Arthur made his way to the back of the jade platform, where the snake was guarding something. A pristine emerald dagger that had been plunged into a pedestal. A serpent had been engraved on its blade. It was a beautiful blade, its craftsmanship was impeccable. And the golden string lead directly to it.
'So what exactly is important about this thing…'
He tugged at the dagger. It slipped out of the pedestal pretty easily. Which he didn't expect.
'…is that it?'
Thanatos turned back into his humanoid form and looked at the dagger.
"It seems to be a cursed artifact. Ugh. Even I get a putrid feeling from it. Reminds me of something I didn't exactly want to remember."
Arthur examined the dagger for a few moments. It was extremely light. He could see it as well. There was a putrid energy surrounding it. Just lingering there. He walked over to the snakes corpse.
"It's starting to regenerate. Is this thing seriously immortal?"
Thanatos turned to look at Arthur and sighed.
"It definitely wasn't always like that. It has the same energy coming from it that the dagger has. It's a servant of the cycle. A being that will never die I guess."
The dagger started to glow a dark green. Before it grew brighter, and brighter…
"What the hell?"
The dagger flew out of Arthur's hands and transformed into a giant maw. Attached to nothing. It simply swallowed the entire body of the snake. And then turned into a black orb. Leaving nothing behind. It burst forward and lunged into Arthur's chest. Vanishing like it was never there.
[You have absorbed a fragment of dread. Gained attributes: 'Absorption' & 'Regeneration']
Arthur sighed and dismissed the screen.
'Great. Another two skills I can't learn anything about. How fun, though I guess…absorption would be what I just witnessed…? And I gained that skill from the serpent? That would probably make the most sense.'
Thanatos seemed to have a grim expression on his face. Arthur looked towards him and took notice.
"The hell happened to you?"
"Nothing. That just reminded me of something."
"What could that have reminded you of?"
"There used to be…another god. Before three realms became four."
Arthur's expression became puzzled.
"And what happened to them?"
"I killed them. The other gods didn't like his relation with the cycle. And I didn't exactly either. So, they sent me to kill them. Well, one of them didn't want that. Which lead to the splitting. Which lead to the goddess of light being obliterated in the abyss, and I being obliterated on the mortal realm."
"…huh. Thats…interesting. I guess."
As they exited the cave. Arthur scratched the back of his head. He felt a bit uneasy. Though it wasn't from the weird explanation. His body just felt unsettled. Like there was something crawling around inside of his body that wasn't supposed to be there. As his boots started to crunch in the snow. The pair noticed an odd gleam of light coming from the distance. The gleam seemed to get larger before they finally noticed what was coming. A woman clad in white and gold armor was dashing towards them. She had flowing white hair and her eyes were as if they were made of pure gold. A silver rapier blitzing across the air towards Thanatos. But he simply smiled.
Thanatos stopped the rapier with the tip of his finger and the woman dashed to the side.
"Long time no see."