Summary: Ornstein needs a moment after Artorias' death, so Tempest leaves him be for the moment, exploring on his own, only for the dragon slayer to appear and tell him some bad news.
(Author's note: I was suddenly super inspired for this fic, so I decided to write the next chapter earlier. Please enjoy!
While not technically fanart for this fic, the wonderful Velvialines drew Ornstein and the little Storm as frogs, which you can find on their tumblr (attempted link: post/619719879605534720/frogstein-and-little-frog-although-i-am ), so please give them some love.)
"Come on, where is it?!", Tempest murmured to himself as he was searching through Ornstein's bag, tossing a canteen and several wrapped pieces of jerky on the ground as well as a bag that smelled like it was filled with herbs (was that catmint?!). He only stopped tossing stuff on the ground, when he had a tea cup in the form of a dragon in his hand. Tempest delicately put it on the ground, pulled out a wooden dragon as well as a scarf with a dragon design, briefly wondering if he should use the scarf to bandage Ornstein's wound, when he finally found some bandages stuffed at the very bottom of Ornstein's bag.
Tempest unreeled the bandages, glanced at Ornstein who was currently still sitting near the lifeless body of Artorias and then used his sword to cut the right amount that would be needed to wrap Ornstein's arm. Once the bandages were prepared, Tempest walked over to Ornstein.
"Ornstein.", he started. "We need to bandage your arm."
Ornstein had his head lowered, his gaze probably fixed on Artorias, a face that looked peaceful. If not for the grave wounds on the wolf knights body, somebody could have thought he was merely sleeping.
"Leave me alone.", Ornstein said without raising his head.
"...I know that you need some space.", Tempest said, shifting from foot to foot, feeling uncomfortable. "But let me at least help you bandage your arm first, you are bleeding." Tempest proceeded to come closer to Ornstein and attempted to remove the armour covering the dragon slayer's left arm, but before he could strip even one piece of metal, Ornstein was shoving him with his good arm, making Tempest land on the ground with a thud.
"I said, leave me alone, little Storm!", Ornstein shouted and for the first time since Artorias had drawn his last breath, he looked at Tempest and despite all the rage and grief in his heart, he couldn't help but feel guilty, seeing the little Storm sitting on the ground like that, with his big blue eyes showing a certain disbelief, and, oh no, were these tears welling up in them?
"Please let me help you, Ornstein.", Tempest said, getting up and slowly walking back to the dragon slayer, fiddling with his armour once again.
"Fine.", Ornstein said, averting his gaze and looking down at Artorias again. He never had wanted to live through this ever again and now he had, up close and he now also knew just who had been the mysterious nameles Undead who had killed him. Freed him. His mind knew that Tempest had done the right thing, but Ornstein's heart wasn't ready to forgive him yet.
"Oh, ouch.", Tempest said once he had stripped Ornstein's armour and saw the amount of damage on his arm. The wound was hefty, a deep gash, that surely would need stitches to heal properly. The area around the wound was heavily bruised and Tempest didn't want to know how bad it would look once it started to heal.
All Tempest could do for now was cleaning it, with Ornstein not even flinching, his mind was somewhere completely else and then wrapping the bandages around it tightly to prevent further bleeding. He regretted that he had forgotten almost anything about proper first aid and how to treat wounds, because as an Undead, Estus would heal any wound and if the Estus was failing, a bonfire would and if the Estus was empty and no bonfire in sight, death would await him and he had to take a long, arduous journey again, hoping to retrieve the souls he had lost.
"There.", Tempest said once the arm was completely covered by bandages. "This should hold you over until we manage to return to Anor Londo and Gw..., the Dark Sun, can have a look on it."
Ornstein didn't answer and Tempest got the message. Ornstein wanted to be left alone, how he had said earlier, so Tempest quickly put Ornstein's belonging back in his bag and then grabbed for his own.
"I will explore the garden.", he said. "Don't worry, I won't run off and I won't turn hollow.", Tempest took a few steps away from Ornstein before turning around another time, adding: "Please, don't turn hollow yourself..."
