Event 6: Patience Pays Off
Seiko returned to the ruins of New Londo the way she'd come from, down the cliffs in the forest and through a cave. At the end of the cave, the elevator waited where she'd left it. Seiko stepped on the pressure plate in the middle and waited for the elevator to descend. While it went down she took off one of her black gloves to inspect the ring she'd taken from her father's partner, Sif. The thin gold band with the black gem in the center didn't seem like much, but Seiko could feel something different about herself with it on. The elevator hit the bottom of the shaft, so Seiko replaced her glove, adjusted her long hair under her hood, and crossed the stone bridge to the sluice gates she'd opened before leaving. As she crossed, she heard odd roaring or chirping above her. She dodged out of the way just in time for a bolt of lightning to strike the rocks where she'd just been. When she looked up to see where it came from, Seiko found herself staring at several small drakes. One of them had shot the bolt from its mouth. Seiko wasted no time fighting with them; she had a much bigger adversary ahead...
Once inside the cave, the drakes pulled away from the dives they'd prepared toward her, obviously fearing whatever lay beyond the gates. Seiko took this as good fortune and continued forward, into the darkness. As she continued up staircases and crossed courtyards still full of water, Seiko began to notice something was wrong. She'd drained the water and broken the seal on the Abyss in New Londo, but nothing from within the Abyss had attacked her yet. Luckily, she kept her guard up, because from the shadows through a doorway, something reached out a glowing hand to attack her. Seiko spun, put her hands on the attacker's shoulders, and flipped over it. When she landed behind this figure in black armor, Seiko put both her hands to its back and unleashed streams of blue flame. The figure, housed in heavy armor, flew into the opposite wall, smoking and dead. Seiko went to examine it, wondering if this was one of the Darkwraiths she'd heard of. The figure wore a skull mask which wouldn't come off when Seiko tried it. She pulled harder and the mask came free... Along with all the skin on her attacker's face. Next, Seiko examined the figure's black sword. It had a relatively short and fat blade, and it was much heavier than anything Seiko'd held before. She tried swinging it, only to have it fly out of her hand and embed itself in the brick wall in front of her. Unless she found a way to make a sword out of flames with Pyromancy, she'd need a sword that was bound to her hand just to use one.
Disappointed, but not discouraged, Seiko continued forward. Several more Darkwraiths assaulted her from the shadows, some with their swords and some with their glowing free hand. Seiko made it a point to avoid their strikes instead of meeting or redirecting them. She didn't want to come in contact with things that even this harsh world saw as a grave threat. Once, Seiko was attacked by several ghosts along with two Darkwraiths. Unable to block the ghosts' attacks, or fight back, Seiko was forced to run away, using Fire Whip to fend off the Darkwraiths from a distance. Soon, Seiko found a short bridge with a wall of white mist on the other side of it. Being chased by ghosts, and unable to fight them, the only way forward was into the mist. Seiko ran forward, hit the mist, and was slowed considerably. Just before she was stabbed in the back, Seiko broke through the mist. The ghosts and Darkwraiths following her seemed to hit the mist as if it were a solid wall. Perhaps only Undead or humans could traverse the mist?
When Seiko broke through the mist she had to stop herself before falling to her death. Down the spiraling staircase, and not too far, the air itself became to thick to see through. Seiko carefully made her way down into that darkness, feeling from the suffocating air that this must be the Abyss she was warned about. After a long time walking down the staircase, Seiko reached a point where the stairs simply dropped off. Below, nothing but pitch darkness. Seiko breathed in and out slowly, keeping herself calm and focused. If she succeeded, she would have the protection of someone many worshiped as a goddess. She would retrieve a piece of The Great Lord Gwyn's soul, help, and finally meet the Chosen Undead she had chased since the countless days before she'd left the Undead Asylum. One more trial. One more thing stood in her way. Seiko threw back her hood, shook her hair loose, checked her pocket to make sure her empty and cracked Estus flask was still there, and clenched her fists. One heartbeat, two, then she jumped...
The giant crow returned to Firelink Shrine that morning, alone. The Chosen Undead, retaining the power to warp between bonfires even without the Lordvessel by his side, had come back to Lordran through the flames. As Seiko jumped in to fight The Four Kings, the Chosen Undead was pulled into The Painted World of Ariamis. For both, it was the final step toward their meeting, though the Chosen Undead did not yet know that. The weakness and deaths the Chosen Undead had once suffered many times, allowing Seiko the time to almost completely catch up to him, had ceased. The Chosen Undead, a man of faith and great skill, had become a true warrior in his own right. Seiko had lost her memories, but her body had retained her strength and skill on its own. She moved with grace and precision almost by nature, where as the Chosen Undead had worked for every bit of what he now had. And as the Chosen Undead experienced the fruits of his labor, Seiko experienced fear for the first time...
