Hello and welcome to all that arrived to this story. I do not own any of the rights to the franchise of Dark Souls and Bloodborne nor do I own anything else that Miyazaki has worked on. If I did I would be rolling in money. That being said, this is a fan made work that has no intention of garnering money as well as my first work, so please use constructive criticism and no flames, I see enough of those on the site already. The flames will be ignored and criticism that comes from jolly and cooperative travelers will be praised. Thank you all very much and here is the first chapter of my first work, "Monarch in the Dark" (Title Pending for revision)

Chapter 1: Hunting a Forgotten Sinner.

In the myriad of cultures that comprise what could be considered all of humanity, a cycle is born that is unconsciously followed. What was once history transcends into the realm of legends. Legends become myths before eventually being forgotten. Yet, there are those who remember and maintain these myths to be true. And so our eyes are cast to what was once a great country walled off from the world and memory, Drangleic.

The crypts were unsettling to Pardoner Thomas. The man had faced his fair share of battles and hunts before. From the streets of decrepit cities to the castles of the corrupt nobles, but this was different. He and some his fellow pardoners had been called upon by their superiors to handle a matter of grave importance. A sinner of great infamy had been found and had to be brought to justice. Pardoner Thomas had been told that this sinner was given the duty to end the curse of the undead, but instead choose to reject this sacred duty in the pursuit of power for their own gain. The pardoners assembled found this to be both understandable and pitiable. An undead seeking to stave off the curse was not uncommon.

Many who suffered the curse of un-death would rather take power to preserve themselves then become hollow, and yet the nature of this hunt troubled Pardoner Thomas. The area to which they had been dispatched had been forgotten for generations. This meant that the sinner must have surely gone hollow years ago. Still, Pardoner Thomas thought to himself, if it would mean an easy battle, then he could find some trinkets and other lost treasures to parade as spoils of victory, then he found little issue in the assignment. The party had been formed of ten pardoners, each bearing the sacred vestments and weapons of their faith, all of which were blessed by their tireless goddess. They had been led by Pardoner Oscar, a man who had borne witness to and righted many sins within his lifetime. He was a devoted Pardoner, if not fanatical in his beliefs.

The journey had gone well enough in the beginning. Barely able to even stand let alone attack, the hollows that were found along the path leading to Drangleic Castle were too bogged down by the weight of their own distended and bloated stomachs and were easily dispatched. A swing of their swords here and there ended their pathetic existences. It was only when the party entered into the castle proper did the troubles begin. Horrific crossbreeds of man and elephant and the possessed armors were found to be avoided at all costs. They had already lost two of their own to these guards that hid themselves in the guise of petrification. It was at this point that Pardoner Thomas began to feel an unwelcome sense of dread.

The castle was a testament to the greatness that man could accomplish if given the time and was perhaps a bastion against the evils of the world. However, the discovery that the dark had found a home here left him reeling. They lost another man to a painting before the throne room. It had appeared to be worn by the elements but when he tried to closely inspect the obscured figure within, a black smoke burst forth from it and consumed him. They heard him scream but dared not approach. As they watched Pardoner Jacob, as Thomas recalled his name, begin to rapidly age. No that wasn't right. Aging to death would have been a mercy. No Jacob began to rot while he breathed. It took seconds, but watching the process made them feel like eons had passed. No one spoke after that and a silent pilgrimage was made further into the corrupted castle, dealing with what remained of the hollowed guards as they went.

The Pardoners passed through an area which could have been described as a watery oasis below the castle. There they encountered robed undead, so hollowed that they attacked themselves in their throes of combat. Skeletons of twisted mockeries of men dotted the path further on. Just past a cave in which they rested for a time, they discovered the entrance to a great crypt.

"This has to be it!" declared Pardoner Oscar. "The Royal Crypt of Drangleic. It has been said that the dead choose to find rest in this wretched place. How fitting for a sinner to mark this place as their home", he sneered.

The other pardoners gave their own short affirmations to this. "Even if I was such a sinner, I do not think I would willing hide myself within this place", thought Pardoner Thomas. Thomas began to realize that the sense of dread that he felt earlier in the castle returned in greater force. He began to search the shadows for phantom nightmares to emerge and attack. Fortunately no such attack came and the corpses that lay within the crypt were merely skeletons wrapped in the moth eaten remains of what could pass as clothing in another age. However, the dilapidated state of the crypt made the travel just perilous. Water and roots from the underground oasis above had begun leaking and creeping their way into the crypts years ago. Much of the surrounding stone work that made up the ceiling was falling part. Most evident of this was a small bridge that connected the two halves of the crypt. Part of the ceiling had fallen away destroying it and in its place a small waterfall cascaded down to the depths below.

