And here it is. The second chapter. Once again, a huge thanks to Yoshtar, thanks for sticking with me through the times were it seemed I wasn't doing a thing with the story. It does take ages for me to get into the writing mood. I also want to mention Leider Hosen who pointed out some little flaws that I will get to later, there IS a reason and a method in my madness. And also to TheEzyGuy00 and CompletelyNameless who took the time out of their day to review. So thank you to those three and Yoshtar.

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying Arya and Isha's adventures in Lordran and let's see how they get on. As always I value your input to the chapters and want to hear your thoughts.

Chapter 2

The large Crow dumped the heavy trio onto the ground roughly. They were very battered and bruised from their landing, but very much alive. Unfortunately, Arya's wound had reopened at the landing and she was yelling and swearing like a sailor. Her sister began to panic again, turning to Oscar she asked.

"You must have more of those Gem's! The one's that heled her last time!?" She begged clutching her sisters wound together with her only her hands.

Oscar looked at her sadly, "I'm afraid I do not, m'lady, I gave her the last one. We would need the help of a cleric now."

"A cleric, you say?" A voice to the side said.

They looked to the right in the direction of the voice. The owner was a very Crestfallen Warrior. He was sitting on a small ledge leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees. The armour he was wearing was full chainmail, a little rusted but still effective. He wore no Helm so they could clearly see his brooding, sad face and brown hair that just covered his equally brown eyes.

"Yes, a cleric is here in Firelink Shrine. Petrus is his name, if I recall. But he is not likely to help. He is more a coward that prefers to help himself." He said in a near monotone before pointing. "In that direction."

Isha wasted no time, she jumped to her feet and sprinted in the direction the Crestfallen Knight indicated. Coming to a building with no roof as it had decayed and fallen many years ago, she saw the man that mush have been the cleric. He was standing, mace in one hand, shield in the other. His blond hair was cut in a pudding bowl fashion that somehow matched his cark brown cleric robes.

"Please, are you Petrus!?" Isha asked running up to him.

"Yes." He said moving back slightly from her afraid of the crazy woman rushing toward him.

"I need your help! My Sister is bleeding to death and I need your help!" She begged him.

"No." he replied in a bored voice.

Isha couldn't believe it, someone who was supposed to be a man of god was really not willing to help a person who was dying. Something inside Isha snapped, she gripped her Catalyst so tight that her knuckles turned white. She threw herself forward in a rage she had never felt before and forced Petrus against the nearby wall bracing the staff against his neck cutting off his air.

She leaned in close to him "Now you listen here. My sister is dying and I am no longer asking for your help, you are going to heal my sister using your cleric magic and you're going to do it, Now."

He nodded, or did as best he could with a large piece of wood against his neck.

Isha let him down and ran back to her sister. Arya had lost a lot of blood that was staining the ground near the bonfire, her face was white, her breathing laboured and she was cold to the touch. The cleric knelt down next to her and held out his talisman, he began saying a prayer to the gods and an otherworldly light was emitted from his talisman and Arya wound began to knit together until it was just a thin red line.

Her eyes began to open her eyes, the world was unfocused and fuzzy, but she made out the face of her sister and Oscar. And a newcomer she didn't recognize.

"What… happened…?" She asked in a week voice.

"Your wound reopened after the crow dropped you and I had to force this guy to heal you." Isha replied.

Her sister looked at her with a disbelieving look on her face "You are as gentle as a kitten. You couldn't threaten anyone."

"Well it wasn't for lack of trying, that's for sure." Petrus said.

"Well, thanks for healing me, I appreciate it."

He scoffed. "At least you have more manners than your sister."

And before Arya could make a horrible comment to him, he got up and left.

"Asshole…" Arya muttered.

Isha agreed wholeheartedly.

They stayed at the shrine for a few hours near the fire so Arya could recover her lost blood and what Oscar called 'Inner Flame'. It seemed that using so much fire in one day wore Arya out a lot, so she needed to recover her 'Flame'. And swinging that huge sword didn't help either, she felt like her shoulders were going to detach from her arms. While recovering, she had a…'Wonderful', conversation with the Crestfallen Knight. He was so very depressing that Arya wanted to impale herself on her Black Knight sword. The only reason she didn't was because he had given her a book with notes on all the items of Lordran. It was the only bit of selfless humility she had ever seen from him.

