"No. I haven’t."
Morgaine replied quietly.
"My ranking rose because I was challenged. Then they watched fight, and then they challenged more and more and more, and I kept overwhelming them."
"I’ve never challenged anyone."
She said, as White nodded quietly, finishing off a cigarette before picking up another.
"Can you tell about it?"
He asked all of a sudden as she leaned inward to light his cigarette.
"About that world you ca from. A world where fighting is only used to kill."
He asked as his cigarette caught, smoke spewing forth.
Morgaine had never been asked that question before, leaving her with almost no idea how to begin the explanation, but he helped her.
"Who were the enemies?"
"Celiprocaptors."
White had a good mory for creatures’ nas from his two lives, but still couldn’t recall anything like that.
"They’re like giant spiders with blades for legs. They move very fast, flashing forward, and in one cleave, a head rolls down."
She explained.
"Now I know where you got your lowering stance and cleaving-forward move from."
He said.
"I don’t like being attributed to them."
She replied.
"I’m just saying they’ve rubbed off on you, maybe more than you know."
He said as she exhaled.
"And your people, did they always have gems like yours?"
"No."
She said.
"I was the only one."
"Must’ve made you quite the special one amongst them."
White teased, but Morgaine’s eyes instead glead with disbelief.
"And how do you know that? They really used to see as special."
She said.
"It was a little tribe on a high grassy hill."
She began, and White listened quietly.
"It’s similar to that place Nova used to choose to read her books."
"My people were a small tribe, a total of thirty-seven people. Seventeen n, twenty won."
"We all knew each other, and even though we lived in different hos, we were still one big family."
"The n went out to hunt, and the won stayed ho and raised the children."
"That was how things were... at least from what I rember."
"But sotis one man wouldn’t show up. Then another, and then another."
"We were running out of hunters, and eventually all that remained was just one man."
"He’s the chief... and my father. He looked over us all until we grew up."
"He sohow always returned, and when I beca ten, he started bringing out to hunt."
"I realized on my third hunt that I could grow claws. Since won were never taught to fight, I never really went back ho to show my skills."
"It was sothing frowned upo by the won of the tribez even though it was also what our livelihood depends upon."
"That’s why the word sparring never really made sense to , though I began to understand it when Morgaine asked to help her train."
"Now I know... and maybe if I had a lot of that, I could have saved them..."
She paused after this, burning through about three cigarettes before continuing.
"I failed."
"You lost your father..."
White whispered.
"No. I lost everyone. It wasn’t a hunt. It was an attack."
"There was an unexplainable swarm of Celiprocaptors. I can’t rember exactly how many, but I do rember looking down the field and all the green had turned black."
"The won were easily slaughtered, and the children t the sa fate."
"I was running away, covered in blood, and ran into my father."
"He passed by, telling to run while pressing sothing into my palm, the bark of so tree or sothing."
"The fear and his shout... I just kept running and never turned back until I couldn’t run anymore and collapsed."
"When I woke up, all I had was that bark, and it held what I now know to be a map."
"Turns out my father had been trying to find us a way back to the other humans, but the path was so treacherous, I couldn’t imagine all those won and children surviving even the first day."
"It took four years of surviving in the wilderness before I ca across the blue barrier, and there... I found this world."
She recounted, and White understood.
It tied back to the history of when the Supernaturals first attacked.
Not every human could be transferred. So were stranded and had no access back to where civilization restarted.
Exploration missions to search for them had only happened a few tis before being stopped.
The Supernaturals had surrounded humanity on all sides. Venturing out ant crossing into their territory and risking even more human lives.
Morgaine’s tribe was an example of those trapped humans, unable to return to their real civilization.
"What did you swear to yourself after that?"
He asked as she paused.
"Having everything taken away by the Celiprocaptors, I can imagine an angry little girl swearing to one day wipe them all out of this world."
His words were teasing, and it made her laugh because they were true.
"You’re right. There was a ti when returning to the Celiprocaptors was all I thought about, especially when it was clear I couldn’t properly fit into this world because of how I looked and how I was raised."
"But there is soone who took away that anger and made ... . Grandma Mia. She was deeply loved in the orphanage, and she tried to take all of my pain away."
"Did she?"
White asked, finishing another cigarette.
"She did."
Morgaine admitted.
"While J still want to erase every Celiprocaptors from Earth, that’s not my true dream."
"What is your true dream?"
White asked, lighting another cigarette. She picked one up too, and he helped her light it. Smoke drifted beneath them before they leaned back and released it into the air.
"There are still Humans out there beyond the barrier, still trying to link back here."
"I wish to find them... and guide them back here."
"That’s what I plan to do after leaving Xtrecyber."
She said watching as White looked at her as if she weren’t real, then smiled.
A smile so beautiful and genuine that it sent a weird feeling in her chest making her heart beat increase.
"I..."
User Comments
0 comments from readers