When Morgan woke up, the Great Hall looked like a hurricane had swept through it.
Broken statues littered the entire chamber. Dust and small shards of marble covered the hall.
The formerly neatly tiled floor had jagged webs of cracks running through its entirety.
A familiar voice roused him from his reverie.
" You’re finally awake."
Morgan glanced around for the source of the voice.
A pair of green eyes stared back at him.
A dark-haired girl in a black blazer and round glasses was the only other person in the hall.
Emily was seated nearby, on the remains of a statue, with her blazer tightly buttoned around her.
Her green eyes were focused on him, scrutinizing his every move.
Morgan got up with a groan.
His entire body ached in multiple places.
" It seems you’re back to normal," she said quietly.
" What do you mean by that?" Morgan asked in puzzlement.
Emily’s gaze turned suspicious.
" Well, stuff happened, and then you lost consciousness, and here we are," she explained.
A look of genuine surprise appeared on Morgan’s face.
"How long was I out for?"
Emily got up, dusting herself.
Morgan’s head throbbed slightly, his back felt a bit sore, and his chest slightly burned like it was on fire.
He gingerly touched his back, then winced in pain.
" Do you remember what happened?"
Morgan threw Emily a furtive glance, nodding.
" Yeah, but there’s a gap in my memory. Right after the wraith attacked, I don’t remember anything after that. "
Emily sighed, looking at him with a curious look.
Morgan got up and began to stretch and jump up and down, testing his flexibility.
" You sort of got possessed."
Morgan paused, frowning.
Emily frowned, her eyes narrowing in contemplation.
" So he really doesn’t remember anything that happened?"
After a while, she spoke, patiently explaining what had happened while he was unconscious.
" You were fighting the wraith one moment, then it threw you into the air. After you crashed into the statue, this weird dark mist flowed out of it and entered your body."
She paused, allowing her words to sink in.
" You mean like a ghost except it was a shadow wraith possessing me, kind of thing?" Morgan asked in puzzlement.
Emily nodded, then continued.
" When you fell unconscious, the mist flowed back out of you and became a Drayghar..."
Morgan held up his hand, interrupting her once more.
" What’s a Drayghar?"
" It’s a huge winged creature, like a lion; it was standing next to the mysterious human statue. I discovered it when I woke up to explore.
You actually crashed through it. And the mist flowed up from it."
Morgan glanced around the hall, then pinpointed the broken statue.
Surprisingly, throughout the entire confrontation, the mysterious hooded statue had remained standing.
Everything about Emily’s explanation was mind-boggling.
It wasn’t your run-of-the-mill occurrence, being possessed by wraiths and dark, winged lions; it all didn’t make sense.
Morgan sighed, scanning his surroundings.
Debris and chunks of the floor lay scattered around it, but it was like the mysterious figure was silently daring anyone to face him.
" So what did this drayghar do?"Morgan asked curiously.
" Well, it fought and defeated the wraith, all the while protecting you, for some reason.
It prevented the shadow wraith from getting anywhere near your unconscious body. Then, after, it entered your body. And it also didn’t attack me, it’s like it figured out that I meant no harm."
Morgan’s eyes widened in surprise.
Emily nonchalantly nodded.
" Wait, hold on, like you mean it’s inside me right now? How is that even possible?"
Morgan examined his body but found nothing odd on the outside of his body suit, except for the gashes were the prowler had clawed at him.
Emily shook her head, then sat down, folding her arms across her chest.
" I have no idea how, but what I do remember is, it turned into a cub and then weirdly phased into your chest. It turned into dark mist and disappeared into your chest."
Morgan frowned, then in the next moment, he took off his portable blade scabbard and began unzipping his suit.
" Hey, whoa, hold up, what are you doing?" Emily asked uncomfortably, holding her hands up in front of her
Morgan cast her an amused glance but continued taking off the suit.
" Well, I’m checking to see if there’s anything, you know, like a mark, or something like that."
Beneath the body suit, Morgan’s injuries were mostly healed, leaving behind only pale, clear skin.
