Years ago, I wrote an in-character Let's Play of Dark Souls for my second playthrough of the game and posted it on this site, because I had a story in mind of how that playthrough followed on from the first. I just finished my first playthrough of Bloodborne, and by the end, I had a story for how the three playthroughs I have to do would follow on from each other, but I am not going to write another in-character Let's Play because writing and playing Bloodborne at the same time would be hell. So, instead, I'm doing this. It's just a summary story, very little of the journey itself is gone over in-depth…I don't normally write summary stories like this, I usually go in-depth, but I can't for three playthroughs of Bloodborne, I just can't, so I'm doing this. I hope it's still enjoyable to someone.
NOTE: I did come back and tweak this halfway through my third playthrough to be a bit more accurate.
There was once a young woman named Aiedale, born to a cursed fate, a life of hardship and suffering, notable only for her shockingly brilliant green eyes. Though she managed to live to adulthood despite her struggles, she one day came down with a horrible, deadly disease. Her only hope lay in the stories she'd heard of a mysterious, frightful city called Yharnam, where any illness could be cured, though few dared venture there, as it was said the inhabitants were all mad. Alone, and with no other choices, Aiedale set out, determined only to survive, as she always had.
Yharnam was a strange city, with stranger people, laughter that didn't seem quite natural tittering around every corner. Blood, the Yharnamites said, was the cure Aiedale sought, and she was directed quite quickly to a clinic where she might receive a transfusion, that her illness would be cured. It was shockingly easy to get in, and she was given a form to fill out, explaining who she was and why she needed the blood. She signed it willingly, and the eyeless old man who ran the treatment chuckled and administered the crimson liquid.
Then came the nightmares.
First, a demented beast emerged from a puddle of blood that had materialized beside her and approached her while she lay on her cot, helpless to move, only for it to burn to ash the moment it touched her. Then, infant-sized ghouls that seemed like skeletons with skin stretched over their bones smothered her. When at last she woke, she was on her cot, alone, confused, disoriented…but also invigorated.
It had worked. She was cured!
Confused, she stood up, realizing she remembered nothing about herself save what she'd written on the form. Still, she knew that she had been ill, and now she was not. The clinic was dark, and seemed to be empty, even decrepit. Had it been that way before? With no better ideas of what to do, she left the sickroom and walked down some stairs, while those same baby skeletons she'd seen in her nightmare popped out of the ground and told her things, helped her orient herself.
Downstairs, she found a werewolf feasting on a corpse. Horrified, she had no time to react before it turned on her. As it savaged her with its teeth and claws, she tried to punch it away, but her fists did almost nothing to the beast. And so, for the first time, she experienced death.
She woke in a strange, misty world of white flowers and gravestones. It seemed oddly peaceful here, and those skeleton babies were everywhere. They gave her more guidance, then offered her supplies: tougher clothes that would protect her skin, a pistol, a heavy axe. Confused, frightened, and desperate, she took the equipment, exploring this surreal place; she found empty birdbaths, a small building full of books and crafting tables she couldn't use, a life-sized doll of a woman, and an old man slumbering in a wheelchair. The tiny ghouls beckoned her to a gravestone, and she reached out to them…only to find herself back in the clinic, with the gear she'd been given.
Feeling only slightly more confident now that she was armed, Aiedale faced the monster that had killed her, and this time beat it down with her strange weapon. How she was alive, she did not know, but she didn't question it. At last, she emerged into the city, where night had just begun to fall - the sky glowed with the last lingering remnants of sunset, and the moon had not yet risen, but it was dark. The streets seemed empty at first, and, desperate, she wandered. People soon appeared, but they were armed with blades, torches, and crude wooden shields, and the moment they saw her, they attacked her, shrieking that she was cursed, calling her a fiend and a beast. Bewildered, Aiedale hefted her weapon and fought back, and felt an invigorating essence flow into her with every crazed townsman that fell before her.
Thus, her journey began. There was nothing to do, and nowhere to go but forward, fighting to survive against hordes of screaming, maddened townsfolk; on closer inspection, they seemed demented, no longer quite human, though what they were, Aiedale couldn't guess. She died several times, yet always found her mind filled by an image of a strange rune as she sank to the ground, only to then awaken at a lantern she found being praised by the skeleton babies; the maddened people she'd killed were always alive again, and still just as intent on killing her, yet she was able to regain the powerful essence she'd lost upon being taken back to the lantern if she made it back to where she'd died before. This essence…there were skeleton babies in a birdbath who would sell her things if she used the lantern to return to that odd, etherial place with the flowers, supplies she could use to press on, keep going.
