A/N: Adding this here just this once. Finally got my computer back (after 3 different "fixes") and found was the motherboard that was fried. Works great now, so hopefully I will be back on normal schedule. Thanks for the support during the time, and all the followers! Keep up the reviews and such!
Upon reaching the bottom of the last ladder, Orion turned around to come face to face with a man in all black. His arms were outstretched, as if he was about to give Orion a big hug. Orion cautiously walked to the side of the ladder to give the rest room to come down, keeping a close eye on the strange man.
"What is wrong? What are you… Who is that?" Xren asked, suddenly realizing a man was standing there.
"Better yet, where did he come from?" Azuron asked.
"Greetings. I am Oswald of Carim, the pardoner. Thou art a friend. For thee, a warm welcome. Cometh thou to confess? Or to accuse? For indeed all sin is my domain," he said.
"What in the world does that mean?" Dextrous said.
"Sin, a once distasteful word. I was raised on the impression all evil in the world was a physical form of it. That was before I figured out what I was. That was before I was thrown out like I was some kind of… thing," Xren explained, suddenly changing the mood of the area.
"Well spoken my cleric friend. You are indeed full of faith."
Oswald reached out a hand, palm down.
"Let me cleanse you of any sin that may burden your soul."
"I have no sin which burdens me so."
"Cleric, thou should know, it is only human to commit a sin," he paused, and looked at Orion. "Some know that better than others…"
Xren knelt in front of Oswald. He placed a hand slightly above Xren's head. Oswald mumbled a few strange words, followed by a slight glow of light from his hand.
"Tis done, you have been cleansed."
"What about the rest of us?" Azuron asked.
"Only one of you has sinned," Oswald said, a frown on his face. "However, not even my abilities can purge that level of Sin."
Both Dextrous and Azuron stared at Orion, who turned his head to avoid their gaze. Xren stood up, and he too stared awkwardly at the knight. Sudden concern washed over the three remaining warriors, both in fear of Orion's companionship and his actions that led to that much Sin. Orion turned to leave, stopping only to hear what else Oswald had to say.
"Acquaintance of Petrus of Thorolund? Beware, he too is drenched in Sin…" Oswald said.
Orion walked through the door, and made his way back across the rooftop. The rest of the group hesitated, but continued after him nonetheless.
"Thou art welcome anytime. It is only human to commit a Sin…" Oswald's voice trailed off as everyone made it back inside the church.
As Azuron, Xren, and Dextrous exited the last stairwell beside the altar, they heard a faint sound of clashing metal. They drew their weapons, and ran to the source of the sounds. They came upon Orion who, single-handedly, was taking on three of the local knights. Two wielded a single sword and shield, and one carried a rapier. Xren was about to rush in and help, but was stopped by Azuron.
"Let him be, he can handle himself," Azuron said.
"I'm not sure whether to take that is confidence, or a sudden lack of care for Orion's life…" Xren thought.
Orion held his greatsword in one hand, which seemed impossible, but would place his other hand a ways up the blade, just below the parrying hooks, for better leverage. With a heavy lunge, he harpooned both of the sword-bearing knights. A quick right slash threw their bodies off the blade. The small amount of light shined through the faceplate of his helm, revealing part of his face. With only a glimpse to go on, Azuron thought he saw a scar stretch across his right eye. Orion turned to the remaining knight, who was hiding behind its shield. It had its rapier poking out of the side, as if trying to use it like a spear. Orion gripped both hands tightly on the hilt of the massive blade, and reached his arms back over his head. The tip of the blade barely tapped the ground before Orion leapt into the air. Mid-air, he swung the blade downward with frightening speed. The blade's impact was so great that it split the knight's shield in half, and continued through its body. Orion was on a knee, his blade laying straight and parallel to the ground, with a half of the knight's body on either side. The bodies disappeared, Orion stood up, and continued out through the doorway at the end of the room. He walked down a small set of stairs onto a small platform looking down at the closed gate. The Hollow soldier that pulled the lever watched the scene unravel and watched the oncoming knight walk towards the gate. Orion slowly walked towards the Hollow, which began to retreat back a few steps. Orion placed his sword on his back, took a few more steps forward, and trapped the Hollow in a corner. The scared Hollow hid behind its shield, which Orion soon tore away, followed by its sword. He threw a right hook across the Hollow's head, causing it to fall to the ground. He then picked up the Hollow, and stuffed its body through one of the holes in the gate, as high as he could reach. Orion walked over to the nearby lever, looked at the stuck Hollow, and pulled. The gate flew upward, crushing the Hollow into the hole it slid into. There was a crunch sound, then a white mist.
"That was a little overboard… I wanted to kill it for what it did to us, but not like that…" Dextrous said.
"Why is he so angry? What did Oswald mean?" Azuron thought.
"Are we sure we want to follow this guy? With his attitude, what Oswald said, now this? I don't know about you, but he's starting to scare me…" Xren said.
