Author note: getting the grips on how to make good dialogues, it seems "dialogue" action, "dialogue" can only work so much and "dialogue" paragraph "action" doesn't work as well depending on size...
Leave a review if possible my dudes.
Chapter 4: Her reasons, friendship and a new hero.
After calming down Annie and reassuring the kids at this new orphanage that the couple wasn't from the Order and meant no harm, Sasha brings them to her room and after making sure none of the kids were listening behind the door she begins asking how they came here and if they meet any radical monsters on the way.
"Other than a trio of werewolves who disrupted our romantic time, we reached the city yesterday morning after traveling the entire night through the forest" Sieg began before asking "and you Sasha? Beatrice was concerned we should've escorted you did you meet good ones to take care of the children?" the couple was concerned about the little ones safety.
"Ah yes, thank you for your concern, right after you left a Kunoichi came to us and dispatched the guards before escorting us to a monster camp" Sasha didn't feel like she should keep secrets so she began talking about her current situation.
"Before you ask why me, a human from this human supremacist town is helping monsters, i was just tired", she had this vacant gaze the pair knew so well.
"I had my fair share of bloodshed a long time ago, but after noticing that not even children were spared and the Order considered them and the husbands as heretics and put them up for death instead of only attacking the monsters, i had enough and stepped down from being a hero", she looked defeated regretting the fact she herself once was a zealot that murdered many in the name of the Order.
"The children in that orphanage are the daughters whose families i had a hand in killing or helped at killing their parents" she looked back to the past and grimaced at how blind she was in bringing her supposed salvation to those who were corrupted by monsters.
"To repent i became their caretaker and while doing that the radical faction found me, after convincing me they just wanted to bring happiness to Lescatie and save those who are oppressed, they asked for my help in liberating this town from its anti monster fanaticism", she would be betraying everyone in here without knowing it, but in her innocence she thought it would be for the better, after all she knew about countries that had both races coexisting and they truly looked happy compared to hers, their inhabitants demonstrating true love for one another.
"The Order couldn't accept that i stepped down from being a noble hero and holed myself up to help orphans in this slums, so every once in a while they send someone to harass us in here, luckily since i still have the power of a hero they dare not take it too far, either they'll suffer the consequences", the nun spoke fondly thinking about her hero friends who coincidently came to help her every time Order priests and guards came to harass her.
"And that concludes my story, even if my means seem wrong for you now i've came too far to be able to stop now" Sasha said to the couple expecting their reactions would be of criticizing her for being a traitor and for a moment was surprised when they complimented her instead.
"I compliment you for your strength, i had my fair share of being unable to save my traveling companions but they also were ready to die for their beliefs" Sieg remembered the little thief who wanted to make a name for himself but couldn't jump and died at the roofs of Lothric Castle, the Onion knight whose ashes ran cold after being satisfied in putting down his friend and making a last toast, the man mad for knowledge who couldn't find new discoveries at the archives and passed away while gazing the repertoire of knowledge he longed for, and the sunless realms knight who after killing her grandfather and helping with the Twin Princes became a hollow in the same place her grandfather once was.
"But now you are fighting for something you believe in, you don't need to act so weak either you'll falter in your resolve so be more proud of yourself madam" the man stopped his reverie of the past and encouraged the Nun, cliché as his words were the nun's mood got a little better before he bought it down harshly, he gave the carrot before deploying the stick.
"But i still need to criticize you, need i to remind you humans who are corrupted become monsters and lose any innocence they once had? What will you do once the kids you care for in here become sex crazed sluts?! Annie doesn't seem she's even 10 yet! And the boys if lucky will find someone who will care for them until they are knowledgeable enough to do adult stuff, if unlucky they will become nothing more than a sex toy for some crazed monster who has no sense of self-restraint until they break!" Sieg was fuming with how much of an airhead this nun was, her intentions were good but the means twisted, she shouldn't be believing so easily at the promises of monsters who want to turn an entire town into a demonic realm by force and the by way she spoke of it, their plans are close to be implemented.
