Bloodborne: Tales of the Old Blood
Episode I: Knowledge
Act I: Sorcery and Arcane Might
Disclaimer: I don't own Bloodborne, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Hunter's Dream" - Bloodborne OST. Episode Briefing.
"Maze Garden A" - Castlevania and the Legacy of Darkness OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Silent Madness" - Castlevania and the Legacy of Darkness OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Demon Salesman" - Castlevania and the Legacy of Darkness OST. Scene 2.
In the far-off land of Yharnam there once existed a special kind of ministration led and spearheaded by one of its greatest minds to ever live.
'Blood Ministration'.
It is within this legendary land and the wondrous people that inhabit it that we turn our attention to the great people living within. These people, connected by both achievement of the academics and of the very battlefield itself, form and weave an incredible overarching story that becomes something greater; something wiser.
A Great One.
Today, we go back in time years and even decades before such great names as Laurence, the First Vicar and the Byrgenwerth Butcher to the progenitor of Yharnam's teachings; he who, without effort, the very land of Yharnam would be bare of its many grand accomplishments. They called him wiser even than his student Laurence, they said his perception was to be on par with fabled Great Ones themselves...
They called him 'Willem'.
Scene 1
Little Willem frowned as he stepped very carefully and quietly through the quiet woods, gripping the pile of mushrooms as tightly to his small chest as he could. His eyes darted around in half-suspicious concern when the sound of a far-off howl made him snap his head in tandem with it.
"What was that?"
He didn't stay around to confirm any worried thoughts he held.
The little boy turned his eyes forward and scampered forward through the quickly darkening forest, stepping over every branch he passed with hurried parkour. His eyes were drawn up to the brightly orange setting sun ahead to his far-right, further doubting the young fledgeling's hope.
I can't be caught here at night, he thought.
I'm dead if that happens.
His little feet scuttled ahead in some attempt to quicken his already hurried pace but it seemed to be hopeless; when he passed the umpteenth tree, his eyes widening at how far the castle was.
Oh please no, he thought, growing despair gripping at his heart sinking it deeper within his chest.
Numerous branches and leaves cracked and whistled behind him noisily; he gasped, his eyes snapping to his far-left.
He dared not turn around however.
Someone... or some thing was chasing him.
"No, no, no...!"
The poor youth could do little but let his lower lip tremble as he rushed his pace forward. When he saw one of the many hiding places he himself had carved out of a tree however, his eyes widened, this time in hope. Pressing himself on he finally allowed himself more room to run with; unfortunately however, this was to be his mistake.
He gasped as his feet caught each other in his mad dash; his eyes widened again but this time in horror. The little boy fell forward and time slowed down as a couple of mushrooms dropped from his grip, spilling ahead from him. Left with no other alternative, the boy turned his terror-laced expression behind him and his fear heightened beyond even that if it were possible.
A fearsome beast – a werewolf perhaps – leapt through the sky with amazing agility after him, pulling its frighteningly long claws back to rend his flesh with.
Willem's astonishingly short life flashed before his eyes as he watched the wolf-beast plummet down hungrily for him.
BANG
The sudden cacophonous noise made Willem jump, even in his already horror-filled state; he turned his vision to the source of the commotion to find a narrow-eyed knight of Cainhurst rolling forward, holding her Reiterpallasch ahead of herself. An old-style gun was attached to the end of the rapier-like weapon and, as she fired a Quicksilver bullet from it, the werewolf howled in pain as it was sent crashing back down to the forest ground beneath it. The nameless knight quickstepped forward hungrily before smashing her squelching fist into the wolf-beast's exposed flesh; a visceral attack.
Willem could only watch in shocked and amazed eyes, his life having been saved by the knight's efforts. She snapped her silvery-haired pony-tailed head 'round to scowl at him, wide-eyed and all.
"Get moving you idiot boy!"
The youth's lower lip trembled but this time in a different kind of reaction; though his feelings were visibly hurt he could not act on it, not even show it. He swept as many of the fallen mushrooms that had dropped from his grip earlier and turned for the once far-off castle of Cainhurst, his little feet stomping past leaves and grass.
Willem didn't feel safe until he was directly inside Castle Cainhurst. Once he had passed the bridge and walked by the more traditionally dressed knights – suited in iron armour – the little boy's anxiety very slowly dissipated. He frowned as he was quickly watched by the pair of knights and lowered his eyes from theirs, unsocial in the highest sense.
