my powers to pan for the raw gold I used in the crafting. Check the local stream for gold as well. And then get started on rebuilding the stock that I had been mostly ignoring while the girls were on the front. I should also meet with Jameson as well to make sure my friend didn’t keep worrying about me.
“I’m going to have to tell them eventually,” I said with a sigh, opening my eyes to stare at the fire currently radiating warmth into my little abode. “The longer I wait, the harder it is going to be… Plus the house is at the point that I’m thinking about bringing some of the girls back here to see it, so why not show it to my friends?”
Coming to a sudden decision, I changed the mental plans I’d made and altered the text message I was halfway through writing.
Hey Gloria. I have some pieces ready that I can drop off when I swing through town in a few hours. If you are free, my new place is ready to host. I know you and Jameson have been worrying about me going out of contact for a while and figure it’s time to show you both what I’ve been working on.
Hitting Send before I could change my mind, I flipped over to Jameson’s contact window and typed up a similar message asking if he was free today to hang out so I could show him my new digs.
That done, I started digging through my Dimensional Pocket to find the different bits of jewelry that I’d made to kill time that my girls hadn’t claimed when they spotted them.
<><><>
Jameson and Gloria both confirmed that they were free that afternoon and I made plans to meet them at Gloria’s family bar. Jameson offered to drive out with Gloria, but I declined, stating that the road was kind of rough and it would be better to carpool in my truck since I’d be in town already.
It took me only a few minutes to rig up a swinging door in the boulder that I could ‘lock’ subtly with my Manipulate Element ability, since I didn’t want to show off any magic to my friends just yet. The low cave that I hid my truck inside was sealed closed for now, leaving my truck on the access road wouldn’t draw too much attention if it was only occasional rather than constantly there.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
I knew that I’d be telling them eventually, but right now I just wanted to ease them into the idea of my life being strange rather than going ‘balls deep’ already. That way I could gauge their reactions before things got really weird.
Gloria and Jameson had both been waiting when I rattled up in my old truck and the two had hopped in without hesitation. Well, hesitation about coming with me. There was a brief squabble between the two about seating since my old truck only had a single bench seat to it and no one likes riding in the middle. In the end, Jameson got shoved in there on virtue of being the shortest.
The trip back to my place was a mixture of nostalgic chatter and the friendly shit-flipping that Jameson and I got up to. Gloria watched with a smirk as we traded barbs, chipping in with her own comments at choice moments but letting the two of us entertain her for the most part.
I knew that my friends were insanely curious about my new place, but both of them had politely refused to pester me about it, respecting my privacy. But that same patience ran out when I pulled the truck over to the side of the road by the rocky hillside that made up most of my land.
“Liam… please tell me you aren’t trying to rock the hobo life in a tent out here,” Jameson asked, his forehead wrinkling in concern as he stared out at the frost-marked hillside and its stumpy trees.
“I’m not trying to live the hobo life,” I answered with a laugh, glancing into my rearview mirror to check and make sure there wasn’t anyone else on the little access road.
We were far enough into the foothills that the only people who might be driving it were forestry officials heading deeper into the mountains and maybe a neighbor, but I hadn’t seen any driveways on this road coming up. So I was reasonably confident that my secret abode would remain secret.
“Okay, then where is your house?” Gloria asked, staring at me over Jameson’s head in question. “I know that your shop is making enough that you should be well set up. No way could you be as generous with my pay as you are otherwise.”
“Ooh, spoiling our fiery Latina friend are you?” Jameson interjected, eyebrows wiggling as he used the opportunity to poke fun at me.
“If you count a living wage for work, then yes,” I said, giving Jameson a shove. “Now come on. As pretty as the hillside is, I’m sure you’d rather be warm inside.”
Popping my door open, I hopped out of the truck and into the cold afternoon air. I had to physically suppress the urge of my Shape-Shifting to sprout fur and change my skin to something that wouldn’t notice the cold.
“Swear to God, Liam. If you’ve somehow managed to steal that invisible jet off a superhero, I’m going to kick your ass so hard for hiding it from me,” Jameson called as he and Gloria piled out of the other door of my truck.