In time, she found doors through which people would speak to her, though they taunted her, laughing at her misfortune that she was outside on a night of "the hunt". Rabid dogs, vicious birds, demented people, giant rats, ravenous beasts…it seemed that was all that was outside now, and the people still capable of conversation were all locked away, save for her. She was alone, with nothing but weapons and a strange immortality she hadn't asked for. All she wanted was to escape, but the only paths led further into the city of madness.
On one trip back to the strange place with the flowers, though, hoping to buy more supplies from the skeleton babies, she at last found that the man in the wheelchair spoke to her, and finally, she was given guidance: this was the Hunter's Dream, and it would now be her home, everything in it was hers to use - even the doll, the old man said in an odd tone of voice. He told her to hunt beasts, and not think about it, that that was simply what hunters did. Between that and the messages given to her by the little ghouls - Messengers, she learned they were called - she at last came to understand.
No matter who she had been before, in exchange for being cured of her ailment, she was now Aiedale the Hunter.
In her short life, Aiedale had struggled through much adversity, but never had she had to fight like this, spill the blood of savage monsters just to keep walking forward, trying to find some meaning to it all. It didn't even matter that she didn't remember who she had been before, all she wanted was to survive, and nothing would willingly allow her this. So, weapons in hand, she pressed on, eventually finding a giant monstrosity that fell before her axe, and she felt an odd sort of understanding come to her, though she still couldn't make sense of it. In time, she found a man who seemed to be hunting as she was, yet he turned on her instantly, and killed her.
Instead of awakening at a lantern again, she found herself back in the etherial realm, where the life-sized doll was now alive. It spoke in a soft, gentle manner, offering to help her channel the essence she'd taken from her fallen enemies and use it to strengthen her body.
Strength…she could gain strength from killing beasts.
When she went back out again, she was still confused, frightened, and desperate to escape, but her instinct for survival took hold, and she swung her axe with more determination now, gathering this strange essence, the Blood Echoes, that the doll would use to make her stronger, allow her to survive better. By the time she again reached the man who had killed her, with a combination of molotovs, desperation, and luck, she managed to end him.
From there, she ascended to Oedon's Chapel, and found notes that gave vague hints as to what was actually going on, though she still couldn't make much sense of it. A strange, demented creature upstairs spoke to her in a pleasant enough manner, assuring her that no beasts would enter the chapel, and advising that she direct anyone who needed sanctuary to come here. And after that…
Well…it was a long night.
Slowly, Aiedale came to understand some things - she realized that people who would speak to passing hunters left red lanterns outside their doors or windows to mark their presence, and she spoke to more people, which granted her more insight into the world. A little girl gave her a music box and asked for news of her parents, which Aiedale had to present in the form of a brooch she'd found on a corpse; she directed the girl to Oedon's Chapel, only to find her bloodied hair ribbon in the stomach of a man-eating boar down in the sewers. A couple of other townsfolk actually made it to safety: an abrasive old woman who became more deranged as the night wore on, but also kinder in her derangement; and a truly kind woman who unfortunately made her living off depravaty, but readily offered invigorating blood whenever Aiedale came by to check on her. At one point, Aiedale went back to the clinic where this had all begun and spoke to a woman named Iosefka through the door to the sickroom she'd awoken in, who also asked her to send people who needed sanctuary to her, but not being too keen on what went on in that clinic, Aiedale only gave those directions to a man she found eating corpses on a rooftop deep in the forbidden woods, as he clearly needed treatment of some sort. Her misgivings about the lady doctor later proved valid, as Aiedale found her way in through the back and discovered that any who set foot in the clinic were experimented on, in far more horrific ways than she had been. Much later in the night, she found the dead girl's sister and gave her the bloodied ribbon, as she had given the first girl her mother's brooch, only to later find the second girl had either fallen or jumped to her own death, having never asked for guidance on where to go.
More monsters, more secrets, more nightmares…but as she carried on, Aiedale grew stronger, and also more confident in her hunting skills. What had once seemed strange and desperate, she now did with deliberation and care, and the more dangerous beasts she eventually encountered did not overwhelm her. Oh, she died many times that night, but even that came to mean so little when she knew she would just awaken again, the only cost being the Blood Echoes she'd gathered from slain enemies. Indeed, death came to mean so little to her that she willingly fell to her death many times just trying to reach a door she'd seen and couldn't access any other way - a door she eventually did open, wherein she found the real-world version of the Hunter's Dream itself, complete with a doll (this one truly lifeless), and a strange precursor to an umbilical cord, which she kept but did not use.
There were clues here and there, as she explored the city and beyond, as to what exactly all of this was, what it all meant, stories of gods and curses, but Aiedale came to find that she didn't much care. When eventually she found her first chalice that would allow her into the catacombs, she went eagerly, finding something akin to comfort in the simplicity of the old labyrinths of guardian monsters and useful items, extra Blood Echoes and shockingly powerful Blood Gems for her weapons.
