A/N: New chapter, new stuff, new characters. Wooo!
Beta: Genatools
Chapter 4: Seek Strength… The Rest Will Follow
Eskar and Beatrice had been flying for a couple of hours, both of them still tangled together on the giant crow's talons, and they felt more than one of their limbs going numb, Eskar felt his right leg completely asleep and Beatrice was bearing a pain on her shoulder as she did her best to hold on to her hat… in a particular difficult angle.
"Tell me, what do you feel when you use your Shards?" Beatrice asked, they had been trying to have a conversation to distract themselves from the journey… and from their aching limbs.
"It's a soft song, a low grumble… I focus on the power the Shards have been enchanted with and let them act. Like a spell, I just think of it, and focus…"
"I do know what you mean, ergh-" Beatrice said as she shifted her shoulder. "But spells have a line of logic taught, no matter the emotions the person puts behind it, your incantations seem to be more based on will, according to you, and with will come other feelings as well."
"To describe it… to heal myself it feels like a deep breath, followed by a fresh tingling, a second wind, and so it feels like a need of refreshment. The Earthquake on the other hand has a rumbling sound as if something were to appear out of the ground, and it ends with a breakthrough of energy. When you use it you feel a sudden focus, the conviction to bring your enemies down, and to break away from them as well."
"Interesting… you said it is a song though."
"Igen, Essence, and by that Shards react to the exact melodies, to the right tones and rhythms, that's what we call incantations."
"How do you make the tones in the blink of an eye?"
"Tero?" (Land?) Eskar asked, breaking the conversation.
"Hmm?" Beatrice wondered, Eskar tried his best to point towards the approaching structure, they were indeed arriving towards a sort of fortress, although the way it was built indicated to be another sort of chapel… a fortified one with high walls at the top of a mountain.
"It seems we reached the Undead Asylum." She said. The crow got close to the edge of the cliff and started hovering, once it aligned itself, it released both of them, they landed on their sides as they untangled themselves.
"Hnnrg." Eskar groaned as he stepped up and stretched his shoulders, a quick twist managed to get rid of the pain with an audible crack.
"It's good to be on solid ground again-" Beatrice twisted and cracked her own arms. "But regardless we have arrived." She said, both of them looking at the asylum.
"Looks worn down and desolated." Eskar pointed out.
"Which is similar to just about everywhere the curse has completely taken over. This asylum, like many others, was meant to keep the Undead locked up, away from the rest of the world, a prison."
"If the Undead are immortal, then it meant that they would be here for eternity," Eskar said.
"Yes, or until a solution could be found… not that they would seek it, after all, these asylums were made to dispose of them, not help them. Of course, that mattered less the more the curse spread, the asylums were either abandoned or more Undead were sent their way, meanwhile, the rest of the world tried to find some hope, an actual solution. There were rumors or… more like the idea of a Chosen Undead, that would travel to the land of the lords and will have their fate revealed."
"Fate?"
"Yes, it appears the gods did indeed have some plan for the Undead… but in my time those were rumors, and even more, great heroes tried to seek this fate, but it seems like every one of them failed."
"But… there might indeed be a solution?" Eskar asked.
"Nobody knows, and nobody that reached Lordran ever returned to the outside world… but regardless, I heard this was one of the places where people with "Masks" and people that "Fought with their bare hands" were sent to," Beatrice told him.
"... And you heard that… in your time."
"Several years ago, yes," Beatrice admitted, it was all they had, but admittedly hoping to find someone in the asylum after so many years that wasn't dead or didn't go insane was… a gamble. Eskar didn't even know if the Masks of Moral could keep prospects young and un-aging for that long, or if they even could.
"We may find nothing, corpses perhaps…" Eskar lamented.
"Even so, if we are going to find something, traces or clues are still our best bet, if your people were here, maybe we can find more about what happened to them," Beatrice said to him.
"Igen." Eskar nodded. They walked down the steps and towards the asylum, the place seemed abandoned and to be left just as a ruin, however, they did hear a sudden roar coming from the asylum, rumbling rock, and a loud crash. They kept going down the steps and found the entrance to the asylum locked… but more interestingly, it seemed that despite the doors being locked there were some Hollows waiting for them outside the doors themselves, Hollows with rags, torches, and a couple with some sticks.
"Hmm." Beatrice pondered. "It seems some of them managed to escape." She said as the Hollows noticed them.
"And now they roam seeking souls," Eskar said as the Hollows began to step towards them.
"Correct," Beatrice answered. She sent forward two soul arrows to get rid of a couple of Hollows while Eskar sprinted towards them and engaged them. With a flying kick, with a knee and a spinning hook kick he disposed of one Hollow before turning towards another two. With quick punches, deflecting and parrying their torches, and with powerful kicks, he alternated strikes between the two and killed them before they could hit him. Beatrice quickly fired a heavy soul arrow and killed another more powerful Hollow while Eskar dealt with another one, he swept one leg with a kick, struck and kicked it's shoulder down, and then finished by kicking it's other leg, making it fall and crack its head on the ground.
"They are dead," Eskar told Beatrice.
"I do wonder how they managed to escape… they shouldn't be able to roam out here, even in its decrepit state the asylum seems to still have its walls intact," Beatrice said, the answer came rather quickly as they heard a loud thud from the entrance. A Hollow had flung itself from the wall above it, in said wall, there was another Hollow aiming at them with a bow.
"That answers it." Eskar said as he quickly sidestepped to avoid the arrow. Meanwhile, Beatrice used two soul arrows, one to kill the archer and the other to kill the Hollow that jumped down the wall.
"I suppose the asylum really was overrun in the end, but then again, it's not like wild Hollows could escape this mountain," Beatrice said.
