Blood. That's what got me into this hell hole. I'm cured of my previously crippling disease, but now I have to fight like hell just to survive in this new world I'm in. Damn doctor...
Morrigan Downsworth was a simple woman who liked her privacy. She didn't talk to many but her closest friends and family. But one day, she caught lung cancer, and was nearly close to dying. In a last ditch attempt to save her, her family paid for a radical new treatment that was still being tested. It was a blood transfusion. The blood she was to be given would apparently give her her life back.
She didn't expect to lose it all again in the blink of an eye.
A woman lay in a bed, wearing a hospital gown as she waited with her family and friends for the doctor. Her long blonde hair was matted to her forehead with sweat, and she was breathing heavily and raggedly. Her parents grasped one of her hands tightly, while her brother and friend watched on in sadness.
"Where is that doctor? She should've been here ten minutes ago!" her father wondered, anxious.
"Probably...dicking around...with other doctors..." the woman said between pants. Her brother laughed lightly.
"She doesn't have a dick, sis," he told her, though his laugh and humor was hollow. They all knew it. For the blonde woman was on the brink of losing her life.
She was fighting hard just to stay awake. The woman laughed as well, though it was just as hollow as her brothers.
"How...do you know?" she asked, weakly wiggling her eyebrows. The occupants of the room laughed at that.
"That's my little Morrigan... Always so crude," her father said after calming down.
"Yeah. That's Morrigan alright," said her friend, a man in his early twenties, like her. A knock came from the door.
"About time," Morrigan's mother muttered under her breath.
A woman opened the door to the room, long, curly hair dyed a bright, blood red, and eyes just a tinge darker. Her skin was fair and pale, and she bore the signature overcoat of a doctor. Behind her came a nurse pulling an IV with blood in the bag.
"Morrigan Downsworth?" the doctor asked. Morrigan nodded. "I'm Doctor Revala. Are you ready for the treatment?" Morrigan nodded again. The woman smiled, some kind of gleam to her eyes. "Wonderful! Now, this nurse here is going to insert this needle into one of your blood vessels, and then we'll begin the transfusion. Alright?"
"Just...get on with it...please..." Morrigan rasped. Revala nodded. With that, the nurse tapped Morrigan's arm lightly, having to pause once or twice due to Morrigan having a coughing fit. Finally, she found a blood vessel, and inserted the needle quickly.
Morrigan winced slightly, but otherwise made no moves against the action. Then, the blood from the IV bag started to flow into Morrigan's veins, and she quickly started to feel better.
She no longer felt a pain in her chest, and she could breathe much easier now. She also felt much less weak, and immediately sat up.
"This is...This is amazing! It worked!" Morrigan cheered. But then the room started to spin. The spinning continued until Morrigan thought she would throw up, and then, just as suddenly it stopped.
She looked around, and found a horrifying sight. Her parent's eyes, mouths, and noses were weeping blood, along with her friend and brother. She screamed, but no one came. She turned to Revala to find the woman perfectly fine, and smirking, that same gleam in her eye.
"I look forward to the blood you will shed, little Morrigan. Hopefully you'll last longer than the others," the woman said cryptically, before she snapped her fingers, and Morrigan's world turned to the darkest of black.
Morrigan awoke to the sound of rain pattering against leaves, and felt the liquid impact her body. She opened her eyes to find her vision impaired by some form of mask. She also felt less of a draft from below like she did in the hospital gown, so something had happened.
Reaching for her face, she lifted the mask up, and took in her surroundings fully. She was in a dense forest, one with trees covered in moss and vines, almost like a jungle, but not quite. For one, the trees weren't as tall. For another, it wasn't abuzz with animal calls.
Standing herself up, she noticed she was wearing completely different garb. One that she recognized from a game she and her brother played.
The Bone Ash set, from Bloodborne. True to it's name, it covered her in armor fashioned from bone ash and sinew, the joints hidden by dark blue, tattered cloth lined with golden silk.
She looked down and found two likewise familiar weapons. The Threaded Cane and the Repeating Pistol. With all this new information, she realized she had been duped, somehow, someway. Naturally, her subsequent reaction to these discoveries was expected, as well as justified.
"FUCK!" she cried in anger. "What the hell do I do now!? My family is most likely dead if those rivers of blood gushing from every hole on their faces was any indication, I'm lost in an unknown area, someone took the time to strip me and redress me, doing possibly who knows what to me while I was unconscious, and it's all because of that bitch!" Morrigan fumed.
She continued like this for what felt to her like hours. Yelling, screaming, shouting varied obscenities, and even taking her anger out on the environment. Nothing was spared of her wrath, and, by the end of it, the ground was kicked up, stones were chucked at trees, and many of the few animals around fled in terror. Finally, she regained her composure and sat down, head in her hands.
"What am I gonna do? I'm alone in the wilderness in the back end of who-fucking-knows-where, no phone, no car, and no way of knowing where the hell I am! Plus, my family is now most likely dead! Damn it all to hell..."
The woman fought back her tears, but it was a fruitless effort. They started to stream from her eyes as she wept, her world having been swept away as soon as she had it back. A cruel universe, that was what she lived in. Her family, her friends, they were gone.
There was no way to bring them back. And yet... She hoped against hope she was wrong. That what she saw was fake, a dream. With that in mind, she tried to wake herself up. She tried pinching herself, even shaking her head like her friend George told her to do when having a nightmare, but nothing worked.
This was real, and she was terribly, utterly alone. Tears flowed anew from her eyes, and she wailed. The world she knew was gone now. There was only pain and suffering ahead.
Then, she heard a deep, rumbling growl from behind her. Turning her gaze to whatever lay behind her, she shrunk back in fear. For there, in front of her, was a lycanthrope, straight from Bloodborne.
The beast growled again, drool leaking from it's maw and claws ready to rend and tear. It lunged at her without warning, and she was forced to dodge. She nearly didn't make it, but somehow she managed. She picked up the weapons on the ground, and shakily readied herself for a fight.
The beast roared and lunged again, but Morrigan stopped it with the Cane. It pushed her back, gnawing on the cane now in it's mouth, biting wildly, trying to dislodge it. Morrigan fought back as much as she could, but the thing was strong, and forced her onto her back.
This is it, she thought. I'm going to die here. Tears once again streamed from her eyes as she thought this, before she felt a surge of anger well up in her.
No...No! Fuck that! I'm not gonna just roll over and let that bitch win! Not a chance in hell! With that, the woman pushed back with renewed strength, actually pressing the lycanthrope back.
With an anger fueled kick, she launched the beast off of her, the fires of rage now blazing brightly in her emerald eyes. She whipped the Cane out, pressing a button on the top, turning it into it's second form, a bladed whip.
She whirled it overhead, before cracking it at the beast, striking it on the nose and drawing blood. A howl of pain came from it, but she didn't stop, she whipped it again, and again, and again, slicing, dicing, and cutting into the savage beast's flesh and hide, not letting up for a moment as her anger burned.
She yelled like a savage, crying her rage and wrath to the world and heavens above, crying her will to survive, to show the world, the universe, that she would not back down. That she would not be beaten.
Her motions were a blur, and she scarcely recognized the lump of bloody flesh that was the beast now, which was beyond dead. But she continued, she continued until her arm was sore, and then, and only then, did she stop and collapse to her knees. She gazed over herself, form shaking with adrenaline and covered in blood.
The Hunt...had begun for her.
A group of anthropomorphic pony hunters turned their gazes to the west, having heard the sounds of roaring, howling, and yelling.
The telltale signs of a fight. The two pony Hunters glanced at each other, a stern look shared between them.
"You heard that, right, Night Glider?" asked one Pegasus, his wings shifting behind him.
"Yeah, I heard it, Whistle Blower" Night Glider, the dark blue furred mare replied, standing tall at just under five foot nine. Her large, cyan eyes were alight with a storm of thought.
