A/N: This first chapter is only meant to introduce a few of the major characters in the story. Yes, there are oc's. Anyway, hope you enjoy reading. Constructive criticism welcome.
Desire to Die
Anne's armor never felt as heavy as it did today. She had finally accepted her fate, she would go hollow in her small cell. Never to be seen again by any of her loved ones, not that they wanted to see her anyway. Anne squeezed her knees tighter to her chest.
Her bright blue eyes looked up through the hole in the ceiling of her cell. At first Anne had thought of that hole, and the light that came through it, as a blessing. A blessing that filled her with hope, hope of escape. Anything would be better than sitting in this cell, slowly turning more and more hollow. Now, it only served to anger her, to mock her. She was too weak to climb out of this cell. Too weak to do anything meaningful. Anne's father was right, she was a disgrace. Too clumsy to hold a sword, too weak to pull back a bow string, too stupid to practice magic.
Tears did not come, these thoughts were common these days. Her tears had dried up on the first few nights, along with her determination. All Anne wanted, was for death to accept her. Yet even death didn't want her and pushed her away from his domain with this curse.
The Dark Sign.
A loud thump woke Anne from her thoughts. She raised her head quickly, to see a body laying on the floor. When Anne looked back up to the hole it came from, a knight looked back down at her. He stood up, and walked away.
Anne scrambled on her hands and knees, hope filled her empty husk. She searched the dead body, and soon enough her hand grasped a strangely shaped object. An old silver key lay in her hands. Anne nervously went to check if it fit the cell door. It smoothly entered the key hole, Anne squealed in delight and smashed the door open. Finally free, she had to find a way out of the Asylum. So Anne gripped her broken straight sword and began walking the only way she could at the moment, down the hall leading away from her cell.
Then she spotted them. The hollows, moaning, smashing their heads off of walls, praying to the gods. One reached out at her from his cell.
Anne brushed it off. She couldn't help them and she had to keep moving forward.
Anne found a ladder, and quickly made the ascent out of her cells section of the Asylum. She walked outside into a small courtyard, closed her eyes and took in the fresh air. It had been so long since she last took in the smell of anything but rotting corpses. She laughed, her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and to her just a tiny bit more like her old human self.
The young undead opened her eyes, and spotted a large gate past a small bonfire, one that lead deeper into the Asylum. Perhaps to the exit?
Anne felt the need to first light the bonfire, then move on to the gate. Anne pulled on it and laughed at herself. She proceeded to push on it with all her might. Slowly the two doors swung inward.
She stepped out into a large corridor, pillars lined both sides of the building.
The building had no roof.
'Guess this building is older than I thought.'
Anne spotted the exit, straight across from her. She started running towards it in excitement and smiled in delight.
Her feet slowed and smile waned when she caught the shape of a man in the corner of her eye. He was standing in a doorway to her left, waving at her desperately.
"Above you!" The knight yelled. Anne cried out in alarm and narrowly jumped out from under the ginormous demon. It's landing shook the entire building.
The knight waved her toward the door, this time she made a run for it. The demons steps following her close behind. It swung it's hammer a few times, breaking everything in its path except for the pillar it collided with. Anne dived through the door, and it closed behind her. Leaving the fat monster roaring in frustration.
Anne shakily stood up, she had nearly pissed herself. If she wasn't undead she probably would have. She lifted her head up to the one whom had released her from her prison, and warned her of the attack
"Th-thank you."
He held his hand up, "Don't thank me yet, we still have to get past that demon. Come, lets find you some more suitable arms my lady." The knight warily eyed her sad weapon. Then beckoned her to follow him.
They traveled through a room with another bonfire, and a hollow sitting in a corner. Water all around the vacant eyed being.
They kept moving.
"What's your name ser?" Anne asked as she looked around the hallway they were traveling down. The hollows were all dead.
"My name is Oscar, of Astora. and yours?" Oscar strained his eyes looking for some type of weapon more useful than what she was carrying.
Anne stepped over the dead body of a hollow holding a bow, "My name is Anne, of Carim."
They reentered the asylum, went up some stairs and exited back outside. They were looking over the first bonfire Anne had come across. They both stood still for a moment, perhaps thinking about how crazy this escape plan was. Kill a giant demon and get out. Simple, but terrifying all the same. At least to Anne it was. Oscar seemed unfazed.