Tempest then went away with long strides, which still felt puny when compared to Ornstein's and crossed Chester, who looked at him. Tempest wondered if he had heard the fight, but wasn't too keen on talking with him or anyone at the moment, stepping on the elevator and riding it up. On the way, Tempest checked his Estus, it still was generously filled, because Ornstein had done the brunt of the fighting since they had last rested at a bonfire.
Arrived at the top of the garden, Tempest let his gaze wander over it and groaned. Ornstein had taken the shortest route to the coliseum and therefore all the guardians and scarecrows were still present. Tempest could at least spot three of the guardians and each and every one of them was accompanied by at least two scarecrows.
"Focus.", he said to himself, putting an arrow in his bow and bend it, letting the arrow fly, hitting one of the nearest scarecrows right in the head. "Yes.", Tempest whispered joyful to himself, his aim really was getting better. Though his joy was short lived, because the other scarecrow and the guardian were on their way.
Tempest switched to his sword and managed to get rid of the scarecrow by cutting off one of its arm as well as driving the sword into its head and then the guardian arrived. Tempest braced himself, his thoughts wandered to the giant sentinels of Anor Londo, foes that he never had quite figured out.
"Damn.", Tempest said to himself. "Why did it have to be giant stone knights?!"
Tempest managed to dodge out of the way of the first strike, but the second hit him and before he could even get up, he got hit a third time and found himself back at the bonfire.
Tempest sighed and searched for a humanity, but decided against it, he would probably die a few more times while he tried to figure out the guardians, so he shouldered his sword and went back into the garden, dispatching the first two scarecrows that had somehow repaired themselves in the meantime and walking back to the centre, luring out the scarecrows again and grabbing his souls before the guardian came too close.
Three deaths later Tempest had figured out how the guardians worked and was looking at the cleared centre of the garden, littered with the remains of scarecrows and guardians. There was a little pond in the middle. Tempest went near it, but couldn't see anything valuable, so he sat down, removed his boots and dipped his feet into the water. Despite his hollowed out body it was nice to feel how the water cooled his overheated food down and he sighed as he relaxed, getting out the soul of Artorias that had latched onto his darksign after the fight, investigating it and cradling it in his arms. It was fascinating, but also felt kind of sad. The souls of the other beings, especially the lord souls, had been light and full of flames, feeling warm, this soul was tainted with the dark, feeling cold and.. wrong.
"You know, Ornstein always said to me that you would like me.", Tempest said to the soul, even though he was pretty sure that Artorias wasn't able to hear him. Souls didn't possess any awareness and if, he would feel horrible for all the souls he had crushed to gain a bit more soul power. Still, it felt calming to talk to the soul, especially with Ornstein out of the commission for now.
"I was so excited to get to meet you.", Tempest said. "I didn't had a clue that it would end like this... Ornstein knew it, but he never told me. I always thought the legend of the Abysswalker that my mom told me was true. The great knight Artorias, who traversed the abyss, fought the Dark Wraiths and slayed the beast that had born the abyss itself and saved the princess abducted by it, but tragically fell shortly after that to his injuries..."
Tempest lightly squeezed the soul which wavered under his touch. "Who would have thought that it was all a lie...?"
Tears started to well up in Tempest's eyes: "And... and Ornstein! He knew about all this! He must have made sure that the false version spread. How must he have felt?! About knowing that you, his friend, failed his mission and he had to tell people a lie? I can't even fathom it. He... he must have been through so much..."
Tempest sniffled and wiped his eyes at his sleeves. "Look at how emotional I get over him. I have to admit, I have fallen for Ornstein. Fallen really hard for him, but... he doesn't like me the same. He wants to reconcile with his old master..."
Tempest looked at the soul in his hands and then continued: "Oh, but I shouldn't bother you with my problems. I need to come to terms with it. I am just a human, even worse, an undead, Ornstein is some kind of demigod, why should he ever fall for me? He only promised to escort me to the flame, after that, our ways will part."
