AN: Whew, this was hard to write. The chapter had an incredible amount of emotional weight to it, and I should probably give you a content warning as a result. However, I won't, as it spoils the end of the chapter, and isn't really very obvious. Most of the chapter is actually rather upbeat, as a matter of fact, and its only the ending that really might hit you in the feels. Here is a chapter. Enjoy it.
Chapter 19: Painted Prison
The wind screamed eerily around Ornstein as he found himself standing on a long, rickety wooden bridge. The ropes holding the bridge up swayed violently in the wind, and Ornstein struggled to maintain his balance as he analyzed his surroundings. To one side, several planks were missing from the bridge, which when combined with the violent swaying would make the bridge completely impossible to traverse in that direction. The other half of the bridge, which led upwards to some sort of fortress, was mostly intact. Ornstein started in that direction, moving in a crouch and gripping the roped railing tightly as the bridge bucked and swayed.
Easy, Ornstein, the dragonslayer told himself, just put one foot in front of the other. And don't look down... Of course, the instant that Ornstein told himself not to glance downward, he did exactly that, and felt a panic gripping him as he realized that he couldn't even see the ground below - blowing snow obscured his view after about sixty feet. Ornstein swallowed nervously, and carried on. Three slow, nerve-wracking minutes later, the dragonslayer finally found himself on solid ground. Sighing with relief, he trudged through ankle-deep snow to a bonfire which he now saw smoldering a few meters up the hill. He collapsed at it, exhausted despite having no real cause, and allowed the warmth of the flame to wash over him. After a few minutes, in which absolutely nothing happened - exactly what Ornstein had expected, although quite contrary to what he had been hoping for, the dragonslayer let out a sigh and pulled himself to his feet. While he had no way out, he certainly wouldn't sit around a bonfire and wait to go hollow. Resolving himself for the trial ahead, the dragonslayer trudged up the hill towards the fortress at the peak.
"Ornstein!" A lofty, jolly voice which had grown quite familiar called for the dragonslayer's attention from behind. Ornstein spun in response, seeing Solaire standing behind him, at the bonfire which he had just left.
"Did I not expressly tell you lot not to come after me!?" Ornstein shouted, frustrated with Solaire. Of course the knight would have tried this - he wasn't surprised at it, just angry. He hadn't wanted to get anyone else killed trying to rescue him - even with way out, like the doll Solaire had found, there was almost no chance in such a brutal place as this. Ornstein sighed in frustration. He wasn't going to give up, now more than ever.
"Well, I suppose you're here now. I wish you hadn't come, but there's nothing to be done except carry on," Ornstein amended in a resigned tone, "I need all the help I can get if we're going to get out of here alive."
"So what's your plan?" Solaire asked as he stepped up to the fortress, looking at the imposing wall alongside Ornstein.
"There's a staircase leading up onto the wall to our right," Ornstein said, indicating said staircase, "Although I have no clue why it would be there. Completely ruins the fortress's defensability. Anyways, our goal isn't actually in the fortress. Did you see the tower on the far side of the thing on the approach? I suspect that's where we need to be. We'll scale the wall, circle around, and search the far tower for a way out." Solaire nodded in understanding.
"Well, what are we waiting for? We've a fortress to storm," Solaire announced heartily, before sprinting up the stairs. Ornstein followed closely, skewering a few hollows that approached. They weren't the issue that he feared - that came later.
Unfortunately for them, it wasn't too much later. As they reached the top of the wall, they were confronted by a group of hollows with massive pinkish-red blobs of flesh covering their upper halves. Some held torches, while some were unarmed. Ornstein had heard of these creatures, placed in the Painted World in an attempt to contain a dangerous disease known as the Blightpus. He was unsure whether it was still contagious, but he didn't want to take any chances, instead skewering one with lightning from a distance before it could approach. A moment later, an arrow bounced off of Solaire's bucket helm.
"Solaire, take care of the archer," Ornstein instructed quickly, "Then attack the infested hollows at range. We don't want to get too close to them, lest we catch whatever it is they have." Ornstein raised his spear to fire another lightning bolt, but his concentration was immediately broken as one of the hollows lobbed a fireball at him using its torch. It was a simple matter to duck to one side, but Ornstein took it as a reminder to stay on his guard. The dragonslayer raised his spear and launched a lightning bolt in return, striking the infested hollow square in the... whatever that blob thing was. It fell over, dead, and a moment later one of Solaire's lightning spears slammed into the third and final infested hollow in their path.
