Summary: Tempest and Ornstein arrive at the archives. Everything should go smoothly. The emphasis is on should.
(Author's note: Jeez, I am really sorry taking SO long for this story to update. I am very glad for the interest in it and I promise, I will write it to the end. Also, we are finally getting into some action. I hope you enjoy!)
After the elevator had arrived, Ornstein jumped right off, heading for the small building that they had to cross to reach the Duke's Archives, not paying any attention if the Undead was following him.
"Hey, wait up, please!", his voice sounded and Ornstein stopped, not without annoyance, watching the Undead running to catch up to him.
"You are as slow as a snail.", Ornstein complained. "Maybe you should consider getting rid of some of that armour. You clearly aren't used to wearing it."
"No, it is because you make two steps when I make one.", the Undead countered.
Ornstein huffed and turned around. "Just try to keep up."
Once they arrived at the small building, Ornstein stopped in front of the Smough statue and laid a hand on his heart, saying a silent prayer, trying very hard to not let new tears form in his eyes. He was – however – brutally ripped out of his prayer by the sound of a halberd connecting with armour and an Undead's face slammed into the ground. Ornstein turned around to see him fighting one of the giant sentinels, no, that wasn't the right word, the giant sentinel was mopping the floor with him.
The Undead pulled himself up and struggled to roll out of the way from the next swing. "Um, Ornstein? How about a little help?"
Ornstein crossed his arms, watching the drama unfold. "On the way to us, you had to go through several of these guys. There is even the royal version standing right outside of the great hall. How are you able to fail so bad?"
After Ornstein had finished his rant, the Undead had already been beaten to a pulp and desperately grabbed for his Estus. Ornstein deeply sighed, grabbed his spear and drove it through the giant sentinel which disintegrated instantly.
The Undead sipped a few times from the Estus and got up. "By the lords, I thought I was done for."
"Just how did you ever made it to us?", Ornstein blurted out.
"Um... I may have just ran past them?" The Undead grinned sheepishly at Ornstein.
"How did I lose to you again?" Ornstein turned around and took care of the second giant sentinel, that had only had stood there and watched. He himself wasn't attacked by any creature in Anor Londo anyway, but the Undead wouldn't be able to get past them without being spotted.
"So, let's not waste anytime anymore and go on.", Ornstein said only to see that the Undead had ran to the chest next to the Smough statue.
"Who even put them there?", he murmured and impatiently tapped his foot, when the Undead went to the chest right of the statue and proceeded to open it. Something about this chest looked wrong.
"Oh no, wait, it's a mimic!", Ornstein shouted, but it was too late, the Undead already had fallen into the trap and groaned and squealed while the sharp teeth bit down on him several times, making blood spray, Ornstein cringed while he watched the scene, but he knew that trying to pull someone out of a mimic grab was an impossible task. Once the monster had spat the idiot out, which was hopefully still alive, Ornstein took up the fight against the mimic.
He was used to them, the cathedral seemed to attract them like cheese would attract mice. With a few graceful swings of his spear he managed to deal the killing blow. The mimic spat out the treasure it had swallowed, which fell on the floor with a clank. He picked it up, a crystal halberd.
"Huh, how fitting that this was near the Archives.", Ornstein said to himself. In the meantime, the idiot seemed to have managed to get back on his feet.
"So... are you actually planning to do anything or will you let me do all the work?", Ornstein hissed and tossed the crystal halberd in his direction, which the undead struggled to catch, but he managed.
"So this is the treasure you thought was worth to die for. They look fancy and can do quite some damage, but once they break, they cannot be repaired ever. Not a good weapon in my opinion." Ornstein turned around again, walking with long strides towards the day. He could hear the Undead clanking up behind him.
"Wait, how did you know it was a mimic?", he wanted to know.
Ornstein stopped and turned around to eye the idiot. "First, I can't believe that you wouldn't attack any chest when you can't see the difference and second, there is a subtle difference. Look at their chain and their colour. It is becoming obvious once you spot it."
"Sorry... I promise I won't let myself eat by another mimic.", the Undead stared at the ground or at least it looked like it.
