In the end, I spend most of my day leveling up my necromancy skills, and eventually I’m able to animate one of the goblin corpses. As soon as Morgana finished scouting, I animate the lesser-eaten goblin corpse, so she could possess the body. It unnerves me a little that the goblin that had tried to kill me only hours ago is now aiding me, but through the bond, I can feel Morgana and her twin desire: to protect me and defeat our enemies. The reassurances it gives through the bond quells my nerves.

  “They have three elves and eight goblins…” I listen as she continues to describe the walkways on the palisade walls and the cabin in the center of the base where they sleep and eat.

  I frown, thinking about how I’ll take them down. While my mana is regenerating, I decide to try to get as many of the plans ready as possible. I move the bodies and prep some wood to act as torches to try to burn the walls down.

  When night blankets the sky and the rays of dawn are gone, I’m as ready as I will ever be. To my fortune, it even starts to rain as night falls. The rain makes my idea to light the wall on fire obsolete, but I’m confident the benefits of the rain will outweigh the loss of the torches. The rain will make fires difficult, and mask my movements in the dark, making the weather perfect for me to sneak into the fort.

  I remove my bulky clothes, grab my dagger with a belt, and slip into the water. As I do, I feel through the bond, Morgana throws a few sharpened sticks to draw their attention. Since gaining my water magic, I hadn’t immersed myself in a body of water. The feeling is surreal. I move underwater the same, but each movement carries me further.

  The normal burning in my chest I would feel from holding my breath for too long, is far away. I had never been able to hold my breath for long back on Earth. I tried to count once, when I was a kid, but never got past forty-five seconds. Now I know I can swim the whole length to the fort dock without needing to come up for breath.

  While how long I can hold my breath is less of an issue, I still feel a slight sting from the salty water when I open my eyes. I remember more than once in my old life accidentally opening my eyes in ocean water during a beach trip and regretting it. Even the sting of the salty water isn’t as bad as I remember being back on Earth, making me wonder if my affinity is somehow at play.

  In the brief glimpses, I see a clarity underwater that has me pause in wonder. Shadows dance on the floor of the ocean as I look through crystal clear water. I only open my eyes every few seconds to keep the burning down, but each time I open my eyes, I enjoy the brief glimpse of beauty in the rolling sand, and muted, colorful coral reef in the moonlight.

  I look up and my dark vision allows me to see the movement of water on the surface of the ocean, and the way the rain causes ripples across the surface. For a moment, I imagine swimming off to play underwater, immersing myself in the weightless feeling and the beauty of the reef. It’s hard to imagine that a place of such beauty is the staging ground for my battle. Steeling my resolve for the battle to come, I swim away from the island to deeper water, where it’ll be harder to spot me if anyone is looking.

  The fort has walls that protrude out into the water, but the water is only up to my waist at that point where the walls end. While I could simply wade into the water before walking around the wall, I’m concerned that even with the darkness and rain making it hard to see, I might be caught walking in shallow waters.

  My goal is to swim out and approach the middle of the dock, where sand has been moved to allow for ships to dock. From underwater, I can see the inside of the fort where they have created a depression for boats. The sand has been dug away to allow the water to reach a depth twice as tall as I am.

  I journey a dozen yards out into the ocean and come up for air. My lungs are nowhere near burning yet, but I don’t want to take the chance that I’ll need to come up for air right as someone looks out. After a few moments of taking deep breaths, as the icy rain hits my head and shoulders, I dive back under. The rain isn’t that cold, but it feels like it when contrasted with the warm ocean water enveloping me. As the open water narrows to form the dock, I feel my heart quicken, making me feel like I need to come up for air despite being fine.

  I crawl along the bottom, using my hands to navigate along the soft sandy floor under the rocking sloop I saw earlier. As slowly as I can, I push off the floor to grab the lip of the wooden dock. My increased strength makes pulling myself up onto the dock far easier than I expected, despite all the water weight. In my last life, I wasn’t out of shape, but I would’ve let out a grunt or two, performing the same action.

  Once on the deck, I stay crouched and move to the nearest wall to find cover. I curse when I realize I’m now soaking wet and sloshing water everywhere. Being wet won’t change anytime soon, with it raining so hard I can hardly see anything in front of me. The rainfall will help cover up the sounds of my wet sloshing footfalls, but all the water weight will make me slower and my footing more precarious.

  When I’m on the dock, I crouch as I slink across to the nearest wall. I take stock and see nothing but the boats and rain. It turns out that no one is guarding the dock. I’m frustrated that I took the extra effort of swimming out to sneak onto the dock for nothing; I’m also a bit relieved that their negligence assures me a higher chance of pulling off the attack.