He never knew what to say to them.
Never knew what to say to a lot of people to be honest.
He didn't allow his thoughts to fester as they traditionally did and pressed on, in search of his always busy father. As he marched on through the actively populated outside he soon strode on up to the main castle doors, frowning up at another pair of knights staring down at them.
"Open up." The man on the right frowned over his shoulder.
Like magic, the huge pair of double doors creaked open and little Willem winced as they did, causing a light shuddering throughout the ground in which he stood on.
He never got used to it.
The two men gave the little boy a nod towards the open doors, almost as if a silent message for him to move on.
Willem did not stay to argue.
He marched onwards, hurriedly scurrying up the stairs and entering Cainhurst's main foyer.
Even in his much earlier days Willem found the lit candles and even the atmosphere of Castle Cainhurst very oppressive.
Even frightening at times.
He pushed past his growing anxieties and stepped on forward through the busy foyer, passing many of the hurriedly scrubbing servants. His eyes widened however when he felt his dark-brown jacket being pulled by surprising strength, halting his hurried run almost immediately. He gasped and turned his shocked frown on a disarming smile behind him.
"Hello master Willem."
A woman.
Decorated in a rather fancy dress to match her lavish brown hairstyle, she bent over to Willem's own level as she smiled down at him. Her clothing indicated her sense of royalty and perhaps even lineage to the acropolis. In spite of her sociable and well-acclimated beam down at him, something about her manner and even her aura seemed to suggest something sinister about the woman.
"I hope you haven't forgotten our little play-date."
It was hard to forget, Willem thought to himself as she placed him back down to the ground. He let out a very quiet and light gasp as his feet touched the velvet carpeted floor beneath him, avoiding her piercing gaze as he did so.
Lady Adelaide.
She was a strange sort of noble, even for Cainhurst and even stranger woman. The gossip rumours that floated 'round about her seemed to suggest a malevolent going ons in her dealings outside of professional interest.
Willem, try as he might, could not stave her off for very long; at least not by himself. She had an unusual fascination with him.
"Maybe because I'm the only child living here." He thought wistfully to himself.
"You were sent out of the castle grounds...?" Adelaide spoke, this time her smile devolving into a disapproving frown as her eyes very quickly scanned the mushrooms still hanging in his small hands. He blinked up at her before blushing and turning away again, unsure on what to say. "Again...?"
"U-Um... y-yes Lady-"
"Where is your father Willem?" The noblewoman angrily spat back at him, interrupting and uncaring. The intimidated little boy could only shrink back in response.
That's what I want to know, he pondered hopelessly.
"His father is working, Lady Adelaide."
The pair, surprised, snapped their eyes and their heads to their sides; Willem's right and Adelaide's left. Another woman stared over at them both, arms folded and eyes narrowing down at them. She wore a dress much like Adelaide's, indicating their similar status. Her long black hair was pulled up in a similarly lavish ponytail.
His mother.
Willem immediately took off scurrying toward her protective presence, stepping his body around to hide behind her. Her hard-eyed folded glare did not budge, even as the similarly firm-frowning Adelaide stepped herself up to glower back at her. The two noblewomen almost seemed to watch one another for what felt like minutes before one of them finally opened their mouths to speak.
"I see."
With Adelaide's last spitting words of thinly veiled hatred, she very briefly turned a low suggestive smirk on the hiding form behind her seeming enemy.
"Good day, master Willem." She finally greeted with a simple respectful curtsy before at last turning to leave the pair, ascending the long staircase to her side. Willem and the woman next to him took their time in watching her leave before decisively speaking to one another.
"He sent you out again?"
Little Willem winced a second time, having listened to the same words naught but a few minutes earlier. The tall woman towering over him knelt down to his own level to frown down disapprovingly at him before turning him around with her hands, almost as if looking for something. Her eyes narrowed at his uncomfortable shifting and body before finally settling; she sighed as she patted down his chestnut-brown coat, allowing him room to breathe.
"I hate when he sends you out for these," she lamented down at him before finally allowing her features to crease into a light smile. "Come on, let's go find your father."
–
2
"Dear?"
