When the whiskers adorning the tip of its pointed snout appeared, a small hole opened up in the pitch-black earth. It was just one of millions of holes on the landmasses covering the world, hell, from a few steps away it wasn't even noticeable, but the four-legged creature emerging from it had laid eyes on something.
The grapes spilling out of the tarnished copper bowl next to the tent-like structure, set up by pinning a piece of cloth stretched between two pieces of wood to the ground, were calling out to it. How juicy, how delicious they looked; each of their purple-red skins still had undried water droplets on them, and as the moonlight hit them, they seemed to wink at the little creature approaching with its tail dragging.
Showing its two long teeth, the reptile couldn't hold back any longer; a breath after springing on its hind legs, it lunged forward like an arrow, and its front paws were just about to snatch a plump grape.
"You knew this rat would come to steal the grapes, didn't you?"
When a claw made of blood-red energy brought the creature it caught at the last second right before her eyes, Nafız stood with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Judging by how easily you caught it, you knew it just as well as I did!"
Sitting under the piece of cloth and managing to shield herself from the moonlight, the woman spoke without lifting the veil on her face; not a single part of her, including her eyes, was visible. Where her long robes covering every inch of her body ended, her gloves and the embroidered edges of the white hood hiding her veil and hair began.
"If we're talking about after it came within a hundred paces, yes, I knew, but I'm talking to you about years ago, a time before I even came to this world!"
Finishing her words, Nafız swung the wild beast claw made of energy she created using the Orc Blood Techniques, and the rat-like creature set off towards the sky. It was hard to guess where it would land; maybe a hundred, maybe a thousand, maybe ten thousand paces away, or maybe it would never find the chance to land again.
"What would getting the answer change? If I had said I knew, wouldn't you have tossed the poor creature away anyway?"
Stretching her two arms back, Nafız leaned them on the damp earth; her gaze was fixed on the stars blanketing the sky. She didn't answer the question of the woman hidden inside whites from head to toe. Judging by her pulling her hands back and laying her back down instead, she had no intention of answering either.
She lay motionless on her back for almost an hour, and during this time, as if the two had reached a secret agreement, they made no move to break the absolute silence. Time was slipping away; Nafız was sure that if she reached out, she would touch her; she could perceive her voice, her scent, even her taste.
"Creating a world like this must be your idea too. How fascinating, inside a world created by others, they managed to create yet another new world, and you went a step further and managed to forge your own dungeon.
Seer, mighty enough to pull all this off, do you have nothing to say to me?"
Even under the downpour of words following the long silence, the woman didn't break her composure, responding only with a small sound resembling a moan.
"She can tell you where you came from, how you died once, the voices you heard while falling through the gray void, the tribe you were reborn into, the legacy you received, and what you've been through right up to the breath currently leaving your body, but you already know all of this anyway.
Instead of these, would you like me to tell you about the world I lived in before coming to the World of Six Civilizations?"
Nafız sat up from where she lay, and in two large strides, she stepped under the edges of the cover shielding the woman from the moonlight. Now, they were a breath apart, and the Seer in white had no complaints about this setup.
"Do you always ask questions you know the answers to?"
"Always! Knowing isn't new to me, but hearing is something I've experienced relatively less, and I want to soak it in!"
It was obvious the giggling woman was sincere in her words; even uttering the word "hear" was enough to give her pleasure.
"Yeah, I'd love to!"
It was impossible for the female orc, whose red hair was bathed in silver threads, to hold out on her. Besides, in her new world, how many people were there who, like her, had been sent here from other realms and still remembered their past lives? Mora's mother was dead; as for the Master, he was her biggest enemy. The Seer was the only reachable being among the three people she had managed to discover so far, and right now, she was just a step away.
"The places where you and the fallen dragon—who is hell-bent on slaughtering anything in his path to get here—came from were material worlds. Well, even though a world with humans who can use nature energy couldn't be considered material compared to yours, it was quite a primitive place compared to my previous life."
After making her intro, the Seer motioned with her hand for Nafız to sit comfortably; clearly, she wasn't planning on keeping it short.
"I know you've come to terms with being an orc; you set your human part free, and the consciousness belonging to Mora lives in peace here, in the Otherworld. The Orc Steppes, the Savage Swamp, and the Hell Realm are under your dominion; you can roam freely in these lands for eternity.
Are there no beings stronger than you on the World of Six Civilizations? Of course there are, even though their numbers can be counted on one hand, if you run into them outside these three continents, your chances of dying are high. Despite this, you are trying to step out of the place where you are immortal with your power and advance, why?
No need to tell me, I already know, there is something you have to do, but what is the main reason driving you to do it?"
Nafız was busting her ass to bring back to life Sangre, the first blood warrior; she didn't give a damn about conquering continents, wealth, or the desire to be the strongest; she just wanted to repay her debt to someone who sacrificed their life for her.
"Yes, emotions! The biggest source of motivation that drives humans, orcs, and wild beasts to action is emotions. Pleasure, happiness, sorrow, anger, revenge, joy—what would you do without them, would you have a reason to live?
Well, my previous life experience took place in a world devoid of emotion, orc warrior Nafız. As bodiless, high-frequency beings, we surrendered ourselves to the flow of time and simply observed. Knowing what would happen, when it would happen, what we would hear, and what we would say long beforehand, we watched others experience it.
We didn't communicate with each other, there was no need because we knew everything. We knew when we would die, but despite this, we settled for merely watching. In exchange for our ability to know everything beforehand, we had traded our emotions; thanks to our flawless acceptance, we couldn't feel."
Nafız now knew why the Seer wanted to hear, and this led to sorrow in her, not acceptance. Without emotions, how could one even live?
"Blood God Nafız, successor of my old friend Bürküt, you have the right to only one question; what do you want to learn?"
When the Seer asked the long-awaited question, Nafız, realizing they had reached the most critical part of the dungeon, bent her knees and stood up in one smooth motion. The woman in white slowly lifted her delicate head, waiting for what was to come out from between her lips.
"What you know, and what I feel!"
Nafız took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and did nothing else for a full minute before speaking her final word.
"I don't want to know; I will live through whatever my feelings throw my way, and no matter what the end brings, I accept it!"
Turning her back, the Blood God walked away, leaving the Seer's small tent behind. With every step, she covered dozens of meters, fleeing as if she might change her mind at any second, but the metallic voice reaching her ear would tell her that was impossible.
"The Accepting Fate Dungeon has been successfully completed! As a reward, you have earned the Seer's Blessing!"