-Sanctuary Garden-
Black metal boots splashed into the water of a vaguely familiar basin. Tetsuro found himself in what appeared to be the gravesite of Artorias before the headstone was erected. Water had collected to about ankle height and fallen leaves covered the surface. It was quiet, but not eerily quiet, with nature fully in motion. Tetsuro looked around, then started crossing the basin toward the only way forward that wasn't up a sheer wall.
A flock of birds took to the air somewhere to his right. He looked, alert, but saw nothing worth the alarm.
A/N: Castlevania Judgment (Wii) - Bloody Tears arranged by Asada Yasushi. Additional note at the end.
A set of huge paws bowled him over into the water half a second later. Tetsuro recovered and drew his shield and Murakumo, then looked for what had done it. A chimera of some kind with the body and head of a lion, horns of a goat, two sets of bird wings, and a scorpion's tail, landed in the water and roared at him.
Tetsuro switched his Murakumo for his Barbed sword, then dove aside as the beast launched a ball of lightning from its mouth.
The chimera didn't wait, swooping in and swinging a paw down to crush him. Tetsuro jumped back and put up his shield to block the next attack, a slash from the chimera's other paw. The blow pushed him back, but he kept his footing. Next, the chimera tried to bite, its jaws snapping shut loudly as it missed. It snapped again and Tetsuro stepped to the side and slashed across its cheek.
The chimera responded by rearing up and trying to bowl Tetsuro over again. Tetsuro absorbed the blow on his shield but was thrown into a backflipped. He flipped low to the ground, in full steel armor, without using his hands. He landed kneeling, but was unharmed. The chimera jumped back, flew into the air, and spat more lightning at Tetsuro from overhead.
Tetsuro stood his ground, shield up between himself and the blast. As the ball struck and washed over him, his armor shimmered with a faint barrier, from his Thunder Stoneplate Ring. Tetsuro felt all the hair on his body stand on end, and his armor certainly heated up, but the charge didn't reach his body to do any real damage.
The chimera hit the ground, twisted on the spot, and jumped over him again to repeat the attack. This time, Tetsuro dove out of the way, rolled to his feet, and charged the chimera. It snapped at him and he bashed it in the jaw with the lip of his shield, then he slashed. Tetsuro landed a shallow cut down the chimera's shoulder, but it lept away before he could do more.
The chimera beat its wings once as it jumped, throwing itself forward to tackle Tetsuro full force. Tetsuro dove aside again, then turned to face his enemy before it could twist to attack him with his back turned. Tetsuro threw his sword into the air, flipping end over end, and suddenly tossed a Fire Orb at the chimera as it turned. The attack exploded on the back of the chimera, searing flesh and burning fur and feathers. Tetsuro flawlessly caught his sword as it came down.
The chimera completed its turn and spat several smaller balls of lightning at Tetsuro. Tetsuro sprinted to the side and managed to get out of the way of each before it could travel to him and hit. The chimera shot where he was without leading, and he was far enough away that a few steps took him out of the way.
The chimera jumped to the side, in the direction Tetsuro was running, and spat another ball of lightning at him before rushing in. Tetsuro kept moving, so the chimera stopped suddenly and threw its wings forward to create a huge gust of wind. Tetsuro stopped as quickly as he could and held up his shield. The wind didn't move Tetsuro, but the chimera had to stop and catch its breath.
Tetsuro ran forward and continued until he was beside the chimera, then he slashed across its flank several times. He felt the thorns on his sword rake over bone several times. The chimera whined and jumped away. It tried to fly, but its wings were too damaged from Tetsuro's Pyromancy, so instead it turned the escape into a diving attack, gliding with little grace toward Tetsuro.
Tetsuro was able to avoid the attack easily, and slice up the other side of the chimera. It swept its head to the side, trying to smack Tetsuro with its horns. He blocked the strike and was nearly bowled over, but since it was largely a blind strike for the chimera, it jumped away anyway. It roared, charged in, and tried to bite Tetsuro again.
Tetsuro stabbed his sword into the chimera's face, his sword scraping across its skull up toward its eye. His shield wedged up under its teeth, so he pulled his arm out of the straps and threw a Fire Orb into the chimera's face.
The chimera shrieked, recoiled, and fell over dead only seconds later.
-Oolacile Sanctuary-
Seiko pulled her katana out of the ground and huffed angrily. She walked ahead, leaving Jinta to jog over and catch up.
"Don't you think that was overkill?" he said as he got closer.
Seiko stabbed her katana back into the dirt. She spun around to vent.
