Moonlight filtered through the large crack in the ceiling of the cavern, illuminating the marble platform. A skeletal body, clothed in heavy fabrics, lay face down in the center of the platform. Grass lightly rustled all around her, despite the lack of wind.
The skeleton woke with short, sharp gasps, ribs aching from the sudden and unfamiliar movement. She struggled to open her eye sockets, fighting the urge to just give up and Fall. Her Soul surged with determination, and with a grunt, she rolled over and opened her sockets. She looked up at the great crack in the cavern, right at the full moon.
Testing her joints, she skeleton searched her mind for any hint of who she had been before. There was a faint feeling of memories floating around, but nothing she could grasp, nothing that was coming forward willingly.
With a sigh, she stood, surprised that she felt no pain, the pondered on her surprise as she walked down the steps, stopping on the last one. She could see pale white, picked perfectly clean bones of dead animals in the grass, close to the edge of the cavern. She looked back down at her bare toes and listened to the rustling and chittering growing closer.
Her Soul made the decision closer. She moved quickly, moving much faster than she anticipated. Claws scratched on marble behind her, they screeched angrily, but otherwise, they didn't bother wasting their energy on chasing her.
It was a short sprint to safety, but she wasn't out of danger yet. More dead skeletons surrounded her, as well as the sound of rustling and chittering on either side of her. What worried her most though, was the distant, yet loud, sound of grunting and stomping. She shuttered at the mere thought of fighting whatever was big enough to make all that noise.
Ahead of her, just past another narrow passageway, she could see the warm glow of a lantern, and a door close to it. Whatever was in there, whoever was in there was calling to her soul, beckoning her forward, to come into the house. Safety, it said, eagerly coaxing her on.
Safety, her soul echoed hopefully.
The roaring of a waterfall snapped her out of her head, a rickety-looking bridge was the last obstacle between her, and the warm glow of the lantern hanging in front of the house.
Another roar of an enemy spooked the skeleton into moving, causing her to step onto the rough, slimy bridge. She moved as fast as she dared, and between breathes, she crossed over.
Silently, she walked up the steps and opened the door.
The room was warm and smelled of bread and spices.
"You've arrived." The voice sounded neutral, neither happy nor angry, neither male nor female. A human of an indeterminate age and gender stared at her with deep, nearly glowing red eyes. They wore a purple robe that clung to them, with long white bishop sleeves, and an insignia on their chest.
"Chara," an exasperated voice sighed from over by the fireplace, "Don't scare them!"
He was, for the lack of a better word, a tall goat boy, with tall twisting horns and dull black markings on his fur. He wore the same robes in a looser style, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He gave the skeleton a gentle smile, sharp fangs just barely peaking out.
"Ignore them, young one, you're safe here."
She felt as though she had missed something.
The goat boy poured a glowing golden liquid into a delicate-looking teacup, then handed it to her.
"Careful now, you don't want to break it," Fuzzy pink stained fingers brushed against bone, and she wanted nothing more than to recoil away from the heat of life he radiated.
When the cup was secure in her hands, Asriel- when had she learned his name?- grinned and pushed it up towards her face.
"Its golden flower tea," Chara said, watching the hesitant skeleton, "It will restore your humanity, and with any luck, you might remember your name."
"It mimics Estus," Asriel chimed in.
"It's better than Estus," Chara grumbled, "and tastes far better too."
Asriel laughed at his… friends? partner's? Words.
"It… won't spill… out?" A soft raspy voice echoed from the skeleton.
"Magic," the two said in unison, their red eyes glittering in amusement.
She nodded once and drank the golden tea. Its taste was simply indescribable, and eons passed within seconds. Before she even noticed that he had left, Asriel had dragged a second chest in front of the rocking chair she was sitting in. Athilda idly wondered when she had gotten here as Asriel started flinging the chests open.
"You need clothes! Weapons! Armor!" He gleefully shouted out as Athilda studied the pale, translucent flesh covering her bones. It felt off, definitely not like the skin she had covering her insides before. She didn't have time to dwell on it as Asriel tugged at her sleeve, getting her attention.
"And a gift."
"And a Gift!"