"I sure hope so.", Ornstein said and walked out of the door, where another giant sentinel blocked the way to the archives. He sighed.
"I hope you actually do some fighting once we are in the archives.", he murmured and readied his spear to get rid of the giant sentinel. The Undead just stood there when it dissolved into souls.
"Sorry...", the Undead murmured once again. His defeated tone almost made Ornstein feel bad. This guy clearly wasn't a fighter. That he even managed to make it that far could be counted as a miracle. It probably was the greatest of luck an idiot like him could ever imagine to have.
The both of them walked in silence next to each other (Ornstein actually slowed down his steps a bit for the Undead) until they arrived at the long, narrow hallways, that lead to the archives.
"I haven't been here in a while, this place had been locked off for quite some while now.", Ornstein explained. "One day suddenly a fog gate appeared and we recognized it as Lord Gwyn's, even though he had long left when it appeared. He probably had it set up to activate once a certain event happened."
"So why is it gone now?"
"Because you placed the lord vessel. I guess this toothy serpent has told you all about it?"
"He only told me that I need to collect four powerful souls."
"Well, Seath is one of them and he is in the archives behind this hallway, so let's go."
The Undead nodded and followed Ornstein inside, staying closely behind him, as if he wanted to use the big body of the dragon slayer as a shield.
"How about you go ahead?", Ornstein said and swiftly changed places with him, so quick that the Undead couldn't even complain.
"Fine...", he just said and clutched shield and katana in both of his hands, carefully crossing a corner and then running back right away.
"Oh no, it's one of them.", he murmured.
"What are you talking about?", Ornstein asked and took a peak around the corner as well, spotting an armoured boar. "Oh, these are new. Seath didn't guard this hallways earlier."
"So what shall we do?", the Undead whispered as if the boar would charge at them any given moment.
"Fight, of course.", Ornstein answered. He didn't even need to think twice about this. "So how about you show me that you actually are able to fight?", Ornstein mocked. The Undead turned around with a "Hmph" and Ornstein saw him readying a pyromancy flame.
"Oh, you got yourself some pyromancy? Not a bad move.", he commented, leaning against the wall. "I just wonder why you didn't use it in your fight against us."
"You guys are dragon slayers, what would fire have done to you?", the Undead replied in a tone as if he couldn't even believe this question. Ornstein didn't answer. It was true that their armour had some more fire defense, but if the Undead had used pyromancy right away, he could have probably prevented a few deaths. Or maybe not. Ornstein's usual reaction to fire was to answer with lightning. When the idiot really was going to use a pyromancy spell, Ornstein maybe should look somewhere else.
The next thing Ornstein saw, was that the Undead got tossed at the nearest wall. Judging from gazing at the armoured boar and the sound he had heard before the Undead flew through the air, at least one spell made it through. The Undead stood up, grabbed his weapon and charged at the boar, which quickly made him connect with the ground again.
"You don't attack them from the front, but from behind.", Ornstein broke his silence and leaped over the boar to drive his spear into that one particular unarmoured part of the boar.
"There isn't enough room for me to go around it.", the Undead shouted and muttered a "Brutal...", when he saw Ornstein's attack.
"Just jump over it!", Ornstein called out to him, not minding that his spear stuck deep in the rear of the boar.
"You don't really think I am able to do this wearing several pounds of plate armour?"
"Then don't wear several pounds of plate armour!"
"You really think I am able to jump like you AT ALL?"
"Fine, then not.", Ornstein pulled his spear out of the boar which had squeaked in agonized pain over their whole conversation. "Just finish it off."
The Undead nodded and hurled a fireball at it, making the boar collapse to the ground. He took another sip of his Estus and stared at the tiny rest still into it. "I hope the next bonfire comes soon...", he complained.
"We have been on our way for 20 minutes now and you already have used up all your Estus...", Ornstein shook his head in disdain. He took up the lead again and when he rounded the next corner... "You won't like this, there is another one of them..." He could hear how the idiot groaned loudly.
"Alright, I have to admit, it is quite sadistic of Seath to place them into such a narrow hallway.", Ornstein mentioned. "I will weaken it like the first one, then you finish it off."