The mare's pure white mane was blown backwards, and styled well, light, grayish blue streaks in it. She wore a heavy trench coat, a mask covering her muzzle while her feet were covered in black leather boots. Two weapons were in either of her hands. On her right, an axe, and on the other, a simple pistol.
"Should we check it out?" Whistle Blower asked, his purple fur riddled with scars and his black Church robes stained with the blood of beasts. His sleek black mane was wild and unkempt, mirroring his lack of sleep. His large, brown eyes glanced to his partner in question.
In his right hand was a small, silver sword, on his back it's bladed and decorated sheath, while in his left hand was a blunderbuss.
"Yeah. Could be a civillian," Night Glider nodded. With that, the duo set out for the direction of the sounds of fighting.
Starswirl was studying the moon above, trying to discern some higher truth from it's holy glow.
Alas, like every other night the moon was full, he found nothing. No spark of ancient, untold and higher wisdom, no Insight, nothing. He scowled and threw his instruments across his study, the fountain pen flying across the room and splattering ink around, and his charts fluttering to the hard wood floor below.
"Blast it all..." he cursed. He sighed, the many bells on his robes and hat jingling with the motion of his body. His silvery grey beard and fur seemed to glisten in the light of the moon, shining through a large, open window. His beard was wild and wiry, and his golden eyes had bags under them. "Alright, it will be alright. I simply have to keep trying. Nothing worth doing is done without serious effort, after all," he assured himself.
That was when he felt it. When his horn sparked, as if in recognition of something. Something very powerful. His dim golden eyes darted to the window, in the direction of the forest miles away. His blue, star speckled robes moved with the action, which in turn caused the many bells to jingle once more. "Hmmm..." he hummed. "It seems something new has arrived..."
Morrigan had just started to calm down from her outburst, and was trying to figure out what to do next. She thought about trying to find civilization, but realized that if she had the apparel and equipment from Bloodborne, then other elements of the game might be present too. And she did not fancy her chances against a horde of bloodthirsty beasts ready to tear her limb from limb. No, she decided that she would rather stay away from all that. With that in mind, she looked over herself again, noting her blood soaked clothes.
First order of business, though. A bath. Maybe there's a body of water nearby, she thought. At that, she set off to find said body of water. It was as she was leaving the clearing that she heard the bushes to her side rustle. Thinking quickly, Morrigan dashed behind some overgrowth, hiding herself in case it was another beast. What she didn't expect was for two bipedal horses to emerge from the trees and bushes. They looked like humans in the way that they had hands and feet, but that was where the similarities ended.
First of all, they had fur of two different colors, ones Morrigan knew couldn't be normal. Second, they had muzzles and ears and tails like horses, along with manes, but the manes and tails were also vastly different. The female, Morrigan noted, had dark blue fur, while the male had purple fur riddled with scars. The mare had a blown back white mane and tail, her muzzle covered partially with a mask.
The stallion had a black mane and tail, his mane rather unkempt. Furthermore, they both had wings protruding from their backs. They also bore the equipment and garb of Hunters from the game. The stallion had the Black Church garb, while the mare had the signature Hunter set shown on the cover art of the games case. Morrigan had but one thing to say about this new development.
"What...the fuck?" she whispered to herself. Where the hell did that bitch send me to? I don't remember Bloodborne having bipedal horses! This was when the horses did something Morrigan was not expecting.
"Hmm, a Hunter was definitely here..." the stallion hummed in thought, noting the body of the lycanthrope, or what remained of it.
"It's barely recognizable now. Whoever was here must've been angry...or is close to turning," the mare noted, checking the body to see if it was still warm. "It's still warm, and the blood is fresh. They can't be far."
"Right, let's look around," the stallion affirmed as the two looked for anymore signs of Morrigan. Morrigan was sweating bullets, and was beyond surprised that the bipedal horses could talk. But she kept her mouth shut. After all, she didn't know what they would do if they found her.
Time passed, and the two continued their search. Eventually, Morrigan decided she needed to get away before she was caught, and tried to sneak away without too much noise. Sadly, she stepped on a twig, snapping it and bringing the two pony Hunters attention to her position.
"Over there!" the Church Hunter cried, and the two rushed towards her. In response, Morrigan yelped and ran. Trees and low hanging branches whipped past her, and she was forced to duck under a fair a few. A few tree stumps loomed ahead, but she vaulted over them. Thistles and thorns scraped at her clothes, but thanks to them being made tough, they did not tear. Still, she would retain a few scrapes.
Eventually, Morrigan came upon a rickety rope bridge over a ravine, and without a second thought, she rushed over it. She had no time to be careful, which costed her. She nearly fell off a few times, but thankfully made it to the other side. She turned just in time to see the other Hunters emerge from the trees, and out of desperation, Morrigan whipped out her Cane and cut the ropes of the bridge, causing it to fall before the other Hunters could get to her. She smirked at her victory, seeing that they were now standing on the other side of the ravine, staring at her.
She mockingly waved goodbye with a, "See ya, fuckers!" ,before turning around and running again.
After a short while of running through the forest, she stopped with her hands on her knees, gasping for air.
"Damn... I need to work out more..." she noted, panting. After regaining her breath, she took in her surroundings. Her eyes widened as she saw countless overgrown and abandoned buildings all around her, the forest seemingly having taken what it lost back. Cobblestone roads lined the ground, but they were so overgrown and covered in moss, grass, and weeds that it was hard to tell it was there.
Houses looking to be from the early Victorian era had trees sprouting from within them, standing tall and proud out of their roofs, their roots spread all over the buildings. Fountains holding so much algae and weeds still flowed with water, but it was a minimal amount.
And farther ahead lay a large, ruined castle, crumbling under the weight of countless trees, vines, and no doubt nests of several different animals. Morrigan stood in awe as she took in the sight, never having seen such degradation in her life.
She started to explore, gazing at every sight that remained of the once proud city. As she walked, she came upon a group of skeletons, all laying in a pile in front of what must have been a town square once. They were bereft of any clothing, having likely been eaten away by moths and the like. There were sticks, pitchforks, and shovels all around them, but one item in particular stood out more than the rest.
It was still in the grasp of a skeleton, one at the front of the pile. The weapon appeared to be a double bladed axe, but the blade was flat and shaped like a rectangle. The haft was made of what must have been black ash wood, reinforced with steel and iron, and engraved on it were the words, 'Split the blighter's in two!' Curious, Morrigan pried it from the skeleton's grasp, figuring they had no use of it any longer.
Albeit, it was certainly unnerving for her to basically loot a corpse, but she pushed that to the back of her mind in the name of her survival. She examined it closely, testing it's weight. She noted that while it was a greataxe, it was surprisingly lightweight. It still had enough weight that she would need to practice using it, but not enough that she would have to drag it across the ground. She admired the weapon, seeing the beauty in it's simplicity.
"I think I'll name you... Split Axe," she said with a smile, before looking for somewhere to place it. "Hmm..." She hummed in thought. She glanced about for something to strap it to her, and found what she sought on another skeleton. It was a simple leather harness, but she could fashion it to contain the axe.
After a short while of configuring things, Morrigan had successfully secured the Split Axe to her back. With that settled, she looked towards the castle and began making her way through the overgrown cobblestone streets towards it.
Morrigan was currently exploring the massive abandoned castle, and so far, she had found little that told her where she was or why there was anthropomorphic horses running around.
She was trying to find a library, but had only found the kitchens, servants quarters, and barracks, as well countless secret doors and exits, which she made a mental note of in case she had to make a run for her life.
She walked the decrepit halls, extending further into the bowels of the castle like man-made intestines of stone brick and mortar. Potted plants, expensive vases, and various busts of ponies lay on pedestals spanning the length of the hall between pillars.
Stands of rusting and crumbling armor, both gold and blue, dotted a few areas along the walls, but Morrigan paid little mind to them.
