Chapter 2 – The journey begins

After departing from Lordran, the man travelled for three days and nights, passing through all manners of scenery, until finally arriving in an area shrouded in trees and drenched with a dark aura, he slowly entered the valley, wary of his surroundings, armed only with a simple sword and shield he was worried and knew that soon, he would need to find some sort of armour to help ensure his survival. He moved slowly taking it step by step, hoping he was alone in this fearsome place. As he moved forward he caught a glimpse of movement in his peripherals, a shuffle in the shrubbery to his right, he closed in, slowly, with his shield raised and armed with his sword. He watched and waited.

He hoped that the movement was nothing more than his imagination but as he watched, he noticed the ground begin to softly tremble, then suddenly the frosty earth cracked and a tree-like figure seemed to emerge, ripping its own roots from the ground as it did so. The man gasped, raised his shield and steeled himself for what was soon to come, the tree-like figure turned hastily towards him and started moving in, closing the distance at a surprising speed, it only took a moment for it to reach him, swing one of its branch-like arms and land a devastating blow that almost ripped through his defence in one mighty hit. The man felt the brunt of the attack, flinched and stepped back, leaning into the crippling, whipping attacks of the creatures branch-like arms, until momentarily, it stopped and assumed that its fearsome attacks had bested its rival as they had so many others, the man quickly took the opportunity and let his guard down for just a moment as he delivered a lighting fast strike to his enemy's core, making it stumble and fall heavily to the mossy earth. Once dead, the tree-like figure seemed to glow slightly, the man examined the body and from it gathered a lump of mystical purple moss, he held onto it in case it proved useful in future endeavours.

After the conflict had ended, he scouted the area, checking to see if there was anything else coming his way, there was nothing. An eerie silence loomed as he made his way through a path in the heavily wooded area, he was hoping he would not be met by another of those creatures and that his journey would be more fortunate in time to come. After travelling for what seemed to be days, the man came across the path he had been told of by the Crestfallen. He did as he had been informed and turned left at the fork and wandered out of the wooded area, he was glad to be away from such a place. As he continued he noticed a stone path and a hint of a more civilized area, he followed the path until suddenly it stopped, and in front of him, stood the large wooden doors of the Asylum. The doors looked rough but very sturdy, and surprisingly, one of the doors was left ajar. He did not know if he was being led into an ambush or the door was just simply left unlocked, but none the less, he continued heading in all the same.

He squeezed through the opening; the large wooden door creaked as he forced himself through. He tried to create as little noise as possible so as not to alert any nearby creatures or patrols. Once inside, the man noticed that the floor in front of him was littered in petrified corpses which looked to have been there a very long time, he knew the demon must be residing somewhere nearby. The floor was badly damaged and the cobblestones seemed to be almost caving in; he stayed close to the nearest wall and etched his way along to a smaller door in front of him which then led to a set of descending stairs. He made his way down the cold, stone steps and into another room. The room was bare, only a sparse few wooden boxes and crates resided. He noticed a thick layer of dust and crumbled stones in the middle of the room; he was directly underneath the first room he entered after squeezing through the large doors. It seemed quiet and lifeless, not what he expected at all.

There was a faint banging noise echoing throughout the numerous halls of the asylum, unsure of what was causing it, the man stepped back and stayed close to the wall, he tried to track down where the noise was coming from but to no avail. It seemed to be coming from all directions. The banging started off faint but as time passed, it got louder and louder with each successive bang, he noticed that with the rhythm of the banging, it could only be one thing. The demon was nearby, its heavy footsteps pounded and creaked, it obviously had a huge mass, and it was now obvious why the floor above him was falling apart, the footsteps stopped, a sudden deafening silence filled the room. Then, with one loud thud, the roof caved in, and the demon plummeted through it and into the hard ground below, armed with a giant hammer, the demon ploughed it into the ground, creating a huge shockwave which sent the man crashing into the wall, dropping his weapon in the process, but luckily, still clasping onto his shield. The demon towered above him, with dark grey skin and with large talons on its hands and feet. It was large in height and it girth, the demon had obviously fattened itself by feasting on the flesh of all of the poor souls who had entered this place looking for a safe haven. Its eyes were bright green and from its head sprouted small, stunted black horns. It had black spots on its soft, grey underbelly and black tattered wings, although it didn't seem to be able to fly, its great weight anchoring it to the floor.

He was hurt; his head had hit the wall with large force and blood streamed over his right eye, leaving him with blurred vision and only one useful eye to watch for the demons next incoming attack. He got to his feet, picked up his sword and readied himself; the demon used its hammer to sweep the ground, a large arc attack that was hard to dodge. The man dived out of the way, pieces of the broken boxes and wooden crates showered and splintered him but he managed to evade the attack. He closed in, looking for the opportune moment to strike, the one advantage he had was speed, and he had to make the most of it. He ducked and weaved through its heavy, but slow attacks and was able to quickly land a few slash attacks on its soft underbelly. Its blood spewed forth onto the floor, black and tar like, but the demon seemed un-phased, he tried to move away but he tired and had lost his speedy advantage. The demon made the most of this opportunity and moved as quickly as possible, swinging its hammer with all of its might. It landed a crippling blow to the man's mid-section which lifted him off the ground and sent him spiralling through the air. He smashed into a pile of wooden crates, his body battered and his will destroyed; he had only one option left, to flee. He knew that he could not best this creature, so he used his last shred of energy and picked himself up and bolted for the door. He stumbled from wall to wall; hardly able to hold himself up, quickly scrambling up the stairs he headed for the large wooden door.

Once the demon had noticed that he had escaped, it tried to fly out of the room up to the top floor to finish the job but he was unable to do so, as his frail, tattered wings did not have the necessary power to lift his large, colossal body. The demon shrieked and smashed his fist into a nearby pillar, almost bringing down the last remaining part of the ceiling, knowing that his pray had escaped. The man squeezed back through the large, wooden door, defeated. He knew he had failed and must return to the Crestfallen with the tale of his defeat. He limped away in agony, not sure of what was to come next. He headed back, panicked, knowing that he would have to return, which meant passing through the dark forest once more. He would not be able to face another of the tree-like creatures, not in the state he was in. He needed help.