Chapter 2

Days passed and the hollowness kept returning and he kept on fighting it with thoughts of his family. But it came back a tiny bit stronger every time and the warmth of his family lessened each time he made himself think of them. It felt superficial to him, using his family as a barrier to protect himself. Though it made him feel so, it was the better alternative. He had hope somebody would find him and take away his struggles. And he thought of a plan, he kept a fire going inside the hearth to release smoke and he constantly cooked something in the kitchen with a window open to hopefully lure somebody in promise of food.

He had little success, only a squirrel had showed up on his windowsill, still it strengthened his waning hope and he summoned some walnuts for it.

A week passed. Nobody came. Thinking of his family no longer helped, so he stopped. Instead he started talking to a made-up persona he dubbed Eve. Describing what he was doing and what he was thinking made him focus more and it pushed his empty-house depression away. He felt a little crazy for it, but he told himself it was just talking to himself with extra steps. It worked and he forgot about his emotions for a time. But in a day or two he felt it again and it refused to leave. He kept on describing everything he was doing, though the relief it gave before was gone. He stopped after a day as he felt it was meaningless and just stayed silent. His emotional state took a dip and he didn’t bother with trying to lure people anymore. It was hopeless anyway.

A deep night was laying over the land, the wind was howling, and the sky was covered in dark clouds. He felt the rain pour down on his roof, while the wind tried to pry open his windows. The similarity between his mood and the weather made him chuckle dryly. The hollowness was filling him, consuming him and he somehow knew, that once it reached all of him, he would be gone. His emotions had already hit rock bottom and this realization couldn’t move him in his apathy. He wandered what would happen to his body. Would it stay? Would it disappear with him? Turn into a haunted house? He felt the last fragments if himself get slowly eroded and he imagined himself lie down in a comforting embrace.

Goodbye Eve. It was nice knowing you, though you never talked.

Where are you going? Came the unexpected answer.

I am d- He started to answer before he paused. Eve?

Yes?

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While he was questioning his sanity, a window appeared.

Skill: System Companion - Eve

“For those who are truly alone,

whom life hasn’t chanced with a friend.”

Passive

He reread it several times, mainly focusing on the name of the skill, or rather “Eve”, the name of his imaginary persona.

Eve?

Yes?

How long have you been there?

A day, I think.

Why didn’t you talk to me?

I thought you didn’t want to; you were silent the whole time.

Aah, good point. It doesn’t matter anyway; I’ll be gone in a short moment.

Where are you going?

I don’t know, I am dying.

Why?

He laughed. I don’t really know, nobody lives here, and it seems that’s fatal for houses. He answered and lied back into the cool embrace.

There is somebody hiding beneath the roof though. They tried to get in, but the door is locked, and the shutters are closed.

He mentally sat up and imagined looking at Eve. Wait what? There is somebody outside? He opened the entrance door and rain started pouring in. His view changed and he could see several small figures huddling underneath the roof.

Some of them noticed the open door and rushed in, with the rest following. He closed the door after all of them got in. He looked them over.

Are those… goblins?

There was eight of them. Small, green, dirty, but not entirely as commonly described. They didn’t have crooked or black teeth, no warts or long noses. Just little bald green men with big eyes. Almost too big. They creeped him out.

I feel creeped out. I don’t feel depressed anymore! He felt himself over and it was like the hollowness was never there to begin with. It disappeared like mist.

Eve, this is awesome!

What are we celebrating?

I have inhabitants! I won’t feel depressed anymore.

Meanwhile, the new tenants made their way into the kitchen and started gobbling up any food they found. Burnt meat, undercooked meat, raw meat, stale fruit, even some flour. After they finished with the feast, they went to investigate the bedroom, where, after finding out the bed was soft, they proceeded to pass out.

He only noticed after several minutes and then looked at the state of the kitchen. He had some cleaning to do. Still he was too happy to let it bother him. He had people, goblins, living inside him. He began cleaning the kitchen and even created some food for the gobs and he got an idea.

Eve, do you know anything about this world?

No.

And it got shot down as fast as it appeared. He continued cleaning and the mood started to feel awkward to him.

Soo, can you tell me something about yourself Eve?

My name is Eve. I am your friend and I would have felt really sad if you had gone away like you were saying, I am happy you stayed.

That’s… Thanks, I am happy I stayed too.