The Undead nodded and one spear strike and one fireball later the boar was also taken care off.
"I don't get how you can stab into their butt with a straight face.", the Undead murmured.
"Who said I have a straight face doing it?", Ornstein teased, making the Undead cover his helmet, probably in shame of having being heard. But when Ornstein was honest to himself, he had seen some messed up stuff in his life, stabbing some boar into the rear wasn't the icing on the cake. He stared at this spear though, which was riddled with blood now and maybe... other things, he should clean it soon.
The hallway ended and they arrived in a large room and the Undead sighed in relief when he saw the bonfire, rushing over to it, to fill his Estus. Ornstein used this opportunity to get out a cloth and clean the tip of his spear of any blood or other bodily fluids.
After he was done, he walked over to the Undead, who just stared into the bonfire. "Well, can we go?"
The Undead moved with a start. "Sorry, just had to brace myself." He got up and took a look around. "So these are the archives? I was expecting more books."
"We aren't at the library part now, idiot." Ornstein pointed at a platform in front of them. "We first have to take the elevator up." Ornstein walked over, pulled the lever and the elevator came down with a rattling noise. He walked on it and saw how the Undead followed.
"So, when we are up there.", Ornstein said after pulling the lever to get the elevator moving. "We have to expect do deal with Seath's experiment and nobody can say if there are traps. Follow my lead and don't storm forward, understood?"
The Undead nodded, clutching his katana and shield. A knight's shield, Ornstein recognized. A pretty standard, but decent one. Ornstein always had preferred to not use shields, even as a silver knight. He of course knew how to use them, but against dragons they just felt like extra weight, so his fighting style was based entirely around being shieldless.
When the elevator stopped with a loud clang, Ornstein headed forwards and hid behind the wall, peaking in the next room. He saw how the Undead imitated him at the other wall, only that he peaked a bit too much forward and had to withdrew his head when an arrow zoomed right next to his head.
"And we have been spotted... great.", Ornstein sighed and readied his spear, seeing how the Undead ducked, muttering "How are you even able to see anything?"
"I manage and now prepare yourself, because that aren't our standard hollows.", Ornstein charged forward and drove his spear into the first target or he would have liked to do it, but instead it clanked against the solid crystal. The Undead followed and apparently wanted to slice the hollow, but faced the same problem.
"Damn, normally they aren't that hard.", he said and began another attack, as well as Ornstein and together they managed to go beneath the crystal and soon the crystallized hollow laid lifeless on the ground, but it had been only one of them. The battle noises had attracted a few more of them along with the sniper that continued to shot arrows in their direction.
"From all the things Seath had to experiment with, it had to be twinkling titanite.", Ornstein growled.
"Is this bad?", the Undead asked, struggling to fight his current foe and evading the arrows. With another sigh, Ornstein kicked his current target down and prepared a lightning bolt to get rid of the sniper.
"Bladed weapons have a hard time cracking through it.", Ornstein explained while he stabbed the crystal hollow that already had gotten up from the kick. "Something like a mace would probably be more suited, but that isn't a type of weapon I am experienced with."
Without the sniper, the Undead had managed to eventually cut his foe down. "I may have something like a mace with me, but I don't have any titanite with me to reinforce it.", he said.
"Then stay with your blade, it will still be more useful then a non reinforced weapon." Ornstein had managed to take all the foes down who had been charging at him. Which had almost been the entire room. He could probably consider himself lucky that the Undead had at least managed to strike one of the crystal hollows down.
"Have this been all or are there more?", the Undead asked and suddenly stormed the stairs up, running right into a crystal golem standing there.
"Are you nuts?", Ornstein shouted and leaped over to the Undead, who had already gotten hit by an uppercut. Great, crystal golems. Their skin was far too hard for Ornstein's spear to do much damage, so it was just him chipping away at the creature until it dissolved into dust. When he was done, he turned around and saw the Undead standing behind him, his weapon in both hands, staring awkwardly as if he had wanted to help but had been missing the guts.
"I told you to not storm off.", Ornstein growled.