When she was finally better and walking again she wandered away from the depressing knight and down to the steps leading to New Londo, her sister in tow. There she met the Fire Keeper, Anastasia of Astora. She was pretty with long blond hair tied in a bun on her head, but her eyes held a horrible sadness.

Arya sat down leaning against the rock column while Isha walked over to the Mute Firekeeper and held a hand in through the bars.

"Hi, I'm Isha." She said.

Anastasia looked up but didn't say anything, for obvious reasons, she didn't shake her hand either. Turning back to her sister for an answer or explanation as to the Firekeeper's strangeness.

"She can't talk, she has no tongue. It was cut out." Arya answered.

Isha was shocked and appalled that anyone would cut out a person's tongue. "How could anyone be that cruel?!" She exclaimed standing up.

The Fire Keeper looked up slightly as if to get a better view at someone this kind and hopeful. She silently wished that her childlike naivety would never leave. Though, in Lordran, that was not likely to happen.

"Well, I can wish you could talk. We'd learn a lot form you I'm sure." She said with a smile.

When Arya was finally recovered, they learnt from the Crestfallen Knight, that the Chosen was headed off to the undead Parish. He had pointed him in that direction saying that the bells needed to be rung.

"Well what are we going to do now?" Isha asked her younger sister.

Arya sighed. "I'm not going to tell you what to do. I don't even know myself." She looked off to the direction of the Berg. "The Hollows are weaker there."

"Well that settles it. Go to the Berg. Maybe you'll even meet the Chosen there." Oscar said from his place near the fire. "And take this-" he tossed a green item at them which Isha caught with a little fumbling "- it's an Estus Flask. I had the Fire Keeper make it for you and I filled it from the bonfire. I hope that it comes in handy and if you have any spare Humanity be sure to feed it to the fire's you meet along the way."

"Thanks, what are you going to do?" Arya asked him.

He put a hand to his chin, "I will go to the Catacombs, I was trained more to fight undead rather than monsters and demons. And even though I was trained by the holy order, I don't know many miracles. Maybe I will get some of Petrus." He said to himself.

So with little choice, the sisters walked away to the Berg.

Arya was right, the Hollow's were weaker, on the waterway bridge she was felling hollow's left and right, unfortunately her swings were very wide and it left her open to attacks unless she leapt backwards to avoid a hollow's sword. They made it to the under small restricted walk way where Isha heard something splashing in the water behind them. Turning, she screamed at the half rotting giant rat running right toward her.

She held out her Catalyst, knowing her sister was unable to pull her out of the way and impale it with her sword or fire, and a beam of energy was released from it. The energy headed straight into the rat, killing it.

Arya was stunned, when Isha said she felt something from the wood, she never really dreamt that her sister would be a sorcerer. Not that that was a bad thing. Now the duo balanced out nicely. Arya slow but strong attacking, and Isha, quick and ranged, with enough power to watch her sisters back dazing the Hollows letting Arya hack them to death.

The trip to the first bonfire in the Berg was much easier than she had expected. While they rested they rested the Hollow's injuries healed and they got back up. The deranged undead tried to get into the building where the two were staring wide eyed at the sight, they stopped at the entrance. The undead seemed to hit a wall that they couldn't penetrate. So the Bonfires were a safe haven then. Protected by some magic.

Frustrated at not being able to get at their prey, the Hollow's went back to standing at their posts.

"Hay, there's a merchant around here if memory serves. Want to make a challenge of getting there?" Arya asked a smirk on her face and a strange gleam in her eye.

"What kind of challenge?" Her sister asked getting a similar gleam.

"Target Practice. We only use Magic and Pyromancy, to kill the hollows from here to the Merchant. Agreed?" Arya asked putting out her hand.

Isha deliberated for a short time before taking her sisters hand. "Fine, but we use weapons in an emergency."

