Bloodborne

Hemophobia

Chapter 1

The First Hunter

It was cold…dark and cold. The night sky drizzled lightly on his freezing body as he held the rifle in his hands and shivered. He had shot an eagle clean out of the sky and it had fallen to earth. It's golden eyes stared up at him with a mixture of fear and fury.

Einar shivered as he looked up at his Father who looked expectantly down at him, "Do it."

"But Pa-"

The second he spoke up he met the back of his Father's hand, sending his cheek into a burning blaze. "Don't you dare talk back to me. End it."

"But Pa…it's dying."

"You aren't doing it favors making it wait like this. You got the gun, right? Just aim and pull the trigger. Then you won't have to worry about how it feels."

Einar stood there shivering to which point his Father slapped him again, "Boy look at me. I'm sopping wet, cold to the bone, and as sick as a dog. I wanna get back and get my soup your Ma's makin'. Now don't make me wait kill it."

Einar stared down at the Eagle, it looked back up at him. Einar sighed as he them readied the gun and pulled the trigger.

Einar awoke in his bed at the cottage he had called his home since his Father passed long ago. He looked around his plain living quarters and felt the emptiness of his life he had felt for an extremely long time come back once more. He was 35 years old at this point with a rather well-built figure, his hair was a dark orange with silver to white eyes. He was tall, incredibly so, he was taller than even his Father ever became.

He stood up and stretched as he slid on his socks and shoes, his pants and farming shirt. He walked out from the back of the living quarters to his front store shop. Several pelts left up there by himself on various hunts hung on the wall.

He felt prideful of his accomplishment, but that was all he could amount to.

He was dressed in a plain white shirt with raggedy overalls which covered the edges of his muddy boots.

He grabbed his scythe and walked out into the field as the sun slowly rose up over the horizon. He began at the edge of the field and swung it ground level. The old rusted scythe he used was a hand me down he tried to constantly repair, but at this point it was rusted and ready to fall apart.

As the hours went on, he was working up a sweat and began to pant as he kept cutting down the hay.

At this point he was nearly done with the field as he noticed two figures over the horizon heading for his shop.

He panted wiping the sweat from his brow as he walked back towards his hut. Inside he hung up his scythe and sat behind the counter awaiting his potential customers. Hopefully he'd get more than 6 this month.

The door swung open and in walked a rather big man, he was rather burly with a big beard and nicely combed hair. The other was a much younger man with black hair and blue eyes. The larger man was huge, he was twice as tall as the younger man, almost as tall as Einar, but he was also robust with thick arms, legs, and in his chest. The younger man was relatively athletic himself but he clearly was the more submissive of the two one would mistake him for being sixteen.

"Are you Mr. Einar Gehrman?"

Einar nodded, "Yes, that's me…you've heard of me?"

"I know of your profession," the larger man spoke, "I've heard of you from competitors."

"Competitors?" Einar asked, "Then why did you come to me and not them?"

"Because we've heard of your unusual trapping methods Mr. Gehrman…are you a Hunter?"

"Yes I am. Coyotes, Wolves, Eagles, Foxes. Any pelts you're interested in?"

"No…I apologize I was hoping to hire you."

"Hire me?"

"Yes…you see me and my School are in particular need of an exterminator."

The younger man spoke, "This particular type of vermin is quite dangerous to deal with."

"All else we've hired have failed at the task but perhaps you'd be interested?"

Einar felt confused, "Hold on…you want me to exterminate pests?"

"Not in that sense," the younger man spoke, "We are dealing with dangerous animals and we need them gone."

"They're killed several other Hunter's we've hired."

Einar felt rather insulted, was this some kind of joke? "Excuse me but I have better things to do than hunt animals that can kill people. Wolves, Foxes, Coyotes, they can hurt you, but they can't kill a Hunter."

"Rightly so. But this will require a different type of Hunter. One who is afraid of no beast that crosses him."

Einar felt confused, "What exactly am I hunting?"