"I just wanted to be useful...", the Undead replied. "Huh? I think that golem left something." And with that words the Undead had already ran past Ornstein and picked the item up.
"What is this? Some kind of broken pendant?", the Undead stared at the trinket, seemingly trying to make sense of it. Ornstein came closer to take a look.
"I have the feeling I have seen this trinket somewhere before.", he murmured but then his expression darkened, of course not to be seen under his helmet, but his voice turned into a dangerous tone. "And that was the second time you stormed off."
"Relax, there haven't been any foes anymore.", the Undead said in a far too casual tone.
"This item could have been a trap. Do I have to remind who was eaten by a mimic earlier?"
Ornstein didn't await an answer and twirled around to peak in the next room. This was where the archives really started. Loads of books were aligned on shelves, they were stacked on the floor or on tables and there were all kind of constructs and other stuff Ornstein didn't had any clue what it was or why Seath needed it. This wasn't the important thing however.
The important thing was, that in this room he could spot a good number of crystal hollows already and that wasn't counting the ones who could hide. He scanned the room once more and spotted one of Seath's channelers on the stairs. The stairs that led to an elevator that they needed to use to get into Seath's study room.
"Alright, this time we are going into this more calmly.", Ornstein whispered to the Undead.
"What? You have to talk louder!", the Undead shouted from the other side of the wall where Ornstein had peaked into the room. Ornstein winced. He thoroughly hoped that channeler hadn't heard them.
Ornstein hold a finger in front of the lion mouth of his helmet to indicate silence, whispering "Shhh, not so loud.", but realized that his whispering probably was prompting the Undead to shout again and instead gestured for him to come over to him which he did.
"Why are you whispering when I am several meter away?", he asked.
"Because I thought you were standing right next to me.", Ornstein sighed. "I want us to go into this room and not spark up a storm right away. Can you do this? Are you able to search the left area of the room and taking care of every crystal hollow that charges at you without the channeler in the middle taking note?"
The Undead seemed to consider. "I can try...", he said but it didn't sound very convincing.
"Are you still having estus left?"
The Undead nodded and Ornstein relaxed a bit. "Then you can take a few hits without trouble. I am going to clean out the right part. We meet behind the stairs to take care of the channeler."
Another nod. Ornstein gave the Undead a signal when to start only to gain a shrug of the small not-knight. Of course, he didn't had any clue how the military gesture code worked. Ornstein sighed again. They had been on this journey for less then an hour now and he couldn't wait for it to be over. Ornstein settled for another, simpler gesture, that the Undead could understand and he nodded once he got it. Then both of them were off into the room.
Ornstein tried to make as little noise as possible, not an easy task with wearing several pounds of plate armour, but he had worn it for so long, that it was easy for him to dampen some of his noise. He fought his way through any crystal hollow daring to stand in his way and made it to the stairs to see that there was another crystal hollow hidden. Very clever of Seath to position them there. Ornstein easily dispatched them too and now had to wait for the Undead.
Ornstein leaned lazily against the wall, listening to the battle noises. Technically he could have gone and helped the Undead with his side now, but Ornstein already was sick and tired of having to do almost all the work. The Undead had somehow managed to overcome every challenge to arrive Anor Londo and even beat him and Smough. Ornstein was beginning to assume that he was failing on purpose so that he didn't had to do any fighting anymore.
Nonetheless, the Undead needed quite some time. Ornstein could hear the clanking of a blade on crystal, the sound of estus being sipped, souls getting sucked in by the dark sign and the sound of a soul arrow connecting with an undead.
Wait a minute, the sound of a sould arrow connecting with an undead?
Ornstein shot out of his hiding place and in fact, the channeler had spotted the Undead and he was still busy fighting the last crystal hollow. Which still wasn't dead and so Ornstein decided to take the fight against the channeler up, stabbing them with his spear which prompted the creature to turn around and cast a teleport spell.
"Damn.", Ornstein muttered. "Now they can get an advantage." He frantically looked around where the channeler would appear again and spotted more crystal hollows up the stairs, readying arrows to shoot while the channeler appeared again a bit higher up.
