As consciousness slowly clawed its way back to me, fragments of the recent past flickered through my mind. I remembered the monstrous form of the troll looming over me, the crushing sense of impending death. And then, a blur of motion — an immense force that sent the beast hurtling through the air. The last thing I recalled was a glimpse of an old woman, her figure shrouded in mystery, before darkness claimed me.
Now, I lay in an unfamiliar place, a cabin that whispered secrets in its very silence. Pain wracked my body, a stark reminder of my near-fatal encounter. The bed beneath me was soft, an odd comfort that felt out of place in my rugged existence. My eyes traced the cabin's interior, taking in the strange symbols etched on the walls and the curious artifacts that adorned the shelves, all bathed in the dim, otherworldly glow of flickering candles.
Each attempt to move sent waves of pain coursing through me. I was swathed in bandages, the fabric tight against my skin. The air was laden with a mix of herbal aromas and a subtle, underlying scent that I couldn't identify — something ancient and earthy.
The door creaked open, breaking the cabin's spell. She entered — the woman from my fragmented memory. But the frail old figure I vaguely remembered was now a younger woman, her presence commanding yet enigmatic.
"Where am I?" My voice was a hoarse croak, foreign to my own ears.
"You're in my cabin, in the heart of the forest," she replied, her voice a melody that seemed to resonate with the cabin's hidden depths. "I am Morgana, the one who saved you from death's grasp."
Her words stirred a mix of gratitude and confusion within me. "Saved me?" I echoed, the memory of the troll's impending blow vivid in my mind.
"Yes," she said, a hint of something unreadable in her gaze. "You were brave but outmatched. It was I who repelled the creature."
I processed this information, each piece adding to the puzzle of my current predicament. "My friend," I started, the word catching in my throat. The realization dawned that Lenn was no longer a friend, but a betrayer. "Lenn… did he…?" I trailed off, unable to complete the question, the sense of betrayal still raw and stinging.
Morgana regarded me with an inscrutable expression. "I saw no one else," she stated simply.
Her answer settled like a stone in my stomach. Betrayed and alone, I was now in the hands of this mysterious savior, whose motives were as obscure as the shadowed corners of her cabin.
"Why did you save me?" The question emerged from a tangle of thoughts, driven by a mix of suspicion and a desperate need to understand.
Morgana moved closer, the light playing off her features, revealing a complexity that belied her calm exterior. "You have potential, Beau. A potential that beckons to be harnessed," she said, her voice laced with an unspoken implication.
Her cryptic words hung in the air between us, a riddle wrapped in the enigma of her presence. I lay back, the effort of conversation draining my already limited strength. My mind wrestled with the situation — the pain, the betrayal, and now, Morgana, a woman of paradoxes.
As sleep began to reclaim me, I found myself adrift in a sea of uncertainty. Morgana, my rescuer, was an enigma, a figure who held both my life and a myriad of questions in her hands. The cabin, with its peculiar aura and Morgana's mysterious demeanor, felt like a place out of time, a haven or a prison — I couldn't yet tell.