Eventually, the blacksmith from the southern seas built himself the perfect workshop under Floating Barracks and, thanks to Kamu and the Mist, he soon gained immense fame. People came from all over the world to the floating city just to get a weapon from the famous blacksmith, whose weapons were said to be invincible.
Matthias very rarely gave his customers what they asked for. However, despite this, he always gave them what they needed most. And even Mukei Vietryk, the leader of the Immortal Mist, could not dissuade him from this habit. Not so much that Kamu got tired of begging him and figured that the blacksmith would know what someone needed better than he did.
And the blacksmith did just that. If someone came to him, he would make them the perfect weapon. This went on for many decades, until one fine spring day he decided to close the forge for a while and take on the world once again. He wanted to do something new, something that no one had done before. There were other blacksmiths in the world, weapons and armor were made elsewhere. Matthias wanted something completely new, so he set off on a journey into the world to find inspiration.
"Congratulations, Matthias. This will be inspiration." The blacksmith grumbled under his breath as he sat by a campfire on the western coast. "What was I thinking?" He ran his hand through his hair and then poked the fire with a stick. "Be careful, little spider, you'll burn yourself if you go too close to the fire." He held out his hand to the little animal that was running towards the warmth on the stones packed around the campfire.
Although he could only see the outline of the animal, he still smiled. He had never seen such a beautiful deep purple outline in his life. To his greatest surprise, the spider climbed onto his hand and seemed to burrow into his palm, making Matthias laugh.
"It's okay, little beauty. I think you're cold, you can stay here in the heat." He finally said and carefully pulled his hands together. "Hm... Spider. Web. Weaving." Matthias thought out loud, then a wide smile appeared on his lips. "I got it! Cloth! This will be the perfect plan!" He laughed and then raised the little animal to the height of his face. "Thank you, beautiful, you've helped me a lot, finally I have an idea. I'm making an armor that no one will know is an armor." Matthias was enthusiastic, then held his hand to his shoulder. "You can rest here if you want." He announced, before the spider hurriedly slipped from his hand.
The blacksmith now had a thousand ideas in his head and set about preparing his dinner. Time passed slowly and he had almost forgotten about the little spider on his shoulder by the time he realized that he should have gone to bed. He only remembered his guest when it moved on his shoulder and ran down onto the back of his hand.
"Tell me, do you know how to weave clothes?" Matthias asked with a chuckle. "I don't think you do. It would come in handy though. I have no sense for clothes." He shook his head and then put his hand on the ground. "Thank you for your company, beautiful, now you are free to go." As he said this, the spider hurried down to the ground from his palm. "It's time to sleep." Matthias yawned loudly, then took a blanket from his small bundle and pulled it around himself to keep himself warm for the night.
The next morning started out as boring as every morning. The world before Matthias's eyes was the same black, with the pale gray outlines of the birds in the sky. The blacksmith had no desire to get up, but finally he forced himself to sit up. He ran his hand over his face, then ran his hand through his hair and stretched a little.
"Good morning, little dreamer." At the sudden female voice, Matthias immediately jumped to his feet and at the same moment, with a movement of his hand, water rose from the bucket in which he had been holding it that evening and might have drowned the stranger who had spoken to him, if the blacksmith had not seen that certain deep crimson outline that he had seen for the first time in his life the day before.
"Oh, hello, beautiful. You seemed to have been smaller yesterday." The blacksmith's lips twitched into a half smile, then he waved so that the water would return to the bucket where it belonged.
"How do you know it was me?" He suddenly felt the woman's hands on his throat.
"Because you're still the same color even if you've grown up." Matthias said indifferently.
"The same color?" The woman asked.
"Yes. Every living thing has its own color. I've never seen a more beautiful deep crimson than yours." He looked at the spot that was now much larger than yesterday.
"Are you blind?" The woman let him go.
"Not since birth, but it's gotten worse over the years." Matthias shrugged.
"So maybe when you grow up you'll be completely blind?" The woman asks, making Matthias laugh.
"That's not a possibility." He said in a calm voice and closed his eyes to lock his soul magic back into himself, thus assuming his true adult form. "It's a fact." He finished the sentence in a deeper tone.
"Oh, you have very strong soul magic." The woman giggled.
"They said it before." Matthias waved a hand, then closed his eyes again and began to concentrate on taking on a younger form than the one he liked.
"Why did you become so young now?" He heard the woman's question, before he opened his eyes. However, the sight almost made his mouth drop open, the brown-haired green-eyed woman was more beautiful than anything the blacksmith had ever seen.
"So that I can see you." Matthias whispered, causing the woman's eyes to widen and then slowly smile.
"Found you." The woman swallowed hard, then took a deep breath and continued with a bright smile on her face. "I think it's only fair that I show you what I can do." As she finished her sentence, the woman was surrounded by purple smoke, after which only a small spider remained in her place.
"Oh, it's interesting, I've never seen a species like you before." Matthias squatted down next to her, then closed his eyes to return to his usual form. "You can turn back into a human. I guess you prefer being in that form, just as I prefer being in this form. That way I can still see some of the world." The boy explained.
"You're right." The woman giggled as she returned to her human form.
"I'm Matthias Mullen, an undersea-walker from the southern seas and the blacksmith of Floating Barracks." The boy introduced himself.
"I'm Marianne, the spider. A predator from the Mountains." The woman repeated her introduction. "And luckily for you, I'm very good with clothes. I've always wanted to be a tailor and I've become very curious about your idea." The woman smiled.
"In that case, can I invite you to my workshop to experiment with the perfect armor?" Matthias smiled at her too.
"Of course. Our armor will be the best armor in the world." Marianne laughed.
"Only if you can stand me, Annie." The blacksmith chuckled.
"Believe me, there will be no problem with that, Matthias, no problem in the world." The woman replied, who, unlike Matthias, already knew that this particular meeting had sealed the fate of both of them.