Chapter 47
Wolf and Undead
Trumpets gave life to beautiful bursts of musical wind, preening high and low, dancing through the air like birds. Symbols shattered eardrums with powerful importance, each resonating note jarring bone. Drums thundered, beats shaking the ground, keeping all true to a rhythm of overwhelming strength and certainty. Bows of golden hair were dragged across silver strings with methodical precision, song they sang tickling ears and minds both. The orchestra melded together in a beautiful symphony of tingles and shakes that gave all within earshot a glimpse of the utopian world within the walls of the Golden Palace at the heart of the city of gods.
Upon a high platform built from the most precious metals and carved into a piece of art that struck emotion into even the surliest dragon stood a gigantic man of seven feet. Hair aflame in orange and red, eyes piercing orbs of the purest white, the man known only as the King of Gods. Thousands stood before him, a sea of creatures and beasts all pulled straight from legend and myth. With wide eyes and baited breath, they stared up at their King and the one next to him.
A woman stood at his side, hair fiery as his, but a foot or two shorter than the King. Her green eyes could be seen as far out as three hundred meters, beauty blinding all twice that distance, and great wings of bleached feathers folded on her back. Clad in heavy plate of silver steel and exotic make the woman stared out at the crowd, expression hard with determination and discipline. But she looked beyond the audience at someone no one but she saw.
The orchestra fell silent, yammering crowd quieting until only the anxious breath of all present could be heard beneath whispering wind. "Greetings subjects!" Boomed the incandescent King, "Behold, my Daughter, Princess of Gods and Child of Fire!" A roaring tsunami crashed upon the King and Princess but neither staggered in the face of their cheering subjects. After a full thirty seconds, counted carefully by the proud King, he raised a hand to summon a silence so sudden it was as if a knife had fallen through air and cut the sound from existence. "She goes to kill the final blotch upon our great history, the Chosen Undead!" Again, the crowd cheered fanatically and again the King commanded their quiet with nothing more than a wave of his hand. "We shall restore our control over men! We shall garner the faith of millions! We shall each bask in the admiration and worship of those we gave everything! Again, shall we truly reign as gods! Again, shall we be remembered and hailed as the creators of men! Again, we will revel in offerings and prayers so countless that all here will gain power equal to even I!" The greatest cheer came now, shaking the city itself with fanaticism, excitement, and greed.
For a brief instant, the King's lips twitched into a crooked smile. The woman at his side looked on, aloof from the world, jade eyes fixed on whatever it was she saw beyond the crowd of beasts, legends, and their city of gods.
"FATHER!" The small abomination named Doll screamed. Nameless, the man in black, her father, dug jet black talons into the stone on the other side of the collapsed bridge as rubble crashed to the ground several hundred feet below. "FATHER!" Doll could not jump the open air between the two halves of the bridge safely or offer any help. Doll could do nothing but watch Father clawed his way up the remains of the bridge. Grasping the edge and grunting loudly Father hauled himself up and over the top, rolling onto the paved stones. Pushing himself up Father turned to her,
"Go back to the Bonfire!" He called over the open space, "I'll meet you there!" Doll shook her head in protest,
"No, no you can't go alone!" Father's brown eyes smiled above the black cloth over his face,
"I'll be fine," He assured, "Even if I die I will return to the Bonfire." She saw the honesty in those deep eyes of muddy humanity, "I promise."
Doll tore at her hair in frustration, "No! You can't go! I won't let you go alone again!" She looked around, frantic, "There has to be a ladder somewhere! Anything, something!"
"No," Father cut in, "It's better I go alone. I cannot protect both-"
"I CAN PROTECT YOU!" Doll screamed, voice echoing through the valley. Father paused, eyebrows raised in surprise, "Don't do this, not again! You know it'll only end the same as always! Trust me, let someone in! You can't take it all on yourself!" He stared at her, brown eyes blank now.
"I have always been alone, Doll." He said turning his back on her, "I know this will never change."
"No!" Doll shouted, "Will you please just try?! Father! FATHER!"
"This is for your safety." He whispered to himself.
