Chapter 51 - An Unwelcome Reunion – Part 2

When he removed his hand from his eyes, Noah spotted a gigantic creature with enormous yellow eyes standing right in front of him, and he fell backward onto the ground. After the fall, he did everything he could to distance himself from that grotesque being.

But it was of little use, because the farther Noah moved away, the larger that creature seemed to grow. And as he crawled to escape, Noah appeared to have forgotten about the strange light in the distance. However, that did not last long—a light even more intense emerged behind him, and in a quick glimpse he understood why the light was so overpowering now.

Although it might not have seemed so, Noah had already gotten far enough away from that enormous being which had terrified him so much, and now he was very close to the source of the light. When he glanced back for a moment, he realized that the one producing the glow was, in fact, the phoenix; he also noticed that as he drew nearer to it, his vision strangely cleared, no longer being affected by the brilliance.

Then he stood up and, after thinking for a few seconds and taking a deep breath, managed to calm himself a little. Soon, a bit more composed, he slowly turned and saw that his conclusion was correct. Yet a new doubt besieged him:

  — Ridiculous… Everything's ridiculous… You're dead, then… damn, am I too?!

That creature he had feared only moments before was indeed the semi-dragon, with part of its body coiled up. It was odd, because despite the intense light emanating from the phoenix, it seemed that the phoenix did not come near the serpent—leaving it almost completely shrouded in darkness.

Faced with all this, Noah couldn't understand what was happening; he was confused and, with each passing moment, wondered where he was. But such questioning led nowhere—after all, if he had no idea where he was, why question it so much? It wasn't as though the answer would suddenly appear in his mind.

As he pondered his location, Noah ended up forgetting about what was happening around him—including that light, which no longer bothered him nearly as much. The serpent remained curled up as before, its head hidden from the faint glow shining on its enormous body.

And the phoenix, well… the phoenix continued to fly over that spot, emitting a brilliant glow—but that did not last long. After a few minutes, it practically extinguished: the intense light vanished along with the great flames that enveloped its body. And when it went out, the place that had until then been bathed in its illumination plunged into complete darkness.

Then, as darkness took over the space, the serpent— which had been completely still until that moment—lifted its head and fixed its gaze on the phoenix, now showing only a tiny point of light on its body, virtually swallowed by the surrounding darkness.

Noah, completely absorbed in his thoughts, only realized what had happened when, at a glance, he noticed that there was no longer any light in that place. Instantly, he looked up, trying to locate the phoenix amidst the blackness, and after searching for a while, he finally found it.

It was an immense bird with a faint glow—that's what Noah saw, as if all the phoenix's brilliance had vanished, or rather, perhaps it wasn't quite that simple. For after some time in that darkness, the serpent detected a small bluish gleam emanating from the phoenix's talons, and with each passing moment, that glow grew ever more intense.

For some reason, after witnessing that, the serpent quickly glanced around, as if searching for something. And after a few looks, it swiftly moved in the direction where Noah was, coiling a large part of its body around him so tightly that not even a sliver of space remained.

Naturally, Noah didn't see what happened; even though the tunnel formed by the serpent was engulfed in darkness, it hardly compared to what he was experiencing in that very moment. However, even without witnessing the event, he clearly heard that something gigantic had made an enormous movement around him.

Upon hearing that, Noah instinctively tried to take a few steps back, but after a few paces, he felt something behind him.

'No way… Again…?' he thought.

After that sensation, and realizing very clearly that it was the serpent behind him, Noah stopped for a moment and then began advancing slowly, but to no avail. After taking just over fifty steps, he realized that it was impossible to proceed further.

Anxiety overwhelmed Noah when he realized he was cornered; and, throwing a punch at the serpent, he shouted,

— Hey! Let go of me, damn it!

But his anger dissipated like a puff of smoke, leaving behind only the memory of what he had just done and the tremors that it had triggered.

After that punch, the serpent shifted a little, parting just enough to allow a delicate beam of bluish light to stream through, accompanied by an excruciating chill.

"...What the hell is going on here...?!" Noah murmured, trembling as he felt the sudden drop in temperature.