"But only one."
"Start picking!"
She felt overwhelmed at all the different things in the chests. She let her Soul guide her, grabbing clothing and armor she felt that matched, what looked like a broadsword, and after a hesitant look at the two patiently watching her, she grabbed the bow also.
Asriel stood, bringing Athilda another, much smaller box.
"And now the gift," Chara said.
As much as she would have liked to say that she took her time to look through the gifts and made a well thought out decision, the delicate but otherwise unassuming silver necklace with dull blue and yellow gems embedded in the heart-shaped locket called out to her. It felt warm in her hands, pulsing with the beat of her Soul.
"You can change upstairs," Chara pointed to the stairs that Athilda hadn't noticed before.
Standing on shaky legs, she made her way up the stairs with her new things.
The first thing Athilda did was braid back her long silver-white hair, tying it with a strip of cloth torn from the rags she had been wearing. Then, layer by both simple and complicated layer, she dressed in the Falconer armor. Lastly, she put on the necklace, resting it above her Soul and hiding it underneath her clothes.
Satisfied that she put everything on correctly, she sheathed her sword and bow and finished it off by attaching the quiver around her waist.
Athilda turned and froze at the sight of herself in the mirror. She looked… inhuman. Skin so pale it almost seemed to glow stretched over bones like someone made their bed with ill-fitting sheets. It made the pink of her lips look bright and unnatural, but what really spooked her were her eyes. Dark red iris' surrounded by a pitch-black sclera, and in the center, her pupils were the same exact shade of gold as the tea they had given her.
It was unsettling to see just how much she had changed. Even her proportions were different. Athilda was certain that even if she had kept her original coloring, this was not her original body. She frowned at that line of thought, wondering what her original coloring had been.
Her eyes were drawn downwards, to a bobbing movement, just barely visible inside her chest. A small, grey, transparent heart floated inside her ribcage. Tilting her head, she squinted curiously at it.
[Athilda LvL 1
Fallen Child
Knight
HP: 500]
[Stats:
Determination - 13
Vigor - 12
Endurance - 6
Vitality - 7
Adaptability - 9
Strength - 11
Dexterity - 8
Intelligence – 3 (+5)
Faith – 6 (+5)
Attunement - 4]
[…]
[The Soul remembers what the mind does not.]
Athilda blinked, watching the information fade out from her mind's eye. Groaning, she closed her eyes as her head began throbbing painfully.
She walked back down the stairs, her footsteps audible with every step she took in the unfamiliar shoes. The quiet whispering stopped as she reached the bottom of the steps. Asriel grinned and clapped his hands together, bouncing as he looked closely at her.
"You look adorable!" he exclaimed.
"The training area is just past the bonfire behind the back door," Chara said, settling into their rocking chair, a pair of knitting needles in their hands, "Don't come back."
Asriel rolled his eyes and dropped his hands, looking completely exasperated, "Chara! Don't be mean!"
"Don't forget to light the bonfire," Chara called out as Athilda slipped out the door, "Just grab the handle of the sword, and magic will take care of the rest."
Athilda entered a small cavern, with an unlit bonfire directly in front of her, and a wagon to the right. Between the two, a doorless exit waited for her. With Chara's parting words still fresh in her mind, she walked up to the sword and grabbed it. She stumbled back as flames swirled up, higher than she was tall. A figure made of embers stood on the other side of the sword, but before she could get a better look, she blinked and the figure disappeared as the flames calmed down.
Taking a deep breath, she put a hand on her own sword and kept going.
Athilda could admit that the next area she walked into was a little intimidating. Enormous columns grew from the bottom of the cavern all the way to the top. The pathway she now stood on was thin and had no guards to prevent someone from falling into the waters far below.
She walked up to the first column, and pressed her hand into the thick fog, dissipating it. Her hand tingled from the presence of magic.
As Athilda pulled her sword out, a ghostly figure appeared next to her. Their eyes were covered by a strip of white cloth, tied around their head, brown hair hung limply above their shoulders. They wore a black tunic with a single red stripe, red leggings. Their feet were bare, and a bloodied sword hung loosely in their grasp.
