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It was not unusual for the city of Železna Kri to take a delayed start in the day, especially following the Reaping where quite a bit of festivities took place late into the night. Morganna was not among those sleeping in, however, finding herself up with the sun as she usually was. The youthful woman pushed her plush comforter aside so that she could stand, stretching her limbs out until a satisfying series of pops resonated throughout the silent chamber. She approached the shuttered window to her room, unlatching the lock and pushing them open so that she could observe the still world. There was something about the dawn that captured her attention, the landscape being painted in the various shades of red and orange that light could muster. Elongated shadows the only respite from a heat that would only grow in intensity the longer it shone.
Most believed the Drakkan homeland was devoid of life, a scar gasping for breath and dying with every attempt to grasp at a former glory. It was a belief held by some of her own kind even, but Morganna didn’t see things that way. Plants and animals alike had learned to adapt to the damage done to their nation, a cursed wasteland drained of its vibrancy and chance at greatness. Her people were a banished kind, but they too had learned to survive in such a harsh and unforgiving environment. They might have been ugly and twisted, but they were alive… And they would continue to fight until they had either won or died out completely. It was a sense of poetic justice in the eyes of the Dantanath daughter, a twisted outlook for a twisted species.
Smiling to herself, Morganna stepped away from the window to her closet where a great array of outfits awaited her choice. While the designs varied greatly, fitting to any event she might find herself attending, just about all of them were dyed in some shade of red. It was her favorite color, and it suited her figure well… at least in her own opinion, not that she had ever heard a man argue it before.
Morganna didn’t see the point in dressing up more than she had to, thinking of no events she had to attend for the next few days at least. The likelihood of trouble starting up around the city was high, however, as was custom around the time of the Reaping. Tensions between certain families brought in close proximity of one another usually led to petty squabbles, as did perceived slights when it came to the gifts bestowed by the royal household. Plenty of Drakkan, and Gemmenite, blood had been spilled in the streets of the Capital, what were a few bodies more. All matters considered, Morganna selected a multi-piece ensemble consisting of fabrics red and black with detailings of gold.
The outfit was rather slimming, displaying her figure just the way she liked to but it was more than just that. It was comfortable in the desert heat with plenty of breathing opportunity and exposed skin, but it was also designed with her combat style in mind. While she hated to admit it, she was not the strongest when it came to physical strength. If put up against her elder brother in a match, it was likely she would lose in a contest of might, hence why she relied on her speed and agility. Having an outfit that would suit such a style was important for her own survival.
Quick to comb out her onyx locks, Morgann finally emerged from her room as the sun fully crested above the horizon. Her elder brother and father were nowhere to be seen, along with her youngest two siblings. Instead, she was met with the sight of a rather irritable Azilon waiting for her to make an appearance in their informal dining space. Off to the side, a nervous looking servant glanced up to receive her orders from the ranking family member.
“I’ll take my usual breakfast then you may be excused to cleaning duties. It would seem little Azzy here has something he would like to discuss with me.” Morganna maintained eye contact with her brother who promptly growled at the sound of his nickname. The servant nodded quickly and fled the room, returning several minutes later to find neither one of her masters had budged an inch in her absence. Setting a silver tray down on a nearby table, the small woman bowed to the Dantanath children before rushing off to straighten Morganna’s room.
Once determining her brother as being little threat to her, Morganna relaxed her stance and approached the tray. She tended to eat light, preferring to start her day with fruit and a tea strong enough to wake the dead from their eternal slumber. The sweeter fruits had been imported from the Gem homeland, picked up in a separate batch from the girls. While she enjoyed them, the Reaping was the only time she would eat them, instead filling her plate with Drakkan grown dishes. The ‘Corpse Apples’ as they were nicknamed were among her favorite fruits, just the sight of one on her plate in the morning enough to bring a smile to her face. Her enjoyment would have to wait, however, as she picked up her cup in preparation for the tyrade her brother was about to go off on. As if on cue, Azilon pushed himself up from his seat to tower over the smaller woman.
“Where do you get off meddling in my affairs?” He snapped, his anger met with a look of absolute indifference.
“I don’t know what you’re getting so upset about. I did you a favor, you should be grateful.”
“Grateful?! Those girl belonged to me, they were not yours to give away.” Azilon clenched his hands into fists, an action noted by a lazy shifting of his sister’s eyes.
“True, they weren’t… But Azzy, let’s be serious here. Where they ever truly yours to begin with? Clearly neither one held any sort of respect for you. When danger presented itself and your claim over them threatened, the one came begging to me while the other couldn’t stop lusting over your competition.” Morganna paused a moment to sip her tea, feeling the liquid warm her body and sharpen her mind.
