Arthur groaned as he put his hand on his forehead. He had a pounding headache. He looked towards Thanatos. Who was already awake.
"It feels like…something irritating is going to happen today."
The shadow wolf looked at him curiously before simply nodding. Today Arthur didnt feel like cutting wood. So he didn't. He took the sword of the broken oath out of his inventory and practiced his swordsmanship behind the cabin. He had tried to open his status window once again. But he couldn't. The system simply refused to give him an answer. It had done so for two years.
Arthur swung the obsidian greatsword, his feet moving in sync with the blade. Dancing across the snow, his blue sword aura illuminating the darkness around him, as snow swept up beneath his feet. A lone figure exited the forest. A fox. But something was…different. Arthur stopped swinging his sword once he noticed the fox.
'What in the world…?'
The fox seemed to be a being of pure light. It was watching Arthur from far away. The fox seemed startled after Arthur noticed it. And quickly scurried away. Disappearing in a gleam of light.
'How odd…am I just seeing things?
Over the past two years he seemed to be prone to seeing strange things. Like odd golden strings connecting from thing to thing. But he cannot interact with those strings. And he noticed that he had lots of golden strings connected to him, that stretched seemingly infinitely across the land. He sat down on the rocky cliffs outside of the forest and looked out at the foggy dark sea. A golden string connected from his finger to far across the sea. The strings endless expanse disappearing into the fog.
The dark sea was an ominous sight. It was so quiet. There were no waves crashing up against the cliffs. It was simply silent. Arthur's face was calm as he looked out onto the sea. Relishing in its peace. He sighed before putting the obsidian greatsword back into his inventory. Thanatos dove into his shadow and Arthur started making his way towards the mountain range near the village. Where he had discovered a cave a few days ago. And that cave, was where one of his strings disappeared into.
He had Thanatos illuminate the area with a swirling ball of fire. He didn't know exactly what the golden strings were. But he really just wanted to follow it. And to figure out what it meant. The cave was mostly empty. Except for a bat from time to time passing by him. The string lead him to a wall. Bringing the fireball closer to it. Thanatos slipped out of the shadows and turned into his human form. A man with pitch black hair and grey eyes now stood next to Arthur, clad in black robes.
"Hm…"
The fireball grew a bit bigger and fully illuminated the wall. And the paintings on the wall were revealed. On the outside of the paintings was a giant snake that seemed to be swallowing itself. And on the inside, there were a few creatures. A dragon, a snake, and…something that couldn't exactly be described. It seemed to be just a blob of fire.
"Ah…well now that I think a bit. The painting is painstakingly obvious about what it's telling."
Arthur looked at the black haired man with a puzzled look.
"It's the cycle, right? And the things inside it are the beings influenced by it."
"I'd assume so."
The golden string didn't seem to stop at the painting. It seemed to go through the wall and pass to the other side. Arthur thought for a few seconds before infusing the lumberjacks axe with his sword aura and slamming it into the wall. Watching it crumble. An entrance was revealed on the other side. He heard the sound of running water. As he stepped forward there was a slight drop, and his feet splashed. Thanatos reluctantly followed him and they made their way to a jade platform. The string fed to the center of it. But there was a thick material that covered it. Arthur slammed his axe into it once again. And was met with a rather unpleasant surprise. The material did not crumble. In fact, it bled. A soft pink layer of flesh was revealed underneath. And the pair heard a loud hissing. As the giant emerald snakes head lifted from its resting place and looked at them both.
"Well. This may be quite troubling…"
Thanatos turned back into his wolf form and the pair lunged at the snake.