They pressed two ice-cold fingers to her lips and smiled gently at them.
'Don't fear,' they seemed to tell her, 'and don't hesitate.'
And like the fog, they were gone, leaving Athilda with the knowledge of how to properly hold and swing a sword carved into her Soul.
Adjusting her grip, she pulled out her sword and held it with both hands, giving it an experimental swing, ready to fight whatever lurked ahead. Squaring her shoulders, she crept forward into the darkness.
Nearing the middle of the pathway, her eyes adjusted, allowing her to see a figure standing in the exit. An outline of a dark, empty Soul bobbed inside his chest.
[Undead Traveler, LvL 1
Hollow
HP: 160]
[Dead long before he arrived here.]
Once she got closer to the Hollow, it let out a growl and charged her. Before it could lay a hand on her, Athilda swung her sword with all her might, watching him crumble, and watching as thirty glowing orbs floated into a pouch she hadn't seen before. Glancing over her belt, she noticed a water flask, and an Estus (she assumed, eyeing the embroidery of a blue flower) flask resting on the other side.
Magic, she thought to herself, shaking her head.
Looking ahead, she could see another Hollow in the room in front of her. Her first quick victory gave her a boost of energy, or confidence, she wasn't entirely sure which. She charged forward, slashing her sword at him, making quick work of him too. Another group of orbs flew to the orb pouch.
Looking around, she spotted another entryway.
Athilda walked into the empty room, looking around for another enemy.
An ugly grunt from behind her was her only warning, she whirled around and just barely brought her sword up to block when a Hollow clawed at her. She pushed it back to give herself space to stab it. Unlike the last two, it didn't immediately dust.
It growled, charging her again, bring its arm back to claw at her again, but she slashed it before it could do any damage. She stepped back as it collapsed into a pile of dust.
Taking a moment to breathe, Athilda wondered what the glowing orbs are, and what their purpose was. Perhaps, if she ever found a town, she could trade them for supplies. Or, at the very least, ask someone what they are.
The next door looked as if it led back out. The first thing she saw when she left the cavern was a massive ogre… troll thing on a small sandy island. She grimaced at the size of the ogre and felt relieved that they were separated by a cliff and a whole lot of water.
Looking to her left, she saw another Hollow, it's back facing her. Silently as she could, she crept up behind it and drove her sword through its back. It screamed and collapsed into dust.
Athilda blinked, put off by just how easy it had been to kill that one. She glanced over her shoulder, back at the ogre, then shook her head. It hadn't even been two hours since she woke, it wouldn't be a good idea to pick a fight with something that much bigger than her right now. It was always something she could come back to later if she really wanted to.
She continued on her journey, dusting the last four Hollows and taking a few arrows to the chest. That had been the last room in that column. She made her way down to the pathway, deciding to go back the way she had come.
Athilda looked down the path in the direction of the bonfire, then looked the other way, to what she could assume was the way out of the training area. She glanced at another column blocked by smoke.
Squaring her shoulders, and lifting her chin, she took a deep breath and walked towards the giant crack serving as the exit.
The tunnel was cramped, save for a few wide spots. Wind howled around her, sending the tail of her braid flying behind her. The tunnel began to brighten, and a strange sound made her tilt her head. It sounded almost like the waterfall by Chara's and Asriel's home, but not quite right.
Athilda squinted her eyes and lifted a hand to block out the light as it became too painful for her. Once her eyes adjusted, she froze and felt tears slip down her face.
The sun was just coming up over the horizon, casting shades of orange and yellow into the sky, and onto the ocean. Pink painted the undersides of huge, fluffy golden clouds. Athilda couldn't recall seeing something so beautiful before.
The warmth of the sun sunk into her skin, warming her all the way to her Soul. She closed her eyes, overwhelmed with how alive it all was, she felt as though she was intruding on something intimate.
"Hey!" a young voice called out, "Leftover vulture food! What the fuck are you doing?!"
Athilda's eyes snapped open, looking for whoever spoke, but-
Nothing.
She couldn't find-
"Down here, you reheated corpse!" it sneered, "Did dying make you brain dead too?"