“And that gives you the right to just hand them over without a fight?” He snapped, teeth bared aggressively. While he knew better than to get into a fight with his elder sister, his anger was rather high for him to be making sound decisions.
Morganna glared at Azilon, a piercing gaze that quickly put the boy back in his place. Azilon backed off a few paces before retaking his seat in a huff. Taking another sip of her tea, Morganna folded her left arm across her torso to brace her right elbow against the back of her hand.
“Azzy, you found the one wandering around without a husband and the other one was just about forced down your throat by the royals. I’ve known you long enough to be certain that you share no interest in gaining brides, considering you’ve easily earned three and have never shown up to claim them. I worry about you sometimes, little brother.” Azilon’s features seemed to soften a bit as Morganna spoke, her facial features maintaining most of their neutrality.
“I can’t exactly blame you though, now can I? You spend a lot of time away from the masses, it’s no surprise you haven’t noticed. With the King no longer making public appearances, it seems the brothers are experiencing some kind of power struggle. They’ve done their best to keep things quiet and behind the scenes but it’s starting to bubble over and the people are noticing.” Morganna drained the rest of the tea from her cup, a delighted shiver running down her spine as she set the cup back down on the tray.
“This year’s Reaping was less about celebrating the King’s victory and more about maintaining the political relationships between the royals and the families. Imagine how nervous you must make them having earned such prizes and not collecting on any of them. It means they owe you, and that makes them squirm. Favors are a powerful tool in war… ah but it hasn’t come to that just yet.”
“Maybe another war wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It’ll give the vultures something to focus on besides me. Father too.” Morganna sighed, raising an amused eyebrow at his predicament.
“Ah Azzy, whatever am I going to do with you? Listen, do you think I would just hand off something that valuable without knowing exactly who and where they were going to? While I cannot promise you won’t have to fight for them, I can give you the information on how to find them. The rest will be up to you.”
“And your price? I know better than to assume I’m getting this information for free.” Azilon countered, staring at Morganna suspiciously.
“Good boy, looks like I have taught you something after all. FInders, keepers... I want the one you were gifted. Sound fair enough?” Morganna’s smile reflected her usual deviancy, a look that earned her a roll of the eyes from her brother.
“While I can’t possibly imagine what you would want with her, I suppose I can’t really refuse now can I? Fine, you have yourself a deal.” Without saying another word, Morganna lifted up a folded up piece of paper with Azilon’s directions. The man was quick to disappear from the room, no doubt storming off to get things over sooner rather than later.
Morganna enjoyed the silence that followed her brother’s departure for a few minutes before the servant from before returned, a guest in tow. The man that followed the servant into the room was a frequent flier of the Dantanath household, serving as both a friend as well as a business partner for several of the family members.
“Good morning Argon. It’s a little early for a social visit don’t you think, I take it you have something for me?” She motioned for the man to make himself comfortable and again to the servant to tend to whatever the man required. A few words were exchanged between the two before the servant set off to fetch whatever it was he had ordered, Morganna awaiting his new patiently.
“As observant as always I see. Got this in late last night but the client was hoping for a freebie on this one. I told him he was wasting his time, that you wouldn’t even consider the offer without a downpayment at the very least. Money arrived before dawn so I rushed over to deliver the message.” The man held up an envelope that had been sealed with a wax stamp that bore the engraving of a lesser lord on it. Taking the letter in her hand, Morganna inspected it lazily, judging all she could about her ‘mysterious’ client from what little details she had been provided.
“Not very subtle is he. Either entirely over confident in himself or he’s never done this before. How much did he give you?” She asked curiously, a smirk rising as Argon held up a small sack of money. He gave the small satchel a shake, a metallic clunk echoing about the room.
“I see, new to this then. Curious to see what sort of challenge this target presents to warrant such a reaction. You can just about smell the fear rising off the paper.” Morganna opened the envelope and began reading the proposal as the servant returned with Argon’s food, the girl sure to leave the remaining apple from Morganna’s plate as she cleared the rest of the dishes. The more Morganna read, the more interested she became, immediately recognizing details of an account from the evening before.
“Interesting. Just got one boy into trouble, seems like now I have to go get one out it.” Despite her words, Morganna sounded more amused by the situation than inconvenienced. Holding the paper away from her face she slowly made her way to and adjacent wall in the room, igniting the paper in her hand before tossing it into the cold hearth. With a snap of her fingers and a quick glance at her servant, Morganna returned to Argon’s side to inspect the money.