No, she was more focused on the crooks and crevices created by the passage of time in the walls, where beasts of all kinds could slink out of the shadows and surprise her.
Thankfully, none appeared. So, she continued her search, and, after much walking, finally came upon a set of doors. It was made of pure, gray wood, with a blue crescent surrounded by what could only be called an inkblot in the center.
Curious, Morrigan grabbed the handles and opened the doors. What she found inside was what would have been an immaculate bedroom, if not for the fact that there was a gaping hole running from part of the ceiling to the floor, which allowed moonlight to shine in.
There was a large, royal blue bed covered by rotting drapes hanging from a frame, and light blue pillows lay against the headboard.
A large, mahogany desk lay on the far side of the room by the hole, and a bookshelf was next to it. On the desk was a small, midnight blue book with a clasp. Interested, Morrigan approached the desk and picked up the book, flipping to the first page.
Twilight Age: 4th Year - 5th Month, 22nd Day
It hath been two months since the discovery of the, "City Under The Stone," as Tia calls it, and this strange pendant hath never once left my side. It still emits a faint glow under the light of my moon, and despite countless hours of research, we cannot discern why.
Mayhaps it is some charmed pendant, once kept by a child or soldier? A priest? It is unclear. The magic within is even more a mystery, for tis of no kind we recognize.
I believe I shall bring it to Master Starswirl again, just to see if we can find anything.
Morrigan blinked at the names that were written. 'Starswirl'? She couldn't imagine any parent naming their child such a thing.
But the "City Under the Stone", had her interest piqued. If this world had paralells to Bloodborne, then...
"It must be this world's equivalent of the Chalice Dungeons..." she surmised. She groaned, realizing she really was in a new world. "I get the feeling shit's only going to get worse from here..." She sighed and placed the book down, gazing around the room. "Well, it may be wasting away, but it's better than nothing," she mused as she walked over to the bed, letting herself fall onto it.
The resulting coughing fit from the now dispersing dust served to remind her she'd need to do some real work to make this her base.
"Ugh... I fucking hate you, universe..." she groused as she recovered from her fit of coughs. She sighed deeply as she made herself comfortable on the large bed. 'Well, at least it's big and soft.' She noted mentally as she snuggled under the covers. 'I'm just gonna sleep and let future me deal with this bullshit. Too tired right now.'
And with that, she closed her eyes and let sleep take her.
It had been six days since Morrigan had made the crumbling castle her home. Six days of mind-numbing reading through countless books in the castle's library. She had taken more than a few hours just trying to find it, but since she had, she'd fallen asleep whilst scanning the texts more than twice. Albeit, she had found out a lot more about this world. And what she found didn't help her spirits in the least.
For one, the world was populated by not just talking anthro horses, but anthro dragons, dogs, bug ponies, and then a few added mythical creatures like griffons, minotaurs and the like. So, in short, she was not likely to be going back to Earth anytime soon.
The rest of what she found only furthered her despair, and with good reason. The world was filled with diseases, no thanks to lack of knowledge about hygiene and such, and thus illnesses were abound. Which meant this world's version of The Healing Church from Bloodborne had gotten just as much power and influence as the one in the game had. Which meant the Beast Plague was all over the world.
Morrigan had taken a full day to work out her stresses and think about her situation in the castle's bath upon learning that. Her despair and dismay still lasted throughout the rest of the days, but, she had maintained her determination to survive. Already, she had disposed of a number of nests Beasts had made in various parts of the castle, and she seemed to be doing well.
If it weren't for the fact that she was very much so in need of training. Hence why she was out in the barrack's of the castle, where a number of training dummies were. She was currently trying to work on splitting the Split Axe more quickly, as it was hard for her to do in combat without the possibility of getting hit.
"Ugh, why is this..." she wiped some sweat from her brow. "...so damned hard to get down?! I've been at this for half a fucking day!" She sighed deeply as she regained her breath slowly, reattaching the twin axes of the Split Axe and placing it on her back. "Fuck it, that's it for today. I'm too tired for this shit." It was as she was saying this that she heard a distant boom and crash from further in the castle. "Fuck, must be another Beast." She cursed before rushing out of the barracks and towards where she heard the sound come from.
After a fair amount of running, she saw the monster, skin pale as snow and covered in small patches of rotting fur, with a head so small it was hard to tell if it had one at all. It was tall, taller than any being she'd seen, even though it was hunched over.
"Shit..." she cursed as the Yeti turned towards her. Ir roared in challenge and grabbed a piece of the rubble it had created from smashing through the wall. Morrigan readied her Cane.
The Yeti tossed the rubble, and Morrigan dodged to the side of it, before rushing in to close the distance. She whipped out her Cane, the many blades on it cutting into the pale flesh of the Yeti's leg. It cried out in pain, before stomping with it's good leg, spraying stone everywhere that knocked Morrigan down. The Yeti then grabbed another piece of rubble and readied it to smash her where she lay.
Morrigan raised her arms to shield herself, only for a deafening boom to sound out, causing the Yeti to stagger forwards. Morrigan looked behind the Yeti to see what looked to be a Zebra wearing a black, fur cloak with a leather hood and simple bandages and a pair of black leather pants to cover her modesty. She wielded a pistol in her left hand and what Morrigan guessed was the Beasthunter Saif.
The Yeti turned towards the assailant and rushed her, a rumbling roar echoing from its throat. The mare simply side stepped and cut the Yeti's leg clean off, and before it could finish it's howl of pain as it fell, she jumped on it, driving her blade into it's heart with the momentum, allowing it to fall and let the blade sink further as it roared and howled in pain, before swiftly pulling it out, pointing her pistol at it, shooting the heart, then driving the blade into it's skull, ending it's life for good.
After it stopped twitching, she pulled her blade out, then jumped off of the carcass and sheathed her weapon, walking towards Morrigan.
"What kind of Hunter are you? You do not slay like a Hunter true. You should be able to do as I do," the mare rhymed as she approached, her tone deep, mysterious, and yet melodious. Morrigan shoved the stone off of her and grasped her weapons in anticipation of attack. The mare stopped her advance. "I am not here to kill. I came only to end that beast's howls so shrill."
Morrigan relaxed somewhat, but kept her hand on her weapon.
"Who are you?" she asked. The mare removed her hood, revealing her striped mohawk and muzzle, golden ring earrings on her ears and more golden rings around her neck.
"I am Zecora, of the forest and flora," the mare, now known as Zecora, introduced.
"What do you want?" Morrigan queried next, grip on her weapons loosening just a tad.
"Originally, to investigate the howls that were to my home so near. Now? To discover why you are here," Zecora answered truthfully, hand on her hip.
"I..." Morrigan paused for a moment. "I... don't have anywhere to go." Her grip on her weapon loosened further.
"Hmm..." Zecora hummed. She looked up at the sky, then back to Morrigan. "Why don't we converse inside? You can reveal to me there that which you hide." Morrigan hesitated. On the one hand, this was the first being she had met in this world that didn't chase her or try to eat her, but on the other hand, she could just be trying to get her to let her guard down.
After a few tense moments, Morrigan released her grip on her weapon entirely.
"Fine. Follow me, but don't try anything," Morrigan warned as she started to walk down the hall. Zecora smiled and followed.
Seven long weeks had passed since Zecora had visited Morrigan at the castle, and since then, Morrigan had undergone an intense training regimen under the Zebra. They had become close in that time, Zecora learning of Morrigan’s plight and how she came to this blighted world, and Morrigan in turn learning even more about the new world around her.
Morrigan was happy to have someone around to remind her she wasn’t alone, but at the same time, she still wished, nay, longed, to see another human again. She missed her family, her friends, but she knew there was no getting them back. Death was not something one could cheat. She had learned that years ago, and even if it meant getting them back, she did not want to see them put through that kind of pain.
These thoughts and more swirled in Morrigan’s head as she lay in her bed, the one she had found on her first day in this horrible world. She stared up at the ceiling, it’s night sky murals simply making her feel more lost and alone. She sighed deeply and turned over, resolving to get some sleep for another day of training.