"Hmm…"
"You, you." Eskar heard a soft voice coming from the side. At seeing no one he wondered if he was hearing things until the voice spoke again. "Here, here, over here." The voice said. Eskar was weary, especially as the voice seemed to be coming from the cliff. However, what made him curious was how the voice itself sounded like… the caw of a bird.
"Eskar?" Beatrice called to him as he saw him eyeing one side of the cliff, and slowly approaching it.
"You, you. Please, give me, soft! Give me, warm!" The voice cawed again, this time Beatrice heard it as well, both of them followed it until they saw a nest on a broken rock wall, dangerously close to the edge.
"Here, here. Warm. Give me, soft!" The voice cawed again, the only thing they could see near the nests was a couple of eggs, but they could tell that a creature was there.
" I hear it but…" Eskar began.
"Is this…" Beatrice began.
"Caw! Me, me. Give me, warm!" The nest cawed again.
"This… this is a Trading Crow!" Beatrice said.
"A Trading Crow?" Eskar echoed.
"Yes, they say they are invisible little crows with a fancy for certain objects, I've only heard of them, with ancient tales of heroes that got weapons from dealing with these little creatures… I never thought they were real." Beatrice chuckled.
"Certain objects…" Eskar pondered as he looked at the nest.
"Warm, warm. And soft, soft!" The little crow cawed.
"I don't know what it might mean with warm and soft, perhaps…" Beatrice searched inside her coat for something that was soft and warm, she decided to take a gander at a prism stone, they were rather soft after all.
"Give me! Give me! Soft! Soft!" The little crow said as Beatrice placed the stone on the nest.
"What is that?" Eskar asked as Beatrice backed away from the nest.
"A prism stone, from stories these little things always seem fond of weird items, many of them unique in their own way, but also sometimes more ordinary things as well."
"... They are Trading Crows, so then… they give something in return?" Eskar asked.
"So says the tale, but even then these little things only exchange after a while, is like they won't take something until nobody is looking at them."
"And, what do they give?"
"I've heard different things, some say they will give only to those that are virtuous, others say that it only depends on what you give them and if they will accept it. There is a story about a king that wondered once if he could use them to get infinite wealth, but quickly found out that they only will accept something once, and then you'll have to find something else to give. And if you scare them… they tend to disappear. Many stories tell of Trading Crows that appeared in front of some fortunate people, only to leave and never be seen again." Beatrice told him.
"... They seem to be… be… visible… not-" Eskar tried to guess the word.
"Invisible." Beatrice helped him.
"Invisible."
"Heh, I suppose. Some say they have ties to a particular goddess of sin and only appear in front of the generous and will forever avoid the greedy, I'm not sure if they are tied to Velka though…"
"Like the giant crow." Eskar guessed.
"Precisely, that's only a messenger, these little things, they don't fit her motto of absolution and sin, at least from what I've heard… maybe they are something more," Beatrice said, Eskar tilted his head as he looked… at where the creature was supposed to be, he guessed odd beings trading with humans wasn't different in his world, the Etherans existed after all… but by comparison, this little crow seemed far more innocent. Eskar kneeled close to the nest as he stared at the stone Beatrice placed.
"Warm? Warm? Soft? Soft?" The little crow asked again, it was in a way cute, he did ponder what he could have that was actually warm or soft, at that he remembered how he made a pillow out of the moss of the Demonic Foliage. It was rather soft, and so he tried.
"Give me! Give me! Soft! Soft!" The little crow said as Eskar pulled out the moss, he gave it a piece of purple moss, then it asked for the other moss Eskar had in its hands, and it seemed rather excited about it. Since he had plenty, Eskar saw no harm in giving the crow more moss, he gave it a piece of red moss and then a piece of blooming moss. He was about to give more until the little crow stopped him.
"No, no. Enough, enough." The little crow said, Eskar then stopped trying to give it moss. Then Beatrice tapped his shoulder.
"I know it's rather adorable, but we should leave it alone, we still have to search this asylum after all." She said with a chuckle, it seemed she was also having fun with the strange crow.
"Right." Eskar stood up and walked away from the nest, he did give it a little goodbye wave, even if he wasn't sure if the crow would see it… or care. With that done they made their way to the asylum.
"Soft, soft. Mmm, Twinkling!"
They reached the asylum door and tried to see if there was a way to open it, only for the door to not budge in the slightest. They searched the nearby areas for any entrances but the walls seemed indeed too steep for them to either climb or jump atop of them. There didn't seem to be many options for them to go inside… that was until something happened.
"We could try to climb that ruin and... jump across?" Eskar offered, but even he wasn't sure if that would work.
"I don't see anything we can use to jump that high, at least not both of us. And that's if the ruin can withstand us." Beatrice said. Suddenly however they heard a crack and the sound of metal hinges moving.
"Quod…?" (What the…?) Eskar and Beatrice turned around to see the door moving on its own, opening unto what seemed to be the courtyard of the Undead Asylum.
"They seem to be letting us in?" Beatrice wondered.
"That isn't a good sign… is it?" Eskar said.
"No," Beatrice confirmed their suspicions, it indeed wasn't good. Both of them slowly went through the door, Beatrice with her staff raised and Eskar with his new longsword drawn, they were both expecting some welcoming committee. But were left with nothing as not a single being seemed to be waiting for them.
"This place… if it was meant to jail Undead, what kind of guards did it have?" Eskar asked.
"I'm not sure, the church was one of the main contributors to the idea of the asylums, and therefore I believe it had some assistance from the gods," Beatrice said.
