10

Preemptive Measures

"Greetings! I am-"

"Oswald of Carim, Pardoner of Velka," Thomas interrupted. "Hey, guy, I got a quick question for you, if I may."

If the Pardoner held any surprise at Thomas knowing whom he was, he gave no indication, arms remaining as outstretched as they ever were. He did, however, cock his head at Thomas peculiarly. "Not many come bearing questions. Go ahead, then, and ask. For all Sin is my domain."

"Prophet," Solaire asked. "You know this man?" He seemed quiet, as though he sensed that Thomas had a good question needing answered, but his curiousity won out. Oscar, however, had learned to trust Thomas' judgement, even when it seemed flawed at the outset.

He brought us this far, and we even rung the bell. Not to mention he swore an oath. He would follow him where he needed to be.

Thomas, speaking of, merely raised a hand, signaling to Solaire that he would answer his question after he asked his own. "All right. Say I murder someone. That is a sin, is it not?" At Oswald's nod, Thomas continued. "All right. But say I took that life to protect another. Would that be a sin, as well?"

"Hmmm... An astute question. One I do not hear often..." Oswald stood more normally, folding his arms in front of him, as he thought on this matter. "My Lady holds that there is a punishment for every Sin, save those whom seek atonement. And yet..." he thought for a bit longer. "I do not think a judgement would be on one's soul if you acted to save another."

"All right," Thomas replied, popping his knuckles. "Boys, let's go to Firelink Shrine. We're going to pay Lautrec a visit before he commits murder."

"Lautrec, you say!" Oswald's sudden voice stopped him, and he noticed that The Pardoner had a hand on his rapier.

"Yeah, also known as the Embraced. Wears golden armor, allegedly favored by-"

"Fina." Now, it was Oswald's turn to cut Thomas off. "He has many sins against him already. If you can, send him unto me. If not, slay him, with the blessing of Velka."

That said, Thomas went downstairs immediately, stopping only to pick up the Firekeeper Soul at the Parish. How did I neglect to grab that before, anyways? When they reached the elevator, Thomas then noticed a small problem. "There's only enough room for one at a time. Shame. Don't worry guys, I won't face Lautrec without Backup." After a bit of grumbling, Thomas went down the elevator, and decided to pester Petrus for some miracles. "All right," Thomas muttered. "Get the Heal Miracle, at least. That'll help save on Estus. Get Force, too, and call it good. I don't have THAT much f-what the FUCK!?"

Thomas had rounded the corner to Petrus, and for a brief moment the area was absolutely crowded with people. Along with the usual clerics and Rhea, there was a Sorcerer in Brown robes, 3 knights in Catarina, Elite Knight, and Sunlight armor. A woman in robes with a wide brimmed, pointy hat. And a warrior in rocky armor that carried a large "Tooth. Dragon tooth. HAVEL!" Thomas instinctively rolled backward, raising his black knight shield to protect him from the incoming blow... that never came. Thomas peered over his shield, and saw that the group was still there, and yet... not. They were transparent. Like thirty three percent opacity transparent, and fading fast. He was instinctively reminded of the words of Solaire from in the game, how the barriers between worlds had weakened. Was this some other Undead's journey? How the fuck did they get Havel and Beatrice on their path? As well as Oscar, Solaire, AND SEIGMEYER! Reminder that I need to save him as well. And Thomas had little doubt that that's who they were. It was unlikely a group of people doing some cosplay souls.

As Thomas watched, the strange party faded from view entirely. "Are you all right, Thomas?" Oscar asked curiously. Thomas stood, lowering his shield as he did so.

"Yeah. Solaire here?" At the Warrior of Sunlight's confirmation, Thomas breathed a little easier. "Praise the sun. Let's bug a cleric." Striding forward, he threw open his arms as he walked to Petrus. "HEY! PETRUS!"

The Cleric looked up at him, frowning. "Do I know you?"

"No," Thomas responded. "You don't know me at all. But I know you." Thomas looked the cleric deeply in the eyes. "I know all about you and that hyena," he then growled. Petrus fell over, gaining the other clerics' attention.

"He's a vicious heathen who tried to attack me!" Petrus claimed, "KILL HIM!" Vince and Nico moved forward to intercept Thomas, and his own knights readied their weapons.

"STOP!" A man's voice and a woman's rang out simultaneously. Thomas looked past the clerics to the young woman who shouted with him. "Rhea of Thorolund," he smiled amicably. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Thomas knelt with Rhea in prayer as they concluded a long discussion, held in private, away from both knight and cleric. Upon rising, Thomas turned to find the maiden crying softly. "I trusted them. Petrus. The Church. Have the gods abandoned us so?"

Thomas shook his head. "Nah." Upon Rhea's questioning look, he continued. "Humans are rotten. The gods... not so much." That was rather a lie, to be fair. Seath kidnapped women for his experiments while Gwyn turned a blind eye to it all, to make a couple examples. But he wouldn't inflict that knowledge on her. "But Petrus. He's no man of the gods. I will help you get the rite of Kindling. But for now you have to trust me." Rhea nodded, another tear falling as she did so.