So the challenge began. Isha was at an advantage with her range and was not shy about using it. But Arya was no light weight. Her fire was powerful enough to kill a Hollow in one, though she was unable to keep repeating it, her sister couldn't say the same. The final tally came to a victory for Isha. Her accuracy was just too good, she could hit a Hollow twice in the time it took Arya to get close enough to hit it with a fire ball. Having kilt the two spear hollows the duo had to rest. Arya was sitting on the steps breathing heavily and Isha was doing the same leaning on her catalyst.

"I think… I'm in the lead…" Isha said smugly. They laughed at the result and at how tiredly Isha said it, in order to be smug, you have to look cool doing it.

After resting, Arya got up and swung her sword (by this point her arms were very sore) and easily broke apart the boxes that hid the path to the merchant. Following the stair's downwards and were surprised when a final Axe wielding Hollow broke out from a wooden wall. Arya went to call fire to her hand… And none would come, her inner flame was not rekindled. So with no other option she lunged forward and jabbed with her blade, hitting the hollow with such force that it was thrown backwards breaking more of the boxes it had hidden behind.

"And I think we are all tied up. Not bad, I'd have to say that your magic is getting much better. And my aim with my left hand is improving" Arya said, flexing her left hand and sheathing her Black Knight sword on her back.

"Don't forget about the Sword play. That must be getting better, you can swing faster and harder now." Isha complemented.

"True, I'd like to think that the blade is getting lighter. But my arms would disagree."

They both walked through a doorway and met another undead. This time Arya had to stop her sister from drawing her dagger and Catalyst and attacking the Merchant.

"Oi, now, come on! I'm just a simple Merchant, no need for violence" He said holding up his hands. He was well dead, with grey flesh hanging off his face and arms and his eye sockets were sunken into the back of his head and when he talked his mouth never seemed to move. Sitting cross legged with rags hanging off him and a bandana wrapped around his forehead, he had a mound of items laid out in front of him, obviously the wares he was selling.

When Isha put away the weapons he lowered his hands and began stroking a large empty bucket. "Right crazed one's we have here, Yulia." He said to it. "So anyway, what do you want? Besides killing me. You here to buy something? Everything's for sale, but I only trade in souls."

The sisters looked at each other. They were sure that they had accumulated some souls between them, but they had no idea how to give them to the merchant. First they would find out what they wanted to purchase before getting into money.

As Arya knew more about the items of Lordran as she was the resident researcher for her friends while they were playing so that they could find where something was and get to it, without ever having to put the controller down. And the book the Crestfallen Knight gave them helped immensely. She chose a Heater Shield for Isha as it was light weight with a hundred present damage and Fire protection, a new dagger as the old one was rusty and nicked, and one Bottomless Box.

Arya herself didn't need any new equipment. Oscar had given her his Crest Shield back at Firelink, but so far she hadn't really used it, she wasn't used to swinging her sword with one hand, and preferred to use two... Mainly because she was unable to wield it in one hanc. Even still her swings were wide and slow most of the time bringing her body with them. The shield was on her back being used for protection against back attacks and arrows.

"…Oh and we'll take the Residence Key and as many Repair Powders as we can." Arya added as an afterthought.

The merchant added up all the costs. "Okay that's three thousand, three hundred for the Key, Shield, Dagger and Box. How much have you left over for the powder?"

"Uhh…" They both looked at him with confusion and shyness on their faces.

The Undead sighed. "This is why I prefer to deal with other undead. It's just 'here you are and off you go'. Not with living, oh no, they have no clue." It seemed he was no longer talking to them but instead to his Bucket, imaginary pet, or the Uchigatana that was inside it… or the voices his head.

"Just hold out your hand and focus on the amount you want to give." He told them.

Doing as instructed Arya held out her hand as did he, and focused on the number she wanted to give him. Her palm was about an inch away from his and it tingled as the particles of souls was transferred to him.

"Well that's enough." He said and handed over the items. "I'll trade that rusty dagger for a repair powder, if you don't want it anymore."

They left with all their new equipment and about ten Repair Powders. Which wasn't all bad considering that Arya's sword was nearing breaking point. She sprinkled the powder over the blade and watched as golden lines were present along it as it was repaired before her eyes. Its sharpness returned with a vengeance. She was nearly slicing Hollow Warriors in half with just the weight of the blade.

