Characters: Chosen Undead/Dragon Slayer Ornstein, The Fair Lady
Word Count: 5.818
Summary: After having left Blighttown, Tempest and Ornstein want to proceed to the demon ruins, but not before they discover another relic of the past...
(Author's note: I originally wanted to tack this part on the last chapter, thinking it would be short. Almost 6k words later, yeah, very short... I am glad I made this into another chapter!
Please enjoy and leave me your thoughts in the comments, as always.)
"And she taught me how to utilize the flame as a whip and I would love to demonstrate it to you, Ornstein, but I know how nervous you get about fire."
Ornstein couldn't help but smile when Tempest rambled on about his new pyromancy spells while they were travelling through the swamp, carefully keeping an eye on dry ground and sometimes having to fight far too large mosquitoes which didn't seem to stop pestering them.
"And then... a spell named Fire Tempest. I can't wait to try it out, I mean, it shares a name with me! They could have called it Fire Storm, but they decided to call it Fire Tempest. Similar to how my mom decided to call me Tempest instead of Storm."
"You are still the little Storm for me.", Ornstein commented, a bit surpised about hearing himself say that.
"I know Ornstein.", Tempest grinned at him, "And I will always be your little Storm, because I doubt that I will suddenly grow and reach your size. At least it means that you can always be my BBF."
"Your what?", Ornstein said, flabbergasted by Tempest suddenly speaking in cryptic language.
"My big buff boyfriend.", the grin on Tempest's face widened. "I just thought of this acronym, isn't it fitting?"
"I, uh...", Ornstein was at a loss for words. "I agree that I am big, even though Artorias and Gough and the Master and Smough were bigger than me... and well, I am your boyfriend, but the middle one..."
"Ornstein, have you looked at this chest of yours?", Tempest looked at Ornstein with wide eyes. "You are a hunk."
At these words, Ornstein started to blush brightly under his helmet and was more than thankful when a troll appeared and tried to squash them with a rock, for it distracted him from Tempest's words.
While the troll was strong and sturdy, it wasn't very fast and while Ornstein distracted it, Tempest managed to sneak up behind it and stab it in the back, leaving it to bleed out in the swamp.
"These trolls are undead too, they always come back.", Tempest complained. "They probably mutated in the swamp waters, like everything here."
"Izalith had a role in all of this too.", Ornstein said. They were back on dry ground and walked up a small hill. The ground had kind of a sticky quality to it and when Ornstein looked down, he wasn't surprised to see that it mostly contained spiderwebs.
Tempest babbled on a bit more while the both of them walked, mostly about how much help it would have been to have Ornstein around when he had come here the first time to ring the bell. Soon, the both of them entered a small tunnel where Ornstein could see several non aggressive hollows in a prayer stance.
"Don't try to attack them.", Tempest said. "They are full of maggots. I was scared by them, hit one and next thing I knew I was basically eaten alive." He shuddered. "Definitely one of my most unpleasant deaths."
Ornstein had to shudder too. Eaten alive by maggots certainly must feel awful, though he had to admire that Tempest hadn't turned hollow after such an awful experience.
"I heard about them, I think.", Ornstein pondered. "Egg bearers.. a covenant of Izalith... they try to fuse themselves with parasites or something... They willingly put eggs into their heads and try to enter a symbiotic relationship with them..."
"Gross.", Tempest said. "Who wants eggs in their body? Certainly not me."
"No, because you decided to be a Gravelord Servant instead.", Ornstein said and Tempest just gave him a dirty little look, knowing full well that Ornstein had forbidden him to ever participate in the covenant's undertakings.
The both of them fell silent and entered a large, rather spacious cave, completely cobbled in spiderwebs. As they crossed it, Ornstein's gaze fell on the large corpse of a spider demon with a woman coming out of its back.
"Quelaag.", he said and stopped. "I wonder why she started to take residence here. This room was meant to house the second challenge for the ringing of the bell of awakening."
"Huh?", Tempest had continued walking and just had come back to Ornstein. "So it wasn't always Quelaag in this room?"