"Lets move on, we need to get out of here." Oscar turned to walk up a flight of stairs, Anne noticed a boulder had smashed into a wall behind her. She wondered how far this man had gone before he turned back. Now was not the time to ask, so she kept her mouth shut.
Eventually they arrived at the highest point in the asylum, that Anne knew of anyway.
"Wait here, the demon is through the door to our left, I'm going to search for a better weapon for you to use." Oscar drew his sword, and entered the hallway straight in front of them. Anne followed a fair distance behind, just in case.
The room turned out to be a hallway, and an armored hollow stood next to a barred gate. It carried a long sword, and a large steel shield. It charged Oscar right when he entered the building.
Oscar raised his shield to intercept an overhead slash from the hollow soldier, he easily shrugged it off and countered with his own attack. He stabbed straight for its chest, it jumped back just out of his reach, and raised its sword over it's head a second time.
Oscar did not care, he stepped through with a horizontal slash aimed at it's vulnerable left side. Unfortunately for the hollow, Oscar was much faster than he was, and Oscar's slash cut deep into its rib cage.
The hollow fell lifeless to the ground, Anne was glad Oscar had avoided injury.
"Here," Oscar brought her the long sword and shield. "these shall serve you much better than that gods forsaken thing." Anne smiled, and took the sword and shield in her hands. She felt much more like a knight again, even if she was never an honorable one.
Oscar laughed, "You look quite capable in your plate armor, holding that blade like an expert. Here, take this," He hands her a strange flask, full of golden liquid. "It's estus, an undead favorite. Drink it, and your wounds will heal. At least most of them will."
"Thank you, you have helped me so much. I will repay you!" Anne beamed, few people had ever been so kind to her.
"Do not worry about that yet Anne. Remember, we still must fight this demon, that in itself can 'even' us out. Let us go and discover our fates, then we can talk." He lead her to the door, it looked out over where Anne first met the demon.
Oscar turned to her, she nodded her head. Anne would always feel fear, she was a coward after all. But, for her own small amount of honor and dignity, she had to help Oscar kill this demon.
Both of them peered over the edge, and found their target. It stared right back. Anne felt fear fill up her stomach, she nearly ran the other way and back into her cell.
The two of them stepped backwards off of the ledge. Oscar glanced at her, she at him.
Oscar simply asked, "Are you ready?"
Anne couldn't answer vocally, so she shook her head yes. Might as well get it over with.
Oscar nodded, then charged forward, jumped off the balcony, and stabbed his sword down into its head. Anne timidly hopped off as well, only managing to make a minor incision on the demons left arm.
The Asylum Demon screamed, and ran around wildly in an attempt to shake Oscar off.
Oscar pulled his sword out of it's skull, and jumped down to the stone floor. His landing wasn't the best and the Demon plunged it's hammer down at him in a fit of rage.
Anne screamed and stabbed the Demon's tail into the ground, in an attempt to stop it's murderous rampage. Instead the thing turned it on her, more pissed off than any other creature she had ever encountered.
Oscar on the other hand knew it was only doing this out of panic. It's wounds bled everywhere and it's moves had turned far more sluggish.
It was dying.
Anne barely sidestepped the vertical smash the monster attempted to kill her with.
She ran forward and stabbed deep into it's left knee.
Oscar ran up to the other leg, and slashed the Demon's Achilles tendon. It fell down onto one knee, still fighting.
It swiped its hammer in a 360 degree arc, smashed into Anne's shield and sent her flying to the side a few feet. The force of the blow made her let go of her sword.
Oscar barely ducked underneath the attack and slashed into it's wrist.
It dropped its hammer. Oscar dodged out of reach of it's arms and ran over to Anne to help her up.
Her shield arm was broken.
The demon was much slower than them, since it was unable to walk any longer.
"Anne! Drink some Estus! It will heal your arm enough to allow it to move. Hurry! We are close to victory!" Oscar sat her behind a pillar and ran outside to distract the demon until Anne was ready to finish it.
Anne frantically snatched out her bottle and gulped down its soothing contents. It was amazing, her arms bones grew stronger again. Not perfect, but well enough to move and block.
A loud roar shook Anne out of her shock and she ran out to assist Oscar.
