I practically burst into Morgana's realm with a spring in my step. The transition was seamless as always, one mont I was lying in a pool of drying blood, and the next I was standing in the endlessly stretching void. But for once, I wasn't tired, bitter, or resentful. I was pumped.
"Morgana!" I called out, my voice echoing through the void. "Did you see that?"
Her form materialized as if summoned by my enthusiasm, or, more likely, because she wanted to. She lounged on a throne, her dark robes shifting like they were alive. Her erald eyes regarded with bemusent, her lips curving into a knowing smile as the area around her shifted to match the throne beneath her.
"I saw it," she said, her voice silky and amused. "But do go on. I'm eager to hear things from your perspective."
"Oh, you're gonna love this," I said, practically vibrating with excitent. "So, there I was, surrounded by bandits, four of them, mind you, all ard to the teeth. And I just... annihilated them!"
Her smile widened ever so slightly, and she leaned her chin on her hand. "Did you now?"
"Absolutely," I said, pacing back and forth. "First guy? He ca at like a wild dog, and I gotta admit, I took a few glancing blows as I tried to get used to fighting. I think he got cocky, which just resulted in a hatchet, right to the skull. Bam! Instant crit! "
"Second guy? He was a bit tougher, he saw what I did and wasn't about to get his skull split. I picked up the sword and tried my best to stay alive. They kept thinking it was all luck, and when I disard him for a second, I admit, that was luck, but it didn't matter, the guy scooped up his weapon before it hit the floor, and then I knew I was in trouble. If it weren't for the Lynx form I used to have, I would have been dead for sure. I knew these guys were bandits, but they tricked , made it look like a fair fight, and I barely escaped an arrow to the head with Shadow Dance." I stopped the story for a second, trying to catch my breath, my limbs still tingling with adrenaline and excitent.
"By all accounts, you indeed should have been killed, what a lucky young man you are." Her tone insinuated that maybe it wasn't just dumb luck that helped out there.
"Wait, did you do sothing? Did you send that notification for Shadow Dance?" My brows furrowed, not out of anger, but more of a physical representation of the gears turning in my head.
"Oh darling," she purred, "Certainly I have no idea what you are talking about," her grin grew and I wanted to say sothing, but she distracted , "Now, you say you avoided the critical shot with Shadow Dance? Where did you go?" She flicked her fingers at , ushering to continue my story.
"Yeah, yeah, I looked over to the archer, fully confident in what I had to do, and I teleported behind him like an assassin, before driving the first guy's sword to the hilt in this archer's back. I must have hit his heart because he fell like a sack of potatoes." I had mid the actions, holding an imaginary sword in my hands and crouching with it angled upward in what I thought was a pretty cool post.
"At this point, I'm exhausted, I never realized how much effort went into fighting, even over such a short amount of ti. I had to keep going through, I pelted them with all the arrows I could get my hands on and even landed a few. It didn't take long to dispatch Stabs Mckenzie with those daggers of his, and then I just had to lure the leader into a false sense of security before I took him out with ease.
She chuckled softly, a sound that sent shivers down my spine. "Indeed. It was... quite the display. Though I must admit, watching you crawl around in a puddle of your own blood as you welcod my cold touch was particularly entertaining."
I faltered for half a second before rallying. "Hey, every hero has a rough patch before their big mont. That's what makes it heroic."
Morgana tilted her head, her glowing eyes narrowing slightly in mock consideration. "If by 'heroic,' you an sheer, desperate flailing, then yes, you embodied that perfectly."
I rolled my eyes but couldn't suppress a grin. "Fine, fine, but seriously, how was I landing all those critical hits? I an, I'm still kind of weak, right? Shouldn't that kind of luck belong to soone more... I don't know, competent?"
Her grin widened, and I imdiately regretted asking. "Oh, Lucian," she said, her voice laced with patronizing amusent. "This isn't so ga where critical hits are just a random chance. If you stab soone in the heart, it's a critical hit because—now pay attention here—that's where all the blood is. Similarly, cutting off soone's head? Also very fatal."
"Wow," I deadpanned. "Groundbreaking stuff, Morgana. Next, you'll tell fire is hot and water is wet."
"Do let finish," she said, waving a hand lazily. "It's not just about hitting vital areas. There are items, or gear, as you'd call it, that can increase your odds of dealing more critical damage in less obvious ways. For instance, a slash to the arm that might otherwise glance off could sever it entirely if you have the right enhancents. Not that you'd know, since you've been flailing around with a basic kit like a drunk toddler with a butter knife."
I crossed my arms, my excitent dimming slightly. "Okay, so you're saying I should check my gear stats when I wake up?"
"Precisely," she said, her smile never wavering. "You've scavenged well enough so far, but you're not even scratching the surface of what this world offers. Perhaps you'll find sothing interesting among the corpses you so valiantly created."
I nodded, the gears in my mind already turning. "Good to know. I'll definitely check when I wake up."
Morgana leaned back in her throne, her amusent giving way to sothing more enigmatic. "Good. You'll want to be ready for what's coming."
I stopped short, my gaze narrowing as I studied her. "What do you an by that?"
Her laughter rang out, light and lilting, like she'd been waiting for to ask. "Oh, Lucian, always so suspicious. Don't worry, I'm not sending you into another ambush—yet."
"Yet," I echoed, raising an eyebrow.
"You'll see soon enough," she said, still chuckling. "For now, there's no ti for fun and gas. You'll want to be awake for this."
I hesitated, the mix of curiosity and wariness pulling at . "You're really not going to tell , are you?"
She gave a mischievous smile, her crimson eyes glinting. "Where's the fun in that?"
With a sigh, I resigned myself to her cryptic nonsense. "Fine. But if this ends up being another fight to the death, I'm blaming you."
"I would expect nothing less," she said with a smirk, waving her hand dismissively.
The obsidian floor began to dissolve beneath my feet, and the world around lted into darkness. As I felt the pull back to consciousness, one thought lingered in my mind: whatever was coming, it was probably going to suck.
Because with Morgana, it always did.
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