"Apparently Oswald hit a nerve about his past. Just be glad he's taking it out on the Hollows, and not us," Azuron said.
Orion picked up a key that was lying on the ground. He looked at the group, whom he knew were talking about his actions, and started back up the steps. He tossed Azuron the key as he walked past, who caught it with a questionable look.
"You are the one with the key ring," Orion said.
Orion slowly walked back to see Andre. The rest of the group looked at each other, and decided to follow the knight for the time being.
"What is through this doorway?" Orion asked the smith.
"Beyond there lies the Darkroot Garden," he explained. "I have seen many travel down there, but none have come back. It is guarded by a strange demon, and even more dangers below."
"What of this demon? What makes it special enough to guard a forest?"
"It is said to have been born from a special type of stone, one that is both extremely strong yet fairly light. Such stone was once able to be used to make very special weaponry, some like none have never seen."
"Interesting, I shall have to see this for myself."
Orion turned from Andre, just to see the rest of the group coming down the stairs. Orion looked at them, and walked through the small door and down another set of stairs. Andre quickly filled everyone in, and finished just in time to hear a crack of thunder from the room below.
"What was that? It sounded like one of my bolts," Xren said.
"Your friend has engaged the demon. What is wrong with him? He seems… lost," Andre said.
"We talked to someone named Oswald, and he said his Sin could not be purged and he has a lot of it," Azuron answered.
"I see, that would explain it."
"Explain what?"
"You will find out soon enough. People, be it Undead or Hollow, are like swords. Some are rough on the outside, but they are hard to break and often very reliable…"
Another clap of thunder echoed from the doorway. The group thought over Andre's words, then decided to go down and help Orion. They arrived at the bottom of the steps in a large open room with ruined pillars and a slanted floor, only to find Orion being dwarfed by a large creature. It appeared to be made of stone, however, in place of a head was a slab of engraved stone, and it was missing its left leg. It wielded a large scepter-like weapon in one hand that looked like it had considerable reach. The demon reached its scepter back with a faint crackling sound. When it swung, a ball of lightening shot from the scepter, followed by a crack of thunder. Orion dodged the slow moving spell, and retaliated with a slash to its free arm. Azuron drew his claymore, and dashed into the area. Dextrous swapped to his more powerful crossbow, in hopes to pierce the demon's stone hide.
"I thought you lot were going to leave me. Your words sounded like such were true," Orion said bitterly.
"We are stronger in a group," Azuron said. "That, and I want to keep an eye on you…"
"Fine, then pay attention."
The demon swung towards Azuron, who dodged at the last second. As Orion and Azuron barely scratched the demon's surface with their blades, Dextrous failed to find a usable weak point. Xren, on the other hand, was planning a cunning move.
"I have an idea!" he called. "Try to get it to throw another bolt!"
Orion and Azuron disengaged, and backed up a few feet from the demon, just out of melee range. The demon began to charge another bolt attack, holding its scepter in the air. Xren charged a bolt of his own, and threw it at the glowing tip. The bolt struck the U-shaped top, and surged through the pole and into the demon's hand. The discharge was powerful enough to recoil the demon. Orion and Azuron took the moment to get a few heavy hits in on its chest.
"It seems to hate the element it uses. Strange for something made of stone," Dextrous said.
Xren fired another bolt, followed by a few hits from Orion and Azuron. Within three bolts, the demon collapsed on the ground and disappeared, leaving only its strange engraved "head." Orion picked it up, surprised at its light weight.
"Stay here, I'm putting this in my trunk before we continue," Orion said, and headed back to the bonfire.
The group watched him go back up the first set of stairs, and disappear from view. They walked to the opposite end of the room, in a large doorway where the stone ground turned into grass.
"Do you think Andre was right? About him being more than what we see?" Xren asked.
"Some people have more troubled pasts than others, and their actions weigh more heavily on their burdens," Dextrous said.
Both Azuron and Xren were shocked at his words, wondering if he too had something to hide. Before the atmosphere got too unsettling, Orion returned. He continued past the group and headed down the overgrown path, everyone following behind soon after. They arrived at a fork in the road, straight or right.
"I say right, I don't like the large amount of fog ahead…" Xren said. "Besides, these glowing flowers go to the right."
Everyone agreed, and they headed right. The path took a sharp left right turn, only to lead to a thin walkway going down the side of a cliff. Everyone carefully made their way down the side as another sharp turn arrived. Dextrous noticed a small ledge with something laying on it.
"Hold on, there is something over here," he said.
He jumped down onto the ledge, and found a dead Hollow. Clutched in one hand was a quiver filled with arrows, and in the other was a longbow. Dextrous decided to upgrade his bow, and swapped out his short for the new long. He removed one of the strange arrows, noticing it was very streamline and light. He removed all of the remaining arrows, and placed them into his own quiver. He was just about to stand up, when he noticed a strange red pool on the ground beside the body.
"I think I found something!" Dextrous called from the platform.