"So…"
"I'm not sure, maybe if we are unlucky there will be silve-'' Beatrice stopped talking as they heard a massive roar and the sound of a rock being crushed in one big tremor, they stayed alert and slowly walked towards the door that led them further into the asylum. Said door was shut and looked similar to the previous door, however as they kept getting closer they heard more rumbling and stone being crushed, what was concerning was the fact that the rumbling sounded something akin to steps, giant steps.
"Van... io chose illic…" (There's… something up there...) Eskar could only guess.
"Eskar!" Beatrice called to him, the door behind them was closing on its own. They moved back to see if they could at least stop it from closing, and at that moment, they saw a giant shadow at their feet, they looked up to see a mass of grey and horrid skin that came crashing down like a giant boulder. The crash landing sent a shockwave that made them fall back towards the side of the room.
Eskar and Beatrice looked up to see a monster, a giant fat creature with tiny wings, horns, bone spikes coming out of its knees and elbows, and more worryingly… a giant hammer.
"A Demon," Beatrice said as she and Eskar stood up, sadly they didn't get much room to do anything as the demon had taken advantage of it landing near them, and was already swinging its hammer.
Both Eskar and Beatrice ducked and back stepped to avoid the giant swing, both blinded slightly by the air and rubble that had been pushed their way. Both of them had to quickly think about what to do as the Demon was already going for a second swing. That was when they noticed the passage behind them, it was a narrow corridor and there was no way to tell what was on the other side… but regardless it was sure that the Demon wouldn't be able to fit through there.
Eskar and Beatrice dived towards the passageway and nearly fell down the stairs as they did so, the Demon's hammer crashed against the doorframe, a fence gate had come down as the demon did so. It started to swing the hammer against the door again, and again, and again. Eskar and Beatrice slowly backed away as the walls shook with the force of the strikes.
They walked down the steps and heard that the Demon stopped trying to smash his way through the wall, but even from down the steps they saw that there was no way they could go up that direction again, as the gate had been completely bent and destroyed.
"I suppose we can only go this way now," Eskar said.
"Yes." Beatrice agreed, they turned around and saw a convenient bonfire was at the bottom of the stairs.
"Why here?" Eskar asked.
"Bonfires are… odd, they don't seem to have any reason as to where or why they appear, some say they are the final gift of saints or Undead that perished here, it would explain the bone dust… other's say they have a more divine purpose. Regardless, they are not a mystery I feel we should tackle today, and definitely not here, let's just be thankful we have a place to rest." Beatrice explained.
"Hmmm." Eskar hummed as they took the chance to refresh themselves on the bonfire, after that they decided to push forward the only way they could, forward. The bonfire was next to an area that looked to a sort of sewer for the asylum. That or the place had been flooded due to some unknown reasons. Either way, it was connected to a rundown hallway that had many crumbled cells, and more notably an Undead Archer shooting arrows at them.
Eskar sidestepped to avoid the arrow and Beatrice blocked it with her shield. Both of them rushed upwards until Beatrice got close enough to fire a soul arrow, the Undead tried to run, but it didn't manage to turn fast enough to avoid the magic projectile. It dropped dead as souls went to both Beatrice and Eskar.
"That should take care of-" Beatrice stopped as she saw a black figure step forward from the way the Undead tried to run through, both of them knew what it was. "A Black Knight?!" Beatrice exclaimed as the knight stared at them, with his shield raised, and with the sword aiming for them he rushed and thrust it forward.
Eskar got in his way and parried the attack with his own sword, batting the blade away slightly and countering with a quick punch followed by two strikes from his sword and a kick that pushed the Black Knight slightly away. Eskar tried to rush in with a thrust, but it got blocked by the black knight's shield, the knight took the chance to attack again with a wide swing, but Eskar managed to duck the attack with a spinning heel kick and Beatrice stepped away from the area of the swing. The kick was strong enough for the black knight to stumble… slightly, but stumble nonetheless.
Beatrice took the chance to blast the knight on the head with a heavy soul arrow, and made the knight recoil at the hit. The knight answered with four strikes of his sword and a shield bash, Eskar did his best to block the strikes and duck one of them, however they forced him back and made his wrists ache, then the shield bash broke his posture and left him open to a glancing blow from the black knight. He was pushed straight back and slammed into Beatrice. She helped him recover and both noticed as the knight was coming with a downwards strike. Together they parried the attack, Eskar with his sword and Beatrice with her shield, Eskar used the chance to counter with three fluid slices and a Meia Lua kick.
At the same time Beatrice shot another soul arrow directly at the chest of the knight, after that both nodded and decided to get past the knight. The knight tried to attack them but both of them stepped to the side, avoiding the sword strike. Eskar kicked the knight's ankle and followed with a horizontal strike, while Beatrice shot an arrow and ran past the knight. Eskar jumped on the wall to avoid the knight's counter strike and performed a spinning flying kick to its head while doing so, staggering and landing behind it.
Beatrice threw a soul spear at the knight's back and with a final stab in the back by Eskar the knight crumbled to its knees, finally falling to the ground and disappearing into souls as Eskar kicked him to wrench his sword out.
"Damn… huff… Didn't expect to find a Black Knight here." She said as she picked the red titanite chunk that it left behind. "Are you doing well?" She asked Eskar.
"Igen. I'll be fine." Eskar answered as his body glowed, his body practically recovered with the tension he got with the death of the knight.
"Good, we should continue, we still have plenty of rooms to search if we intend to find something we can use." She told him, he agreed and both of them made their way up the staircase and into the second food of the asylum.
"Huff… Huff…" Oscar the Knight of Astora, took deep breaths as he sat atop his new little throne of rubble, his bones and body still aching, he could feel it, death coming for him, and even more, an eternal darkness, he was about to go Hollow.