“A quick response will be unnecessary on this one as I’m not entirely sure I’ll be taking it yet. I’ll go and scope the situation out as a due courtesy, the man paid enough for that at least. Feel free to take some for yourself and leave the rest with my dear girl here. She’ll see to its safe keeping.” She said as the servant returned with a few items bundled in her arms. Morganna plucked the sheathed sword from the girl’s arms carefully, tethering the weapon to its place upon her left hip. On her right side, she attached a small satchel filled with throwing knives and poisoned darts to her waistband.
With her weapons in place, Morganna took the final object from the servant’s hands. It was a mask that formed perfectly to her face, hooking slightly around the shape of her horns in order to keep it in place without ties. The image it portrayed was unnerving to say the least, a grey skull that was unlike anything seen in the Drakkan homeland. A demon, even by her people’s standards.
She hesitated in putting it on, instead clipping it to her hip alongside the throwing knives. Plucking the apple from the table, she turned and bowed her head slightly in Argon’s direction.
“You are welcome as always, so be sure to let Alice here know if you need anything. My father should be getting up soon if you would like to wait for him, I’m sure he would love to talk to you.” Argon simply chuckled and extended his thanks, settling in to eat the food that had been prepared for him.
Turning on her toes, Morganna made her way out a backdoor to an enclosed courtyard. A solid stone border surrounded the house, designed to keep prying eyes away from inside activities. Taking a few steps running start Morganna pushed off the ground, using her secondary element in order to gain a little extra height as she flipped gracefully over the stonewall. Being so early in the morning, the woman wasn’t too worried about street traffic removing any need to look at where she was landing. She landed similarly as she had leapt in order to minimize the amount of sound she made, quickly glancing around before merily biting into the fruit she held in her hand.
She didn’t seem to much in a hurry as she made her way through the streets, more and more travellers joining her presence as the morning dragged on. Stalls were already open, offering clothes and jewels to decorate the prizes earned throughout the prior day. She, nor they, would be surprised if these gifts exchanged hands several times before they found their homes, but at least they would look appealing… for a while. Other wares were offered in between, lining the streets with many different sights and smells. There was truly something for everyone who visited the great city.
By this point in the morning the streets were beginning to crowd a little, most likely foreigners or Drakkan in search of their next prey, hoping to end up in any kind of fight. Morganna was careful to avoid those types, not having the interest to entertain their pointless brutality so early. She kept a sharp eye out on her surroundings, searching for any sign of her target and the inevitable trouble that was to follow.
Several men attempted to push beside her, the young woman sidestepping to avoid being trampled by the irritated group. Their eyes unabashedly scanned the streets, pushing people aside in search of what she could only assume to be her target. It was no surprise to Morganna that she wasn’t the only person called in, but she doubted these men had been paid a dime before their task was complete; a foolish move on their behalf. Finishing off her apple, the woman tossed the core away before donning her mask, and excited shiver running down her spine one more. The adrenaline had begun pumping through her veins, the anticipation of the hunt pushing her into motion.
Unlike the men who pushed their way forcefully through the crowd, Morganna trailed several paces behind on the outskirts of the crowd. All the attention would be on them, few would notice her skulking along even with the mask on. It didn’t take them long to locate their target, a rather large man who looked like he could easily snap the thugs into pieces. Morganna’s hunch was spot on, recognizing the man almost immediately before she saw his face.
Höd the Beserker. We meet again. She thought to herself triumphantly. Suspicions now confirmed, Morganna held back as a sizeable circle was made around the man. Clearly the thugs were after this man, and they didn’t seem like the type who cared who got cut down in the process.
Words were exchanged, though mostly it was the ringleader of the group that did the talking, boasting about how they were going to take the man down with ease. She couldn’t help but to laugh at such a statement.
“What do you think you’re laughing at, ape! We outnumber you, fool. Are you too stupid to see that you’re going to die here!? I, Mazus, will claim the bounty on your head!”
Unsurprisingly, Höd was unfazed by the pathetic displays at dominance. No doubt he had heard such words spoken to him countless times, empty threats that fell on bored ears. They weren’t worth his time, they were barely worth hers. But the money she had been sent had put her in a rather good mood, and her excitement wasn’t easily quenched.
“You heard him boys, he isn’t going to use a weapon. It’s time the Berserker died!”
All five assailants lunged at Höd simultaneously, showing no mercy to a man who… granted probably deserved none. Still, it was a rather sad showing and very telling of their levels of strength. They would prove to be easy opponents.
Morganna reached for the hilt of her sword, clicking a button built into the side as she unsheathed the weapon. The steel separated from one another in pieces, the weapon lashing out like a whip in the direction the of the man approaching Höd from behind. It wrapped around his raised arm, tightening as he took one step too far from her, met with a firm tug to maintain her position. Letting out a surprised shout, the group halted their advance to see where the sound was coming from.