She wasn't sure when, but somewhere along the way, Aiedale began to enjoy the hunt.
Though she never partook in beasthood, she came to feel invigorated by the slaughter, and in time found that she didn't feel quite right unless she was drenched in the blood of her enemies. She moved on to explore slumbering realms and forgotten places full of demented gods and beasts, old Castle Cainhurst and the Choir Realm and Gehrman's own nightmare. After killing Micolash, host of the primary Nightmare Realm, she found a lever that dropped the Mother Brain, which had attacked her from a far distance the first time she'd entered this layer of the nightmare, into a black abyss, which she then found her way down into. The thing stared at her, all flesh and eyeballs, and she made a pose that she'd seen a forsaken corpse making, until eventually it granted her a powerful rune.
Then, she hefted her axe and bashed it against the pile of flesh. It didn't fight back, didn't even move, it just stared at her as she chopped it again and again until it died.
For a moment, as the helpless mess dissolved, she realized what she'd become.
But then, from the slain Mother Brain, she received a material she'd needed to descend deeper into the catacombs, and felt only joy.
It occurred to her to go check on Arianna, the whore, who had seemed ill in Oedon's Chapel, only to find that the woman had somehow birthed one of the strange, sluglike creatures she'd seen in the Choir Realm. Arianna seemed distressed, and Aiedale thought that perhaps killing the infant would be a mercy, yet when her axe came down on the fleshy little creature, Arianna cried out and promptly died along with it. Another strange umbilical cord was found on the baby's corpse; yet again, Aiedale didn't use it. She'd learned enough by then to know what they were for - eyes on the inside, the goal of everyone who sought to ascend to godliness, but she had no desire to ascend. Indeed, with Arianna's death, she realized that her only desire was to hunt beasts.
What had once been a means of survival, then later become a habit, was now a source of joy. Kill, kill, kill! Again, it was not beasthood, it was simply bloodlust, a rush from killing and getting things from it, strength and tools and equipment and other supplies she could use to kill even more effectively. She realized she was close to discovering what she'd been sent to find that would end this nightmare - the source, the wailing infant Great One at the top of the tower in the Nightmare Realm - but she realized that she didn't want to kill it. If she killed it, would the hunt be over? Would the slaughter end? She didn't want that, she wanted to kill more! Instead, she raided the catacombs, delved deeper into Gehrman's nightmare, killing every demented thing she saw. In Gehrman's nightmare, in particular, she found entities that did not attack her, but she killed them too, only to find that some of them would not die, and this made her angry.
"Why won't you die?!" she shouted at them, at the massive quivering lumps and the madman of the fishing hamlet, swinging her axe at them again and again. "Why won't you just die?!"
She did run the errands for the patient strapped to the wheelchair in the nightmare, Adeline, though, as the saint gave her blood and a key to a new place, somewhere else she could hunt. After all, she'd already gotten the brain fluid the unfortunate captive needed from her attempts to kill the overgrown heads. She killed the beast flayer Brador in his cell, she went back and killed Provost Willem at his perch by the lake and was rewarded with a powerful rune, she killed Eileen the Crow, she directed Alfred on where to find Annalise and then revived the quivering pile of flesh he reduced her to at the Altar of Despair and swore an oath to her, becoming a Vileblood. It was all about power now, more strength with which to kill. Every chalice in her possession led her on new hunts, and she used each one at least once, clearing out the places they led her to, top to bottom.
During this time, she came to the bottom of the Pthumerian catacombs, and found Queen Yharnam. This, too, was only prey for Aiedale's hunt, though her only reward for killing the woman was a quivering, living, crimson stone. It served no purpose, it was just a trophy, yet Aiedale took it and smiled.
When at last she had completed a hunt with every single chalice in existence, even each one of the root ones, at least once, and slaughtered everything else there was to slaughter in Yharnam, the lands beyond, and all the nightmares, she finally ascended to were the baby Mergo awaited, as there was simply nothing left to hunt. She killed Mergo's Wet Nurse, and the infant died of its own accord, leaving behind yet another umbilical cord. Aiedale didn't care; all she cared about was that there seemed to be nowhere else to go.
Hoping to find more hunting grounds, she returned to the Hunter's Dream, only to discover that it was on fire. The doll informed her that morning would come soon, and Gehrman awaited her at the base of the great tree. Aiedale soon discovered that a gate to a garden that had been sealed all this time was now open, and beyond it, Gehrman sat in his wheelchair in a field of white flowers, under a massive tree.
He offered her mercy then: to die one last time, and in doing so, leave the dream, and awaken, remembering nothing of the hunt, that she might live a normal, human life.
She refused without hesitation. Why would she ever want to leave this world, this immortality? Why would she want to end the bloodshed? No, she said, she would not lay down her life. She would not leave the dream.