"Watch yourself," Ornstein warned as they proceeded into a room on the top of the wall, "There's sure to be more up ahead." Solaire kept his talisman in hand as the pair stepped through the room and onto the next section of the wall, where - sure enough - two more infested hollows were waiting. Ornstein and Solaire worked in unison, each flinging a lightning bolt to down one of their opponents.
"You said that this was supposed to be hard," Solaire commented as they stepped over the bodies of their fallen foes.
"We haven't come close to seeing the worst of it," Ornstein replied as they stepped into a room with five more infested hollows, which served only to prove his point. Ornstein readied his spear, and Solaire raised his talisman. However, neither of them was able to act before the infested hollows, in unison, waved their torches to throw five separate fireballs. Three of the blazing projectiles were aimed at Ornstein, while the remaining two targeted Solaire. Ornstein simply ducked, allowing his three fiery bolts to pass over his head and strike the wall behind him. In contrast, Solaire raised his shield to block the two fireballs approaching him. Both exploded against the surface of the disc, causing Solaire to stumble backwards but leaving him otherwise unharmed. Ornstein quickly struck down one of the infested hollows with a lightning bolt, while Solaire formed a second bolt in his hand as he regained his balance. He didn't get the chance to throw it, however, before the remaining four infested hollows each threw a second fireball, split two and two between the pair of knights. One of the fireballs aimed at Solaire missed completely, but the second struck him in the left shoulder, breaking his concentration and causing the lightning bolt he held to promptly vanish. The sunlight warrior cried out in pain. Ornstein performed a quick side hop to the right, moving out of the way of his projectiles before firing two more lightning bolts, each finding the body of an infested hollow.
The remaining two infested hollows both targeted Ornstein, giving Solaire a chance to recover. The sunlight warrior formed another lightning bolt, and managed to hurl it into one of the remaining two infested hollows. Ornstein dodged one final fireball before killing the final infested hollow with another lightning bolt. Solaire, panting, quickly took a sip of his estus flask to heal the burn on his shoulder.
"You'll be all right?" Ornstein asked as the two made their way across the room, giving the corpses of the infested hollows a wide berth.
"Of course!" Solaire replied jovially, "There's nothing a good sip of estus or two won't fix." Ornstein chuckled at that, trying to find some mirth before they faced something even worse than that. It wasn't long before he saw what it was.
As they descended a set of stairs down off of the wall, Ornstein cursed vehemenlty as a bridge, and the monstrosity on it, came into view. The creature had the shape of a dragon - a true dragon, not one of the wyverns or drakes that one could still find across Lordran. However, it was rotted and diseased, appearing dead. Ornstein knew from experience that it wasn't.
"What's the problem?" Solaire asked, "Aren't you supposed to be a professional dragonslayer?"
"Just because I can kill it doesn't mean that it'll be easy," Ornstein replied, "And with half my usual size and far less weight, I'm not sure if I can even manage that. Look around, see if we can find some way past the beast. I'd rather not tempt fate unless we have to... Why don't you check on the far side of that tower there, see if there's anything you can find." Solaire nodded his agreement, and circled around the tower to the far side. Ornstein stepped into the tower from his side, finding a narrow, winding staircase leading upwards, which seemed to go nowhere quite quickly, as well as a narrow path circling around the tower to the right. Ornstein picked his way carefully across this ledge, circling almost a quarter of the tower before he spotted something - a corpse of one of Velka's pardoners, sprawled out in the position where he apparently had fallen from above. His sword, a very well-made rapier, sat next to him. But the peculiarity Ornstein was concerned over was the folded slip of paper clutched in the man's right hand. Ornstein carefully made his way across to the corpse, minding the crumbling bits of path, and picked up the piece of paper, which seemed to be a handwritten letter that had never been delivered. Curious, Ornstein opened it and began to read.
"I have come to the sorry conclusion that there is no escape from this forlorn painting. However long it may take, I am of no doubts that I am going to die here. This letter, among other things, contains my last will and testament. Should anyone with the means to escaping this place find it, it is my dying wish that you deliver this, along with the sword I carry, to my daughter, Raven Imara." Ornstein froze. He had never heard her use that surname before, but he had little doubts that the Raven he knew was the intended recipient of the letter. The dragonslayer didn't continue, instead folding the letter and placing it into a pouch on his belt. As instructed, he also picked up the Velkian rapier which rested beside the body, buckling it onto his waist for lack of a better way to carry it. He quickly checked the remainder of the landing for a way around the dragon, and, failing to spot anything, went back up to the middle of the tower, where the dragon stood. Solaire met him a moment later.
"Nothing," he said, "There's a door down there that leads in the right direction, but it's locked up tight." Ornstein nodded in understanding, before raising his spear towards the dragon.
