Chapter 6: Scavenging for Beginners

Chapter 6: Scavenging for Beginners

In the morning, Jadis felt the worst she had ever felt in her life, multiplied by two. As it turned out, her perception of pain was present across both bodies, so every stiff muscle and sore bruise was felt across the sum total of two sets of limbs. Having two bodies had in all likelihood saved her life, but she was not enjoying the experience so far.

On the bright side, she had discovered that she could keep one self awake while the other self slept, in a fashion. When one of her bodies slipped into full unconsciousness, the other was able to stay somewhat vigilant, eyes open and ears listening. She couldn’t say she was completely, fully alert, it was more like she semi-conscious and day-dreaming, however knowing she wasn’t being snuck up on in the night by more bone demons did wonders for her peace of mind.

“I am so thirsty right now...” Jadis murmured, stretching out her aching muscles as she tried to work a painful kink out of her shoulders. “And hungry, too. When was the last time I ate?”

“Never, technically,” she answered herself, “I mean, if I’m talking about this body, er, two bodies, I’ve technically never eaten anything.”

“That can’t be good for my health,” she said, “even if I’m not human. I doubt Nephilim, whatever those are, can go without water for long. Speaking of health, I should check my health pool, I guess.”

Doing so, she found her health had gone up by a single point, making the total one hundred and seventy-two.

“I guess sleeping doesn’t restore health, huh?”

“Or maybe it does but sleeping in a bare cave offers next to no recovery.”

Discussing her thoughts about the RPG-style mechanics of Oros between her twin forms was starting to feel a little more natural. It was nice to have someone to talk to, even if that person was her.

Exiting the alcove, Jadis made her way back in the direction of the demon she’d killed, wanting to check it out in the morning light. On arrival, she found that the broken remains were just where she had left them and were just as wretched smelling.

Kneeling to take a closer look at the dark insides of the bone shell, she found that the blackness she’d seen before was actually a floppy mass of branching tentacles, not unlike a nerve cell’s dendrites. The squished orange eyeball in the middle made the demon goo look a lot like a cell nucleus in overall structure.

Interesting to see, but she wasn’t sure how useful the information was. At the very least she now knew she needed to destroy the core inside the middle of a bone thief in order to kill it, if she ever ran into another. An encounter she hoped to avoid for the foreseeable future.

At least until she got some weapons and armor. Once she was armed, she wouldn’t mind a second go at one of the bony monsters. In all honesty, as awful as the fight had been in the moment, the exhilaration of victory was exactly the thrill she’d been hoping for when she chose to go to a fantasy world at D’s suggestion. She wanted to feel that excitement again.

First things first, though. She needed to find some food and water.

Examination done and parched throats demanding attention, Jadis left the remains where they were and headed back towards the base of the cliff. The brook on top spilled over the edge, which meant it had to continue somewhere down below. On the way back, she kept two pairs of wary eyes on the lookout for anything skeletal stalking the trees around her.

Nothing but birds flitted about around her, which was starting to bother Jadis. She’d seen birds ever since she arrived on Oros, and some insects, but she hadn’t seen much else in terms of wildlife. No deer or wolves, not even a squirrel. She was beginning to wonder if such animals existed or not.

No, they had to exist, she reasoned, if for no other reason than she had seen the bones of such animals in the remains of the bone thief demon. Though, the demon might be the answer as to why she hadn’t seen any landbound animals running about the forest. That one monster certainly couldn’t account for an entire forest’s worth of deer, but if there were more of those demons...

As Jadis searched the escarpment for signs of water, she picked up two large branches to use as clubs, one for each of her bodies. The clubs were large and hefty enough that she felt she would be able to put some bone-crushing force into any swing she made with it, which made her feel a little more secure in her lone wandering.

Eventually, Jadis did find water streaming down the cliff face. She wasn’t exactly sure it was the same source of water as she’d seen above, and she was even less sure it was safe to be drinking water from an unfiltered source, but she couldn’t see much of a choice.

She drank from the water with one body while the other stood careful watch. Thirst slaked, she noted with displeasure that her body standing guard was still thirsty. It seemed she did, in fact, have to feed and water both of her twin forms, even though they shared a health pool. Still, only a minor drawback she supposed considering she now had what many, many people over the course of history had wished for: a second pair of hands.

