Dying Tickles Chapter 2:
It Ain't Fair
Dark souls is owned by From Software.
"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"Demon/deity speech"
LINE BREAK
Lordran, land of the gods and their people. Founded after the mighty Gwyn and his armies defeated the dragons and brought forth the age of fire. Such a magnificent place.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
"WOOOOOHOOOHOOHOOHOOO!...Umph".
After a long and thrilling flight by crow, Garret and Oscar were unceremoniously dropped by the firelink bonfire. The only other person there, a knight with an apathetic face, merely raised an eyebrow at the shivering knight on the ground and an oddly joyful sorcerer.
"Oh man! That was more fun than I thought. Can't wait to do that again. What about you Oscar. Um, Oscar, you doing okay buddy?"
Oscar merely leapt up towards the nearest pot, lifted his facemask, and released the contents of his stomach.
"Oh my" the knight remarked, "I do believe I have never seen someone react so violently to the crow ride before. It almost puts a smile on my face".
Garret meanwhile was patting Oscar on the back "There there, its okay, let it all out".
"Uggh…huff…huff…were you-urk-were you serious about returning to the asylum Garret?"
"Yes".
"Then you will be on your own. I will keep my feet firmly planted on the ground. Humans were never meant to fly in the air. I will never EVER do that again".
Garret had a quick flash as to how one enters Anor Londo for the first time. "Whatever you say buddy. Now come on, we got things to do". Garret then moved over to the knight sitting on some rubble "And how are you doing this fine day?" he asked.
"Well for one" the knight replied, "I have not smiled like that since that pyromancer from the swamp fell off a ledge rushing off to the burg".
"Really? He did that?"
"Oh yes. Didn't even stop to say hello. Just rushed off going on about meeting his godmother of something. Anyway, I assume you want information. Well, there are actually-"
"Two bells of awakening yeah yeah".
"Oh, well…then we are done here".
"Hold on a minute" Oscar spoke up "There are two bells? I was told that there was only one".
The knight replied, "Well then, you were obviously misinformed. There is one up above, in the Undead Parish, and one down below, in Blighttown".
"But the prophecy states-"
"Look at it this way" Garret interrupted, "The…gods…have two bells set up as a means of testing the chosen undead's resolve. After all, one bell is easy, but going to ring second bell is a challenge. Especially considering its in Blighttown".
"I suppose…"
"Great, now lets rest up at the bonfire and then go down the elevator".
"Oh, so we are going to ring the Blighttown bell first".
"Good god no. But I need to get a couple of things first. It might take me a bit. You should come down though, if only to repair your stuff at the smith".
"There is a blacksmith down there?" Oscar asked incredulously while following Garret down the stairs".
"Yeah, a guy by the name of Rickert, a sorcerer like me, who can also smith. He locked himself up and smiths to slow his descent to madness".
"How sad, to have to lock yourself up or risk being a danger to those around you".
"Yeah… Oh well, its his choice in the end".
"I suppose…" Oscar then chose to stay silent, giving Garret time to figure out how leveling was supposed to work.
"Okay. How to do this? A screen obviously isn't going to pop up with all my stats. Although I am going to need to be stronger and more dexterous if I want that Estoc down in New Londo".
Suddenly, Garret felt a rush of energy leave and then almost immediately enter his body, as if had just run 12 miles and taken a hot both at the same time.
"Whoa…That was surreal…So I guess I just think it, and assuming I have enough souls, I will level accordingly. Simple, but I won't know exact numbers...Oh well".
"Garret, are you rested?" He heard Oscar call out.
"Yup. Just allocated all the souls I collected in the asylum".
"Ah yes…If there is one nice thing about the curse, it is that it is much easier to get stronger than one normally would".
"Thank God too. We don't have the time to properly build muscles in order wield bigger and better weapons; now, onward to the ruins of New Londo!" Garret exclaimed, while moving towards the stairs.
When they were about to reach the second set of stairs to reach the elevator, Oscar looked to his left and noticed a blonde woman in ratty clothes huddled behind some iron bars. "Garret, who is this?" He asked, while moving closer to the bars.
