AU: First of all, thanks to Sovereign for the heads up on the whole "lobbed" vs "lopped" thing. To be honest I didn't even know lopped was a word. Anyhow, part two is here, expect the finale either tomorrow or day after. Thanks for reading this far, and "stay casul?"

II.

…

…..

Voices.

Voices everywhere.

I can't do it.

I can't hurt them.

Don't make me.

Please. Don't make me.

I don't want to be like you.

I'm… I'm… NOT LIKE YOU!
I WILL SLAY YOU BEAST!

I WILL FIND YOU AND CUT OUT YOUR HEART!

Artorias awoke suddenly, and lunged forward.

He knocked heads with Kurrikai, who fell back cursing.

"Almost wish… I left you in that damn water…" Kurrikai muttered, rubbing his temple vigorously.

Artorias ignored the pain and looked around the odd cavern. The stone was a glossy black, made of a material that no mortal had ever named. Artorias was sitting down on a stone outcrop next to a small lagoon of greenish-blue water. Artorias' sword, shield and helm lay on the ground, with Sif curled up next to them.

Artorias looked at the water, looked at the stone, and understood nothing.

Kurrikai noticed Artorias' blank stare and laughed. "Yeah, strange place. I was hoping you would know where we are."

"The Abyss… We are in the Abyss but… I've never seen this place. Strange that the bloatheads didn't follow us down. Maybe they made a better decision then we did."

"That's not comforting. So how can we see around down here? There's no light source visible."

Artorias had noted that everything was visible in a sort of half-light, with odd shadows stretching across the caves' surface.

"I'm not sure exactly how Kurrikai, but this is the Abyss. Most things in the overworld are reversed, for instance: Light exists where darkness should. It's very strange, but don't try to think about it too much, you'll just hurt your head."

"Ah. Thanks, now everything makes even less sense than before."

Artorias laughed and stood up, stretched his arms, and surveyed the room.

"There is a fissure in the stone behind you." Artorias pointed out.

"I noticed." Kurrikai said straight-faced.

"We have to crawl through it." Artorias said, slinging his greatshield over his back, and sheathing his greatsword.

"I was afraid you'd say that. Do you think it's safe?"

"Better than the alternatives." Artorias said while putting on his helmet.

"Which are?" Kurrikai asked intently.

"Sit here and die of starvation, or make one hell of a climb." Artorias said, pointing directly up.

Kurrikai looked up and frowned. "We only fell for five minutes." He said hopefully.

"You know how deep down we must be after falling for five minutes?"

"Do you?"

"No, but I know you'll die of starvation before reaching the top."

Kurrikai grinned, and donned his own helmet. "Well if we really have no choice, lead the way Sir Sif and Sir Artorias. Kurrikai gave a mock bow, gesturing towards the fissure.

Artorias snapped his fingers, and Sif rose with a yawn, picked up his sword in his mouth, and followed his master.

Artorias squeezed through the fissure, which eventually led to a large tunnel, wide enough for three men to walk through abreast. Unfortunately, Artorias banged his head on more than one occasion, stupid hanging rocks. The ringing sound was deafening, if only he were Ciaran's height!

Remembering Ciaran made him think of the second team.

"What did happen to the second team anyways?" Artorias inquired as they slipped through the fissure.

Kurrikai sighed. "Tellegan and myself were guarding the place like you ordered, when we met the second team. Apparently, Silvach fled into Darkroot Forest when they passed it, damn cleric was always a coward. Anyhow, old White Eyes had been blasted with dark magic by one very brave bloathead, she wasn't looking too good. "

Kurrikai ducked a hanging stalactite and continued his story.

"Anyhow, we all caught up on the situation when we were ambushed by, you guessed it, more bloatheads. Most of them were the usual sort, but there were nine magician variants that casted all kinds of dark magic at us. Plus, one of the bloatheads was three times the size of the rest."

