The Monster and the Reluctant Groom [Dimentio x Luigi]

(2) - The Old Folks

- - - - - - - - - - Later...

Adrian suddenly came to, as if his body had been jolted awake by another volt of lightning. He breathed heavily, clutching his bronze broach collar and blinking rapidly, struggling to regain his bearings after the scare. Thankfully, being from a magic-blood lineage, cloaks like his were standardly enchanted, so he was spared from any burns that might've injured him from the strike. However, the same thankfulness could not be expressed about his eyes...

No matter how fast or long he opened and shut his eyes, Adrian could not see a thing. It was as if he was stuck on the same frame of a computer that wouldn't load. What was in his vision right now could only be described as nothingness.

Fear gripped the purple-haired man as the possibility of being blind for the rest of his Game crossed his mind. He strained to keep his breathing normal as his instincts screamed at him to panic. Adrian took off the glove from his left hand and extended his arm out, hesitantly shuffling forward out of the sheer fear of being lost.

"Oh, Grambi, please..." Adrian pleaded under his breath.

Soon enough, he felt the surface of a nearby tree. If he had to hazard a guess, this was the tree that was struck down by that lightning bolt.

"There just has to be a clear path..." he reassured himself.

He didn't want to think about how long he could've possibly been away from his wife, not knowing how long he was out cold. It was long enough for the storm to calm down, so at least now it wasn't windy or thundering, just a light sprinkle of rain.

"I should've just listened to Jewel..!" Adrian muttered.

After stumbling some more, his hand came into contact with another tree, so he changed directions. He tried this a few more times after almost colliding face-first with another tree but with no success. Over and over, it seemed he hit a dead-end. Without his eyesight to help him find the path home, he was dreading how far he managed to wander.

Realizing that there was no point in trying his current method of escaping any longer, he stopped walking. Adrian's expression went blank as he slipped his glove back on, trying to keep his new realization from creeping up on him...

I'm never coming back home now, his thoughts told him.

"No..." Adrian shook his head, rubbing at his eyes in a desperate last-ditch effort to somehow heal them. "No, no, I can't leave Jewel alone! She needs me just as much as I need her! I have to get home!"

Taking shallow and rushed breaths, he tried focusing on what little healing magic he had to try and fix his eyesight, even if it wouldn't be a permanent fix. For the first time in his life, Adrian hated that the magic passed down to him had to be PLANT magic. His magic had always been what he needed to survive, cloth, and feed himself and others, and it made his gardens plentiful... But right now, he would give that away if it meant he could heal his eyes before it was too late.

It was definitely rare to survive such a close strike of lightning, and even rarer to go blind because of it, but Adrian hated the thought of using up all of his "luck" only to be left to die in the woods after promising he would come back home within two hours of time. At this rate, even if he DID manage to find a way to civilization, no magical healer in the village would be able to fix his eyesight after not being treated for so long.

I am going to Game Over out here, his thoughts insisted.

"Please, I can't... Jewel can't last long without me..!" Adrian was practically arguing with himself.

He was shuffling forward once again, one hand outstretched as his other continued rubbing his eyes. It was dangerous to keep moving without his vision, but at this point, he didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to end up anywhere that wasn't the woods.