My eyes snap open as I suck in air, my burning lungs begging for any sliver of oxygen they can get. What the fuck happened? I remember the feather, the — Shivers rattle my bones as I recall the pain, the agony of having my body shattered. A stark reminder of how close to death I was.

But if I’m not dead, then where am I? I look around, surprised to see that I’m in the middle of the room where the Pocket Dimension resides. There’s a lot of gray dust floating in the air for some reason, and — there’s a lot of people here, around thirty total. Some of them are lying on the floor, unresponsive as their colleagues wearing similar outfits nudges them awake.

“What—” I stop when I spot Johnathan and Nathaniel staring at me with relief. I freeze as I pat my body. I’m in pristine condition aside from the brand new scar in the middle of my torso, a reminder of that deadly battle. At least I’m in one piece. And there’s something sticky on my arm for some reason?

“Boy!” a hoarse female voice echoes. I’m glad that I regained my hearing, even if I have never seen this person before, and she’s standing very close to me. “Do you feel anything unusual?” she asks with a deep frown.

“I— No, I’m fine. What happened?” I ask the stranger. She waves her hand, making me notice the thin stand of slime that connects it to the cold gelatin stuck to my arm.

“I’m the one who should be asking that!” she bellows. “We performed a miracle here. We brought you back from the dead!” she sighs as green mist appears on her palm before it travels through the slime. A cold tendril goes through every nook and crannies of my body in an instant. That’s weird, but— “Answer me.” She growls, making me recoil. Is she the one who healed me? Then why does she looks like she’s ready to give me a lot of brand new injuries? Her cold gaze tells me that I shouldn’t joke around, especially with how weak I currently am. Every single one of my limbs is sore, and I can hardly move them.

“Well, there was that Silvery Harpy,” I say. “Bit of a nasty fellow. It ruptured my eardrums with a scream, then I crushed it under a tree. But then one of its feathers found its way into my stomach.” The woman narrows her eyes. “That shouldn’t have— Where is your armor?” she asks with narrowed eyes, sneaking accusatory looks at the Lockheart brothers. I’m a bit wary of them now, if they’re here because of their mother then they might— No, that doesn’t make any sense. Why would they attack after healing me? Maybe I overreacted.

Or not. Whatever the answer is, I’m now ready to bail out at the first suspicious move from Maria Lockheart or one of her subordinates.

“A Flaming Scale Deer hit me, so my ballistic plates shattered,” I explain. There’s no sense in hiding that I was wearing plates since it’s obvious from a glance. Even is most of my clothes are now blood-soaked rags covered in mud.

“And?” her eyes are so narrowed now that I’m almost certain they’re closed. “And?” I repeat. The woman grits her teeth. “Don’t play coy with me, boy. That couldn’t have been an ordinary Silvery Harpy. I need to know because it could have poisoned you without us noticing.”

I scratch the back of my head, “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about. As far as I know, it was a regular Harpy. And once I lost my plates then I had no armor left.” I explain. I would have liked to carry more with me, but they didn’t fit into my backpack so I didn’t get more from the gun store.

The woman lets out a sigh as she retracts the slime. The motions of the jiggly mass moving on its own in a plastic container is hypnotic. “What about shielding?”

“What, you mean like a shield? Like in the Middle Ages?” I ask with raised eyebrows. What is this woman talking about? Did she expect me to fight a Harpy with a sword too? I let out a sigh, people in this place are crazy.

“Shielding spells? Defensive artifacts? Did you hurt your head too?” she asks me like she’s looking at a mentally deficient child.

I reply with a shake of my head, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s the first time I even heard the terms.” I can assume that shielding spells provide defense along with defensive artifacts. But I’ve never seen any of those. Of course, I also don’t own any artifacts or spells. Can I even use spells? I don’t have Mana as far as I can tell—

The woman massages her temple, “Let me get this straight. You somehow never heard about shielding spells or defensive artifacts.” I nod. “And you fought a Silvery Harpy. Without any defenses.”

“Well, if you put it like that…” my voice trails off when the furious glare of the healer locks onto me. “Yes, I did. It was for this Test Of Might, and —”

“Is this true? Did you send someone who lacks so much experience against a FUCKING Silvery Harpy?” she stands up and walks towards the Lockheart brothers, who nod meekly. Red energy gathers into her open palm before two loud slaps make the entire room shake. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” she screams before slamming the two brothers against the wall. “A Test Of Might? Were you out of your mind? Did Maria allow this?”

