Girolduses Journey: Remastered
Chapter 1: Shattered Pasts
As he sat in his cell looking at the cracked and cold stone floor, the warrior sighed, another day lost to the eternal boredom of being locked in a cell. The gnawing in his stomach was the only thing that had reminded him he even had one, his hunger having dissipated long ago. The feeling was familiar and grew day by day, eating him up more and more, but then again this is what it was like to go hollow. At least he thought it was. He couldn't remember well but he thought he had once known what it was supposed to be like, although he couldn't remember much of anything anymore.
"It must be close then." he muttered to himself. He had no concept of time other than the long rusted chains he once wore and the moss and grass that now infested the nooks and crannies of his cell. Even the latch on the roof had rusted, for all it did was rain in this infernal place. Although it was something at least, for it only ever seemed to be cloudy out, he couldn't even recall a time it had gotten dark out.
Before he could think anymore he heard the whine of the roof latch, a sound he had not actually ever heard when he thought about it. This brief realization was replaced with surprise as the body of a hollowed prisoner slammed to the ground in front of him, a large cloud of dust wafting up from the ground as the warrior gazed up to see how a dead man had fallen into his cell. As his gaze shifted he saw the most peculiar thing, a knight in shining armor peering down at him from the small hole in his roof. "I must really be losing it now," he thought to himself "to think, my very own knight in shining armor." The warrior rubbed his eyes and looked up again, the knight was gone. Too good to be true he supposed. Getting up he examined the body, his bones creaking as they were used for the first time in perhaps decades. The body was rough like jerky and while it looked nothing like the warrior it made him grimace. He was not so different from the man in front of him, an undead outcast with an expiration date just out of reach, the thought caused him to shudder.
The hollow seemed ordinary, but upon further inspection he held a key in his right hand. It took a moment to dawn on the warrior but when he realized what exactly the key was for, he felt the first bit joy he had felt in a very long time. Ecstatic he grabbed the key, shoving the undead aside and jamming it into the lock on the door. "Here goes nothing." he muttered, half expecting the key to disintegrate in the lock as he turned it. To his surprise he heard a click and for the first time since his arrival, the door swung open, the rust on it screaming as it swung. The warrior took his first steps out of his cell, his ankles popping as he walked down the dimly lit hall. The hall was dimly lit and contained another undead, this one hollowed as well, giving the warrior a sneaking suspicion that everyone here had met a terrible fate. Disregarding the hollow man he made his way further down the hall and into a room filled with water. In the ice cold stagnant brew sat another hollow who clearly had been there a long while, as the skin on his legs was all but invisible.
Shaking his head the warrior continued down the hall on his right and eventually climbed a ladder, making his way into a courtyard containing a small fire that sat at the foot of some stairs leading to a set of large doors he faintly recalled from his earlier days. The fire was different however, he hadn't seen it before but he felt like he had known it his whole life. He reached out to the flames as he approached it and he felt a warmth overcome him and it made him feel at ease. After reveling in the comfort of the flame he approached the large doors, the decaying statues on either side giving them a sinister feeling. As he pushed through the doors he entered a large stone room, flanked on all sides by pillars with a central stone floor with another set of wooden doors at the end. The excitement of getting out of this hell hole overtook the warrior, who sprinted towards them. The flame of his excitement was doused however as he was greeted by a large demon slamming down onto the ground in front of him. The demon was a fat gluttonous thing that let out a fowl sounding howl as it looked upon him. The sheer sight of such a beast sent the warrior on a backpedal and as he turned to leave through the doors he came through he was greeted by the slam of a giant wooden hammer. In his fear the warrior had neglected to notice the massive wooden hammer the demon carried in its hands, and as he flew through the air, he realized the mistake he had made.
The warriors body slammed into the pillars on the right, the broken ribs in his chest puncturing his lungs and causing him to spit as blood filled his throat. His lungs screamed for air, the warrior struggled to his feet, his vision blurring as blood leaked from his mouth. The beast roaring behind him as he limped to the door on his left. The beasts hammer slammed down once more as the warrior stumbled through the doorway, his blurry vision not catching the stairs that lay in front of him. The shockwave of the hammer and the steepness of the stairs caused the warrior to crumble forwards and crash down the slope of stairs. As the warrior lay dying in front of the flames of another fire, he reached out to it, if he was going to die he may as well die comfortably. As his vision darkened and his mouth filled with blood, the warrior crawled next to the flames, the warm comfort of the fire overtaking him as he entered the dark of sleep.
The warrior gasped for air as he awoke, his hands scrambling to his chest, the air returning to his lungs as he felt his now repaired chest. The idea that he could simply sleep off the injuries he had sustained did not seem plausible to the warrior, who stood up and gazed around the room, looking back up the stairs and hearing the roar of the colossal demon. The warrior walked past the fire, eyeing it as he left the room, and looked down the long hall ahead of him. On his right he saw a small room and as he gazed back down the hall an arrow lodged itself in his shoulder, causing the knight to dive into the small room for cover from his assailant. Laying on its side in the room was a tall steel shield, that glistened in the cloudy sun that shone through the cracks in the roof of the room. Picking up the shield the warrior saw a named etched into the back, Giroldus.
The warrior screamed as the pain in his head blasted his brain, causing him to fall to his knees, tears streaming down his face, and as the pain seemed to reach its climax a bright light encompassed his vision. As the light overtook the warrior he saw a vision, he was in a large brightly lit cathedral, standing next to a large man in golden armor who was holding his shield, using the tip of a large cross spear to carve a name into his shield.
"Thank you." he said in the dream, the large knight handing him the shield.