"Where'd that sword come from?" Solaire asked, gesturing to the rapier that Ornstein had just picked up.
"It belonged to Raven's father, apparently. He wanted whoever found it to give it to her. Said so in a letter he was holding," Ornstein explained.
"What on earth is Raven's father doing here?" Solaire asked, bewildered. Ornstein simply shook his head.
"I take it you didn't find anything else?" Solaire responded, glancing at Ornstein's raised spear.
"No, I didn't. Which means that we're killing this dragon. Wish me luck," Ornstein said. Solaire did so in his normal jolly tone, and Ornstein flicked his wrist forwards, firing a lightning bolt and initiating the fight. The dragonslayer charged forwards after the bolt, although the projectile quickly outpaced him, striking the dragon in the face and waking it up. The beast roared in pain, and charged across the bridge, meeting Ornstein halfway while pieces fell off of it. Ornstein jumped forwards, slamming his spear downwards into the dragon's left eye, and the beast bellowed in a mixture of fury and pain before tossing its head from left to right in an attempt to throw Ornstein free. The spear, and Ornstein's grip, held firm on the first shake, but the dragon swept its head back the other way, and the spear came free, tossing Ornstein down onto the bride and slamming him into the railing with a sickening crunch. Solaire winced as the dragonslayer ricocheted off the low wall and rolled to a stop in the center of the bridge, his spear clattering to the ground beside him. The dragon raised its paw to crush the man, but Solaire reacted quickly, throwing his own lightning spear to get the dragon's attention. The beast hesitated and looked up, giving just enough time for Ornstein to down all of his estus flask in a single gulp. The dragonslayer rolled to his feet, picking up the spear and ramming into the dragon's exposed underbelly. The beast froze, for a second, startled, before collapsing to the side and dissolving into souls. Solaire walked across the bridge to Ornstein's side.
"That looked painful," the sunlight warrior commented as Ornstein lowered his spear, drawing in a ragged breath. Ornstein leaned heavily on his spear as he replied.
"It was. I'm used to being a lot bigger, so I thought I could get away with doing what I did without being tossed all over the place like a ragdoll... you were wrong, though."
"Oh?" Solaire asked. Ornstein held up his now-empty flask.
"There are a few things that estus just can't fix," he grunted, causing a chuckle from Solaire. The pair turned to move across the bridge, only to be barred with yet another obstacle - the dragon, it seemed, had left its rear end behind, which now thoroughly blocked the way forwards. If that wasn't enough, the bridge also seemed to end shortly afterwards.
"All that for nothing?" Solaire asked, looking at the new blockage in their path. Ornstein shook his head.
"There's a second bridge down below us that appears to be intact. If we can just push this thing off, we can drop down and get across," the dragonslayer explained, before bracing himself to shove the rotted flesh. Solaire did likewise, and, working in unison, the two of them moved the rotten pair of legs inch by inch until its center of gravity tipped it over the edge. Both knights leaned down to rest, panting with exertion as the thud of the dragon's rear half impacting the lower bridge sounded. Solaire glanced over the edge before swallowing nervously.
"I'm not sure that that drop is survivable," the warrior of sunlight commented.
"If we land on top of the dragon legs, we should be fine," Ornstein told him, before stepping off boldly and taking the plunge. Solaire did likewise, and found his fall cushioned by the rotten pair of legs. Ornstein slid down off of the pile of decaying flesh, noting the hollows trapped on the other side of the legs who were trying, with little to no success, to cross the barrier. Solaire hopped off of the pile shortly afterwards, and the pair took a moment to analyze their surroundings.
The level of the bridge that they were on was crumbled, but a path still existed to the tower that was their objective. A lone knight in Berenike armor stood sentry on it, the last thing standing between the knights and their goal. Ornstein steeled himself, before raising his spear and charging the knight. Solaire, with his sword and shield, did likewise. The knight responded with a wide horizontal sweep which nearly forced the pair over the crumbled edge of the bride, but Ornstein blocked the swipe with his spear, planting the tip in the ground far enough to hold fast. The knight stumbled backwards as his strike rebounded off of Ornstein's guard, and Solaire quickly utilized the opportunity to raise his sword in both hands, harnessing the dragon magic within it and slamming it downwards to create a shockwave, throwing the knight clear of the bridge and sending him tumbling to his demise.
"We did it," Ornstein remarked as the pair stood before the fog in the tower, "We actually made it... now, let's just hope that that doll does what I think it does... Let's go home." With that, Ornstein pushed through the fog, stepping into the tower.