"It's confidential…" The man said before he put a bag of gold coins on the desk. Einar opened the sack up and saw several gold coins, on the front was a picture of a King and queen, on the back was a Sigil of two wolves…

"That is for you if you come over for one day to try the job, if you dislike it you can keep that bag of coins. If you stay, we will offer you a casual salary of three hundred gold coins a day."

Einar felt extremely conflicted, his eyes glanced up toward the man and his younger companion.

"Alright…fine. What tools will I need?"

"Tools will be provided by the sake of our employers."

"What time and where?"

The younger man spoke, "It is around 20 miles from here…The Great Lake if you are aware of it? We have a building sitting on it's bank you can't miss it."

"Who are you?"

The older man was just out the door before he turned, "I'm Provost Willem, and this is my student Laurence."

Laurence waved hello to Einar with a wide smile, Willem lightly prodded him in the shoulder and gave him a look of correction.

Laurence's smile faded as he walked out the door and Willem followed. Einar was so confused due to this altercation. It was a bit concerning…what type of animal would he face tomorrow?

It was Five in the morning based on Einar's pocket watch as he traveled on foot to this place he was told to go. He cursed his lack of funds for a horse and the messy terrain of the lands before him. A tangled wood of wicked trees and muddy banks, the smell of mist and water vapor was everywhere. It was hot, humid, and he felt oddly vulnerable in these woods.

He heard the hissing of snakes but didn't see them, and when ever he walked through the sparse village or two, he felt he was being watched but no one dared come out to say anything.

He felt unwelcome here.

But once he was through that he found his way to the Building he sought, is was a rectangular building with a massive dome on the top. It was like he was told. Just an ordinary building.

He walked around to the side door where he knocked loudly and awaited a response.

Then the door opened to reveal an odd-looking man, he had shaggy brown hair but was incredibly pale and tired looking. "Hello?"

Einar cleared his throat as he spoke, "Hello. I'm Einar Gehrman…you are?"

"My name is Micolash…I apologize if I seem tired im an insomniac…you're lucky I even answered the door I almost dozed off."

"My apologies then," Einar said feeling a bit guilty, "Should have let you have your rest."

"No no, it was a good thing. I was studying you see and if I had dozed off, I would've forgotten what I was reading. But thanks to you I am on track with my research."

Einar nodded, "Alright…is there a man called Willem here?"

"Oh he's upstairs let me get him."

Before Micolash turned Willem was already down the stairs and at the door, he held out his hand with a grin and shook Einar's hand.

"Nice to see you an hour early."

"I try to be punctual on my jobs, but to be honest this is the first time I've been hired to hung something…"

"Don't worry it's no matter. Allow me to introduce you to Dores."

Another man came out in light orange robes, his held had several instruments on it including various knives. He too looked deprived of sleep under his bright blue eyes but he looked wide and awake like an owl.

"Dores this is Gehrman, he's our Hunter for this morning. We need you to guide him through the Tombs."

"Tombs?" Einar thought, "What the Hell am I doing?"

Dores nodded as he walked out to Einar, "Follow me to my shed."

Einar followed obediently to Dores's shed where he opened it to reveal a full suit of knights Armor. It was silver with intricate carvings on it's side, once again the Sigil of Two Wolves could be found on it. Next to it was a silver sword and shield.

"Here are your tools."

Einar looked confused, "Sir if I hunt in this I wont be able to chase the prey you seek.

Dores looked at him and spoke, "You will need this, trust me."

Einar glanced at the suit of armor and sighed as he took it apart and put it together on his own person. Part of him felt honorable but the other part felt stupid.

He was going to hunt in this?

"Follow me," Dores said as they walked back through the woods once more. Einar had a hard time keeping up as his feet continued to sink into the mud with the collective weight of the full suit of armor. It was cumbersome.

"So what are we doing exactly?"

"I can't answer those questions just yet. Not until I know you're with us."

Einar fell quiet as he walked through the wading waters of the Forest.

But then he walked over the hill and saw an open plain of grass and sloping hills. Over it was a valley, and in that valley was a town and an old clocktower.

But sitting by an open hole in the ground was several other people. All in knights armor.

"Einar? Is that you?" one of them spoke and Einar recognized the voice.