"It is no problem my friend, you have earned your title," the large man said although the warrior couldn't remember his name, "As captain of the knights of Gwyn, I now name you Sir Giroldus, knight of Anor Londo!" with that the knight turned him to a crowd of people, a woman in dark robes and a man with gray armor clapping for him.
With that the vision faded and as the tears dried on his face the man smiled. He now remembered who he was, a knight, and his name was Giroldus. Picking up the shield Giroldus ran out at the hollow who knocked another arrow, aiming for the large shield, the arrow bouncing off the cold steel as it hit. With that Giroldus closed the distance, slamming the shield into the hollow and sending it flying backwards into a pile of rubble. The hollow attempted to lift a greatsword as it regained its footing, the things tiny arms failing to get the weapon lifted as Giroldus slammed into it once more, denting in its forehead and sending it collapsed to the ground.
"Looks like someone needs to train a little harder eh?" Giroldus chuckled to himself, feeling a twinge of sadness at the quip as this was another person after all. But it mattered not, all the was left was to escape this damned place. Picking up the greatsword Giroldus examined the weapon, noticing an engraving on the blade. It appeared to be the symbol of a flame, carved into the blade as if ornately placed there by the craftsman. Feeling the groove of the inscription Giroldus smiled, but his smile was replaced by screams as another vision tore its way into his brain. This time Giroldus was in a room with what could only be described as a golden glow to it. He was in some sort of stone building, laying in a bed speaking to the same woman who had worn the dark robes in his previous vision.
"I have added my own touch to your weapon Giroldus." the woman said with a smile.
"Oh yeah? Am I gonna have to have the giant reforge a heap of molten steel again?" He said with a chuckle, turning on his side to face the woman who stood across the room with a rather disappointed look on her face."What, Im kidding!" he laughed standing from the bed.
"You should be more thankful," the woman said "I could have melted it again." she said holding the blade up to him.
"I suppose so," Giroldus smiled, "What did you add?" he asked looking down at the engraving.
"I added a flame orb." She said gazing down at it, "So you can remember where you belong."
"Is that some sympathy I hear from the great daughter of chaos herself?" Giroldus laughed. The woman looked up to meet his gaze, her face displaying her irritation. "Calm down," Giroldus said placing his hand on the side of her face, "I like it."
"Well then you better get back on duty, my loyal guard." The woman said to him smiling.
"Will do my lady." Giroldus laughed. At that the knight was sent screaming back to his reality, snapping back to his current situation and taking a sharp breath. Giroldus then continued through the door next to him and journeyed up the stairs and through the door to the next flight. As he ventured the next set of stairs he was slammed backwards with a giant iron ball as it broke through the wall behind him. As he sat up and gazed at his broken legs he noticed a knight, slumped on the rubble beside him.
"Watch out." the knight mumbled as Giroldus turned to see a hollow lunge at him with a broke straight sword. Struggling to dodge to the side Giroldus unsheathed his blade and brought it up to meet the lumbering hollow, using its momentum to slice it in half as he leaned his torso to the left. "Here," the knight said motioning Giroldus to grab a flask from his belt "Drink."
Doing as the man said, Giroldus sipped from the cup, a citrus flavored liquid pouring into his mouth. The bones in his legged seemed to instantly snap back into place, and as Giroldus stood he turned back to the knight.
"Thank you good knight," Giroldus said walking over to him "now you drink." He said pouring some of the liquid into the knight's face guard. The Knight stood up, shaking Girolduses hand, dusting himself off as he gestured for Giroldus to follow.
"I cannot thank you enough my friend." the Knight said, "I feared I would not be able to leave this place." he said as they ventured up the stairs the ball had rolled down.
"It's no problem," Giroldus said as they fought off some undead as they rounded a corner "But why didn't you heal yourself?"
"I fear my arms were broken," the knight said, "but my arms were broken."
"Ah," Giroldus laughed "That would explain it." As the men finished they approached a fog wall.
"We must go through here." the knight said "we shall fight the demon that slammed me through the roof and leave this place."
"Can do," Giroldus said "Allow me to start us off." As he crossed through the fog, Giroldus looked down, seeing the demon look up at him, snarling. At that Giroldus smirked, "Showtime." he laughed, jumping down. Girolduses sword impacted the demons smooth skull, cracking it as he slammed into it from so high. The demon shrieked in pain as the other knight landed alongside Giroldus, slicing down the demons back.
"You seem to have pissed it off." The knight laughed as he raised his shield.
"Yeah, but let's end this thing right here, i'm sick of listening to it yelp." Giroldus said as the knights dodged a blow from the demons hammer. Giroldus flanked to the side, slicing at the creatures leg, causing a fountain of blood to splash out as he ran his blade along its leg. The other knight must have had a similar idea as the creature fell forward, the tendons in its legs being sliced too deep to support its body weight. The creature collapsed and roared in agony as it lay writhing on the ground in front of the knights.
"Finish it then." the knight said as Giroldus approached the beast, its blood covered eyes peering up at him through the blood that leaked out of the crack in its head. Giroldus looked down at the beast, the demon letting out a deep breath as he raised his greatsword. The blade lodged itself inside the crack in the demons skull, letting out a loud shlunk as it went through the demons brain. After he pulled the sword out of the crack, Giroldus swished his sword, letting the blood fall off his sword as the knight opened the door behind them.
"That sure was something." Giroldus said as they walked through the door and out of the asylum.
"Yes, you are quite the fighter my friend." the knight said.
"Speaking of which, to be friends we have to be properly introduced, Im Giroldus." he said extending his hand.
"I'm Oscar," the knight said, shaking Girolduses hand as they reached the cliff at the edge of the asylum "And now comes the fun part."