They continued over the bridge, running to avoid the Hollow's throwing fire bombs, and Arya threw a fireball at one while Isha soul arrowed the other. Continuing out, they quickly made it to the tower of Havel the Rock.

"Think my key will work on this door?" Isha asked, jingling her keys. She was becoming a little too accustomed to opening most doors with those things. If she wasn't careful she was going to become a regular thief.

"I wouldn't if I were you. Down there is Havel the Rock, a man with armour so thick that your dagger, Magic, my fire, hell, even my sword wouldn't pierce it. Not to mention that he wields a damn Dragon Tooth as a club. One hit with that and you are crushed into paste." Arya explained, stepping onto the stairs upwards.

She knew without looking that her sister would be running up the steps after her.

They only had to deal with one Hollow archer that was easily dispatched by Isha and her Magic. After it was dispatched the fog gate awaited.

"Well once we pass this we may not be able to get back. Only forward from here." Arya told her sister.

They both took a breath and Arya went through the fog first. She held her hand up and slowly went through, expecting some kind of resistance from it like in the game, she found none. Only caution was what made her slowly walk to the boss room.

The large walkway that acted as Lordran's border was strangely peaceful. When Isha was also through the fog they could see no sign of the boss. The sea was crashing against the rock wall and seagulls were flying about. They were the only birds that the duo had seen since the giant crow. They were actually beginning to believe the entire place was uninhabited by any animals. The air was tinged with salt and water.

As Isha took a few steps away from the tower across the walkway, Arya caught her arm and pulled her back.

"No, this is too easy, as soon as we cross something will happen. I can feel it." Arya began to look around, there was a ladder beside the entrance up to the top of the tower. "We need a higher vantage, let's go up."

Arya climbed up the cold, rusty ladder. The rust was flaking off in her hands staining them a reddish brown. Up on top there were two hollow soldiers with crossbows. Quickly ducking down to avoid a bolt to the head, Arya pulled out her shield and kept her body behind it. There were a lot of metal thuds that sent shockwaves through her arm. Luckily she was drawing their fire, which left Isha open to Soul Arrow one and give Arya enough time to bring her sword in an arch to take the second's head clean off his undead shoulders.

"I'll stay here and fire arrow's on anything that comes across the bridge." Isha said, taking a position near the edge of the tower.

Arya slid down the ladder, her knees nearly buckling as they hit the ground from the sudden stop. She slowly walked over the curving bridge, when she was nearly half way she turned to her sister, who was not more than a small figure on a huge structure. Isha waved in acknowledgement and Arya continued her trek.

Her boots were tapping against the stone, the sound seeming louder in the silence, she could no longer hear the ocean beat against the walls but could still feel it beneath her feet. When she neared the tower it was bared by more fog, she was sure that if she leaped through it, it would unhindered her and she would pass.

Unfortunately, she never got the chance. A large shadow blocked out the light overhead and looking up, Arya saw the cause. A huge bull headed Taurus Demon was on top of the tower glaring down at her with glowing yellow eyes through its skull like head, its curving horns only added to the intimidation. In its hands it gripped a huge Demon Greataxe, the axe was blunt as opposed to sharp designed more to crush than cut.

It leaped off the top of the tower, Arya had just enough time to roll back out of the way to avoid being crushed. The Demon's digitigrade legs absorbing the impact as designed. Its upper body was humanoid in appearance covered in coarse red/brown fur with a tail for balance, and its legs were not Hooves as Arya was expecting. It opened its mouth and let out an animal esk war cry before charging at her, axe raised.

Needing no further prompting, Arya legged it back to the tower where Isha was waiting with Soul Arrows. When the Demon was in range Isha let loose and fired a shot right at the Taurus Demon's face, and while the shot missed, it did hit its shoulder.

Arya took the advantage to gather fire in her palm and spun to fling it at the Demon's torso. It hit its mark and her nose was filled with the scent of burning fur. It cried out in pain and swung its huge axe at Arya, it narrowly missed her, but threw her off balance making her landing less than graceful, and the axe crashed into the small barrier dethatching many stones and sending them tumbling down to the ocean below.

When the Taurus cried out in pain, Arya did as well, she wasn't hit by the axe but still felt pain in her shoulder and chest.