"Gough began taking the bloathead magicians down with his legendary archery, it was a sight to behold. Tellegan had his helmet knocked off by a dark spell that launched six or so beads of dark magic. One just happened to hit his helmet. I lost my weapons to the giant bloathead, and the bloatheads began to swarm, so Ciaran dragged White Eyes Aerath away from the mob with Gough, who laid covering fire for their escape."

"We were going to go with them, but we heard a scuffle and realized you were in combat, and Ciaran had informed us to the Abyss's entrance so we came to you, running. Strange that only one bloathead was attacking you, and even stranger still that the bloatheads managed to conduct an ambush of that magnitude. They have a peculiar problem solving ability unique to only one other type of creature…"

Artorias sighed. "So the bloatheads are the corrupted citizens of Oolacile?"

"That would probably be the case."

Artorias slammed his gauntleted fist against the cave wall in anger.

"So now the Abyss has claimed another land and turned its inhabitants into its own personal slaves. Damn that Manus!"

"Manus? Who is Manus?"

Artorias realized he slipped up and gave up holding back the truth.

"I've been having dreams recently. Nightmares really. You see, traversing the Abyss is no simple task. It requires a covenant with the leader of the Darkwraiths, a dark beast known as Manus. He has been sending me these nightmares as a warning; my control over abysswalking is fading. Soon I will be corrupted by the darkness and swallowed by the shadows. It will be the end of me, forever. I am a doomed man Kurrikai, and you and Sif are doomed for coming with me."

"So uh… How do me and Sif get to walk here if only you made the convenant with the darkness?"

"The covenant extends to those who I would trust with my life. But that matters little. Why would you come here? You must of known this plan was incredibly stupid and dangerous."

Kurrikai was silent for a while, and Artorias was grateful when the warrior spoke up.

"I knew. I knew it was probably suicidal to come here, but I came anyways, and I sure as hell didn't come because I was ordered to. I came because I knew you and Tellegan were good people at heart, and you needed my help. That's why I will fight by your side to the bitter end, my conflicted companion."

"I should have helped Tellegan though. He's dead because of me, and if I fail we will all perish. No amount of fall-canceling water pools or greatshields will save me, we are all doomed and it is my fault."

"Artorias?"

"Yes?"

"Damn that talk straight to hell, and you should be ashamed for letting yourself fall into depression."

Artorias nearly lost his footing from the shock.

"You are a good man Artorias, and bad things happen to good people. It's not your fault, or any of our faults, it seems to me like this Manus character is what's causing the trouble here. You make sure to punch Manus in the jaw for me, alright? Beat up that dark monster, kill everything here, save the princess Dusk, ride back to the Great Castle triumphantly and tell Ciaran you love her."

Artorias blushed furiously, and was glad for his helmet once again.

Kurrikai took his silence as confirmation.

"You just gotta tell her Artorias. If you don't, you'll never be happy."

Artorias sighed. "It's not that simple, I just don't know if… WHAT THE HELL!?"

Artorias, Kurrikai and Sif stepped out of the tunnel and stood still in disbelief.

They were within a great cavern, perhaps a mile wide. The shock came not from the cave's monotone features, but from the creatures that inhabited it.

Strange monsters drifted throughout the Abyss. The beings appeared to be giant shards of humanity with odd, piercing white eyes.

"Aerath would be jealous." Kurrikai said weakly. Even Sif could hear the hollowness in his voice.

One of the humanity phantoms heard Kurrikais' remark and seemed to notice the trio for the first time.

"KEEEEEEE?" The phantom whined in an odd, echoing voice.

"Move. MOVE!" Artorias shouted, and the three began sprinting throughout the cavern. Out of the corner of his eye, Artorias noticed another fissure in the ground, one very similar to the fissure that had led them into the Abyss in the first place.

"There's a way out! Artorias proclaimed, and began running to the fissure with Sif and Kurrikai in pursuit.

A humanity phantom drifted far too close to Artorias, so the knight drew his greatsword and cut the thing in half. The phantom looked down at the cut in its chest as its top half and bottom half reattached.

"KEE?" The phantom inquired, as if wondering why Artorias would do a silly thing like that.