"Do I think so? Yes! Do I care? Not at the moment! That stupid thing just threw itself at us without any warning at all, then it wouldn't hold still and just fight! At the very least I wanted a chance to get used to my weapon, but no! Damn flappy thing just kept running away from me! So I torched it. If you're mad about it, take it up with whoever made that thing, not me. Not my problem anymore."
She turned around again and snatched up her katana, then stormed off in the only direction that appeared to be forward progress. Jinta caught up and kept pace with her fast walking, and the two quickly came upon a bonfire. Seiko walked up to it and took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled slowly.
"Sorry, by the way," she said. "I know I need to work on that. I don't know why that sets me off like it does. It's just so frustrating!"
As Seiko raised her voice, she caught the attention of someone nearby. Both she and Jinta heard an unfamiliar voice, one quite soft and hard to hear, call out to them. They both had to look around and then move in the general direction of the voice until they could clearly make out where it came from.
A mushroom growing out of a crack in a stone wall. The mushroom was larger than both of them, and clearly had eyes.
"You two are certainly the ones, yes," it said, in the voice of an elderly woman. "Please, I must ask you to hurry along and save Princess Dusk once again."
"Princess Dusk?" asked Jinta.
"Surely you two are the ones who freed her. She described you both quite accurately before she was snatched up by… Well, the Dark Soul."
Seiko and Jinta looked at each other.
"You mean the Abyss, right?"
"Primeval man was the father of the Abyss. Even now, your kind each bears a fragment of his soul."
Jinta looked at Seiko and found that she was watching him.
"What's she talking about?"
"You know," said Seiko. "You just don't want to think about it."
"Humanity."
"Indeed," said the mushroom.
Jinta took off his helmet and put it under his arm.
"Who are you?" he asked the mushroom.
"You may call me Elizabeth. I am the guardian of this sanctuary, and one with the forest of Oolacile."
Seiko tilted her head and got a confused look on her face.
"That… Sounds familiar…" she said, trying to remember when she'd heard it.
"You come from a distant age, I know," said Elizabeth. "Perhaps you were taught of this place in the threads of history. Even now, this once-great kingdom is falling to the Abyss. Our last hope is help from Lord Gwyn's Four Knights."
Seiko jerked and looked up at Elizabeth.
"The Knights are here?!"
She turned to Jinta.
"We need to hurry! We could make a difference here!"
"Easy, there," said Jinta. "We can't just go meddling with history. We have no idea what the effects of our actions will be. What if we just suddenly cease to exist because we made one wrong choice? What if your father needs to do this alone in order for you to be born?"
"I appreciate your concern, young Undead," said Elizabeth, "But it's far too late for that now. The lady carries the Abyss within her, much more than you do. She has no doubt already been noticed. The Abyss will come for her now, there's no mistaking that. Her very presence here will affect this time now."
"But not much," said Jinta, still hoping to back out of the conversation.
"Jinta," said Seiko, "We don't know enough about all this to make those kinds of assumptions. I've experienced the worlds shifting personally. How do we know we won't just create a splinter where we were here instead of the one where we weren't? Solaire links the fire in the future anyway, so that wouldn't cause any major problems."
"You just said, yourself, that we don't know enough. Think of the damage we could cause!"
"Jinta, you're free to make your choice about this, but I'm going. Dusk is here too, remember? She was pulled out of our time, and probably came to our time from here. It's way too late to question who's going to do what to the flow of time. I'm going to help Dusk and I'm going to help my father. I won't get this chance again."
Jinta ran his hand over his extremely short hair.
"Seiko is right, young Undead. Whatever forces brought you here have already altered what the future will be. It is impossible to know the consequences of your actions, yes, but it is also possible that by choosing not to act at all, you are making the wrong choice. Can you shoulder that burden as easily as standing to fight?"
Jinta sighed abruptly. "You make a good point."
He put his helmet back on.
"Fine," he said, his voice muffled slightly by the helmet once more, "Let's get moving, then. Every second we waste could be a second too late."
Tetsuro's visit to the sanctuary wasn't nearly as eventful. He lit the bonfire, took his rest, and moved on. The haphazard but passionate foes in the forest gave him almost no trouble. Even the stone golems couldn't stand up to sharpened Titanite. Tetsuro proceeded forward on curiosity alone, and he found memorable combat…
He also found that, even after slaying every powerful foe around, including a dragon and a blind knight, he had more hope for what he desired… In the colosseum that would call him foes from other worlds.