Gehrman rose, revealing that he could stand and walk just fine without his wheelchair, and drew his weapon. Aiedale hefted her trusty axe, now strengthened with unfathombly powerful Blood Gems and entire boulders of blood stone, and her equally-trusty pistol, also strengthened with boulders of blood stone and equipped with a Blood Gem that made it fragile but unthinkably strong - after all, the pistol never took damage, what did it matter how fragile it was? With ease, even joy, she killed Gehrman, delighted to have another hunt.
Then, as he faded into nothing, a presence descended from the crimson moon above. A tentacled thing, roughly the shape of a woman, massive and powerful. Flora, the Great One to whom Aiedale had sometimes heard the doll pray. Captivated, Aiedale approached the godly being, and it clutched her in its hands and wrapped the tentacles of its face around her, sealing her and binding her.
Now, she was to take Gehrman's place, and watch over the Hunter's Dream. Here she would stay, forever. No more hunting, and no more freedom. She sat in the wheelchair, and simply…waited. Trapped.
Hunters came and went, and Aiedale watched them, tried to help them on their way. Most went blood-drunk and surrendered to beasthood, losing themselves to the Nightmare. A few completed the gauntlet and slew the ever-respawning Mergo, only to be set free of the dream by Aiedale's blade, though this was exceedingly rare. But no matter how many hunters succeeded at escaping, the hunt always began anew.
Slowly, trapped by the Moon Presence, Aiedale came to understand. This was the wrath of the Great Ones, their punishment to mankind for slaughtering Kos in their quest to ascend to the level of the gods. All of it - the blood, the hunt, the plague of beasts, it was all essentially a cruel joke. In Gehrman's nightmare, Simon had pleaded with Aiedale to end the horror - their forefathers sinned, yes, but they could not endure this curse forever, he'd said. But to the Great Ones, forever meant nothing, and humanity was simply a passing amusement to them, the unending suffering a joke that the gods were fond of, of these foolish mortal creatures who thought to become their equals. And Aiedale…she had been a victim twofold: neither becoming a beast, nor willing to leave, she had trapped herself here by her own bloodlust, sentenced herself to this unending torture, as the torturer on Flora's behalf. All because she'd lost herself to the hunt.
And in time, Aiedale began to pray to the Great Ones, all of them, any who might listen - not to be spared, not to be forgiven, but for a second chance. A chance to go back and do things over again, vowing that this time she would not lose herself. She would not forget her place, nor her humanity, if only she could do things over.
Then, one day, she woke up, and found herself on a cot in a filthy, decrepit clinic, with no memory of who she was or how she'd gotten there, save for a few basic bits of information.
Confused, she looked down at herself, and saw that she was dressed in tough clothing, as though for brawling in. She checked her pockets, her bags, and found an assortment of powerful weapons and items.
Then, she found a quivering, pulsing red stone, and as she gazed at its twitching, living crystals, memories flooded back to her.
The hunt, the bloodlust, killing Queen Yharnam. And from those memories followed the others: Being trapped by Flora, the dream, her prayers.
The Great Ones had answered her prayers.
Just to be sure, she ran down the stairs to use the clinic's lantern, but found that it was absent, as it had been the first time she'd descended those steps; all was as it had been, even the werewolf that had given her her first death. When she killed it and pressed on, she found Central Yharnam's lantern was in its place, still being praised by the Messengers, and with it, she returned to the Hunter's Dream. Gehrman was there, alive, in that dreaded wheelchair that was the prison of whoever put hunters though the gauntlet on Flora's behalf. Time had indeed turned back, she was being given a second chance.
And yet, familiar now with the Great Ones, Aiedale could almost hear their laughter. Yes, they'd sent her back in time, but they'd allowed her to keep all the tools and equipment she'd gathered with which to hunt, let her retain the very power that had gone to her head. They thought she would fall back to the same bloodlust, for she had everything she needed to hunt at her disposal.
Her axe, once her loyal companion, now frightened her - she did not want to lose herself in the hunt again. And so, she removed the Blood Gems from it, then stowed it away in the storage bin in the workshop, and in its place, she took up a threaded cane. She shed her old hunter garb, and instead donned a top hat and some clothing she'd found in Gehrman's nightmare, the same clothes worn by members of the League, like Valtr - a man from whom she had eventually inherited the role as master of the League by crushing Vermin she'd found while helping other hunters in other worlds on their hunts, and for whom she had started to develop fond feelings as they fought side-by-side in Gehrman's nightmare. These new clothes, and this new weapon, would help her keep her humanity, as that was what they were designed to do, reminders of formality and honor, the ceremony of flogging the beasts and oneself with the whip so that the bloodlust of the hunt might never encroach upon the soul. She even sold every cursed Blood Gem she had found on her first hunt, including the one she had been formerly using in her pistol, eschewing even those tiny traces of depravity and corruption to use only what was pure for strength.
