Souls
He was awoke to that single word repeating itself. He tried to think, but found his thoughts were sluggish and slow. Where wa-
Souls
Who was he? He.. The Chosen Undead of course. Conquer of the gods and slayer of demons.
Souls
A burning emptiness was deep in his chest, and it ate away at him. He needed souls, and the hunger was maddening. His thoughts were sluggish, and nearly nonexistent. By some miracle however he remembered his two spare souls. The souls had belonged to Manus and Gwyn, and net a fair amount of souls. They would last him say, two ish months.
Two pops were heard through darkness before suddenly the area was lit in a sphere of light. Within it was the Chosen Undead wearing the elite knight helmet, Artorias' s chestplate (minus the cape), the bottomless box attached to a belt, Havel's gauntlets, and Havel's leggings. In his hands were the True Greatsword of Artorias and Logan's catalyst. Strapped to his back was the Grass Crest Shield, and worn on his fingers was the Ring of Favor and Protection and Havel's Ring. His soul count was far lower than he'd have liked, but at least he could think coherently. He wasn't quite at full thought capacity however, and that may take a little bit of waiting. At least he could always gather some more souls. That was a easy job he thought, but unknown to him it would be far easier said than done.
Sadly the long coat he wore over his armor had long ago rotted away, and that was a sore loss for him. He had stuffed his coat's pockets with things ranging from daggers, moss, firebombs, keys, his talisman, resins, and even most of his divine blessings. While he had backup equipment in the box for all of those the divine blessings were irreplaceable. Losing those were a sore loss, but at least he had two more in the bottomless box. Luckily he had the good sense to attach his Estus Flask to his belt. It was even still mostly full.
He shook his head as he was off track now. He needed a way out of the kiln. He surveyed his surroundings and found that the kiln was pitch black. His thoughts were slowly returning to normal after consuming the souls and it finally dawned on. He wasn't in the asylum. The cycle was over.
"HA HA HA!" Mad laughter sounded.
"I DID IT! HAHAHA I SURVIVED~" He practically sung aloud.
"HAHah..a."
Reality was quick to dawn on him. He was low on souls, stuck in the kiln (he doubted the toothy serpents would help him get out), everything in his coat was gone, the flame seemed dead so no warping, and he didn't even know if humanity was still existent.
Silence once again took the kiln as the undead walked to where he figured the entrance was. He was covered in ash and the metal of his armor was rusted. After reaching the entrance he continued on, and his journey through the kiln was met with no resistance or anything. No messages no summons no invasions, just ash and darkness.
Eventually he was at the end of the kiln where ash would give way to the stairwell leading to Firelink Altar. There were no Black Knight ghosts this time just white and a shut door where the altar was be behind. Unfortunately for the undead it was shut, and there no way of getting through. Granted he was still going to try and get through.
THUD
THUD
THUD
His fists didn't dent the doors.
THUD
THUD
THUD
Neither did his sword...
What was a undead to do when trapped behind a door? Pull random shit out of the bottomless box of course! Eventually after longer than he'd like to admit of throwing random things at the unmoving door he pulled a homeward bone out by chance. He shrugged before crushing it, he was going to try everything to get out. A circular pattern of runes surrounded him as a swirl of white appeared above him. Moments later and he was gone.
As his vision slowly returned he found himself on a cliff behind a flameless bonfire. There was greenery everywhere trees, vegetation, and grasses. In front of him was much the same with the cliff leading up to a dead end. While to his left was even more forest. Surrounding the area was another forest with the occasional massive pile of debris that were once mighty walls. This was the remnants of Firelink Shrine .
It seemed as though he was alone, which was good. He needed to do some thinking.
'Where am I to go?' Was his biggest thought. No one was here, the aqueducts to the burg was gone, hell almost everything was gone. Firelink was in the side of a huge cliff so that gave him a complete dead end. That left down as his only option.
He only had two ideas after all this thought and they were; scale the cliff or mine his way through the cliff. While he'd normally have probably gone with the mining, he also normally had enough souls to go decades without gathering more. Now however time was of the essence, and he needed to gather more souls quickly. That left one option and he knew it wasn't going to go well...
He walked over to the graveyard, or the grassy area it once occupied. The graves were long gone by now. Eventually he found where the ground went down and led to the catacombs. He looked straight down and there was a massive forest going farther than the eye could see. Except for the pit that was Blighttown. To him it seemed of. Instead of the dull green it once was it was now jet black. Unyielding darkness. It was also covered by what looked to have been a wall, except for a crack in the side. That crack was large enough for a few Gaping Dragons to crawl out however. Memories of the enormous monster surfaced in his head. Being devoured was easily his least favorite way to go. The creative's acid would burn through his armor... He shook his head his thoughts coming back when he heard a low growl coming from the Catacombs.
His head shot towards the sound and his eyes were met with red. He didn't ask questions and shot a Soulspear into the dark where it hit his target. The eyes suddenly dropped down and stayed there. He raised his catalyst and he cast Cast Light. He slowly took a few steps in before suddenly stopping. More red dots appeared twenty in all, around twelve feet away.
