BETAREAD BY: ekaterina016
The air was cold and damp, and the room around him dark and long. There was no light ahead of him to guide his way, just an unending darkness. It was all... strange to say the least. Last thing he remembered was being bound to a wheelchair, though more so to rest his legs than because he had to. Could this be a Chalice Dungeon? He remembered an unlit torch attached to the side of his garb. Reaching for the torch, he missed it and grasped at only air.
Beset on with a this new problem, he found settled on the only reasonable solution to navigate the darkness unaided: blindly shuffling about. Taking his first step forward, he seemed to slip on an object that which rolled along the bottom of his foot. The Hunter began to crawl along the floor, looking for what tripped him. After only a few seconds, he grasped a round cylindrical handle that which fit almost perfectly in his hands. Taking off his glove, he felt feeling the shaft of the object he was holding,. he found it was wood. His fingers traveled He felt a bit towards both ends, looking for expecting a cloth-like material. Once found, he held his hand towards the cloth it and light slid it up and off the torch.
Fire- —at least his papers were still where he left them.
On the ground a few feet in front of him was a large, serrated, metal cleaver and a large blunderbuss with powder stains on the barrel. This was nice and all, but he was still missing one thing. After grabbing everything, the weapons in front of him he began to look around again. To his left, his right, behind him, and back in front of him. "Where is it?!" He exclaimed irritably.
"Check this thing out!" A voice proudly shouted.
"What's it made of?" Another voice said from within the cave.
"I don't know, feels like stone,." the first voice responded.
Prompted by the sudden noise, he followed it. His torch made it around the corner first, lighting the path before him before he turned around the bend. Standing in front of him were three men, one of them just above his height. The taller one was carrying his missing weapon. "Excuse me." He called to them, —however pointless it was as they were already facing him. "You, there, —the tall one. You have something of mine, and I'd like it back."
The taller of the three slumped the weapon into the ground and used to prop himself up. "You mean this? I saw this next to your body so I thought I'd take it."
"Yes," the Hunter said, "May I have it back?"
"Nah." The man yawned. "It's kinda fun to use, so I'm gonna keep it."
The Hunter looked down to his side where his gun was slung. "I see." Swapping it with the torch, he pointed it out to the man's chest so quickly none of the party could keep up. With a sudden loud blast of his weapon, the tallest of the group fell to the ground.
Switching the cleaver for the torch, he held it above the fallen man's body and stopped at the face. From what he saw before he stopped, the blast tore punched through the chest plate, leaving tears and holes in his armor and body. "Thank you for your compliance, although however involuntary." He picked up the sword and slung it across his back with no effort. From what the Hunter had seen, it even took the man on the floor some effort to even put it on the ground.
"What the hell is 'involuntary compliance'?" The man coughed out. some blood was coughed up on his face.
The Hunter hummed slightly. "I guess you're right. That saying is contradictory."
The man on the floor coughed again, a bit more blood than last time. "What are you two idiots doing? Help me!"
The other two rushed the Hunter. The second one, —short blonde hair and a muscular build, —swung up at the Hunter's face, it almost got getting his...
'Wait where was his my cap?'
The Hunter quickly swapped his gun for his cleaver, equipping the torch in the other hand and disabled the then switched hands between the torch in cleaver,. His torch now in his left hand, and weapon in his right he was ready for the ensuing skirmish. He held the torch in front of his face to see the men in front of him. The third one, the shortest of the group, was helping his friend... and wearing the hunter's cap, —'The bastard.…' "You really have no respect for the dead, you know- —well, that was assuming I was dead in the first place."
"Just shut up!" The taller of the three shouted as he was dragged along the floor. "Harper, you deal with this guy,; we'll be halfway down the corridor!."
"Got it, Boss.!" The Blonde exclaimed.
In the little amount of time that which had occurred after the thieves exchanged words, Harper found a knife lodged in his eye-socket. The man couldn't help but freeze up. He dropped his sword and let out an ear-piercing cry. This was immediately silenced by another knife to his throat. "If it wasn't so dark, I would have killed you with the first knife," the Hunter stated.
With their first line of defense gone and out for the count, the Hunter approached the final two. The shortest dropped his boss and fled the scene immediately. After only a few short steps, he was stopped. Another came from the dark, one with an iron mask and the hat of a witch. The figure shot their sword through the man, and a flame had followed by a large flaming conflagration.
The closer it they got, the more feminine it they appeared- —though that could just be from the centuries of starvation thinning out the body.