“S-She did, it was her idea to—” Johnathan explains, but stops when he notices the scowl of the woman. Nathaniel recoils and winces. I tilt my head to the side, why are these two so afraid of this woman? Aren’t they supposed to be the sons of the big boss? Who is this woman, and how strong is she to slap these two into a wall?

“You,” she points at me. “Come with me. And you two brats are also coming!” she snorts before slamming her two palms together, causing a pulsating green Tether to appear. She grabs the brothers by the collar and throws the two grown men into the Tether. “Go, don’t make me throw you.”

I gulp and nod before touching the beam of magical energy. The trip doesn’t take a single second before I emerge back into Maria’s office. She looks surprised to see us if her wide-open mouth is anything to go by. It’s the first time I’ve seen this woman express any sort of emotion. But still, my hand hovers above my pistol. If I was right and this woman was afraid of my powers, then she’ll blast me without a second thought.

“Back so soon?” she asks with a raised eyebrow, the tremor in her voice easy to notice.

“HOLY SHIT!” the old woman’s voice shakes the entire building. The shockwave even makes the massive desk moves several inches. My ears are also ringing, but I’m used to it by that point. I hope I won’t go deaf by the time this is over. “What were you thinking, brat?” the healer slams her two hands onto the desk, creating deep gouges into the furniture.

Maria looks at the imprints on her desk before glancing at the woman and leans back into her chair. “Hello, Morgana.” She says with a strained smile. “I quite liked that desk.”

“That’s not my problem!” she slams her hands again, this time splitting the desk in half. “You almost killed this kid with your Test Of Might. Has your head turned into mush because of age?” the healer growls and looks ready to pounce on Maria. The matriarch stares at the remains of her desk with a frown before focusing on the seething healer.

I don’t know who this Morgana is, but I support her wholeheartedly. Because she saved my life, and because she tells her boss to eat shit.

“I would like to remind you that you’re older than me by a few centuries. So—” A sheen of pulsating red energy covers Morgana as she stares at Maria as if she dares her to continue. “But that’s not the point.” I take a step back, Johnathan’s mother conceded? Who is this Morgana? Is she the true ruler of the Lockheart family? The internal structure of the Lockheart Family looks a lot more complicated than I first thought.

Despite everything that happened, I have a strong craving for popcorn as the show unfolds.

Maria snorts, “I assure you that we did the Test in good faith. We are aware of the capabilities of this young man.”

“You’ve gone completely senile.” Morgana sneers.

“Stop this instant,” Maria growls under her thin smile. “Remember who you’re talking to.”

“You’re all children to me,” Morgana waves her hand while clicking her tongue. “Don’t give me that attitude. I demand explanations now! Why was this boy sent to his death? He’s a Normal! Why is he even here? Are we back to the era of bloodsports? Has our proud family degenerated so much?”

“I—” Maria sighs before glancing in my direction. “Zach, congratulation for passing your Test Of Might. I’m very sorry to hear that you almost lost your life. The Lockheart family apologizes.” She lowers her head. I recoil from shock, is she — is she apologizing? Did I land in an alternate dimension? “Could you display your power to our venerable ancestor here? It would clear up the situation before she destroys even more expensive furniture.”

I raise an eyebrow. Venerable ancestor? This woman said that she was several centuries old, so — I shrug, immortality seems very tame in the crazy world of the Awakened.

***Welcome, Heir of the Twilight World.***

***Countdown: 00:21:28***

Tension leaves my body as I return to the Twilight World. I bask in the false darkness of my domain, relieved that I made it out alive. I was this close to death, yet I survived thanks to Morgana’s effort. Why did she save me? Am I that important to them? And, even more importantly— Will I have to pay for my treatment? I don’t have insurance!

The fear of massive debt is almost enough to make me run away, but fleeing now would be an idiotic move. I walk a few steps to my right, behind Johnathan, and go back into the real world.

“I’m a ghost, woo!” I say in my friend’s ear, causing him to jump.

“Fuck!” he says with wide-open eyes. “Don’t do that!” Even Nathaniel jumps, but it hardly shows on his perpetually scowling face.