Still, speaking it out aloud made something sting in Tempest's chest and it wasn't the darksign.
"...I want at least to be a good friend to him as long as we are still travelling together. Did you know that I found your old baking book? Ornstein told me that I can keep it. I still have it with me." Tempest put the soul in his lap and searched through his bag, producing the book. "There are so many recipes in there and I made the sheep cookies, because Ornstein likes sheep. He loved them. If not for my mission, I would love to stand in the kitchen and bake all of the recipes for him all day."
Tempest flipped through the book and rambled on: "Here, like the ginger bread cookies or the lemon pie or the dragon fruit cake or..." Tempest stopped as he read a certain note in the beautiful hand writing of the Abysswalker. "The apple pie... Artorias, you cared a lot for him, right? You two must have been best friends... I am... I am so sorry that I ripped you apart."
Tempest hugged the soul with both of his arms, the book on his lap falling to the ground, thankfully not into the water and he couldn't stop the tears from arising anew. It was all too sad. The fate of Artorias, a fallen and failed knight, how much his death hurt Ornstein, who practically had to live through it the second time and that it in fact had been Tempest who had taken him down, not wanting to lose Ornstein.
"I wish I had never picked up that pendant.", he choked out. "Then Ornstein wouldn't have gotten so hurt."
Tempest stayed like this for a few more minutes, until his tears ebbed off and then put Artorias soul back into his darksign, getting up. He felt really hot and sweaty and planned to wash his face a bit deeper in the pond, so he went closer to the middle only to trip and fall face first into the pond.
The good thing was, that he wasn't feeling hot and sweaty anymore, the bad thing was that his clothes were drenched and his foot hurt. As he shot up, gasping and coughing because of the water invading his lungs, he noticed that he had tripped over a chest. Not a mimic or he would have already been eaten.
"Huh, I didn't notice this earlier...", he said and proceeded to open the chest to reveal a titanite slab, blue in colour. "Hm, these were for the magic weapons...", Tempest murmured and his thoughts wandered to Griggs and Logan. Griggs had left Fire Link Shrine the last time he had been there and he had last seen Logan in the Duke's Archives. He should check on them once they managed to escape this place. After Ornstein had gotten proper treatment for his arm and be put into a bed and got some proper food.
Tempest waded through the pond back to dry land, pocketing the blue titanite slab, planning to give it to Rickert. The blacksmith had locked himself in, in fear of Lordran and was bored out of his mind. He seemed to excel on making magic weapons, so Tempest planned to gift him some of the weapons he didn't use for him to tinker.
Outside of the pond, Tempest got out a towel and dried himself off as good as he could, at least his armour was made out of leather and would be able to dry easily, not letting too much water to his skin. After Tempest was reasonably dry, he put on his boots and grabbed for his bag, when a shadow loomed over him.
"Oh, hey, Ornstein.", Tempest said, recognizing the sharp and spiky silhouette of the dragon slayer everywhere. "Are you feeling better?"
"It was you.", was all that Ornstein had to say as response.
"Excuse me?"
"It was you, little Storm! You are the Undead who fought and killed Artorias and the very same Undead went to take out the beast of the Abyss and even Kalameet! It was you!"
"Huh?", Tempest said, his eyeholes staring at Ornstein, slowly processing the information, before blurting out: "Wait, what?!"
"I know, it is hard to believe.", Ornstein said, crossing his arms, but wincing and relaxing his left arm, letting it dangle limply at his side.
"It's not hard to believe, it's downright impossible.", Tempest said, ruffling his wet hair with both of his hands. "I am a mess, Ornstein! I died a million times! I fought like... a whole week against you and the executioner and even after that, I wanted to give up and you had to come with me so that I had even the hint of a chance! How should I be the one who defeated this powerful foes?!"
