A/N After going over this chapter, I noticed that the writing of my sleep deprived mind had forgotten that stories require substance, so I've gone back and added some to the part with the goddesses, and added to the Taurus fight.
The world slowly came into being, yet again. Is this gonna be a recurring thing? I sure as hell hope not. This time my senses did not elude me for long, all coming back almost right away, if slow to fully reappear, a muffled Oscar standing over me with ugh a blurry Petrus holding out his hand, the other on his Talisman or just on his belt. Finding my voice had yet to return, I kinda coughed and groaned. Oscar, seeing me awake said something to Petrus, still muffled to my ears, but I heard bits and pieces, followed by the clearing image of a retreating Petrus.
"…ake a… ink… Es… he…" I heard him say. Reaching weakly around for it, it was still on my belt where I had put it… how long had it been? The sun had actually started to rise, lighting up the shrine to its more familiar form. Heeding Oscar advice, I closed my weak fingers around the flask, and took a small swig, then another and another, draining it completely. Why… that… by my health it should only take 2 at most. Strange…
Feeling my physical weakness lifted and my sense sharpened, I got up, only to be assaulted by a dizzy spell. The aforementioned spell caused me to stumble into the tree, regaining my footing whilst holding onto it for dear life. I brought my now ringed hands up to my head, cursing softly as my body adjusted to standing.
"Finally awake, my champion? Good, well, don't dally, on to the challenges, I'm not the only one depending on you, Dan." Only just understanding that the voice wasn't Oscar's, for it was soft and silky, I looked up, seeing the form of a beautiful woman, blonde hair, blue eyes, busty and a dress that left very little to the imagination.
The Goddess Fina. She's real, she's here, I'm her champion. I feel weak. "Is that…" Oscar was left speechless. "I am the Goddess Fina, the Goddess of beauty. I must leave, that ring will let me communicate with you in this way, but it will drain you of strength. You must learn to use it, and when you do you can communicate with me about whatever you need help with or any other piece of history you need help with. Remember your mission, my chosen champion. Also, you aren't the only…" Fina was cut off as she faded away, back into the ring, as my strength slowly returned to me, very slowly. "Only what?" I asked my ringed hand. After it stayed silent I let it go, making a note to ask her about it later.
I crawled over to the Bonfire, my legs feeling like jelly. Reaching it my body healed, the fatigue all but gone. My Estus Flask was also filled. "Well, that happened. Did you find anything you wanted?" I asked Oscar. Oscar, more than a little befuddled, seemed to maul it over for a second.
"Uh, yeah actually, the large sword looks like it'll cause some damage, but I can hardly lift it with both hands, much less wield it with one." Oscar said as he showed the utter weight of the sword. "Ah, yes, the Zwiehander. It's an ultra great sword, requiring inhuman strength to wield effectively, so you may wanna stick to your current armaments for now. Anyway its time to go to the Undead Burg. Let's go." "Dan, can it wait around five minutes, I want to go purchase some miracles and a Talisman from Petrus," Oscar quickly said. "Sure, knock yourself out. Oh and here," I finished as I fished out a regular Talisman. I tossed it to him, asking, "Do you already know any miracles? Because Petrus' prices are highway robbery. Unless you have a silver tongue." "Ah, well I do know a simple healing miracle," he said searching his bag, likely for the scroll. Finding it, and reading it over a few times, he said, "Well then, let's go then."
With that I scrounged up the small pile of weapons and stuff that Oscar hadn't wanted, as well as the Zwiehander. Leading on up the stairs, I turned, saying, "Oscar, take lead, I'll support you with magic from behind." "If you say so, just make sure you don't hit me by mistake." He responded, stressing the "me".
The way up to the aqueduct was fairly easy, as to aim I just had to concentrate on the soul energy of a being. With that I was able to shoot accurately from farther away. So as Oscar took on the first two hollows, I aimed at the hollow soldier, hitting him in his damned head, getting his attention. As Oscar slayed the first going for the second, he saw the more armored one approaching, sword raised. Then, it dropped the sword, its head now gone.
"A little warning would have been nice!" He shouted as he killed the last one, grabbing the attention of the other three. "Well, heads up!" I shouted back as the two hollows approached, the last one chucking firebombs at us. While Oscar kept the two melee ones at bay, I turned my attention to the ranged asshole spamming firebombs. I wonder if I can use any stronger magic, with just my increased intelligence? I sucked in some air, and put in a good bit of energy into my catalyst (staff!) and it charged with a glowing blue light, let off in a giant explosion, knocking one of the hollows off of the cliff, blowing up the spammer, and knocking Oscar and I on our asses.
