Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) V.A. Lewis (feel good books to read .TXT) 📖

of death. The third should’ve left me for dead, yet the potion brought me back. That’s how I know I’m fine. Because if anything was wrong, I’d be dead right now."

"That makes sense."

"Plus," he said, as he poked his chest. "The flesh here isn’t soft, see? Regular healing potions would leave your skin weak and frail for a day or two. But here it’s like nothing ever even happened."

I watched as he switched from a finger, to thumping his chest with a fist. There was a solid noise as he impacted himself; probably due to the Goblin’s rougher skin. I smiled slightly, as Karna turned back to me.

"...thank you."

I blinked. "What?"

"I said thank you," he spoke softly. His gaze swept over to the left side of my face. "For saving my life. Even after the way I treated you. I haven't thanked you for it."

"Oh,"— I twirled my hair uncomfortably— "it’s no problem at all. I mean, I should thank you as well. I heard what you told Gerritt. You saved me from getting scolded more." I tried to change the subject.

"I did nothing but speak the truth."

"Well, the truth really helps sometimes."

The Goblin nodded in agreement. Then there was another moment of silence with him glancing at the symbol on my eye. It made me want to touch it.

I saw a reflection of myself earlier; the few drops of healing potion was not completely ineffective. It did not entirely remove the mark from my face like I hoped it would, but it did make it seem more translucent. However, it was still visible to the naked eye.

I fought against the feeling. And instead, I reached for my belt.

"Here. This is yours, right?" I held out the sheathed dagger to him. "Thanks for lending it to me."

He eyed the dagger with his luminescent gaze, then shrugged. "Keep it. I don’t need it," he said.

"Are you sure?" I asked, lifting a brow.

"Yes. You don’t have a weapon, right? It’s yours."

"But I don’t know how to use it," I insisted.

Karna sighed, then rose to his feet. He reached for the dagger on my outstretched hand—

Then pushed it back to my chest.

"If you don’t know how to use a dagger, then you just have to learn. Come,"— the Goblin strode past me, out of the tent— "I’ll teach you."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes. I am indebted to you. And, I’m tired of sitting around doing nothing. Now follow me."

I obliged.

Karna led me out of the tent, and into an open area. We were still inside of the camp, but there was a small clearing that was mostly flat which I found myself in. He turned around and faced me.

"Show me what you’ve got. Try and hit me with your dagger," he ordered.

I narrowed my eyes. "You want me to use this"— I waved the dagger up— "to attack you?"

He grunted in affirmation. "Yes."

"Isn’t that dangerous? Can’t I… hurt you?"

"You can. But that won’t happen." The Goblin flashed his teeth at me, grinning confidently.

"If you say so," I said uncertainly.

I drew the dagger, and charged at Karna. He was just standing still. I raised my hand up in the air, slashing sideways—

And I found myself on the ground, hands held behind my back, and the flat of my blade pressed on against my neck.

"W-what happened?"

The Goblin let go of me, and I sprawled myself onto the ground. "You were too slow. Swung too wide. Lots of opening in your attack. Easy to see how to dodge— easy to see how to counter."

I flopped over to my back, staring up at him, slowly registering his words. "H-huh?"

He was tossing the gray blade up in the air casually; he caught it, sheathed it in its case, then sighed. "Let’s start with the basics. Firstly, you’re overextending when you swing. Your feet and your arms have to stay connected. Move in one swift motion, like this."

Karna demonstrated a simple stab. He thrusted the dagger forward, taking a step as he did. He did it slowly, and a little bit exaggeratedly; but that was so I could see what he was doing. "Now you try," he said, as he handed me the dagger hilt first.

"Like this?" I tried copying what he did.

"No. Your body is too stiff. You need to be more loose. Like so."

"How about this?"

"That’s not loose. That’s lazy. Try again."

"This?" I looked at the Goblin hopefully.

He raised a palm to his forehead, and exhaled deeply.

"This is going to be a long day."

After an hour, I was bent over, hands on my knees, gasping and panting for air. But it was not over.

"Again. Try and hit me."

My gaze flickered up to the Goblin standing before me. I straightened, raised both hands up, and slowly started circling him. He stood there, unmoving. Once I was behind him, I took a step forward, and stabbed.

Karna moved his head to the side easily, dodging the attack. He twirled around to face me, as I sidestepped around him. I swung at his neck, his arms, his chest—

And he evaded it all. He backed up slowly, ducking his head, bobbing and weaving, skirting past the constant assault as the gray edge narrowly missed him each time.

It wasn’t like I was almost hitting him. That was far from the truth. The Goblin was waiting till the very last moment to dodge the attack because it was that easy for him.

Which was frustrating for me.

I loaded up a swing, and slashed diagonally at Karna. His eyes flashed. He saw me pulling back before the attack, dragging my feet forward. He went under the swing.

In one swift motion, he moved laterally around me, and found my back. I spun the dagger around in