"Enoch?" he asked, he remember Enoch when he was younger, one of his "Competitors" constantly bragging about how he was a better Hunter than he was. But things were different now they were older.

"You're here to?"

"Yes they asked me to come for a salary of 300 gold pieces a day."

Einar glanced towards Dores whose face remained unchanged. He simply walked into the whole and waved for the others to follow him.

Once down in the tunnel they came across a massive door. Dores walked forward and knelt in front of the door, with his sack he removed a large chalice in front of the door. The Hunters glanced at each other with odd expressions…or at least Einar could tell with those helmets on.

Dores them removed several items from his sack. One was a few patches of mold or fungus…the other was a fetus looking creature covered in blood…two of them in fact thrown into the chalice, patches of hair, a jar with a malformed backbone inside of it..and three dried up corpses of infants…

It was grim and some people gagged before dores removed his final ingredient, a vial of blood.

He poured the blood into the chalice and all seemed to melt into the blood. Dores got on his knees and clasped his hands together, "O Great Ones…Hear my Prayer. Allow us to enter into your resting place and allow us Communion…"

The other Hunters seemd confused, he was going to open a door with Prayer?

Others seem to laugh, he was stupid enough to try this?

Regardless the door clinked and clacked open and as if by magic the door opened into a dusty hallway. It was an old musty hallway with cracks in the ceiling letting light trail in…this was odd.

For one there was no opening from the surface…and the sun hasn't risen yet. And still it shines through to this place. Candles were lit, incense was strong in everyone's noses.

"Follow me." Dores states as he walked forward, lighting a lantern on his belt.

Einar followed with the others, a group of 5-6 men…this was odd. What animals were down here?

It wasn't until the first door was opened did Einar find out. The first room they came across had 12 unholy abominations walking around in it. They were scrawny, thin, and almost dead looking.

No…they were dead. Their black eyes were lifeless, their skin had several marks and patches of flesh missing, and these seemed to be wounds on their faces that leaked puss and ooze.

The men were taken aback by this display but Dores raised a finger, "Go Hunt."

This was transient. These were people…weren't they?

One hunter moved forward as he raised his shield and sword.

These figures who seemed almost blind, deaf, and absent minded turned their heads to see him.

He froze as he gained the courage to walk forward. Then one of the figures moved forward with a weapon in hand, a sort of curved cleaver.

As the hunter got close the figure sprinted with a strength one would not guess and buried its blade into the shield of the Hunter.

He gasped as he felt his endurance drop. But with the remaining strength he had left he knocked the creature back and dug his blade into its shoulders.

It cut like butter, even through the flesh and bone it seemed to be no match for the sword.

It cried out as it fell to the ground dead.

The others charged at him with weapons, burning hot stakes, and sickles.

The hunter cried out as he slammed his blade into the head of one of them, and blocked the attack of another beast, but the one with the burning hot halberd pierced his armor.

He screamed out as the others came to his aid. They fought back against these undead creatures smiting them down. Einar did the same, swiping his sword at the undead creatures. Carful to block their attacks until they were all dead.

The Hunter he first came forward grabbed his wound and cried out as Dores came by. Bending down he handed him something…It was a syringe. On its end was a massive needle. Dores injected the man with it and he spoke, "This will ease the pain. If you wish to return to the surface just ask.

He looked up at Dores but shook his head, "No. I refuse. This is my job."

The hunter stood up…and showed little to no signs of injury. In fact one glance at the wound one would see it was already scabbed over, a dark red now.

What was in that vial?

The Hunters journeyed deep into the Tombs as they fought against more monsters and beasts.

More of these undead creatures wandered the halls trying to attack them but together they stood no chance.

What did take a chance was the number of dogs wandering the halls. They were vicious and hard to react to, but with proper armor they proved easy to thwart. But there were other monstrosities to fight in these halls.

In one such room spiders…bigger than a dog were on the ceiling and descended on to the floor. One unfortunate Hunter was surrounded, and while he fought back admirably, he fell to the ground and didn't get up.

He was also injected but his wounds were too great and Dores told them to leave him.