"No.", Ornstein shook his head. "There are two challenges to determine the one that is worthy to venture into Anor Londo. The first one are the Gargoyles, the second one was a certain demon that used to reside here. Quelaag must have got rid of it to set up residence here."
Maybe she had been the reason why Ornstein and Smough had barely seen any undead for such a long time. Though, to think it was Tempest who bested her...
"Hm.", Tempest crossed his arms. "She must have had a reason, right? You guys can't turn hollow, correct? Regardless, she was in my way and we had to fight it out... and I won. After she won twenty times or so." Tempest let out a dry laugh. "Being unable to die sure is fun."
"Probably.", Ornstein said, "But we can't ask her anymore. Let's move on, little Storm, the Demon Ruins should be right behind this lair."
"First there is the room where the bell of awakening was.", Tempest said and started to walk faster. "That is actually exciting! I couldn't show you the bell in the Parish because we didn't go back close to it, but this time..." Tempest started to break into a jog and stopped right in front of the gigantic bell.
"There!", Tempest said once Ornstein had caught up to him, pointing up at the bell. "I felt so accomplished when I rang it. Who would have thought that I would be the one who managed to ring both bells of awakening?"
"After dying a hundred times probably.", Ornstein commented, looking at the bell. He actually never had seen them in person, for they only had gotten installed once Izalilth had been lost and he never had come down here again... until now of course.
"Well, yes.", Tempest admitted, his foot scraping the ground. "But I still made it! And then I went to die in Sen's Fortress fifty times!"
Ornstein smiled at Tempest's humour about the situation. In truth, he knew that each death must have been horrible for Tempest. He must have felt the pain, the despair, the slipping away of his humanity, but still, he had persevered. That was actually a lot more impressive than even the strongest knights of the humans ever could be. If Ornstein would have been in Tempest boots, he didn't think he would have gotten up after his first death...
"That bell must have made a monstrous sound.", Ornstein said as he looked it over. "Didn't you turn deaf after it rang?" His eyes travelled to the lever that would ring it, which was practically next to the bell.
"Well yes.", Tempest said, scratching the back of his head, his hand sneaking below his helmet. "But the bonfire cured that rather quickly."
"Well, don't ring it again then.", Ornstein said. "For I still want to be able to use my ears and the bonfire won't heal me."
"Of course, Ornstein.", Tempest grinned. "Also, there isn't a reason to ring it anymore." Tempest turned around and moved to some stairs that let down. "Ah, I am actually really excited to keep going now. Come Ornstein, the first one who's down the stairs can decide what I cook!"
"Easy there, little Storm.", Ornstein chuckled, watching as Tempest started to jog down the stairs, falling into a trot himself. He would have been easily able to win this race, but he felt like giving the little Storm a little accomplishment, especially when he was so motivated.
Tempest arrived at the base of the stairs first and jumped into the air with his arms spread, as he cheered. "Yes! I win! And I decide that I will cook a cheese omelleeeeeeeeeeeeee-", the last word turned into a scream when Tempest managed to trip over a floor tile that stood out and fell towards the ground, actually rolling over the floor in an attempt to catch himself only to be faced with a wall which he would hit. Ornstein already braced himself for the sound of an impact and having to feed some Estus to Tempest, when the wall instead vanished and Tempest sat there on his rear, looking more than confused.
"There has been an illusionary wall here?!", he gasped out, slowly getting back up on his feet. Ornstein came over as well, curious to see what was hidden in Blighttown, so near to the Demon Ruins.
"Who are you? Are you a new servant?" A gravelly voice asked and when Ornstein looked down, he saw one of the egg bearers. A sane one.
"What?", Ornstein only asked, aware that Tempest had appeared next to him and stared into the room.
"There is a bonfire here?! When I would have known that we wouldn't have needed to wade through the swamp!"
Ornstein, on the other hand, was distracted by something different than the bonfire... the woman who tended to the bonfire... He stepped into the room, approaching her.
"Hey, you can't just step in front of the Fair Lady!", the egg bound hollow complained, but Ornstein ignored him, approaching the woman and kneeling in front of her.
"Lady Quelaan.", he said.