The party of pardoners had then resolved to find another path through the crypt to reach their destination. Thankfully such a path did indeed exist. Just to the right of the destroyed bridge they discovered a large room containing a multitude of graves. The left side of room was a dead end. There was a smaller room off to the side. The only thing of note within this small room was a twisted sword sitting in a mound of fine ash. So the pardoners turned their eyes to the right and discovered a doorway that led to a smaller room. The room they entered contained a short staircase to another door. When they passed through this door, they found themselves on a new path.

Through this path, the pardoners discovered two hollow suits of giant armor with two pairs of gigantic shields clutched in the gauntlets. Another of the pardoners, Laurence, surmised that the shields may have been used in tandem as methods of attack rather than defense. Whatever the case may have been, the empty suits of armor and their shields were soon forgotten as the men discovered a hole at the end of the hallway. The pardoners carefully looked through the hole and into the room below. Seeing as there were no enemies in sight and realizing that they could use the various tomb stones in order to ascend back up the hole, they leapt into it and continued on their journey.

It was at this point that Pardoner Thomas began to notice that something was amiss with his fellow pardoners. Pardoner Oscar looked almost possessed by an unseen will, charging ahead of the group with his sword drawn. Pardoner Laurence began to look at the others with an unwelcome sense of curiosity as though he was a predator looking at his prey. The others seemed to share Thomas's sense of ever encroaching dread, looking at each other and their surroundings as though one or the other was going to suddenly attack. At least half of the party could not resist looking behind them even though they knew they were the only things alive within the crypts. Finally after much tension, they entered into a long hall with ornate mausoleums on the sides. They next passed through a room with broken pillars lying everywhere and an unnatural light emanating from the ceiling. Lastly, they approached a staircase leading down into a darkened room.

Sound?…. Voices?…. Footsteps?…. Approaching?

…..

…

….

That which was held in the coffin below waited and to its delight there was something drawing near. "People", it thought to itself, "Yes there are people coming nearer."

The presence within the coffin expanded its senses outward and felt the souls of those that were approaching. The first one that was approaching was filled with a devotion to something. A single minded devotion that held a sense of blind loyalty. The second closest, held thoughts of glory and selfishness, a plan was being hatched by that one, the presence thought to itself. A third felt of dread, trepidation, and a flickering of courage. The others were simply frightened.

"Like scared little rabbits." The presence thought amusingly. It felt the group stop before its resting place. "What do they wish to accomplish here? If they desire power, then they have wasted their time", it thought to itself.

Any other question it might have had was quickly forgotten when the unknown humans began to open its coffin.

There was no words spoken in the silence as the pardoners descended into the dark room. They surrounded the coffin and it took all of their strength to open it. Inside lay a corpse not unlike the others they had passed along the way, but this one held a sinister air about it that was all its own.

"This is the sinner!" cried Pardoner Oscar triumphantly.

"This corpse?! You mean to tell me that we have traveled so long to stab a dead body?!" Pardoner Laurence grounded out.

"It appears to be so, let's just destroy the body and leave. I do not wish to be here any longer" growled pardoner Thomas. The smell was the first thing Pardoner Thomas noticed about the body. He had been taught the various smells that were attributed to his job. Rot and ash were the most prominent smells emanating from the ancient body. And yet he swore that in the dim light of their torches, he could see the hand twitch as if in anticipation. "No" the pardoner thought to himself. "That twitching must be my imagination. The darkness is getting to me. I must leave this place as quickly as possible."

The pardoners looked at each other before stabbing the ancient corpse with their blades. Nothing happened. The body did not rise up and attack nor did any amount of souls be released. That's when they noted that something had gone wrong. There were seven of them, but only six swords pierced the sinner.

Pardoner Thomas looked down at his hand and screamed. The hand of the body was wrapped around his own crushing it with a vice like grip. He took out his dagger and slashed at the offending limb before it released him. As he fell back, he saw his sword in its hand and knew what would happen next. The hand flashed the blade in a quick arc aimed at Pardoner Oscar. The man stilled before he crumpled to the floor.

"Pardoner Oscar! He's dead!" screamed someone in their party.

A mist flew from Oscar's body and into coffin. The body rose up and exited the coffin shortly after and flew into a broken flurry of blade and fists. The other pardoners were all cut down before Thomas's eyes one by one. Pardoner Laurence attempted to stab the hollow in the back but his blade was bat aside before he met his own demise.

Silence filled the crypt and Thomas tried to make himself as small as possible before something stilled his heart. A voice that asked a simple question.

"Why did you think you could kill one who has joined with death?"

He looked up and saw the ancient corpse staring down at him.

END