Another was a level of muck and a type of goop on the floor. Inside of it were large balls of snakes which attacked the legs of another Hunter and he was on the ground being bitten repeatedly. Einar and Enoch tried to save him but Dores used him as a distraction to collect the items in the room and leave.

Then they came across a massive creature, another undead but the size of a hippo. It held a gigantic club in its hands and as one Hunter came to kill it, he was knocked back. The others came to his air but the giant slammed its club on to his head and crushed it.

With all of them it was easy to kill him but one still fell.

Morale was dropping. What were they doing? Why are they doing this? But most frightening, was several piles of bones had shields and swords stuck in them similar to their own, and on several corpses were armor suits similar to theirs.

How many people were sent down here to die? How many times had people been sent down here to do the bidding of those two.

Then they came across an ancient door which proved difficult to open. But with a shove Enoch managed to wander inside. To his shock…a massive beast three stories tall rested in the room. It was huge and hunched back with a massive gash across it's face and open back which appeared to be bleeding constantly. It noticed him and roared.

Enoch gasped as he hurried to the door but a layer of fog appeared in the way. He tried to move through it but he found himself unable to.

"HELP!"

Einar reached his hand through the fog and tugged at Enoch but Enoch couldn't physically exit the area. It was one way. The creature grabbed him and flung him across the room against the wall. Einar raced in as well as the others as they came to fight this beast.

The creature stopped and turned its attention to the others who looked onward at it in fear. It roared at them as they too felt trapped. But it was too late to leave now.

They charge at it but with a single swipe they were all send back, three of them were cut in half or beheaded by its claws.

The blood spilled on Einar's armor and he screamed out.

The others attacked it too, some crushed under its back legs, others cut apart. Their swords seemed to do little damage. Einar looked around and noticed his sword was missing, on the other side of the room where Enoch was, knocked back pretty far.

Gehrman glanced around seeing several corpses of men in suits of armor, and even more piles of of bone and weapons.

One was a large sword, much more thicker and heavier then Einar's original.

He knew the one he had would do nothing but agitate the beast so he went for the weapon.

With a large grunt he swung the sword clumsily over his shoulder. It seemed heavy and hard to swing, he'd need to charge at it and swing with all his might.

While it was distracted with his friends, he'd kill it.

Einar roared as he ran with it, shield in one hand claymore in the other he charged at it ready to cut it down.

The beast swiped once again, the back of it's hand knocking Einar, his shield, and his weapon away as he landed on the side of the room with Enoch. His helmet fell off as he sat up.

The rest of the Hunter's were dead and he was alone with Enoch, the creature search the arena looking for any left overs.

Einar felt fear, he couldn't beat this thing on his own! This was…a Beast! It was a monster! It couldn't be killed! It was just too huge!

Then Enoch sat up, his helmet off, head bleeding.

"H-Hey…Einar." Einar turned to Enoch, "Let's cut this thing down…"

"How can we?! Look how big it is!"

"It is big…but it's just an animal…remember that bear I killed? I thought I could never beat one.

"We have to trick it."

"How?"

"Distract it. I'll go for it's Heels. Then we'll bring the Beast low and slash it's throat."

Enoch smiled, "Wanna do it?"

Einar felt fear, this creature was big, but Enoch's charisma felt genuine to him. Einar nodded.

"Yes…I'll do it."

Einar reached for his sword and by it noticed what appeared to be an ancient cross bow, one bolt loaded in its line to fire. He grabbed it as well in case he needed it.

Einar ran to its right, "HEY!"

The creature turned to glare at him with it's one burning yellow eye, the other was too scared to see.

"You! Yes you! Over Here!"

Enoch laid low for now but as soon as the creatures back was turned, he slowly got up. He left his shield on the ground and gripped his sword in hand.

"Yes you! Finish your damn job!" Einar screamed at the beast hoping it wouldn't have turned around as Enoch ran closer behind it.

"That's it," Einar encouraged, "I-I'm right here! Eat me!"

Einar felt it's presence becoming overbearing…closer to him now. Standing over him. He froze up as it looked down at him. The beast roared at Einar and Einar roared back.