Garret looked over and saw that Oscar was right in front of Anastacia's cell. "Ah her. Well she is the firekeeper of Firelink Shrine. It is her job to keep the flame upstairs lit," He answered. "Poor thing had her tongue ripped out and legs mutilated so she couldn't escape or speak ill of the gods-not to mention that whole eye thing they got going on. Her name, since she cannot give it herself, is-"
"Anastacia? Oscar breathed out.
"I'm sorry what?" Garret asked, eyes (or rather eyeholes, since he had yet to revert to human) widening, "How do you know her name?"
Oscar was quiet for some time"…I had a twin sister back in Astora. She was chosen by the church to be a firekeeper. We never even got to celebrate our tenth birthday".
"And…what makes you so sure this one is her?"
"I don't know" Oscar turned and replied, taking off his gauntlets and helmet to reveal light blonde hair and blue-grey eyes, "Just a feeling I have…" He turned back to the cell. "Ana, if it is you, please look up. I want to look at your face again, after all these years".
Anastacia flinched, before slowly craning her head up to meet Oscar, blue-grey orbs to grey cloth. Oscar bit back a gasp "Y-you're eyes" Anastacia looked down, perhaps in shame, perhaps in resignation. Oscar swallowed, "…It is no matter, I do not need to see your eyes to know you are my sister," still, she would not respond. Oscar started to tear up, and clenched the iron bars between them, "…Please Ana". He started to shudder, his armor clanking in tune with his body. He stopped however, when he felt a small, dirty, soft hand cover his own. Sniffling, he looked up at Anastacia, who had a small smile on her face. He smiled in turn, "Ana, my dear sister". He brought his other hand up to cup her cheek, and the two leaned forward in a loving embrace, ignoring the bars that stood between them.
Garret just gazed on dumbly. "Oh my God. This is…but how. There was no hint towards any of this in the game. This is just insane, not to mention horribly depressing. Just…God..."
"Umm, Oscar. I'm just…I'm just going to go down by myself. I-I'll see you later". Oscar didn't give any indication that he heard, but Garret ran to the elevator nonetheless. After reaching the bottom, he bolted out and huddled in a corner on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"This…this is all real…these are all real people. Ho-ho-how can I do this? I have to go through all these trials and meet all these people, knowing exactly what happens to them...I can always just go it alone. Yeah, just don't talk to anyone. Don't mess with them and nothing happens. Easy".
…
"But that was in game. That was just codes and voice-actors. People don't follow a script… They live and breathe and do what they want. If I don't talk to Solaire he will just go on his own and still get trapped in Izalith. Siegmeyer will probably just die sooner. Laurentius goes hollow down in Blighttown. Rhea either dies in the parish or goes hollow at the archives. These guys aren't just going to be dictated by ones and zeroes. They are going to make choices, and those choices will lead to their ultimate doom. And, I can't stop it..." Garret then put his head between his knees, feeling a sort of numbness enter his very being. "…It this what it feels to go hollow? Kinda peaceful. I wonder if everyone feels this way when they turn. Not a bad way to go actually. Its like I'm falling asleep…"
As he was slowly falling into the gentle embrace of the Abyss, Garret's last thoughts were, oddly enough, about the Rocky franchise. Rocky Balboa (the sixth movie, not the character), or rather, the speech Rocky gives his son about winning. About taking the hits life gives you, and moving forward.
"…No. No way in hell am I going to let things just play out. In this world I have omniscience comparable to a god. I can change things. I can save Siegmeyer from hollowing by-by making sure he finishes bosses. I can be Solaire's "sunbro", keeping his spirits up. I can expose Petrus for the scum he is. Yeah, I can do this. I mean, I already wanted have Solaire, Rhea, and Siegmeyer in an impromptu party with Oscar and me, now the stakes are just a bit higher. Yeah…YEAH! I CAN DO THIS! YOU HERE ME WORLD! I'M GONNA DO IT. I'M GONNA CHANGE THINGS, GIVE THIS LAND AND ITS PEOPLE A HAPPY ENDING!" He shouted to the ceiling.
*HUFF* *HUFF*
"But first, I need to scrounge for items".
A/N: In light of certain…revelations that accompany Dark Souls 3, I'm changing certain parts of my story to fit the in-game lore.