Once, in a very distant time and place, there was an ancient kingdom turned to ruins. Oceans from bellow tore away and devoured stone and brick, pillars of white marble and whole buildings. Now only a pair of buildings remained the great Blue Cathedral, home of the Blue Sentinels, and the Tower of Flame, home of a Dragonrider as of recently. This once beautiful kingdom, was now the ruins of Heide, the home of only a few sane people. Though there were those who bordered on insanity, one such person was one of the knights of Heide. The order were once famous in their time, now they are forgotten and Hollow.
Knight Hal sat against a stone pillar, looking out over the endless sea and at the distant sun. His chainmail was rusted and falling apart, his pauldrons were dull and dented, his leggings reduced to nothing more than a pair of greaves and half a knee guard. Hal's helmet was a rarity among his Hollowed brethren, it was one of the few that was reinforced by iron and used by an ancient force of elite knights that rode mounts into battle, but like Heide they were forgotten. Hal absently scratched at the rust on his sword, a battered thing that had no hilt and only half of a blade, by some miracle it kept its blessing of the sun god and sparked with lightning.
The Heide Knight looked to his right and saw another of his order, though this one had a bucket-like helmet full of arrows, clearly Hollow. Hal turned to left and saw a trio of massive sentinels in green armour, they turned up out of nowhere, possibly a decade ago or even a week, Hal couldn't remember. He did know that they were quite slow, if the countless number of undead that passed through these ruins were anything to go by. Hal could remember one in particular, a young girl, who sat next to him for a day and talked to him, Hal would've responded but his voice was long gone.
"Hey! Look over here!" A voice called out, Hal internally sighed and hoped it was one of the 'nice' ones. The knight heard two pairs of footsteps and turned his head to stare at their owners, one wore hard leather armour and the other a mixture of metal. Hal continued to stare before turning back to the sun, still listening to anything besides the lapping of waves.
"What? It's just another one of these dumb knights." The knight said with a deep voice, the other scoffed.
"Look at the helmet!" The first said excitedly. "It's a rare find!" Hal grew slightly angry, but nervous, he wasn't looking for a fight. He heard footsteps approaching and turned to the two Undead again, this time he raised his sword slightly.
"I say we leave him alone." The deep voiced knight said and took a step away, the other one in leathers shook his head.
"The thing is just a Hollow, can't do anything to us!" The warrior stated and walked up to Hal, reaching out for his helmet. Hal let out a low droning growl and moved to stand, his armour screaming and falling apart. He stood up straight and glared down at the warrior, who was slowly stepping back.
"Easy now." The knight said softly and raised his hands, the warrior did the same but a bit shakily. Hal continued to glare at them before turning back to the sun, returning his broken sword to its equally ruined scabbard. The two Undead exchanged glances and turned away from the knight. "I say we leave." The knight stated.
"No! We can take him!" The warrior hissed and pulled an axe from his belt. "Just need to overpower him!" The warrior grinned and turned to the Heide Knight, but the knight stopped him.
"You'll have to do it alone then." The knight grunted and walked away, the warrior scoffed.
"Fine, I will." The warrior turned and swung his axe at the Heide Knight, who grunted and quickly unsheathed his sword. Hal spun on his heel and bashed the warrior in the face with his sword's pummel, when the man stumbled back Hal grabbed his shoulder and slammed his sword through his chest. The knight heard the gasp of the warrior, but didn't help the man, instead he watched him fall to his knees then onto his side.
"Serves you right." The knight murmured and left Hal alone, walking back towards a large doorway. Hal looked at his blade and sheathed it again, slowly lowering himself to a seating position again to stare out at the sun. Hal reached into his dirty cloak and pulled a simple ring from within, he examined it and tried to remember where it came from. Home, yes, home. Hal smiled under his iron helmet as the faint memory of a family returned to him, the faces of a little girl and his loving wife. They had brown hair... or blond, white perhaps? Were they young when he left? Where... where did he live? What is this place? Who was he? What... who... kill... yes, yes that's it... kill...
Ser Xavier of Astora came back to the ruins of Heide after a few hours, to scavenge anything from his fallen 'friend'. When he turned the corner and saw the Heide Knight, he knew something wasn't right. The knight sat in a more hunched over posture and had its sword already in its hand. Xavier pulled his claymore from his back and gripped it with two hands, taking a step towards the knight. The Heide Knight jerked its head up and groaned, standing up and stumbling towards the man, his sword hanging limply from his hand.
"Hah!" Xavier grunted and swung his claymore, cleaving into the knight's chest, cutting through the rusted chainmail like butter. The Heide Knight hissed and raised his sword and slashed downwards, Xavier released his sword and jumped back to avoid the ruined blade, but when it hit the stone ground it shattered. The knight of Astora watched the Heide Knight step forward and raise his hilt again to strike, but Xavier smacked the attack aside and grabbed the claymore still in the knight's chest. Xavier pulled it out then slashed the Heide Knight's chest again, causing the Hollow to fall to his knees with a moan.
"I'm truely sorry." Xavier apologised as he raised his claymore to strike the knight down, he hesitated as the Heide Knight turned his head once more to look at the sun. But he knew it was cruel to leave a man to slowly die, so he cut down the knight and listened to him groan and then land against the marble ground. Ser Xavier watched the Heide Knight dissolve into dust, leaving two things behind. A metal ring with a strange flower shape on it and the knight's iron helmet, Xavier took the helmet and put it in his knapsack then picked up the ring. He walked over to the railing and looked out over the endless ocean, then dropped the ring into it.
Ser Xavier continued his journey through Heide, killing more Hollowed Heide Knights and the ancient sentinels. He killed the Dragonslayer and Dragonrider, then joined the Blue Sentinels. Remaining in the ruins for many years, continuously helping those being attacked by Dark Spirits. Never forgetting the Heide Knight and that strange ring, not knowing the secrets it held.