Seiko and Jinta crossed the bridge outside the sanctuary to find that locals didn't care for their arrival. Spindly, wooden keepers of the forest watched them closely and moved to intercept them, armed with only their working tools. Jinta drew his arming swords and Seiko raised her katana, left hand under where the guard should be, right hand supporting the sword. Something about the grip felt right, but she didn't have time to question why.
One of the farmers charged at Jinta while another strafed around Seiko, cautious. Jinta easily dodged the charging farmer with a quick step. The farmer was clearly inexperienced and fell over after the miss, putting all its weight in the strike. Jinta easily chopped through it and it stopped moving.
The more cautious one carried large trimmers and tried to snip at Seiko. Her expression looked almost offended, but she stepped in to attack anyway. She slashed up and nearly knocked the farmer over as his clippers flew into the air. A slash down and the farmer was split in two and fell.
The two proceeded through the forest and quickly came to the lip of a ledge. They slid down into a large depression with a bridge on the far side. Thumping footsteps drew their attention to the left in time for several farmers and two large stone guardians to jump down and approach to attack.
"Can you handle the tree-guys? I'm going to take down the golems," said Seiko.
Jinta raised his swords to show he was ready and willing, so they both dashed in.
The first stone golem raised its massive hammer to slam it down, but it was incredibly slow compared to the two Undead. They moved aside and each cut down a farmer before the blow ever landed. Jinta continued to strafe around the outside of the group and cut down farmers with their weapons raised.
Seiko jumped in and slashed down, successfully cleaving through the guardian's left arm just below the elbow. Even without the arm, the guardian ripped his hammer from the earth with such force that it knocked Seiko back onto the ground. Both it and the golem behind it raised their hammers, both to swing horizontally.
Seiko pulled her legs up, shifted her hands and body so only her right palm and left fingers around her sword touched the ground, and flipped backward. The two hammers crashed together with a loud crack and sparks flew.
Seiko raised her right hand and blasted the injured golem with a Chaos Fireball. Jinta shielded himself from the sudden heat, but then attacked the other golem from behind while it was still distracted, cutting two rents in each thigh. One golem fell back, melting, while the other hit the ground on its knees and swept a fist back at Jinta.
Jinta's left arm was shattered and he was sent rolling over the grass, too slow to escape. He recovered enough to drink Estus, but he was out of the fight for its conclusion. Seiko took advantage of the golem's attack to step in and cut through its head and chest several times. She stepped away when it didn't fall, but it stopped moving, so she assumed it was finished.
Seiko went to join Jinta and the golem didn't follow. She felt the familiar sensation of whatever soul powered it joining her own, and her mind was at ease.
"Just how heavy is that sword of yours? Mine is blessed. It's supposed to be hard enough for that kind of stuff. But you make it look easy, carving through stone. I have to swing with all my strength, and even then, it's only possible with blessed swords. A normal weapon would probably bounce off their hide, harmless."
"Wanna feel?" said Seiko, an eyebrow raised.
"I get the feeling it would crush my hands, so-"
"Like this, idiot," she said, supporting the sword on the handle with her left hand and near the tip with her right.
"Clearly you can't wave it around, I know that. But I can lower the weight into your hand until you can't hold it up anymore."
Jinta sheathed the sword he was still holding, the other still in the grass, and held out his hand under the flat of the blade in the middle.
Seiko slowly lowered weight into his hand, but it wasn't more than a few seconds before Jinta grabbed his arm with the other hand and bent his knees, clearly struggling to hold up the weight. Another second and he sucked in air through his teeth.
"Ok! Stop!"
Seiko took all the weight again and lowered the sword by her side.
"Almost half," she said, grinning.
Jinta was already walking over to retrieve his other sword. He shook his head.
"That," he said, sheathing the other blade, "Is unbelievable. Even after that, I can't comprehend how strong you must be to swing that thing around like you do. No wonder you could handle crystal golems with just your fists."
The two continued forward to cross the bridge. As they did, what could only be a black dragon landed on it and looked over at them. It had a single, red eye in the center of its face. It stopped only a moment, as if to commit them to memory, before taking flight again.
As they watched the dragon fly away, and crossed the bridge, Jinta voiced his wonder.
"We are clearly in the distant past. Dragons died out long before I was born. The only one left in our time, I guess, is the stone dragon hidden in Ash Lake. It's the only one I've ever seen until now."