  With slow steps, I move my back along the rough bark of the wood palisades. I turn the corner to see two goblins waving their hands and yelling at Morgana, possessing one of the lizard bodies. She’s not attacking but is acting as a distraction. While I was swimming out into the ocean, she scaled the walls as one of the smaller lizards. The distance between us strained the bond, but I was too busy thinking about the ocean and getting caught by the fortress guards to home in on the feeling.

  Now that we’re closer, I feel the strain in my chest ease. Through the bond, I can feel flashes of sensation echo as she jumps on one goblin’s head and then the other goblin. Uncaring of its compatriot, the goblin swings a stick with full force to smack her lizard form. Morgana dodges out of the way, causing one goblin to bonk the other on its head. Then the first goblin growls, no longer caring about the lizard, and tackles its former friend. The goblins start wrestling, ignoring her completely. I would laugh, but the reminder that I am sneaking into a guarded fort in a life-or-death situation quashes the laugh.

  I turn the corner and sneak along the wall until I reach the doors of the central building, looking like a large cabin. It’s a risk traveling straight to the heart of the fort, but I want to catch any soldiers who are unaware first. Anyone inside might be at their desk or bed instead of on alert. I prefer to take out unsuspecting foes before trying to take out the awake and alert foes.

  It’s tempting to try to take the goblins guarding the outpost out first, since they are so absorbed in their scuttle, but missing guards would be a prominent sign that enemies are in the fort. I doubt that anyone in the fort will be checking in on the state of those asleep with any regularity, and even if they do, it’ll be harder to tell that a sleeping person has passed away.

  As I enter, I send a pulse through my bond, a sign that Morgana should prepare to aid me in case I am overwhelmed entering the building. I walk into a dining hall with wooden tables and benches. I move off into the first side rooms to find three sleeping goblins. I look down at the goblins in their crude beds and hesitate.

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  Is it still self-defense if your enemy was sleeping? I know taking them out now was the best strategy. I know they have no good intentions for me. Killing me might be one of the kinder options I could hope for, based on the visions I’ve seen with Morgana. Still, something inside me wars with killing the unsuspecting goblin.

  I grit my teeth, comforting myself that I’ll make it quick and painless. If they were awake, their death would be much slower as I fumble my way through a battle. The entire fort would be alerted to my presence as shouts and fighting reverberate through the bare wooden walls. I take a dark strength as I focus on thinking about what would happen to Morgana… my thoughts trail off to a dark place as my anger rises at the flashback of Morgana’s memories.

  With shaking fingers, I carefully make my way over a goblin while holding my dagger in my right hand. I cover the first goblin’s mouth and cut its throat with a clean slice. To my surprise, the goblin bites me. It stings, but it’s not as bad as the bite I took in the forest.

  I retaliate by stabbing the goblin repeatedly. On one hand, the goblin didn’t make much noise when it died, but on the other hand, my hand is quite bruised. Not willing to chance another bite or my hand being broken, I cut the throat of the second goblin and let it gurgle as I walk over the last goblin. The second goblin, whose throat I cut, thrashes, waking up the last goblin while I’m still walking over. He looks around to see what the source of the sound is, but he’s too late as I bull him over and stab him in the chest.

  I feel the familiar gentle pulsing of notifications as I gain experience, but look down to see blood now coating my arms and legs. I didn’t get much blood on me when I killed the goblins; most of the blood flowing down into their bed, but with all the water from the rain, the little blood I did get on me dilutes, so my arms and legs are crimson. I try to wipe off my hands and feet on the straw beds so I won’t leave bloody footprints.

  I make my way back to the dining hall and see a few more doors. I’m not sure which one to take next until I see one of them has a candle behind it. I sneak as quietly as I can into the other doors in hopes of finding more beds before fighting those who are still awake.

  The second dark door is a supply room. I put my knife away before grabbing a sword and a wooden shield. My left hand smarts from the bruises as I strap it on, so I wrap my hand before grabbing the sword and making my way to the next room. I find a set of nicer bunks, but no one is sleeping in them. The final door without any light is a small one-bedroom, but again, it is empty.

  Not wanting to leave anything else to chance, I slip outside to finish off the guards and open the gate. The open gate would allow Morgana to run in with the bodies hidden in the forest, but more importantly, it will give me another route of escape.

  To get to the goblins, I run up a ramp and then travel another two yards to close the distance. I’m not far from the goblins, but at such a close range, the rain does nothing to mask my presence. As I charge up the ramp, I hold up my shield in front of me. The goblins can feel my pounding feet through the shaking wooden palisade ramp floor, long before I get close. I feel a ping off my shield, a deflected rock, before I shield check the first goblin off to the ground below. I tackle the second goblin, so he’s wedged between the shield and the wooden floors. He tries to grab the shield and roll me off. I use my sword to stab him from the side. It’s awkward, and I doubt it is how a trained warrior would’ve done it, but it accomplishes the job.