*thunk* “Ow!” Morrigan exclaimed after something hard fell on her head. She saw a small rock skitter to a stop on the ground from the corner of her eye.
‘Even the damn rocks of this world are out to get me. Great,’ Morrigan thought angrily as she sat up on the bed.
She reached down to the rock and then got ready to fling it out the open window across from her bed before she was stopped by something she did not expect.
“I’m not really much for giving speeches.” Morrigan froze at the voice that suddenly spoke up. “I don’t like stating absolutes. Things can change, people can change, and those changes can make it so that anything I state now may be completely wrong in the future.” Morrigan looked around frantically for the voice. “So I’ll just say this.” She then looked down at the rock and saw it was pulsing a dull red, and her eyes widened. “I am the dragon known as Baelor. Should you need my help, ask, and I’ll hear it. Should you like to visit though, toss this stone into the air, gather your courage, and catch it. I look forward to seeing those that catch the stone.”
Morrigan stared down at the stone that rested in her palm for a few moments in dumbfounded stupor.
“Uhhh…” she droned out dumbly. “Am I going insane after all this bullshit or did I just hear a rocktalk to me?” she wondered aloud.
The rock continued to sit there, for its message had been delivered, and it felt no inclination to do any more out of the ordinary for a rock. Morrigan turned it over in her palm a few times, before she jokingly asked the rock, “Hey, Baller-or-whatever, mind telling me why your rock just spoke to me? Maybe come here like a man and explain face to face?”
The rock pulsed red again with a sort of high pitched whine for a few seconds before something to Morrigan’s left appeared. Some sort of pulsing rift or something was glowing in the corner of her room.
Then, to Morrigan’s surprise, something came out of the portal… and then immediately tripped and skidded across the floor on its neck and chin.
“Urgh…” The creature groaned in slight pain. “Now I know why everyone jumps through. It’s got some kind of rim on it.” Morrigan thought she heard it mutter.
“What. The. Fuck?!” Morrigan screeched.
The dragon winced and lifted its head up and looked directly at her with its amber eyes. “You okay there?” It asked her.
“OHOHO FUCK NO!” Morrigan jumped out of her bed and immediately started throwing any object she could find at what she thought was a Beast.
“WHOA-! HEY-! NO-! HEY-! STOP-! EEEE-! SHIT-!” The beast yiped as it dodged each of the objects she threw at it.
Morrigan pulled herself out of her initial panic and grabbed her cane and slashed at the beast with it.
“Fuck!” It cussed as it managed to roll backwards and away from her first slash. It stood up and reared up on its hind legs, spreading them apart. Morrigan went to slash again but a flash of silver and a hard, painful impact with her hand knocked the cane out of her grip.
“Alright, that’s it. Knock that the fuck off!” The beast ordered, he pulled back on a chain of some sort and it wrapped itself back around his front claw and forearm.
“Fuck you! I’m not letting some overgrown lizard eat me!” Morrigan retorted, making a dash for the Split Axe.
She’d only taken one step before she jerked to a halt from having ice encompass her legs and lower torso.
“Okay, one, I’m not going to eat you. Two, I take offense that you think I would. Three, you’re not that skilled at fighting so you wouldn’t be able to stop me if I did want to eat you, which I don’t. And four, chill out, pun intended,” The dragon listed off as he settled back down onto four legs.
“And why should I trust you?” Morrigan growled.
The dragon deadpanned. “You’re encased up to your waist in ice and I haven’t done anything else to you yet. Is that enough proof that you can trust me to not kill you? Cause I’d like to be able to talk to you without having to hold you down and restrain you,” He asked her.
“Only if you let me go,” Morrigan told him.
“Okay, I can do that. But you have to also promise to not immediately try to kill me again.” The dragon compromised.
Morrigan grunted, but the dragon took that as a sign of cooperation, and then the ice just dissipated into air, allowing her to stand upright on her own. She shivered as the ice left her body, but crossed her arms all the same.
“So, who are you? And what are you doing here?” she asked him guardedly.
The dragon sighed in relief. “My name is Baelor, and I’m a dragon… probably not too hard to figure that out for yourself though. And as for what I’m doing here; you summoned me with my token.” He stated simply.
“I did?” Morrigan blinked at this.
“Yeah, you did. My token is a kind of plain looking rock, and it should have given you a kind of quick speech about who I am and how you can summon me for help, etcetera-etcetera,” Baelor explained.
“Huh.” Morrigan said simply, remembering the talking rock again.
“Not to mention I heard you on my own world right before you summoned me. I’m not sure whether to be flattered you thought my name was “Baller”, or offended that you screwed it up that bad,” Baelor added while he gave a smirk.
“Yeah, well… I’m a douche,” Morrigan pointed out as she relaxed her stance more. “Anyway, what was that about me not being trained to fight?”
“I was trying to get you to stop attacking me. Although, in hindsight, telling someone “hey, I could have killed you already if I wanted to” in order to calm them down is a pretty bad way to go about it,” He answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with a claw.
“Yeah… that definitely didn’t help things, even if you didn’t say it that bluntly the first time,” Morrigan conceded. Baelor’s willingness to converse started to get her to calm down somewhat. Then something he said registered to her. “Wait… you heard me on “your world?” You mean that there’s more out there besides just Earth and wherever we are now?” She asked him in surprise.
He tilted his head to one side in thought. “... I’m guessing that you’re not familiar with the Multiverse Theory?” He asked her.
“Multiverse? Well, yeah, I’ve heard of it, but I don’t really remember the specifics,” Morrigan admitted.
“It’s an idea someone came up with that every choice or possibility exists in parallel or alternate timelines. And that most ideas and stories that people come up with are just feedback from those alternate worlds leaking into our own world and into our minds. So things like comic books, movies, cartoons, they all exist at some place or some time all across the multiverse,” Baelor explained.
Morrigan took a moment to file this info away for later. “So how do you fit into this? You said I summoned you with your token. How did you manage to do that?” Morrigan asked him.
Baelor shrugged, or what looked like one from his quadrupedal stance. “Overall, I didn’t have much control over that. I used one of my abilities to make the message for my token, but someone else sent it out into the void. And then it just gets duplicated and dropped into other people’s worlds at random. If someone invokes the summon, like you did, a rift opens up near me, and I just step through… or at least that’s how it happened with you. Whatever higher power is in charge of the summons might decide to do something different every time for the lulz for all I know.” He added with an unsure frown.
Morrigan shook her head in puzzlement. “But why is this stuff happening? What’s the point? Why did this happen to me?” She asked him, clenching her fist in frustration.
His face morphed into one of sympathy. “I know. I’ve asked myself those questions hundreds of times already. The best idea I can come up with is that we were just unlucky enough to be picked out by Void Dwellers and tossed into these worlds to become Displaced.” Baelor empathized.
“Void Dwellers? Displaced? What?” Morrigan was becoming more confused by the second.
“Void Dwellers are… things, that exist in the space between the timelines and worlds: The Void. Stronger ones are able to pluck people or objects from different worlds and move them to other ones. And that’s what we are. People that have been moved from our own world and dropped into another. Displaced to another world,” He explained patiently.
“Wait, so does that mean that you’re… used to be-?”
“Human? Yes. And I got turned into a dragon when I got displaced,” Baelor said, guessing at what she was asking.
Morrigan put a gloved hand to her forehead before needing to sit on her bed. This was a lot of information, and none of it was encouraging. “Is there any chance of me getting home?” She murmured.
“It’s possible.” Morrigan looked up at Baelor. “I’ve heard of some Displaced that managed to get back to their own world. But they also had a lot of things working in their favor as well. Usually they have large amounts of magic or are just turned into something that can traverse between timelines when they’re Displaced. But most Displaced don’t manage to get back to their own world.” He told her.
