It was just too fast. Thale had been trying to defend his teammates with the bravery he had mustered on the spot, not retreating in face of danger, fighting as it was needed and even crushing the plant's head. At that moment, he had been sincerely happy. Thale was being useful to other people, and it made him feel warm inside.
But time itself seemed to stop shortly followed by the plant by his side being shredded into tiny pieces.
Then that taste of iron and that strange feeling. He looked down, and there were enormous gashes upon his chest and shoulder down to his waist; a terrible image, painted in his own blood, revealing the flesh underneath the skin. He felt pain and his vision started to fade as his legs got weaker, dark red rivulets pooling under his feet. Blood was flowing freely from his wounds as he got to his knees and finally fell to the ground with a peaceful expression.
Something inside him seemed to be echoing a warning that seemed to have been imparted in him a long time ago... "All of those foxes, monsters. Nothing but beasts. You should remember that." How, was it possible? "They can't find any redemption. Killing them is only mercy. It is fair and just. If you show any weakness, they'll try to kill you first." But why- "And you are weak. Weakweakweakweakweak"
He had been a good person, hadn't he? He had tried to help other people. But he had been rewarded with senseless violence. Maybe being nice, helping people, it was not right, it was not proper, it was not the way to go. All of them, monsters. the voice still rang on his ears as he tried to breath slowly, occasionally gasping for air as his body showed a sheer lack of willingness to answer his orders and move. Maybe he could die at peace, but wasn't it too early for that? He still had things he wanted to do and he had lived so little.
He would not let death take him so easily.
Stop bleeding with shreds of own clothing, try to survive.
The only presence he felt, on a subconscious level, moving towards him was that of the skeletal creature who seemed a necromancer or dark mage...So much for the companionship he had believed in.