The stench of blood was thick in the air as Warren wandered down the streets of Yarnham. He gripped the sword in his hand tight as he slowly walked, his eyes scanning every darkened corner for a demon to scream and charge. He had only been in the city for three hours, and he was already terrified, bloodsoaked, and wounded. A small gash on his arm still throbbed in pain each time he had to take a swing at one of the demons that rushed him.
They had to be demons. There was no way that the monstrosities that he was fighting were people. Even if they were, now they were nothing more than animals. They had to be monsters or demons. If not, Warren feared for his sanity and the state of his soul.
His father had always told Warren the tales of the cursed city of Yharnam, about how the town worships false gods who came from the beyond, and how the citizens of Yharnam had sacrificed their very humanity to become like their gods. Even with hearing these tales, Warren still had to come.
He first tried to find some locals who could point him in the direction of the Healing Church, but he only found crazed lunatics with hair tearing out of their very skin. They chased Warren deeper into the city, so much so that he soon became hopelessly lost in its brick labyrinthine architecture.
Every turn was filled with new horror. Rotting horses covered in flies. A group of beast men jabbering to themselves. Packs of blood-soaked dogs chasing after some poor person.
Luckily, he found a dead man with an old military saber jabbed into his back, a weapon the Warren eagerly took and thanked God for.
The dark halls of the city drug Warren deeper inside as he continued to search for a halfway rational person in the hell that was Yharnam.
"Beast! Back with ye!"
A beast man ran towards Warren, waving an axe in the air with its freakish elongated arm. Warren quickly jumped back, then moved forward and slashed at the beast, slicing at the demon across its arms.
The beast man wailed in pain and rage as he swung his axe through the air at Warren, who sidestepped out of the way but not before catching the tip of the blade across his abdomen. Warren wheezed as the pain of the wound left him breathless. The beast raised its axe to land the killing blow, but Warren thrust his arm forward, sinking his saber into the heart of the beast. The beast wavered as the life drained out of him and he fell to the ground, soaking the cobblestones in its blood.
Warren gave a sigh of relief, then clutched his stomach tightly and began down the street again, this time closely hugging the wall to support himself.
He soon reached a corner, but he didn't even have to turn to hear the mad ramblings of beasts. Warren touched his back to the wall, then slowly sunk to the ground. He stared at the cut in his flesh, watching as blood pooled itself inside before rolling out and soaking itself into his once white shirt. He grabbed at his stomach again, trying to hold in his own blood and failing.
"God why... why did Julia have to come here? This God forsaken place..."
New sounds reached Warren's ears as he heard the beast men yell, then shortly after hearing their bodies hit the cobblestone. Warren turned and peeked around to corner where the noises came from. Standing above the beasts was a blood-soaked man, wearing a cloth to cover his face and holding the strangest weapon Warren had ever seen. The weapon appeared to be a thick blade, with one half of it covered with thick triangles of metal that gave it a jagged edge while the other was sharp as a knife and glinted in the moonlight. With a flick of the man's wrist, the blade snapped onto its handle, leaving the jagged edge exposed.
Warren reached an arm out and gave a pitiful cry.
"Help... please..."
The stranger's head snapped in the direction of Warren, and hearing that the voice seemed sane, cautiously walked over and inspected Warren with his dark eyes.
Up close, Warren could see that the man wore what seemed to be common clothes, with a proper tie and vest in the same dull brown as his pants, but each of the articles of clothes had strange modifications to them. The vest and knees of the pants had thick leather stitched to them, and there was a multitude of leather belts and straps that held a dozen or so vials filled with a red liquid. Warren had no idea what to make of the man, and only hoped that if the man wished to kill him, he would do so quickly.
The man leaned down to Warren to inspect the wound.
"You're lucky. A tad deeper and you would be holding your guts."
"Can y-you help m-me? Please... I can pay."
The Bloodsoaked Man pulled the cloth from his face, showing a square jaw, thick nose, and a wide smile on his face. Three parallel scar marks that ran from the top of his right eye to his chin turned his good-natured smile into a grimace.
"Money won't do you any good on the night of a Hunt. The only thing that matters now is blood. And you seem to be losing yours."
The man pulled out a small glass vial with a needle on the bottom, the vial itself filled with dark blood.
"W-what are y-"
"Shhh. You'll be fine. This might pinch a bit."
The Bloodsoaked Man stabbed the vial into Wardens leg, making him gasp in pain before feeling the warmness of the blood flow through him. The man stood and wiped off his hands on his pants.
"There. All the help I can afford to give."
Warren stood as the man began walking away, amazed that his wound seemed almost nonexistent.
"Wait, please. I need to find the Healing Church. Could you point me the right way?"
The Bloodsoaked Man paused, thinking over his options before turning to face Warren again.
"To be honest, that's where I'm heading. I suppose that if you cause no trouble, you may follow."
"Oh thank you g-"
"But by the Blood, you stay behind me or I will gut you myself. I am not going to waste my vial supply on you."
Warren nodded in agreement. "Yes of course."
The Bloodsoaked Man sighed and gave Warren one more once over before placing his cloth back around his face. The man jogged of, yelling a quick "Keep up" before he did so. Warren followed suit and ran after the man, following him deeper into the bloodsoaked city of Yharnam.