It They dashed forward to the Hunter, pointing its their blade at his throat, though stopping just before it touched. The figure stopped at his throat, realizing he had his gun pointing at their waist line with his a finger on the trigger. The gaze of the iron mask —The Keeper's, he recognized—shifted towards the Hunter's at right at his chest. "You have been marked,." Sounded an almost gravely voice sounded through the mask.
"Excuse me?" The Hunter asked, confused as can be.
The Keeper sheathed its their sword at and faced straighter towards the Hunter. "Take off your vest," they ordered.
"Why?" Asked the Hunter.
"I must see." The Keeper reached for the Hunter's torch, grabbing it before he could react.
Doing as instructed, although reluctantly, he dropped his trench coat and undid the straps and buckles to his vest. As his vest came off, the Keeper held the torch to his torso. There, burnt into his skin, were a series of Caryll Runes. The center piece was set of interconnected lines that looked like imitating an upside-down man hanging upside-down. The top one resembled an illuminated eye, with lines exaggerating the presence of the eye. On the bottom left was a single downward line that connected connecting to a series of smaller upward pointing lines that which grew larger the further from the center they were. Lastly, on the bottom right corner, there's a symbol which almost looked almost like a monocular writhing worm with a single eye on its forehead.
The Keeper came closer to the runes, reading them aloud to itself. "Rapture, Deep Sea, Writhe."
"May I put my clothes back on?" The Hunter impatiently asked.
It was strange to be accompanied by a Keeper of the Old Lords instead of being attacked by one. Although an odd sight, it surely wasn't an unwelcome one. "Why did you not attack me?" The Hunter asked in an attempt to break the silence between them.
"We serve the Great Old Ones," the keeper answered. "As humble servants and protectors, we seek not to harm our masters."
The Hunter gave an awkward stare. "But I'm not one of them."
"Yet you were marked by one of them,." the Keeper politely replied. The Hunter still doesn't know what this means, although he had an idea.
"May I at least have your name?" He asked the figure.
"Ehin." The Keeper replied. This still was no clue as to whether there was a man or a woman under there. Even if the Keeper took off their armor the body wouldn't even be recognizable.
"Abram." The Hunter replied.
With the introductions finished, the two were silent for the rest of the walk. Whatever creatures they came across they cut were through like butter. They did pass the odd wanderer from here and there, all of which whom stood out among their surroundings others in their group.
The further they went through the labyrinth-like caves, the weaker each individual enemy got, some even looking more beastly than before. Is Was he close to the surface? The more ancient creatures did tend to be deeper down, and these looked like the typical of beasts Abram could find in central Yharnam and further up.
Just in the hallway in front of them, Abram and Ehin saw a young boy running. Not far behind the boy was chased by the same some sort of creature he encountered on the lower levels. It had the head and legs of a bull, and the body of a man. The boy looked quite young, actually, —too young to be down in these caves.
Abram sped up a bit to catch up to the creature. Still at walking pace, he got there just in time to see the beast swing a large sword towards the boy. Abram threw a knife towards its leg. Given that the cave was bathed in began to give more natural light at this point, owing to their proximity to the exit, his accuracy was not as hindered as it was last time. It lodged itself in the nape of its neck, causing the beast to turn away from the boy.
"There it is!" A voice called out from behind the Hunter. Abram looked back to a single blonde woman running towards him.
She rushed passed Abram and at the beast in front of her. With a quick lunge towards its chest into the beast, she cut plunged her sword deep into its arm. The edge slid through the muscle and tendon with no resistance, severing it and letting. It fell on the boy, who was now stuck under its weight. Quickly, the girl jammed her sword into its throat and cut the head off. The creature fell to the floor and dropped the weapon it was holding, along with the knife Abram threw.
Abram approached the body where near the girl and boy where idle. Just as he picked up his knife, the corpse vanished in a black and red smoke. It dropped a crystal, blackish-purple with a fiery swirl in the middle.
"You alright, boy?" Abram asked. He reached into his trench coat to pull out an rough- looking over cloak that which would only reach his shoulders if worn. "You have blood all over you. Clean it up." He offered the boy his cape, to which he stiffened up slightly.
"N-No, that's fine.! I don't want to get your gear dirty!" The kid replied awkwardly.
"Boy, this cape has been covered with blood many times. It's used to being dirty." Abram insisted. He pushed the cloak further to the boy, but not so much as to be pushy.
The kid accepted the cloak and wiped off his face. "If you insist. Thank you." After he was done, he handed the cape back to Abram who put it back where he stored it.
"What were you doing down here?" Abram asked as he crouched down to the boy's level.