"Little Storm, you need to calm down!", Ornstein said, holding both of Tempest's hand, which only made the Undead blush in return. "Don't forget that I am here with you. I will help you taking them down, but... you certainly need to play a part in it too. Don't be afraid. I know a lot about dragons and the beast of the Abyss has already been weakened by Artorias, you can do it."
Tempest took a few deep breathes and then nodded. "Y.. yes.. you are right. You are at my side, Ornstein. I can do anything when you are at my side."
Hearing that made Ornstein's heart sink a bit, remembering just what would happen to Tempest once they had reached the first flame. He shook off the bad feeling and decided to instead motivate Tempest a bit, regardless what happened to him in the future, in the current time he was still there: "Don't forget, little Storm, that you made it all the way to the Lordvessel by yourself. That is quite some achievement."
Tempest took a deep breath, putting a hand over his heart, or more, his darksign and said: "Y...yes, you are right. Thank you, Ornstein." Tempest straightened his posture and then looked at Ornstein's arm. "But... Ornstein, you are hurt. Will you be able to fight?"
"Oh, that...", Ornstein said. "Sure, it hurts, but I can still use my dominant arm. I should just try and don't strain my left arm too much. It least it doesn't appear to be broken, it is more a nasty cut."
Tempest grimaced, thinking about how deep the gash was and how heavily the arm had bruised already. "Are you sure you alright, Ornstein?", Tempest asked, referring to the emotional state of the dragon slayer.
"...I have to...", Ornstein said and Tempest was sure that Ornstein simply was hiding his feelings, that he would like to lay in bed and cry until his tears ran out, but that he was keeping it together for the sake of Tempest.
"A...alright then.", Tempest said and nodded again. "Then, uh, where should we head first?"
"The dragon.", Ornstein said. "I saw him flying over to the basin, we should take him out first. Besides, I fear that killing the beast will throw us back into our own time."
"Good.", Tempest said, feeling light headed. He had fought dragons before, but one had been a horrible abomination with far too many teeth and the other one had been some mad sorcerer. Fighting a dragon like the black one they had seen made him incredible nervous. He would spit fire, wouldn't he? Would Ornstein be able to stay calm in the fight? Didn't he knew the dragon from earlier? Then why was he still alive? Had Ornstein never slayed him?
"Wait.", Ornstein said, as Tempest turned around to head to the elevator. "Please regain your human form first."
"Oh, of course.", Tempest said and sprinted back to the bonfire.
As he returned, Ornstein waited for him next to the corpses of two scarecrows and started walking without saying a single word. Tempest followed him, also not saying a single word, assuming that Ornstein wasn't up for small talk and also because he was still nervous about having to fight this dragon.
The both of them rode down the elevator to the coliseum and Tempest followed Ornstein as he made a turn to the right, walking past Chester and entering a small chasm, crossing it with steady strides, Tempest running behind him, until Ornstein suddenly froze.
"Ugh, dogs...", Ornstein said and took a step back.
"Ugh...", Tempest joined in. "I hate them... They are so hard to hit and so fast and they killed me a few times surely..."
"L.. little Storm...", Ornstein gasped. "C.. could you take care of them? Me and dogs... don't... work."
"Um, alright.", Tempest said, staring at Ornstein whose whole stance was rather stiff. He took this sword in both hands and charged at he first dog he could see. While they were swift and nimble, they weren't able to sustain much damage and so one strike of Tempest's sword was enough to strike it down. Unfortunately, the painful yip of the now dead dog attracted two others and while Tempest fought them off, he managed to get bitten once.
"Ouch, they never want to let go...", Tempest hissed before he took a sip of Estus to heal the wound. Next to him, Ornstein seemed to relax.
"Thank you, little Storm.", he said, continuing to walk.
"You and animals really don't get along, huh?", Tempest said. "Well, besides sheep..."
