Author's Note: Hello dear readers, sorry for the interruption. Just a small announcement for a name change, I will be quick about it. So, here it is. From this chapter onwards, the name of the mad owner of "Greens For You!", from Gren Voger will become Gren Vegor. It was a tough decision to make, since I don't like making changes after something has already been decided, and probably you don't like to either, but I changed it, nonetheless. I don't know, "Gren Vegor" just sounds better, doesn't it? That's it from me. Enjoy reading.
The months went by, and the cold winter came. One cloudy morning just like the few others that presented it, Theron was walking alone through the market street to get to work.
Since a month ago, Alicia and Frank had finally allowed him to walk by himself to work instead of one of them accompanying him. It was not an unresponsible thing to allow; they were very confident about their clever and mature son.
The wet, stone-paved ground of the market street glistened from the morning sunlight that passed through the buildings' roofs in the east, while an earthy smell softly drifted in its snaky path with the morning breeze.
The odd passersby were walking double-time to get away from the cold, while others who were not walking, like the vendors who had just opened their stands, were huddled in their coats and jackets in seek of their warmth.
With his boots tapping at the ground with each step, Theron carefully stepped on the wet stones as he went. The thick pants he was wearing were heavy and his long-sleeved shirt and jacket were covering his arms all the way to his wrists. But all of them were necessary when out in the chilling weather.
His work and apprenticeship at the workshop couldn't be going any better. He kept the shop and the work area in the best condition possible and learned something about forging from Derion each day. He even got Derion's permission to use the equipment and tools at the workshop whenever he wanted, to practice the skills he learned.
Although so far, he hadn't had the chance to ask Derion about the crystal powered anvil of his and what advantages or special factions it had over regular, non-crystal powered ones, the forging skills and techniques he has been learning so far were interesting in their own right.
Putting those techniques into practice, he had already begun, since a week ago, realizing a small project he had thought about for self-preservation against potential threats. It was a basic design of a concealed weapon with a retractable blade, to be attached to his forearm and hidden beneath his long sleeves.
It was crude looking and with a simple spring system, but it was the best he could manage for now with the available materials on hand and with what known techniques he could utilize. He was only a few days away from completing it.
When Theron was ten or so stores away from the workshop, he was just passing a narrow and dark alleyway when he suddenly felt a shiver run up his spine and a feeling of being watched overflowed his instincts.
Cold as it was, he would never confuse this primal warning of danger for ordinary weather chills. Someone was watching him; someone who aimed for his harm!
'Who could it be and why?' Since gaining this second life of his five years ago, he hasn't offended anyone.
'Unless!' The sudden image of the secretive and potentially dangerous "mister Gren Vegor" came to his mind.
Swiftly thinking, Theron pretended to have slipped on the wet stones and fell to the ground. He controlled the angle his body touched the ground with just enough for it to appear as an accident, but still sufficient for him to take a quick peek inside the alleyway.
A pair of round eyes filled with palpable insanity stared at him from within the alleyway's shadows. The malice he could feel from them was enough to make him want to jump to his feet and run for his life right that instance, but his refined wisdom fortunately prevailed over that instinct for flight.
Keeping his composure calm and collected, he propped himself up from the cold ground while faking a pained expression. He had already identified whom the eyes belonged to.
He would have recognized those eyes anywhere. He had never forgotten them or their owner in the duration of these months since he last saw them. The impression of the malicious thoughts they kept hidden behind their full of pretense veil was still fresh in his mind.
'This Gren Vegor is a threat, after all!'
Just as he thought it to be, the one watching him was none other than the cryptic Gren Vegor.
Resuming his walk towards the workshop as if nothing happened, Theron was more eager than ever to finish his concealed weapon. No one sane or with good intentions would stare at somebody like that.
During the few days that followed that unsettling discovery, Theron was more careful than ever when walking towards the workshop; secretly always paying attention to his surroundings. After a couple of mornings, he was shocked to find out that Gren Vegor was tailing and stalking him every single one of them, lurking at his every step.
Every time he managed to spot him, he was hidden inside the shadows of dark alleyways and behind sharp corners, staring at him with those eyes of his that betrayed his madness. The urgency to finish his hidden weapon got more intense in his mind with each passing day of being watched.
Of course, he couldn't possibly know what was truly going on inside that fellow's disturbed mind, to be this persistent and so obsessed with his abnormal actions, but that didn't change the fact he wouldn't want to find that out without having something on his person to protect himself.
Because he knew that it was only a matter of time whatever amount of sanity that madman still had, to no longer be enough to hold him back. Whatever thoughts and intentions were driving him to act like this would soon be unleashed for good.