Everyone hopped down onto the grassy ledge, gathering around the strange red pool.
"What is it?" Azuron asked.
"I'm not sure…" Dextrous replied, reaching out to touch it.
As he placed a hand a few inches above it, a white mist suddenly filled the air. Everyone jumped back away from the pool, and back against the cliffside. Two figures appeared in the mist, one archer and one with dual swords. The archer remained on the ledge they were standing on, while the swordsman jumped down and continued.
"Looks like the archer is covering the other one," Azuron said.
Suddenly the swordsman shot a glance to the left as he got around the corner of the lower path. He tried to run, but was thrown a few feet forward by something. He quickly tried to scramble back to his feet, but was hit again by the invisible force. He began to scoot backwards, trying to flee from something. Suddenly his body appeared to be smashed into the ground. The archer began unloading arrows into the direction of the fallen swordsman. The archer spun around, and appeared to be harpooned. He dropped his bow, and seemed to grab the invisible attacker's weapon imbedded in his chest. He arched his back as the attacker withdrew its weapon, and his body fell limp on the ground where it lies now. The fog slowly faded, the red pool shrank, then both disappeared.
"That was… strange…" Xren said.
"So, who thinks we should continue through here?" Orion asked.
He was answered with three shaking heads.
"Agreed, I doubt anyone is ready to go against whatever that was. We need to head back to Firelink anyway."
The group headed back to the small church bonfire. On their way back inside, they were stopped by Andre.
"Decide not to delve into the forest yet? Smart. That fellow I saw go through there not long ago actually came back. Call me surprised," he said.
"Could this guy be that knight we met before?" Orion thought, shaking his head. "No, he might have skill, but there is no way that little guy could have made it…"
"Good to know, thanks for the info," Azuron said, thinking the same as Orion.
"Use the elevators in the Undead Church, they can take you back to the area where you began."
The group thanked Andre, and headed back to the church. They found the elevator gates, opened them, and activated the elevators. Both Orion and Azuron found it quite uncomfortable to be confined in such a manner. As the elevator descended, Dextrous noticed something, and hopped off into a ledge.
"I will meet you at the bonfire, I thought I saw something," he said.
The rest of the group headed to the central area, only to have the man in chainmail start to tease them.
"Why, what a surprise. I didn't expect you to make it. ...Oh somebody rang the bell..." he said.
Everyone looked at him with blank stares.
"Wait. Was it you? You never give up, do you? I don't know how you do it. Well, don't stop now. Only one more, but it's going to be suicide…"
He began laughing as if he were insane. Everyone backed up, somewhat worried for his mental stability. They traveled down to Anestacia, and found Lautrec sitting across from her cell. Orion held his hand in front of his crystal, and withdrew the radiating soul. He handed it to the blonde firekeeper, who clutched it as if it were her own. Everyone's flasks suddenly started to glow. Dextrous stood atop a roof, finding the object that caught his eye. His flask suddenly beamed with a bright light, then faded.
"They must have given her the soul…" he said to himself.
He lifted up an old key that somehow shined in the light. He put it in a pouch and descended back to ground level. Meanwhile, the rest began talking to Lautrec.
"Ahh, hello there. I have your reward. Please accept it. I am grateful to you for freeing me," he said, handing each person a orange medal.
Everyone looked at them, with Xren being the only appreciative one. Orion and Azuron handed their medals to Xren. Dextrous returned, with Xren attempting to give him the reward.
"Keep it, you are the only one who will even use them anyway," Dextrous said.
Xren went to tie them to the one he had already, but they were turned into orange light and absorbed into the one he carried.
"Not enough for you? Well, let's not be greedy now…"
He trailed off in more of that strange laughter of his. He stared at Anestacia with a strange interest, almost like one of obsession.
Everyone gathered back around the bonfire to plan where to go next. The man in chainmail spoke up again, almost as if mumbling to himself.
"That crow flew off with somebody in its clutches. I think it was a man curled up in a ball. Stranger things have happened, right? No, maybe not..." he said.
"Strange he said that. I saw a nest on the very top of that spire over there, when I was picking this up," Dextrous said, handing Azuron another key to hold on to.
"Should we go check it out? Might be something worthwhile up there," Azuron said.
"I say we rest first, I'm beat…" Xren said.
"Agree, we should rest before continuing onwards," Orion said.
"Good, that gives me time to work on my little project," Dextrous said, pulling out the large tail that was severed from the Drake.
"Don't tell me you have had that sitting in there! Nasty!" Xren called.
"I was taught anything could be made into a weapon, so I thought 'why not?' Plus, now I have the tools to do so."
"Just keep that thing away from me, it smells terrible."
Dextrous began carving off the top layer of scales, while Xren fell asleep. Orion was propped up against the nearby tree, while Azuron stayed awake.
"I wonder what was in that forest that Andre wanted me to find so badly. I hope we make it back there soon, I felt a strange presence somewhere in there…" Azuron thought.