Seconds later they all charged forward, and what did our hero do? Run away. To elaborate he ran towards Firelink. As he was running there however he began casting White Dragon Breath. Exactly where Firelink ends and the Graveyard begins he did a complete 180. The White Dragon Breath crystals shot up from the ground, impaling five of the beasts. That left, five more. He casually sidestepped one swinging its arm at him, and he followed it by slamming his sword on top of the monster. It was crushed both from his strength, and the swords weight. He then swung the sword randomly to the right. There was no finesse in the swing, as it was raw strength. One unfortunate beast was caught mid swing at the undead. His ribcage was torn off, and he was left practically in two. It was dead in seconds. The last three rushed from the front, left, and right. He waited until they were a few seconds from reaching him, and rolled back. As he did this he started casting Crystal Soulspear. They curved steeply towards him, but the one originally to his right was impaled by the spear. The last two reached him before he could cast another spell, and both landed solid hits. They both were in front of him, and he impaled one of them. His sword sunk through its chest as it let out one final growl. The last one went for his throat, but he'd expected this. He sidestepped it and stabbed its chest. It died mere moments later. He waited a while for the souls, but they never came.
'What's wrong?' Was his only thought. What were these things, and how could they not have souls? It seemed impossible, silly even, but here it was. A enemy that had no soul, but that left countless questions. Could the beasts be like golems, but even they held souls. Even the skeletons held souls. When he found humanity he'd have many questions... Assuming he didn't have to take their souls of course. ' 'I suppose I could ask about the beasts then kill 'em, win win for me I guess.' He racked his brain about their description and remembered they were black, had white masks with red highlights, and looked vaguely wolf like.
He went back to where he had been before their ambush. Now he only had one question. How to you climb down a cliff?
It took many days, a few Rings of Sacrifices, and many skirmishes but eventually he did it. He climbed down that mountain. He had come to the conclusion that the bird monsters were the worst. The things could shoot their own feathers, and those things hurt. A lot. At least he was down now though, but now he had to be even more careful not to die. Four days had passed and that was four days without gaining souls. He checked the bird monsters, who looks suspiciously similar in color scheme as the wolves, for souls, but he never sensed anything.
Why bother? Why bother when he has no way to gain the souls he needed. But why not continue? Might as well take out some these fiends before hollowing, eh? He continued on chuckling to himself through the forest. All the while battling through scores of the monsters. Constantly he was thrown into the fray of battle through the hoards of the monsters. In the end he was always the only one left standing. It was mainly wolf's he fought though, and they were easy at best.
He walked and walked through the forest that never seemed to end. Always looking over his shoulder, and flashes of Darkroot Garden with its invaders constantly in his head. Then he heard it. A hiss. He rolled behind a tree narrowly dodging a huge snake. As the serpent shot forth he felt something slam into his back. He felt his chestplate collapse from force, as he saw another snake head having grabbed him. He sliced its eye, but that didn't make it let go. The exact opposite actually. Its teeth shot through his armor, and pierced his flesh. He felt poison shoot through his veins. Massive blood loss occurred that would have killed a non undead instantly. He completely shoved his sword through its eye, and pierced its brain. It died instantly as he heard a mighty hiss of rage from behind him. The first ones jaw was still clamped on him so he shot a Soulspear at the other head. It easily moved its head out of the way before rushing him again. If he'd had his talisman it would have gotten a mouth full of the god's wrath, but now. Now he just raised his sword as if to block. The fangs hit the sword, as he barely blocked it. He was now in poor shape from the wounds and poison. If the fangs got a hold of him he'd likely be torn in half. The beast opened its mouth wider preparing to swallow him. He paled as memories flashed in his mind.
He sliced at the side of its mouth. Its cheek was left wide open, as it hissed in pain. he shot a Soulspear into its throat. The spear shot through, and left a gaping hole in its head. The head went limp, as did the undead. Albeit for different reasons. The beast disintegrated while the undead lay down and ate some moss. He withdrew a talisman from the box and cast a healing miracle. The wounds disappeared, but the armor was still pierced open. Repair powder fixed that though. Now it was time to continue onwards. Or at least he would have if he hadn't caught a glimpse at the moon that he hadn't noticed until now.
The undead may not be a Darkmoon Knight anymore, but seeing the moon in such a shape was still disturbing. For a moment his mind drifted to his misgivings with the Darkmoons, but returned to topic. What could have shattered it so terribly? Not even the four lords and the dragons together could have done that kind of damage. The moon was shattered beyond belief with bits floating around. He had a lot of questions for humanity.
Yay, new chapter! This chapter was a ton of fun to write, and the only reason it wasn't out sooner is that I was to lazy to start my editing. I'll try and hurry up with chapters but I started a new TTW's character (Tale of Two Wastelands, a mod for Fallout New Vegas that combines it with Fallout 3. Basically two games in one. ) so it might be a while before the next chapter. I also feel like its worth mentioning the undead won't be some op pleb. He's a badass but The undead is in for a rough time at best. The Grimm encountered so far have been fairly young. I hope you enjoyed the chapter though, and have a good day!
In response to Zapper I found that review oddly funny, no clue why.
