A loud thud shocked an undead awake. A few feet from where he was sitting, a corpse now laid. He knew that it had the key to his freedom. Looking up, he could see the steel helm of a knight, the one who dropped the corpse into the room from the hole above.
The undead was confused. The fire had neither been linked or let to fade. In fact, the great lord Gwyn hadn't been defeated.
The undead examined himself, but was shocked to find that he was in prisoner's garb. The armor that should have been with him was gone.
"Where is my equipment?" the undead asked, standing, "Where... Where is my power?"
His body was as frail as it appeared in this hollowed form. The power he had collected had disappeared. He had no souls. The only things he found in his possession were a dark crystal used to banish phantoms, and a single key. The corpse had yet another key on it. He added it to his collection.
"Why am I back in the asylum?" he asked nobody, "What happened to me?" He gently placed his hand onto his chest. "My darksign... It burns..."
Knowing what to do to leave this asylum, the undead opened the door to his cell using the key from the corpse.
He walked down the hallway, eyeing the docile hollows standing against the walls. He looked to the broken hilt of the sword he held in his hand, then to one of the hollows.
With an unfeeling coldness in his eyes, he slashed one of the hollows. It recoiled, then turned to attack him in retaliation. Even with his broken weapon, he easily dispatched it before it could do anything else.
"My strength really is gone..." he said to himself.
As he walked, he glanced at the stray demon to his right through metal bars. It hadn't noticed him at all. Instead, it prowled its empty room, filling the air with large banging sounds as it walked. A powerful enemy. Without his power and equipment, the undead would be hard pressed to defeat it. Fortunately, it wasn't an enemy he needed to face just yet.
He continued down the hallway, walking up a set of stairs and turning through a doorway to go up a ladder.
The first bonfire stood in front of him. The unkindled embers glowed dully. A reddened coiled sword protruded from the center.
He bypassed this flame, knowing it to be unnecessary. Even without his power, his skill and experience would allow him to continue past it unfazed.
Instead, he approached the large doors past the bonfire. Placing his hands on both doors, he pushed them open and walked through.
As he did, a massive demon landed on the floor in front of him, a boom as its weight shook the ground.
The undead merely smirked as he ran past it, entering a doorway on an adjacent wall. Metal bars fell behind him, sealing himself away from the demon.
He continued down the familiar path towards a second bonfire. This too was unnecessary. As he passed through a doorway, he saw a hollow at the end of the hallway, nocking an arrow and taking aim at him. He easily avoided it as he walked down. To him, it was a simple task. He passed a shield lying on a corpse to his side and retrieved the battle axe from a different corpse at the end of the hall, behind where the hollow was.
As the undead approached, the hollow ran down another corridor. The undead followed close behind, the weapon heavy in his hand. It was almost exhilarating to be granted this chance to restart with no power.
He stopped at the top of a staircase, the hollow turning and reaching for an arrow. Behind the hollow was a wall of white. A fog gate. It covered a doorway. He knew it all too well.
He quickly dispatched the hollow with a two handed swing of his weapon. He felt its souls come to him as it died. He breathed in deeply. It was refreshing.
He stood in front of the fog wall, staring it down. He raised his hand in order to dispel it, but stopped before he did.
This was wrong.
Never before had he reset with no power. He had always kept what he had, time and time again. Now he was powerless... soulless... hollowed... None of this made any sense to him.
He looked back. The hollow remained dead. Something else was eating away at the undead. The bow the hollow used...
He turned and approached it. He bent down and picked up the crude instrument. A shortbow. There was nothing special about it, other than the fact that he had never been able to pick it up before. Things were different, but he didn't know how.
He dropped the bow. He wouldn't need it. It would only get in the way. All he needed was the axe, the key, and the flask.
He turned back and finally dispelled the fog gate. It felt cool as he walked through the white fog, but the feeling disappeared as quickly as it began.
In front of him, he saw the bars of another cell, blocked off by a pile of rubble. Inside, he knew was the knight who had given him the key. He would perish soon, and go hollow soon after. A terrible fate, but unavoidable.
Unavoidable...
He followed the path until he reached two staircases, one going up and one going down. The path leading down would lead back to the bonfire before the asylum demon. The path up leads to a balcony above the demon, allowing for a damaging plunge attack on the beast.
He looked to the stone wall of the cell, then up the stairway. He saw a stone ball atop it, waiting to be pushed by a hollow as he went up.
He smirked again. The stone ball was no threat to him, but it was a threat to the wall. He walked halfway up the stairs, clinging to the side. As it had done time and time before, it rolled past him and smashed its way through the wall, opening the path to speak with the knight.
He walked through the opening in the wall. The broken knight lay wheezing against a pile of rubble from a hole in the roof above him.
As the undead approached, the knight took notice. In a kind, yet weak voice, he spoke. "Oh, you... You're no Hollow, eh? Thank goodness... I'm done for, I'm afraid... I'll die soon, then lose my sanity... I wish to ask something of you... You and I, we're both Undead... Hear me out, will you?"
Lines he has heard many a time before. Answering yes or no made no difference. The knight would die without honor, without anybody to remember him. Nobody except the undead, that is.
Long has the undead wished to save this knight from his fate. Even healing him had no effect. The knight hollows no matter the circumstance.
But this time, things were different. This time, the undead felt he had a say in the matter. This time...
"No." the undead answered simply.
The knight took on a defeated tone. "Yes, I see... Perhaps I was too hopeful... Hah hah... Please, leave me be... I have not long to live, and I may harm you after death... Now, go..."
"No." the undead stated again, shaking his head.
"I... I'm sorry?"
