Summary: Ornstein makes a trek into the chasm of the abyss.
(Summary: This chapter is dedicated to modounbubble, cause she pretty much inspired me to the entirety of it. Thank you, dear ^^)
The forest around the grave felt calm and still. Well, it only felt like this because the attendants of the ceremony had left. Now only Ornstein, Sif, Ciaran and Gough were still there. Ornstein took some deep breathes, absorbing the sounds of the nature around him. The singing of the birds, the chirping and buzzing of the bugs, the rustling of small rodents in the bushes, the sound of rushing water from the nearby river, Sif's huffs. Yes, Artorias would have loved it here. Ornstein could vividly imagine how the wolf knight would have laid down on the grass, staring at the sky, petting Sif, being at peace with himself and the world.
Why couldn't he die with this peace? Ornstein asked himself. They had done everything to honour their fallen friend, now it was time for them to return to Anor Londo. Without Artorias. A thought that scared Ornstein. As yet Artorias had always returned from his solo missions (well, not completely solo, he usually had Sif with him), now Ornstein had to return without him. Explaining what happened. At least there weren't any relatives left of Artorias. As a bearer of a shard of the light soul, Artorias had grown much older than his parents and he had been their only son. And Artorias never had left any children, at least no one he knew about. That at least spared Ornstein the task of having to tell his family about his death. He had a feeling, that it would have broken him.
Ornstein noticed that he had subconsciously laid on his back, knees bent, staring at the sky like he had imagined Artorias would do it. He slowly pulled himself up, taking a look around. The sun hadn't been setting yet, it would still be bright for a few hours more. Ciaran was sitting next to Sif, her hands buried in the fur of the animal. Gough hadn't moved from his spot and Ornstein strolled over to him.
"Gough, should I led you back to your tower?", he asked.
"Hmm... I think I have been here long enough.", Gough said, standing up. "Lead the way, captain."
"Right now I don't feel like a captain.", Ornstein murmured, going ahead, making sure that his footsteps would be heard clearly. "A captain wouldn't have let one of his subjects die like this."
"It was Artorias own free will to come here, Ornstein.", Gough said. "He knew that there was a possibility he wouldn't make it. We all knew this before every mission we took, before every battle we fought. We are knights. We are not meant to survive."
"And yet, we did.", Ornstein said. "Against all odds, we did survive. I know I should be happy about it." He stopped, taking a deep breath, feeling close to tears. "Then why is it so damn painful?"
"Because you miss him.", Gough said. The rest of the way the two knights travelled in silence.
When they had reached the tower, Gough sat down, immediately picking up one of his carvings. Ornstein decided to sit down next to him for a bit longer.
"You know, Gough, I think I considered Artorias my best friend.", he said. "He had been always there for me, always did had an open ear, he was just always so nice. And I wonder if I did him justice as a friend."
Gough hummed at his words. "Ornstein, Artorias considered you as a good friend as you did consider himself. We all know that you showed your affection differently than Artorias. But you also opened up a lot more to us when we were alone. But, there is one thing I have to tell you..."
Ornstein froze. That did sound bothersome. Did Artorias hide some secret from him?
"Before Artorias went to face the beast, he came to my tower to talk to me.", Gough continued his story. "And he said he was worried about you. But every time he asked, you blocked off. Said that everything was alright. That he shouldn't worry. But Artorias said to me, he just knew that something was wrong. That you hid something from him."
Ornstein stood up, nearly screaming: "What? I have never hid anything from Artorias. I always told him the truth. About every..." Ornstein stopped his outburst. "...oh no, there was a thing I haven't told him. None of you. I couldn't. I am still your captain, knowing it would have made me appear weak." He clasped his hands above his head, shivering, his armour rattling. "Did he pick up on this so easily...?"
"Ornstein, it is alright to feel weak once in a while.", Gough said. "You don't have to face this alone. Nobody of us has. Artorias wanted to tell you this once he returned from his mission. He didn't want to let you face these hardships alone anymore. Now, let me take up his mantle. Ornstein, promise me, to come here when you feel weak or when it gets too much. I may not be an active knight of Gwyn anymore, but I still care deeply about you. You don't have to face this alone."
Ornstein took a few deep breathes. He felt horrible. More horrible as before, he hadn't been himself this last few days anyway. Or maybe this person had been who he was this whole time and it was the other Ornstein that had been a fake persona. But how could he have thought that Artorias hid secrets from him when it was the other way round? Ornstein slowly walked over to the piles of mask.
"Do you have one which apologizes?", he asked the giant. Gough put his big hand into the pile, carefully tracing the lines of them until he grabbed one of them and handed it to Ornstein.
