Chapter 10: King's Landing
After the drama at Castle Darry, the rest of the trip to King's Landing had been extremely uneventful. Joffrey had taken to hiding with his mother inside of the oversized carriage that the soldiers were protecting. William was thankful for his reduced presence, he felt like every time he had heard the prince's voice, he could feel his ears begin to bleed.
Be thankful that Sansa told the truth at Darry, otherwise we wouldn't have heard the end of it…
William knew he was risking a lot, by letting Arya know about his past, but he knew that any of the Stark children would find out sooner or later, and so far she had kept the information. Sansa had been a lot more quiet, and had kept close to Arya and William, always following them, but not arguing with Arya, which was a welcome change considering how many arguments they had been in for the short time William had been in Winterfell.
William had once again taken to telling the pair of them stories of what he had been doing before he had arrived. The first tale he told the girls was of Knight Artorias and the Great Grey Wolf, Sif. William had nearly been reduced to tears as he recounted the time where he had to fight them both. William had always looked up to Artorias, he was the knight that all knights aspired to be, and from Will's time in Westoros, he had not seen many knights that were following that example, or their version of it.
Barristan Selmy and maybe Arys Oakheart…
Somehow he had managed to make Arya shed a few tears as well, and Sansa had started crying as soon as he had finished.
X-X-X
Will had managed to make it so far, and Oolacile had been one of the most challenging areas he had ever been in. He had from heard from various other men and women that Artorias and his wolf had gone to save Princess Dusk from the Abyss and its hordes. Will eventually met a man named Marvellous Chester who had told him:
'Oolacile has brought the Abyss upon itself. Fooled by that toothy serpent, they upturned the grave of primeval man, and incited his ornery wrath...'
It took William a while before he realised who Chester could have been talking about. The Primordial Serpents, it could have been Kingseeker Frampt, it could have been Darkstalker Kaathe, or it could have even both of them, but the chances of that were extremely low because of the serpents' differing views of the first flame.
Soon enough, William had defeated the hordes of the Abyss that had plagued Oolacile, although he could not say that it would be the same as before. The sorcerers that had created the unique miracles and spells of Oolacile had gone, either fleeing or dead. The Abyss had already taken over most of the kingdom, and if Princess Dusk was even alive, she would be a ruler of rubble.
The hardest part was the end, as it always had been. Will had marched into a location that looked awfully similar to a fighting pit, with an armoured figure knelt in the middle of the arena, clutching a sword. William turned to see the man more clearly, and could see the sword being raised again, only to be thrust downwards into another creature, the thing giving out a cry of horrific pain before dying.
William could see the torn blue cloth flying in the wind, just being kept in place by the man's cold steel armour. The man raised his head and turned to William.
"Wherever thou art, stay away! You are strong, human. Your are proof that mankind are more than pure Dark. I beg of you, the spread of the Abyss… It must be stopped! Soon, I will be consumed..."
William soon realised that after the man had spoke his piece, it was no mere man, no regular knight. It was Knight Artorias. The legendary warrior had gone to Oolacile to rescue Princess Dusk, but somehow he had been defeated. William could hear the dark echoes and growls in his voice, the rising anger and hatred in his words. Artorias was still alive, but he was not in control. He was corrupted, by the Abyss.
He let out a primal scream, a scream filled to the brim with pain, sadness and anger. A black mist had begun to seep into the cracks and crevices of Artorias' armour, almost threatening to rise him up in the air and break him in two. He jumped in the air spun around, raising his greatsword over his right shoulder, the dead creature still impaled on the sword. William could just notice that Artorias' was missing his shield, and then looked again as he realised that Artorias' left arm was dangling lifelessly, broken and useless.
"Ah, Sif, there you are. All of you, forgive me. For I have availed you nothing..."
Artorias leaped into the air, with William just barely dodging Artorias' sword and he watched as the sword slammed into the ground where William once stood.
"RAAAAAAAARGH!"
Artorias threw himself at William, and William could barely keep up with the corrupted knight. It took a while for William to grow accustomed to Artorias and how he fought, and that usually involved Artorias kicking him and watching as he flew through the air into the wall multiple times.
Artorias and William's steel clashed over and over again, and it felt like the fight would never end, as both knights landed hits on the other, blocking attacks and parrying them, hoping to gain the edge over the other as they attempted to end the other. Soon Artorias jumped back, doing sideways flips as he went over to the far wall, giving a loud roar as the dark mist filled him again.
Artorias leaped up the wall and pushed himself off the wall, throwing himself at William for the very last time, as William side-stepped Artorias, chopping off the limp arm, causing Artorias to scream out in pain, before looking at William and saying his final words.
"Please, forgive me..." He whispered, dropping his sword.
"Do not apologise, good knight, this was never your fault..." William replied.
Artorias gave a final nod, and William twirled his sword in his hand, before taking a deep breath and plunging the sword into Artorias' neck, pulling it out quickly and swiftly decapitating the corrupted knight.
X-X-X
"Will, are you alright?" Lord Stark asked him, as he dropped from his horse, looking at him.
Will shook his head before dismounting Cinder, letting one of the royal stable-hands take the courser away from him. "Yes, my lord. I was just thinking of another time."
"Ah, I see."
Eddard had tried to coax some other information about Lothric from William, but had never really succeeded, but had managed to get at least a small summary of what had happened in Lothric. The lands converged, with multiple kingdoms coming together to make one, which would happen to be Lothric. Other than that, Eddard knew little.
"Come with me, Sir. I need to meet the small council before we go to our rooms and unpack."
Will, you do realise we still need to tell him about how we are going to leave him and his daughters in this shithole?
Yeah, I know, but we will leave when they leave, and maybe when we find Anna we can return and start again in Winterfell, it would be a lot more easier than how we lived in Lothric.
Or you could live as a mercenary, live how you want, be your own man, travel this new world!
If you wanted to, you could even…
Take the Crown…
That voice he did not like, the voice that William was always afraid to hear, though it barely spoke, it made its presence known when it did speak. When William had fell down into the Dark Chasm when he was exploring Drangleic, he came across a being he had no intention of wishing to meet again.
It That Lurks…
Don't listen to it, it will drive you mad!
He wants to make you the most powerful man in the kingdoms, you could have everything!
He wants to live as you, not to help you! Don't listen to him Will!
Will could remember perfectly what had happened when he fell into the Dark Chasm, as he woke up he could feel an immense presence of dread and despair, as if he had fell into the very heart of the Abyss. He could feel a presence that used to be one of light and hope, now crushed and filled with darkness and death.
From what he had heard, travellers called whatever lurked down there, the Darklurker, some had not even mentioned its name, merely calling it 'It That Lurks'.
The dark figure hovered above the ground, the white angelic wings decaying as the feathers began to drop off and fall to the floor, a greyish hood covering its face, arms crossed as it peered into William's very soul.
'Did you really think leaving our world would make me leave you?'
'Did you really think you could escape me?'
'Did you think you could always think you could escape the Father of the Abyss?'
'DID YOU THINK YOU COULD ESCAPE THE DARK?'
William gave it out a scream of intense pain, falling to his knees, clutching at his head as the voices got louder and louder. He could see his vision blurring, and the last thing he could see was Sansa and Arya toward him before he fell to the floor, unconscious.