"...I wasn't me who decided that they should dislike me.", Ornstein simply grumbled, still making a curve around the corpses. They would come back anyway, the dogs were undead. How in the world an animal managed to get a darksign and turn hollow was out of Tempest's understanding, but he stopped trying to make sense of stuff once he had arrived in Lordran. Especially when he had found a message on the ground that told him to jump and only led to another painful death. Why would another Undead play such a cruel prank? Tempest had marked the messenger as liar once he had came back from the dead.
Ornstein only stopped once they were at the top of a basin, the same one that Tempest had looked down earlier from another angle, he recognized the sound and sight of the massive waterfall. While Tempest was focusing on looking down though, searching for a way to safely descend, Ornstein looked up in the air. Tempest joined him when he heard the flap of wings and saw the black dragon soaring over the basin.
"So what is our plan?", Tempest asked. "You are the dragon slayer, so you probably know better than I how to tackle the fight."
"...I think we should go and talk to Gough.", Ornstein said.
"Huh?", Tempest looked at Ornstein. "Why? Shouldn't you be able to weaken it with your lightning? Jump on its back and clip its wings? Isn't your whole being a counterpoint for that dragon?"
"It isn't as easy as that, little Storm.", Ornstein said, shifting from foot to foot, readjusting his grip on his spear. "Why do you think this dragon is still around? Why do you think he is called Kalameet? That dragon managed to beat me. In fact, he is the reason for that scar on my left shoulder and back."
Tempest's eyes went wide as he stared at Ornstein. There was a dragon that Ornstein hadn't been able to say. The dragon slayer had failed to slay this exact dragon. And now said dragon slayer wanted for Tempest to slay the dragon he couldn't.
"You couldn't slay it and now you expect for me to slay it?!", Tempest practically screamed at Ornstein.
"It happened. I saw Kalameet's corpse. Gough confirmed to me that it was the same Undead that had slain Artorias." Tempest didn't miss the bitterness in Ornstein's voice at the last part. "Under normal circumstances, I would be able to get that dragon from the sky and help you preparing him for the finishing blow, but... I am hurt." Ornstein raised his left arm with quite some effort and then let it hang limp again. "And you are no match for a dragon that isn't grounded. It is luck that Gough is here, because he can shoot Kalameet out of the sky. In fact, he told me that he helped with grounding Kalameet, so we absolutely need to talk to him. Or, you should talk to him. I shouldn't even be here."
"Oh, alright.", Tempest said, a bit disappointed that he couldn't see Ornstein, the dragon slayer, in action again, but he had a good point about being hurt. Ornstein hadn't mentioned it, but he wasn't only physically hurt, his emotions were properly all over the place too, even though he tried very hard to stay calm and collected. Tempest wondered if a part of Ornstein resented him, because he had preferred to end Artorias's suffering instead of hoping that he would break out of the corruption.
"Where is Gough?", Tempest asked, already turning around.
"In a tower watching over the coliseum. That is why he knew all about the fight with Artorias. He had heard everything."
Heard, not seen? Only a few moments after Ornstein had finished speaking, Tempest rememberd that Gough had apparently fallen blind after the dragon war. If that was the case, Tempest wondered how he should help them. Would he shoot arrows until he landed a lucky shot? Tempest shrugged and followed Ornstein, who already had passed him and was heading back to the coliseum.
Once they arrived at the coliseum and Ornstein entered it, the dragon slayer suddenly snatched Tempest and was holding a hand in front of his mouth, preventing him from the rather important act of breathing.
"Hnngh, Orn...stein..", he brought out, as he realized that the dragon slayer had trouble with his own breathing, muttering something like "Keep it together."
"Orn...", Tempest tried again and Ornstein aggressively shushed him, only to realize a second later how tight he had grabbed Tempest and let him fall to the ground, where the small Undead gasped for air.
"What was that about?!", Tempest yelled, both hands at his hips.
"Shhhh.", Ornstein shushed Tempest yet again and then pointed with this thumb into the coliseum. "Ciaran... she's in there..."