“Oh.” Morgana looks deep in thoughts. “No Mana fluctuations, and the constitution of a Normal. Yet you can teleport around.” She turns towards Maria with narrowed eyes. “I can see why he caught your fancy. But still, that kind of ability is not meant for a frontline warrior. Why the Test Of Might?” Morgana asks.

Maria’s shoulders lower, she looks relaxed now that her angry grandma won’t redecorate her office into a ‘post-nuclear apocalypse’ style. “I agree with you, but I had a hunch. He also saved my son’s life with nothing more than a Spell-In-A-Tube. You understand that’s not an easy feat for a normal person faced with four Awakened.”

Morgana frowns, “Who dares attack our family! Why haven’t we taken up arms?” I back away as her trembling fists threaten to vaporize the rest of the room.

“A minor matter, we will settle it soon enough. We can’t deploy all our men for a minor slight. The era has changed.” Maria reassures the fuming Morgana.

“They all say that to me, no matter the generation. Back in my day, before I became a Spiritual Being, we obliterated everything in our path!” Morgana says with a predatory smile.

Spiritual Being, another term I know nothing about. Is there something like Wikipedia for Awakened? Because it would be very appreciated right about now!

“If you could leave this mansion, you would know why I’m right,” Maria replies with a sigh. “And your talents are better suited for healing. You know that.”

“Of course!” Morgana nods with pride, “But I didn’t only heal wounds, I also healed the reputation of my family. With my fist!” the woman looks full of fighting spirit as she makes her declaration.

Even Maria looks dumbfounded by her rowdy ancestor. I want to laugh so bad, but I know I’m going to get blasted by lightning if I say anything. So I do my best to stay silent.

“As for the boy, I can understand your point of view. I agree he has potential, but a Test Of Might was too much. Don’t waste talent when you find it.” The Lockheart ancestor says with a meaningful glance towards Maria before vanishing into a puff of smoke.

“I’m sure you have questions,” Johnathan’s mother says as she glances at the remains of her desk with regret.

“That would be an understatement,” I reply as I sit in a chair. “Who was this Morgana? She seemed important.”

Maria nods, “She’s the head of our Healer Department. Her existence is a bit of a family secret, but I guess I can spare some details since she blurted out everything in front of you.” She looks once again at the remains of her desk. She must have loved that thing!

“You see, Morgana was an ancestor of our Lockheart family from a long time ago. We weren’t able to pinpoint her era with precision since her memories of her youth have degraded through the centuries. But we are confident she was from around Antiquity.” Maria explains.

Oh wow, Antiquity. How can someone be so old?

“Your surprise is evident, and I can’t blame you. Immortality is something that everyone wants, but only a few rare exceptions achieved it if you believe the legends.” Maria continues. “Morgana isn’t immortal in the proper definition. Rather, she somehow turned herself into a Spiritual Being. A sentient and self-sustaining cloud of Mana. Before you ask, she has no idea how it happened. According to her, she went to sleep one day and woke up the next as a Spiritual Being.”

“I see, but why are you saying she isn’t a true immortal?” I ask. Even if she changed her body, she still made it through the centuries. That sounds a lot like immortality to me. Something even more interesting is that Morgana acquired her power in her sleep. If she’s telling the truth, then that’s exactly how I got the Twilight World. Are the two linked, or is this a coincidence?

Maybe she knows more than she lets on.

“Her fate is linked to the survival of the Lockheart family. Morgana will disappear if our bloodline goes extinct. She can also only live in the main Lockheart estate. When asked about these limitations, Morgana always replies that she has no clues why they exist. She’s just ‘aware’ of them.” Maria ends her explanation. “And her approval is needed before one can assume the mantle of leader of the Lockheart family. This is why she — she gives herself certain liberties during our interactions.”

I nod, my near-death experience ended up being more beneficial than I first thought. That ancestor might hold vital clues about what the Twilight World is, and where it comes from.

Maria waves her hand in the air, signaling the end of the discussion. “But enough about Morgana. Let’s focus back on what matters, and that currently is you. Morgana says that you have no Mana in your body.” I lower my head. Does that mean that I passed the Test Of Might for nothing? I don’t have some super-secret hidden potential?

“But I’m convinced that it’s not the case.” She drops that bombshell with intentional nonchalance.