Enoch roared as he ran, his sword in hand as he ran to cut the heels.

Then within a moment's notice the beast shot its hand down through its legs and grabbed Enoch. Einar was shocked as he was in the creature's hands like a doll. His hand with the sword was out of its grip but after squeezing Enoch he cried out dropping the sword.

Einar charged forward but once again he was swiped away, rolling towards the middle of the room.

He rolled over as he looked up at Enoch, bleeding from his nose and mouth as he had been squeezed. It didn't hear him coming did it? No. He was making too much noise to be heard…then it hit Einar.

The blood

It smelt his blood.

He held Enoch to its face and roared as he shut its jaw on his head and ripped it off. Blood sprayed everywhere and it clammed the corpse down into the ground.

Einar was in shock, he always hated Enoch, felt jealous of his skill and power. But now he was gone Einar was alone. If Enoch couldn't beat this creature what chance did he have…

The beast turned back to Einar who stood frozen, Dores shouted to him behind the fog but Einar remained still. He'd just die here…

But as the beast came closer to him he felt an urge inside of himself to fight back, he swiped his cross bow and aimed it at the creature but he too found himself in it's grip. It squeezed him and Enoch cried out feeling his ribs crack, his lungs compress. He coughed up blood but he held on to his cross bow and fired the bolt into the creature's eye. It cried out and screamed in agony, loosening it's grip on Einar. Einar grabbed his sword from the arm the creature had squeezed, and with his steady hand held it like a spear.

The creature cried out at Einar, roaring at him. Einar saw the interior of it's throat and reacted.

He threw the spear into it's throat and with a loud gag the beast dropped Einar to the ground as it attempted to remove the sword from it's throat, making it worse for itself. Einar stood up slowly, gagging and wheezing blood.

He looked to his right and saw the claymore he dropped. He grunted as he lifted the sword on his shoulder again and walked up to the beast still preoccupied with the sword in it's throat.

"DIE!" Einar screamed swinging the sword into the head of the beast, it swung it's head upward in pain but Einar found footing on it's skull and pushed in hard forcing it deeper and deeper into it's brain.

The creature fell dead to the ground, tossing Einar to the floor rolling.

He laid on his back as the lights in the room got brighter. A figure stood over him as it got darker and he fell asleep.

Einar entered his Fathers room as he lay sick in bed. It was night, dark out, a terrible storm shook the house. He coughed and hacked up blood as he glanced to his son, "What a piece of shit you turned out to be."

He coughed and hacked up blood as he growled, "If your Mother were still alive, I would've had another son to replace you. You're weak and helpless."

Einar narrowed his eyes at his Father, "And yet here I am taking care of you."

"And you're doing a terrible job…I'm 50 and I'm already dying? Ridiculous…you spread death where ever you go you bastard. First your Mother who gave Birth to you, then your sister, then me. You're a miserable child."

"I'm 20." Einar said as he reached for his rifle and loaded a bullet into the barrel, "And you're right…I am going to kill you."

His Father was taken aback, "Wha…why?"

"Because I was going to let you cough and suffer to the grave but you talk to much. You've always put me down as a child and now you need my help? I'm not giving it to you. I'm done dealing with you, you can't die faster."

His Father went from shocked to smug and vindicated, "Ahhhh of course…prove me right…kill me. Like you killed your Mother."

Einar narrowed his eyes as he aimed the gun, "I'll shoot you through the lungs and let you choke on your own blood if you keep talking."

There was silence, the rain outside pattered against the roof of the home lightning flashed, thunder rocked the house.

"…Know why I named you Einar?"

Einar spat out, "Why?"

"It means Alone. That's what you're going to be when you grow up. Alone and miserable. That's what I am now. Alone without my wife and your older sister."

A shot rang out as the bullet hit him through the chest and through the bed. He gasped out as a dark red stained his bed sheets.

Einar put another bullet into the chamber and spoke, "Keep talking."

"I…" he coughed blood up, "Tried to redeem you…tried to teach you how to Hunt, how to sustain yourself. But you always made things go wrong for me. Since you were born no one comes to buy my crops, no one has come for my pelts. You are a curse."