"The Lord's Blade?!", Tempest eyes lit up, not only Gough, but also Ciaran, he was going to meet even the last of the legendary knights, but then his gaze darkened as he realized just why Ornstein was so nervous. "Oh... I am sorry.", he said, scraping the ground with his foot. Ciaran wasn't there anymore in their own time. Thinking about it, Gough also wasn't there anymore. Tempest wondered how Ornstein was feeling, not only after having to see Artorias die, but then having to see both of his old friend and companion, that had died too, again. He just wondered why Ornstein was so much more nervous about Ciaran than Gough.
"...I can't go in there.", Ornstein said. "Like I said, I shouldn't be here right now. My... past self stayed behind in Anor Londo. Ciaran went after Artorias on her own free will, but alas, she had been too late."
"...Do you want me to go talk to her, Ornstein?", Tempest asked.
The dragon slayer stared at Tempest for a while before slowly nodding and then adding in a quiet voice: "...I am sure she would like to have his soul."
Tempest nodded and turned around to retrieve the soul from his darksign. Once he had it, cradled in both of his hands, Ornstein nodded ah him. Tempest didn't move from the spot and then slowly spoke: "...Ornstein. Do you want me to say something to her?"
Ornstein stayed silent for a moment, in fact, so long that Tempest almost entered the coliseum, thinking that Ornstein would never speak, but then he heard the dragon slayer's voice, speaking in a feeblish tone: "Please tell her, I am sorry..."
Tempest nodded and entered the coliseum. Hadn't Artorias said a similar thing? Tempest wondered more and more, what Ciaran was for a person and what she meant to both Ornstein and Artorias. Upon looking around, he soon spotted the hornet, looking just as in the tales he had heard and just as on the wooden board Ornstein had drawn her on, with the bluish leather armour and the long braided ponytail. He couldn't see her face, because she was currently kneeling in front of what looked like a make shift grave, but Tempest knew that she was wearing a mask anyway.
Tempest slowly approached her, looking down at the soul. It wasn't like he wanted these things, they just flocked to him, to his darksign and because it was feeling nice when it was filled with souls, he usually left them there. Tempest didn't really had any idea what to do with them other than crushing them, but he felt like he wouldn't respect the foes he had fought if he would do this. It was a lot different as with the souls of the nameless corpses he found littered through Lordran, that ones were just leftovers from a failure, not someone he had beaten in a fight to the death. Even though his death would never be final.
Once Tempest stood behind Ciaran, he cleared his throat and prompted the lord's blade to turn around. Like expected, she had her mask on and it was impossible to see what she felt, just like with Ornstein and his helmet, but when she spoke, Tempest could hear the pain in her voice.
"…You, is that not…", she spoke. "The soul of the man who fell on this spot?" She hesitated for a second before speaking again. "He was a dear friend. I wish to pay proper respect, with that soul. Would you be willing to part with it?"
For some reason, Tempest was at a loss for words and simply nodded his head, handing the soul to Ciaran.
Ciaran spoke again, this time her voice took on a softer tone: "Thank you. You are very kind. Please take this. I no longer need it. May the Lord guide thee."
When Tempest looked down at his hands, he saw that Ciaran had shoved both of her blades into his hands, when he remembered, they were called Gold Tracer and Silver Tracer. He frowned at them, why was she giving him her weapons?
"Um...", he finally spoke. "Are you sure about this? Aren't this your weapons? Can you be a knight without them?"
Ciaran raised her head and looked at him. "There is no need for me anymore to be a knight.", she said. "Surely you have other business to attend to instead of disturbing me in my grief."
"Oh, yes...", Tempest said, looking down, feeling awful for not having considered how she must have felt. She had just lost a dear friend and that after he had seen how Ornstein had reacted to it. He blamed it that he had expected for her to be more talkative. "I should go then...", he said, but then remembered Ornstein's words: "Oh, just one thing. I shall deliver a message for you." He took a deep breath and then whispered: "Ornstein and Artorias both apologize to you."
Ciaran jerked her head around, staring at Tempest, but the small Undead had already running away, returning to Ornstein.
