Girolduses Journey

Chapter: 13

As he awoke Giroldus was surprised to find all his equipment still with him, and as he looked around this new area he realized he was now contained in a small cell. He found it odd that none of his armor or weapons had been taken but that was beside the point, he needed to find Mildred. The snake guard that leaned against the bars of his cell proved easily killed, for most things die when a great sword tears a hole in their esophagus. As the snake stopped writhing in pain, finally going cold and still, Giroldus reached down and plucked a key off the belt of the snake, thanking it for it's usefulness before opening his cell.

The room he was in appeared to be a large area of cells and, as was accustomed to the archives, more books than man could read in three life times.

"This damn pale drake and his books." The knight thought as he climbed the stairs. He hoped he could reach the doors, that he assumed would allow him to make his escape, without any confrontation with the sick abominations he, and everyone else in Lordran, had heard so much about. His hope however, like the weak and brittle glass his hope had become, was shattered when the sound of a music that seemed to pain one's ears and loop over and over began playing from the exact opposite side of the room. Not only was it considerably farther down than Giroldus due to the rooms cylindrical shape it had, from what he could see, two snakes guarding the source. Deciding that he should take care of at least one of the snakes before he fought them, Giroldus took out the longbow he had picked up in the undead burg, and reading a feathered arrow he had plucked from the eye of a rat in the depths, he tried as best as he could to land a shot.

As he aimed the bow he was overcome by a flashback and as he was overcome by his vision he began to notice his surroundings. In this vision he sat just outside the duke's archives with Gough on a hilltop that faced the great Sun City and it appeared Gough was attempting to teach him to aim and shoot a bow without missing the intended target.

"Now I say again Giroldus, focus, you cannot allow yourself to be distracted."

"But Gough I am a mere Bernike, my strength sits in big weapons, not frail bows. Besides it is not as if Lord Gwyn ever sends me on reconnaissance with Ciaran I'm just a human guard, a backup, just the hired muscle." As Giroldus said the words he looked down at the ground as if disappointed in him, it was just then that his future self noticed the lack of steel armor or great sword, and only the hard leather gear and broadsword.

"Then give the Lord a reason to consider you, do you see that bird?" Gough said. Looking up from his slump Giroldus replied,

"Yes, what about it?" With that the giant drew his bow and shot the creature down with a speed Giroldus had never seen.

"Since when do you fire that fast Gough?" Giroldus asked amazed. Gough did not respond but handed his great bow to Giroldus,

"Now you fire, remember, deep breath, and focus." At this Giroldus huffed and rolling his eyes he accepted the bow, so finding a bird, he took a deep breath, and focused. Almost as if time had slowed down, Giroldus felt as if for a split second everything had stopped, and it was only him and the bow and as he released it all came flooding back.

When the vision wore off Giroldus noticed that his bow had snapped, but the arrow was gone, and turning to where the snakes were and withdrawing a pair of binoculars, he peered down at the two snakes. One of the snakes sat pinned to the wall opposite him, his blood funneling into two trickles around the arrow that sat in his neck. .

"Guess I don't know my own strength." The knight commented as he looked at the snapped in half bow.

Turning to the pair of doors he had climbed the ladder to reach, he noticed that they wouldn't budge, suggesting they were locked.

"I don't have time for these damn locks and keys!" yelled the knight as he lowered his shoulder and rammed into the doors, causing either the door or his shoulder to crack. Knowing he could not let the one thing he could hold be taken from him, the knight slammed once more into the door, smashing it open, but breaking his shoulder. Lifting his estus flask, the shoulder was good as new and he was once again on his way. As he ran through the area smashing the crystal hollows to bits in his rage, he reached the opposite side of the library, where at the very end it held a bonfire.

There were two channelers in the room, one down the hall from him, and the other in an elevated position, as the one nearest to him started to cast a spell, Giroldus ran at him and snapped his arm to the right, causing the soul arrow to hit the opposing channeler in the leg, knocking him over. The channeler screamed a muffled scream as it looked at it's arm, but it's screams ended as Giroldus slammed his greatsword through it's chest and picking up it's trident and looked up, waiting for the second channeler to stand back up. As the channeler stood once more, it was greeted by it's friends trident piercing it's face, killing it.

"I should throw things more often." the knight though as he impaled more crystal hollows, smashing his way to a staircase he had not noticed before. As he waked up the stairs an arrow hit him, and dealing with the archer who had shot him he investigated the floor it was on. He found nothing special but had a hunch it didn't end there; so returning to the staircase he twisted the switch that sat in the middle. It carried him to another balcony, which led him to the flipped staircase that the Channeler laid at the top of, bleeding an oddly dark blood, which trickled down the staircase. After flipping the staircase again he reached a room where a hollow archer sat across from him, knowing that he could do nothing to stop the archer due to lack of a throw able weapon or jumping distance, Giroldus climbed down the ladder to his right, taking all the arrows the hollow dished out for the sake of Mildred. At the bottom he found a switch which revealed the false book shelf that sat in front of him to be a path to the bonfire as it moved away from it's cover spot. As he limped to the bonfire he lowered himself down and sat next to it, closing his eyes and alleviating his pain. Continuing to the area he came from he found another switch and pulling it he found that there was a path to the outside courtyard that sat behind the bonfire he had just come from. As he killed the hollow that lay down the staircase that led him to the ladder that led to the courtyard itself, he heard a familiar voice callout.