"I-i just want everyone to be happy, i don't want to see more people being killed and families destroyed due to zealotry!", tears formed in her eyes, for she knew what the man spoke was true and could very well happen, since she herself has seen the composition of the army, most of them being the ferocious types and she has seen some baphomets as well.
"Then you need to fix your mistakes before the invasion happens Sasha, you are free to let this kingdom fall if that's what you believe will make this place less of a personal hell", he sighed and spoke again.
"But you absolutely must not involve innocents in this fiasco, so go and try to find a way to evacuate most of the young ones if possible, they aren't ready for any of this even if their human lives know nothing more than suffering right now, or go to the monster camps and try to negotiate with someone in a high enough position to not touch the kids, either we'll have to intervene" Sasha became fearful for she felt the couple had more than enough power to make a difference.
"It's not that i want to be your enemy, but you just did the stupidest thing possible without looking for alternatives Sasha" Sieg calmed down and offered a hand to the crestfallen nun, "If you are in need of help you can count on us for now, as someone who cares for the future you aren't a villain at all, just an gullible airhead" Sieg teased her.
"Maybe you should help her with actions more than words Sieg" Beatrice spoke gathering the attention to herself, she offered the carrot now.
"Why don't you gift her your summon sign" she reminded him of his white sign soapstone, a magnificent item if one could say, words written by someone using this tool were magical and could send the person who put them down through time and space, as a phantom to engage in jolly cooperation and help other Ashen ones in their journeys against a powerful foe, or help him if he touched a sign left by one of his companions.
"If Sasha uses it we both will be able to help her at anytime just once, if she needs to" she got the nun's attention, from the way Beatrice spoke of it there was a usage limit for this summon sign, it seemed they would be using something too valuable for the likes of her.
"Thank you for reminding me of if Beatrice" the man spoke, "thanks to Beatrice we decided you could get some help from us, so let me tell you the beauty of jolly cooperation" he showed her the soapstone and began writing words of magic in her floor in a language she couldn't recognize before explaining its features.
"These words when touched by someone in need of help have the power to summon the person who wrote them from anywhere at any place and time as a phantom, to help your adventure, or when you are facing insurmountable odds" the last part reminded him of the times some weakened Ashen One summoned him to deal with invaders or he himself did it when dealing with his own troublemakers.
"Here Beatrice, give her yours as well" Sieg gave the soapstone and told Beatrice to write her own summon sign, for he didn't want to be separated from her in a bad moment when he was needed here.
"They can't be erased by anyone other than the person who wrote them down so there's no problem with dispelling, and even if you destroy the place they'll still be there because they are written across time, but it'll be kind of hard if they were written on the second floor of a house that later was destroyed, someone will need to jump really high or fly to touch them" Sieg added at the end and laughed, many were the times he has seen summon signs and orange messages appearing in strange completely out of reach places during his travels.
"You don't need to fear for us when you use the sign, as summoned phantoms our forms are ethereal and even if we get hurt our true bodies can't be, we also can't attack anyone you consider a friendly, so have your enemies decided by then before using it" He warned, he really wouldn't want to help her if somehow innocents were declared as a enemy and would white stone out right away if the worse ever came to pass.
This amazed Sasha to no end, she knew about teleportation spells and gates but those could be stopped if the caster got silenced or dispelled before being able to cast the spell, but these not only were impossible to be stopped as also didn't hurt the one being summoned, since he would be a phantom of the true body, also since there was no friendly fire so during a scuffle, they could fight with complete recklessness once the enemies were decided.
The couple smiled at the her adorable reactions, it didn't take long for her to notice them and becoming red for not so dignified appearance.
"I hope i don't need to use them, but thank you for your gentleness sir Sieg and lady Beatrice, other than some friend heroes i have, you were the first humans who cared to help me in my need" the nun was touched, for other than the radical faction she was working with who promised her this country would be saved if she betrayed it, now there were two humans who were helping her without asking nothing in return, then she remembered her fears about the couple and gathered the courage to ask their true nature.
"Are you two truly humans or you are monsters in disguise as well?" Sasha asked before explaining "i feel that you two have monstrous amounts of spirit and demonic energies, but different from monsters and incubus i've encountered, yours don't spill in the environment", she knew both have read the encyclopedia when she talked with the kids during their travel to the monster camp.