Thus equipped, and thus determined, she set out to perform her hunt properly this time.
Yet it seemed the Great Ones' cruelty had not ended at taunting her with her old gear. The monsters Aiedale faced were stronger now, far stronger than they had been the first time, even the demented townsfolk were able to stymie her despite all the strength she'd gathered on her first hunt and retained into her return to the beginning. Using a new weapon, especially, made things difficult, and Aiedale was tempted to retrieve her old, reliable axe, but she resisted. She would not lose herself to bloodlust this time, no matter the deaths and the difficulty she would face. When there was no help for it, she would use a saw cleaver, but only in desperation; the threaded cane was a symbol of her vow, and she kept to it.
This time, she was determined to save as many people as possible. Every chance she got, she went to every spot she found with red lanterns marking people who would talk, and she found more who were willing to be saved. This time, she did not speak to the daughters of Viola and Gascoigne, knowing what would happen to them if they found out what had become of their parents, yet she did find a man who seemed to need help. When she directed him to Oedon's Chapel, however, he made his way to Iosefka's clinic instead, and was thus lost. Constantly backtracking through Yharnam to check for survivors led to Aiedale crossing paths with Eileen the Crow again, which also led to a new hunt against a blood-drunk hunter. A woman she'd seen in the Hypogeon Gaol turned out to in fact be placable after the Darkbeast was slain, and Aiedale directed her to Oedon's Chapel, too. As before, the only person she sent to Iosefka on purpose was the man in the woods who ate corpses - even knowing what would become of him, having seen the true nature of Iosefka's clinic on her first hunt, the man was clearly a danger, and she would not let him into the sanctuary of Oedon's Chapel. As for Alfred, knowing from his eyes that he was on the verge of beasthood, she allowed him to find Queen Annalise, but this time, she did not revive the Vileblood Queen, allowing Alfred's final act to be one of satisfaction, that he might find peace.
Unfortunately, there were other things that didn't turn out so well. The woman down in the Yahar'gul prison was Adella, a nun of the Healing Church, and she openly despised Arianna, the whore who was a descendent of the Cainhurst Vilebloods. Eventually, she killed Arianna, then later went mad and attacked Aiedale, forcing Aiedale to kill the nun in self-defense. All the lives she'd tried to save, lost, with the exception of those two girls whom she'd only been able to protect by ignoring. Still, she was able to avoid killing Eileen by staying away from the Grand Cathedral after the blood moon emerged; and, incredibly, she managed to parlay with Djura, the man down in Old Yharnam who seemed intent on protecting the beasts sealed there - and after seeing the behavior of the beasts in Gehrman's nightmare, Aiedale found she sort of even understood where he was coming from, to an extent.
It wasn't until after the blood moon was revealed that Aiedale felt strong enough to put an end to Iosefka's nefarious deeds; the false doctor, too, had gone mad, and did not attack, but Aiedale slew her nonetheless for her crimes, and on the body, she found another of those precursory umbilical cords, though she still did not use it - her desire was not to attain ascension, only to get out. This hunt was harder, longer, and at times Aiedale was tempted to descend into the catacombs in pursuit of strength to overcome the enhanced obstacles the gods had placed before her, but she resisted. She didn't go back to the Choir Realm, either, though she did once again clear out Gehrman's nightmare of its demons, in hopes that the man might at least sleep more peacefully once she had moved on.
At last, at long last, after many more deaths and seemingly insurmountable odds, Aiedale once again faced Mergo's Wet Nurse, and managed to slay it, and Mergo too. When she returned to the dream and met with Gehrman at the base of the great tree, she knelt and bowed her head, readily allowing him to cut her loose.
When she awoke, it was morning, bells tolling greet the dawn. Sunlight…why did sunlight feel so strange, so wondrous? She looked down at herself, confused, and saw her clothes, her weaponry…and in her pocket, she found that pulsating red stone. As before, the stone brought all the memories back, and she understood.
She was free.
The first thing she did was go to Viola and Gascoigne's old home to check on the two now-orphaned girls. There, at last, she told them what had become of their parents in the night, and they wept and wailed and clung to her. Having nowhere to go herself, Aiedale offered to stay with them, be their new guardian, and being destitute, they allowed her in.
So it was that Aiedale, no longer a hunter, found a home in Yharnam. She did her very best to take care of the two poor girls, raise them and keep them safe. As Gehrman had bid her in her last moments in the dream, she feared the blood, and tried to teach them to fear it, too, though they were already too exposed to the old Yharnam madness to be completely saved.