After both bodies had drunk their fill, Jadis decided she had to go back to the abandoned dwarf village. She didn’t have any idea how to forage for food in a wilderness, much less hunt a wild animal, even if there were any animals around to hunt. The chance of there being more bone thieves in the village seemed high to Jadis, but the likelihood of starvation if she just wandered through the woods aimlessly seemed even more certain.

“Even if there isn’t any food, maybe I can find some tools or weapons. Hell, just a kitchen knife would be pretty freaking useful right now.”

“Or maybe there’s a map somewhere in that place?” She nodded her head in agreement with her own statement. “That bible or whatever it was in the temple to D was pretty much pristine. Maybe there’s more stuff like that in other buildings?”

Checking under the bed, she chuckled to find another box, smaller than the first. It, too, was locked, but that didn’t bother Jadis so much anymore. She never would have guessed finding a bunch of old clothes and scraps would have made her so happy in her previous life, but here she was.

Having looked through the building, Jadis exited, passing her loot to herself as she went to check on something she’d seen through one of the windows.

Behind the house was a small wooden shed, door hanging slightly ajar.

Eagerly Jadis swung open the shed door, hoping for a collection of tools or maybe even stored and preserved food. What she found was a wooden bench with a hole in the middle, a dark pit looming below.

It took the modern girl a few seconds to realize what she had found. Lip curling in distaste, she closed the door and went back around front.

Her twin, waiting for her with arms full, grinned, and said, “Hey, at least I’ve got somewhere to go when nature calls from now on.”

“Yeah, true. Which, speaking of, I totally want to try standing while taking a whiz! Guys are so damn lucky they don’t have to deal with taking a seat every time. Lucky bastards.”

Jadis nodded in agreement with herself. She didn’t dwell on the natural necessities for long, though. She was fairly certain she was going to use this building as her basecamp, but she wanted to check out at least a couple more spots. Taking her loot with her, Jadis kept circling northwest.

The third building found was far too ruined to have any use at all, with walls collapsed and roof missing. Judging by the charred remains, she guessed the hut had caught fire. She didn’t bother sifting through the remains and moved on.

Her fourth stop looked much like the first. A small hut with a caved in roof, she doubted there was anything of use inside. Sighing in resignation, Jadis almost left right away, but hesitated. She hadn’t done more than a quick look from the outside, which was foolish on her part. She was in a real survival situation, she reminded herself. She needed to be more thorough.

“Don’t be a lazy looter, Jadis,” she chided herself.

Stepping inside, Jadis moved broken wood around, checking for anything of use. After a few minutes, Jadis moved to go, disappointed in her lack of success. As she reached the door, a creaking floorboard cracked under her weight and her foot went straight through, far further than what she had expected.

“Ow, fucking splinters,” she complained distractedly. Once she had pulled her leg out, Jadis peered into the hole she’d made. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust, but eventually they did and her expression changed from curiosity to excitement.

“There’s a cellar!”

Hurrying out of the building, Jadis checked the perimeter. On one side, partially hidden by an overgrown bush, was a cellar door leading straight into the earth. Eagerly, Jadis pulled it open and descended the creaking wood stairs. The cellar had barely any light filtering in from above, but there was enough for her to spot several rows of shelves, lined with earthenware jars.

Fingers trembling with excitement, Jadis pried the lid off one of the jars, breaking a seal made from sap or something like it. Inside was a yellowish jelly, semi-transparent, with little gold berries floating inside. She had no idea what the berry was, but it was the most beautiful berry she’d ever seen.

Dipping a finger in, she brought a dollop of the preserve to her tongue and took a taste.

“Mmm, that’s so good...” she moaned, relishing the sweet yet tart flavor. The taste reminded her of a kiwi mixed with a raspberry.

In minutes, half the jar disappeared into Jadis’ stomach. She only stopped when she realized she needed to share with her second body. Passing the jar up to let her second self eat, happy that she could continue to enjoy the delicious flavor while she worked, Jadis checked through the rest of the jars in the cellar.

Many of them had broken seals, the food within spoiled, but about a quarter of the jars had seals intact. Jadis counted two-dozen jars that looked usable.

“Okay, so here’s the plan,” the Jadis on the surface said, licking her lips as she finished off the sweet preserve. “I go back to that intact house and start blocking the windows. Secure the place as best I can with the furniture there.”

“In the meantime, I start carrying these jars back to the house, along with any wood pieces that look like they’ll be of use in boarding the place up,” Jadis in the cellar continued, already shifting the good jars towards the stairs.

With a plan in place, Jadis set to work.