Another shot rang out and blood splattered on his Fathers face, "YOU'RE JUST GOING TO PIN YOUR PROBLEMS ON ME?!"

"How could I not?..."he continued to wheeze weakly now, "Should've had a better son…one who listened, didn't cry all the time. One who knew how the world worked. One who had a sense of honor and duty."

He looked up at the ceiling dreamily, "A son like the one Jackson's family had…A son like Enoch. Now he'd make a good-"

Another shot fired out through his throat.

Einar stood there as he panted, tears running down his face as his Father's shocked expression came back. Seems when he can't talk he can't take the pressure of death.

"I hope Hell is a place you stay."

Einar said as he watched his Father bleed out. His Father wildly tried to reach for someone's hand. Maybe he went senile and felt his wife's presence or his daughter's. But he fell limp and lifeless. He rest in that blood soaked bed as Einar watched…he wanted to feel happy and he did…but it was short lived after his Father died. There was nothing here.

His Father was right, He was alone now.

Einar came to in a makeshift hospital bed in the building Willem was at.

He sat up feeling no injuries. Red marks were on his body but the wounds were all scabbed.

"You're awake?!" Laurence said as he hopped up from the couch on the side of the room shutting his book. He dashed upstairs yelling Willem's name. As Einar sat up he was greeted by Dores he spoke, "You were hurt badly but not too badly. You're lucky I managed to carry you back."

Einar groaned as Willem approached him, "So…you bested that gigantic beast did you?"

Einar spat out at him, "It bested us at first. I was lucky. It was horrible. They are all dead."

"I know…but unfortunately we will have to keep searching for people to clear the Tombs out. We are trying to study them, but for now we cant with all of these creatures running about. This is why we've hired you. To clear out those Tombs."

"Are you insane?!" Einar said as he stood up, surprisingly with little resistance.

"Those things! Those creatures! No mortal man can face those things and live! Whatever you seek isn't worth those many lives. Forget it."

Laurence pleaded, "But you can enroll here with me and my Master. You can learn with us! This isn't a one sided arrangement I promise."

"Forget it." Einar said as he walked towards the door, "I want nothing with this."

Laurence almost cried out to Einar but Willem held up his hand, "Let him go. It's his choice."

Einar walked back with the sun shining over him, sweat beading down over his head. He was shaken by this experience. No animal ever made him feel this fear. The cause of fear was gone but the terror it inflicted his mind was tremendous. But…there was a sensation he felt…other than fear…something more…primal.

As he finally returned to his home, he glanced around it's darkened and drab corners.

It was old, musty, and poor. Run down. It held the echoes of a life Einar wanted to forget. A Father he wanted desperately to erase from his history.

This place was stagnating, unchanging, completely and utterly stale. But him? He felt alive...after this experience he felt a feeling he had only felt 15 years ago with his Father. The joy of killing. The experience of taking something's life. Something hated and despised and down right threatening. His Father was not as strong as this one. Was it because it devoured Enoch's head? Or took the lives of so many others?

No.

It was the danger it presented that made him feel like this. It was how it made him feel alive, knowing his life was on the line. Knowing it could kill him and would given the chance.

The fact he was lucky made him feel a joy that was smothered by his fear. But in an environment of pure safety and staleness he could feel that joy slipping. The thrill of hunting an animal flowing away.

Einar was fed up. Fed up with this cursed house, fed up with his Father, and the title he gave him. He was fed up with being alone. He wouldn't be alone anymore.

He'd hunt for them. Those who needed him. With a moment to consider it he quickly got his bags together and began to pack.

Later than evening Laurence and Dores were outside discussing who else to hire to enter the Tombs.

But they stopped as Einar moved over the Hills. Bags over his head, on his back were various gardening tools and make shift weapons.

Laurence smiled and Dores smirked as he crossed his arms.

"You came back!"

"Yes…I figured you'd send more people down there if you had no one to hunt for you. So I volunteer."

Laurence smiled, "Glad to have you Einar."

"Don't call me that. From now on, I'm Gehrman. Nothing more, nothing less."