No matter how much she didn't want to.
Oscar took up position in front of the monster, Anne quickly retrieved her sword and stood behind it.
Oscar aggressively stabbed, slashed, and cut into the demon, whether it was the beast's arms or body, as he ran around to avoid its fists and grabs. This was merely a distraction, Anne shut her mind down in order to avoid being overrun by fear and let the adrenaline dictate her actions.
She threw her shield to the side and charged at the monsters back, then jumped up and stabbed into it with all her strength and body weight behind it.
Anne's sudden attack was high enough on its back, and powerful enough, to make the monster face plant into the stone floor. It's arms stretching and flailing in an attempt to tear Anne off of it's back.
Oscar did the honors, after recovering from his surprise. He took his sword in both hands and finished it off with one final stab to the back of their enemies head.
Both of the knights felt a large amount of, what they guessed were souls enter their body and ease their minds. They sat in silence for a fair amount of time, before Anne started giggling. Oscar joined her in a loud burst of laughter. They did it, they destroyed the Asylum Demon. And now, they could face their destinies.
The two of them walked to the exit together. Words were unnecessary, the two of them looked toward each other. Shook their heads, and slowly pushed the gate open. Fresh cool air washed over their bodies. The smiles never left their faces as they started to approach the top of the hill.
After an unknown amount of time, Oscar turned to Anne.
"There's an old saying in my family. It goes like this; 'Thou who art Undead, art chosen. In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords. When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know.' There you go. I have given you something to aim for, in this land called Lordran. Personally, this is my goal. I have a feeling we will cross paths again soon enough." Oscar broke the silence as the two walked up the strange pathway.
Anne listened, interested and confused about where the Asylum was located. "Chosen? They must mean you. You are strong and brave. Not me. But, if you ever need help and I am around, I will be willing." She kicked at a rock and sent it tumbling down the side of the cliff.
Oscar turned towards her. "You took a giant demon down with your strength alone," He shook his head in amusement "Anne, you are far from weak. No matter, either of us could be the ones to ring the bells."
Before Anne could answer, a giant crow appeared before them, it's caw deafening them. The two escaped convicts went to raise their hands in defense. It snatched the two of them up, and took them away.
To where, Anne had no idea.
A long while later, Anne woke up on the ground, she felt a warmth covering her body from the left.
She looked to see what it was. A bonfire, a welcoming sight indeed. Then she realized, Oscar was nowhere to be seen.
Ruins of some sort of old buildings surrounded her on all sides, vegetation covered most of the ground. Nature had started to retake this part of the world. As she was looking around, Anne spotted another undead. He sat on a log, staring at the ground. Anne decided it couldn't hurt to see if he knew what was going on, and where Oscar had gone off to.
"Hello. I am Anne. I have no idea whats going on, and I was hoping you could help me out?" She stood a few feet in front of him, and shifted her weight to one leg.
The man slowly raised his head and said, "Oh? What have we here? You must be a new arrival." From there on, she learned quite a lot about Lordran, and that there were instead, two bells of awakening. He even told her about souls and humanities roles. He did not have any information regarding Oscar though, so after getting tired of his negativity reinforcing her doubts, Anne decided to set out and see if she could find the first bell.
She had nothing else to do after all.
Anne walked forward, and away from the Shrine. She followed a pathway that led her straight to a group of hollow soldiers. They hadn't seen her yet, so she stopped and decided to think through what she was doing. She did just kill a giant demon, with help of course, but that should mean she could take on a few rotting corpses right?
Anne didn't know what else to do after all, besides going back to the bonfire. Anne slowly walked forward, drew her sword, and raised her shield. The hollow jumped at her so suddenly, Anne was unable to defend against the hollows slash against her shoulder.
Luckily, her armor held strong and only dented the slightest bit. But the force of the blow staggered her.
Anne stumbled back, the hollows second swing missed.
Anne found her footing, and lunged forward, the point of her sword went straight out the hollow's back.
She kicked it away, breathing heavily.
When she looked up, two others were already charging her. One held a long sword, shield, and wore thick armor. The other was similar to the first one.
'I can't do this!' Anne started breathing heavily and sweat dripped slowly down her back.
The lighter armed hollow approached first, it introduced itself with an over head slash aimed for her head.