How many had he seen gone into that same abyss? How much did he lose? How many times had he died? How much of the world had he seen crumble away into dust only to be the one left standing? He didn't remember… all that he had left was this light shining down upon him. There had been so much loss and death and only to succumb here… without even being able to reach the land of the lords. He pondered this as he clung on to life… for what he didn't know, but he could only hope. Maybe he was waiting for a peaceful death, one where he could simply stare into the sun and quietly fade away.
Even that seemed to be too much of a hope as he saw the wall nearby crumble due to some rolling ball, out of the wall appeared a Hollow Soldier, stepping through the wall and slowly waddling towards him, he sighed as he thought that this was the way he was going to die, he closed his eyes and waited, however, something made him perk up, he heard running steps… of something fast, he looked back to the Undead Soldier to see it raising its spear ready to strike him down. Only for it to be impaled by a sword on the back and through the stomach, and when it didn't kill it, a second sword appeared with a small flash of light and impaled the Hollow again. It fell and it revealed his savior… A man with a black mask with a blue, carved, and glowing face that seemed to resemble a skeleton of sorts.
The man banished his second sword into glowing shards that disappeared in an instant and sheathed his other sword, Oscar managed to see that he was also accompanied by a witch or sorceress, if the staff and hat were any indication of course.
"I… I thank you…" Oscar said between shallow breaths.
"Are you alright?" The witch asked him.
"... No… I'll die soon… you…" He attentively looked at both of them, and managed to see their features, there was something different about them, it took him a second but he could guess what it was. "You… you both… you aren't Undead are you?"
"No, we are not." The witch said.
"... Impressive, how did you last so long? And how did you get here?" Oscar coughed as he felt his insides giving out. "... You'll have to excuse me, but I'm done for…, I'll die soon and then lose my sanity." Oscar told them, both the witch and the man with the mask stared at him for a bit.
"... you are not Undead, but that doesn't matter. Could you please hear me out…?" He asked, The man with the mask kneeled close and the witch got closer as well. "...Regrettably, I have failed in my mission…, but perhaps you both can keep the torch lit. There is an old saying in my family… Thou who art Undead are chosen… In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of the Ancient Lords… When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know…" Oscar let out a gasp of air as he finished the saying. "Well now you know… and I can die with hope on my heart…" He breathed out as he stared back the man and the witch. Both of them looked at one another as if wondering what to do, the witch in particular looked at the man as if asking a silent question.
The man with the mask turned to him and gently placed his hand in his forearm, Oscar could maybe chuckle, if he wanted a forearm handshake as to say that they would continue his mission, then he would be disappointed as he actually couldn't muster the strength to lift his arm,... still Oscar summoned whatever strength he had left and returned the gesture, it did bring a sense of relief after all. However that was when the man with the mask spoke.
"We are not Undead, it's not our mission, but you still have fight left in you." The man said, the ghostly echo of his voice slightly strange, but Oscar heard the words clearly.
"... I… I can't…" Oscar shuddered as he felt some strength returning to him, the hand of the stranger was doing something, it felt like a minimal amount of strength was returning to him.
"In illa két lábukban, havas mensuram dépasser leurs velle. Do staru." The man said.
"... W- what?"
"Those that stand back in their two feet, have the will to push beyond their limits. So stand." The man said again, this time in a speech he understood.
Oscar would be lying if he said he wanted it to end, not yet anyhow. With what little strength he could muster he did his best to stand up, the man with the mask helping him and bearing most of his weight, once his legs failed the man quickly shouldered him from one side and the witch did so as well from the other.
"My Estus… it's empty, I want to stand, but I don't know how long we could go or last with you both carrying me…" Oscar said to both of them.
"There's a bonfire in the courtyard, and the stairs down to it are right here." The witch said as they passed the broken wall.
"A bonfire… this close..." Oscar breathed out, he focused all his strength in moving along with the two people helping him. They walked down the stairs and opened the door, once close to the bonfire they set it alight and gently let Oscar lay next to it, Oscar felt his wounds heal, but more than that his Estus replenish… even if the bonfire was already healing him he felt a need to also drink from his Estus, just to feel the life sink back into him.
Oscar knew what it was to face death, and to come back from the death, but this was different. This time he would have lost everything, at least everything he had left, this time the end was waiting for him, but no… he had… or maybe fate had him cheat death, and it was all thanks to these two people resting next to him.
"If you will, what would be your names?"
"Eskar." The masked man said.
"Beatrice." The witch followed.
"Well, thank you for saving me, I am Oscar, a Knight of Astora."
Oscar told him about himself, he had been a member of the army until the curse found him, he then became an errant knight in a quest to the true fate of the Undead. However, he never had been to any of the asylums, and therefore couldn't really fill the prophetic tale of his family's saying. He wondered if he should have waited for him to be transferred or find another way.
He did realize one thing, however, and that was that the land of the lords was dangerous, and if he ventured alone he might never make it. The world needed for the fate of the Undead to be revealed, as it most likely was tied to a way to fix the Undead Curse. He couldn't really hope that he would be the Undead to make it, to be the one Undead to fulfill that role. And so he came up with a plan, he would go to the asylums and free the Undead that were not yet Hollow, if the prophecy was in any way true, then one of those souls that he freed would make it to the Land of the Lords and ring the bell.
"... This is the third asylum I have visited, and it seems to be the more desolate one." Oscar continued his tale. "In two previous ones I managed to free a couple of Undead, and from there I don't know to where they actually went. But here… I have found no one, and it seems that this place was more heavily guarded than the other asylums. The others had Undead Soldiers and a couple monsters, but on the roof of this place… while I was trying to scout for more Undead to free… I was stricken down by that… thing."
"The Demon." Beatrice guessed.
