Light. She could see a light. She groaned, bringing her hands up to her sides as she pushed herself up to her knees. From what little she could see past the light, she saw what looked like a cemetery, headstones lining the hillsides as far as she could see.
"Where... Where am I?" She wondered. The last thing she remembered, she was attacked by a band of sellswords with her company. She could have sworn she fell in combat, struck down by a blade of an unseen warrior. Yet, here she was, alive and breathing. It just didn't make sense. A realization came to her as she mad these thoughts. She felt cold. Unbelievably cold. But why? She pushed herself to her feet and stood, taking in her surroundings as she noticed the sound of a distant bell. What was going on? Why was she here?
"Okay... One thing at a time... Try to remember..." She thought. For a time, she tried to recall where she came from, but to no avail. Desperate, she grunted and steadied her weak frame against the stone. Again she sought the name of her home, but nothing came to her. She could not remember where she was from. Her name. She had to start with her name. Bellena. Bellena Starvos, a knight. She knew that much. Her father was a knight before her, and she took his place when he grew ill. She could remember! Her mother, what could she remember about her mother? Despite her efforts, she could not recall any memory of her. That's when it came to her. Her mother died due to complications following her birth. She remembered her father telling stories of how he met her mother, and the praises he gave to her during her training, even as he grew worse with sickness.
She shook her head and placed her hand to her forehead. Why could she remember some things, but not others? The bell rang louder, causing Bellena to look up, watching as the sun began to swing over the horizon. Looking back down, Bellena realized she was standing inside of a coffin. Unsettled by this, she carefully stepped over the side of the coffin, and carefully adjusted as she began to regain her strength. Lifting her hand to observe it, she saw the armor she wore, a fine coat of iron resting, with some sore of green cloth. Was this a possible clue to her home? She couldn't be sure. Lowering her arm, she came to notice a small pile of items leaning against what she could only assume was her grave. Among the items was a standard long sword resting atop a medium sized kite shield, both appeared to be in good repair.
Slowly, she stepped toward these items and picked them up, taking hold of them in her hands. Something about them felt... Familiar. Had these been her weapons in life? Where the shield had stood, was a decently sized green flask, carrying some sort of glowing yellow liquid. Wait... She knew this flask. This was an Estus Flask, beloved possesions of Undead. Now, could it be that... was she Undead?
Alarmed, she began to look around, trying to find something to look into. Beside her grave was a puddle of water, clear as the morning sky. Desperately, she clawed away at her helmet and threw it aside, only to see a perfectly human face. Her light blue eyes and pale skin stared back at her as she breathed heavily, her brown hair slighty damp and her cheeks slightly red from the confines of her helmet. This only partially relieved her. She wasn't hollow, but then why was she alive? There was no way she was still alive, the coffin and the grave only reinforced that. Confused, she began to remove the gauntlet from her right arm. The weapon dropped to the ground as she observed her wrist, and saw what she was afraid to see. A Darksign, the mark of a cursed Undead. This didn't make any sense... She was branded as an Undead, but she hadn't hollowed. What was going on?
Looking back to the Estus Flask, she noticed a small red gem in the shape of a cube beside it. She recognized this item, it was a Fire Gem. A burial gift of some kind? Looking back to the graves, Bellena tried to make sense of the situation she found herself in. Despite her efforts, she could not think of anything. The only revelation that came to her was that she hand been branded for some reason, and she would have to press onward to discover why. With a deep breath, she placed her gauntlet back on her arm, and carefully put her helmet back on. She took hold of the Estus Flask and Fire gem, placing them into her kit running along her waist. With sword in hand and shield at the ready, Bellena stepped forward along the path before her. The ground slowly pushed in with a quiet mushing sound, the moisture from the water turning it into mud. As she pressed forward, she came to notice a cloaked figure. The figure weakly held onto a long sword as it slowly waking forward through the mud. Could this be another Undead?
