On this night, Morgana was disturbed by horrible nightmares. It was enough to move even her usually calm and unperturbed heart.
She was a young girl once more, living on Merrywater Village and disputing with her elder brothers in friendly sword fights. They were stronger, of course, but speed made her an equal contender for the win.
Both of them stopped, short of breath. The result was a draw.
"That's enough, little rabbit. Take a breather. Your groom to be will arrive at any moment now. You should go home and ready yourself. Since you aren't pretty, looking tidy it's the very least you can do." - Said Edmond, the brother watching from the sidelines, joking maliciously.
Morgana felt offended. Edmond wouldn't talk to Jonah, her other brother, like this if his girlfriend was coming, and he wasn't good looking either. Was it because she was a woman?
However, there was no way she would show those emotions on her face. Edmond could be very sadistic at times. She absolutely did not intend to give him any satisfaction.
Just as Jonah was about to say something, a terrible noise filled the air, followed by fire and confusion.
"What's happening? I don't understand!" - Screamed Morgana as the world fell apart around her.
The earth cracked pulling her into the abyss and a terrible wind blew on her face from bellow.
There was something very wrong.
Morgana calmed down, regaining control over herself.
"No. This is not how it happened!" - Morgana thought very confidently as her eyes suddenly snapped open.
...
It rained very heavily.
Still on her bed but failing, all the same, Morgana acted quickly, conjuring words of power.
"Break Momentum."
As the spell took effect, her falling speed started to decrease rapidly.
But she had already been falling for hundreds of meters before taking action, having accumulated great speed. So the fall continued, although at a much slower pace.
The bed took the brunt of the impact breaking immediately, while Morgana ended up with only a twisted ankle.
She currently stood on a clearing, somewhere within the forest as a maniacal laugh echoed through the woods.
....
"Hahahahaha. Very good, very good."
A red-cloaked figure said as it clapped its hands and approached the wounded Morgana.
This was not a physical voice. Rather, it was directly transmitted to her mind.
Myriad different thoughts suddenly flashed in her mind, but her first reaction was to take a vial containing a red liquid from her robes. With a quick motion, she gulped It down and the pain on her ankle lessened.
If a battle was to take place, she needed to be in a condition to move freely.
Perhaps seeing her concern, the creature attempted to calm her down.
"There is no need to worry, little rabbit. After all, I have no intention of fighting against you. This was just a prank. We had fun together, joking around. No?"
Said him with a malicious smile. The same smile her brother had made on the dream.
For the first time Morgana had the opportunity to take a more detailed look at her opponent. He was definitely a humanoid but not a human. Beneath his red clothes she could see a pitch-black skin.
Morgana had once traveled through the Austrasian Continent in her homeworld, a land with a very hot climate where humans had much darker skin. But that color was just a very profound brown, not truly black like this person in front of her.
The irises were red, but besides this, his eyes looked normal. His most distinguishing characteristic, however, was a very large and impressive barefoot appearing on the lower part of the robe. No doubt supported by an equally massive leg.
Not a pair. Only one.
....
Even after his guarantee, the statement that he did not wish to fight wasn't enough to put her at ease.
In the short amount of time, since they met, this man had proven to be just too powerful.
Putting aside the fact he managed to transport her outside of her base and then literally lifted her through hundreds and hundreds of meters in the air, just the fact he infiltrated her mind and kept her under his control during sleep for such a long period of time, spoke volumes of his great might.
Unlike with her other capabilities, transmigrating here didn't degrade much of her mental barriers. After all she still had a very old and resilient soul, refined through a lot of hardships and challenges. Which meant that this man would have probably been able to do the same thing with her original self, the one in possession of all her powers.
But the most shocking thing of all is that he seemed to have done all of this as a practical joke. Which meant his true powers were much greater than this.
"In his eyes, I am nothing but a funny puppy."
Morgana hadn't felt this powerless in a long time. After centuries of hard work and clever planning, she achieved an incredibly high position on the power hierarchy of Northumbria. Even the mightiest forces, such as the Shadow Proclamation, wouldn't dare to face her directly, choosing to employ underhanded methods.
"This guy. As long as I don't act rashly, he will probably let me live. The higher his narcissism, the better are my chances of getting out of this situation unscathed. Who knows? Maybe I can even get some useful information."
....
They stood for a few seconds on a stalemate as the one-footed man seemed to take great pleasure from observing her helplessness. Then he finally spoke.
"You are a quiet one. Aren't you? As for myself, I am just the opposite. Once I start talking, there is no end to it. Hahahahaha."
After a brief pause, he continued.
"By the way, I have a gift for you."
"A gift?"
Morgana asked with a confused face.
"Yes. A gift. This is just my way of saying 'thanks'. Because of you a very tedious morning just turned for the better. Truly commendable. Keep up the good work."
Saying this, he gently placed a scroll case on the muddy ground and turned to leave.
"Wait!"
As Morgana called, the man stopped on his tracks.
"Who are you?"
He turned his head and gave a slight smile, looking very amused.
"Well. Let's see... I have many names. One for every mouth and another for every pair of ears willing to listen. But you can call me Saci, The Whirlwind Rider."
Finishing his sentence, his hands moved as if to grasp the air, causing an immediate response from the environment. It was as if the atmosphere itself was gleefully welcoming a long lost master.
A hurricane was formed with great might and energy, yet the surroundings remained untouched. As Saci entered it's domain and vanished. Soon after, the power of the disaster began to fade away. Crumbling on itself, a titan was both born and killed in an instant.
All of Morgana's instincts told her she had made the right choice by not provoking this monster.