"Do what thou needst done."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rushing forward, Thomas jabbed his catalyst. A string of magical energy shot forward, attaching to Petrus' chest. "By the Lords! What is this?" the cleric shouted. Thomas suddenly thought of a trick he saw Wonder Woman do once, and decided to try and imitate. Lifting his leg, he wrapped it around the Soul Whip, rested his foot on top of the string, and stomped. The force of the pull threw Petrus bodily onto his face. For a brief moment, Thomas wondered how to get his leg untangled from the whip, when it faded entirely. Convenient. Pointing his catalyst, crackling with Soul Energy, Thomas made his declaration.

"Petrus of Thorolund," he began. "Thou art accused of treachery against the gods, by plotting with the Church of Lloyd and the thief Patches the Hyena to send undead clerics to their deaths. What dost thou sayest in thine defense?"

Petrus spat. "Thou hast no evidence of wrongdoing. Thine false accusations shall bear thee no fruit!"

Thomas smirked. "Oh really. Then ready thine weapons. Let us see whom the gods favor."

The challenge was given. Trial by combat. And judging by Petrus readying his mace and talisman, it was accepted.

Petrus led with his Emit Force miracle, which Thomas sidestepped. He then jabbed his sorcery catalyst again, and the Soul Whip snaked out, latching onto Petrus' talisman. A quick yank, and no more miracles for THAT cleric. Two handing his spiked mace, Petrus charged forward, only for Thomas to parry him with his shield, and then impaled the cleric with his claymore. Taking it a step further, Thomas dropped his shield, and drew his catalyst. "You..." Petrus coughed. "Will regre-OGH!" Thomas didn't afford him a chance to speak, shoving the tip of his catalyst into the cleric's mouth.

"Eat this."

The sorcerer fired his catalyst, and the end result was not exactly what he expected.

He had expected to fire a single Soul Arrow. Instead, Petrus' body started to glow blue. Kicking the cleric off of his sword, Thomas backed up as the glow increased in intensity, watching, observing as this new accidental spell did it's work.

The cleric started to groan in pain, and his groans soon became shrieks. He clawed at his robes, his flesh, as the magical energy burned him from the inside out. Smoke started to leak from his ears and nose, tears streaming from the Cleric's eyes as he begged the gods, begged Thomas, for mercy. For forgiveness. He swore he would never plot to betray undead clerics. Just make the pain stop. Thomas made it stop. He thrust his claymore into the cleric's prone form, slaying him.

Thomas stood there for a moment, troubled. That was... actually kind of horrifying to watch. What the hell was that, anyways? He blinked into his inventory, quickly manuevering into the spells list, and looked at the third spell he had.

Burrowing Penance

Sorcery created by a wandering mage from a far off land and time. Administered directly into the target's body, this spell cruelly burns the body from the inside, causing massive pain to the victim. Interestingly, this spell is more effective against those who have commited acts of evil without absolution, making it the most effective way of determining guilt. For while it will not kill quickly, the agony of the sinner's final moments are enough to where they feel all the suffering they have caused others.

"Well ain't that Ghost Rider as fuck," Thomas muttered. "I wonder how else I can just fucking break the rules here..." Thomas surveyed his surroundings. Everyone was looking at him with a mixture of awe and fear. Mostly fear. All things considered, Thomas didn't blame them a damn bit.

"Well... Isn't that interesting." Lautrec's honeyed voice lilted through the air as Thomas turned to face him. "It would seem like the gods favored you, sorcerer, as opposed to one of their own devout clerics."

Thomas kept his gaze level. "He was no devout."

"All right then. If you are so devout, then a miracle should be no problem for you, then."

Shit. Thomas knew no miracles. This would well be problematic. Trying to stall for time, and a solution, Thomas backed towards Rhea. "Would you believe me if I said that, for all my faith, I had no tutors?" Looking at Rhea, he made a show of kneeling. "I would be honoured if thou would teach me." Thomas was bluffing about his Faith. He had minimal levels, stat wise.

Rhea, surprised by both Petrus' rather gruesome demise and Thomas' offer, paused, stammering for a bit. "I... sure. I would be pleased to tutor you."

Vince and Nico paused. "And what are we to do, then? Wander off and go hollow? Or follow some mad wizard into unknown peril?"

Thomas smiled. "You are free to do as you wish, though admittedly I'd be delighted if you were to accompany me." Vince stormed off in a huff. Nico looked on sadly, but eventually joined the former. "Also, Lautrec?" The Embraced Knight looked at Thomas curiously. "Leave Anastacia alone, or you'll answer to me, next. You can flee to Anor Londo itself. But I will find you. And I will kill you. Go. Seek atonement. And you won't have to deal with me knocking." At this, Thomas' party, now including Rhea, started to go up the stairs to the Parish.

Author's Note: Would you believe that I thought of both Soul Whip and Burrowing Penance right before actually putting them into the story? Ah well. Rate and Review, and feel free to keep suggesting some spells/sorceries/pyromancies. The ones I like I'll see about incorporating into the story in an organic manner. (one such suggestion was already implemented in Chapter 08, though I did tweak it a bit. Shit will be made clear soon enough. Also, what do you think of Burrowing Penance? Was the "Increased Power based on the victims' sins" bit a bit much, or nah?

Author's Other Note: As far as the group of knights is concerned, I'm just going to say that some fun shit is being planned, and that when it happens, you're going to think "Oh that is so cool." Until that time comes, you get no more secrets from me about it.