The two pressed onward through the forest, rather uneventfully after that… Until they started finding very obvious signs that the Abyss was spreading aggressively, even below their very feet…
A/N: Rhythm of Darkness (Yami no Ritsudou) composed by Hiroyuki Oshima, featuring MintJam
"You two, there," came a voice Seiko and Jinta didn't recognize.
They caught sight of a man crossing a stone bridge toward them. They had just come down off of a magically powered elevator and hadn't a moment to take in their surroundings yet.
"You're not from here, I take it," said the tall, lanky man. He had a careful stride, and his hands were clasped behind his back. Thanks to the angle as he came across the bridge, Jinta could see the man was unarmed.
"No, why?" asked Jinta.
"Your confusion gives it away. Tell me, what did you two call this place in your time?"
"Darkroot Forest," answered Jinta.
"I see. A different name than I remember, as well. But clearly, this is Oolacile. Well, at least we know we're not alone in our strange circumstances."
"Are you going to help Dusk as well?"
"Me?" The man leaned back slightly, his smiling mask hiding all his features and expressions.
"Certainly not. I'll leave the dodgy heroism to simple-minded fools. I've got no business here, and no hand to raise against primeval man. Not that I have any affinity for the Abyss."
Seiko narrowed her eyes at the man.
"Ahh. Finally caught the insult, I see. You two aren't very quick-witted, are you?"
Neither of them responded to him.
"Fair enough, fair enough. I know I'm not the most friendly face. I'm but a simple Hunter of man and beast, and it's natural for prey to balk at the presence of a predator."
"If you think me prey, do your job, 'hunter,'" said Seiko, staring daggers at the man.
The man laughed, a sound that was smooth and unpleasant.
"I am Marvelous Chester. And I'm off duty. If you'd like to trade supplies, and see if we might have something to offer one another, I'm more than willing. But, for now, I'd like to rest after my trip through the forest so far. Not a lantern in sight, this far in the past, I suppose."
Seiko started walking again abruptly, expecting Jinta to follow, which he did.
"I'll take that as a 'no,' then!" Chester called after them.
He watched them approach the colosseum and enter, out of his sight.
A/N: Sadly, this song has no name… But my older readers would know it. And it returns.
you tu ・ b e (slash) QbO70-JLvo0
I had to edit that link about ten times over so FFN's scripts wouldn't remove it. In case it STILL doesn't publish correctly, you can search for "Dark Souls Hidden Track - Trailer Music"
"What… Is that thing…?" said Seiko, paused in the doorway.
Jinta shook his head. "It looks like it used to be human, but… The arms are way too long… And I don't think I need to mention the head. What do you suppose happened to it?"
"I don't think I want to f-"
A figure flew from an upper floor of the colosseum and impaled the strange thing. Tattered cloth and scratched up metal hid what this figure could really be besides human.
Unsatisfied, the new enemy shoved its blade deeper into the stone brick floor, forcing the crushed body under it to spasm. The armored foe's left arm hung limp, as if the armor there was actually empty. The figure looked at them, its helm shadowing its face completely. In that moment, somewhere in his heart, Jinta knew who he was looking at. Seiko must have known too, judging by the tears running quietly down her face.
"Fa... ther..." she whispered, in awe and despair.
As if in response, Artorias began a loud moan of agony, ripping Abyss smoke from the surrounding bricks and absorbing it. His body shook and his head jerked uncontrollably. Ripping the tainted greatsword out of the brick and spinning with it as if it weren't even there, Artorias hefted his kill, still impaled, over his shoulder, then flung it at his two foes with a swing of his sword. The body rolled and bounced over the brick floor, but came to a stop in front of them.
"Seiko...!" said Jinta. His voice pitched up as he said it, suddenly realizing what they were about to do.
"Seiko, we can't fight him. We can't do this. Not only could he crush us both, he's not in his right mind. We can not fight him," insisted Jinta.
Silence.
Then...
"I can save him..." said Seiko. Only Jinta could have heard the slight hysteria in her voice.
"... What?! No. No, you can't. You don't understand! Seiko, if you try to save him, what if you end up the one consumed?! You expect me to put you down instead?! You can't. Don't try it. Don't."
Seiko wouldn't look at him. He could tell she wasn't listening.
"...Seiko...!?" said Jinta, truly frightened. "Seiko! Listen to me!"
Nothing. Artorias wasn't waiting, either. He pulled his sword back, shifting his weight, then charged forward. In a single, masterful stride, Artorias covered the distance and stabbed, aiming to kill Seiko. Seiko ducked, stepping aside to the right. Artorias flailed his limp arm, catching Jinta with a backhanded swing and sending him rolling across the floor.