She knocked the oak door to the quarters she was once so familiar with. Willem stood hanging at her leg, daring to cast his gaze further in the room. Ahead of them at the back end of the messy room sat a man working with a large blackened pot. Inside seemed to churn many arcane ingredients, giving the room a deep purple-pinkish tint. The man turned around in his seat, a quill pen in his hands and a peculiar set of black-like spectacles across his face.
Willem's father.
His initially surprised wide open frown turned to a recognisable smile and he placed his spectacles off.
"Darling! Son!"
His raucous call made the smiling Willem run forward from the woman's leg straight for the laughing short-brown haired man. He laid the mushrooms down at his feet as he approached before leaping up to catch his father in an embrace, eliciting a smiling laugh from the older male. The noblewoman in the doorway did not seem as similarly impressed however; she pressed forward and folded her arms disapprovingly down at the man.
"Why do you keep sending him out?" She confronted him outright and with a hardened frown on her features. The man's eyebrows lifted and his wide smile dropped in favour of a frown as he raised his eyes to face hers. "He could have died; it may be summer but that doesn't mean it's safe out there, especially at night."
"Oh you're worrying for nothing Eliza; he's like his old man, he's a smart boy!" The man chuckled as he ruffled his son's head affectionately, eliciting a similar sort of smile from him in response.
"That's not the point William," the noblewoman shot back in an audible sigh, unfolding her arms in a display of softness this time, frowning back at him as she placed an arm on her hip. "He's still only twelve you know; we don't know what happens out there at this time of night."
"I know," the lightly wincing William frowned back out in understanding before lightly placing the similar-faced Willem back down to gain some room. He stood up from his revolving chair before pressing forward to place his hands on her hips, pulling her forward in a light smile. "I promise it won't happen again." He finished, this time a light and truthful smile.
Eliza couldn't help but smirk back at him as she glided her own hands over his hips, staring directly into his eyes as if to tell for any deceiving. "It better not."
When the pair had finally leaned in for their modest peck, they finally parted, this time with an appreciative smile.
"Don't keep him too long; it's past his bedtime!" The smirking Eliza threw over her shoulder as she turned to leave the working quarters. William merely gave her a light agreeing nod, smiling as he did. He pressed forward and sat back down on his revolving recliner, sighing very quietly and satisfyingly as he surveyed the numerous mushrooms lying on the floor for him.
"Well done son!" The man complimented as he scooped all the arcane ingredients up with a smile. "These will work well with what I have planned."
"W-What is it you needed them for, father?" Willem frowned out as he turned his inquisitive eyes up to the smiling man towering over him.
"The queen has put little old me in charge of advancing our civilisation!" He smiled on down at his youth before reaching forward up to place all of the mushrooms into the churning black pot before him.
Little Willem raised his body up as far as he could and found only the top half of his head could poke over the top of the pot. He placed his hands on it, small nose hanging over the edge as he watched his father work.
"Your hard work will not go unappreciated son," William smiled as he turned his own frown down on both the boiling pot beneath him and the frowning Willem. "With this we'll be able to reach new heights and regain the glory of our family!"
"But... what if it doesn't work?"
William's grin soon dropped in favour of a surprised and morale-dropping frown.
"Say what?"
"I mean... it may not work father," Willem managed out, this time hesitantly as he took a step backward. "It isn't the first time."
"It has to," William hissed on down at the little boy, advancing on him very slowly and threateningly. The small child could only wince as he was backed very gradually into a corner. "Do you understand...?" He asked, his eyes widening in his eerie frown. Willem found his back touching the cold wall behind him, cringing as he did. "With the corner we're backed in... we don't have another choice..."
Willem lowered his eyes, his anxiety growing as it did when in the presence of most other people. When his father seemed to notice this however, his earlier confrontational demeanour dropped.
Almost as if he suddenly realised what he was doing.
"I-I'm sorry son." William gasped out, frowning sadly as he bent down on knee-level to stretch forward.
The frowning Willem could only turn his eye back up to face his father hesitantly before very slowly approaching his embrace. The two hugged together in a brief period of silence; the similarly frowning William turned his short-brown haired head downwards in his grave shut-eyed frown before re-opening them, facing forward.
"This has to work," the arcane magician proclaimed very quietly as he glared forward determinedly. "It will; I will see to it that our family will want for nothing."
Even in the embrace however, Willem found his confidence in the man's words slowly but surely shaking.