Their numbers were infuriating. The Bloatheads screamed with animalistic bloodlust, gaping maws seeking to feast on my ashen flesh and brittle bones. Swarming from every crack and crevice I had given up on trying to sneak through the evil city of Oolacile. The Abyss Greatsword cut them down with ease, steel feasting on their taint and adding to its own power. I slaughtered my foes and felt the sword's strength grow with each kill. I cannot explain how I knew but bathed in the blood of beasts of the Abyss it hungered for more. The blade's bloodlust and greed seeped into my own consciousness and grew heavier with each kill. Yet this new-found weight caused no delay or sluggishness in its handling or my physical agility. Though by the time I'd cut a path to the ravine itself I might as well have been carrying a mountain of corpses on my shoulder in addition to the Abyssal blade. Standing at the edge of the entrance to the ravine I wondered how heavy Artorias' Greatsword would have been if its weight was equal to how many it had killed.
It hadn't grown heavier until Doll and I were separated though. I looked up at the city of Oolacile one last time, hoping that little girl would not try to follow, instead waiting for me at the Bonfire like I told her. Shaking my head I turned back and stepped off into the abyss. I landed heavily with a grunt and looked around. I'd jumped into a crumbling dungeon, fallen stone bricks strewn about the floor and piled in corners. The smell here was far worse than above, sludge-ridden horror Artorias possessing a similar stench. Straightening, I followed the smell deeper searching for its source.
I left Doll out of kindness. One of the many bridges in Oolacile had collapsed. I on one side and she on the other. Doll would be safer on her own rather than following me. I chose to walk my path alone both out of selfishness and selflessness. I would spare any others from undergoing any trials or traumas brought to them by following me and my actions, but also forced away those who wished only to help. I'd never truly learned if Doll had come to help or not but regardless I was better off alone, like always. As soon as I had allowed others inside my mind the world split into fragmented chaos. I also wished to be free of any guilt for leading others to their deaths. I was immortal after all, I could afford to die, others not.
But to what end? What was I doing and why if I decided to move forward alone? Honestly everything up to that point I'd made decisions with others in mind. When I met Orlai I realized I didn't want to be alone. I wanted to live my life with Orlai, to return to the present and protect those who followed me, fighting to not be alone. Yet now I understood none of that would ever be possible with the way things were. Always, when others drew close to me, they were taken away. Supposedly I was so powerful that gods and demons alike plotted to control and use me by means of my own mental instability or those close to me. If I wanted it all to end I couldn't just run mindlessly from something I didn't understand or see. I had to face it head on.
The cycle.
Claws clenching, jaw grinding, I glared down the hall into the darkness. The damned cycle again, everything lead back to it. Once it ended so did all these damn problems. Perhaps, maybe, I might end with it? I didn't know.
I walked to the end of the hall, stopping at a large hole of crumbling mortar and bricks. Beyond the hole, I could make out shapes of gray stone. The fang-like structures of stalactites and stalagmites. A large cavern. Stepping through onto slimy stone eroded down to rounded edges I marched down the cave wall to a pathway of sorts. Deeper and deeper into the depths I went, surrounded by the darkness. I saw nothing but the gray stone and encroaching black, heard distant winds wailing among the cave's fangs, and smelled death, rank and wet. Yet I hardly noticed any of it, struggling as I was to walk.
My armor pulled me to the cave floor, weight of the Abyss Greatsword resting on my creaking shoulder still growing in intensity. Humanity restored and health full, I should have been as numb and stalwart as ever. Instead, my limbs ached and muscles strained, body struggling to obey me. Was I growing weaker or the Dark growing stronger, attempting to halt my descent? Whatever the reason I would not give in, physical exhaustion the smallest of many challenges I had overcome. With absolute willpower and ferocious grit I pushed on, maintaining a steady march.
I paused after some distance after spotting something out of the corner of my eye. Looking over the side of the pathway into the infinite darkness on my right I squinted. Pairs of minuscule white lights looked back up, barely distinct from the dark. Taking a step towards the edge I looked closer, straining my eyes. The lights followed my movement, staring at me as I did them. After several minutes without event I moved back and resumed my march, glancing over the edge a few times before the path curved down and to the right. I stopped at the base of the path which widened into a cave floor.