"Indeed, I would have never guessed an asylum would be guarded by those things, I don't know… no, I know what would have happened if you hadn't showed up. I would never have dreamed of being saved by a Witch and a Masked One however." Oscar laughed.
"Masked one?" Eskar echoed the nickname.
"I… mean no disrespect-"
"You know of people like Eskar?" Beatrice jumped in on the conversation, Oscar clearly noticed that Eskar wasn't… offended per say, he was curious and he appeared to be looking for details.
"The Masked Ones… they are my people, the people from Adal." Eskar said.
"When I found Eskar… he was lost in a forest deep in Lordran, not sure of where he was or even when… the thing is, he appeared in that forest recently. While I heard tales of people like him appearing even in my- for years." Beatrice explained.
"Ah yes, the Masked Ones... I've heard they are like phantoms from Soapstones. Many appear from time to time, but not all seem to be from… the same time. Just as some phantoms come from the distant past, the people seem to come from another time entirely, none of them particularly sure where they are…" Oscar said.
"Eskar only has arrived recently, and we are looking for more of his people." Beatrice added.
"We are groups that look after each other, I need to know what has happened to them if they have been here for a long time." Eskar said to Oscar.
"I wouldn't really know… in my journeys I only heard of some of the Masked Ones, what I heard is that they were reclusive, they stick to themselves, travel in groups… an Undead… an old one, said that he once encountered a clan of them, and that they didn't respond kindly to strangers. I heard they have their unique language, and they have their own way to fight and their own magic…"
"I can say those things are true," Eskar admitted.
"Huh… either way, I've only faced one Masked One in my travels, they had a black mask and grey skin… they didn't talk, they were wandering and twitching, and once he saw me, he attacked me. He tried to kick and punch my shield but once I got a chance I struck back with my sword…" Oscar told, he realized he might have said a bit much when he realized he was speaking about fighting and killing one of Eskar's people. "... I, I killed them… I didn't know."
"It was a Lost Prospect, you don't need to worry," Eskar told him. "What happened when he died?"
"He banished into… pieces of light, like golden glass shattering." Oscar said.
"I see." Eskar said.
"We heard some of the Masked Ones got sent here, to the asylums." Beatrice said to Oscar.
"I've… I haven't seen any on this asylum, I did see one running away as I freed other Undead in my first asylum, but that's the last I saw of them, they disappeared rather quickly."
"So… nothing here then?" Beatrice asked, Oscar turned towards a door that seemed to lead deeper into the asylum.
"There's a few places I haven't checked." Oscar said, at that Eskar stood up and walked towards the passageway, he looked at the dark area and noticed a ladder that seemed to lead to more dungeons inside the asylum.
"We have to check." He said looking towards Beatrice, she nodded and got up to follow him, and both of them were surprised when Oscar got up and began to follow as well.
"You are choosing to come with us?" Beatrice asked him.
"I have to check those dungeons as well, and besides. I owe you both that much." He said as he stood tall, determined to repay them for saving his life.
"Thank you." Eskar said as he gripped the edge and jumped down the hole. Beatrice and Oscar followed him and descended by using the ladder to jump down, the area seemed to be indeed flooded or to really have a poor sewage system, whatever the case they made down to the lower cells and saw that they weren't alone in the dungeons. There were a couple of docile Hollows that didn't even seem to notice them. But more worryingly, there was another Black Knight, seemingly searching for something.
"Another one." Beatrice cursed.
"Another? This never happened before, what would make this asylum so special?" Oscar wondered with his shield raised. The black knight soon noticed them and began to charge towards them, the three of them got ready to strike as soon as it got close. Beatrice used a soul spear to damage the knight… regardless of shield or armor, magic could go through. Eskar and Oscar went forward and met the knight halfway, Oscar blocking the sword of the knight with his shield while countering with a forward thrust, Eskar attacked as well, going with a slice to the ankle and stab to the foot before kneeing the knight in the gut.
The knight might have been able to pose a threat to one of them, or even two, but the three of them working together were able to cover each other and dismantle the Black Knight quickly. Eskar did a spinning hook kick that hit the knight on the head and made him stumble to the side, as Eskar moved and struck with his sword to get behind the knight, Oscar struck with his own sword and used his shield to keep the sword of the knight in place. Beatrice carefully aimed soul arrows to hit the black knight and weaken him. In the end, the knight was stabbed in the back by Eskar, impaled on the side by Oscar, and sniped on the head with a heavy soul arrow by Beatrice.
"Huff. I've never seen a kick like that." Oscar said as the knight disappeared into souls and left behind a red titanite chunk.
"You seem to handle yourself well too." Eskar appreciated as Beatrice joined them and picked up the piece of titanite.
"It's curious… even if the Black Knights were the knights of Gwyn, supposedly now they are wandering survivors from the war with the demons… but what could have pulled them here?" Beatrice wondered, at that they heard rumbling and turned to see another demon, patrolling the lowest part of the asylum.
"Maybe… after that szörngium (monster)?" Eskar offered.
"Is that the same one?" Beatrice wondered.
"No… the one on the roof, it was guarding a top there, from the beginning, this one… it seems like it's patrolling, and there doesn't seem to be an exit for it." Oscar said.
"So two demons," Beatrice said as they watched it saunter around the area, since in the demon didn't seem to be worried about the, even when it glanced at them, it focused on just continuing it's patrol, the trio stared back at the cells, particularly at the one benign guarded by the black knight.
It was empty, save for a strange wooden doll that was placed there, and something was odd about it.
"This thing, it's not normal." Beatrice said.
"How so?" Oscar asked.
"It has traces of something… something I can't place, it's tied to something magical, but I'm not sure what."
