Onyx

Chapter 8: Golden Eyes

Rigel dreamt of an army of monsters attacking his village, the man with the golden eyes leading the frontal assault. He saw his mother being taken, and his sister held at a stake. She was screaming for him to help her, but he couldn't move, couldn't run. They torched the stake and everything went black. He awoke with a massive headache and his mattress drenched in sweat. Looking around disgusted he quickly got up and rinsed his body in the wash bin.

I need to get out of this place. It's cursed. He thought to himself. He quickly changed into new clothes. It was his last set. Annoyed he had to stay longer to buy clothes, he gathered his pack and walked out his room to find Neo, Enzo, and Reno packed and ready.

"I heard you scream Onyx's name last night.... Well technically this morning...Was it a bad dream?" inquired Neo.

"Don't worry about it." Rigel grumbled and walked downstairs with his pack. Part of him hoped he would find the stranger at the bar, but the other part of him dreaded it as well.

To his relief —and dismay— he found the bar to be empty, save for the inn lady. The group thanked her, and walked outside as the sun was setting.

"I'll be right back guys. I need to try to buy new clothes before all the shops close." called back Rigel. He didn't even wait for a response as he sprinted towards the town square, where people set up shops during the day to buy and sell goods.

When he arrived he saw a man packing up the clothes he was selling and quickly ran over to him. "Excuse me sir! I know it's late, but am I able to buy some clothes from you? I am traveling and have no more pairs of clean clothes."

The man looked him up and down assessing him. "You'll have to pay me double for the inconvenience. I want 6 copper coins."

Rigel looked at him flabbergasted. 6 coppers?? His room at the inn was only 2. "I can't afford that. Is there any way I can get that price down?"

The man shook his head. "It's 6 or nothing."

Just when Rigel was about to protest, he heard Reno's voice behind him. "Don't worry I'll take care of it."

Rigel looked behind him and saw Reno hand the man the 6 coins. The man gave a toothless smile and handed the clothes to Rigel after assessing his size.

"You didn't have to do that. Thank you."

Reno grunted. "I don't mind. Just don't run off like that again. The air feels strange here."

Just as Rigel was going to ask him to elaborate on that, Neo and Enzo caught up to them panting.

"Don't *gasp* run off like that Rigel!" wheezed Enzo putting his hands on his knees. Neo scolded him.

"You can't just run off like that, we need to stick together. We are in unknown territory. What if something happened to you?"

Rigel rolled his eyes. "You're starting to sound like my mother. Stop whining and man up."

True to Enzo's character, he put his finger up and said, "Actually, that's a very prejudice thing to say about men. It teaches us that emotions are something only women feel, and that we lose our masculinity when we show emotion, causing us to quell our emotions. Thats why men's suicide rates are much higher than women's. Our mental health is important as well."