  Searching for the other goblin, I see the goblin below running back to the base. He has a slight hobble but it’s not enough for me to catch him before he makes it to the building. I make a grasping motion with my hand. The water under his feet moves, so he ends up sprawled on his face. With him face planted, I have enough time to catch him.

  I run down the stairs at a sprint to finish him off. I run up to the goblin as it’s crawling on the ground and do my best to make it quick with a deep sword strike. With the guards disposed of, I open the door to the fortress. A reanimated goblin with a few chunks missing steps into the fort first. I could reanimate the goblin I just killed, but it will take a lot of mana and I want every point for the battle ahead.

  The undead goblin gives me a mechanical smile, which, despite being awkward, I’m sure would be reassuring on a young female face, but the smile on the goblin’s face sends shivers up my spine. I motion the goblin Morgana is possessing to follow me. I raise my shield as I slowly open the door, which saves my life as an arrow slams into my shield and pierces a full two inches. Adrenaline courses through my veins, and I run to close the distance.

  I only get a few steps before a burning pain stabs into my left leg. My leg feels like it is collapsing, so I turn my run into a slide. I look down and gasp at the arrow that has pierced through the meat of my calf. I curse and quickly crawl behind one of the tables. I tip over the table and rack my brain for what I am going to do.

  My magic isn’t enough to take him out, and until now, I’ve been able to close the distance to leverage my weight and strength. The thought that I might not be stronger than the archer flits through my mind until I see Morgana crouched across from me. A few arrows protrude from her body, but despite taking more hits, she seems better off than I am.

  I strain my ears so I can hear the archer’s movements, worried he will try to flank me. All I hear is my ragged breath, thumping heartbeat, and silence. It seems the archer is happy to wait for us to leave cover. I motion for Morgana and charge, and we both attack at the same time. The first arrow takes her leg, the second slams through my shield and the meat of my arm. I cry out, but had my arm not been there, I might have gone through my chest. The next arrow takes Morgana in the head, and she crumples. Then I slam into the elf, the rattling arrow in my arm sending another spike of agony through me.

  I shield bash him, which knocks an arrow out of his hand, but he sidesteps the follow-up clumsy sword swipe. He retaliates by slamming his bow down on me, but I catch him with my follow-up sword strike. I smile and try to pull back just enough so I’m not overextended.

  I underestimate how quick he is with his bow; he draws and fires in the split second it takes to get my stance back. I give up on trying to create distance: I charge when I see him knocking the arrow, and his shot is off. I feel a lance of burning pain in my arm as I stab at him. The arrow strike leaves a long gash on my arm, but I ignore it.

  I slice his arm and he cries out. I take advantage of the momentum and shield, slamming him in the face. I feel the arrow in my arm jar, and I grit my teeth in pain. I look up and see the elf bleeding from his nose.

  I continue swinging my sword and shield at him, but instead of focusing on hitting me, he dodges out of the way, waiting for an opportunity. As I follow up a shield swing with a sword slash, he surprises me by using his bow to block, then grabs my knife on my belt and nicks me. Seeing the danger, I try to back away to create distance to take advantage of my longer blade.

  I trip over a chair and find myself on my back with the elf over me. He drops down, holding the knife in both hands, trying to stab me. It becomes clear to me that I am stronger than the elf, but I can barely hold him off with one hand while my other hand, strapped to the shield, is pinned under my body. I stare in panic as the elf’s knife slowly descends. The elf’s face is a rictus of anger and pain, but I see a gleeful light as my arm slowly descends under his weight behind the knife.

  I look around for anything and grasp out with my hand. I reach out to the nearby puddles of water trekked in from the outside rain. Water splashes harmlessly across his face. The elf spits, but is undeterred from his quest to stab me. I concentrate again and accumulate the water into a ball before shaping it into an ice point. Right as I feel the blade cutting into my chest, the elf laughs before a chunk of ice slams into his throat. The move causes the blade to pull across my chest.

  The cut sends a burning sensation, but a cold feeling makes the pain more bearable. I look over to find the elf gurgle his last breaths through his ruined throat. I feel a warm feeling in my chest, but it’s distant as the numbing cold starts to envelope me. I realize I’m dying and look at my health bar, which is bottoming out. I pull on my water magic to heal myself, but it’s a patch on a sinking ship.

  I reach out with everything, trying to grasp anything else that will keep me alive. Even if I don’t run out of mana, there is only so much water here. Sucking humidity from the air is beyond me in this state, and even dragging myself outside to the rain is beyond me. I reach out with all three of my magic affinities, hoping something will stick. I feel something give as darkness takes me. A final thought flits through my mind. Where were the rest of the soldiers Morgana had reported, and even if I survived, would they find me in this weakened state?