“You see, that’s the problem with your type. The lot of you hear the promise of a reward and suddenly you think you’re a match for someone like him. Five of you wouldn’t have been enough, and now there’s only four. What will you do now?” Her voice rang clearly through the mask, catching the attention of all present; as if the weapon alone wasn’t enough.
The ringleader who had named himself as Mazus simply laughed, though to a trained ear like Morganna’s she knew it to hold a fair amount of apprehension and fear behind it.
“A friend of the Beserker’s are you? Clearly you’re as bright as he is… Count again, there are still five of us here. That’s more than enough to deal with the both of you. Maybe we’ll get paid a bonus for your head as well.” Beneath the mask, Morganna’s smile widened in response to the thug’s words.
“My mistake, it appears that I spoke just a moment too soon. Allow me to fix that for you.” Before anyone could make a move, Morganna flicked the wrist holding her weapon pulling back hard and fast against the resisting foe.
A blood curdling scream erupted from the poor man’s throat as the blades of her weapon tore deeper into the flesh of his arm, tearing against the grain of his muscles. Blood poured from the gashes, flesh hanging off the limb to expose the delicate bone beneath the surface. The sight of ivory was a satisfying one to the woman, his screams and the scent of blood driving away the weaker-willed of the bystanders. Clicking a second button on the hilt of her weapon, the extended blade pulled back together to form what looked like an ordinary sword; which she promptly flicked to remove the excess blood.
Her victim’s partners watched in horror as their friend collapsed to the ground screaming like a newborn baby. He was quite clearly out for the rest of their encounter, though even if he survived through the shock it was unlikely he would ever be able to pick up a weapon with that arm again. She doubted he even wished for survival but she would not grant him death by her hand, he would expire when the gods allowed it. Turning her gaze to the other two remaining grunts, Morganna waited patiently as they attempted to process what had happened.
“Well?! What are you morons waiting for?! Kill her, NOW!” Mazus ordered, his men turning to him hesitantly before mustering up their strength, letting out battle cries as they abandoned Höd to attack her.
“Coward, sending your men to die in your place?” She allowed them to get a few paces closer, parrying the first man’s blow with her sword to give the second time to approach. Once he was in range Morganna knelt before leaping high into the air, spinning her body around like a dancer as she tapped the button with her thumb. The result was a spiral of blades snaking their way up the torso of each man in a gruesome yet hypnotic display of skill. Another tap retracted the blade quickly causing slightly more damage as it passed through flesh to reconvene.
On her way back down she wielded the weapon as a proper sword, slashing diagonally across the first man’s torso before flipping backward over the second’s head. Her maneuver caused the man to miss his blow, momentum carrying him forward so that she could land safely behind him. The mistake would be his last as she rammed the blade clean through his chest from between his shoulder blades. She moved to reclaim her weapon from his corpse when she sensed the approach of another attacker from behind, side stepping to avoid being struck as she kicked her leg upward.
Her foot caught the brave man’s wrist knocking his scimitar from his grip, Morganna quicker in her motion to capture the weapon and using it to decapitate the unfortunate soul. Exhaling calmly, she pulled her own weapon from the second assailant and stepped lightly over to the first, burying the scimitar into his heart to be certain of death.
Much to her surprise she could still hear the screams of the very first victim, though they were much harsher than before, most likely due to shredded vocal chords. One could only scream for so long after all. Acting as if she had no concerns in the world, which to be perfectly honest, she didn’t… Morganna turned her attention back to Mazus who stared at her with what could only be described as disbelief.
The expression shifted slightly, as if he were only just then recognizing the warrior that stood before him.
“Y-you’re The Crimson Phantom, aren’t you?” Mazus would receive no response from Morganna as she turned her body toward Höd instead.
“My apologies for going overboard. I’ll save the final one for you, he did after all insult you by bringing such a pathetic force after your head.” Turning to the ringleader one last time she unclipped her mask from her face and returned it to her hip, her sword still in hand.
“Never accept a job without first being paid and never follow through on a task you cannot complete. Your death was assured when you took that bounty as not even my strength rivals a Berserker. Enjoy your trip to the afterlife.” Morganna waved to the man mockingly before nodding her head towards Höd, signalling that she had concluded her business with the man.
By the time the bounty hunter had been dealt with, Morganna had already finished cleaning off the majority of the blood on her sword. Sheathing the unique weapon, she approached Höd with a smirk.
“I’ll hand it to you, wasn’t expecting for you to be keeping your promise so soon. Not very good at fitting in with the locals though, are you?” She teased, gesturing an invitation to walk with her.