Morrigan drooped down in disappointment.
“Hey, don’t give up hope on it just yet. From how you’re reacting to everything, I’d take a guess that you only just recently got Displaced. Am I right?” Baelor asked her. She nodded. “Then that means you’re better off compared to most other Displaced. A lot of us end up getting stuck in stone or imprisoned for a thousand years, so we just kind of give up on going back after that because we just have nothing to go back to at the point we’re freed.” He said in an attempt to keep her thinking positive.
Morrigan sighed. “Okay.” She said in response. “Then… What was your story? Did you play with a bad dragon dildo or some shit?” Morrigan asked with a small grin.
Baelor glanced away. “... Let’s just say I wasn’t bored while I was trapped, and leave it at that.” He answered cryptically, his body language seeming to say that he doesn’t want to talk about it. Then he seemed to shake it off and focused back on her. “So, does this mean you’re willing to trust me now?” He asked her. She tilted her head back and forth in thought.
“Well, kinda. A bit hard since you’ve been staring at me like a perv the whole time we’ve talked,” she said, gesturing to the fact he was staring right at her chest. “Seriously, I know dragons have big libidos, but control it, please. I have standards.” She said with a small smirk.
Baelor deadpanned at her. “I’ve been a dragon for probably fifty times longer than I’ve been a human. I’m not even sure whether things like that on a human even stir things like that in me anymore.” He replied. She stared right back at him. After a short while, she pointed to her face.
“Eyes are up here. Seriously, you’re still staring at my chest. Whether you feel like that or not, you’re still staring. It’s uncomfortable, dude. I may be hot as hell and wearing night clothes, but seriously,” she told him.
Baelor shook his head a bit. “Sorry. Old habit from fighting. I’m not used to making eye contact with others.” He told her, finally looking up into her eyes.
Morrigan quirked a brow up. “Why’s that?” She asked.
“Because the eyes are the gateway into the soul,” He answered. “Staring into another person’s eyes may end up making you get lost in them while they take the time to take advantage of your distraction.” He explained.
Morrigan blinked. “I’m not sure if you’re going all Souls fan on me or are complimenting my eyes and hitting on me.” She chuckled. “Either way it’s kinda cute.”
Baelor frowned. “I’m not doing either of those. And that wasn’t meant to be a compliment. Staring into another’s eyes is dangerous, for various reasons that are just hard to explain.” Baelor warned her.
She stared right back at him for a bit, before bursting out laughing, holding her sides. “Oh, oh my God, you’re serious! Fuck, man, that whole spiel was a joke! I was playing you the whole time! My God you’re priceless!” she laughed harder, falling to her back.
Baelor blinked, then lightly facepalmed with a sigh. “Well I’m so very glad me trying to give you advice is so amusing to you.” He said sarcastically.
Morrigan continued to laugh for a bit longer before calming down.
“Got that out of your system?” Baelor asked with a wry grin.
“Hehe, yeah. Thanks. I really needed that after everything I’ve been through,” Morrigan thanked him.
“Laughter is a great stress reliever,” Baelor responded with a nod.
“So, what do you plan to do now that you’re here?” Morrigan asked him.
“Well, if you’d let me, I’d be perfectly fine with helping you out with whatever you need for now. Then, when you’re ready, I’ll just head home. Or to be more specific, you’ll send me home with the sentence “Baelor, our contract is complete” and whatever force drives the use of tokens and summons will pull me through a rift back to my own world.” He instructed.
“Huh. Well, I could use a bit of help with a lot of things, really. For one, my fighting style and stuff, of course. For the others… Mostly how the hell to use the tools that Zecora gave me. Ya know, Hunters tools and all that, for making stuff. From Bloodborne,” Morrigan told him. “Any ideas on how to get a Blood Gem to not slip all the time or break when you try to infuse it into a weapon? Or how the hell I’m supposed to etch runes into my damn mind?”
Baelor shrugged. “Best way I know on how to learn to use things you’re given as a Displaced is to just experiment until something works. It eventually starts working for us one way or another.” Baelor answered.
“Dude,” Morrigan said, giving him a dead stare. “This is fucking Bloodborne, the shit that was inspired by H.P. Lovecraftian horror. Me making a mistake could almost definitely mean I go insane, or I get ripped between the Nightmare dimensions and reality. I am not going to just fiddle with it until I know what I’m doing. If I have to force you to do it yourself so I don’t die, I will, because, to be fair, I just met you.”
Baelor sighed patiently. “I don’t really know what to tell you. I may have played the game a long time ago, but I don’t recall all the details about it. I’m not even sure if the “respawn” system when you die works here. This is real life after all, not a game. If you die here, you could die for good for all we know. But,there is one thing I do know for certain.”He paused in thought. She quirked a brow.
“Wassat?” she asked.
“Every world one of the Displaced is sent to is always a version of Equestria. A world from the TV show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and-oh come on! It’s not that funny!” Baelor tells her as she bursts out into laughter again.
“Bitch it’s hilarious!” she said, before noticing that his tail was moving around a bit, like he was irritated. She idly stared at it in silent curiosity before seeing him looking at her with a bit of annoyance. “What? You stared at my boobs, so I’m staring at your ass. Fair game, dude.”
“Alright. I suppose that’s fair. I didn’t expect you to actually be interested in something that walks on four legs though. My mistake.” He said to her with half-lidded eyes, a small smirk grew on his face.
She blinked then blushed, and suddenly kicked him in the side. “Sh-Shut up, pervert, I don’t roll that way.”
He just burst out laughing. “I know. But turnabout’s fair play.” He told her while chuckling. She blushed more, grumbling to herself.
“Fucking stupid semi-sexy dragon…” she grumbled, crossing her arms.
Baelor didn’t look like he heard her. “Anyway, getting back on topic. All Displaced get sent to a version of Equestria, whether it mirrors how the show goes, or is drastically changed to fit into another genre, like Bloodborne,” He said with a nod at her threaded cane off to the side. “So that means that you’re going to encounter elements from both of them, be they enemies, friends, or events that occur. And that means that everything you think you might know about Bloodborne, may not actually apply here. Things might have developed differently over the course of this world’s history.” He explained to her, getting back to his neutral/serious face. She hummed in thought.
“Well, that explains the beasts that Zecora told me about that I’d never heard of. Like the Bloodstalker Shriek. It’s like a Shriek from Dragon Age, but it flings poisonous blood at you with it’s claws, and can smell a living animal or biped or what have you from apparently miles away. And they move quickly and quietly,” Morrigan shivered. “The images were not pretty.”
Baelor nodded. “Equestria is usually filled with creatures from both myth and fantasy, so this world is sure to have a lot more monsters that will come at you in the wilderness.” He looked down in thought. “Come to think of it… it might be really bad if guys like Tirek turn into beasts.” He added.
“Tirek? He honestly sounds like a hunk with that name,” she noted idly, then promptly spared a glance to Baelor’s ass and back to his face.
Baelor rolled his eyes at her comment. “I’d suggest you avoid him. He was sealed in Tartarus in the original show for a reason, and almost managed to take over Equestria too. The only reason he lost was because of the fact that the show was geared towards little girls, so the writers had to write in another deus ex machina to beat him.”
Morrigan blinked. “Huh. Sounds neat. Bloodborne did something similar, though it wasn’t a deus ex. Basically, you eat three umbilical cords, you become immune to a Great One’s mind control, and then you fight it and kill it, then become one yourself.”
Baelor nodded. “Yeah. I remember that. Moon Presence is what it was called, I think. But Tirek, when he was beaten, topped anything I saw in Bloodborne in terms of raw power. The largest thing I remember fighting in Bloodborne was Amygdalla. And Tirek was easily twice or even thrice as big as it, and also had magic blasts that made an Amygdalla’s beam attack look like a laser pointer. The only upside to Tirek is the fact that he’s only able to become that strong by absorbing all the magic from every living thing in Equestria, including the five beings that can be considered gods. Four alicorns and a draconnequs.” Baelor described.