Every few nights, the bell would toll, and everyone would lock their doors and seal themselves inside, as a new hunt began. Aiedale always made sure the girls were tucked in, then put a red lantern outside the window and waited, offering supplies to whatever poor fool had become the new hunter bound to the dream - some of the weapons she'd found in the catacombs were very powerful, and she handed them over willingly, hoping it would give the new hunters a reason not to delve into the depths themselves, and thereby get lost in the hunt. Some hunters came back in the morning, and some did not, but there would always be a new hunt, a new Mergo, a new gauntlet. Though Aiedale was on the outside now, she remembered, all too well, her time as Flora's emissary, and knew that the wrath of the Great Ones would not end. This blood curse upon the world would not end.
On nights not plagued by the hunt, Aiedale lay awake, thinking, remembering. There had been that note in the nightmare lecture hall: "Three third cords." Those third umbilical cords she'd found during her hunts…surely, those things were rare to find intact, yet on both iterations of her hunt, she had found three of them. Would any other hunter have that kind of luck? It was doubtful…and…and she wondered. So long as Flora was answering the prayers of those poor cretins in the fishing hamlet who had wished for the pregnant Kos's murder to be avenged, this curse would not end. Simon had begged her, Aiedale, to end it, yet the Great Ones would not stop. Flora would not stop. The only way this madness could ever be made to cease…would be to usurp the Great Ones who had inflicted it on the world.
Three third cords. Aiedale had found the solution, and never used it. And now, it was unlikely anyone else ever would.
Guilt began to sprout in her heart, as the weeks became months, and the hunts came every few days. Yes, she was taking care of two orphaned girls, but she was still raising them in a world cursed by the Great Ones. Surely, even without parents, they would have been better off if somehow Flora was dethroned?
A day came when she happened upon Valtr, now a simple League member, no longer its leader. She offered him the position back, as she was no longer a hunter, yet he refused the bucket-like helmet, claiming she was still rightfully in charge of the League. Still, it opened conversation, and Aiedale found excuses to talk to him again and again, secretly glad that he would no longer be hiding his beautiful face behind the metal cylinder. He would still help other hunters on their hunts, though only from the safety granted by the resonance of the bells, but though he suggested she do the same, she insisted she had to take care of her adopted daughters. He laughed and told her that her commitment to children not even her own was a sure sign that she, at least, would never be host to a Vermin, and she felt her heart soar at the praise.
But even at the prospect of courting the handsome, gallant man, her guilt at not ending this curse only grew. True, she didn't know for sure it was possible, but for even a chance…Her first time, she had lost herself to bloodlust; the second time, she'd done as many good deeds as she'd been able to, and then run away. That there even could be more she might have done, if only she'd been braver…it haunted her. More hunts came, as they always did and always would, a plague that would never die.
Perhaps, if only she had a third chance at the hunt, she might be able to make things right.
But there was only one way she could think of to do that.
At last, she confided in Valtr, told him everything, including the budding plan that was forming in her mind of what might be done. He was grim, yet openly admired her fortitude, that she would even consider making such a sacrifice. In a moment of weakness, Aiedale asked him if he would join her, help her in her quest. To her surprise, he agreed, and even offered to stay with her, that they would be together on the night of the next hunt, and could work together to see her plan put to practice.
A shockingly long time passed without new hunts after Valtr moved in with Aiedale and the girls. Her adopted family even took surprisingly well to the man, and he to them. Those feelings that had been taking root in Aiedale's heart began to bud, then blossom, and at last, after a whole week of peace had gone by, as they put the girls to bed one night, she confessed her fondness for him.
The cruelty of the Great Ones was truly boundless, as, before he could even respond, the bell tolled, signaling that there would be no time for courtship.
A new hunt had begun. The one Aiedale had promised herself would be the last.
Together, she and Valtr waited by the window for the new hunter to come by, and when he did, Aiedale entreated with him to escort them through the Choir Realm, all the way to where Ebreitas awaited by the Altar of Despair. Knowing it would not be easy to reach the place, Aiedale gave the hunter instructions on how to open the door and find the way, then pleaded that he return when the path was open and allow her and Valtr to accompany him. She gave him the last of the weapons she'd found in the catacombs in exchange for a promise of help, but she felt hope - the man was odd, stoic, but didn't strike her as the type to be dishonorable or forgetful. He would come back.
Aiedale and Valtr waited. It occurred to her that it would be a much shorter time for her than it would be for the hunter, as, not being bound to the Hunter's Dream, time moved at a normal pace for her, while it was totally elastic for the hunter who tonight faced the Great Ones' prank. Even so, it would be improper to discuss romantic affairs when there could be no chance for true courtship, and she kept herself formal with her hunting partner, not bringing up her confession again.