"I was adventuring down here, hoping to get experience." He laughed slightly. "Didn't end up well."
Abram offered the boy a hand up. He turned to the girl who stared at the two in silence. "Did you two come down here together and get lost?"
"No." The girl replied. "I came here with a different group. Because of my groups' ineptness, we allowed this Minotaur to escape the lower floors." She turned to the younger boy. "I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you.," she said with a humble bow.
"Shit happens." Abram said, interrupting the kid before he could speak. "Sometimes you think you cleared a room when you really haven't. If paid for that mistake many times."
The boy looked awkwardly at the man than back at the girl. "I'm just grateful you saved me. May I have your name? You too, mister?"
"My name is Ais Wallenstein. Hopefully the next time we meet, it won't be like this."
"Abram." The Hunter casually introduced himself.
"I have to go." Ais stated as her group caught up to her.
The kid couldn't even speak before her friends caught up with her. Saying anything now would have been a bit awkward for the boy.
"Where've you been?" A grey- haired man asked. He was roughly the size of Ehin, who looked to be at least as tall as a door himself. He glossed over to the white- haired boy who was almost covered in blood. "What's with the tomato?" He mocked the young teen.
"I killed the Minotaur, and the blood splashed over him." Ais answered. While the grey- haired man began to laugh, Ais redirected her party away from the scene. Still in the middle of laughing, the man hadn't yet registered the other two strangers in the hall. He bumped into Ehin, and which broke the laughter he was engrossed in. "Watch it, pal."
Ehin said nothing but giving gave the man a stare. No one could see through their iron mask, but the relaxed stance Ehin had about them put on said more than enough: insignificant.
"Bete, let's go," another member of the party called.
Bete looked back at the other member, before directing his attention to other things. "Alright, I'm coming."
Abram, who was still with the boy, looked towards Ehin. "Shall we go?" He asked his guide, who in turn gestured for them to follow.
Ehin could tell that the teen had enough of the caves and wished to leave. Both Abram and Ehin knew that the boy would follow them, so why bother stopping him.
This surely was a new site sight to behold. Rather than a dead, and burning, moonlit city was instead a lively, bustling city that was bathed in sunlight. Abram could only feel uncomfortable about the sudden change of environment. Hawkers were at their stands selling fruits and meats, gabbing their mouths off to get whatever passerby's they saw.
He could tell that he was no longer in Yharnam: —the architecture was very foreign, he couldn't recognize any of the writing, and everyone seemed to be welcoming of strangers. What was the most important thing to him, however, was is that his watch finally started ticking again.
The kid looked at Abram. He looked lost. His eyes shot towards every building in sight, especially towards the tower. "Are you okay, Mister Abram?"
Abram didn't respond. He still was lost in thought. "Excuse me?" He said while nudging the man.
Abram snapped back to reality,. He looked towards the boy who was staring at him in a small bit of worry. "I'm sorry, what was your question, Bell?"
"Are you okay?" Bell asked again.
"I'm fine. Just… worried about the time," Abram answered.
Bell wasn't buying it. Well, maybe he was, if there was actually anything to buy. "Okay. Well… it's about midday."
"Are we almost there?" Abram asked while pocketing his watch.
"Yeah. It's right up there." Bell pointed to the large building with a green roof. "It's Eina!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Eina!" He shouted to the elven looking woman.
The girl who was tiredly slouched over in a tired state of being looked to Bell and quickly perked up with a smile. "Hey, Bell!"
She called out to the boy. It took awhile for her to realize the color of 'paint' Bell was wearing. The girl screamed in horror as she fainted and hit the cobblestone.
The three of them were sat on the couch. Bell and Eina were engaged in conversation while Abram had slouched back and covered his face with his cap. His weapons were scattered about: some sat aside, and some lay on the table. Now was the moment to relax and process everything around him. His even breathing moment was suddenly interrupted by someone poking at his arm.
No matter, he was just about done anyways.
He lifted his cap from his face and placed it back on his head. He looked towards Bell who pointed to the woman sat across from them.
"Excuse me, sir?" She said with a polite smile. "My name is Eina Tulle. I'm Bell Cranel's advisor. I'd like to thank you for saving him from that Minotaur earlier today."
Abram sat up and leaned forward towards the girl. "I really didn't do much. It was a young woman named Ais who slew the beast,; I just threw a knife."
"Nonetheless, thank you for being there." Eina said insisted to the man.
"It was merely coincidental I saw him running and screaming.," Abram evaded.
Bell went red at Abram's comment, and Eina let out a subtle laugh.