"Hmmm." Oscar wondered, however both of them turned as Eskar began to try and open a cell, pushing it and kicking it to try and make the gate budge. Beatrice stored the doll and went to see what was happening, curled up in a ball on a corner, there was a figure, there was someone in the cell… and it had a mask similar to the one Eskar had.
Oscar helped him with the door and together they were able to rip the gate off its hinges and get into the cell, once inside Eskar slowly approached the figure, it was a woman and she was shaking as if she were freezing.
"Est-ce es bonfartas?" (Are you alright?) He asked as he got close and extended his hand, once he got closer though, he was able to distinguish the grey skin and the black mask. The woman screamed as she rabidly stood up and pressed herself against the corner of the room. All of them backed away as the Prospect suddenly stared at each of them, and then viciously eyed Eskar, they noticed that she was looking at his Shards.
In a second she rushed forward and kneed Eskar against the wall, Oscar moved to intervene and had swiftly his leg swept by a kick that made him fall on his back, it tried to go back towards Eskar, however he retaliated with a front kick and sidekick that pushed her away, Beatrice then hit her on the back of the head with her staff, Oscar rose up from the ground and used his shield to trip the Prospect. And finally, Eskar used a hammer kick to smash her head into the ground. She quickly faded into shards of light and disappeared.
"What happened to her?" Beatrice asked.
"She… she died." Eskar said, unsure as to where she would unfold, if they could unfold in this land.
"Something was wrong with her… she wasn't Hollow, and yet she seemed fixated on those things you have." Oscar said to Eskar.
"She was a Lost Prospect." He said, mostly to himself.
"What is a Lost Prospect Eskar?" Beatrice asked him, he had never told her too much about Adal or the Absolvers, he hadn't even mentioned the Guides, but sooner or later he would have to explain it.
"They… we, the Masked Ones, we come from another world." Eskar began, giving Oscar the courtesy of starting from the beginning.
"Another world?" Oscar asked, estranged by the idea. "Like from Soapstones?"
"Similar, but, a far more distant world from what I've gathered… don't worry, Eskar didn't even know himself that was possible, and neither did I." Beatrice left the explanation at that, and both of them let Eskar continue.
"Where we come from, the land is ruled by a group called The Guides, they are the ones ruling over the flow of Essence…" Eskar said, showing one of his Shards. "... And the ones that gave us… these." He said tapping his mask.
"You've never removed that mask…, is not just a mask is it?" Beatrice asked.
"This, is a Mask of Moral. They allow the Guides to command us, and… it makes us unable to die."
"Unable to die? Like an Undead?" Oscar asked. Eskar nodded.
"Just like the Undead are tied to places or bonfires, this ties us to Altars, whenever we die we are folded, we disappear into those shards of light, and then we unfold and are put back together. Lost Prospects are those that can't bear the process of death and rebirth, instead they lose their mind and start worshiping raw essence, just like a Hollow would seek and hunt for souls… but unlike hollowing, it's not permanent… people have come back from that state. I thought that maybe without essence around, maybe some Lost Prospects would eventually recover… but…" Eskar wondered, the absence of essence seemed to be worse, it seemed to force a very strong withdrawal.
"You said, it was reversible, have you seen it?" Beatrice asked.
"Once… and only once, I only met one person that claimed to do so, maybe that's the problem." Eskar pondered, Kuretz had been indeed unique, he could bend lost prospects to his will… but the fact that already so little people became Absolvers, the ones that came back from losing themselves must have been even less. He would have kept pondering until Oscar coughed to draw his attention.
"I know it doesn't mean much, but like I've said, some of your people are out there, and not in this state." Oscar said to him.
"... Right." Eskar nodded.
"But if we want to find them, we are gonna need to get out of this asylum." Beatrice said to them.
"True. And I don't think I would like to spend any more time here." Oscar agreed.
The door towards the exit from the asylum was still locked, and beyond it the Asylum Demon was still guarding the door to the cliff. The trio decided to continue through the second floor and then onto the third, they explored for any doors or alternative exits. They did manage to find a corpse hanging from a broken staircase with something in it, they used Beatrice's staff to pull it down, the corpse did have a ring, a rusted iron ring that didn't seem to serve any particular purpose. However Beatrice did advice to keep it, as it seemed to have something magical about it.
Oscar had the key to the upper levels and there the three had to deal with a couple of Undead, but they killed them quickly. Eskar by kicking one of the balcony with a roundhouse kick, Beatrice killed another with a soul arrow and Oscar charged in, directly towards another with a strike and a thrust of his sword.
"Unless we want to jump, there's no other exit." Eskar said as he eyed the fog door, still unsure as to why they existed, maybe it was indeed the way strong beings or guardians made sure that whoever passed through had to face them.
"The Demon is more than likely there, waiting for us." Beatrice said, Oscar was holding his sword in a death grip, he had already failed to defeat it before, he did wonder if now he would have a better chance.
"What should we do?" Oscar asked.
"The demon… is down there, and the door is locked, this our only way into that room." Eskar said.
"What about the door that he guards." Beatrice asked.
"It's' the guardian." Oscar said.
"Hmm?"
"Every asylum had a guardian, nothing like this, but all the guardians had the key for the asylum… as if daring the prisoners to fight it to be able to get out."
"That means we have to kill it." Beatrice pondered for a second.
"If it is waiting for us down there, we could get a shot at its head." Eskar proposed, none of them knew what they would really face once in there, so far the demon had caught them by surprise, but there was only one way to find out.
Together they crossed the gate and faced the Demon, it was staring at them and waiting for them to act, Beatrice fired a soul spear and the Demon immediately tried to raise it's hammer to break the tiny platform they were in. That was when Oscar and Eskar jumped in however, with their swords in hand Oscar plunged his sword straight into the forehead of the demon while Eskar plunged his sword into its jaw.