"Thanks.", Ornstein said. The sun still hadn't set and Ornstein didn't want to get back to the mansion now. What even would become of Oolacile? The township laid in ruins, it seemed like Dusk's mansion was one of the only buildings that was still standing. There probably had been a place for the survivor's, they hadn't resided at the mansion. He should ask Gwyndolin to send them some supplies once he was back to Anor Londo. Ornstein walked to the edge of the tower, looking over the remains of Oolacile. There was one more thing here he wanted to do. Feel like he had to do. He took another deep breath, detached himself from the view, picked up his spear, raised a hand to wave to Gough, remembered that the giant couldn't see and said: "Farewell, Gough. I promise I will come back regularly to visit you and Artorias and Sif." Gough just raised his big hand and waved to him without saying another word while Ornstein descended the tower.
Moments later Ornstein was striding down the Oolacile township. The last time he had been here, Sif and him had gotten rid of a majority of the transformed bloathead monstrosities. They had however stopped at a chained prisoner, an attempt to get hollows to be fighters, but it had failed pretty bad. These creatures were pretty much unstoppable forces that would come back to life again and again. Thankfully, there didn't exist much of them.
Ornstein didn't want to bother with such a strong foe right now, so he just dashed past them and hit the elevator behind them, watching them strolling back to their usual position while the dragon slayer was vanishing into the dark.
Having arrived at the bottom of the cavern, the first thing Ornstein spotted was a bonfire. A lit one of course, the Undead had been there and for some strange reason, Undead were able to kindle any bonfire, that wasn't watched over by a fire keeper. He allowed himself a short breather next to the bonfire, scanning his surroundings. He wasn't able to see anything, but he could hear them. In this chasm, there were some bloatheads left. He clutched his spear in both hands tightly, feeling the spark of its lightning powers in his fingertips. It was time to clear them out for good.
Ornstein started to walk towards the noises, eyes on the ground, trying to focus on the sounds alone and that was when he noticed the prism stones. "Artorias? Have you marked the way?", Ornstein whispered to himself and quickly threw his spear up in a defensive stance when the first foe struck, claws clanking against the metal of the shaft, the malformed thing howling in surprise. Ornstein thrusted his spear forwards, impaling the creature with ease and managed to dodge to the side just in time when he heard the humming of the abyssal spell thrown at him. The mad cackling revealed where the sorcerer was. He dashed forwards, jumped up the cliff and drove the spear deep into the sorcerer's chest. They collapsed with a last mad cackle when he spotted the next three attackers from the corner of his eye. With a wide swing of his spear the beasts were thrown into the air and landed on each other with a hefty thud. One of them got up, growling, when Ornstein charged the lightning powers of his spear and drove the enhanced weapon through all three of them at once. Ornstein twirled around after having pulled his spear out, searching for any new foes, but he couldn't see anyone anymore. He allowed himself to relax, loosely took the spear in his right hand and continued to follow the trail of prism stones.
He was attacked by two more bloatheads when he ventured deeper into the chasm, but they were no match for him at all and he quickly disposed of them. He stopped however, when he saw the strange floating black things deeper in the cavern.
What was that? He never had seen something like this before. Ornstein came a bit closer, spear ready when one of these things pretty much flew through him! He gasped in surprise and slight pain. That had felt... weird. Like something tried to nudge at his soul... Feeling uneasy about it, Ornstein experimentally poked that strange floaty thing with his spear and was satisfied when it dissolved into nothingness. The rest of these black things seemed to be eager to pass him too, so Ornstein didn't hesitate to give every single one of them a taste of his spear. After a while of stabbing and dissolving, noticing that this things seemed to left behind what was called humanity, Ornstein managed to arrive at the end of the chasm.
He kneeled down to take a better look just how far deep the drop would be. He was confident that he could make the drop uninjured, he was really good at fall control, but he needed to make sure to be able to get back out there also. Ornstein quickly searched his belongings and found the desired item. A homeward bone. This thing had some kind of strange connection to bonfires and would bring the holder back to the last one touched, if concentrated on it. Even though bonfires were mostly an Undead thing, Ornstein had found out that divines also were able to use them as waypoint, even though they weren't healing their wounds, simply touching them would suffice. The last bonfire he had touched had been the in the township. Would also save him a good distance to walk. Now that he had everything set up, Ornstein braced himself and jumped down the hole.
The fall felt like a small eternity, but eventually the dragon slayer landed on ground, surprised that he almost felt no impact at all, as if this place had awaited him. He started to shiver instantly, this scene felt like it was brimming with darkness, it was no wonder that Artorias hadn't come out unscathed. He took a look around, searching for the source of the uneasy feeling. The cave looked surprisingly normal, there were some rocks scattered around and there, in the corner, he spotted them. A myriad of glowing red eyes. The shivering increased.
"Keep it together, it is dead, the beast has been slain.", he told himself, trying to set one foot in front of the another, every step felt like his boots were filled with bricks. After what felt like several minutes of walking, Ornstein could see it. "So you have been the beast that Artorias corrupted.", he said, a sad and bitter tone in his voice. He honestly had expected the beast to look much more malformed. What he was seeing, was indeed a beast, large, with black fur, horns with glowing red eyes, a tail and a far too large left hand. Multiple wounds covered the body of the beast. But most importantly, what Ornstein still could feel, the absolute darkness emitting from the corpse. His shivering increased and he fell down on his knees.