"Heads… up…" I muttered as I got up slowly, taking a small swig of Estus, noting that the amount of it lowered slightly, but not as much as it should have. "Thanks," Oscar muttered sarcastically, reaching for his Talisman, kneeling, and praying.
A golden glow surrounded him as he was healed. As he was doing that, I went to loot the dead, well the undead. Finding that the weapons didn't despawn with the death of the wielder, I grabbed me a longsword and a hollow soldier shield Fuck a duck! I didn't level up my strength. Oh well, I thought as I strapped the sword and shield to my back, feeling the weight. Continuing onward, we made it up the cliff without incident, making sure to grab the souls.
"I guess that's why people don't go around trying to come up with new spells on the spot. They blow up in your goddamned face…" I complained.
Reaching the aqueduct, I sent two regular soul arrows at a giant rat, killing it. Oscar muttered something about them being unholy, as I looted a corpse with another soul.
We trudged along the ankle high water until we finally got out of the aqueduct. Climbing up the stairs, I turned to Oscar, "Welcome to the Undead Burg, where the gods put the human workers to well… work, the undead ones at least. We'll meet some resistance, as the ones left are all hollowed."
"Great, will we ever get to rest?" Oscar asked the heavens, and when the heavens failed to answer, I did, "No, not really, but don't lose hope, I need you to stay sane." Oscar glanced at me, expression unreadable, with that helmet on.
With no more words said, I continued, "Take lead again, you'll have to until I can wield my sword." Oscar just grunted in understanding, again taking lead.
Just as he was about to get hit by an axe, he parried it, shoving his sword into the undead's chest killing it. As the other saw an opportunity, I did as well. As it turned to hit Oscar, I shot it in the head, blowing its head off.
Oscar had to wait for me to catch my breath, then continued. "Ambush from the left, bomber ahead," I spat out, rushing to combat the bomber, this time aiming for the satchel of bombs at its waist, blowing it to kingdom come. Oscar then took the initiative, ambushing the ambusher, cutting it down in a few swings.
As the hollow fell, I entered the building, checking the structural integrity of the half-collapsed stair case. It seemed to be in decent shape. The crossbow is up there, we might be able to use it. I think that Oscar could boost me up…
"Hey, Oscar, can you give me a boost?" I asked, pointing to the staircase. "Why?" he asked, helmet off, wiping the swear off his brow. "Well there's a crossbow up there and… actually, yeah, no, never mind, there's little use for it, lets move on, unless you want a nifty crossbow," I said realizing that here was no point in getting that crossbow, unless Oscar was willing to use it.
We turned around, leaving the building. "There's a Bonfire near here, just several hollows to go," I said as I passed through the fog gate. As Oscar appeared behind me, I quickly looted the body, to the left of the stair case, of its souls. A quick trip up the stairs and to an open bridge. I held up a hand to stop Oscar's progression. "What? I thought you said only hollows remained. They shouldn't be any problem for the two of us." Oscar recalled. "Well, yes and no. There is a Wyvern, called the Hellkite Dragon. It is meant to strike fear into us, but we won't have to fight it." I explained.
"So is it a Wyvern or a Dragon?" Oscar asked, the confusion evident in his voice.
"Definitely a Wyvern, although it is also called a Drake. But it is a Wyvern. Let's see it, shall we?" I led the was until I was about halfway through the bridge when the Hellkite Dragon landed, mere feet in front of me, Oscar seemed to stumble slightly, but kept his cool. As it raised its wings, I saw Oscars hand tense and move slightly, quietly readying his sword and shield.
It took off without looking back, like a majestic bird in flight.
"Well, that's about it, that's all it does… for now. So let's go, no point in dilly-dallying." I said when Oscar made a grunt of confusion.
"You'll need to take on three weak hollows swordsmen while I take care of the one with a crossbow. As soon as I'm done, I'll turn around and help you. Any questions?" I asked.
"Not really, just finish off the crossbow one quickly."
With that he held up his shield as he walked up the small staircase, advancing until he had gotten the attention of all four hollows. I took that as my cue to run to the middle of the platform-thing. As soon as I got within a comfortable range I shot two rapid soul arrows directly at the hollows face. The second one killed him.
I turned seeing that the hollows were giving Oscar little slack, so I dispatched one quickly, with a soul arrow. With the opening of the confusion that ensued, Oscar cut one of the others down, as I finally killed the last one.