“Lock the door,” I said out of habit and Jameson yanked his side open once more to flip the lock down.
“Worried that someone might take it for a joyride?” Gloria asked, raising one slender eyebrow at me while she pulled her jacket close against the cold wind that blew in from the north.
“I’ve never believed that it was wise to invite trouble when it wasn’t needed,” I answered sagely before gesturing toward the rocky hillside. “So, what do you think?”
“It’s empty,” Gloria said with a snort, turning to look at the land with a frown. “The way you talked about it, I thought you had a cabin or something.”
“Land is rough,” Jameson said, his teasing dropping away to a more practical tone. “The grade is going to make construction difficult but not impossible. Will cost you a mint to drill down and set the foundation properly. Is the land on top of one big sheet of rock or just a bunch of boulders in the dirt like that one?”
Jameson pointed toward the large boulder that concealed my front door in it and I smirked at him.
“Mostly one big rock with some smaller ones on top,” I answered, beckoning for them to follow me off the road.
Jameson did so, grumbling under his breath about shady land developers taking advantage of first-time buyers. I was happy to hear that he was upset on my behalf, clearly having thought that I’d been taken advantage of.
Gloria was silent as she kept pace, looking around with confusion heavy on her features.
“I got the whole list when I bought the land,” I explained as we hiked up the short hill to the boulder. “Water and mineral rights, everything.”
“That’s good,” Jameson grumbled. “Still going to be a bitch to sink a well.”
Since I hadn’t resolved the water issue yet, I just nodded along in agreement as we stopped in front of the boulder and turned to smirk back at the two of them.
Gloria just kept giving me a confused look, but Jameson’s expression had turned calculating.
“You know,” he said quietly, leaning forward as if he was speaking in a conspiratorial whisper but being loud enough that it was more of a stage whisper. “If you did steal that invisible jet, I won’t actually be upset. As long as you’ll give me a ride next time I have to fly to a convention. I fucking hate airports…”
“No invisible jets,” I said with a laugh. “But there’s more here than meets the eye.”
Before Jameson could quip again, I reached back and tapped my hand on the front of the boulder. My Manipulate Element shifted the simple stone bolt I’d built into the door and it gave a solid clunk of stone on stone before easing forward, again guided by my Manipulate Element like there was a spring.
“You gotta be shitting me!” Jameson said, his eyes growing wide as I opened the concealed door in the stone. Behind him, Gloria was blinking rapidly, her mouth slowly dropping open.
“Not out here I’m not,” I replied glibly. “There’s a bathroom inside if you gotta go, but don’t shit on my floor dude.”
The entryway was lit from within by the steady light of the glowing crystals, which I figured I could explain away as LED lights if they asked. From out here, they wouldn’t be able to see much but it was enough to get Jameson moving and what I said next got Gloria to join him.
“Come on, we are letting the heat out. Shoes stay in the anteroom.”
The still blinking Latina moved automatically, chasing the promise of heat and my annoying Irish friend into the confines of my hidden home.
I followed after, peeling out of my boots with the ease of practice while Jameson had to squat down and untie his trainers. Gloria had on a pair of calf-high cowboy boots and she toed out of them quickly enough, confusion being replaced by wonder as she followed me into the large living-room space.
“Make yourselves comfortable. I just need to build the fire up again now that we are back,” I explained, moving to the central fire-pit and tossing more wood onto the faintly glowing embers. A few pokes with a stick to expose the hot coals and a bit of blowing had flames rising up the dry wood and the room, which I guessed had cooled back down to around sixty degrees began to rapidly warm up.
“Liam… how?” Gloria asked, turning in a slow circle behind one of the low benches that circled the fire pit, studying the walls, ceiling, vents, and shelves I’d carved out. “This reminds me of those odd ‘earthship’ houses you see online, but you clearly didn’t bury a bunch of car tires to make it.”
“I took inspiration from them actually,” I answered, gesturing for her to take a seat and warm up. “That and the old adobe cliff houses from down south. Been working on it off and on for the last few…” I paused in thought and frowned. “Shit, months I think?”
“You’ve done a lot in a few months,” Gloria murmured before Jameson finally stumbled into the room and stared around in avid interest.
