Chapter 13 Grey Eyes

With Thomas holding the short sword in the mega moles head with the mega mole's claw through his chest, he glanced at Lily and smiled with a pained look as he said, "Stay… safe." As the mole creature fell with Thomas still impaled, he laid there still smiling as life faded from his eyes. Once on the ground, Lily stood there in complete shock, unable to say anything with tears in her eyes as she said, "Don't die." Lily crouched down towards him and put a hand on his head while crying as she sadly said, "I-I'm… I'm sorry… this is my fault for brining us here, we should've just stayed at the inn… or… or went to the library." After saying this, Thomas's eyes went a grey color, and he began gasping for air as he asked "What happened?" Lily seemed terrified by this as she scooted across the floor and shouted "Undead!" Thomas pulled himself off of the mega mole's claw as he said, "My head hurts." Thomas stood there staring at Lily as he asked, "What's up with the long face? Did somebody die?" Lily pointed at his stomach as it began to patch itself up as she shouted, "Y-you're… alive?" Thomas glanced down at his stomach and seen it healing as he said, "That's not normal, is it?" After a few seconds, the gigantic hole in his chest was healed and Lily was still staring at him in shock as she said, "T-the hole… it's gone… and your eyes changed color." Thomas stared at her with a confused look as he said, "My eyes changed? What color were they before?" Lily got closer as she said, "They were orange and blue… but… forget about that… are you okay?" Thomas smiled as he said, "Better than okay, all of my injuries are gone." Just as Thomas slapped his stomach to show that he was fine, he coughed up some blood and stood there silently before saying, "That little slap kinda felt like I fell from the sky again." Lily panicked at the sight of his blood as she said, "Maybe you should take it easy." Thomas smiled at her as he said, "Sure, but first let's look for some treasure." Thomas put his hand on the giant mega mole and put it into his storage as he said, "Let's see what he was hiding." Upon storing it, Thomas's short sword and another sword dropped to the ground, the sword had a strange bronze like tint to it and looked somewhat expensive. Lily stared at it for a moment as she said, "It's too big for me to use."

Thomas picked up his short sword and handed it to her as he said, "That's strange… I feel like that should've made me feel more exhausted." Lily stared at the sword as she asked, "What's this for?" Thomas stared at her as he smiled and said, "Well, since you can't use the other one, you might as well use this one." Lily held on to the sword silently for a moment and then softly said, "Sorry." Thomas stared at her for a moment as he asked, "For what? It's not like you did anything, besides I'm just giving you the sword, not like I need it now anyway." Lily stared at him with tears in her eyes as she said, "It's not about the sword… I'm sorry that you almost died because of me." Thomas stared at her for a while with no idea, how to react, and watched as she pouted. After a few seconds of this, Thomas put his hand on her head and smiled at her as he said, "I'm still alive, aren't I? Besides, I nearly die on a regular basis… dunno how reassuring that really is, but at the very least you shouldn't blame yourself for it… I mean… I did throw myself in front of that, not like you told me to." Lily stared at him with tears still in her eyes as she said, "But… I forced you to come here." Thomas paused for a moment before saying, "Jeez, way to make me feel bad." Thomas stared at her for another moment before saying, "How about we just call it even, since I gave you quite the scare a moment ago?" Lily stared at him as she thought for a moment and then nodded as she said, "Okay." As the two of them began to leave, Thomas mumbled, "Come to think of it… how come I'm not dead?" While thinking, Thomas stared at Lily who still seemed sad for a while before saying, "You know I'm not mad at you or anything, you don't have to look so upset." Lily glanced at his tattered clothing and where his injuries were as she said, "I know… but… never mind." Once they reached the surface, Thomas stared at the dead blonde man and then at the other two men who were unconscious a while ago. The two men stood there brandishing their weapons as they said, "We're ready for you this time, and we're not just killing you, not after what you did to our pride!"

Thomas stared at them for a short while in confusion and then said, "Wait, who are you?" The two men seemed angry at this, as Lily said, "They're the ones you beat up." Thomas thought for another moment before saying, "Oh right, you both attacked me a bit ago." The two men didn't seem to waste another moment as they both just rushed in to attack him, however this time their attacks were more precise; they were working with each other instead of against each other, competing for who would kill him. However, they still couldn't hit him in fact, his movements seemed faster than they were a while ago. While dodging them, the blue box appeared with a message that read, "Power restored!" As that box disappeared, another quest appeared that read "New quest! You are in danger! Defeat or slay all creatures with hostile intentions towards you, reward will be one level." After reading this, the box disappeared and Thomas stared at the two people for a moment or two. Thomas stared at them for another moment before a separate box appeared that read, special ability followed by some questions marks and then the word Active followed by the words increased mana regeneration, speed, strength, and magical strength, followed by another box that read negative effects, much lower health and defense. Thomas flinched at the sight of the words as he said, "Lower health… and defense? Well, at least the other things sound good." While standing there, the two men began to swing at him once more, but this time Thomas snatched both of their weapons and stood behind them holding them as he said, "Kinda feels weird to see those boxes again." Thomas glanced behind himself at them as he tossed their weapons to the ground and said, "You guys don't have your weapons now, wanna just call it even?" The two men stared at him angrily as the buff man said, "Fine… we'll get you for this next time, you bastard!"

As the two men left, a message appeared that read, "Level risen from ??? To ???" Thomas stared at the box for a moment as he asked, "What's that supposed to mean?" After a moment or two of staring at the box, Lily said, "We should get back home before we run into any more problems." Thomas stared at her for a moment and then grinned as he nodded and said, "Yeah, … let's take it easy for a while." Lily nodded as she said, "Yeah… or at least until we figure out if you're actually okay." As the two of them walked, Thomas had another box appear in front of him that read, "All stats have risen accordingly for the first time! Achievement unlocked!." As Thomas stood there, another box appeared that read "Level up for the first time!." Thomas stared at the words for a moment before glancing beneath them and seeing some more words that said benefit and that he'd gain experience ten percent faster. He seemed somewhat interested in this as he muttered, "Ten percent experience gain? What's experience?" After thinking the whole way back to the inn, he decided that he'd ask Toby about it. However, upon arriving Cali noticed something was different about him and as he tried to go up the stairs Cali stopped him and said, "Hold it… you smell… like you're about to die." Lily seemed startled by this as she nervously and sadly said "But-" however before she could say anything else Cali said "However you don't have a single injury… you definitely had a few earlier." Cali stared at his stomach and back as she said, "And that definitely wasn't a simple tear… there's blood on both sides." Cali stared at him intently as she said, "You'll live… though you don't smell very alive." Thomas seemed nervous about this as he asked, "You can smell death?" Cali continued to stare at him as she said, "Something like that." Cali glanced at Lily's worried face for a moment and then turned around as she waved and said, "Well have a good one… stay safe, you two."