Athilda looked down, finding a large golden flower, with a face in its center, thorns growing out of its stem. She felt a pressure curl around her ankle, a sharp stabbing pain startling her. A vine crept up her leg.
All she could do was blink in confusion.
"Ugh, you're going to be one of the boring ones, aren't you?" it asked, "Well, let me be the first to properly welcome you into the New World." The vine crept higher, its thorns cutting into her. Her mind began to fuzz and she couldn't- She couldn't move.
"Here, its kill," its face twisted hideously, "Or be killed!"
It laughed as it wrapped its vine around her throat and squeezed. Her vision went white as her bones creaked under the pressure, choking as they cracked and splintered inside of her.
She blacked out-
And woke up next to the bonfire, to the feeling of someone stroking her skull. She opened her eyes, looking directly into the bandage covered eyes of a red-haired woman wearing a long-sleeved linen chemise. She smiled gently and was gone before Athilda could even think about blinking.
The skeleton let out a shaky sigh as she stood and prayed that the demonic flower was gone. The last thing she wanted to do was run into it and get killed again.
She made her way back down the path, back through the tunnel again. By the time she made it out a second time, the sun had risen much higher and was no longer displaying the oranges, and yellows, and pinks. On the bright side, however, the flower was nowhere to be seen.
The only hint of what happened was the disturbed dirt and her glowing bloodstain.
Touch it, her Soul insisted, as she bent down to inspect it. Raising a browbone, she pressed a finger to it, and immediately fell on her ass as the souls she collected returned to her… soul pouch? She grimaced and stood.
The dirt path led in only one direction, towards what looked like a town.
Step by step, she made her way to the town and wondered if she was cold because she didn't have her skin anymore, or if it was because of the flower. Although, cold wasn't exactly the right word for it. It was as if empty was a temperature.
Athilda passed under the arch of the entrance and immediately spotted a bonfire. Heading towards it, she passed two rabbit monsters who gave her odd looks. Discretely looking around, she noticed a purple fire elemental leaning against the door-frame of what looked like a blacksmith's forge. She could feel it in her Soul that he was looking at her, even if she couldn't tell where exactly his eyes were.
She grabbed the hilt of the sword, not flinching away from its flames this time. The red-haired woman was clearer this time, as she bent down and pulled a key out of the dirt. She motioned Athilda to come closer to her and handed the skeleton the key.
She rattled loudly as she noticed the Fire elemental standing next to her without warning. He was much taller than she would have guessed, and held none of the heat she thought he would have.
"You must be the latest Fallen Child," he said, voice deep and smokey.
Athilda nodded, clutching the key close to her chest as he chuckled and sized her up.
"There's a house between the tavern and the apothecary for you Fallen. Hestia gave you the key to it so you should be able to open it. Come see me when you get settled."
And with that, he walked back to his forge, disappearing into the stone building.
Turning around, she noticed that the whole town consisted of four buildings. The tavern and the apothecary were easy to spot, leaving the building in the middle to be her new house. She walked towards it, ignoring all of the stares she was getting.
Taking care to avoid the massive empty pit in the middle of the buildings, she reached the steps to her house. Squashing down the off feelings in her ribcage, she unlocked the door and pushed it open.
There was a small entryway, a single door leading to a huge library, and the other doorway leading to a hallway. The windows looked as if the glass had been broken from the inside out, or cleaned up and thrown out the windows. The hallway turned left, a door that led to the basement she assumed, and another leading upstairs.
Athilda decided to look upstairs, hoping to find someplace to rest, or maybe even something to eat but she thought that one more unlikely.
The wooden stairs creaked heavily under her as she made her way up them. Immediately, she saw a hole in the roof that she would have to fix, somehow. Looking to her left, she saw a hallway, with a door roughly in the middle of the wall. Going through the door, she found a bedroom with two more doors, one going back into the hallway, and one going out to a balcony, overlooking a little bit of land she might be able to start up a garden in.
Walking back into the bedroom, Athilda sighed. It was filthy from years of disuse, it would probably take her weeks to get the house in working order. She wasn't even sure that there was a kitchen.
The house needed a lot of work.
Finally, her Soul seemed to sigh, something normal.