Flesh dead ash and blood stagnant ice, I should not have experienced the chill that ran up and down my spine upon seeing them. Black things off all sizes, from barely up to my knee or twice my height, stared down at me with piercing eyes of blanched white. Shapes outlined in ghostly white, humanoid dolls without arms or legs. Too similar to be a coincidence they looked almost identical to the Humanities I carried in my pack that I used to kindle Bonfires and reverse Hollowing. I had seen many horrors and abominations that once caused my steps to falter and will to wane, but in time I'd grown used to even the unsightliest of things. Far worse had passed beneath my gaze than these ghostly apparitions of black outlined white yet there I was, frozen like a terrified rabbit. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and leave but there was nothing to leave to. Forward was the only option. Abyss Greatsword and shield in hand I advanced. At that moment, despite all my assurance prior, I feared death.
Ten humanity phantoms surged forth as one. I hopped back, retreating up the slope. They vanished into white flecks that billowed about me as I cut them down with careful strikes, wary of the phantoms' proximity. Dispatching two at a time with each swing of the Abyss Greatsword I turned to the last pair of phantoms, a large and medium. Dancing close I stabbed the larger, back to the wall, and cut at the other with a backhanded swing. Before the attack connected the phantom fired a gout of darkness from its chest. As I cut the humanoid in two the burst of darkness passed through my raised shield and ate into my flesh with fiery pain. Crying out I staggered back, holding up an an to stop myself on the wall when it vanished at a touch. With a surprised gasp I collapsed to the floor. There I lay, groaning.
At the very least I was relieved I'd overestimated the phantoms.
Slowly climbing to my feet, the pain faded after a swig of Estus. I noticed that the draught's effects on me were much more subdued. I did not experience heightened senses or a vivifying flame that cleansed me. Instead I felt as if I'd eased into a lukewarm bath. I was fully healed though so its core function worked. Wiping my lips on the back of a gauntlet I looked around. I'd accidentally found a secret door in the appearance of a small crevice. Lucky.
Eyes sharp and ears open I wandered into the crevice, and found another surprise. A wolf on the edge of a cliff, Artorias Greatsword clutched in its powerful jaws and furry head resting on clawed paws, lay in a circle of divine runes surrounded by humanity phantoms. The wolf's eyes fell upon me, widening in what might have been surprise. Rushing forward I cleaved into the phantoms, banishing them into white flecks. I looked quickly back to the wolf, kneeling before him. White fur that glowed with the moon's soft light and swayed in beautiful shimmering waves, the wolf clutched Artorias' Greatsword in its maw. The beast lifted its head, sniffing me warily. Snorting, the wolf stood, picking up Artorias' Greatsword in its jaws. The golden circle of runes vanished and for a moment I thought his form wavered. Blinking, I wondered if it was a trick of the darkness.
"Sif?" I asked. The wolf snorted again and shook itself of water droplets. "I'll take that as a yes." I sheathed the Abyss Greatsword, latching the Black Knight shield to my back, "Are you alright?" Sif rewarded me with a curt nod, eyes intent on something behind me. I turned, following those glowing yellow eyes, "See something?" I asked. Sif responded with a growling whine, melancholy and apprehensive. I tensed. I did not need to speak wolf to know what it searched for. "I'm sorry." I murmured, "Artorias is gone."
Sif snarled, leaping on top of me. Falling onto my back I raised both claws in surrender, making clear I was not going to resist. Sif's growling maw flashed fangs ready to rip out my throat. Fiery eyes glaring into mine they demanded explanation. "He was possessed by the Abyss when I found him." I said quickly, "I tried talking but he killed me once. His intentions were clear then so I defeated him to come here."
Sif leaned closer with a questioning growl. I could only assume the meaning. "I'm here to stop the Abyss. I want to help." The wolf gave me one more piercing glare before stepping off. Sitting up I bowed my head to it, "Thank you, and I am sorry. If you would allow me I wish to continue towards my goal." Sif did not respond, watching the way I had come from. I sat, waiting patiently for a response, but when none came I stood. "Thank you for not killing me." I said with a final bow and walked back to the path. The sound of paws on stone followed me out, and when I turned to go deeper into the cave Sif moved up alongside me. I said nothing and continued, accompanied by my new companion.
