Prologue: Joanna (Part 12)

She challenged the minotaurs, drawing a pristine blade out of the molten lava crossing the arena floor. The sword consisted of two independent single blades sharing a common hilt, with a midriff made of a swirling rod of fire. The blades had inscriptions of powerful arcane runes showing her current achievement in magic and alchemy; with a dazzling red jewel as the pommel.

She quickly discovered that slaying the minotaurs, caused two more to take its place and using area attacks replaced the destroyed golem minotaurs with double their number after a few moments respite.

The egg was extremely durable, and she could barely dent it with her strongest strikes, the egg healing any and all damage the moment she was engaged by the minotaurs. Very quickly she was facing over 80 gigantic minotaur golems, and the increasing frequency of pulses told her that she was running out of time.

The pulses took on a steady rhythm, the stone egg glowing brightly from the inside out; each pulse a loud heartbeat that sent a minor shockwave through the entire arena.

The egg burst open. At the exact same instance, Joanna launched a massive final fire blast that covered the entire arena, leaving only enough strength for one final hit. She soared into the air and came hacking down on the newly emerged figure. But as her blade sunk into soft flesh, the mist and smoke cleared, and she finally could see what had emerged from the shell and gasped in shock.

She stared into her own eyes. She felt her own soul within the creature that emerged, a link so intimate it felt like she'd cut into her own flesh, much like with her other avatars. Yet, the creature was as alien to herself as anything could be, a gnawing all-consuming abyss, heartless and almost lifeless. In its red eyes, she could see her own darkness, her own deepest darkest thoughts given form.

She watched it smile as they both faded away.

"She's woken up!"