"I don't know if you read the part that said every monster has some spillage of their energy in the world around them, and eventually the place and people will be corrupted and turned, your levels are so great that if it spilled out i think you could make a demonic realm all by yourselves" Sasha was grateful to the duo but also afraid that they could be time bombs waiting to explode at any moment.
The couple knew what she was talking about, after their interactions with the wolves during the first night before reaching town, the mage before entering Lescatie and the Danuki merchant, they knew they weren't exactly normal for this current world standards, but could they answer if they truly were humans? Both were undead and while Beatrice had infinite humanity as part of her nature as the Fire Keeper and could be considered human in a technical term, what about the Ashen One? He failed to link the fire when he tried, then was woken up eons later to put the Lords in their places and force the linking which didn't had any chances of working so he ended it, for all purposes he as well should have disappeared with the fire as his ashes ran cold, but not only he didn't, he also survived the entire age of the Dark.
"Yuria did speak about the hollow lord being a lord of mankind after his marriage to Anri" Sieg thought back to the past, and all of the Ringed City residents were hollows banned and locked away by the gods after the pygmies got the Dark Soul, so did he become human again after completing his dark sigil and getting the blood of the Dark Soul from Gael?
"To answer your question lady Sasha, yes we both are humans but also not, at least by your definition of human, i think we are the last of our kind in the current world" the nun was lost with this answer.
"To exemplify it, we both consumed only prisoner fruits during our travels before meeting you, and after having knowledge of what it did to humans but finding out there was no effect on us, we used it to roleplay during our intimate moments" Sasha's jaw dropped, using the fruit who was responsible for most of the accidental turnings to roleplay with?
"We aren't affected by demonic energy or spiritual in the ways you are" Sieg continued, "we easily can absorb both for power, the spiritual one being used to power up our bodies and weapons with the use of extra materials in the case of the later" he vaguely described the soul forging with titanite, and soul transposing which made the nun think they were miraculous beings for using spirit to create equipment out of nothing, "and the demonic one is to increase our magic effectiveness and resistances with determined elements" explaining dark damage and absorption.
Sieg and Beatrice after reading the encyclopedia and their interactions with people weren't so sure the current world used souls as power like they did in the final age of Fire, after all, to use the soul they needed to kill and take in a someone else's power into themselves, it was easy when dealing with insane hollows and monsters, not as easy when having to put down a old friend or sentient being, so he omitted by claiming it was Spirit energy with the Dark he could bullshit whatever he wanted, since Demonic energy in the current world seemed to be able to do everything from creating life, helping to grow crops, making entire separated worlds etc. Sieg decided for a careful approach to their nature, so Sasha wouldn't fear them as true monsters in human skin.
Sasha reached a conclusion that they weren't so different from how living beings nowadays were, except only heroes were able to use so much spiritual energy and only monsters could increase their power from consuming it and corrupting it, the only way to increase both powers further would be in a symbiotic or parasitic relationship between man and monster, while Sieg and Beatrice used both without needing outside interference.
"So we would be grateful if you didn't rat us out, we seek only peaceful days now and to see the world" Sieg ended letting the Nun take everything in.
"It is as he said lady Sasha, he had his fair share of battles as well and in the end only we remained" Beatrice said gently not wanting to involve the Ashen One in more pointless battles "so for the sake of our friendship i also ask of thee to keep our secret" she clasped Sasha's hands.
One kunoichi at the roof who was assigned to Sasha so she wouldn't turncoat on the mission heard everything, then disappeared to report her findings, needless to say both the Ashen One and the Fire Keeper would find themselves in midst of pointless battles in the near future.
After much talking all parties decided it would be better to not bring this up anymore, the orphans began calling for their caretaker because the food was running cold already and they were hungry, Sasha invited the pair to partake with them which them accepted.
"Are you sister Sasha friends mister?" Annie asked being the first who interacted with them she was curious about the couple.
"You could say we are little one, what about you, how did you meet lady Sasha?" Sieg patted the kid making her happy.
"Hum lost my papa to war and sister took care of me ever since" the kid spoke with innocence before the nun added.