As the Demon flinched and staggered it shook them off, both of them ripping their swords out and landing on the ground. They both had to roll away in different directions as the Demon swung its hammer at them, it tried to follow them but it was pelted with a soul mass in the back by Beatrice, it went at her with a backward swing that destroyed the platform that she was on, she jumped before the hammer could hit her and landed with roll, her ankle did feel somewhat injured however.
At that moment Eskar used his own soul darts to bring the attention of the Demon, he attacked it from the side with a horizontal cut and with a powerful sidekick to the leg, followed by a powerful roundhouse and a cleaving slash. Oscar for his part covered the other side, using his sword in both hands to deliver a jump attack to the Demon's knee, after prying the sword off he did a horizontal strike to the entire leg.
The Demon used its hammer to smash the ground close to it and force the Knight and the Absolver to back away, at which Beatrice fired another heavy soul arrow that impacted the Demon in the face and made it stumble. Without missing a second Eskar and Oscar went at the monster's belly, a disgusting sight, but nonetheless they both hacked at the demon's abdomen. Eskar unfolded Rysrin's sword and used both swords to make multiple slices on the skin, Oscar did the same with an upwards strike followed by a ramming thrust. Eskar rammed both swords in as well and Beatrice got close to deliver an entire volley from a soul mass accompanied by a couple of soul arrows.
The Demon roared and swung it's hammer once, the group was ready to rush in again until the demon used its wings to lift itself up and then, they noticed that it seemed to barely hover and seemed ready to…
"It's going to…" Oscar realized as the demon was about to try to squash them… by landing on them.
"Run!" Beatrice called and the three of them scattered, the demon landed making the ground tremble with it's behind, it stood back up facing Beatrice and Oscar, wondering where its third opponent went.
It didn't have to ponder for long as it felt feet running up it's back, Eskar had used the chance run and climb the Demon' back and drive his sword at the back of it's head, he then held on to his sword and use his Earthquake atop the Demon, making drop to the ground directly in front of Oscar.
"Hhya!" Oscar roared as he thrust his sword and pierced the Demon right in between the eyes, he yanked the sword out as it let out a spray of blood, the demon recoiled. However, Eskar decided to make sure it stayed on the ground by dislodging his sword forward and doing a flip with an illusion twist kick that pushed the head of the Demon down again. The Demon looked up as it tried to get up and saw Beatrice pointing her staff directly at it, killing it with a direct soul spear to the head.
"We… we did it." Oscar let out a chuckle at the thought.
"We did… I'm… I'm… uh." Eskar tried to find the word, only to realize he didn't know it.
"Relieved?" Beatrice helped him.
"No, eh, greatly… goodly surprised uh…"
"Impressed?"
"Impressed, impressed… impressed." He repeated to himself to remember. Oscar walked to the spot where the demon dropped dead and banished into souls, it left behind the key to the door. With the three of them gathered they ventured towards the cliff.
"So, how are we going to get Lordran?" Oscar asked.
"Eskar and I thought we'll go in a different direction from here… but maybe Lordran is the next best bet to look, we heard that there might be some Masked Ones somewhere…" Beatrice said and Eskar nodded.
"Well… we'll get to the edge of the cliff, if the crow is still around maybe... it will bring us back… somehow." Beatrice said, and even though they couldn't see it, Oscar raised an eyebrow.
"The crow?" He asked.
"Eskar and I, we… Eskar?" Beatrice paused as she noticed Eskar wasn't next to them, he was staring at the spot where the Trading Crow was.
"Something is glowing." Eskar said as he approached the nest, there in the nest there four pieces of shining white stones and a piece of another stone as well.
"Soft! Soft! Twinkling! Twinkling!" The Trading Crow cawed.
"Are those… pieces of Twinkling Titanite?!" Oscar marbled, he had never seen so much Twinkling Titanite in one place.
"It is… and a piece of Demon Titanite as well." Beatrice said, both her and Eskar huddled and kneeled close to the nest to pick up the stones. The rocks were surprisingly neatly separated.
"You! You! Her! Her!" The little crow cawed as it moved the pieces of titanite to say which belonged to who.
"Bring! Bring more, soft! Bring more, warm!" The Trading Crow told them.
"What is this thing?" Oscar asked.
"A Trading Crow." Eskar said.
"You bring it what it wants, and according to stories it will reward you." Beatrice said with a laugh, was really surprised for not only the stories to be true, but the fact that the little creature could give such rare materials. oScar for his part checked his pockets for anything soft or warm, and realized he had wasted all his supplies on the way to the asylum.
"I… don't have anything, ugh." Oscar sighed as Eskar and Beatrice came back from the edge where the Trading Crow was, Eskar giving a nod as it cawed again. He folded his pieces of Twinkling Titanite while Beatrice stored her piece of Demon Titanite.
"So now, was that the crow you were talking about?" Oscar asked Beatrice.
"No, I meant a different one." Beatrice answered.
"A different one?" Oscar asked, Eskar nodded towards the edge of the cliff, as they got close, they heard the flapping of winds, and then the giant crow appeared again.
"That is…" Oscar stood bewildered.
"A messenger of Velka." Beatrice said.
"... How is he supposed to bring us to Lordran?" Oscar asked, not sure if it would be able to carry all three of them, and not even sure if he wanted to fly.
"Uh…" Eskar pondered as well, even the crow seemed to be thinking on the same dilemma, until it seemed to reach a conclusion, it quickly swept them up, only this time it held Beatrice with one claw, Oscar with the other, and carried Eskar from the back with its beak.