The strange egg bound Hollow complained with a lot of colourful words about being ignored, but Tempest decided to do the same and join Ornstein, kneeling as well in front of this Fair Lady, or Quelaan, as Ornstein had called her.
"It's... I am not...", Ornstein spoke, making Tempest look at him with curious eyes. Was this woman talking to him? Tempest couldn't hear a thing...
"Wait.. are you..?", Ornstein gasped and looked into the eerily pale face of this Lady Quelaan. In fact, her whole body was eerily white... and the spider body that she shared with Quelaag, the chaos witch, looked almost dead...
"What are you talking about, Ornstein?", Tempest asked, only for the dragon slayer to ignore him and talk to Quelaan again.
"I... I will take care of myself. I promise."
Tempest almost snorted when Ornstein said this, as if he had ever taken care of himself. If Tempest wouldn't cook for him, he would eat his own burned food (if he would remember to eat) and lie down in his own mess and never clean up.
"I will... I won't put myself in danger...", Ornstein said and then stood up and turned around, very abruptly. Tempest had to scramble on his legs to follow him, feeling more than confused, looking at the eggbound hollow on his way out, who hadn't stopped to chastise them.
Ornstein only stopped when they were out of earshot of him, in a corridor that must lead to the demon ruins, when the heat coming their way was anything to go off by.
"Who was that?", Tempest asked. "Ornstein, was that someone you knew? She looked like Quelaag..."
"That...", Ornstein took a deep breath. "That was Lady Quelaan, Lady Quelaag's twin sister. I... I had no clue she was still alive and in such bad shape. She is a fire keeper and I am sure that her link to the bonfire is the only thing that keeps her alive..."
Tempest felt his stomach drop when Ornstein spoke. When they had been in the Duke's Archives, they simply had hunted a dragon who had long lost his mind. In the Tomb of Giants, they had come for a lord whose powers already had been reaped from him. Here in Izalith though... it was apparent to see that Ornstein once had connections with the people that had lived here. He had known Quelana, he had known Quelaag and he had known Quelaan. For him they weren't strangers... there was a connection there.
"You talked to her.", Tempest said. "But I couldn't understand a thing she said. I didn't hear a voice."
"You couldn't hear her Little Storm? Then I guess she spoke in a tongue that is silent for human ears.", Ornstein said. "She... she actually confused me for her sister. She called me Quelaag, she reassured me that she wasn't hurting, that I should take care of myself and stay safe. I... I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth, so I pretended to be Quelaag. She... she probably won't be alive long anymore... so I wanted her to at least have peace of mind..." Ornstein let out a deep sigh. "Quelana is right. Anor Londo failed Izalith. We left them to rot."
While normally Tempest would reassure and comfort Ornstein, the cold feeling in his stomach twisted in a knot. "Ornstein, you said Quelaag took care of Quelaan? But.. I was the one who killed Quelaag! I... I had no clue she just tried to protect her sister! When she came at me she very much looked like a murderous witch!"
Tempest leaned against a wall and tied to steady himself, for his legs suddenly felt like pudding. He had killed countless beings once he came to Lordran, but most of them had been Hollows, disfigured monsters or predators that came for him first like the Capra Demon or the Gaping Dragon. Ornstein and Smough felt like the first people who were sentient and they had attacked him without warning...
Well, Quelaag had done the same, but that didn't make him feel better about the fact that he practically doomed her sister.
"Little Storm.", Ornstein laid a hand on Tempest's shoulder. "I said that it wasn't always Quelaag guarding this bell. She must have had another reason to build her lair here. Maybe she was preying on the undead who came here for the bell? You undead normally have humanity with you, and that can help and ease the pain of divine beings... she probably was after your humanity."
"I would have gladly given her all the humanity I had if I would have known the truth.", Tempest said, using both of his hands to grab Ornstein's wrist and force his legs to not wobble anymore.
"Please don't feel bad for what you had to do.", Ornstein said, helping Tempest to stay steady. "You are doing a good deed for everyone once this all is over. Izalith has already been lost. We can tell Quelana about Quelaan later, after we are done here, so that she can take care of her sister in lieu of Quelaag."
