I awake to the crackling of flames. I cast away the shadow of drowsiness to see the white flowers dancing as strange wind flows through the dream, and the agonizing screams of the wood of my workshop, no, my home. Beasts and eldritch horrors couldn't compare to this feeling of… defeat. No matter how many times I've had blades flay my skin, muscles crush my bones, bullets rain into my flesh, I always was ready to go at it again. This… this was personal. Yet, for whatever reason, Doll sits on the stone steps leading into the workshop, awaiting my return.
"Doll, what is this," I ask, voice trembling as my knees threaten to give way to my heart. The thin plates of armor on my dress threaten to crush me under their weight.
Even as the flames rage behind her, she stands in front of me, emotionless as always. "Good Hunter, you have come... Dawn will soon break…" She places her hand upon my cheek. Her artificial cheeks and lips shift and morph into something resembling a smile as I sink into her unusually warm hand.
"Doll, how is this possible?"
Her eyes sink and her smile fades. "This night, and this dream, will end." She pauses as if wanting to say more," Gehrman awaits you, at the foot of the great tree. Go on, Good Hunter..."
I take her hand in mine and place it where her heart should be, tears dripping like blood. "May we find our worth in the waking world, Doll," I pray despite knowing the cold truth.
I let go of her and traverse the pathway to the garden, my boots echoing on the stone. I move past the glistening gate to see a field of resting white flowers with Gehrman at the top in his wheelchair. The great tree seemingly twisting and expanding into the sky of this realm, as if representing the countless choices of history.
I approach.
"Ah, you've arrived," he tiredly croaks. "Good Hunter, you've done well, the night is near its end." He grips the arms of his wheelchair. "Now I will show you mercy. You will die, forget the dream, and awake under the morning sun." The metal of his chair creaks from the grip of his hands. "You will be freed from this terrible Hunter's Dream."
A hand inches toward the handle of a blade leaning against the great tree.
"Freed? From the dream?!" I gasp. "...But what about you and Doll?" He flinches.
"We will be left here to take care of the future generation of hunters for the world ahead. It's what we have always done and it's what we will continue to do." He says somewhat happily. "Now, come here and rest your head, don't make this harder than it needs to be."
"Gehrman," something ugly rises from deep within, "that's a lie and you know it to be true. I've heard of your pleas while you're asleep, how nothing in this dream is comparable to reality, how you wish for escape from this prison! You don't have to shoulder this burden for eternity."
A hearty laugh breaks through the old man's throat. "Girl, I've tried everything. There's simply no hope for me. No matter how many times I die, I will never be free from the Dream. This is a fate I would never wish for anyone else, not even a beast." He gazes towards the moon. "There will always be beasts, and so, there must always be hunters." He turns his soulless eyes towards me. "Hunters like you to end the nightmare."
"..." The truth stings. The horrors of the cosmos must be silenced by someone.
"Take joy in knowing that you have ended the night for the final time."
One foot after the other, I stride past the dancing flowers and break into a sprint. He stands and grabs his blade. He aims it at me and reaches his other hand around his back. Before he could even react, I fade into nothingness only to reappear and ram into the blade. The blade pierces through the plating and tears into my chest, splitting bone and flesh. I could feel the serrated teeth split apart my lungs and sever my spine, but I didn't scream out in pain. His eyes widen as the blade goes right through. My arms wrap around him as my head rests upon his shoulder.
"Thank you for everything, Gehrman." The bloody blade collapses onto the ground, splashing red across some flowers.
"No, thank you for everything, my prized student." Reluctantly, he wraps his shaking hands around me, avoiding the hole in my back. "Find your worth in the waking world."
I shut my eyes and everything fades to black.
A bright star breaks through the horizon, enveloping me in a feeling from so long ago, yet I couldn't pin what it is. I pat all over my body. I am lightly clothed, clean even. I rise to my feet. What had happened to me? The pitter-patter of water echoes within my mind while waves of heat swarm my senses. An ocean of darkness appears below while a sun blazes down on me.
"W-where am I? What is going on?" I stammer.
"Brother, why have you summoned this mortal to our realm?" A voice booms in the infinite abyss of the sea beneath my feet.
"She may correct one of our mistakes. That is why, Brother." A lighter voice trails across the infinite sky. The golden sky shifts and contorts a part of itself to form the frame of a large man, towering above all. The ocean ripples and bends to take the form of a large man, waiting to drown those who fall.
"My name is Pavune Menoon, what do you two want with me? Who are you two?" My voice breaks as if the slightest thing could crush me.
"We are the Brothers. I am the one who created all life," the golden one says.
"I am the one who created all death," the purple one says.
"This realm is unbalanced without our intervention. It is time we fixed that, Brother." The golden one points to me. "You are incomplete, half of a whole. Have you forgotten that your eyes have been opened?"
"It appears my child has, Brother. Let us restore what was taken and then some." The purple one says.
The Brothers move their towering hands to me, one finger from each outstretched as if to crush me. I couldn't move. Not as the Brothers converse nor as they converge into one being to lay atop my head.
"Let us show you the way," they both chant.
Everything flashes with white and blue and orange and so many many colors swapping and contorting and changing. Memories ram into my head, scars reopen, a thousand whispers surround me from all directions, countless names of friends and foes appear, blood turns to wine, people turn to beasts, and planets turn to bright and numerous stars! The cosmos reveals itself to me in all its glory! It's enough to make a woman sick!
