Event 8: Light Devouring Domain

With the weight of three human lives and an important mission weighing heavy on Jinta, he and Seiko soon decided to move on from the strange crypt of the Pinwheel necromancer. In a critical moment to whatever Pinwheel had been researching, two clerics and a priestess had stolen something from him and retreated further into the cave system. With no way to light it up, they were trapped in The Tomb Of Giants. Seiko's outfit finally dried and she began to refit herself. First, her black boots, almost up to her knees. Next, her black gloves, made for grip and warmth. After, her black cloak, made from black cloth that had shielded her since her escape from the Undead Asylum. Lastly, her shortened Dragon Slayer bow and two bags of arrows, which she hung on her back behind each shoulder. In the pocket of her cloak, a cracked Estus flask, only useful near a bonfire.

Up two ladders and already Gravelord Nito's domain could be clearly seen... Or, more accurately, not seen at all. A wall of shifting darkness blocked the way. It was by no means solid, but throw a lit torch in and the light simply disappeared. Someone had left a few Prism Stones to guide the way, and they shone through the smothering air, but that was all that could guide the holy warrior and Pyromancer.

"I could light it..." said Seiko quietly as ever, her voice echoing nonetheless in the emptiness of the cave.

"You mean with your flames? That's too risky. I can't keep healing you or I'll become too tired to fight and you'll have to do everything. On top of that, you'd be guarding me. There must be another way. Can you use sorcery?"

Seiko shook her head. No one had taught her and she lacked a catalyst anyway.

"Didn't that necromancer drop a lanturn?" he asked, hopeful.

"It did... But it was broken... Sorry..."

"Oh, right..." said Jinta, putting a hand on the side of his gold helmet.

After a while he sighed, unable to think of anything else.

"How can you light the way if the Tomb devours light?"

"Spray the ground."

"And what if we can't see the fire, or what if I step in it?"

"Abyss?"

"Are even sure keeping inside you is healthy?!"

Seiko got a very annoyed look on her face and Jinta flashed on what she'd done to Pinwheel.

"Sorry. I don't mean to snap, I'm just concerned and bad at showing it."

Jinta took off his helmet and squeezed his temples with his right thumb and small finger. He sighed again, reluctant to put someone else at risk for his sake.
"Alright. You lead the way. But next time it's my turn. My apologies..."

He replaced his helmet and dipped his head, then waited for Seiko to proceed. The look on her face had softened, so at least she wasn't still mad.

Seiko stepped into the dark first, aiming a hand at the ground. A thin jet of blue flame spewed from her hand, and luckily hit the floor and stayed visible for a few seconds before going out. Pyromancy fed on the user's power, and didn't burn for very long. With the blue light the only way to see each other, Jinta stayed close to Seiko. Step by cautious step, the two descended into the Tomb Of Giants. Before long they were forced to walk across a massive coffin as a bridge. Immediately after that Jinta grabbed Seiko's shoulder to halt her. She stopped spewing flames and looked back, just in time to see Jinta's gold helmet fade into the darkness. They were inches from each other and unable to see at all. Jinta grabbed her head, still without her hood, and aimed it forward and slightly up. Two small balls of light floated just ahead.

"Enemy," hissed Jinta, quiet as possible.

Seiko nodded, Jinta's hands still on her head. She reached back and drew her bow for the first time, nocking an oversized arrow. She took a moment to aim, just getting a feel for where the arrow would fly in the dark. She loosed the arrow and it vanished for an instant, but her success was announced by the shattering of bones and the sound of metal striking stone. It seemed a giant skeleton had been guarding the way, but with his head split into pieces, his body crumpled and disassembled. Bones clattered to the floor and rolled away. Seiko and Jinta stood stock-still, waiting for silence before moving. When the racket stopped, Jinta patted Seiko on the shoulder and stepped back, waiting for her to move forward again. She held her bow in her left hand, off to the side, and began lighting the way again with her right. Sure enough, the two had to pick their way around huge fallen bones to avoid making noise. No telling what other monsters awaited them.

Moving carefully and ever downward, eventually the two came to a place where the cave had a massive hole in the wall. Through it, a reddish-orange glow could be seen, though it didn't illuminate the ground around them. Beyond the gap laid the domain of demons, Lost Izalith. Not long after that sight, the two came to a fork in their path. One way led to the right, blue crystals glowing to light the path at last. The other way led left, further into the dark. Human wailing could be heard from the right, but the smoldering of a bonfire could be heard to the left.

"Should we split? I believe my objective is right, and there is light to guide me. I'll move slowly so you can catch up, but you should use your flask at the bonfire and rest. I doubt you can keep up your flames much longer."