"Who art thou? One of us, thou art not," a feminine voice sounded from the center of the tower. Its source was a woman dressed in white furs, who stood taller than most gods, matching even Gwynevere's illusion in height.
"My name is Ornstein," Ornstein announced, "and this is Solaire. Who are you?"
"Surely the name of thine pray is knownst to you already, o Dragonslayer. For that is why thou hast come, is it not? To this cold and lonely world..." Ornstein hesitated, studying the woman, and recognition dawned on him - a woman dressed in white furs, with hints of scales on her forehead and the back of her hands, with a large, white tail snaking out behind her. It was all very reminiscent of a young girl that the dragonslayer had known, several hundred years ago. A child fleeing from the care of Seath the Scaleless, who had experimented on her mercilessly until her escape. A girl who had found no refuge in the city of Anor Londo after the true nature of her powers had been revealed.
"Priscilla," Ornstein replied, "You've grown."
"One should think such a thing to be a given, considering the time now past," Priscilla replied defensively.
"I did not come to kill you," Ornstein told her, taking his spear and laying it beside him in the snow, "For the City of Gods is not as it once was. Only Gwyndolin, the dark sun, remains at his post. All others have long since abandoned Lordran, and the world, to their fate. There would be no one to stop you from returning with us, provided you know of a way."
"If thou seeketh escape, thou shouldst know that no man mayest leave this world, save through sacrifice. One must give themselves up to save another, for only upon a soul of the lost may escape be made."
"Wait," Solaire interjected, "What of the doll? You said that it was the key to escape!" Ornstein's heart sank. The doll would let one of them escape - because it was a token of a sacrifice made, but not redeemed. It was only good for one person. Add to the sacrifice that one of them could make for the other, and two of them could leave. But one of them would have to be left behind.
It would be so simple, so easy, to leave the doll to Solaire, and use Priscilla as the sacrifice himself. They would both make it out unscathed, leaving behind only the woman who had likely long ago accepted her fate. And Ornstein so badly wanted to do it.
But he knew, deep down, that he could never forgive himself for it. And so, silently cursing his conscience, the dragonslayer made his decision.
"Give the doll to Priscilla. Let her escape," Ornstein said, looking pointedly at Solaire, who hesitated. Ornstein nodded encouragement, and Solaire produced the doll.
"From the depths of mine heart, I thank thee," Priscilla said, kneeling in gratitude as she accepted the doll, "But... art thou sure of this?"
"Go. You deserve freedom more than I," Ornstein told her. With a grateful smile on her face, Priscilla stepped onto a platform, doll in hand, and stepped off. Swirling snow carried her form out of sight, and a magical energy made it clear that she would be brought back to Anor Londo safely long before she hit the ground.
"Take this," Ornstein told him, unbuckling the Velkian rapier from his belt and handing it to Solaire, along with the note for Raven, "Give the sword and the letter to Raven when you next see her. If I stay behind, my sacrifice will allow you to escape. But I need you to promise me something."
"What? What about you?" Solaire asked, shock seeping into his voice. In response, Ornstein smiled sadly.
"I accept my fate," the dragonslayer said, knowing that it would mean his death and eventual hollowing, " so I need you to promise me that you won't come back. Don't make the trade, not for me. I'm not worth it."
"I... I understand. I vow to respect your wish, and, no matter how it pains me, to leave you behind. I swear it on the sun which I have yet to find," Solaire said solemnly. Ornstein nodded in satisfaction. Solaire turned, and, with unseen tears in his eyes, leaped from the crumbled platform, vanishing into the mist.
At the start of this ordeal, Ornstein hadn't dared hope that the situation would end even this well. Solaire had convinced him that escape was possible, and for a moment, Ornstein had let himself hope. He knew better, now, and knew that he would never get the chance to make that mistake again. After what he had done, allowing Smough to be killed and abandoning his post - a crime which, despite his friends' insistence, he was very much guilty of - he wasn't sure he deserved anything different. He was just glad that none of his friends would have to die with him.
Ornstein breathed out calmly as he sat down where Priscilla had stood, and closed his eyes as he gave himself over to a cold and lonely painted world.
AN: And there it is. I wanted to warn you guys about the implied major character death, I really did, but at the same time... I hope you understand why I didn't. I apologize for any of you who were caught off guard by that one. On an entirely separate note, I apologize for the late chapter. I could throw a bunch of excuses out, such as the fact that my keyboard broke, but dictation is a thing, and the truth is that I just didn't release when I should have. I feel like I'm doing that on about every third chapter or so, and you guys have permission to spam my DMs or these reviews and berate me for not releasing on time. If it's not too much trouble, please do leave a review of your thoughts and any questions you might have.