The corpse hit the cell floor with a soft thud, waking the undead inside it. Oscar looked down at the undead knight, who looked back up at him. They shared a silent look, as the undead then blinked, and blinked a second time. Oscar thought nothing of this until the undead got up from its spot and spoke to him.
"Hi there, Knight of Astora! Thanks for getting me the key!"
"By the gods, you're not hollow."
"Of course I'm not! How else would this have played out?"
"Well, I suppose you're right-- never mind that. If you are of sound mind, meet me by the bonfire in the asylum yard."
Before the undead could say anything else, Oscar got up and walked away from the hole in the ceiling. His thoughts lingered on that undead, for he was certain the undead in this asylum were all mad hollows. Of course, though, fate must have had a different plan, for who was he to question it. The undead in question, however, was having the time of his life, wandering around the asylum halls.
"This must be what it looks like if Dark Souls got a second remaster. I can see the see the beef jerky skin in fuckin 4k!"
Taking a moment to stop admiring his body, t undead looked at the corpse Oscar had dropped down earlier. He thought about it for a second, and looted the body for the "Dungeon Cell Key" and used it to unlock his cell door. Taking a stroll down the signature starting hallway, he didn't see the starting messages, which made sense if this wasn't truly the game. He didn't linger there too long, walking down to the ladder and climbing up and out to the bonfire. He sat and waited for Oscar to arrive, but then he heard a loud crash coming from further inside the asylum. Figuring that was Oscar, the undead ran off to help his "friend".
"Don't you worry your little head, Oscar. I'm on my way! Don't you dare go hollow!"
Opening the giant doors leading to a great hall of sorts, the undead booked it for a red gate off to the left, not taking a moment to look at the massive Asylum Demon behind him. Lighting the bonfire just beyond the gate, the undead chose not to rest and instead ran for his "starting gear", the "Broadsword" and "Tower Kite Shield." Dodging the hollows arrows, the undead made quick work of it before passing through the fog wall.
He made haste to bring the boulder down, watching it break the wall as he ran in after it to see Oscar. And there he was, laying against some rubble as a ray of light shined down from a hole in the roof. The brave astoran seemed to be lost in thought, not taking notice of the boulder that had smashed the wall, or the undead that had followed it. He was simply staring up at the hole in the ceiling, only responding when the undead nudged him with his sword.
"...oh, you… So you're really not Hollow, eh? ...Thank goodness…"
"...I'm done for, I'm afraid...I'll die soon, then lose my sanity--friend, are you listening to me?"
The undead was, in fact, not listening to Oscar. Instead, he was trying to figure out what piece of gear to put away for that perfect weight ratio. Choosing to put his shield away to two-hand his weapon, the undead then snatched Oscars "Estus Flask" from his pouch, and shoved the remaining liquid down the Astorans throat. He attempted to remove the choking hazard, but the undead made sure he drank every last bit of the liquid fire. Finally, the bottle was empty, and Oscar was allowed to breathe.
"*Gasp*...by Lord Gwyn…good sir, you wasted the estus flask."
"No, I didn't. You were injured, and its purpose is to heal the undead. Are you hollow already, Oscar?"
"N-*gasp*-no, I am n-not hollow. But you need the flask, besides, it would appear that my fate was to die by the asylum demon."
"Fate's a tricky thing, I've chosen to ignore it. Why let some mystical force decide my actions. Now, get up."
"What? Friend, I'm in no position-"
"Okay, for one, my name is Thomas. Thomas of Astora. And two, I need your help with the Asylum Demon, and you have the undead asylum F2 east key, which I kinda need to open the door."
"A fellow Astoran? A welcomed thought, but you will need my estus flask. And I was just beaten by that demon, I'll be of no help to you."
"There's a bonfire just down those stairs, so don't worry about that. And you chose to fight him on a roof, you just got unlucky when he chose to use a slam attack. Now enough arguing let's go rest at the bonfire."
"...I suppose you're right..."
The two made their way down to the previous bonfire Thomas had lit, and they rested for some time. They didn't make small talk, for they had nothing to say to each other. But then Oscar remembered something, that now that he thought about it, was rather strange. He decided to bring it up to the other undead, just as he was about to rise from the bonfire.
"Uh, Thomas?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"I have a question to ask you."
"Well then say it, Oscar. No need to be tight-lipped on me."
"Well, it's precisely that. How do you know my name? I never told you it."
"...oh. Well..."
Thomas looked speechless, or maybe a better word would be to say stumped. For he sat back down and fumbled around with what exactly he should say, for about a couple of minutes. Oscar gave him time, for Astorans were nothing if not honorable and kind, and pondered on what the young mans' answer would be. Now that he thought about it, Thomas looked no older than 18, barely a man in Oscar's mind, and his messy brunette hair and lack of much facial hair, only strengthen that belief in the Astoran's mind. He must have only been at least 17 if he got the age wrong when he caught the undead curse. How awful that must have been for him.
Oscar didn't ponder on that long, for said undead seemed to finally find the words he meant to speak.
"I've seen the future. I know the past. And I plan to rewrite the course of history."
"...huh?"
Well, that was unexpected. Oscar stared bemused at the young undead, Thomas' face looking dead serious, which didn't match the statement he had just made. He had seen the future, and knew the past? And he planned to change history, what did that mean? Questions floated around the astoran's head, his mind just taking too long to understand what Thomas had said. Thomas, witnessing the confused mess of Oscar, tried to think of a better way to phrase what he meant.
"Ok, in the original timeline...I don't know what the fuck to say. Are you okay, Oscar?"