"Excuse me, you there?" She called out cautiously. The figure let out a low moan as it turned to face her, it's bony hands tightening along the hilt of the sword. Bellena raised her shield slightly when she saw it's face, a hollowed, pure white face void of eyes. This was no Undead, this creature was purely hollow. The creature shrieked and raised it's weapon, charging at her at full speed. Ready, Bellena planted her feet into the ground and rose her shield just in time. A loud clang sounded as the weapon harmlessly bounced off her shield, staggering the creature. Taking this opportunity, Bellena raised her own sword and slashed across the creature's chest. Blood spurted from the wound as the creature let out a painful shriek and collapsed, slightly splashing in the mud below. Looking down to the corpse, Bellena kept her shield, just in case the Hollow wasn't truly dead. Slowly, she walked up to it and gave it a gentle kick, and got no response. It was a corpse once more.
Looking to the left, Bellena saw a small fountain, along with a few more Hollowed creatures. At the fountain was a dead knight, who seemed to be clasping another flask in his right hand. It seemed to be blue from the distance. Carefully, Bellena walked closer to the Hollow, it's troubled breathing the only sound she could hear aside from the light splashing below her. As she grew close, the Hollow took notice and charged her. Easily blocking it's attack, Bellena thrust her sword through it's chest, ending the creature's life. With the hollow dead, Bellena looked to the dead knight, and instantly recognized the armor as that of an Astoran. Though she knew little of Astora, she knew it was a land of nobility and elite knights, and well respected among the various lands. Kneeling down, Bellena looked at the knight's face, and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Hey... Are you still there?" She asked quietly. Though she suspected that the knight was truly dead, part of her clung to the hope that he too was Undead, so that she may have a companion on her journey. Some time passed, and the knight gave no response. He was truly dead. Not even an Undead. Bellena hung her head in sadness, then looked to his open hand. The flask held a glowing blue liquid, and was ashen in color. Sighing, Bellena took hold of this flask and placed it on her person before looking back to the face of the knight. He seemed almost peaceful, laying along the fountain. Bellena whispered a quiet prayer and stood, hoping that just maybe, the knight was at peace now.
Looking forward, Bellena looked forward, seeing the various Hollows along the cemetery. Beyond them was a path leading to an incline, and to the right of them was a small flooded path leading deeper into the cemetery. She was unsure of what would be further in the cemetery, and so decided she would follow the path to the incline. After quickly dispatching the few hollows that stood in her way, and proceeded down the path. Graves surrounded her, filing her with a sense of unease. Finally, she made it to the end of the path, and looked out at the massive expanse of mountains of the cliff side. Slightly taken by this, she stepped close to the edge and took in the view as a cool breeze blew, only further reinforcing how cold she felt. With a slight shiver, she turned away from the mountains and walked up the incline.
At the top of the incline was a rather peculiar thing, some sort of bonfire with a coiled sword in it's center. Curious, Bellena walked closer t the bonfire, and observed the fading embers at the base of the fire. Even from this, she felt a slight warmth emanating from it, one that she desired. But it was clear the fire would die soon. Bellena sheathed her sword as she came to a halt in front of the fire, watching the embers grow weaker, it's slight warmth fast fading with them. Lifting her right arm, Bellena recalled the Darksign that marked her as an Undead. She had heard stories of the Undead lighting bonfires simply by extending their hands toward them. Bellena raised her hand into her view, her armor slightly reddened from the blood of the Hollows. Was it truly that simple? Was that all that needed to be done?
With a deep breath, Bellena slowly extended her hand to the fire. As she touched the hilt of the sword, the embers at the base ignited, sending a small fire up the sword. Bellena pulled her hand away as the fire grew stronger, reaching about a third of the way up the sword before stopping. A comforting warmth filled Bellena's body, slowly driving the cold feeling from her. With a deep sigh, Bellena lowered herself down, sitting comfortably at the bonfire and relaxing. She had a long journey ahead of her, this much she knew, so she would enjoy the small comforts of these bonfires. Slightly lowering her head, she closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift, imagining what would lie before her...