“Well… Shit, scaly-fo-drooly,” she said. She noted then that she was still in her nightgown, which was borrowed from Zecora and thus, covered little and left little to the imagination. She blushed at this. “IIIn the meantime, I’mma change.” As she left, he smelt a flowery yet sweaty aroma in the air.
Morrigan heard Baelor sniff the air and turned her head to see him staring at the wet spot on her bed. Then he looked up at her with widened eyes, back to her bed, and then back up at her. Then he silently stood up, and walked out of the room.
Morrigan gave a small giggle at this. ‘Awww. He didn’t point it out. He’s such a gentleman… gentledragon.’ She thought to herself.
She changed into her gear quickly, then walked out into the room outside to see him standing outside. He turned to look at her when she stepped out. “So… what else do you need help with?” He asked her, no sign of his previous flustered state showing.
“You mentioned something about me not being able to take you on in a fight. If you’re so confident, why don’t you try teaching me what you know?” Morrigan asked.
Baelor looked upwards in thought, then nodded. “Alright. I’m going to need to take a few days to go over the basics of using free-swinging weapons like my whips or your threaded cane, but after that, I’m going to need to leave. I’m worried how the others back in my world are reacting with me gone. I kind of left with no warning.” He told her.
“Great! Thanks for this Baelor,” Morrigan thanked him with a smile.
“Don’t worry about it… uh… huh. I… never actually got your name. Sorry about that,” He noted sheepishly, scratching the back of his head with one of his wing talons.
Morrigan laughed. “Yeah, hard to get my name when I’m screwing with your head!” She said. “It’s Morrigan.” She introduced.
Baelor smiled thankfully. “It’s nice to meet you Morrigan.” He held out his claw. “And for future reference, feel free to just call me Bael.” He told her.
Morrigan shook his claw. “Alright, Bael, let’s get to work then.” She said with a smirk.
After they left Morrigan’s room in the old castle, they walked outside and the next few hours were spent with Baelor teaching Morrigan some of the basics of using her cane and other aspects of battle. She had learned a good amount from Zecora, but Baelor took it to whole other level.
“Keep your weapon in motion. When swinging a whip, or a chain, or a flail, or anything else that swings freely from where you hold it, all of its power comes from how taugt the chord is from its momentum,” Baelor instructed Morrigan as she spins it around her on one side and then her other, completely different from how the game portrayed the threaded cane.
Morrigan panteds as she did as told, sweat lining her brow. “Like this?” she queried, whipping the cane in one direction and then moving her hand the opposite direction, always keeping it in motion.
Baelor nodded. “Good. You’ve got the idea down. Now it’s time to start teaching you.” He said.
Morrigan did a double take. “Wait, what?!” She cried.
“Keep the motion,” He reminded her. She’d stopped swinging, the whip falling flat.
“Hold the fucking phone, you mean you weren’t just now teaching me?” she queried, shooting him a glare.
“No, I was definitely teaching you. I just wasn’t teaching you aspects of how to use your weapon in combat. Now that you’re warmed up, we can start getting into technique,” Baelor said to her, getting up to walk over to her. Morrigan groaned.
“Fucking hell, dude. You’re gonna be the death of me,” she said as she went back to practicing the motions.
“No, I’ll be sure to stop just before you die. The point of this training is to make it so something else isn’t the death of you, so I’m going to have to push you to the brink,” Baelor commented, before standing up on his hind legs behind her and getting a little too close.
“Um, what are you doing?” Morrigan asked him, almost stopping the motion of her whip.
“The strength of the weapon is in its tautness, but the strength you put into it only needs to come from your wrists and fingers. Try to keep your arms and body still as you swing it, and keep your elbows in close to your body.” Baelor told her, lightly moving her elbows closer to her body like he told her, and holding her forearm still so that she has to use her wrist strength to keep the whip swinging. Morrigan blushed at the close proximity, but did as instructed. Baelor stepped away from her to let her get the new style down.
Even as only a minute passed, Morrigan could feel the intense burn in her wrists from maintaining the swing with only them for a prolonged time, and she had to stop to let them rest.
“Alright, now’s as good a time to take a break,” Baelor told her, much to Morrigan’s relief. “Now give me 100 sit-ups.” He added. Morrigan gave him a blank stare.
“...What?” she said.
“Whips need a lot of stamina and strength to use, and since they’re lighter weapons, that means they’re not likely to bring down an enemy with one hit. Which also means you’re going to have to use them for prolonged periods of time. So to inspire you to build up your wrist strength and stamina, you’re going to do 100 sit-ups every time you need to let your wrists rest. Then you’re going to start up the motion again,” Baelor told her. Morrigan groaned again, but did as told and laid down to do the sit-ups.
Her attention got drawn to her side though when she heard Baelor laying down next to her, and he started doing sit-ups as well. She blushed, but continued her exercise.
Once she finished them, she got right back up and went back to swinging her threaded cane. Baelor kept watch and pointed it out when she started to slip with her technique, and she managed to last for five whole minutes this time before dropping down to do 100 more sit-ups. Once again, Baelor joined her in her “break”.
After a short while, a certain zebra walked up behind them. “Now this is a treat. A beast training my student, without missing a beat.”
Morrigan snapped up to her feet, facing the zebra. “S-S-Sorry, Miss Zecora, I-!” she tried to say.
“Hush,” the zebra ordered, and Morrigan clammed up. Zecora looked to Baelor. “So, Beast, what do you have to say? I hope it is more than mere growls and brays.” She asked him with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t worry good huntress. I do growl sometimes when I’m trying to be intimidating, but that’s usually a conscious decision, and I usually do that to someone I don’t like. And compared to Morrigan here, you’re actually greeting me a lot better than she did.” He said to the zebra.
Zecora arched a brow. “Oh really? How is it that she greeted thee?” She asked, dropping her rhyme.
“By grabbing everything in sight and throwing it at me. Kinda hilarious in hindsight,” He remarked.
Zecora let out a tired sigh and rubbed her temple from that info. “Then receiving instruction rather than death from a beast is the best news yet. Honestly, that reaction gives much reason for me to fret,” She rhymed once more, seeming disappointed in Morrigan.
“What?! Come on, anyone would react that way when some scaly dragon shows up out of nowhere as they’re trying to sleep!” Morrigan argued.
“Be that as it may, had it been a real beast, you would not be here to speak to us on this day,” Zecora countered.
Morrigan was getting ready to argue further, but she was interrupted by Baelor. “I think that’s enough of a break for now. Back to the exercise Morrigan. And Miss Zecora, if you would be so kind, we would greatly appreciate it if you could sit in with us to help out with the training.” Baelor said.
“With this, it would be a delight, and with our combined efforts, our student will most certainly be able to put up a fight,” Zecora answered with a smile that sent foreboding chills down Morrigan’s spine.
And Baelor grinned right back at her. “I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding.” He replied.
“I feel like I’m about to go through the worst time of my life…” Morrigan said fearfully.
“Oh good! That means you’re starting to become more in tune with your instincts! Keep on listening to that and you’ll be in fighting shape in no time!” Baelor said to her cheerfully.
-------------------
The next Day
Morrigan slumbered in complete agony. It was a wonder to her that it was possible for her wrists to hurt this much.
“UP AND AT-EM’! TIME FOR SOME MORNING WARM-UPS!!!” Baelor called into her room, startling her awake.
“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!” Morrigan yelped, jumping out of her bed in surprise.
“Alright, you’re up! Get yourself ready, cause Zecora just got back and she’s got us breakfast. If you miss breakfast, you’ll be slow for the rest of the day and we won’t make as much progress on you, so hurry up please!” Baelor told her before walking away. Morrigan groaned as she stood up.