"Oh, Artorias, what have I done? Why did I send you to fight a beast that carried the abyss in itself? Why didn't I see it coming that you wouldn't be able to take it?", he said, falling down on the side, taking in a fetus position, shivering like crazy, feeling like he was suffocating, like his guilt was washing over him like a body of deep, dark water.
"Keep it together, together, together...", he murmured, although knowing it was too late, the breakdown had taken him down already. He only could wait now. Like he did every time. Alone. And scared. Wishing for somebody to hold him. And at the same time didn't, cause nobody should see him in that state.
After a good while, his shivering stopped and his throat didn't feel as tight anymore. Ornstein slowly got up, taking another look at the beast, sighing.
"Even when I had forbidden you to go, you would have gone anyway, right, Artorias?", he murmured. "You would have never let down these people... I just wish... I wish I had gone with you. Maybe then everything would have changed..."
"How peculiar. Wouldn't have expected you here, dragon slayer."
Ornstein shot around at the voice, a dark deep voice of a woman, sounding kinda snarly, having startled him so much that his heart felt that it skipped a beat. He spotted the source of the voice in the image of a big cat. Ugh, he wasn't fond of cats. They always hissed at him and just didn't seem to like his presence at all and he gave it right back to them. That cat however, was more than an ordinary house cat. It was large, with yellowish fur and a row of teeth that spread from one side of the mouth to the other. Ornstein recognized this cat.
"You are one of Artorias' friends.", he said. "Alvina, I think. What are you doing here?"
The cat chuckled. "Yes, indeed I am. I doesn't matter what I am doing here however, the question is, what are you doing here?", she said.
"I needed to come here, to see with my own eyes what has slain Artorias.", Ornstein said, hands fidgeting with his ponytail.
"Oh, but you know the beast hasn't slain Artorias.", Alvina casually said. "It was a warrior from a far away time, being sucked into this one. The legend of the abyss walker, tis but a fairy tale." Another chuckle.
Ornstein stared at Alvina. "You know... have you seen it? Everything? Please, tell me, what happened!", he demanded, nearly shouted at the cat.
"I must disappoint you, I haven't seen everything. I helped this Undead a bit out to find Artorias young companion, the wolf. She had been in great trouble. Artorias had managed to erect a barrier for her by sacrificing his great shield, but the Undead has been the one to save Sif out of this mess.", Alvina told. "When I had arrived, Artorias already had been on his rampage. What a shame for a great warrior to end like this..."
Ornstein felt the pain in his stomach return, as well as the now so familiar nausea. Seeing this cat talk about everything he knew, he thought, so casually. It felt like too much for him to bare right now. "Please stop...", he said.
"Tell me, what happened to Artorias companion?", Alvina asked.
"Sif? I have ordered her to watch over the grave. I knew that Artorias would have liked this and Sif would never leave his side, even in death.", Ornstein truthfully answered.
"Hmph, was that really the right decision?", Alvina asked, her head cocked to the side.
"What do you mean?", Ornstein wanted to know, feeling more and more confused.
"I mean, Artorias is now known as the hero who stopped the abyss, even though nothing could be farther from the thruth. Don't you think this will attract all kind of grave robbers? Shall that poor thing defend the grave from them all alone?", the cat said.
In Ornstein's chest, the guilt spread more and more, making his nausea worse. "Shit, I haven't thought this through...", he said.
"That idiot is lucky that I have thought of everything. I intent to form a covenant. A covenant to protect this forest. Everyone who joins this covenant, will be committed to protect the forests from any intruders. Also, I will tell everyone who crosses the forest, that Artorias tale has been nothing but lies. So that they don't want to go to the grave.", Alvina explained.
"That actually... sounds like a really good idea.", Ornstein said. "Do you want me to get the word out about your covenant?"
"Not necessary.", Alvina said. "I already have my fair share of supporters. But maybe it has been fate that we met here, cause you might want to help out sometimes.", Alvina handed him a ring. "Wear this and you can get summoned to the forests to fight anyone who wants to defile the grave of your dear friend."
"Thanks, Alvina.", Ornstein said. "Maybe it truly was fate that we met down here after all."
"Who knows? If you want to talk to me, I will be in the forest.", Alvina said with a last chuckle and just poofed away. The cat had been an illusion all along. Ornstein stared at the ring in his hand, expecting it to vanish anytime soon, but it stayed there, solid and very real.
"Maybe I should train Sif a bit every time I visit Artorias grave.", he said, fumbling for the homeward bone. He concentrated on the item and shortly after felt the pull and then the cold warmth of the bonfire of the township. The sun had nearly set in the meantime.
Ornstein decided to head back to the mansion. He didn't knew if he wanted any dinner, still feeling nauseous from his experience in the chasm. But he clearly needed some rest now. And tomorrow he and Ciaran would need to travel the long way back to Anor Londo. Ornstein silently hoped that she had returned to the mansion and wasn't still sitting near the grave.
The dragon slayer watched as the sun vanished completely behind a far away mountain and began his trek back to the mansion, the darkness of the night starting to engulf him.