More humanity phantoms were beginning to surround the trio. Sif was trying to keep them at bay with his glowing sword while Kurrikai began chucking rocks.

Artorias noticed the situation growing evermore dire, the haunting "KEEES" of the phantoms rose in pitch as the damned things grew ever closer.

Artorias was close to desperation when he remembered his training:

When surrounded by enemies, make use of your surroundings.

This wouldn't help them much, there was virtually no high ground in sight and the phantoms had them surrounded.

Make use of your inventory.

What did he have that could turn the tide? Conventional weapons seemingly had little to no effect, Artorias didn't know any magic and…

Conventional weapons? What about unconventional weapons?

In a flash, Artorias remembered his secret weapon: The Silver Pendant, a holy item from the treasure troves of Anor Londo that could drive back the dark!

Artorias reached into his pack and held the silver pendant in his right hand, lifting it high above his head.

"GO BACK!" He commanded, and shook the pendant.

A circle of light surrounded the pendant, then grew exponentially, knocking pack all the humanity phantoms. Several of the phantoms began to vanish while squealing in a disturbingly child-like voice.

The remaining phantoms drifted away, some of them giving off odd sobbing sounds.

"We did it." Kurrikai said in disbelief. "We actually did it!"

"It's not over yet." Artorias informed him. "Look."

Kurrikai twisted around to follow Artorias' gaze and sighed exasperatedly. "No… Not now…"

Walking out of the shadow were three darkwraiths. They all wore the basic darkwraith armor, yet all carried different weapons.

The first darkwraith held a heavy axe in each hand, and had a rapier sheathed at his side.

The second darkwraith wielded a black longsword, and had several dozen throwing knives at his belt.

The third darkwraith carried a darksword in one hand, and a falchion in the other.

"We can still make it to the fissure." Kurrikai whispered in an aside to Artorias.

It was at that moment that the first darkwraith sprinted forward and leapt with incredible speed, landing behind Artorias, Kurrikai and Sif.

"Scratch that." Kurrikai said sadly. "We have to fight and kill them all first. Mind if I have a back-up weapon or something? Mine are probably being fought over by some bloatheads right about now."

Artorias laughed, and advanced on the first darkwraith who stood behind them.

Sif made an effective barrier between the other two darkwraiths and Kurrikai.

The first darkwraith swung his axe, which Artorias casually knocked off course with his bare hand. Artorias impaled the first darkwraith, and handed Kurrikai the rapier.

"Thank you." Kurrikai said graciously.

The third darkwraith took a step forward and pointed at Artorias.

"Your pathetic Gods cannot save you here, that damned Gywn has no authority in this place. This is where. YOU. WILL. DIE!." The darkwraith screeched.

"I'm afraid not boys. It would seem that our esteemed friend Artorias has bigger problems. You'll have to best me first." Kurrikai said while brandishing his rapier.

"Sif and I can assist you! Together we can defeat these foes!" Artorias protested.

Kurrikai laughed. "Maybe! Chances are we'll just get mobbed by darkwraith reinforcements. You need to get to Manus and Dusk as soon as possible. Go on! Get out of here!"

Artorias felt conflicted, he couldn't just leave his friend here alone! But on the same token, every moment he wasted Dusk was in mortal danger...

"Good luck, friend." Artorias said solemnly, and dove into the fissure with Sif following.

Kurrikai looked at the two darkwraiths with hate in his eyes. These two bastards stood for everything he stood against: They were evil, self-serving, uncaring and unnecessarily violent.

Kurrikai issued a silent command, and his armor transformed. The armor turned a darkish brown hue , and grew several long thorns from its' surface. Kurrikai swished his rapier through the air, and pointed it at the darkwraith who held the darksword and falchion.

"I may die here today." Kurrikai said as confidently as he could, "But I will impale you and cut out your tongue so that you may never discredit the Gods again!"

The darkwraith screamed and charged him, blades glinting in the odd twilight cave.

Kurrikai planted his feet in the ground, extended his rapier, and held still.