As Grey ran to the opposite end of the rocky platform, something in his mystical connection with Odyssey had changed.
The weapon, which had emitted a blinding light bright enough to give him time to move, now only gave off a faint glow, barely lighting its surroundings.
'It feels different... something more...'
Every step, every swing of his spear as he distanced himself from the steel spiders allowed him to perceive it clearly. Odyssey was no longer just a weapon; it was an extension of his own body. He could feel even the slightest movement, as if the spear were breathing with him.
And not just that.
'It's sharper, its weight has changed... it's faster, more precise, more lethal.'
A sinister smile formed on his lips as he saw the silhouettes of both steel spiders dangerously approaching.
'Let's test it.'
Grey lunged at the spiders, and Odyssey whistled through the air with terrifying speed. The cut was perfect: vertical, precise, gleaming. The steel of their bodies parted like butter under the blade.
[You have killed an awakened creature: Steel Spider]
[Your souls grow stronger]
[You have killed an awakened creature: Steel Spider]
[Your souls grow stronger]
Grey stopped, frozen for a moment, observing the corpses of both creatures collapse beside him, so close to the edge they almost fell into the roaring sea below.
The black ocean roared beneath the cold night, the waves crashing wildly against one another.
'Did I... split them in two?'
He looked at the bodies, then at his spear, which glowed faintly in his hands. Something didn't add up.
'What is this...? Something's wrong...' His eyes returned to the corpses, then back to Odyssey. 'Something's off. I can feel it.'
A chill ran down his spine. His body tensed, flooded with adrenaline.
And then he saw it.
In the distance, dozens, perhaps a hundred meters away, a dark silhouette emerged from the black sea. Its darkness was such that it stood out even among the shadows covering the world.
Grey froze as he realized what was happening.
"We're glowing!"
He and Odyssey glowed like a beacon in the middle of an ocean of darkness, a light that would attract any being wanting to devour it, to return the world to shadows.
....
Several kilometers away from the creature of darkness and the man of light who would be engulfed by it, a person watched with growing curiosity in that same direction.
"Something created light… what an idiot."
She looked at her bare hands, full of wounds from battles and the exhausting climb over the steep rocks rising above the sea.
The ocean of darkness couldn't crush her, the cold of the world couldn't freeze her, and the powerful creatures in this area couldn't devour her.
Her eyes scanned the corpse of a two-meter winged creature lying on the platform, headless. She smiled, satisfied with her victory.
Then she looked back at that light in the distance, and her blood began to chill as a shiver ran down her spine.
The world's shadows didn't blind her, and she was able to distinguish the true form of that mass of darkness in the distance, quickly approaching the beacon of light.
Dozens of repulsive tentacles, emanating a sinister and malevolent aura, dripped black liquid from their ends, their tips sharpening into dark blades.
Its massive form easily reached fifty meters long, with a thickness of about a meter and a half of pure poisonous flesh.
She quickly averted her gaze from that thing, afraid it might sense her watching its body.
Calming herself down and regaining her composure, she was unwilling to give it another glance.
With her prodigious physique, she shoved aside the corpse of the winged creature and lay down on its soft feathers in the center of the platform.
As she looked at the starless, moonless sky, she let her mind wander.
"What could that light be? I don't think it's a person... Right? Nobody would be dumb enough to light something in the middle of the night."
"Obviously, you'd be an easy target for the monsters of the black sea if you do that, seriously, that's insane."
"Maybe it's just another dumb abomination that'll get devoured by that thing... Ugh, gives me chills just thinking about it."
She got more comfortable, putting her hands behind her head as a pillow.
"One day I'll kill things as big as those tentacles... but not now, that'd be suicide."
"Mhm, where should I go now? This place is a headache to explore, and there doesn't seem to be a gateway. Can the spell throw sleepers into a place without an exit?"
With a bitter taste in her mouth, she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the violent roar of the sea crashing against the walls of her camp.
As she drifted into a dreamless sleep, one last thought crossed her drowsy mind.
"How is... Grey?"
....
The night finally passed, and she was awakened by the rays of the sun lighting her closed eyelids, accompanied by the indistinguishable sound of the sea retreating.
She took a deep breath as she stretched her arms, the fine muscles under her skin tightening.
She got up from the soft feathers of the monster and adjusted her improvised clothing made of seaweed, fitting it better to her body.
She cut a piece of meat from the winged creature and, using its dry feathers, lit a fire. She set the meat to cook and then looked toward the horizon.
'Alright, where should I go now?'
She looked around with a serious expression, observing the hills that could serve as camps for her next stay.
Many elevated hills were visible in the distance, but one caught her attention, especially for how strange it looked in the daylight.
Curiously, it was the same hill where she had seen the light during the night.
The steep rock, at least two hundred meters high, was split in half, and the tip was nowhere to be seen within her sight.
Her face twisted slightly as several chilling scenarios flashed through her mind.
Finally, she opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again to say four simple words:
"What the hell happened?"