When Seiko's feet hit solid ground, it seemed to give way. She had definitely hit something, but she seemed to continue down several feet before stopping in the nothingness. It was almost as if the ethereal space she had entered was protecting her from falling to her death. Whether by the blood of Artorias or his ring, Seiko had been saved both curse and death. For a long moment, all was still and silent. Seiko could still see herself, so it wasn't darkness she stood in. The Abyss was something other than the lack of light. What exactly that meant, Seiko didn't know. Just as she began to get uneasy, she spotted a man with silver skin and sliver robes not too far away. With a silver crown on his head, and the only thing trapped in the Abyss, Seiko knew this must be one of The Four Kings. She steeled herself and hurled a fireball at the man, right at his chest. But the fireball never reached him, falling forever into the Abyss and out of sight. The man noticed Seiko, turning his head to look at her. He started walking toward her, growing larger as he got closer. Only he didn't stop getting larger, or getting closer. Proportioned like a man, but much taller and larger, one of The Four Kings rushed Seiko, purple and corrupted light shining from his screaming mouth. With a mighty swing of his fist, Seiko was sent flipping end over end through the dark space. Seiko felt herself fall, but fall in place. She righted herself, landing on her feet at the same level as she had been before. Her body sang power, and she could feel the Abyss' fear of her blood. The ring, rather than allowing her to survive at all, was instead keeping the Abyss from invading her body and suffocating or corrupting her. Seiko received no time for idleness or rest, as the first King ran at her again, his hands glowing with corrupted light in preparation for another attack...
Seiko found the first King to be quite a challenge, but she managed to kill it when it bent down to grab her, firing a Flame Arrow into its open mouth. The Arrow had passed right through its head, then quickly devoured the King. The second King, approaching from far away, had seen her Pyromancy now, and stayed away, flinging magic and shielding itself from her flames. Still, Seiko was unafraid, and she found an opening between the King's spells, breaking one of its knees and focusing a volley of punches into its chest, turning its innards to soup. It wasn't until the middle of her fight with the third King that Seiko suddenly felt hopeless. The fourth King was nowhere to be seen at first, and the third was keeping a distance just like the one before. As Seiko ran down the third King, she was snatched up from behind by the fourth. Footsteps made no noise in the Abyss, not even the steps of a giant. The fourth King raised his other arm, ready to pull Seiko in half. She panicked, freeing one of her arms.
"Power Within!" she whispered, her voice trembling with fear of death.
She slammed her hand into her chest, releasing all the power her body could stand at once. Any more and the heat would kill her, if the strain of controlling her power didn't first. Seiko had no Humanity. If she died here, and was unable to find more, not only would she be failing the Queen Of Sunlight, but she may never meet the Chosen Undead.
Slamming her strengthened fist down on the huge finger of the fourth King, shattering the bone, Seiko broke free from its grasp. In pulling her arm out of the King's crushing grip, she'd lost her glove, exposing the ring of her father. The ring was too big for her slender hands, and it quickly slipped from her finger. Seiko's eyes widened, and she snatched the ring out of the air with her other hand, hitting the "ground" only a second after. Immediately she felt like she was breathing in water or oil. The Abyss pressed into her mouth, her nose, her eyes, her ears, changing her panic to sheer terror. Her un-gloved hand gripped her throat and she screamed silently. She began to suffocate, unable to shed a tear or make a single sound. She shook her head violently, thrashing about to try and free herself. She gripped the ring tighter and tighter, unable to even move now, falling to her knees. She felt her spirit breaking, unable to fight for life anymore. Just as she lost her will, ready to give up and die, succumb to the Abyss, she remembered the words of Quelaana again...
"... Pyromancy is the actualization of the inner self. The stronger your resolve, your spirit, the stronger and more focused your flames will be..."
Seiko closed her eyes, letting go of her throat and clenching both fists. For the second time, when Seiko opened her eyes, flames spewed out, wrapping around to jet from the sides of her head. Her grip shattered the ring in her hand, crushing it into an unrecognizable shape. The small black gem remained, however, until Seiko clapped her hands together. As she summoned her blue flames, the gem melted from the heat and vaporized. Whatever Artorias had sealed in the ring now became part of her. If Artorias had become known in history as The Abysswalker, Seiko would one day be known as the first to conquer the Abyss. All the suffocating darkness that had flooded her body now became hers to control, feeding her strength from within. With it supporting her, Seiko was able to push Power Within to heights she never dreamed of. The effort alone made her shout uncontrollably.