"I guess...", Tempest said, managing to feel his legs again, but his earlier enthusiasm was gone. This was Lordran, a land that once had thrived with a rich history, and all he saw of it were the ruins that were left. Even if he managed to link the fire, would this land ever manage to recover? Along with the question in his mind what linking the fire actually meant...
"Look, let's move on.", Ornstein said, "There is nothing we can do for Izalith anymore, for it was Anor Londo who left it to rot. All I can do now is to atone for my mistake and help you with your mission by slaying the Witch of Izalith or...", Ornstein sighed as he thought about the times he had led his knights down here and they saw what had become of her, "or the Bed of Chaos, how we call her nowadays."
"Well, that's a funny name.", Tempest gave a weak smile to Ornstein. "Ornstein, thank you.", he said, letting go of his wrist. "I had a moment of doubt there, but I should be fine now. Let's continue with the mission."
"Very well.", Ornstein said and the two of them continued into the tunnel. Soon they were faced with what felt like an overwhelming heat. It wasn't a surprise, because the lava could even be seen from up above the hill they stood on. Tempest noticed an unlit bonfire in front of him and approached it. After lighting it, he sat down and filled his Estus. Maybe he should have sat at Quelaan's bonfire instead, for the bonfire of a Fire Keeper normally netted more Estus.
"By Gwyndolin's snakes, I knew it would be hot here, but I hope it wouldn't be this bad.", Ornstein sat himself down next to Tempest, his breathing felt heavy.
"I don't think it's that bad.", Tempest said. Of course he had felt the heat, but since he had sat down at the bonfire, a breath of cool air seemed to surround him. He actually thought it would be more unbearable.
"The bonfire is keeping you cool in its presence.", Ornstein said. "For you Undead are always linked to the bonfire. You will see once we move farther in."
Ornstein stood up and looked at the area in front of them. Tempest followed his gaze, seeing several egg-bound hollows praying. He hoped they would be docile, like the ones in front of Quelaag's Domain.
"I don't remember that much lava.", Ornstein commented. "Something else must have happened here... We have to find a path around the lava, for I probably don't have to tell you how deadly it is to step in lava. While you will be able to come back, I don't think you want to experience a death like this."
"No, I won't.", Tempest shuddered at the thought of burning alive in lava. It had hurt enough when this damn drake on the bridge had done it. Truly one of the most painful deaths of his. Tempest checked his Estus once again and once he was satisfied with it, he got up.
"At the end of this place we will find the third lord soul, right? Let's move then. And, oh, I nearly forgot.", Tempest looked into his luggage and brought out one of the water flasks he had filled. "Don't forget to drink something, Ornstein, I packed enough water for you."
"Thank you, little Storm.", Ornstein accepted the water flask and already took a sip from it while Tempest left the bonfire and stepped forward, only to be greeted by the most brutal heat he had ever felt in his life. Not even the summer in Astora, which could get quite hot, could compare.
"Oh, by the lords.", Tempest gasped, every breath of air felt like it burned his lungs from inside. "Ornstein, please kill me, that will be so much easier to endure when I am dried meat."
"What? I won't kill you for this, little Storm!", Ornstein said, holding his spear away from Tempest, his body language clearly showing that he was offended.
"Please, Ornstein? What is one more?", Tempest looked at him with the biggest puppy eyes he could muster.
"No, little Storm, I won't.", Ornstein's tone was resolute. "Besides, when I have to suffer, you have to suffer as well. I won't make this easier on you. If you have such much trouble with the heat, and you aren't even wearing full body armour, then kill yourself by jumping down the cliff."
"Never.", Tempest said. "I don't want to know how it feels like to be melted by lava! But maybe... maybe I let myself get killed by the first foe we encounter..."
"Little Storm, I know you are undead, but these jokes are getting too far.", Ornstein said, a sigh leaving his lips.
"Oh, don't be such a killjoy.", Tempest said, grabbing his sword. "Fine, I won't kill myself... but should I die for whatever reason, I very much won't use up any humanity."
"Works with me.", Ornstein said. He would be able to look at dried Tempest for a while, though he would do his best to keep the little Storm alive. "Let's finally move, the sooner we are done here, the sooner we can leave this place."