"Alright, good. Well, the bonfire is just ahead, to the left in that bridge support," I pointed to the said support, "but, we should do some things first. There is a merchant that sells a key I need. How are you doing on Estus?" I asked.
He took a quick swig, after raising his visor, likely having been hit by one of the hollows.
"Just missing a small amount," he replied, lowering his visor.
With that I led Oscar forward to the Undead Merchant. Before we got to the undead knights, I quickly shot out two successive soul arrows at each of the two, killing them.
With that we quickly made our way to the Undead Merchant.
After a small amount of bartering, I managed to get the residence key, and actually made some souls, trading in old armor and weapons I had found around, along with a few humanity sprites. With the trading done, we made it back to the platform just before the Bonfire.
"I want to practice my sorcery basics, if you don't mind, Oscar. Just give me a minute or two. We'll head out then." With an audible sigh and a nod, Oscar removed his helm and began going over his weapons, as well as his miracle.
It occurred to me that I didn't really know the real basics of sorceries and I couldn't ask Oscar. Maybe Fina knows some, or can get me someone who can. I raised my ringed hand up to my face, thumb and pinky extended.
"Hey, Fina? Do you know any of the basics of sorcery? Without the scrolls I can't do anything. If not, do you know anyone who can teach me?" I asked my phone like hand.
Feeling my strength being drained away slowly, much slower than in Firelink, Fina began to materialize.
"Oh, champion Dan, can you really not? Well, we'll have to correct that, now won't we?" Fina said in her soft, sensual voice.
With that she smiled and vanished. Why… Suddenly, I felt the ring shake, on my finger, and from it materialized our favorite trap in Dark Souls. Gwyndolin slowly appeared. Materializing out of thin air, the god(dess) looked at me.
"So! you are our champion. You don't look like much, especially if you're a sorcerer, who knows nothing of magic."
"Gwyn-Gwyndolin? What are… what? Why are you…? WHAT?" I stuttered, stupidly, trying to understand. Oscar, being a man of faith, as seen by his sword and miracles, joined in. He quickly kneeled, bowing his head.
"Dear Goddess Gwyndolin, I apologize for my friend's lack of respect." Oscar apologized.
"It is quite fine. After speaking to Fina, I understood this man was not a normal one." Gwyndolin explained.
"Okay, quick question, Why are the two of you helping me? Not that I don't appreciate it, but I want to know."
"Many things have happened, that we did not foresee. The Gods have split into two factions, and we've started a war of sorts. But to respect the command of Lord Gwyn, we do not fight against ourselves. So we set up a challenge of sorts and all the factions of Gods have chosen their own Champions. Mother and I want to keep Father's legacy intact. You may have to fight the other champions, but luckily for you, you have a head start. They will have to play catch up first. The only one you should really worry about is the champion of Velka, Flan and, by extent Gwynevere." Gwyndolin explained. And here I thought there wouldn't be a lot of exposition.
"That's a lot to take in. Why are we against the last three?" I asked, trying to soak in all of this new information. Oscar had gotten up from his kneel, sitting at the bonfire, taking it all in.
"Velka, Flan and Gwynevere? They want to take the title of Lord from the Lords. They wish to rule the world. They see us, and you, as a threat to that." Answered the Dark Sun.
"Well, with that know, do you mind teaching me some of the basics of sorceries? It would really help the both of us." I ended.
As we started the lesson, Oscar seemed to become uninterested, as we went over the basics of soul energy, how it was malleable. You could do whatever you wanted it to do, but it would be prone to backfiring and blowing me up to kingdom come.
Seeing that this would take a good while, I sent Oscar to go grind for souls and farm for whatever he could find. As Gwyndolin continued the lessons, only being able to teach me a bit more than the basics, as I was a knowledge sponge, soaking everything up.
We had begun to go over the "spell" I had "created". I was taught that there were different spell types, like the projectiles, buffer, and even ones that would deflect things, like how force would.
We even made two variants of the exploding spell I had almost killed myself with, but only after refining the spells many times.
I had to ask Gwyndolin about where she had learned all of this. It turned out that Seath had been the one to teach her/him.
After a few hours with Gwyndolin and the sun had gone down. Oscar returned one last time to rest at the bonfire, before saying, "It's too dark for me to continue at this point, no one minds if I just sit here and rest, right?"
"We are just about done, Knight Oscar. We were actually about to start talking about the knowledge our Champion has of this world. For one of this world would know at the very least a little of the powers of souls. A sorcerer would know much more too." Gwyndolin responded, turning to me.