Anne stepped to the side, tripping over her own feet and slashed through its midsection. As that Hollow fell to the ground, the next one came. It thrusted it's sword towards her chest.
Anne smacked it aside with her shield, and tried to cut towards its open left side. The hollow met her attack with the flat of his blade.
Anne's attack had made it stagger, this gave her confidence. She ran forward and began to stab for its heart.
In the next instant, a fire bomb exploded on her chest. Anne flew to the ground, and coughed uncontrollably. Her face burned, armor dented in.
Anne's vision blurred with both tears and the shock of the explosion.
The hollow looked down at her mockingly. Anne was reminded of her father, her brother, her mother, grandfather, uncles and aunts, sisters, and remembered how they all looked at her the same way.
Anne couldn't wait to die.
The hollow aimed the point of his sword down at her, stretched his shoulder back, and stabbed straight down.
Anne never felt the steel pierce her flesh. 'Maybe you don't feel anything when you die?' But to Anne, that was such a foolish thought.
Then her ear twitched, she heard the crunch of bone and metal. Her senses and reason returned to her full force, and she sat up in alarm. The pain in her chest and face forgotten for the moment.
A man stood over the hollow who had nearly killed her, no weapon in his hands. His clothes ragged and torn, fists bloody and callused. Anne took a closer look at the body, and realized how broken and beaten it looked. Dents filled its armor, it's throat had been crushed by some sort of blunt weapon. But he held no weapon, so it could only have been-
'oh.'
A new sort of fear entered her heart. If he could so easily crush the hollows armor and bones, what could he do to her?
His head suddenly turned towards her, his eyes pierced straight into her soul. Anne started trying to crawl backwards and away from him.
He moved so suddenly and so fast, she screamed without even meaning to.
"Quiet down you idiot! Almost crawled yourself right off the cliff! Do you want to die?" He dragged her towards safety, putting up with her struggles. He was far too strong for her though, and Anne eventually gave up.
He held her still for a few seconds, then pushed her away.
"You look like a knight and act like a scared little song bird." He eyed her up and down. "Did you get hit with a firebomb? Drink some estus or the wounds will kill you." Anne followed his command immediately, and drank down some estus. Her entire body could not stop shaking.
He was right to tell her that, the burn slowly disappeared and the pain in her midsection became nothing but an annoyance.
The person who had just saved her looked up the stairs at the remaining hollows. He turned towards Anne and beckoned her to follow him to a safer place nearer to Firelink Shrine. They walked down near some ruins. Anne still wary and afraid he might try to kill her.
He turned around and faced her. "What are you doing here if you can't even handle a few little hollows?"
Anne flinched at his tone of voice. "I-I came from the Asylum, in the talons of that big crow," she pointed up to where the crow sat, and avoided making eye contact, "I barely e-even know where I am." Her eyes darted side to side, and brushed away a lock of her short blonde hair from her face.
Anne could not calm herself down.
The man sighed. "Alright alright. Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. Why would I save your ass if I was going to kill you anyway?"
Anne froze, then relaxed. He was right, that would have made no sense. Still, you could never be too careful.
"Now, can you tell me your name?" His voice had softened enough to encourage her to answer.
"A-Anne. My name is Anne. Y-yours?" Anne stuttered.
He made a strange face and looked toward the sky. "Just. Just call me. Kagatsuchi. And stop stuttering for gods sake!" Kagatsuchi looked back down at her.
"S-sorry!" Anne closed her eyes and looked away.
Kagatsuchi smacked his forehead with his palm. "Gods help me. Alright girl, what are you doing here?"
Anne made eye contact again once she realized he wasn't going to hit her. "I, um, I," Anne had to think of something to say and quick, so she said the first thing that came to mind, "I want to ring the bells of awakening. I think."
Kagatsuchi cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms. His yellow eyes became thoughtful. "What in Izalith are those?"
Anne tells him about Oscar, their escape from the asylum, and what he had told her at the end.
Kagatsuchi shook his head up and down. "So you will discover your fate? Interesting." He said nothing else, and stared off into the distance instead.
Anne gathered her courage, and decided to ask her own questions. "How did you get here, and why are you here? I-it's only polite to answer now that I told you."
He made eye contact with her, it sent a shiver up her spine. "I," he paused and his eyes clouded over, "have no idea honestly."