Tempest nodded and started to move, keeping both sword and shield ready. Ornstein was right at his side, holding his spear with both hands. The path snaked itself downwards and would eventually lead to the lava. There were various more egg-bound hollows scattered over the path, but they didn't seem to notice the duo. Tempest found that they were probably lucky.
Their luck ended soon though, when two of the egg-bound hollows started moving towards them. "Crap.", Tempest muttered. "I take the left and you the right, alright?"
A small nod from Ornstein at his side told him that Tempest could act. The egg-bound hollow wasn't a fearful enemy, but the maggots that erupted from their eggs were a lot more bothersome! They were aggressive, wriggled around a lot and gross. Tempest managed to cut three of them down at once with a slash of his sword and then had to remove one of them from his arm, trying to bite through his leather armour and stomped on a fifth one which tried to bite in his leg.
When Tempest looked to the right to see how Ornstein was faring he saw how the dragon slayer was surrounded by maggots, only one of them was impaled by his spear. Tempest just wanted to come for his help, when Ornstein's left hand lightened up and the four leftover maggots got hit by the lightning spear miracle. They started to smell burned... not a good smell and Tempest had to suppress a gag.
"My apologies, this smells awful.", Ornstein said as he scraped the maggot of his spear. "These tiny little pests aren't easily fought with a spear, I should have thought this through better. A wide swing would have been the better option..."
"The important thing is that they won't bother us anymore.", Tempest said, continuing to follow the path. He stopped when the lava came too close to his liking, fanning himself when even more heat emanated from it. It was so hot...
He was distracted, however, when he looked into the distance and saw a Taurus Demon... more then one! He raised his hands to count them and... "Five Taurus Demon?!", he exclaimed to Ornstein who had caught up to him once his spear was maggot free. "And they aren't even dying in the lava."
"Their hooves must be fireproof.", Ornstein said, scanning the distance as well. "No sense trying to lure them out, we don't have any room to fight such massive enemies on this path and the lava is a deadly hazard. Instead, let's look for another way."
"Alright, Ornstein.", Tempest said, being a bit torn about the Taurus Demons. On one hand, he was glad he didn't have to fight them, the first fight against one had taken long enough, on the other hand he wanted to know if he would fare better against one now. Under Ornstein's training and care, he had turned into quite a warrior.
Ornstein must have seen a path to the right, for he determined headed there, Tempest followed his large foot steps in a small trot. Outside of the Taurus Demons on the lava and the few aggressive egg-bound hollows, this room felt eerily devoid of life... Tempest thought that a few more foes should get into their way. Maybe it was because of the lava?
"It's too quiet here.", Tempest said, not liking the silence, well, the silence when he didn't count the bubbling lava below them.
"Don't say that, little Storm, calling out the silence before a storm is always a recipe for disaster.", Ornstein replied.
"Well, in that case, don't worry, Ornstein, because I am the storm.", Tempest put his hands on his hips, never tired of pointing out the meaning of his name.
"Well, then the silence should better brace itself, not to die of cuteness, for I seldom have seen a storm so small and adorable.", Ornstein said, making Tempest blush. He never would have thought that Ornstein would say such a sappy thing.
"Ornsteiiin!", Tempest came running at him and grabbed his wrist. "Do you really mean that?"
"Why shouldn't I?", Ornstein said, looking at Tempest. "Or maybe is it the heat getting to me? It's hard to breathe... maybe we should stay silent for a while."
"Yes, because I have to be the silence before I can be the storm.", Tempest chuckled and squeezed Ornstein's gauntlet before letting go. The path had ended and Ornstein hopped onto what looked like it once was part of a building, similar to the rafters in Anor Londo, just more smooth. As they crossed it, Tempest could make out a fog gate on the other side.
"These things never mean anything good...", he said. Either they led to a very powerful foe or into a difficult challenge. Either way, Tempest always had to brace himself when entering one.
"We'll see...", Ornstein whispered, keeping his spear at the ready. As they stood in front of the fog gate, Tempest took a deep breath, closed his eyes and stepped through.
