Chapter 259: 259: Despicable Resolve

In the deepest, darkest corner of the cave, something was stirring.

Cast away to the underground, Morgana awoke to find herself surrounded and unable to move. Her wings were clipped behind her back, bound alongside her body with thick stems that were so rough, the leaves they bore felt like iron barbs against her scales.

Morgana was on the cold ground, in a cell that was so deep, it only allowed in the faintest speck of light from above. With her body wrapped so tightly by knotted tree bark, she couldn't even turn her head to see past her tail and she strained her eyes to follow the stems restraining to see where they led.

Some grew from the ground under her, and others were linked to several Veladrys standing further away from her body, watching her like sentinels.

Seeing this, Morgana scoffed.

They must have been placed here to keep her from escaping.

She could barely sense the presence of the reptiles she bonded with.

They had to be somewhere underground but from how faintly their traces were, their location was much further from her own cell.

It seemed likely that they had been placed in a cell even deeper pit than hers, one that probably had no light at all.

The thought made Morgana grimace in hatred – trust Typhon to think ahead.

Without access to her creatures, and with so many Veladrys around, she had no hope of beating them in her weakened state, nor escaping.

Water. Morgana thought.

She was so thirsty her scales crackled when she moved, but she had to wriggle in order to catch the Veladrys' attention.

They were guarding her, but none dared to come close, and since Morgana had no telepathic abilities, she had to wait until one of the Veladrys watching her struggles, established one with her.

In the end, a younger, slightly shorter Veladrys than the others, had her curiosity piqued. 

The elven girl with deep pink hair looked at Morgana in concern, approaching the wriggling serpent to establish a telepathic connection, before the others could stop her.

The other Veladrys rushed to bar her path, but contrary to their expectations, Morgana did not attack the girl, she merely asked for water.

Yet, they were hesitant to oblige.

According to the other serpents, this was an outcast destined for death – besides, many of their peers had suffered due to the disruption she caused. To give her any of any aid would undermine the efforts of those she hurt.

But the serpent before them looked too pitiful, and they were not completely heartless.

In the end, one of the Veladrys generated water in her palm and fed it to the serpent, before retreating with the younger Veladrys.

Morgana's weakened condition did not surprise her – she was not so different from this when she attacked Typhon, but she did not expect to still be alive. This had to be because of Ophelia, since Typhon would have killed her right away.

Realising this, she chuckled sinisterly, causing the Veladrys nearby to feel uneasy.

After drinking the water, her senses were much more in tune, and now she could detect some of her creatures stirring awake.

Unfortunately, much like her, they were firmly bound, leaving none to come to her rescue.

Morgana didn't know what happened since she fell unconscious, but from the heavy, suffocating aura around the cave, she could conclude a few things – the battle with the scorpions was over, and 'she' must have returned.

Morgana didn't think there was much she could do to influence their leader's decisions – she heavily favoured Typhon, and nothing could change that. Also, she couldn't see Ophelia picking her over him, especially after what she did, so already her chances of survival were limited.

Yet, if she couldn't come up with a solution, death was all that awaited for her.

So, rather than waiting to see what would happen, Morgana began to search with all her might for something she could use.

Since she didn't see their leader arrive together with Ophelia, she must have come at a later time, which meant there was a chance she hadn't seen her yet.

This difference in their timings was an opportunity!

It made Morgana think hard about how she could exploit this to her favour.

Truthfully, she didn't mind dying, it was the thought that she could die before those she despised that personally offended her. So even though she had the option to stall the Veladrys with her creatures, until she could escape, she didn't consider it.

How could she be satisfied with going down alone?

Run away, and leave Typhon to reap the benefits of her demise?

Never.

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She would bring him down to the same depths as herself!

To Morgana, she was the one who understood Typhon the most. He was evil of the foulest kind – the type that did not think they were evil, who liked to convince themselves that they were good simply because they were admired by others.

What he hated the most was those he loved seeing his terrible actions, especially Ophelia.

Which was why he locked her away in a tiny prison where no one could see him impale her numerous times with spikes until she was completely covered in bruises.

Even now her wounds were not completely healed, and several of her scales throbbed from being dented and ripped out.

Yet, although Ophelia saw her injuries during the battle, her love for Typhon won over her shock, enough for her to put her down herself. 

This didn't surprise Morgana, but would their leader be the same?

'She' was someone she'd never felt the need to attack, because unlike Typhon, she treated the nestlings like creatures she respected and not tools to be discarded after use. 'She' was very different from them, and Morgana was extremely taken by the existence of such an odd serpent.

'She' shared some similarities with the serpent 'Ana' who genuinely didn't want to kill but had been forced to do so because of her survival, and the promise of death if she did not obey.

But while Morgana enjoyed 'Ana's' deeply satisfying reactions when she was forced to kill, the same could not be applied to their leader, because while 'Ana' was weak, she was not.

Morgana saw the hesitation in her actions when it came to confusing the scorpions, but 'she' did so anyway because it would protect them. Where serpents like 'Ana' would cry and complain, she did the ugly things that were necessary and shouldered the burden alone.

'She' was the same kind of creature, yet the two acted differently. 

And Morgana was curious to see how she would react when she saw the evil one of her most trusted captains was capable of – the wrongs he had committed not out of any necessity, but simply because he could. 

Morgana listlessly smiled. 

At least she was honest in her own depravity, whereas he hid behind a kind mask. She was sure Typhon's downfall would follow right after her own demise, and that was enough to spur her on.

The Veladrys that established a connection with her was near, so she asked for more water.

When two of the creatures came near her, Morgana asked them who it was that brought her down here, and if 'she' had come down to the underground at all.

The older Veladrys refused to reply, but the younger one was quick to answer both questions, confirming to Morgana that there was still hope.

And so, the moment the two Veladrys were done, Morgana formed several wind blades, all of which she fired in an instant.

The creatures instantly moved to protect themselves with a plant wall. However, no blows came, instead all they heard was the splash of blood deflected by their shield.

When they looked, they were stunned to see Morgana had turned her wind blades on herself.

Her old wounds were cut to open and multiple wounds appeared on her body, she even created new ones, persisting as she cried out in pain.

Her actions made her recall the same suffocating dread as when Typhon shut her in utter darkness.

Yet, Morgana did not stop because everything was to reduce herself to the state she was in before.

How many cuts did she attempt before she could pry open the lid of her prison without anyone noticing?

All that time and effort with Arsinoe's irritating voice jabbering away in the background?

How many times did she fail because she couldn't make them precise and thin enough because of the distraction?

Typhon must have sent her as some kind of torture!

And to think she had to experience all that pain again – Morgana was so upset.

The Veladrys around her tried to intervene, but after a couple wind blades sped in their direction, they couldn't come near. It was only when she was covered in cuts, her brittle scales shredded like paper, that Morgana stopped.

There was so much blood pooling around her, that the Veladrys were in shock.

Why would she do this?

They didn't understand, but after seeing how determined she was to hurt herself, they didn't dare to release her from what remained of her binds, for fear of giving her more places to cut.

But then they received word from above that they were to bring their captive up to be judged, and the startled Veladrys immediately felt relief. 

No longer did they have to remain in such close proximity to a serpent that was completely insane.

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