The Hunter groaned.
He looked around the new place he'd found himself in.
Defeating the Moon Presence had consequences it seemed.
He had a feeling he wasn't supposed to wake up in a cave.
It was odd, for he still had his equipment from the Dream.
He groaned, raising a hand to his face.
It met his hat.
Reaching further up, his hand touched the brim of a top hat.
Hunter armour then.
He stood up and looked around him.
To his left and front, rivers of blood ran, crimson and drinkable.
Parched but cautious, he stepped up to the left river and used both hands to pour the blood over his cloth.
The glorious liquid dripped down his throat, rejuvenating him.
Growling in hunger, he tore off his hat and began drinking gulps of the blood ravenously.
For what felt like hours, he swallowed blood. Eventually, his lung capacity was reached and he broke the surface, gasping and panting.
His armour felt very restrictive, his gut buldged from the amount of blood drank.
He lay on his back still panting, eyes drooping.
He fell asleep, despite his resistance.
An indeterminate amount of time later...
The Hunter awoke again, relaxed and full.
He got up, his expanded gut back to normal, and looked around even more.
The rivers of blood ran just the same, seemingly unaffected by his extended drink.
Other than those, the large and empty space between the rivers were perfect for something like the One Reborn to just appear.
He grunted and once again stared into the flowing blood.
"What I wouldn't give for a Workshop amongst all this wonderous blood..." He lamented.
The ground began to shake gently and the river began to solidify.
He jumped back in shock, before glancing at the other river, which flowed as normal.
Meanwhile, the blood finished it's morphing, and the Hunter stared.
A replica of the Dream's Workshop stood before him.
He looked around, picked his discarded helmet and put it back on.
He scooped up a handful of blood and carefully walked into the workshop, where he sat down and poured the blood into a blood vial.
He peered closely.
724 years later...
The secrets of blood were unlocked.
Notes, observations and failed experiment recordings were scattered along the floor haphazardly while anything important was kept in the storage box alongside all his other stuff.
Giggling, he stared at a blood vial.
He had done it.
Him!
All knowledge about the wonderous blood was his! His Insight reached an new place of understanding! One even the insignificant 'Great Ones' couldn't understand.
Stepping outside the workshop, he slammed his head into the barrel of his cannon to stave of his madness, as he had done for the past while.
He knew he had been here a very long time, but he knew not the exact time.
The Hunter collected blood in his hands and gave it Insight before throwing it on the floor.
The blood bubbled and steamed before exploding outward and pushing up to reveal a Bell Ringer.
The lady breathed audibly before ringing her bell.
Nightmare Apostles all splashed into existence around the lady and stood guard.
The Hunter smiled before decapitating the Bell Ringer, who's summons immediately exploded and died on her death.
Now, he could summon any being that took the Blood. Namely, all beings in and near Yharnam.
The cave itself hadn't changed much other than some of it's jagged edges smoothened by age. The constant, unchanging surroundings surely helped him cement his own sanity, whatever fleeting amounts were left.
The Hunter went back inside the workshop, stepping up to his rune altar.
He grabbed his tools before placing the engraver to his head and pushing it into his brain quickly, implanting the Milkweed rune on his brain.
He blacked out for a few seconds before his 'eyes' reopened, now turned into a Lumenwood.
His flowerhead only had a cosmetic difference to his actual head. Without the Kos Parasite, which he thankfully had, at least.
However, he spent a lot of time as a Lumenwood, since it improved his intellect for everything. Being nearer the Great One's and their knowledge was better for one's actual smarts, it seemed.
He also spent as a Beast, to help tame his natural one. It brought mixed results. His bloodlust had disappeared, seemingly entirely.
Instead, he developed multi-personality disorder. The Beast that called itself 'Alpha', was an amalgamation of all his primal desires. It constantly sought to fight, to breed, to conquer. It was a predatory animal that waited to released. It was so well-developed, it had it's preferred people to be around. Namely, any it took as mates, those part of it's pack, and leaders that had earned their stripes.
Similarly, a Kin by the name of 'Logic', took residence in his mind as well. It also sought to conquer, but in a cloak and dagger way. It abhorred fighting, as it was beneath him, preferring to research and study everything. It was refined, charismatic and full of itself. It preferred anyone of good intellect, scientists, researchers and those who serve under it to name a few.
Moving from his thoughts, the Hunter replaced his weapons and took the Kos Parasite and Beast Claws. He also took the Threaded Cane, because he enjoyed it as a weapon and as a helpful tool in creating drama.
Wielding other weapons brought distracting feelings of disdain and hate.
Since he sought to leave, finding an exit or making one, he needed all his focus.
Imagine his wonder when, as he went to begin his search, the wall on his left to rise.
A small section, not unlike a hidden door in the chalice dungeons, began to rise, slowly and with flacks of stone dropping from how it'd formed over the door.
Six humans walked through and looked around before they stared at him, cautiously spreading out.
Odd, there were five now. Where had the sixth-
His reactions and senses saved him. He sidestepped and dodged a shortsword that would've impaled him.
The assassin dodged back as he swung a hand of tentacles to force him back.
He growled before dashing at his target, gliding over air seemingly, at his attacker, ignoring the shouting.
The assassin was quick but human. Tentacles smashed into his chest and slashed, digging into the flesh and tearing out veins full of bountiful blood.
Blood and gore flew everywhere as the assassin died from the deep lacerations and blood loss.
He chortled as he turned back to the group, who stared slack-jawed at him.
The closest, a man in heavy armour, shouted as he charged at them.
A long tentacle shot out of his mouth as he neared the group, slamming onto the floor where the group stood.
Everyone dodged his attack, and the heavy armour guy swung a mace into his chest, sending him flying backwards.
The Hunter skidded to a stop, aware of the results of that attack.
I didn't even feel that.
Aware of his newfound toughness, Logic took control, Alpha raging in the subconscious, the Hunter asleep in his mind.
The emotionless Kin got to it's feet and tilted it's head.
The humans before him all regrouped in a loose formation, ready to dodge at a moments' notice.
Logic grabbed the Old Hunter's Bone from beneath his coat and fed it his Insight, granting him the power of Quickening.
He hissed and the group tensed before a woman wielding a staff threw a ball of Arcane at it.
The Kin let the magic hit it, as it was absorbed harmlessly. It's Arcane, since fighting the Amygdala and Yharnam, had skyrocketed, making him immune to all but the strongest magic.
The Moon Presence ignored this resistance, as it had ascended past magic as he knew it then.
Silently, the Kin vanished from their sight.
The group set out in a circle pattern, facing all directions.
An understandable maneuver, if a little crude.
Sadly, it's superiority was evident.
The Kin cast an eye over all the humans before landing on the female wielding the staff.
Knowledge it needed, knowledge it would have.
The Kin rolled next to them silently before tentacles exploded out of him, attacking and digging into the group's flesh, except the girl, tearing out the muscle and bones, killing them all in just 2 seconds.
He could've gone faster, but fear was an effective tool in interrorgation.
The girl screamed in surprise as all her friends were savagely dispatched. The Kin hissed again, and the woman scrambled to face him, swearing in an undecipherable language.
The woman looked at him, long, dark green hair frazzled and slightly matted with blood.