"Well.", Tempest said. "I could give her the soul and your words, but I don't have the feeling she wanted to talk to me." Tempest looked down at his hands and remembered that he was still carrying her weapons. "She gave me those. I don't think I could use them. Do you want them, Ornstein?"
"...So she had decided to leave as soon as Artorias had fallen...", Ornstein said and took the weapons from Tempest's hands. "Her decision shocked me back then... I was expecting for her to come back to Anor Londo with me. I would have needed her, but at the same time, Ciaran would have needed me." Ornstein traced along the weapons with his thumb, Tempest was glad that he was wearing thick metal gauntlets, because otherwise that probably would have meant death.
"Ornstein?", Tempest asked, fidgeting with his fingers. "Do you need a moment?"
Ornstein stopped tracing the weapons to look at Tempest and then said: "Yes, little Storm. Let us sit outside of the coliseum for a while."
The both of them sat down in the room with the elevator and Ornstein leaned against the wall, a deep sigh escaping his throat. "This place is opening all my old wounds.", he murmured.
"Ornstein, may I ask what happened to Ciaran in our time?", Tempest asked, knowing that he maybe shouldn't push Ornstein so much, but he was also curious why Ornstein felt the need to apologize to her.
"I haven't seen her sadness.", Ornstein simply said. "I have been a bad friend to her, but seeing what happened to Artorias, it seems like we can't change the past, we are simply forced to see it all played out like intended. ...We probably have been here the first time it happened. In a sense, all what is happening is happening now and we are a part of it."
"Ouch, Ornstein, you are making my head hurt.", Tempest said, leaning against the other wall of the room, deciding to drop the topic about what had happened to Ciaran, clearly Ornstein blamed himself for it. Tempest could ask him when Ornstein wasn't forced working through the wounds of his past.
After a good while, which was spend in silence, well, Ornstein spend it in silence, Tempest tried to convince him to drink some water and eat some jerky, which Ornstein denied, they got up and went back to the coliseum. Upon looking into it, Tempest saw that Ciaran wasn't there anymore and so the both of them entered it. Ornstein straight went to the grave of Artorias and took in a prayer stance. Tempest followed him and also gave his respects, seeing the corpse of Artorias from the corner of his eyes. As his eyes went back to the grave, he saw a white flower and what looked suspiciously like the tassel of Artorias' helmet.
Ornstein rose without saying a word and then went to the other end of the coliseum, climbing a long flight of stairs, which made Tempest pant once they finally were on top, and then stopping in front of an iron door. He took a deep breath and reached for the handle only to see that it was locked.
"Damn.", Ornstein said. "And no key in sight."
"Can't you just break it down?", Tempest asked, but Ornstein shook his head.
"If Gough has let this door locked, it has a reason. I don't want to go against his wishes by destroying the door, so that everyone can come and go as they please. The door was unlocked when I went here back then, after Ciaran had send me a message, so let's move on. The key must be hidden somewhere around here."
"When I was able to find it, it can't be hidden that badly.", Tempest grinned and the both of them left the coliseum, stopping at a bonfire which Tempest lighted and then used to strengthen his soul power. Ornstein in the meantime was staring down a warbled mess of what once must have been a town.
"The Oolacile township.", he said. "It has been so long since I had been here last, but I still remember its dangers and perils. Little Storm, follow my lead this time around. And keep out an eye for that key. Naturally, when my past self got here, the whole place had already been looted."
Tempest joined Ornstein and nodded, letting his gaze wander across the area that led downwards, trying not to appear to nervous. They were going to fight a dragon and an abyss beast, what could be the worst that could happen? He took his sword in both hands, gave Ornstein another nod and then the both of them stepped into hostile territory.
(Author's note: I know this chapter is a bit filler, but when I would have added the township, it would have gotten far too long and crowded, so I decided to put it into the next chapter. Wish me luck, because I will attempt Kalameet with midroll.
As always, I want to talk to you guys, so please talk to me in the comments.)