Chapter 12: Escape?
His consciousness began to feel slippery, like he was losing his grip on reality, the world before his eyes was slowly starting to look like an oil painting.
" What do they have up their sleeves this time?!"
He glared at the goblins, thinking it was some kind of magic from them, but they were just lounging about, seemingly unaware of what he was experiencing.
" If it's not them then what is it!" Adrian held his head and screamed in pain, clenching his teeth to ease it yet to no avail.
" Is something wrong with this entire place then. Is this some kind of sacred burial ground or some temple I'm not aware of?"
Since it wasn't them, he instead pinned the blame on the cave itself, thinking it must be a cursed place.
" It's to much! I can't take this anymore."
" I've gotta get out of here!"
Desperate to escape the sound, he tried to run out of the cave, but his body seemed to glitch, the world blurring around him for a second before he suddenly found himself standing outside in the freezing cold.
He was dumbfounded, looking back at the cave mouth he had just somehow phased through.
A chilling blizzard was now raging outside, the wind howling and snow whipping horizontally, but all this didn't matter to him because his non-corporeal form seemed completely unaffected to the physical world.
His thoughts were drawn away by the piercing bell that rang in his head again.
" ARRRGH!!!"
" MAKE IT STOP!!!"
This time, the bells ringing sound was more louder and more insistent than last time.
"Just stop!" he cursed aloud, but his words were completely overshadowed by the wind, but.
The next second, the air in front of him shimmered. Thick, hot steam strangely began to converge just above the snow, defying the presence of the blizzard, swirling and converging into a familiar shape.
In the exact same spot where he stood, his incorporeal form vanished and, his body emerged from the steam, this time, it wasn't in a glitching state but true solid flesh.
' The f*ck is going on. H-How come i-'
His eyes flew wide open, he gasped in shock at the sudden change.
Adrian stared at his hands, turning them over and over, his mind reeling. He was even more stunned when he realized he was wearing clothes again.
They weren't just any clothes but an exact replica of the one he had died in. Unlike the latter, these ones were clean and whole, his fur cloth showing no tears or stains.
He patted his chest, his arms, his legs, everything was there. No cuts, no missing limbs, not even a trace of the mental fatigue that should have followed such a brutal death.
It was all just… gone.
"I'm… I'm back to full health?!" he exclaimed unconsciously, still unable to comprehend what he was experiencing.
****
Back in the cave, the female goblin with half of her left ear bitten off let out a massive yawn, stretching her arms high above her head until her joints popped.
As she relaxed, her lazy eyes coincidentally landed on the tied-up guy in the corner.
The young man shivered and tried to curl into an even smaller ball, his breath hitched when he noticed her gaze turn heated all of a sudden, a strange, thirsty look spreading across her green face.
He began to sob quietly as if he could already tell what would happen next, his shoulders shaking, as she slowly stood up and began to approach him, her claws twitching at her sides.
A sadistic smile started to bloom on her lips, but it froze halfway. Her head tilted all of a sudden, and one of her long, pointed ears twitched violently.
She turned to glance at the other two female goblins, who were now also alert, their own ears twitching as if they had heard the same thing.
Without a single word, The three of them reached a tactical understanding with a single look, their drowsy, satisfied eyes turning hard and cold as they all stared toward the cave entrance.
****
Outside, Adrian's hands flew to his mouth, realizing the stupid, careless thing he had just done by speaking aloud.
" Damnit! How stupid can I be."
He cursed beneath his breath, this time, the sound was swallowed by the blizzard.
When he heard the unmistakable sound of cautious footsteps crunching on snow, coming from the direction of the cave mouth.
His first instinct was to run, to just sprint into the forest and never look back. But as he was about to take that first step, the image of the guy tied up in the cave, broken and waiting for his for who knew what awaited him, flashed in his mind for a brief moment.
He heard the footsteps from within the cave growing closer, and from the sound of it, it wouldn't be long before they came to his location.
His face filled with reluctance, his mind torn between self-preservation and a sickening guilt.
Finally, when the footsteps seemed to grow even louder, he forced his feet to move, turning to run away from the cave and sprinting off into the forest in the distance, the decision left a bitter taste in his mouth but Adrian knew there was no way he could deal with the three of them on his own.
Moreover, he had no idea what had truly happened to himself just now, even if he had survived death again, he knew nothing about this strange ability.
His mind had already thought of whether this strange ability had a cool down of some kind, if he died again, wouldn't that mean he would remain dead this time?
****
The female goblin with the half-bitten ear slowly emerged from the cave, her body was tense as if she was expecting to face off with someone, her dagger held ready.
Her eyes, narrowed to slits and scanned the white surroundings, but the blizzard wind was all she could see and hear.