With the Abyss itself as the actualization of her inner self, Seiko crushed the fourth King under the weight of the darkness around it. Corrupted light sprayed from it as it was crumpled like a tin can, and it dissolved just like the first and second Kings. The third King, and last alive, saw this and summoned all its courage and strength for one final blow. It meant to protect its Lord Soul shard to the bitter end. But Seiko didn't care what it mustered. She didn't care if it was courageous, powerful, ancient, or if it wanted to kill her or not. She was the Abyss and the Abyss was her. No one defies the Abyss. The third King fell to his knees as the Abyss turned on him, suffocating him as it had once tried to do to Seiko. As the King clutched his chest, clawed at his throat, and screamed silently, Seiko simply stood just in front of it. The King had his life choked out at her feet, dissolving on his knees before the child of Artorias and Ciaran. As it vanished, its soul combined with the other three already within Seiko, forming the shard of Gwyn's soul Seiko had sought.
With the Abyss at her command, Seiko rose back to the staircase she had jumped from. Only when she stepped out of the Abyss did she realize that she could easily bring it all with her, throwing all of Lordran into chaos at her will. Tendrils of darkness reached out from her, tainting the bricks on which she stood. The Abyss almost seemed to want freedom and control. But it was Seiko who had control and freedom. She calmed her remaining anger, took a deep breath of the Abyss, and forced it back down off the stairs. By her command the Abyss retreated, sealing over just under the last step. A solid black dome capped the Abyss, and prevented anyone else from falling to their doom. Seiko continued to house some of the Abyss, however, and at her command it would grow or shrink back within her. She'd learned of Dark magic from Quelaana, and knew it had been lost for many years. But this was different. Dark magic had weight, but it did not have a will or live within a caster. Pyromancy, as Seiko had read, was capable of far more than just flames. She'd learned of, and performed once or twice, Pyromancies that produced toxic and acidic mists. This, on top of the blood of Artorias, his ring's power, and her will even more unbending than steel, Seiko became the first to harbor and control the Abyss. Seiko made her way back up the staircase, finding the mist wall to have disappeared.
Before she took another step over the bridge, Ingward stepped in her way.
"Child, I cannot let you leave," he said, his voice wavering but stern. "You have entered the Abyss but have returned touched by it. If you are to leave, you must prove to me it has not corrupted you. Only Artorias has escaped the Abyss untouched."
Little did he, or anyone else, know, but Artorias hadn't escaped unscathed by the Abyss. Time is convoluted in Lordran, and Seiko would one day soon meet her father, though he was now dead.
Seiko motioned for him to follow her and she showed him the black seal over the Abyss she'd made. Ingward was struck speechless to learn she'd taken control of the Abyss, and was even more surprised to learn that she'd been pure enough to abandon its powers. He told her about the legend of Manus, Father of The Abyss.
"Not even Manus could control where it spread... Then again, I doubt he tried... Rather crazed, he was... Perhaps one as gifted as he could control it. After all, he forced it to spread until Knight Artorias stopped him. Very well... If you can swear to me that this will not cause another cataclysm, I will let you leave. But control of the Abyss you bring with you is on your head, understand?"
Seiko nodded, bowing. She paused before going back up the stairs with Ingward, remembering something. She held her bare hand out to the seal she'd made and her black glove shot up for her to catch. She replaced it, drawing the Abyss clinging to it into her skin, and followed Ingward up the stairs. She could hear him mumbling to himself about what in the name of Gwyn he should call her now, since she'd shown mastery of the Abyss itself.
