"Welcome back," said the figure from behind the large, exotic wood desk.

I looked around in disbelief as I was in the same white-walled room, sitting in the same comfy office chair, across from the same mysterious dude as I was after the first fall.

"What is happening?" I asked the man.

"Theodore Lambert Cohen," the figure said the same as before, "What do you think is happening?"

"I have no clue what is happening," I said unable to stop my hands from flying up in frustration.

"Theodore, I've already told you that you died saving that child, but you continue talking about being in a coma. You are here to complete your adventure and the first step is trusting Mae and myself when we tell you that you are dead," he said pointedly.

"Fine. I'm dead. Do you need to hear that?" I asked still a little frustrated.

"It isn't about me hearing it, Theodore. It's about you believing it," he said sternly.

I decided to change the subject but I would be thinking about what he said. "So what happens now?" I asked.

"What happens now is you continue your journey. You have a second chance to complete your adventure and Mae will still be there to help guide you," he said. "Much of what you will experience when you get back will offer unique opportunities and I ask that you would embrace the perceived positives and negatives of your second chance. Good luck."

The figure started to glow again until light filled the room once. I didn't even try to close my eyes since at this point I knew it didn't matter as not even the stoutest eyelid stood a chance against that blinding light. I once again realized that I no longer felt the chair under me. After a few more disconcerting seconds of blinded nothingness, I felt pressure against the back of my body. I opened my eyes and saw stars. I was laying down on what felt like a sleeping bag spread on the ground. I sat up where I was laying and looked around feeling the weirdest sense of deja vu.

"Teddy," Mae said flying over and hugging my arm, "don't do that again."

"I'll do my best," I said still not able to hug back out of fear I'd damage her wings. "Here we are again, huh?"

"Yes, Teddy, you've been given a second chance and here we are again," she answered.

"He said I kept my progress so that is pretty great," I said getting up from the bedroll, "and I'll be able to get a lot stronger before going back and showing that stupid, pompous dragon who he messed with."

I picked up the bedroll this time and said, "We should try to make it back to Roseglen to tell Nina about Shamus." A sadness washed over me and realized how much I wasn't looking forward to having to deliver the bad news.

We walked down the same path as before towards the washed-out mining settlement and I stopped in my tracks when I saw the first building fully intact. I ran over to it and as I came closer I started seeing more buildings.

"Mae, all the buildings are back!" I said running into the first building. It was exactly as I remembered and I looted the footlocker the same as before, but something was different.

Torch

Common

Provides a medium amount of light.

Scroll of Fireball

Common

Single-use magic scroll.

Sends a Fireball in a straight line from the user's chosen point of origin to their target area.

"I think I found a healing potion last time I searched that footlocker, didn't I?" I asked Mae.

"Most of the loot here is completely random," she answered, "At least you can loot the whole town now."

"The mine, too!" I said excitedly.

I got to work looting the buildings planning to pick up everything I could. As I was walking towards the second building I saw a huge mountain lion. It was walking out of the mine almost the same as my first time here. The main difference was that it was completely relaxed as it walked towards me.

"Do you want to be friends?" I asked the big cat. I guess after talking to a pack of vicious wolves I am pretty confident in my special ability to talk to animals and them not rip my face off.

It walked over to me and I thought to pull a piece of meat out of my inventory, but nothing popped into my hand. "Sorry buddy, I seem to be out of meat, but I'll get you a snack pretty soon," I told the cat.

I had just been thinking about my special ability and I remembered that I had unlocked two special abilities during the dragon debacle that I never looked at them. I thought of the special abilities menu and it popped into view. Sure enough, I had gotten one for reaching Archery level 5 and another for Sneak level 5.

Piercing Shot

Uses magic to allow the arrow to pierce through armor.

Cost: 10 MP per arrow.

Nightvision

Allows you to see in complete darkness although at a limited range. This ability activates automatically in low light situations.

I finished clearing out the other buildings in the settlement. I looted every container and picked up everything I could lift, adding it all to my inventory. The mountain lion just followed me around. I think he was still waiting for that snack I promised him. "I soon as I find some meat it's all yours, buddy," I said giving him a scratch between the ears. I realized I was putting a lot of trust in my 'Friend to Animals' ability.

I was pretty excited about having a second chance to loot this settlement and I ended up with a good amount of loot from it. I found a couple of common daggers, another scroll of fireball, a scroll of lightning bolt, and a good amount of random junk. I was really excited to loot the mine and it was also a good opportunity to use my new ability to see in the dark, but I wanted to talk to my new friend first.

"Hey, Mr. Mountain Lion, is that cave your home? I wanted to go in there, but I didn't want to invade your home," I said to the big cat while pointing at the mine.

He looked up at me and let out the big cat equivilent of a meow. I need to ask better questions because I instantly realized I had no idea if that was a yes or no.

"Just to make sure. If it is 'yes, you can go in' tap your paw once and if it is 'no, don't go in' tap your paw twice," I said being fairly proud of my idea.

He tapped his paw once so I headed over to the mine entrance with a little spring in my step. As soon as I walked in far enough to need a torch my ability kicked in and it was amazing. I was able to see fairly clearly in about a 25 foot radius around me. The first thing I noticed was that the mine entrance went back to about the edge of my vision and then cut off to the left sharply. I could see some crates and tools on the back wall of the entrance and that was my first stop. I pulled some pickaxes and other mining tools, a couple of crates full of some metallic ores, and a crate of dynamite all into my inventory.

"Well, that explains the explosion," I said out into the void mostly talking to myself.

After exploring the mine for about an hour it was clear that the ore was running dry and it was probably a contributing factor to the town clearing out when the huge, scary animal moved into town as well. I picked up everything I could just like Mae had suggested. I had a good amount of rock in my inventory now and I was glad that it wasn't weighing me down.

I got back to the cave entrance and as I walked back out onto the path through town I turned to look at the water barrier that held back a torrent. I thought about how much stronger I needed to be to defeat the dragon and remembered the torrent of XP gains I had gotten. I got a little sad that I probably would have to grind pretty hard to gain levels from now on since each one gets a 1,000 XP harder.

"Could I give you a name Mr. Mountain Lion?" I looked at him raising my eyebrows and tilting my head slightly.

He tapped his paw once. I jumped with excitement not just that he agreed, but that I was communicating with a mountain lion.

"Leo?" I asked.

He tapped twice.

"Not Leo. What about Guster?"

Again he tapped twice. I went through about a dozen more names and he tapped twice for all of them. Then I had an idea.

"What if I called you what I called my cat growing up? His name was 'Mr. Snuggles."

He tapped once. I waited for the second tap, but it never came.

"Do you want to travel with me, Mr. Snuggles, I'm headed down the mountain?" I said to the big cat pointing in the direction of Roseglen.

He tapped once.

"Do you care if I destroy this settlement to clear the path down the hill? I asked.

He tapped twice.

"Mr. Snuggles, let's blow this popsicle stand."