Opening his eyes on the other side, more silence greeted them. Nobody tried to come for their lives, no hollows attacked nor other abominations that Lordran had to offer.
"Alright, now the silence is starting to get really unsettling.", Tempest said. "We should proceed with caution, Ornstein."
"Agreed.", Ornstein said, walking behind Tempest, who looked in every direction, waiting for the ambush. An ambush that never came, instead, Tempest stood in front of a creature that was hard to describe.
"Woah, what's that?", he asked, studying the demon... if it even was a demon... in front of him. It looked like it was made of lava, it was gigantic, for he could see its legs coming from the lava even though a very steep cliff was between the lava and them, and there were tentacles at his face, like a weird beard. The worst thing about the creature was the constant leakage of lava out of its body... No doubt this creature was responsible for the lava filled cave.
"Could this be?", Ornstein said. "I heard of him... the last child of the Witch of Izalith and her only son. He was born deformed, though he should possess a ring that helps him to maintain a more... usual form. I wonder what happened?"
"Regardless of who or what this is.", Tempest said. "I am pretty sure we need to get it to move for it looks like it is the cause of the lava."
"Hmmm... it looks like it.", Ornstein crossed his arms. "I will try and talk with him, maybe he will move elsewhere and take the lava with him."
Tempest stayed around for approximately five minutes before he had to realize that Ornstein was talking to a wall. The creature didn't acknowledge him at all and didn't move even one inch. Ornstein didn't want to give up apparently, so Tempest decided to maybe search for a clue... as he rounded the corner, he could see a set of clothes on something like a table or an altar. He approached it and picked it up out of curiosity, maybe this was a hint. It was a set made from gold hemmed black cloth, though Tempest didn't have much time to admire the handiwork, when a deafening roar sounded.
"Little Storm! What did you do?!", Tempest could hear Ornstein scream before the noise of something large slamming down shook the ground and the air. Tempest abandoned the clothes and started to run towards Ornstein, stopping when he saw that the creature had suddenly decided to fight.
"What did I do?! Maybe you bored it into getting aggressive!", Tempest retorted, taking his sword in both hands, his shield felt like it would be of no use here.
"Regardless of who is at fault, we need to fight him now!", Ornstein shouted. Tempest nodded and ran towards the dragon slayer to join the fight.
As soon as Tempest had reached Ornstein, he immediately saw the issue with this fight. Their foe was a creature literally made out of lava and therefore fire was a common theme in its attacks. Ornstein managed to dodge them with his usual grace, leaping into the air and ducking down into corners of the cave, but Tempest could see his spear crackling with lighting and how much he tried to not lose control... because for Ornstein, fire was the same as standing against a dragon, and unleashing the lighting powers of his spear normally helped in this situation.
"Ornstein, stay back for this one!", Tempest shouted and put himself in front of the dragon slayer, which looked downright comical for he was only half Ornstein's size.
"Little Storm, are you sure you can take this enemy on your own?", Ornstein asked, pressing himself against the wall of the cave.
"Of course it would be good if you could help me out.", Tempest said, eyeing the creature in front of him. It moved rather slowly, which meant that its hits would be powerful instead. "But leave the opening to me."
Right as he had stopped talking, one of the tentacles of the creature slammed down on the ground, shaking the cave and making Tempest's ears ring from the noise. It was a good thing he had rolled out of the way in a split second, otherwise he would have been mush. Though, the arm-like tentacle stayed down and Tempest saw his opening right away.
He ran towards it and slashed it with his sword, the creature hissing in pain, little lava droplets falling on the ground, starting to sizzle. It withdrew the tentacle arm and seemed to plan its next move.
"I doubt we will get him down by striking his arms only.", Ornstein commented from his position.
"Any clever ideas?", Tempest asked as he ducked when the tentacle arm rushed over him like a whip, the wound spewing lava, which Tempest avoided with a stressed noise. Hurting this thing apparently made it more dangerous.