If the previous journey had been uncomfortable, this one was plain terrifying. More than once the three of them felt that the crow was losing its grip on them, more than once they felt they needed to hold on for dear life if they wanted to make sure they didn't fall, and that fear and worry was there during the entire journey.
After a couple of hours they arrived in Firelink Shrine, the crow dropped Oscar and Beatrice first and then let Eskar fall to the ground next to them, the three of were a bit too eager to be on solid ground again, grasping it and shakingly standing up and holding onto a nearby object as if they were to somehow fall.
"I… I don't want to fly like that again." Oscar said as he took quick breaths.
"I agree, I do agree… yeah…" Beatrice stammered.
"I felt part of my clothes ripping… " Eskar shuddered as he tried to tell if the back collar of his shirt and fur collar were actually ripped or not.
"Oh I see you two are back, did you two actually go to the Undead Asylum, with all due respect you both aren't Undead, you'll do better to sit still or find a way out of this place." A voice called to them, the three of them turned to see the Crestfallen Warrior, still there. Oscar approached while Eskar and Beatrice stood to the side, both eyeing the warrior.
"Greetings sir, you are an Undead as well?" Oscar asked.
"Oh, what have we here, a new arrival? Let me guess. Fate of the Undead right, well you are not the first."
"I assumed… still, I am here now."
"But there's no salvation here. You'd done better to rot in the asylum… but, too late now."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, since you are here… Let me help you out. There are actually two Bells of Awakening."
"Two, but that can't be right, I was told that-"
"Yes, just ring the bell and something would happen right? But if it is any consolation, the tale is still pretty much the same. One's up above, in the Undead Church. The other is far, far below, in the ruins at the base of Blighttown. Ring them both, and something happens... Brilliant right?"
"Have… have you tried to ring them?" Oscar asked.
"Oh, countless times… but that hardly matters anymore. The tale's not much to go on, but I got a feeling that won't stop you. So, off you go. It is why you came, isn't it? To this accursed land of the Undead? Hah hah hah." The Crestfallen Warrior laughed mostly to himself.
"You… you are just going to sit here? I may not know your motives but the world out there is dying, if even one of us could be the one to know-"
"Don't pander to me about the right thing to do, those two there already did… only, at least their questions were a bit more sensible." The Crestfallen Warrior snarked. Oscar stood back slightly.
"So… you won't help?" Oscar asked the warrior.
"There would be little point in doing so, we'll both go Hollow soon enough. Hah hah hah." The man laughed again, Oscar was about to try to maybe convince the warrior in some way. That was until Eskar tapped his shoulder.
"It won't work, he might as well be rooted here now." Eskar said.
"If you want help, I can offer a spot next to me. A quiet place to go Hollow, sounds peaceful… doesn't it?" The warrior said.
"Since we are here, we might as well ask another question." Beatrice jumped in on the conversation.
"Great, more inquisitiveness. What will it be this time?" He asked.
"It's very simple, what was the last time you saw a Masked One?" Beatrice asked as she pointed at Eskar, Eskar himself stepped forward, making his interest clear.
"Hmm, I might have seen some close to Blighttown, others just all around in the sewers. I must warn you… they might not be friendly."
"You didn't care if they were there, did you?" Eskar guessed.
"I only cared if they were going to kill me, but surprise surprise. Everything here wants to kill you. And I told you what those masked people did to me, I made sure to avoid them after that."
"So you can only say that they are possibly somewhere in Lordran." Beatrice stated.
"Correct… I hope that's all you need to know, because I don't remember anything else of importance. Now if you will, could you leave me alone?" The man asked with exasperation, the three of them backed away and left him to his own devices. Now however they knew that there were possibly other lost prospects in Lordran, where they were was a good question…
"Searching the entire land would be really difficult." Beatrice admitted, Eskar lowered his head, but he nodded as he agreed.
"You two will go into Lordran then?" Oscar asked. Eskar and Beatrice paused, looked at each other, nodded and then looked back at Oscar.
"Yes." Eskar confirmed.
"It seems I will be doing the same, even if there are two bells, I came all this way, and as a knight, I have a duty to fulfill." Oscar said.
"... We could join you." Eskar offered, they had all been thinking about it, but none of them seemed fit to try and intrude in each other's quest.
"Are you certain, you are searching for your people, after all, and I am here to ring the Bell… Bells of Awakening."
"If that other warrior was after the same thing, and he found some of Eskar's people, then maybe following the the path to the bells might be the best path to follow, and together we seem to stand a better chance." Beatrice said.
"... We did work well together, it would be a pleasure to have your assistance, I do owe you both a debt of my life, as strange as that may sound for an Undead. I will help you." He said with a bow of courtesy.
"... Then we'll work together." Eskar said with his own martial salute, fist going to his palm and then bowing his head slightly.
"I thank you as well Sir Oscar." Beatrice said nodding her own head. "Then, shall we go?"
A/N: Phew… Undead Asylum done, and as I guess you figured out it was a combination of the tutorial and the return version of it. And now we have an Oscar on the group, to be honest, I just noticed the Eskar Oscar thing as I was writing, I didn't plan for that when I picked Eskar's name, but I'll admit it feels slightly odd when I write their names close to each other, as I think the words out loud when I write, and was thinking to myself "Eskar first and then Oscar… why do they sound so weird when I put the names close together?"
Well I guess it is more or less the same when it happens to people with similar names, not like I could change it now anyway, I mean I could, but I won't lol. And also finally we can start moving forward without having to deal with having to deal with going backwards and then forward… now it will be slightly more… no, the plans I have already make this differ greatly in many areas, welp fuck me. Oh well.
I'll also admit that the lore regarding Snuggly the Crow was entirely pulled out of some theories out there.