Seiko parted ways with Ingward and headed for Firelink Shrine, up the elevator. When she appeared before Frampt, the primordial serpent, he was stunned that she came bearing a Lord Soul. He offered to take her to the Lordvessel, so she could offer the Lord Soul to it, but she refused. Instead, she told him she'd be back, and headed for the elevator to the Undead Parish. She had more than enough souls, so she was going to commission a bow with arrows fit for her unnatural strength. Seiko sat next to the stairs, her hood off, watching Andre work tirelessly. He mimicked the Dragon Slayer bow at first, but he had to trash it when he realized the string was too weak and the bow would still rely on being grounded to fire. He tried several other builds, working to recreate the power of a Dragon Slayer bow without such size. Finally, he produced a bow that still needed to be grounded to fire, but had a strong enough frame and string to produce the same power. The bow could use the same arrows as a Dragon Slayer, it just wasn't as tall, so Seiko could use it or sling it over her back when she didn't need it. Carrying it and fifty arrows in two sacks, slung over her shoulders, Seiko returned to Frampt, sat under a collapsed walkway, out of the sun, and waited. She pulled her hood on, draped her coat over her legs, and hid completely from the sun so as not to burn as she waited. After a long while, she drifted into sleep, her piercing blue eyes closing to the world. There she waited for the Chosen Undead to return, which he must do at some point...
Her exertions in the Abyss had taken more from Seiko than she'd thought, and she slept for a full day with no sign of stopping. Sound asleep, she couldn't hear the giant crow moving around, the clicking and grinding of Frampt's hideous teeth, or the clinking of armor as someone approached. In the midst of a nightmare, while Seiko slept in the cursed land of Undead, one of two Chosen approached. While the other toiled away in his own world, this man, whose world had remained connected to Seiko's by sheer luck or guided fate, finally returned from The Painted World of Ariamis. He, as of yet, bore no Lord Souls. He had come to consult Frampt as to which he should hunt down first. He asked his question, but Frampt redirected the conversation.
"Forgive me, Chosen Undead, but that can wait a moment. You have a visitor," said Frampt, motioning his huge head in Seiko's direction.
The man in a paladin's armor looked where Frampt motioned, seeing Seiko curled in sleep under her hooded coat. She looked completely at peace, her nightmare past. Her pale skin, kept from the sun by the shade of her coat and where she lay, didn't show as much as if she were standing. After all, under her coat she only wore very short shorts and what may as well have been a bikini top. Her boots almost reached her knees, but that didn't do much to cover her. The paladin removed his closed gold helmet, revealing his human face. He had close cropped black hair and maintained beard. His facial hair and the hair on his head were about the same length, too short to even pinch between ones fingers. He knelt beside where Seiko slept, making himself as passive as possible before waking her. Anyone to have survived in Lordran would be strong, and it was not wise to wake the strong with a start.
"M'lady?" said the Chosen Undead, gently, but loud enough she would definitely hear his relatively deep voice.
Seiko breathed out roughly, her head shifting in her hood. She squeezed her eyes tighter, breathing in. She opened her eyes, blue as the flame she handled, focusing, then looking at the Chosen Undead without moving her body or head at all. She blinked once, twice, still recovering from her dream. She realized few people would address her, so she suddenly sat up and pulled off her hood.
"Yes?!" she said, a bit surprised.
"I am Jinta, aspiring paladin of The Way of White, and proclaimed Chosen Undead by Kingseeker Frampt. I'm told you're here seeking me?"
Seiko's breath caught. Never one for words, how could she say that he'd been the one to restore her sanity, and the reason she'd crossed all of Lordran, not just once but twice? This conflict, on top of the surprise of finally having met him, brought tears to her eyes. Wide-eyed, she didn't blink them away. Blue tears on near white skin, she stared openly. The goal she'd sought for so long right in front of her, but she'd never prepared for what to do if she actually achieved her goal. Luckily, she was dealing with someone as well traveled as herself. Jinta smiled a bit and dipped his head, standing up.
"I've heard a great deal about someone with long black hair and a black coat. Some say she is a Pyromancer trained and named by Quelaana of Izalith herself. Others have told me that she's braved Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo in pursuit of someone. She's saved knights, defeated giants and an Iron Golem, invented and rediscovered Pyromancies, and has even become one of the Princess Guard. But, the last anyone knew, this woman had disappeared from Anor Londo with the grave task of retrieving a Lord Soul in my stead..."
He looked at Seiko, who had somehow grown ever more wide-eyed.
"Would that person happen to be you?" asked Jinta...
Event 7: Holy Warrior coming soon... Check my profile for my current cycle of chapters...
Author Note: This'll be the last of me stretching the lore. So now, Seiko's complete. She's got her bow, her Pyromancy, and she harbors the Abyss. Once again I exceeded 4 pages, but once again I don't regret it. "Jinta" means "other god(s)," and it's just me avoiding calling him "Kamishiro" or "Castle of God." I wrote a short on my dA with a character by that name, and I didn't want a duplicate, even though I love the name. PM me if you have something to say and don't want to review...