“Motherfuckin’ semi-sexy dragon asshole…” she cursed under her breath as she quickly got dressed and went to find Zecora and Baelor. She found them outside, sat beside a campfire where several rabbits hung from a makeshift spit, roasting over the fire. “Rabbits? Cool, always loved the taste of rabbit.” Morrigan said as she sat down to eat.
“They’re not bad. I was never very good at hunting though. In the past, whenever I needed food, it was usually from squirrels while in the wild, and the occasional berry and nut that I figured out weren’t poisonous. But fish were usually the easiest for me,” Baelor responded.
“Huh… I never took you as a fisher,” Morrigan noted.
“It’s kind of easy when you can just levitate the fish out with an orb of wate,.” Baelor said with a smirk.
“Doesn’t sound as fun or relaxing as doing it normally,” Morrigan said as she took a leg of rabbit and bit into it. “Shen agin, Ah kep’ shallin’ ashleep whene’er Ah did eet.” Morrigan said as she chewed, seemingly not caring for how she looked as she talked with a full mouth.
Baelor sighed while eating. “When I fished in the past, it was to get food after going for weeks without it, since I kind of sucked at finding other sources. I didn’t do it for fun, I did it to survive. Some areas I was in didn’t have rivers or forests, so I was essentially without food or water for several days at a time. I’m really glad this body doesn’t require as much water as often as a human body. Otherwise, I probably would have died over a thousand years ago.” Baelor told her while finishing off his rabbit. She idly wondered ow the hell he was able to talk with that much food in his mouth and still be that coherent.
She just tried and she didn't even come close!
Baelor stood up. “I’ll be in the area we’re going to be working in. Zecora’s teaching today’s lesson. I’ll just be assisting.” Baelor said to her.
“Somehow I feel that that is even worse for me,” Morrigan muttered, taking another bite of her rabbit leg.
“Please hurry child. Lest your lesson turn out even more… wild,” Zecora said with a dark chuckle.
And with that, Morrigan scarfed down the last of her breakfast at record pace. She did not want to find out what the zebra’s definition of “wild” was.
Morrigan and Zecora made their way to where Baelor waited patiently. “Your weapons must remain with me for today. Your wrists still need to rest from yesterday.” Zecora told Morrigan.
She blinked. “That rhyme… sounded like it cheated a bit.” Morrigan pointed out.
Zecora leveled a flat glare at her, and just held out her hand for Morrigan to put her gun and cane. Morrigan sighed in resignation and handed them over. Zecora gave a nod to her, and then turned to Baelor. “Begin.” She said.
And then Morrigan was sent tumbling backwards from a heavy force hitting her in the midsection. “Oof!” She grunted in surprise and pain.
“Today, we are focusing on “evasion”. Specifically, four-legged beasts and animals,” Baelor said from where he slammed into her.
“Fucking asshole…” Morrigan cursed, holding her stomach. Then she let out a yelp of fright before she rolled out of the way of Baelor charging her again.
“Whips are deadly weapons in the right hands. But no matter how skilled you are, they don’t have nearly enough stopping power in them to hinder enemies that are just trying to brute-force their way through you. So that means you need to know how to avoid taking damage through dodging while also attacking, and finding the “weak points” on your opponents, if they have any,” Baelor informed her as he skidded to a stop.
“Coulda said that before busting into me!” Morrigan yelled.
“And you still seem to have yet to learn, that beasts and monsters will not sit around for you to 'take your turn',” Zecora called to her from the sidelines. Morrigan jumped out of the way of another charge.
“Can you at least tone down the depraved need to see me get hurt for one day?!” Morrigan cried, dodging another rush, but barely.
Baelor relaxed his stance to stand up straighter. “You’re panicking. Stop and calm yourself Morrigan, you’re only hurting yourself by thinking about the pain you might feel. We’re not trying to hurt you, but you are going to get hurt at some points during this training. It is inevitable. Just like it’s inevitable that you’re going to get hurt one day in real life, in real combat. You’re going to need to push past that fear, push past that pain, in order to survive those encounters. This training is meant to prepare you for that, even if it only ends up being your pain tolerance, although I’m sincerely hoping it’ll be a lot more than just that,” Baelor told her in a calming voice.
Morrigan panted lightly, looking at her mentors for a long moment as she collected herself. “Right… Right… Okay, got it.”
“Alright. Then let’s get back to it, shall we?” He asked her, crouched and ready to charge again.
When he did, Morrigan surprised her teachers by jumping over the dragon, although she landed hard on her face. “Ow.”
“...” Baelor and Zecora simply stared at her.
“Please don’t do that again.” Baelor deadpanned.
“I thought it would be cool. But now all I got is a nosebleed,” Morrigan said, lifting her head from the dirt to show her slowly bleeding nose. “Fucking karma.”
“That’s not karma. That’s just the universe trying to beat the stupid out of you. Here,” Baelor stretched out his clawed hand and a spurt of water blasted her in the face, drenching her. “And then this,” He twisted his claw and Morrigan felt a chunk of ice wedge itself into her bleeding nostril. “Now just try to breath through your mouth a bit until the blood clots, then I’ll take it out.” He instructed.
Morrigan did as told, shivering a little at the ice in her nose. “So… Fuck the universe then? Because I’m pretty sure I hate it as much as it hates me, if not more.”
“Eh, it doesn’t really hate you so much as it just wants you to learn from your mistakes… by beating you over the head with the consequences of said mistakes… which may or may not include death if the mistakes are bad enough,” Baelor said awkwardly.
“Great pep talk, coach. Loved it. Five stars,” Morrigan snarked.
“Well sorry. Life sucks, and then you die. Not much else you can do to change that little life fact sweetheart,” Baelor said. He pointed at his muzzle. “How’s your nose?”
“Better than your love life,” Morrigan said offhandedly as she stood up. Zecora slapped her upside the head. “What?!”
“Do not be crude, and lose the attitude,” Zecora said sternly. Morrigan just shrugged.
“Ah he’s fine. He’s a dragon, he can take bigger hits,” Morrigan said casually. Zecora smacked her upside the head again. “Ow!”
“Yeah, I think you’re good,” Baelor said. He flicked his wrist in her direction and she felt the ice disappear from her nose. “And you’re right. I can take bigger hits. But the better question is…” The air around Baelor cooled by several degrees. And then Morrigan watched in one part fascination, and two parts worry, as bluish-white scales of ice slowly overlapped and encompassed the dragon’s body. “Can you take bigger hits?” He asks her with an unsettling grin, his body now covered in hard, less impact-friendly, ice shards.
“I hate my life,” Morrigan said before getting plowed over by the ice-covered dragon.
---------------------------
Day 3
Morrigan jerked awake with a groan of pain.
Everything hurted.
‘Well at least it can’t get any worse than yesterday.’ Morrigan thought to herself blearily.
“~Who’s ready to fall on their head all day~!” Baelor called softly into her room in a singing voice.
“Ugggghhhhhhh….” Morrigan answered.
“Sweet! Your stunt yesterday gave Zecora and I an idea, and we figure that learning acrobatics will be a great addition to your skillset for using whips. You need to be able to hit something from all angles at any angle to be able to use them effectively. See you at the usual spot,” Bael told her.
‘Fuck!’
--------------------------
Day 4
Bael hadn’t been kidding when he said she was going to fall on her face yesterday.
All.
Day.
Long.
‘I can’t tell what’s worse, the ice pack keeping me awake, or the pain in my face when I take it off.’ Morrigan thought to herself despairingly.
Morrigan had just barely fallen asleep when Baelor came in to wake her up.
“Time for training.” He told her. And then he walked back out.
‘... I could just walk to the cliff edge, and take an extra step. The rocks at the bottom would be softer than this torture.’
--------------------------
Day 5
“Baaaaaaeeelll noooooooooooooo…” Morrigan whined in pain as Baelor carried her on his back outside.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine, today’s going to be easy. Just a bit of stretching to improve your flexibility. And to stretch out those sore muscles and knots you’ve no doubt acquired from yesterday.” Baelor consoled her, his steps unfaltering as he leads her towards the she-devil in black stripes named Zecora.