Isha let loose rapid fire trio of Soul Arrow's that successfully hit their mark on the Taurus Demon's head and chest.

Arya also felt the pain of it.

She decided she was in pain from the fall and carried on.

The Demon looked up at Isha and walked over Arya to the tower. It bent its legs and leaped up onto the tower. Isha dived out of the way and landed hard on the ground near the ladder. Scrambling over to it, she went down it one rung at a time, giving the Demon on top ample time to realise its prey was going down.

Again it leaped off the roof and landed on the ground with ease.

Arya was ready this time and ran at its legs gripping her sword in both hands over her head, brought it down in an arch, cutting the Taurus Demon deep on its leg, aiming for its femoral artery. The attack brought both of them to their knees.

"Arya!" her sister screamed in panic and ran to her. She was afraid that the Demon had landed on her sister and crushed her to death.

Still firing Soul Arrows at the thing she ran to her and saw a small cut on the inside of her leg. It mirrored the one she gave to the Taurus Demon…

She pulled her sister up and they both ran (and hobbled) away from the angry demon that was looking over its shoulder at them unable to follow due to its injury.

"Hit it again." Arya asked through clenched teeth. She was in a lot of pain everywhere and hoped that her theory of why was wrong.

Doing as instructed, Isha let loose another Arrow, this time hitting the back of the Taurus's shoulder. Remarkably, Arya yelled and gripped her shoulder where the Demon was hit.

And in that moment, she knew that somehow she would have to avoid dishing out damage in the battle to avoid more injuries.

The Demon steadily got to its feet, intent on demolishing its prey. Nothing had given it this much hassle, not even the little undead from earlier who quickly dashed under its legs and through the fog gate on the other side. It stalked over to where they stood, virtually trapped. They tripped over a rock and fell to the ground utterly helpless.

Arya and Isha were afraid. Never before had they felt this kind of utter terror before. They knew that to fight back meant sacrificing Arya's life, as somehow both she and the Taurus Demon were linked. But not fighting also meant death. Either way death was coming.

The two sisters' clutched hands, their breathing came in quick short breaths as it felt like their throats had closed. They could hear their heartbeats in their ears as they stared wide eyed at the approaching Beast. The Adrenalin was so predominant in their bodies it was nearly assured that there would be no pain from the blow.

The Demon's footsteps uttered death with each thudding drop. When it was within striking distance it raised up its greataxe intent on quickly killing the two annoyances that had so rudely invaded its territory and attacked it. It would enjoy devouring them whole…or at least whatever was left of them.

Finally reaching her breaking point, Arya cried out in a final futile attempt to stop the attack.

"Wait, Stop!" She screamed throwing out her hands as if to catch the axe and stop it from crushing them. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.

The Demon tilted its head and looked at the human not half its height curiously. It studied her for a moment before a great growl erupted from its chest and readying its greataxe for another attack intending to crush the girl.

"Stop It!" she yelled at it again with a slight quiver in her voice.

Miraculously, the Taurus Demon lowered its greataxe no longer intending to crush her to death. Arya stood not sure if it was all a ruse and it was playing with them, giving them hope before taking it away forever. She took a brave step forward close enough to the beast that if it wanted, it could crush her in his hand. The Demon did no such thing. Isha gasped and reached out slightly wanting to pull her younger sister away from the thing, but she was immobile in fear and afraid that any sudden movements would cause it to attack.

To the demon when the small human yelled out he heard a voice he thought long gone never to return… however… that voice.

That was the voice of its mother, it brought forth his memories of his birth in the searing flames of the bed of chaos… Had his mother returned?

He could not help but obey her command. The scent of fear and surprise and blood was rolling off of the two small humans, but… mother had told him to stop, and he stopped. His surprise was enough that he dropped the axe he had pieced together from the bones of greater demons he had vanquished.

Isha and Arya were very confused when the Demon not only hated its attack, but dropped the greataxe completely. And to top it off all the Demon had surprisingly, even lost control of the souls he had stolen from his prey, all of which drained into Arya.

Isha whispered "Tell it to go away!" from her place on the ground.

"You are going to let us pass?" She half asked feeling a little braver but unable to stop the shaking, putting her hand over the course fur of the things leg.