Too soon, night fell, and the blood moon was revealed. Aiedale took up her weapons and donned her gear, prepared for the hunter to come back for them, and Valtr did the same. She pleaded with the League veteran to take the helmet that had been his, but he refused, instead borrowing a black hood from her that had belonged to the Healing Church.
In time, the hunter returned, assuring them that he'd opened the door to the Choir Realm and would escort them to their goal. Knowing full well that death was to be feared this night, Aiedale and Valtr followed their guide, lending aid where they dared. The knowledge that they would have to fell a Great One and its Emissary was frightening, yet Aiedale knew both beasts and how to fight them, and gave their hunter guide instructions and advice all the way.
Miraculously, all three made it to Ebreitas's lair alive, and there they faced the Daughter of the Cosmos, whom the Healing Church had once used as their primary means of attempting to attain godhood. Aiedale had faced harder battles in her second hunt, and the hunter who had brought her and Valtr there took her suggestions to heart; together, they slew the Great One, and all three survived. Immediately, the hunter used the lantern that had appeared to return to the Hunter's Dream, Isz Chalice in hand, presumably to channel the Blood Echoes he'd gained from the victory and perhaps explore the tomb of the Great Ones.
Then, Aiedale and Valtr were alone.
Slowly, Aiedale approached the dead, crushed remains of the vacuous spider that now made up the Altar of Despair. Valtr walked at her side, and at last he spoke.
"Are you quite sure about this, Lady Aiedale?" he inquired.
"I am as sure as it's possible to be," she answered. "My hunt, and mine alone, gave me the opportunity to end this nightmare, and twice, I did not take it. If I can have a third chance, I will not make that mistake again."
"Will I…remember you?" he asked.
Aiedale turned her brilliant green eyes on the man she would have liked to court, had circumstances been different. "No," she answered, "not if it works. But I will remember you…and I will cherish every memory I have of our days together."
In a sudden moment of boldness, safe in the knowledge that it wouldn't matter, she quickly pulled him close and kissed him on the lips, knowing that this would probably be the only such moment she would ever have. To her surprise, he returned the gesture, sweetly and passionately.
They parted, and Aiedale looked him in the eye one last time. He nodded, and she nodded back, then turned away and climbed onto the dead Great One. Lying down on the lumpy head, Aiedale pressed as much of her body against the gruesome altar as possible, closed her eyes, and began to pray.
Please, o dead vacuous one, as you once did for Queen Annalise, and as the Great Ones once did for me, I prithee, turn back time for me, that I may wake again at the start of my hunt. Please, send me back, that I may make this right. Please, I beg of thee, turn back time…
With all her heart and soul, with every fiber of her being, Aiedale prayed at the altar. Every ounce of her existence was focused with absolute determination on her prayer; so devoted to her cause was she that, with a sudden jolt of horrified shock, she realized she'd forgotten what it was she was praying for.
Alarmed, she opened her eyes, and found herself lying on a cot in a decrepit clinic. Confused, with no memory of who or where she was, save for a few key bits of information, she looked down at herself, and found that she was dressed in tough garb, as though for battle. Checking her pockets and bags, she found a strange array of weapons and tools…and a quivering, pulsing, living red stone.
For the last time, the sight of the Yharnam Stone returned all of Aiedale's memories to her. Her bloodlust in her first hunt that ended in captivity, her prayer that had given her a second hunt that had led to a life raising two orphaned girls, her plan to reach the Altar of Despair for a chance to end this nightmare once and for all…Valtr.
Swallowing hard, Aiedale lifted her head, and walked down the steps and through the streets to the lantern that awaited her, returning to the Hunter's Dream.
One thing had in fact changed since her first two hunts: a new gravestone stood in the garden, one Aiedale did not recognize. But when she found the doll standing beside it, and speaking fondly of the hunter it represented, she knew it was her own. And yet, time had indeed turned back, all in the waking world was as it had been the night of her first hunt. Perhaps this place was simply outside of time, or knew all the timelines? Or perhaps the Great Ones were taunting her? It seemed they enjoyed tormenting those who would dare imbibe the blood, no matter their reasons…
At the workshop, Aiedale retired her threaded cane. This time, she used neither it, nor the axe, but a weapon she had found in Gehrman's nightmare upon slaying the helpless severed head of the deformed Ludwig during her first, blood-crazed hunt: the Holy Moonlight Sword. Overwhelmingly powerful, able to stagger almost any enemy with its might, a weapon of both physical and arcane power, enhanced with boulders of blood stone and stuck full of potent Blood Gems that took full advantage of its unique attributes, this was the mighty blade with which Aiedale would put an end to the Great Ones' terrible curse.
For the third time, she carved her way through the night that had been her captor twice before. Perhaps the Great Ones sensed her intent, as the accumulated strength from two hunts gave her no advantage over the doubly-invigorated enemies that stalked the nightmare. The sword, though, it did give her an advantage, and she proceeded.