Seiko and Artorias stood less than half a meter from each other, suddenly looking right at each other. Artorias was even taller than Jinta, making his thin body appear even thinner. Her sword in her left hand, Seiko thrust her right hand up at her father's shadowed face, calling out to the Abyss within him. It answered, rushing out of Artorias as black smoke, a miasma.
"Seiko! NO!" yelled Jinta, finally up, his swords drawn.
Both Artorias and Seiko seemed to be overtaken by the event, both shaking and leaning away from one another. Still the Abyss linked them. Still it roared out of Artorias, less like smoke and more like a river of ink.
Finally, Seiko broke the link, taking a shaky step back. Artorias remained frozen for a moment... Then, he lifted his left foot high, putting it on Seiko's right shoulder, and forced her to the ground on her back. He leaned down, his shadowed face centimeters from Seiko's. Then he began to draw back the Abyss from within her instead. Were she not pinned, Seiko's convulsions would have lifted her torso from the ground, arcing into a C shape. Instead, she could only jerk and shiver as Abyss was ripped out of her instead.
Jinta couldn't get close, the rush of the Abyss meaning certain death for him. After a few seconds of resisting, Seiko began screaming in agony. Artorias was not in pain as she had been. He was already a thing of the Abyss. At last, the Abyss ceased flowing out of her and all was silent for several heartbeats... But Artorias wasn't done. There was something in Seiko he wanted, and he would have it. For it was his to claim, as it always had been.
Seiko's mouth opened, a silent scream of the utmost pain, but no sound issued forth. Instead, a bead the size of a tear rose from within her, glowing brilliantly in a hue of perfect purple. It floated up, right into Artorias' shadowed helm, and vanished. Seiko felt like someone had just opened her up and scooped out her insides.
Artorias removed his foot, stepping back as if in awe. Jinta seized his chance, rushing forward and full-on tackling Artorias. He shoved with all his might, desperate to get just far enough away from Seiko. The instant he was, Jinta used his Force miracle, point-blank, and sent Artorias flipping through the air to the other side of the coliseum. The second he could move, Jinta rushed to Seiko's side.
"Seiko! Seiko! Can you hear me?! Come on!" pleaded Jinta. "Seiko, please...! I can't... I can't do this without you… I can't do anything without you…! Please! Stand up!"
Seiko, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open, tightened her grip on her sword. Every breath shook her body. The Abyss was gone. All of it. She felt empty. As if only her heartbeat remained inside her. But still she closed her mouth. Still she relaxed her eyelids. Still, she struggled to her feet with Jinta's help.
Jinta's never begged like this. I won't disappoint him. And I won't let this be my father's legacy. I won't.
"...Seiko...?" said Jinta, desperation yet in his voice.
Seiko pushed off of him to stand on her own.
"Together…" said Seiko, her face hidden from his view by her hood.
"We do this together…" she repeated.
Artorias had recovered and turned to look at them. He stared, but it seemed he was looking past them, still dumbfounded.
Seiko could feel her legs shaking. Her strength seemed like a distant memory. She wondered what would happen if she tried to lift the end of her sword off the ground. Even just supporting it in her hand now took all her concentration.
"Seiko?"
She didn't move.
"I can give us a fighting chance here, but I need to cast miracles."
Artorias raised his sword and rested it on his shoulder, taking a few steps forward and rolling his shoulders.
"You need to fend him off long enough for me to heal you and shield myself. I don't know if Great Magic Barrier will-"
Artorias jumped, clear across the colosseum, to leap into combat with them.
And the fight began…
A/N: The Castlevania song for the Sanctuary Guardian is a reference to Squiiddish's YouTube series "Dry Souls," episode 21 "And Onwards to Oolacile." His use of Bloody Tears in both Dry Souls and Herp Souls completely overrode the boss' actual theme for me to the point that I need to look up the song to remember it at all. He's a streamer now, no longer on YouTube, and those Souls episodes are WICKED old by this point, but I still watch his stream. I don't have a copy of Dark Souls 1 I can pick up and play anymore, so I use his videos as reference for layouts of locations and whatnot. I can do what little Dark Souls 2 content there will be from memory, and I have Dark Souls 3 on PS4 and PC at this point, so I can go place myself for that one.
Readers of the original will notice the nearly word-for-word redo of Artorias' entrance. Only minor details were changed so that the writing still fits average reading speed (200 words per minute) and matches the song it was written to. Next chapter will release on Thanksgiving Day in the US.