"We need to make him lose his balance.", Ornstein said, taking a deep breath. "It will be risky, but... we need for him to slam down both of his arms at the same time. Then each of us will wound him. Then-"
"Can you speed up with the explanation, I am in a bit of a pickle here!", Tempest shouted, borrowing Siegmeyer's favourite phrase. The creature hadn't stopped attacking while Ornstein spoke and so Tempest had been rather busy dodging and rolling on the far too hot ground. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a few burn wounds later.
"Then when he's distracted we attack his face with a ranged attack both!", Ornstein finished, stepping out of hiding.
"Are you sure you can do this, Ornstein?", Tempest asked, ducking once again to avoid the whip-like attack.
"Yes. On my mark, little Storm. You lure the right arm out."
Tempest nodded and ran towards the right side of the creature, which seemed to be unsure of what to do when suddenly two foes were in front of it. Even Tempest himself felt unsure... would they be able to lure the creature into trying to squash them? Wouldn't the whip-like attack or a fire breath be more useful for two foes at once...
"Hey! You big, ugly monster! Let's see if you can squash the both of us at the same time!", Ornstein screamed, taking Tempest aback. He hadn't thought that Ornstein would really do such a taunt, and even less that it would work. He saw the tentacle coming down and rolled to the side before he could get crushed by it, bracing himself for the noise. A second one joined almost simultaneously and while Tempest's ears were ringing and everything that Ornstein screamed at him sounded muffled, he didn't need instructions.
He sliced the tentacle-arm at the same time as Ornstein and when the creature withdrew both of them, groaning in pain, he saw how Ornstein charged his spear. Tempest quickly fumbled for his bow and aimed... even though this was a creature made of lava, an arrow directly in what looked like its eye should do some damage...
Tempest unleashed his arrow shortly after Ornstein had unleashed his lightning powers. The flash of lightning hit the creature directly in the face and it stumbled... and once Tempest's arrow hit, it screeched in pain again and took a step back... only to suddenly fall and vanish from sight.
"Huh, that was kind of strange.", Tempest said.
Ornstein didn't reply, for he stood there heavily breathing, his spear still crackling. He needed a few more seconds before he got up and straightened himself. "Indeed.", he said, as if there hadn't been a pause between them. "There must have been a hole beneath the lava somewhere, I guess he fell in."
"Regardless of what it was.", Tempest said, stepping at the side of the cliff. "Look, the lava is withdrawing. We can proceed deeper into the ruins now."
"Indeed.", Ornstein said again. "Though, I have to ask, little Storm, what did you do which made him suddenly so aggressive?"
"Why do you insist it was my fault?", Tempest crossed his arms. "I simply took a look around while you were talking to a wall and found this armour in the corner. I picked it up to look at it."
"What kind of armour?", Ornstein asked. "Can you show me?"
"Of course, it's still there.", Tempest walked around the corner and stopped in front of the little altar. "There."
Ornstein took one look at the set and let out a sigh. "The typical set for a daughter of Izalith... he must have guarded it. He probably got mad when someone touched the memento of his sister."
"Well, I didn't know that.", Tempest said. "I just searched for a clue. I don't think it would have moved either way, though it was nice to see something in this land that didn't try to kill me right off the bat."
"I don't think he would have moved.", Ornstein sighed. "Maybe it was for the better, truly. This creature... like I told you, the last-born of the Witch of Izalith, Lady Quela. His name got lost in the annals, though I heard he usually was referred to as Ceaseless Discharge."
Tempest finally uncrossed his arms and stepped next to Ornstein.
"What an unflattering yet fitting name..."
(Author's note: Phew, Tempest and Ornstein aren't the only one sweating, for I have to wait for my tires to be changed and it is the hottest day of the week. And thanks to Corona, I have to wait outside. Even in the shadow it is hard and I feel like a mess of sweat!
Ornstein surprised me a lot in this chapter. Why are you suddenly saying sappy things?! Tempest sure liked it though ^^
Did they do the Ceaseless Discharge cheese? Well, this foe is kind of difficult, because you can kill it simply by attacking its arms. I wanted for it to feel a lot more like an effort was made, so they kinda accidentally made him fall while fighting seriously. Also, I hc that the corpses don't really vanish (that is why Quelaag was still there), so the lava going away with the corpse still there wouldn't have made much sense...)