The flow of information stops dead. I'm thrown back into reality, wherever reality is. A dull yet sweet pain rolls around in my head. I couldn't stand straight. When did the world become so tilted? I stumble around, gaining footing as I try to force myself to look directly into the entities split in front of me.
The dark Brother speaks, "There are still beasts to slay and a world to stabilize. Seek two people, Ozma and Salem. End their petty conflict. My brother and I were able to extract most of your belongings from that pocket dimension of yours." The bottomless box appears from the ocean and into my hands. "Now go on, my child. Lest the night appears on my brother's world as well."
Beasts, the night, and eldritch horrors. The mere thought of it makes my blood boil. This… rage, gives me focus. I force my body to stand straight like a soldier, phantom weapons at the ready. A deep itch grows in me, crying for blood, completely overshadowing the feeling of dread towards my retirement. The pain and suffering of this profession are never-ending, but so are the beasts that plague the cosmos. And until all beasts are exterminated, I can never stop the hunt.
Sensing my re-fueled resolve, I could feel the two brothers smirk despite the lack of a mouth. I dig into my box, checking every nook and cranny inside. The infinite abyss folding in and out of itself could make someone lost, thank me for organizing, or mad. Feeling the correct categories of items, I rip out two entire sections out of the bottomless box. Bits and pieces of specially formed flesh and materials spew open from the entrance. Eyes, ears, organs, various forms of blood formations, etc form a pile of filth upon the ocean floor.
"I trust you two to take care of these while I take care of your problem? I wouldn't want the world to be corrupted by my box of mass destruction." They didn't even bother to answer as waves consume my flesh and air fills my lungs. Everything fades to white.
Crimson leaves and winds swirl and dance as my form blinks into existence. The lightly armored dress of a Cainhurst knight shines upon a distant light, a broken moon high in the sky. My weapons sing as they slide out of their home, with refined material and no damage, and fluently rip through the air as I slice and thrust into an imaginary opponent. My eyes coo with wonder as I pull out my various firearms, fresh coatings of material and color practically begging me to use them.
A guttural roar breaks through the ambient sounds of the scarlet forest. Red eyes gleaming through the darkness, not that it matters now that I could sense the minuscule amount of echoes on them. A pack of large pure black wolves appears from all sides. They snarl and circle me like a piece of raw meat, not that I blame them. I stash away my weapons except for two. A folding serrated piece of metal attached to a metal handle and a simple yet effective blunderbuss. They continue to circle me, snarling and hissing yet hesitant to approach me further. Is a beast hesitating to attack? This is truly a new world made by the Brother of Life.
The meager beasts silence themselves as a lone figure appears from the depths of the forest. A much taller, thicker wolf with white protrusions acting as armor and weapons makes its way through its pack and to me. It stands on its rear legs and glares down at me, almost as if challenging me or putting on a show of strength before the slaughter. It roars to the broken moon above and charges at me on all fours.
"Today, Pavune joins the hunt," I say as I ready my saw cleaver and blunderbuss.
It drags its elongated claws across the ground, throws dirt at my face, and swipes. I dash to the side of the beast and slash across its exposed arm. I slash again at its back only to slice deeply into the bone plating. The beast roars out in pain and flails its half-cut arm at my head. I dash back to avoid it only to meet the bony fist of the other claw. It smacks me across the face and throws me off balance. Its jaws clamp onto one of my legs, hoping to rip it off as it shakes me around. Aiming, a loud crack of gunfire forces the beast to let go as the pellets enter and exit its flesh. A black liquid pools from the holes and onto the scarlet grass. I get back up to my two feet and it charges at me again with ferocity in its eyes. I charge in as well, transforming the saw into a cleaver. We both swipe at each other but our blades meet and bounce off one another. Twirling past the other claw and switching back to the saw form, I dash in and slice at its vulnerable chest twice in long motions. It dashes back and snaps forward. It catches the tip of my weapon in its mouth and nearly throws it to the side, ripping apart its cheek in the process. I fire at my opponent's chest and watch as the pellets tear through the flesh and bone, throwing the wolf backward as it screams. Moving with the momentum of my weapon, I twirl it around, switch it to cleaver form, and aim for the neck. Its claw forms a bony fist to contest but my weapon slices through the damaged claws and separates the head from the body. Black blood pools from the severed neck of the beast and it fall to the ground with a solid thud.
"You were a worthy adversary. You were more than a mere beast," I say as I watch the corpse dissolve and its sinister essence flow into me. Seeing their leader fall fails to dissuade the numerous wolves surrounding me. One roar follows another as they charge at me armorless and simple-minded. I dance around their attacks only to finish each of them off in a single blow. Limbs and black bloodstain the crimson floor and trees for whoever knows how long. Time becomes irrelevant as I hack, chop, and cleave apart their forms. However, as I decapitate the final wolf of the pack, I see a bright yellow star come over the horizon. The stacks of bodies and dissipating black blood make me feel right at home, at a restored Yharnam.
The sun rises and a new day begins. All the blood, all the gore couldn't compare to the feeling of sheer joy that rages within me after being repressed for so long, too long.
As the bodies fade into nothingness and their essence becomes a part of me, there is a faint rumbling in the distance. A mechanical sound of a machine flying through the sky and the rustling voices of the young. Perhaps it's time to meet those untainted by beast blood and insight. Perhaps, they could help me find the peace I seek.