"Get your damn dirty hands off me you assassin scum!" As he heard her he knew immediately it was Mildred and rushing to the source of the voice he found Mildred being dragged into a cave looking structure full of the crystals that poisoned the people here. The man who was taking her cursed at her, slapping her and dragging her once more. As he saw this Giroldus ran in, the two crystal golems who stood guard charging him. The first golems blow was dodged and Girolduses great sword smashed into it's stomach area, cracking the crystals that made it up. At this the first golem stumbled back and the second charged in and slammed its arm down, causing a large area of crystals to appear, one of which tore a hole in Girolduses foot. The second golem received a great sword to the face, cracking its upper crystal, which was followed by a shattering connecting attack. The first golem ran at him but the knight counter charged and slid, cutting the creatures lower half off and shattering it in the process. After a quick swig of estus, Giroldus followed the man into the caves and called out to him.

"Halt assassin scum!" At that the man turned and Mildred called to him happily,

"Giroldus I knew you'd come!"

"I would never leave you in a horrid hole like this!" He called to her.

"Will you both shut up!" the assassin yelled. "What business do you have with me?" the assassin called.

"You have someone very near and dear to me. I request that you return her." At that the assassin chuckled a little

"Well unless you can pay me what the boss is, I'm sorry that I can't do that."

"You will return her or die." Giroldus called straightening up.

"I wish you people wouldn't constantly do this." As he spoke with his head in his hand, the assassin suddenly moved with lightening speed, sending a dart into Girolduses neck.

As the world fell to black the assassin laughed saying,

"The great thing about shadow armor is how deceptive it can be."

When the knight awoke, he found himself cuffed in wooden stockades next to Mildred and on their knees in front of the giant white dragon that spoke to the eastern man.

"Sinto the Savant, you have brought me two of the biggest enemies to the kingdom of Anor Londo, for this you will receive authority and wealth of your wildest dreams." As the white dragon spoke he cackled and handed the man a piece of paper and a small leather pouch, his laughter echoing in the large cavern. The assassin nodded and walked while counting the gold, but as the dragon announced the punishment stopped.

"Congratulations, Sir Giroldus you have won the privilege of an eternity as a statue in my archive. Oh and we mustn't forget you Mildred, my new plaything." At this Sinto turned to the dragon,

"Pale drake this is not what we agreed upon, you said they would be executed!"

"Yes, after I am done experimenting on my new puppets." The dragon never stopped laughing it seemed and at this Sinto said again,

"If this is the new deal, I must decline, I do kill for a living but torture is not an option."

At this the dragon leaned down and lowered his arm,

"Is that your final decision?" the dragon asked

"Yes." Sinto relied drawing a washing pole from the looks of it

With that the dragon flicked the assassin into the opposing wall knocking him unconscious.

"Now let us get back to the petrifaction of our resident traitor." The dragon laughed

As the dragon raised his head and formed a bright light in his mouth, Giroldus interrupted him.

"Dragon, promise me something." The knight said and at that the dragon lowered his head

"What might that be?"

"No matter what you do to me, let Mildred go."

"I'm afraid I can't do that either." The dragon said

"Then give her a quick death and not the hell you'll give me."

"Why not, now look Mildred dear, watch your dear knight join the ranks of the stone and crystal."

At that the dragon began to charge his breathe and as Giroldus turned to Mildred he mouthed,

"I love you." Her response being,

"I love you too." As she said those fateful words she moved in front of Giroldus and took on the blast.

As the breath impacted she fell to her knees, staring at the shocked and now crying Giroldus.

"No, not you too Mildred. Not after all this."

"It's okay. You gave me something I could never have. Thank you." As the two held hands and touched fore heads, Giroldus felt the slow cold of stone greet his hands and forehead as he wept.

The dragon only cackled and replied with a,

"Guess my new guinea pig is you pitiful man."

As Giroldus stood up he was overcome with a rage he had never felt, he snapped the wooden bracelets that held him, and ran to the dragon, cutting through his odd mesh of legs, and appearing through the other side of his torso. The sight he was greeted with was a woman trapped in an odd looking crystal, which in his proximity to the object, caused the dragon to call out.

"Mortal! Don't you dare touch that crystal, it is beyond your comprehension."

"Fuck you." Was the knight's only response as he punched through the crystal and shattered it?

The woman who fell out stood up, and putting what looked like a small flame into her pocket, cracked her knuckles, and slipped two pure black cestuses on and rushing the dragon. The now mortal dragon punched down trying to crush the woman, who punched his hand breaking the knuckles in it. At this Sinto woke up and the trio of a Stranger, a Bernike, and an Assassin all converged on the dragon, cutting his tails, and toppling the dragon; Giroldus sent his great sword through the beast's head, as it screamed.

"You will fail mortals, your futures are not murky and they are non existent!"

The division of brain from stem, ended his speech and life, but as the knight sat stabbing over and over, screaming Mildred's name and weeping until the assassin pulled him off the drake.

"She's gone, I didn't know it would come to this." The assassin said as he saw the statue. "I am so sorry."

As the tears consumed the knight he grew very tired and fatigued, passing out onto the cold cave floor as another voice could be heard.

"Hey Giroldus, didn't you go a little over board?" the voice called as the knight passed out,

"Who are you?" the assassin called.

"Vaeldric. What's it to you?"