Seiko looked both ways again, pulled out her flask, and considered it. She sighed, hooking her bow over her shoulder to hang on her back, and nodded. She headed for the bonfire, looking back to see Jinta watch her go. Soon she was out of range of the crystal light, so she had to use her Pyromancy again... Only to find she had almost walked off a cliff. A ladder rested on the cliff to her left, so she climbed down carefully to find the bonfire just steps away. She knelt near it, holding out her flask. It filled with power from the bonfire and she drank, holding the crack closed with one hand. She would have been at ease after finding the bonfire, but shouts of a struggle above her put her on alert. She ran for the ladder, the bottom of her flask resting in her right hand to keep it from leaking. With it by her side, she could afford her next trick and still be at full strength. She clutched a brightly glowing orb of blue flames and hurled it upwards at an angle, just to light the way ahead and see who had yelled. The way lit up just in time for her to see someone kicking Jinta, off-balance, off the cliff.

"Hehehehahahaha! You ghot what you dese've! You damn'd clerics, you're wo'se th'n maggots! You must be loaded! I'll strip your co'pse clean! Huh, huhahahaha!"

The man who'd kicked Jinta continued to laugh until he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand. Something about the dark was creeping in around him, and it was making it hard to breath. He spun to face whatever was causing it to see Seiko, the Abyss coming out of her eyes and mouth, her hair billowing upwards as if she were underwater. The man shrieked in mortal terror, not a sound someone makes willingly.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh...!" came the loud rasping from Seiko as she walked slowly closer, furious beyond explanation. Never once did it cross her mind that Jinta may still be alive, or that even if he died, he'd return to the bonfire behind her if she waited. The only thought in her mind commanded she slaughter the man responsible. The man fell to his knees, his throat pumping like a blacksmith's bellows, but he received no air. As Seiko got within arm's reach, she bent down, picked up the man by the throat with one hand, and formed a black fireball in the other. She shoved her hand into the man's chest, through whatever he was wearing, and let the fire free. Now Abyss and black flame erupted from the man's mouth, eyes, ears, nose, and the hole in his chest. He fell in a human-shaped lump, corruption from the Abyss spreading to the rock from his body like fungus. Seiko clenched her fists, reigning back her fury, and drawing the Abyss she'd set free back in. The corruption on the rocks vanished into the black cloud that surrounded Seiko and sank in like water vapor.

Seiko stood, quivering with rage, for a full three minutes before she trusted herself to move. When at last she looked down the cliff to see if Jinta was alive, she saw him standing still, looking up and her with a priestess behind him. She held a skull lantern, and stayed back, terrified of Seiko. Both of them had watched what Seiko had done. Jinta raised a hand to chest level, hesitated, then raised it over his head to wave to her. Seiko nodded, jumping down. Worse than her lack of guilt, Seiko didn't even feel like she'd wasted any strength in her anger.

"Are you alright?" asked Jinta tentatively.

Seiko nodded, looking down and to the side.

"You seem to have quite a short temper for being so quiet," he said, again more concerned than anything.

Again, Seiko nodded. For people she cared about, it was almost impossible for her to get mad at all. But if one of those people was harmed, of if she was in battle, the slightest bit of frustration would set her off. It explained her overreaction with the Iron Golem, and every other incident up to that point.

"Only to... Enemies..." she said, unable to express all that.

"Well there are no enemies here. There may be a few up ahead, but I want to know if I should send you ahead first, or if you can keep yourself under control. I admire your strength. I do not wish to experience it, even if I am Undead."

Seiko nodded, finally feeling a bit ashamed.

"I trust you," said Jinta, nodding himself. He turned to the priestess.

"M'Lady, I understand that you must be Rhea, sent to retrieve the Rite of Kindling from this place, is that right?"

"Yes, that is correct. I and my escorts, Vince and Nico were trapped here by that man, Patches. I'm afraid they have gone Hollow, however... I am ashamed to ask, but I cannot fend them off by myself... I lack the strength to put them to rest..."

"We will help you, but in exchange, I must ask to borrow the Rite for a while. I believe it will make an important task possible. To be honest, I only need it for a few moments, if you don't mind."

"If you do indeed lay Vince and Nico to rest, I would be more than willing... Such a matter is a grave debt, after all..."

Jinta looked to Seiko, who nodded in agreement. The two headed forward barely twenty paces before being assaulted by the two Undead clerics. Wielding a mace and long-shafted ax, the two fell quickly, far too slow to counter Seiko or Jinta. With the Rite of Kindling in Jinta's possession, the three found a way back to the bonfire Seiko had rested at. There, Jinta requested Seiko's Estus flask, which he fixed with power from the Rite. The flask would now hold liquid, and wouldn't empty unless sipped from, even if turned upside down. Jinta returned the Rite to Rhea, who began to make her way out of the Tomb at last, so that he and Seiko could continue onward. Before long, the two began encountering beasts constructed of human bones in inhuman shapes. With Jinta's graceful and powerful swordsmanship and Seiko's powerful flames and arrows, they fought even lower, until light could be seen ahead. Finally out of the cursed dark tomb, Seiko and Jinta set their eyes upon an impossible sight. Over the cliff on which they stood, far below the ground, black water and archtrees grew into a gray sky far in the distance.