The claw marks from the prowler had faded almost entirely, leaving only a bruise.
Toned, sleek muscles rolled under his pale skin.
Emily hesitantly cast him a furtive glance, then looked away, seemingly focusing on something interesting in the distance.
" There’s something here." Morgan quietly muttered.
Emily stared at him in seeming disbelief.
" You have a tattoo? How do you even have one at this age? Isn’t that like an adult thing?"
On Morgan’s chest, over the spot where his heart was, the visage of an inky black lion had been artistically etched.
The snarling face was so vivid, clearly depicting the creature’s fangs and the details on its face.
The image almost seemed alive, snarling with the rhythmic movement of his chest.
Morgan’s brows knit together in confusion, his eyes narrowing in shock.
" I honestly have no idea what that’s doing there."
He touched the image, but it felt like a part of his skin; it was naturally engrafted into it.
" This is definitely weird."
Morgan’s gaze lingered on the image for a while before a loud grumbling sound broke him out of his reverie.
Emily blushed profusely, turning away.
" I may be a little hungry."
Morgan chuckled, then zipped back his suit.
" Definitely, and Emily, thanks a lot. For watching over me."
Emily nodded seriously.
A while later, the delicious aroma of roasting Bretnar filled the chamber.
Morgan’s stash of Bretnar meat had survived the violent encounter, and the two dug in heartily.
Ae nodded with his face stuffed full.
He swallowed before speaking.
" And there’s the issue of your training. We can start right away, after eating. After all, we’ve got nothing but time."
" Well, someone’s enthusiastic, but I’ll have you know that I’ve been awake for an entire day now, courtesy of a certain someone. So I would appreciate it if I rested first."
Morgan laughed heartily.
" Oh, I’m sorry about that. I almost forgot."
After their impromptu meal, Emily fell asleep almost immediately.
After staying unconscious for so long, Morgan found he couldn’t sleep no matter how much he tried.
With a sigh, he got off the ground, glancing at Emily’s sleeping form, then quietly got up.
A lot had happened during the time he was conscious and even when he’d been unconscious.
Morgan moved to the front of the temple, checking whether any creatures had entered.
The empty courtyard confirmed his suspicions.
" So it wasn’t the shadow wraith that deterred the creatures from entering." Googlᴇ search N()velFire.net
Hypothetically speaking, with the wraith gone, the Bretnar and other horrors in the ancient city would be free to enter the ancient temple at will.
But they hadn’t, which meant whatever force kept them out of the temple was still around.
The thought of living with something more sinister than the shadow wraith sent a chill down his spine.
" On the bright side, it hasn’t yet attacked us, so that probably counts for something, at least." He thought.
Morgan slowly moved around the temple, checking for hidden mechanisms and other clues that could tell him more about the ancient city.
After fruitlessly exploring for a while, he decided to wait for Emily to wake up.
When she finally woke up, Morgan was practicing with his blades.
He’d taken off the upper part of his body suit, his toned muscles on full display.
Emily observed him for a while, noting the elegance of his moves, his body moving in unison with the blades.
It was almost like the blades were extensions of his arms, melding flawlessly with his body.
Morgan’s feet glided beautifully across the floor.
His brown eyes were cold and focused, his entire demeanor displaying no emotion.
Morgan moved swiftly, sometimes abruptly changing the tempo of his movements.
The blades blurred through the air in an endless sequence, slashing and then stabbing fluidly through the air.
The display fully took in Emily.
" It’s like he’s an artist, dancing to a tempo only he can hear."
Of course, it was a deadly dance, a dance of wiles and death where in real combat, one misstep was the difference between life and death, mutilation and returning from the battlefield whole and with every limb intact.
Morgan stopped after a while, breathing heavily.
Sweat glistened on his forehead and chest, his muscles rippling visibly beneath his skin.
He flashed her a smile, then walked over.
" You’re awake, I take it you’re well rested."
Emily yawned and then nodded.
" Good, then we can begin. I hope you’re ready because I’m definitely not going easy on you."