This time, she would make no mistakes. She ignored the girls, praying that someone else would step up to take care of them come morning; she directed the skeptical man to Iosefka, finally allowing him to survive in Oedon's Chapel; she murdered Adella on sight, knowing that the woman wouldn't survive the night either way and that this was the only way to prevent Arianna's death as well; she gave Alfred his key to fulfillment before beasthood consumed him. In her caution, she happened upon Eileen the Crow more times than before, and when an unfortunate happenstance took her past the Cathedral Ward after the blood moon emerged, she found the hunter of hunters injured, claiming to have made a mistake against another blood-drunk hunter, whom Aiedale slew for her, thus befriending the woman as she had Djura. When she once again relived meeting Valtr for the first time, she recalled again how odd and suspicious he had seemed to her at first, though she now knew for certain the honorable, gallant man behind that bucket helmet; even so, she did not tell him what they had shared in another life, as it would be improper and serve no purpose, and only privately cherished the moments she got to speak to him. She went through the Choir Realm this time, slaughtering everything including Ebreitas herself - no Great Ones involved in this travesty would be allowed to live. As in her previous hunt, she eschewed the catacombs; but, not knowing just how real the Nightmare Realm was, she did choose to once again descend into Gehrman's personal torment and slaughter the beasts that lay within, just in case any of it held any sway over the mortal world that might keep even after its host's death.
Knowing that she needed three third cords, Aiedale waited until the blood moon was revealed before going to Iosefka - she would not take the cord from Arianna's baby, as the woman of the night was the only truly kind and decent person Aiedale had met in Yharnam, her bloodline and her profession alike be damned, and she deserved to live. Perhaps, after all was said and done, Aiedale would be able to treat with Formeless Oedon, or otherwise see to it that the mother of his child would be cared for. When at last Aiedale slew Mergo's Wet Nurse, and the baby it guarded, she had in her hands three third cords.
Drawing a deep breath, Aiedale consumed all three at once.
It was a strange turn of phrase, 'eyes on the inside' - what on Earth did that even mean? But once all three third cords had been consumed, Aiedale understood. It wasn't something she could have put to words, yet there was truly no better term for it.
Empowered now with celestial energy and ultimate insight, Aiedale returned to the Hunter's Dream for the last time, where the workshop burned. She faced Gehrman, and refused to leave; he stood to fight her, and though he was much more difficult to face than he had been on her first hunt, she slew him.
Just as it had the first time, the Moon Presence descended from the crimson moon in the sky, and as it had the first time, it reached for her. But this time, with eyes on the inside, Aiedale could see what the Great One was doing to her, the influence it was trying to cast on her being, and being able to see it, she was able to resist it.
She did not approach placidly, she did not stand still and allow the tentacled creature to take her. She hefted her sword, and swung, both able and determined to end this perpetrator of the Nightmare.
It was a difficult and strange battle - indeed, it was the only battle Aiedale had never faced before, and it took learning. Flora was powerful, as she had to have been to create all of this; yet Aiedale had not been severed from the Hunter's Dream, and so could not be killed. It didn't matter how many times she died, Aiedale dove into the fray again and again, determined to slaughter the one who had cursed all of mankind for the sins of a few arrogant souls who were now long-dead.
And, at last, as her final hunt came to a close, Aiedale succeeded, and Flora, the Moon Presence, was no more.
Yet the victory did not come without a cost. Drenched in the blood of one of the mightiest Great Ones, full of eyes on the inside granting her ultimate insight, Aiedale knew full well that there had to be a Moon Presence, always. If it would not be Flora, then, as with Gehrman, the one who emptied the role would be the one to take it.
Celestial power took hold of Aiedale's body, crushing and twisting her paltry mortal flesh into something…else. When morning dawned, she was a small, slug-squid creature, an infant Great One, one who would grow to be the new Moon Presence, and decide what future humanity might have.
But she would not forget, for she still carried with her the Yharnam Stone. She would remember her life as a human, the beauty and the ugliness of mankind, and she would hold to her pledge that she would be a kinder, fairer god than the one that had preceded her.
All she had to do was grow up.
~THE END~
Well, it's been a long time since I last wrote a full-on self-insert fic…not since the very first thing I posted on this site have I done that, and that was deliberately bad. Even my Dark Souls fic wasn't a self-insert, it was an in-character Let's Play but I was playing as a character…I mean, the character that was me was IN it, but she was just kinda in the bonfire offering knowledge. Yeah, I definitely don't regret not going in-depth in this self-indulgent garbage (I generally can't stand self-insert fics). But hey, I wrote it, so up it goes. I hope someone enjoyed it.