"How many of these are here? I knew it was a mistake to let Seath guard the Undead after the Oolacile mess.", Ornstein said and threw his hands up. The Undead finally seemed to have finished his battle and stepped next to Ornstein only to panic roll away, Ornstein noticed how awkward it looked in that armour he was wearing, when two arrows and one soul arrow were aimed at his direction. Ornstein leapt out of the way too and yanked the Undead behind the nearest shelf.
"What have you done?", he hissed. "We wanted to meet behind the stairs to take care of the channeler, not get their attention right away."
The Undead ducked. "I accidentally stepped in their line of sight while fighting. It wasn't on purpose. Also, you left me all alone."
"Because I thought you could at least take care of a few crystal hollows without getting spotted." The Undead ducked again because of Ornstein's furious whisper.
"So what do we now? Hide and wait until they stopped firing?" The sound of magic and arrows hitting the shelf was still very present.
"Hollows aren't smart enough for this, they won't stop to fire in the direction they have last seen us. For the channeler, I have no clue what happened to them, but they seem to be as dumb as the hollows now.", Ornstein explained. He took a deep breath. "Listen, I am fast enough to take care of the channeler up on the stairs but you have to take care of the snipers before they have a chance to shoot me. I am not immune to arrows either."
"You surely are able to take a few hits?", the Undead whispered back.
"I am, but for your reminder, estus doesn't work on me and I have recently been badly injured. By you.", Ornstein countered. "It is in our all interest that I don't get hit by a mess that you brought us into, got it?" Ornstein crossed his arms and stared anywhere but into the direction of the Undead.
"Fine, I'll do it.", the Undead said.
"Ready, I am counting to three. One, two, thr..." And the Undead stormed off to early. "Idiot, not now.", Ornstein shouted and leapt out of his hiding place, ran over to the stairs and to the position of the channeler. Luckily, his first hit had already weakened the channeler enough that his second hit made short work of them. And he hadn't even gotten hit by an arrow, so at least this had worked out.
When Ornstein turned around, he saw instead that the Undead had a few arrows stuck in him but the snipers were dead to his feet and he took another sip from his Estus.
"Shouldn't you pull them out first?", Ornstein asked and pointed at the arrows.
"Oh, don't worry, they normally fall off once the wounds are closing.", the Undead reassured Ornstein and in fact, they just fell onto the floor.
"Impressive.", Ornstein said. "And of course I don't have to give you a rundown about what went wrong here in this room, right?"
The Undead backed away. "I have been the first time here. I admit, things haven't gone smoothly, but I have tried my best."
"With your best you mean charging far too early and even though I have told you to wait for my command, little storm?", Ornstein said disparagingly.
"Actually, it's Tempest."
"Huh?"
"My name, it's Tempest, not Storm."
"That is basically the same thing. And would you do me a favour and stop acting like one?" Ornstein pointed to the elevator. "At least we are ready to take it now, I don't see any more hollows or channelers. And this time stay behind me." The last few words he hissed between gritted teeth.
They rode the elevator in silence. Once they were up, Ornstein stepped forward. "Follow me, little storm."
"I told you it's Tempest."
"Don't care."
Ornstein followed the way to another staircase, that was so overgrown with crystals, it very much indicated that Seath's study room was near. The only foe in their way was another crystal hollow, but apparently a stronger version. However, because it was only one foe, the two of them managed to kill it quickly and soon they stood in front of the fog gate.
"Alright, Seath is a tricky one. He experimented with immortality and there is no guarantee that this isn't a trap. So our next step should be well considered..." Before Ornstein could continue his thoughts he heard the sound of someone having stepped through the fog gate, the chinking of crystals from a dragon's breath and the sound of an Undead dissolving into ash.
"Oh, this IDIOT!", Ornstein shouted out.
(Author's note: About the pendant, Tempest actually hasn't spoken with Dusk yet. Normally it only appears when Dusk has been talked to, but I want to keep the flow of the story and it wouldn't make sense for my protagonists to return to the archives after being done there, so the pendant dropped right away. I am allowing myself to take some artistic liberties simply for a smoother story. Thanks for understanding ^^)