The Taurus Demon growled and did nothing.

"Then…Then you are going to go back to the Demon's Ruins and Lost Izalith" She told it.

'Go home'? … This bridge was his home, unless mother meant the Bed of Chaos…

The great beast shook its head and stomped the bridge with its foot, as if indicating 'this is my home'. Arya was a little confused as to why it left and was on the bridge in the first place and why it was so reluctant to leave. As if answering her question, it lowered itself onto its knees so she could pat its head.

"Well, this place is not your home. You home is back in the Demon's Ruins with your own kind, you don't belong here!" She near yelled at it stepping away in case it reacted violently. "Go back to where you belong and torment these people no longer!"

He decided he would need to inform his brethren of this development anyways. Retrieving his axe, he stood and leapt off the side of the walls and down into the depths below.

"How did you do that?" Isha near whispered, perplexed. She had panicked when her younger sister willingly dropped all her weapons and walked over to the beast. And even more so when the thing listened to her.

Arya shrugged as she walked over to pick up her weapon, it felt right having it back in her grip but she felt strange... somehow ashamed of herself "I- I don't really know how I did it. I knew when I was feeling its pain, that I had this connection to it, and that it would listen to me." She wasn't smiling, even though she should be happy that they had 'achieved victory' and gained a huge amount of souls without killing the Taurus Demon.

They walked to the other end of the bridge, which was minus some fog blocking the door. And found a room full of barrels and down a set of stairs and out onto…Another bridge. With more Hollow Soldiers with spears on it. And what seemed like a viewing platform on the other end away from the bridge.

Since Arya was still a little injured they decided to rest at the viewing point before even attempting the bridge. Isha was worried, normally her sister was upbeat and a little serious, now she was very depressed about something. When they were two flights of stairs down, they noticed someone in full armour set.

His helmet was a bucket shape with a thin slit for vision and his armour bore a symbol of the Sun, around his shoulders he wore a green scarf like piece of cloth. His weapons were an Astora straight sword and a Sunlight shield.

Upon hearing their footsteps against the stone he turned to greet them.

"Hello friends, you don't look Hollow, far from it! I am Solaire of Astora, an adherent of the Lord of Sunlight. Now that I am undead, I have come to this great land, the birthplace of Lord Gwyn, to seek my very own sun! ...Do you find that strange? Well you should! No need to hide your reactions. I get those looks all the time! Hah hah hah!" He said, looking back to the setting sun.

The two just shared a look before returning their gaze at him.

"You don't seem strange at all. Many people go on journeys to find their own 'suns'" Isha commented as her sister sat on a bench.

"I don't? Praise the Sun. A short time ago I dealt with an undead who happened to be the chosen. I gave him some advice and sent him on his merry way. But now he seems to have attracted the attention of that huge Drake on the Bridge. So now I am stuck here for a while. At least until it flies away again. I am thankful for your company." He took off his helmet as he spoke, he was a short blond haired whose hair appeared to be made of pure gold ending just past his ears, with very dramatic blue eyes as pure as the sky. He gave them a smile that would make any women swoon.

"Well, we are going to be heading in that direction as well. Do you want to travel together? We don't really have a set destination in mind." Arya asked the knight.

His smile grew if that was possible. "I would be honoured to travel with you fair maiden. After all, what kind of Knight would I be if I denied help to damsels in distress?"

"Okay. Let's just wait a few minutes while I recover…" Arya asked turning to the sunset.

"Is something the matter?" Solaire asked looking at the crestfallen woman.

"We were nearly crushed by the Taurus Demon. And I made it leave, but I was terrified…" She told them, tears in her eyes. "I was so afraid that I couldn't move! Damn it, I ashamed of myself, I should not have froze like that!" Tears were now falling down he cheeks.

"Being afraid in battle is not shameful. Fear is not 'Evil'. It is necessary to know your weakness." He said smiling at her "If you know your weakness you can become strong and kind. When you fear for someone else, you can become truly stronger, strength to protect is better than strength for one's self."

Solaire's pep talk had brought Arya out of her depression and back into reality. He was right. Next time she was not going to freeze, she was going to fight to protect her sister…no matter how childish it sounded.

Review for the sake of Arya and Isha!