"Well, you may not believe me Gwyndolin, but in my world, the story of the gods and of Lordran is but a story. A kind of interactive story, like a game. We don't have magic and so we relied on good ol' human ingenuity to advance technology. I was actually planning on working with it, but I'm here now. I know all about this world, the three Lord Souls, the Dark Soul and Gwyn being the first Lord of Cinder. I even know of futures in which the flame is lit, and to the very end, when the flame finally dies. I know the stories of Artorias and the knights of Gwyn, that Gwynevere left Anor Londo, that the sun and this world are dying." I finished my long story, seeing Oscar take off his helm and Gwyndolin look at me, studying me cautiously.
With that we continued to go over all the little things I knew, as well as me trying to make new spells. When Gwyndolin was unable to help anymore, (s)he left me to my own devices. With the souls Oscar had collected, for hours, we were able to strengthen ourselves greatly, Oscar putting a shit-ton into his strength, endurance and vitality, and I into Intelligence and Attunement, with just enough to strength to wield my weapons. I handed Oscar his Zwiehander.
Seeing that my previous "spell" I had tried using back in Firelink had caused a giant explosion around me, I reinforced it, eventually creating an AoE attack that did a small amount of damage, but knocked everything back with a large force, it was the magic equivalent of Wrath of the Gods, which I called Wrath of Man. After a few more hours I was able to get a variation that essentially made a spherical "Soul Field" around me that blocked most, if not all, magic, fire, and lightning damage, and most physical damage. Testing it had to be done before knowing what it could handle.
They were still a kind of prototype, which I would still reinforce as I went along, but for now it was good.
We left and continued on for the Taurus demon, killing the three bomb throwers, sniping them with soul arrows. After that was the room with the two hollows, which Oscar killed with his new Zwiehander, still having to two hand it. Then another hollow opened the door, only to be hit by my soul arrow. I took the lead, entering the home, again killing the hollow with a soul arrow. With that I pulled out my shield. Scavenging around we found a few black firebombs. With our loot safely in my bag of holding, we continued onward.
"Alright, Oscar, ahead are three hollows, one of which like to throw bombs. I'll take lead, blocking the first hit, I just need you to go and do a horizontal swing, and you should be able to cut them all down."
"Got it," was Oscars response.
With that I ran ahead, shield raised, taking a firebomb to the shield. Oscar sprinted around me, catching all three in one swing, decapitating them.
I sent him up to take care of the crossbow man as I looted the residential home, killing one of the hollow soldiers with a soul arrow. Oscar, having heard it hit, attacked the one closest to him, knocking it off balance, then landing the killing blow. The final one turned to me, finding me the easier target, after I had jumped off of the ledge.
That proved to be its final mistake, as Oscar drove his oversized sword through its back. The hollow had heard its friends killed and preemptively hit the barrel, trying to scare us, but ending up with out a head, as my soul arrow knocked it off.
"Alright, so next is the boss, another demon, the Taurus demon, as well as two crossbow hollows. You take a right after the fog and go up the ladder, kill the two, while I go grab his attention, and I'll go up the ladder, while you do a plunging after adding this to your sword," I said handing him some lightning resin. "I'll join you and we'll just have to wing it if it doesn't die." I explained. With that we made it to the gate, but not before I killed the Crystal Lizard.
Finally, I passed through the gate, followed closely by Oscar, who quickly went to work. I myself ran across the bridge. Then it appeared. As soon as I saw it, I paused with fear. When it got closer, I unfroze, turning tail and sprinting back to the ladder. Halfway up, Oscar landed on it, getting his sword to penetrate most of the Demon's skull, but not killing it. Oscar rolled off of it, but not before twisting the blade in the demon's skull. When I got to the top, I saw that Oscar had needed only a little more to break through the skull, so I sent a soul arrow at it, followed by a plunging attack, hitting the brain with my new Long Sword. Happy with my victory, I jumped off onto the bridge. Then, I felt it. It wrapped its large hand around me, picking me up to see its eyes. They were filled with chaos fire. It then threw me into the building. Oscar had taken that time to slowly build up strength into his sword, cutting the tail of the demon off, as I stood back off. This threw it off balance, near the edge of the bridge. I saw an opportunity and took it. "Feel the Wrath of Man!" I screamed as I slammed my staff down, sending a large shockwave into the demon, knocking it off the bridge. It faded from view and transformed into souls, absorbed by the two of us.
Oscar sat, resting, taking more than a few swigs. I joined him for a minute, swallowing half of my estus in one go, before getting back up. Time to meet our favorite sunbro.