“Okay, this might actually top the invisible jet,” my short Irish friend said, his lips spreading wide in a grin as he hurried around the central fire pit and began studying the walls and shelves in my little kitchen space. “You are snuggled pretty deep in the hillside like this, and should be well insulated. Lucky that you didn’t cave the hill in on you though.”
“The hill is almost solid granite,” I answered Jameson. “It’d require an earthquake or the like to cave this in. It’s why I left the pillars, to support the ceiling. I’m hoping to put in an actual washroom soon, but it’s basically camping cabin rules here.”
Gloria hadn’t moved yet, still turning slowly in a circle like she expected something to change when she looked again. Seeing my slender female friend shivering from the chill outside still, I gently guided her around to sit by the fire before draping one of the brightly patterned fleece blankets over her shoulders.
“Smart move. Caves like this will keep the temperature stable and you didn’t forget to carve a chimney either,” Jameson said, leaning over the edge of the fire pit to peer up into the smoke hood quickly. “Roughly formed but I’m not seeing any stress cracks in the stone.”
“I don’t build the fire up big,” I answered with a shrug. “It doesn’t need to get rip-roaring hot in here. I’m not trying to live in an oven.”
That might change if I finally use Traveler’s Call to bring Kassandra to visit, though, I thought while suppressing a grin. My dwarf lamia loved being nice and cozy-warm given her cold-blooded nature, and it would be irresponsible of me to risk her by skimping on the heating.
Jameson didn’t respond, instead he vanished into the ‘spare room’ that was along the back wall, mumbling about the darkness for a moment before the beam of his cellphone’s light illuminated the dark space.
I hadn’t bothered to set any of the light stones back there yet, since it was only meant for sleeping anyway.
“Cozy place, but how did you build it?” Jameson asked, returning with a grin on his face. “Even if you started working on this before that idiot Dutcher fired you, this would take forever to carve out by hand and no way would you have fit an excavator through that door.”
“I had help,” I said with a shrug before pointing to the door next to the guest room. “That’s my workshop for the jewelry stuff, well, storage mostly right now. And the next door leads to my pantry. It’s mostly dry goods and things I can cook over the fire since I only have limited electricity.”
Jameson’s eyes followed my finger to each door and then to the thick cable that ran along one wall before curving out of sight.
“Solar?” he asked curiously, wandering over to sit by the fire opposite Gloria rather than continue exploring.
“Yeah, it was the easiest option for now,” I answered with a shrug. “I’m entirely off-grid here. No water, electricity, or Internet. I handle the sewer myself via composting for now.” I didn’t need to explain all of it, or how the toilet in the bathroom tied into a large separate ‘tank’ that I’d shaped in the stone to isolate the waste till I figured out what to do with it or found something on Cortha that could remove or purify it.
“So you have limited as much of your costs as possible, good idea. Expensive up front but once established it’s good,” Jameson said with a rapid nod. “We’ll see if you are still as positive when snow hits and it gets really cold.”
“Haven’t had an issue so far,” I said with a shrug. “And the work wasn’t too bad, I had help.”
“Ah yes,” Jameson said, his intense look turning amused. “These mysterious girlfriends of yours… Are we ever going to meet them?”
“Probably soon,” I said with a shrug, trying to play it cool. “My life is weird enough as it is, so I wanted to kind of… ease my friends into it slowly.”
“Liam,” Gloria said gently, pulling my attention to her.
My Latina friend and employee was curled up on the bench, her feet up and tucked to one side under her butt with the brightly patterned blanket draped over her shoulders. Her wonder had faded to a small, proud smile, but her gaze kept darting around to take the sights in every so often, but she focused on me now.
“If you built all of this, even with help, then that is something to be proud of. I understand why you go out of signal so often now… this is wonderfully cozy.”
“Agreed,” Jameson said, his grin turning wicked again. “And trust me, any woman who can put up with you is good in my book. I don’t think meeting your ladies would change how we feel about you, dude. Not unless you were shagging Sasquatch or something.”
That statement made both Gloria and I choke, and then burst into laughter. It also told me that things would be just fine if my friend was already cracking jokes.
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