"Is that... The land before The Fire?" asked Jinta.

Seiko had absolutely no idea, and said nothing. If nothing else, it was oddly beautiful.

"There must be a way there," said Jinta.

Seiko was just as curious, but their current task was more important.

The two prepared to enter a cave in the side of the cliff when they saw someone standing on the edge of the cliff further to the left. He wore the same armor as Jinta, but carried a yellow shield and a massive club-like weapon. He turned his head to look at them and began slowly walking toward them, readying his weapon.

"That must be Paladin Leeroy. He was the first one the church sent down here to recover the Rite of Kindling... He is my predecessor. May I?" asked Jinta, drawing his falchion.

Seiko blinked, putting on her hood at last and stepping into the cave a bit, out of his way.

On the side of the cliff, on the border of three domains, Ask Lake, Tomb Of Giants, and Nito's grave, Jinta dueled Leeroy, Paladin to Paladin. Leeroy was deceptively quick with his huge weapon, knocking craters in the cliff and wall several times as he missed Jinta. Jinta was fast, striking the Hollowed Paladin over and over. One hit and Leeroy would win. But only a few more and Jinta was victorious. Paladin Leeroy fell, his body fading to ash on the spot. He was not cursed with the Darksign like Seiko and Jinta; he only got one second chance...

With nothing left but a few skeletons keeping the pair from Nito's grave, Seiko and Jinta pressed on, eventually coming to the entrance. Row after row of prostrated worshipers' bones littered the chamber. In the shadows ahead, smaller versions of Pinwheel stood still and inactive. Some failed experiment of the necromancer, most likely. Several of them threw fireballs when Jinta and Seiko drew closer, but none of them stood a chance against Seiko's Pyromancy. At last, a single drop led to Gravelord Nito's chamber. Jinta and Seiko rested, each taking half of Seiko's Estus Flask. The two dropped in together, landing in ankle deep cave water. They were in a circular chamber, littered with more bones, puddles of water, and with a natural stone pillar in the center. Rounding the pillar, the two found an unlit bonfire, and the open coffin of Gravelord Nito. The amalgam of bones that was Nito sensed their arrival, gripping the edge of his coffin and stepping out. His right arm a sword made of sinew and bone, his left a giant's arm, and his body a clump of human bones covered with a cursed miasma cloak, Gravelord Nito was the second keeper of a Lord Soul Seiko had faced. It was the first for Jinta, but he showed no fear. Falchion in his right hand, rapier in his left, Jinta prepared to unleash all his strength on his foe until he noticed more bones rising to aid Nito. Nito was raising them, which meant unless Jinta was the one to kill them with his holy weapons, they would not rest until Nito himself fell.

"If I don't handle the lesser ones, they will rip us apart as we focus on our target! I'll handle them if you can hold of the Gravelord!"

Seiko drew her bow and an arrow, four chains made of Abyss snaking out of the middle of her back to aid in close range. She gave Jinta a serious look and nodded once, then leapt into battle...

The assessment was spot on, and in a few moments of Seiko dancing about just out of Nito's reach all his lesser aids were dead for good. Seiko learned early on to stay just out of Nito's reach or else the Gravelord would summon a spirit sword from under her feet. She'd avoided it once by luck, but she doubted that would happen a second time if Nito chose to try the attack. With Jinta now before Nito, taking most of his attention, Seiko rained metal arrows and blue flames on Nito from afar. Jinta was able to dodge most of Nito's strikes, since the Gravelord was massive and therefore telegraphed his attacks. The fight seemed to go flawlessly, as if fated to be victory, right up until the last moments. In desperation, Gravelord Nito shattered his miasma cloak, spreading a toxic mist into the chamber. Seiko protected herself with the Abyss, but Jinta fumbled his next step and crashed to the floor, coughing vigorously. With Nito already falling apart, Seiko was able to finish him off, absorbing his Lord Soul and rushing to help Jinta.

Seiko dragged him to the bonfire, lighting it with her flame, and laid him to rest. The only place he had to lay his head was her lap, so she removed his helmet and stayed by him. With their tasks completed, all that mattered was that they return alive. Good thing, since it took an entire day for Jinta to finally recover beside the bonfire. When he woke at last, Seiko was asleep sitting up. She looked exhausted, probably from lack of sleep. He woke her and they switched places for a few hours so Seiko could rest. Finally, mostly recovered from their trials below Lordran, the two joined hands beside the bonfire. Jinta reached into the flames, pulling Seiko with him back to Firelink Shrine and out of the nightmarish former realm of Gravelord Nito...

Back to the warmth of the sun at last...

Event 9: Not So Easy coming soon...

Author Note: While this did come out sooner than the last chapter, I started ANOTHER new fic, so don't be surprised if it takes a week for another chapter. It most likely won't, but just in case. I enjoyed writing this one. Seiko's my kind of girl; calm, quiet, but she'll rip you in half if you give her lip! XD Til next time!