"Y-yes, I am. Everything that's happened was just stressing me out."
"Take care of yourself. Can't have you going hollow on us, now can we?"
Not sure whether to take that as a joke or as a warning, Oscar just ran to catch up to Thomas, who was already running back up the stairs and using the cell key. "Why don't we just go beyond that fog wall?" Oscar asked, and the only answer he got was "drop kill" from Thomas. Figuring he would grow used to Thomas' odd behavior, Oscar left it at that and followed him. They soon made it to the fog wall, above the drop to the Asylum Demon, but Thomas continued to the left. Oscar was about to ask what he was doing until he and Thomas ran up against a cell door.
"Can you break it down, Oscar?"
"How strong do you think I am, Thomas?"
"Well, your armor set is pretty heavy, so I just figured."
"Well, wearing something heavy and breaking something heavy are two different things. We'd need someone of maybe Havels strength to rip this door open."
"That'd take too long. I'm gonna hit it with a rock."
True to his word, Thomas grabbed a giant piece of stone and started smashing it against the cell door lock. Despite the odd method, Thomas seemed to be breaking the lock off. Oscar was almost impressed by the sheer stupidity and ingenuity Thomas was displaying, but that soon turned for naught, when the rock broke into smaller chunks. The lock is still in place, though heavily damaged. It looked like not even the key meant for it, would fit anymore.
"Well, that was good. Now I just need another rock."
Thomas's procuring of another rock was stopped by the yell of a great demon. It seemed it was getting impatient with the odd undead. Oscar was ready to go and fight it, but he waited for Thomas, who seemed deep in thought. Oscar didn't know if he liked that or not. Then, Thomas snapped out of whatever train of thought he was going down, and made his way for the demon. When he explained his plan to Oscar, the astoran quickly learned that Thomas was just prone to weird plans.
"We're doing what, exactly?"
"We're not gonna fight the Asylum Demon, right now. Right now, I'm going to grab the weird crown thing off its head and use it to break the lock on the door."
"Have you thought this plan out, fully?"
"Not one bit."
"..good to know."
Resigning to the plan, Oscar got ready to go and plunge his sword in the demon's head. That would allow it to stagger and give Thomas time to jump down and cut the crown-like object off its head. The only problem was, that that was a part of the demon's head, so when he started cutting it off, the demon yelled and flailed its head around, hoping to get him off. Oscar went to distract the beast by hitting its ass, Thomas succeeded in cutting the crown off. The demon yelled in pain, and with Thomas holding onto the crown alone, it flung him across the room. Oscar watched in horror as Thomas was killed on impact and his form slowly evaporated. Seeing the demon fully enraged, and the crown lying near the exit way, Oscar dashed it while avoiding the demon's wild swings.
He managed to not only grab the demon crown but also managed to get Thomas' souls for him. A heavy hole filled in his heart when he thought of his undead friend going hollow, but that was quickly squashed when he found Thomas waiting by the beat-up cell door.
"You took your time getting here."
"By Lord Gwyn, Thomas, don't scare me like that!"
"I'm not going hollow cause tubby felt like throwing me like a piece of ceramic glass."
"Odd simile, but I'm glad you're safe, nonetheless."
"Thanks, Oscar, now let's open this damn door."
Each grabbing a side of the crown, the two undead wound up, and then slammed the crown into the door. They didn't need to hit the lock, cause the cell door itself folded in on itself like a paper mache when they slammed the crown into it. The crown itself dealt as much damage as a small great hammer. (A/N idk if that makes, but just go with it)
Thomas led the way, since he knew what was ahead of them and where to go. There were a surprising number of hollows crammed up there, at the end right above a broken staircase, Thomas got a small doll from one of them. He then went and grabbed a ring from another corpse before jumping down from the staircase and making his way out. They made two left turns before coming up on the staircase from before.
"Did we just run in a circle?"
"Yes, but not for no reason. Here, put this on."
"A rusted ring?"
"The "Rusted Iron Ring" will help you walk on bumpy and uneven terrain."
"Okay then, but what about you, Seer?"
"Well I--what did you call me?"
"Well, you say you can see into the future, so that would make you a seer. I felt like giving you a fitting title."
"...You know what, I don't really care. Call me what you want. And don't worry about my gear, I'll be fine."
When Thomas learned how to look into his gear, he was surprised to see that he had all of the starting items, but he wasn't about to look a gifted horse in the mouth. The fact he had a goddess blessing this early was great, cause unlike in the game, he was sure he could use it to haggle for a lot of whatever the first Undead Merchant was selling. If he could get a butcher to sell his best piece of meat for $5, he was sure he could get the old undead to lower some prices. But that all aside, it was now time for Oscar and Thomas to get a move on.
The fog wall before the Asylum Demons ledge was rather ominous, now that the duo had to face it directly. They checked their estus flasks, making sure that they had enough to safely face the demon head on. Of course, though, they could just go and rest at the bonfire, but that felt a bit counter-productive, as they still had all their gear in tip-top shape, and only missing one or two sips from their flasks. Still though, the thought of resting at the warm and comforting flame of the bonfires, was sounding rather pleasant to Oscar, for he had fought this beast once before, after all. And he wasn't all that enthusiastic about facing it a second time.
"Hey, you good, Oscar?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, Seer. Don't worry about me. Let's face this monster head on!"
"That's what I thought! Let's show this Demon the might of Astoran knights!"
With that said, they marched on through the fog wall, side by side.
Reading their weapons, a roar echoed from the beast down below as they went in for the plunge. Oscar and Thomas let out their own yells as they fell down to the demon, their first victory in the land of Lordran, following close after.