"Most of the children here i took upon my care after finding out their parents were used as fodder during many of the order crusades, others lost their parents to violence in these slums or were abandoned" the nun was angry thinking about human folly which makes them fight between themselves.
"Are you here to adopt one of us?" a child called Lisa asked making everyone agitated, after all other than the bad guys from the Order and their big sister friends the only persons who would visit a orphanage would be someone looking to adopt.
"Sorry little ones, but our journeys can be too perilous for children like you, maybe if you were a little older you could be trained to accompany us..." Sieg spoke making everyone crestfallen, he wouldn't risk corrupting the kids since he and Beatrice didn't have exactly safe patterns during their travels and foraged things that could monsterize them easily.
"But if you want to we can keep visiting you while we are staying in here" Beatrice spoke as she played with the kids earning their smiles once again.
After a wholesome moment playing with the door began getting knocked hard.
"Sighs, what's with orphanages and uncouth fellows interrupting our moments?" Sieg rose up and walked to the door followed by Beatrice, this time he didn't had a club in hand for it would bring trouble to beat down a Order zealot during the day since this place was festering with their presence.
"Good day sir, what is your purpose visiting this humble place?" Sieg opened the door and spoke to the group who was surprised at his presence for there was a search and capture order for him and the maiden.
"I thought i would be visiting my friend, but it seems the Chief God blessed me with luck for i found my target as well!" A cold voiced beauty who felt like she belonged to Ariandel took the front and spoke as in challenge.
"Sieg and Beatrice, by the power conferred upon me by the Order you are thereby arrested, surrender without resisting and you'll be treated well" she spoke ready for a battle, her icy aura rising by the minute showing her power as a hero.
"Wilmarina what's the meaning of this!?" Sasha came running after hearing the commotion and feeling the surge of power.
"Our magician responsible for screening out signs of corruption at the gates alerted us that this couple had monstrous amounts of spirit and demonic energies without looking like monsters themselves, a order was passed down to all heroes in town to search for them and bring them to the castle, to discover their true natures and execute them if they are deemed dangerous" Sasha expected something like this already since everyone had to pass the screening at the gates but she didn't expect them to be found out so soon.
"Sieg, Beatrice please accompany them without resisting, knowing you two i feel you could beat everyone in here but i don't want to see bloodshed in front of this place" she pleaded to the couple for she didn't want to lose any friend today, this popped a vein on Wilmarina's head, could her friend think so little of her that she couldn't deal with this pair who clearly didn't look like fighters at all? She analysed the pair and after confirming the man was almost identical to the woman she could only think of him as some kind of degenerate.
"Ehh why not? What do you say Beatrice, do you want to see how the current kings rule their people?" Sieg ignored the show of power of the hero and spoke to Beatrice without a care, he was curious to see how the high officials of the current era acted since those of his only had battle in their minds and ruled over nothing.
"I shall accompany you whenever you go Sieg it would be my happiness" Beatrice took hold of his hand with a voice that showed her affection and loyalty, which reminded the cold looking Hero of old days with a long lost loved one.
"Gentlemen show us the way then" Sieg signaled to the order zealots in front of him they got angry and would begin cussing out before being stopped by the icy hero.
"And don't try anything funny with us and especially against Beatrice" he willed his pyromancy flame into existence which increased the heat around them greatly putting everyone on guard for his next move.
"Either you will see firsthand the true meaning of a monster" He hugged Beatrice by the arm and began walking in the direction of the town
"We heard rumors about evildoers being burned until not even the ashes remained yesternight, could it be?" some of the knights murmured before running to the pair and escorting them.
"Why these problems keep happening, monsters are being sighted by our escorts before quickly disappearing and now this strange pair appeared, what will become of this town?" Wilmarina asked Sasha who could only sigh in response before the hero parted ways with the nun reaching her group and taking the leadership at escorting the pair which were acting like lovebirds on a stroll.
"Please protect them Chief God, do not let more bloodshed happen on this day" Sasha left alone could only pray before asking the kids to guard the house before also going out to meet the radical faction and plead so they would at least spare the children.