A/N: listening to four seasons….again. Back to third pov.
. . .
His stomach growled in hunger. His mind was possessed by the sweet flesh of man. He needed some – and fast.
It was a shame really; an Astoran gourmet succumbing to this state after embracing the dark sign. Thello's case was rather…unique. Eating the flesh of his prey retained him from going hollow and yet it hastened the process. His belly churned for more and more sweet flesh. Two weeks ago, an unwary undead was enough for the week…now such feast will keep him sane for the day.
He slowly stood up in his room full of rotten bones and stepped outside of his room in the depth. His presence caught the attention of the blood thirsty maneater butcher. There was this unwritten law nailed into the minds of cannibals like him and her:
Never eat your kin.
This might sound ridiculous considering their deranged state of mind but it was a peculiar fact. They shared the same pain and curse of insatiable hunger. None would truly understand their pain but themselves.
No words were exchanged; there were a need to as a matter of fact. Thello would bring the prey (dead or alive.) and the butcher would chop it for them… she might be kind and cook the meal for him though he preferred his meals rare. Sometimes, they switch roles due to Thello's recent habit of devouring the poor victim on sight.
Plagued rats scattered as Thello approach the Blighttown gate. With some effort, he opened up the rusty Iron Gate. The descending journey to the poison swamps was peaceful of sort; ghouls and infested barbarians rarely attacked the maneater out of respect or fear. It mattered not to Thello. However, when someone attacked him, he cherished the chance to show them the brutality of the maneaters….his assailant wouldn't die until he spent his last hours wailing and screaming in utter pain.
Thello had a strange adoration to the blighted swamps; much like his flesh driven addict, he loved to soak himself in the swamps. By time, his body became highly resistant to poison. In fact, by submerging, he would remain hidden till the last possible moment.
An hour passed, and none was yet to be seen. At this rate, he would starve to death by the end of that day. His troubled mind started to whisper some dark thoughts about the chaos servants. No, no, no! This was madness! This would surely lead to his charred death. After all, he wore nothing but a petty loincloth… no fancy armour. Not for a maneater.
Just as he was getting desperate, he spotted a bleeding woman getting chased by three figures. One was in shiny brass armour with two sickle-like swords while the fatter one held some long catalyst and a small metal shield. The last one almost got the woman with his pike but he tripped from a jotting rock fortunately for the bleeding woman in a dingy set.
Like a once slumbering beast, Thello slowly revealed himself; the woman was barely able to reach him. She begged to her knees "please sire, fend my soul against them. I beg of thee!"
Thello was conflicted, there mere various scenarios running in his starved mind. However, his choice was the wisest by his standards as he pulled the girl out of the murky swamps onto a pillar, he silently pointed to a pile of bones where he hidden some moss and a bottle of Estus just in case.
The leader of the trio was enraged although his strength was rather waning due to the poison in his veins "out of the way, filthy lout! This firekeeper is mine! Stand aside or I will reap your humanity as well!"
It wasn't the first time when he was outnumbered. His voice was terrifying like a chaos breathing dragon from the abyss "The man eater is hungry…."
The sack on his head didn't cover his rotten lips for a reason. He grinned wickedly showing his array of overcrowded teeth and licking his lips with his tongue. That simple move was the spark of the unfair fight as the mage fired a shaky soul arrow which utterly failed to hit its hungry target.
Thello advanced. The pikeman charged mindlessly only to have his right leg chopped by a sluggish roll followed by a clean swipe. "No! No! Naaaaaaa-"Thello sunk his teeth in the man's exposed neck wolfing a neat lump of flesh. The woman and the other dyad were petrified upon witnessing the carnage.
"W-what are you waiting for?! Blast this bastard!" the sickle leader snapped the mage out of his shock. He conjured some Soulmass before firing more soul arrows. Thello's plank shield bravely embraced suck attacks till it broke form the soul orbs. Thello used his butcher knife to almost cleave the mage in two halves. He simply ran out of momentum when he reached the man's midsection.
The sickle man was terrified from the man eater's brute force. He decided to take another route to his prize "I think we got off on a wrong foot here. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Lautrec of Carim. A Fina's devotee." His bow was met by a loud grunt from Thello's giant stomach.
"My goddess demands blind devotion for a fair exchange of favour and protection. She demands those black sprites of humanities. Those firekeepers are brimmed with those little prizes. So how about we are haggle for some bargain?"
"…" Thello considered hearing the man's words. He had already wasted so much energy with the pikeman and the mage. He lowered his bloody cleaver. Lautrec did the same in a gesture of brief peace.
"Good, you can crave away her lifeless corpse along with my two comrades and I will reap her fire keeper soul. Not a bad bargain eh? Everyone walks away like nothing happened" the firekeeper shivered in the background; her fate was sealed.
Thello slowly nodded and turned towards the firekeeper. She squirmed and squealed as the blood of the fallen started to drip from the butcher knife onto her petit face. "P-please, s-spare my life….i-i-"
Her stuttering was met by a quick turn tailed by a clash of butcher knife and two shotels. Lautrec may be more protect and agile than Thello but by all means the maneater was stronger than the slim Carim. He shoved him knocking the man feet away.
Thello heard five successful claps from a spectator hiding in behind another pillar "Men of Carim, they never fail to amuse me with their slithering nature. Having some trouble, Lautrec?"
"Shut up, Kirk!" Fina's faithful spat. The knight of thorns revealed himself. Thello had never encountered the notorious Kirk before. His stomach churned, not from hunger, but from the former Darkwraith.
"Always slicking in the shadows, relying on others and backstabbing. And you call yourself a knight? What a shame. I matters not; after dealing with you two, I will nourish my fair lady with the girl's humanity."
The trio formed a wicked circle. Thello exchanged glares with Kirk and Lautrec. The real question was:
Who would strike first?
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A Mexican stand off! Woo! I didn't want to piss off Lautrec's or Kirk's fans (especially Kirk's :p ). This fic was half based on my Man eater invader Thello. He has fully upgraded sack, plank shield and butcher knife with 99 moss and flip ring and rusted iron ring. I love to invade low levels with this builds. On time, I invaded three gankers and Mildred was invading as well…I won after an hour or so (host was hacking…and dumb. I lured him to the elevator thingy and used the almighty power of gravity.)
i almost forgot, do read noir souls! great fic ahead!
As always, thank you for reading!