The undead gently placed his hand on the knight's armored shoulder. "You have died before, good sir knight." he said to him, speaking deeply from within himself. Watching this undeserving knight die again and again was a painful memory. He was unable to stop it from entering his voice. "It's unbearable, is it not? To see yourself like this. I ask one favor of you, sir knight. Allow me to truly meet you again."
The knight gave off a weak breath, but otherwise remained silent.
The undead squeezed his shoulder. "Please, good knight... Tell me your name."
"I am... I am Oscar... of Astora... and... you?"
The undead paused. His name? It had been so long... "Jason." he said, "Jason."
"One last time... Jason... I cannot make you a promise... but..." Oscar gave off a painful sounding cough. Blood splattered against his helmet. "I must bid farewell... I would hate to harm you after death... So, go now... And thank you... Jason... Thank you..."
The knight gave off a final dying breath before fading away into souls. Both the key and the estus flask laid on the ground.
Jason gave off a saddened sigh. He didn't know what he could've said. With luck, he may see that knight again.
He picked up the flask and key, then advanced up the stairs, effortlessly slaying the hollow above.
He glanced through iron bars at the bonfire. It was different than before. The bonfire was kindled now, he could feel it in his soul.
He kept staring at it. He hadn't kindled it. How did this happen?
The bonfire began to flare up. A muddy yellow fog began engulfing it. It happened whenever he rested at a bonfire.
What was happening down there?
As he watched, a figure appeared in the fog. It slowly faded away, revealing a lone figure.
"Os... car..." Jason breathlessly let out, eyes widening.
The knight had reappeared before his very eyes. He was unmoving, resting at the bonfire. His armor glimmered in its light.
Jason turned on his heel and sprinted down the stairs and down the second flight. A metal door blocked his way, but with the key he had just received, he could open it up.
"O-Oscar!" he called, running towards him, almost slipping on the snowy grass in the clearing.
He slowed to a stop next to the knight, then sat down at an angle to him at the bonfire.
"Hello." said Oscar, his voice still depressed.
Jason was ecstatic to see this knight alive and well. This was the first time that Oscar had returned to a bonfire.
"Y-you made it back. Thank you, Knight Oscar."
"I felt my sanity fading, Jason. You saved me from becoming hollow. For this, I thank you... but... is there any meaning to this?"
"Knight Oscar?"
"I've fallen this far already... I'll die over and over... and for what... I'm ashamed to call myself a knight, anymore. It seems that all you have accomplished was to prolong my suffering."
"I didn't want my friend to become hollow."
Oscar finally reacted to him. He turned his head to look at his eyes. His own were still behind his helmet. "Friend?"
"You're more to me than you know, Knight Oscar. You've liberated me from this prison. I want to return the favor... and... It seems you've accepted."
"Have I?"
"You're not hollow, are you?"
Oscar gave off a small chuckle.
"Knight Oscar... I want you to rely on me... because I want to rely on you. We can overcome this, Knight Oscar. We can overcome this together."
Oscar stared at Jason for a long time. Finally, he said, "Very well. Let us keep our wits about us. One can always do with another pair of eyes..."
Jason smiled, then started to stand. He extended a hand to his friend. "Let us kill this demon."
Oscar accepted his hand and stood up. "Together, friend."
"Come with me, Knight Oscar. I have a plan."
He let go of his hand and turned towards the metal door he had just opened. Suddenly, he slowed to a stop, surprising Oscar. He reached to his belt and removed his estus flask, then held it out towards the knight.
"You will need this more than I will." he said, a serious tone in his voice.
"No, I couldn't accept this. You are its rightful owner."
"Knight Oscar, I want you to trust me. I'm entrusting this to you. It means more to me than you may think.
"If... If you insist." he said, retrieving the flask from his hand, "There is no need for formalities. I'm as you are. I'm undead. You may address me as Oscar, friend."
He smiled. "Thank you."
The pair of them continued up the stairs. Jason removed the hollow on the staircase before opening another metal door at the top of them, which led to an outdoor section of the asylum. The ground around the asylum had a very light snow cover. As they walked forward, they saw more and more. Jason knew that far ahead, past the cliff, laid the rest of Lordran.
Three more hollows were waiting to attack them as they turned the corner. Jason removed two of them before rushing at the third who had fired an arrow at the pair.
Just behind Jason led another fog gate. This led to the balcony just above the demon.
He told Oscar his plan to plunge attack the demon, which was received with praise.
"Are you ready, Oscar?" he asked him, ready to dispel the fog gate.
Oscar nodded, but was otherwise quiet. The memory of the damage he had taken from the demon was fresh in his head.
The fog wall gave off a familiar sound as he passed through.
He looked down to the demon, then quickly leapt from the balcony, bringing his axe down on the beast's enormous head, briefly embedding it inside its skin. It howled in pain before Jason freed his weapon and dropped off to the ground.
Before the beast had time to react, Oscar did the same, embedding his holy sword deep within the demon's skull. It howled in pain again, but this time, it began to fade away into souls as it died.
Oscar dropped to the ground next to Jason. His heart was pounding hard.
"Good job, Oscar." said Jason, picking up the key the demon dropped.
"That was..." the knight didn't continue.
Jason patted him on his shoulder again. "Come, friend. We've earned a rest."
"Yes, of course."
Jason unlocked the massive doors opposite the doors from the bonfire, and the two of them walked up a broken stone path towards the cliff edge.
Jason looked back to Oscar. This was the first time he had left the Undead Asylum with someone else. He felt pride.
As they neared the cliff, a massive crow flew down from the sky and picked up the pair of them in its talons and started flying away. Oscar was shocked by it, but seeing Jason's relaxed state calmed him down for the journey.
The crow dropped the two of them down near another bonfire. Oscar knew little about the area, but Jason knew every little thing about it.
Firelink Shrine. The home of the Chosen Undead.