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Day 6
~On the sixth day of training, my evil teacher gave to me!~
Morrigan groaned as she heard Bael’s footsteps come towards her room. She knew what was coming, so she just pulled herself out of bed. At the sound of Baelor’s steps moving away from her room, she figured he realized he didn’t need to poke his asshole of a head into her room to wake her up. She slowly, but efficiently got dressed and ready for another day of training, and then made her way outside to their usual spot for breakfast.
When she made it to the fire they all normally eat breakfast around, Baelor and Zecora stopped talking about whatever they were talking about to stare at her in confusion.
“What?” Morrigan asked.
“... Why’re you up so early? I figured you would’ve wanted to sleep in a lot longer,” Baelor asked her with a tilt of his head.
“This is when you get me up for training,” Morrigan told him with a frown.
“Yes… but this is your day off. You could have slept in,” He informed her.
Morrigan promptly threw her head backwards with a shout of frustration.
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Day 7
Morrigan trudged tiredly into her bedroom to get some sleep, resigned to being exhausted and sore everywhere on her body for the foreseeable future.
“Hey, Morrigan?”
Morrigan stopped and turned to look down at Baelor. “What?” She asked with barely any emotion.
Baelor sighed and scratched the back of his neck with a wing. “I just… want to say thank you… for being so patient with me.” He told her.
Morrigan blinked in confusion. “Huh?”
“I know you’ve been having trouble adjusting to such an intense method of learning, and I’m really glad you’re taking it so seriously… despite what you say during the training. And I know this probably won’t inspire any confidence in me with you, but I haven’t really taught anyone before. And I’m honestly just trying to figure out how to transfer what I know about fighting into something you can learn to do, and also figure out how to build you up to that point. And like I said, I’m really glad you’re being patient with me while I try to do so,” Baelor explained to her.
Morrigan frowned at this, not able to do much else in her tired state.
“Regardless of what you may think about that though, I want you to know that I want you to learn something. I truly do. And I just want to help you to learn as much as I can teach you before I have to leave. Because I don’t want to lose you-.”
Morrigan’s eyes widened at his declaration.
“You’re my friend Morrigan. And it hurts to lose friends and not be able to do anything about it, especially when you can’t even be there to say goodbye. It hurts to know you’ll never get to see them again. And I’m hoping that teaching you how to stay alive will help to make sure that doesn’t happen with you. So thank you for your patience, and thank you for your willingness. And good night.” He said to her with a thankful smile up at her. Then he turned and padded to his own room in the castle.
Morrigan stared after him in silence, digesting everything Baelor divulged to her. She watched him go until he rounded a corridor, then looked out one of the broken windows to the blood red moon outside.
“A friend, huh…?” she muttered to herself. After a short while, she sighed and walked into her room to sleep on the idea.
Day 8
The next morning, Morrigan went down to the eating hall, only to find that Baelor wasn’t there, only Zecora. She looked around, trying to see if the dragon was just hiding to ambush her like he had done a few times before for training. But she couldn’t find him.
“Hey, where’s Baelor?” Morrigan asked the Zebra.
“To gather some fish, he has gone. He should not be long,” Zecora told her.
Morrigan blinked. “Oh.” She responded.
She sat down across from Zecora, and as she said, Baelor walked in with several river trout floating in a glowing sphere of water. “Sup.” He greeted them. Then he promptly dumped the fish and all the water on the ground. Several large splinters of ice impaled each fish through their eyes and they stopped moving.
“Jeez, I’ll never get used to how damned brutal that looks,” Morrigan said with a shake of her head.
“It’s quick, and that’s all that matters. It isn’t right to make them suffer any longer than they have to,” Baelor answered. Morrigan just shrugged.
“Whatevs, teach,” she said before reaching for one of the fish so she could eat it.
Baelor arched a brow at her. “Eating it raw?” Morrigan just stared at him as she took out a knife, showing she had no intention of eating it that way. She held the fish out to him, knife in the other hand.
“Cook, please,” she said simply.
Baelor rolled his eyes before he snapped his claws. A burst of fire surrounded her fish for a second before it disappeared to reveal a cooked fish. She licked her lips and just dug in, eating it like that, knife forgotten in her hand. Once again, the sight of cooked meat had overwhelmed her already small need to look like a lady.
Fortunately though, not enough to stop her from hearing Baelor’s next words to Zecora.
“So do you think you can keep up the same training regimen we’ve all been doing for the past week?” He asked her.
“Yes, and with any luck our student will have just a little less stress,” Zecora said with a titter.
“Alright, then I think it’s time I take my leave. I leave her in your hands Zecora,” Baelor told the zebra.
“Wait what?!” Morrigan exclaimed in surprise. “The fuck you mean ‘take my leave?!’”
“Exactly what it means. I need to head back to my world,” He answered.
“Seriously?! I still haven’t gotten close to mastering the Split Axe, though!” Morrigan cried.
“It’s an axe, swing it around and hope you hit something. I can’t really give you any other advice other than that. I use whips, I don’t have any experience with heavy weapons,” Baelor suggested unhelpfully.
“And you’re just gonna fucking leave me here? With the knowledge that I still can’t use that weapon to its full potential, and get killed because of it?” Morrigan countered.
“Morrigan, do not try and guilt him, the chances of it managing to work are slim,” Zecora chided. Morrigan grit her teeth, her food forgotten.
“Morrigan… I was never going to be able to stay here forever. I don’t know how it works, but I have a feeling that if I stay here too long, I’ll be pulled back to my world whether I want to or not. It’s better to go of my own volition when I’m ready instead of getting yanked away with no warning,” Baelor told her.
“...Fine, whatever,” Morrigan said. She picked up her food, then walked towards the door. “I’ll be in my room.” With that, she left.
Morrigan sat on her bed, back against the wall behind her.
“Can I come in?”
Morrigan looked up to see Baelor looking at her from just outside her room.
“...Yeah, fine,” she said after a short while, returning her gaze to the broken window across the room from her.
Baelor entered her room and sat down on the floor. He was silent for several seconds before he spoke.
“I know what it’s like, you know,” He told her.
Morrigan blinked in confusion but didn’t look at him. “What?” She said.
“I know what it’s like to be afraid and feel alone,” He elaborated. “I was alone for over a week when I was first Displaced. I was alone, tried to survive with minimal amounts of knowledge of how to find food or water, and I was also struggling to figure out how to use my completely changed body. Then I saved a mare from a griffin, brought her back to her home, and met some of my oldest friends because of that,” Baelor said.
Morrigan frowned. “What’s your frickin’ point?” She asked him.
“You’re not alone, Morrigan. Zecora’s still going to be here to help you, and she knows a heck of a lot more about this world than I do. And if you ever do need my help, I’m only a token call away,” He said glancing at the stone that summoned him here that was resting on a dresser off to the side.
“...” Morrigan was silent. The silence filled the room, broken only by the sounds of insects and frogs and the like chirping and croaking their nightly calls. Finally, Morrigan spoke up. “...It’s just hard, knowing that I’m the only real human around here, knowing that my family and my friends are all…” Morrigan stopped, not sure how to continue, and starting to choke with barely restrained emotion.
“I know. They might not be gone, but being unable to get back-” Baelor began, before Morrigan interrupted him.
“The fuck do you know? I saw them! They had blood leaking from every goddamned orifice, like damned waterfalls!” Morrigan yelled, her anger and despair getting the best of her.
Baelor stayed silent after that. “I didn’t know… I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well…” Morrigan trailed off, not knowing how to express herself after that.
Another long moment passed between them. Then Baelor sighed. “Like I said before. If you need me, only a call away,” Baelor told her. Then he stood up, and walked out the door to her room. Morrigan watched as the door closed, then sighed and flipped over on her bed, burying her face in one of the pillows.