"Anyways, I asked around the guildhall and no one had you under them." Eina said while pulling out a sheet of paper. "You see, in order to enter the dungeon, you have to have an advisor as stated here." She sat the paper down on the table where Abram and Bell could see it. "You don't have an advisor, but entered anyway." Her tone was getting more stricter as she went on.
"Miss Eina, I don't even know how I even got down there,." Abram responded. "The last thing I remember before waking up in those caves was entering a workshop and sitting down."
Eina paused in a state of disbelief. What kind of idiot would believe that? "Mister Abram, the main problem with this is that you aren't even registered within the city. You don't have a Familia-"
"I don't even know what that means." Abram stated. "What is a 'Familia'?"
Both Eina and Bell at this point were staring at the man in confusion. "You-… don't know what a Familia is?" Eina asked rhetorically. "Where are you from?"
"An old village a few miles north of Yharnam.," Abram answered. "But if that's too much, then do assume I'm from said city itself."
"I have never heard of that place.," Eina said with a deadpan face. She grew red with irritation, almost to where steam would come out of her ears. "Are you playing me for a fool?"
"I can assure you I'm being genuine, Miss Eina.," Abram replied in an attempt to calm the elf down. "I am from an old city named Yharnam. The city was abandoned in a mass exodus and left in ruin due to a beastly plague."
Eina took a deep breath in. The red in her face began to fade away as she calmed down. "Okay, I'll believe you, but only if I find anything on this Yharnam place."
"I'm fine with that,." Abram agreed. "But a fair warning being,: I have no idea if you'll find anything. Don't get me wrong, —please do search, —but I'm not sure if you'll find anything."
Abram relaxed back into his seat.
Eina looked at him with a rather straight face, before returning to Bell. Sitting his cap back on his face, he sunk into the couch.
"So, anyway," Eina continued on to Bell, "You should be more careful next time. Find a party to go into the dungeons with you."
Bell only chuckled lightly and faced towards the man who helped save him. "I'll remember that."
"I guess I'll let you two go.," Eina said. "Actually, Abram…-" she went on., "I do want to see you back here tomorrow. I want to discuss how you managed to get down there in the first place."
"Why not now?" Abram asked while leaning forward.
"I have a bunch of people to speak with today. I'm not only Bell's exclusive advisor."
"Very well then." Abram said. He stood up and gave a humble bow "It was nice meeting the two of you. Maybe we'll meet in the future-"
"Wait." Bell stopped the man. "You said you don't have a Familia, right? Maybe you could join mine!"
Abram was taken a bit by surprise. They had only just met, and Bell was already offering him something? "What's the catch?" Abram questioned the boy.
"There is no catch. You saved my life, and in return, this is the best I can do to repay make it equal."
Abram looked stared at the boy. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a Familia or what was expected of him. Was this truly it? No catch? No fine print? No asterisks?
"I'd take it." Eina interjected between the two. "If you ever want to go in the dungeon again, you'll want to join a Familia."
Abram looked at Bell again, and simply shrugged at the advice given. "If I must." Abram He sighed.
Bell jumped up in happiness. "Come on! I don't want to keep my goddess waiting!"
'Goddess?' What kind of eldritch abomination was waiting for him this time?
It was a small and cramped space, with barely enough room for the three of them. Hestia was still squeezing the life out of her sole Familia member, while Abram sat there and watched.
"I feel like I should leave,." Abram the older man awkwardly commented as he watched the small yet busty girl crush the boy.
Hestia looked up at the man across the room who had been there for the last few minutes. "Oh, right, sorry.," Hestia she replied, immediately as she sat sitting herself upright. "So, you're looking for a Familia to join, right?"
"That's why the lad dragged me here.," Abram answered.
Hestia eyed Abram up and down, as well as the weapons he had scattered piled at his end of the room. "Hmm.…" The goddess hummed, unsure if the man in front of him.
"Goddess, if we want the Familia to grow we can't be picky," Bell warned the woman.
"Alright, alright.," Hestia replied. "Before I accept you into our Familia, can I ask you to take off your mask first?"
"Is that all?" Abram asked.
"Yep. I'm just curious as to what you look like."
Compliant with the request, Abram took off his cap and lowered his face mask, revealing a short- haired man with steel grey eyes. There was a light scar on his forehead, but nothing too garish or noticeable. Overall, he was a very plain-looking man, should you one catch him without his mask on.
"Huh," the goddess remarked in an unsatisfactorily tone. "I was expecting something… more."
"So you'll take me?" Abram asked.
"Yup!" Exclaimed the goddess. "Let's do it now."
