"The bonfire... what happened to the bonfire?" Yeral muttered, stunned. He and Reise had finally emerged from the depths of Blighttown and made their way back up to Firelink Shrine. Right as they had arrived, the shining bonfire had vanished, leaving behind naught but a pile of ash. Yeral had no idea what might have caused such a thing, but Reise clenched her fists in anger.
"This flame was bound to a firekeeper. She... she has just been murdered." she said darkly, her voice shaking with fury. Reise was a noble soul, and such a grotesque act enraged her. "Quickly, Sir Yeral, the culprit cannot have gone yet!" she yelled, and sprinted for the stairs leading down to Anastacia's cell. Yeral shook himself out of his stupor and ran after Reise as fast as he could. As they made their way around the shrine, a familiar figure came into view, and Yeral's blood froze.
"Si... Sir Lautrec... why!?" he stammered, barely able to contain his absolute shock. Indeed, looming ominously before them was Knight Lautrec of Carim, his shotels stained red with blood. In one hand, he clenched Anastacia's glowing silver soul, and his head was tilted at an odd angle. Lautrec let out a menacing chuckle, and Reise lunged towards him with her claymore held in both hands. She was clearly hoping to pummel Lautrec with the sword's weight, but things did not go according to plan. Lautrec shimmered, almost like mist, and then suddenly he was gone, leaving Reise's blade to dig into the ground. "Where did he go!? I am going to kill that lying trash!" Yeral shouted angrily, to no one in particular. Reise, however, breathed deeply and then shook her head slowly, turning to face Yeral.
"Time and space are distorted in Lordran. Sir Lautrec hails from his own world, it seems, and it has been separated from ours. There's no way to know when we will overlap again..." Reise explained, suddenly sounding very calm. It was amazing how she could regain her composure so easily, Yeral thought. Reise turned and walked over to Anastacia's cell and knelt down, reaching her hand through the bars. Just as Yeral was about to ask what she was doing, she found what she was looking for and stood up. "Fortunately, the guilty always leave traces behind. This orb will take us to Lautrec, if we can find the right location." she said, holding up what looked like a large black eyeball.
"Sir Lautrec was helpful before, what couldst have driven him to slay that innocent girl?" Priscilla asked uneasily. She had a very upset look on her face, and it was clear that Yeral's account had unnerved her. Yeral shook his head slowly and looked up at Priscilla sadly.
"Greed, desperation, anger, I do not know. But I can tell you that his earlier aid was a facade. He really only wanted souls, I am sure of it." he replied darkly, thinking back to the murderous knight. Priscilla shuddered visibly, and Yeral worried that he was going to scare her off. "At the risk of spoiling my tale, I will say that the black eye orb worked. Sir Lautrec got what he deserved, in the end." he revealed. Priscilla seemed to be comforted by this news, which pleased Yeral.
"Thou hast done good. Such wickedness cannot stand." Priscilla declared with conviction, clearly relieved by this revelation. Yeral, however, grimaced inside his helmet. Something about her words cut into him, as if he were guilty of something himself. He quickly brushed off such a strange feeling and nodded his head. "Ahem... I doth apologize for interrupting again." Priscilla added a moment later, and Yeral simply shook his head.
"Oh, no, it is no trouble at all. Now, where was I?"
"I, uh, suppose we should go to the bonfire at the Parish instead..." Yeral suggested awkwardly, still overwhelmed by the suddenness of Lautrec's betrayal. Reise nodded curtly, and the two of them set off for the Undead Parish. There was a small tower to the side of the Parish, which contained a bonfire and a blacksmith's shop. Across a stone bridge from the tower was an ancient crumbling fortress, with its iron gates sealed tightly to prevent intrusion. Or, at, least, they had been sealed the last time Yeral was there. With the Bells of Awakening rung, the giant atop the fortress had opened its mighty portcullis, allowing undead to enter and seek their fates.
"Sen's Fortress... I had heard stories of this place..." Reise muttered quietly as the two undead gazed up at the intimidating stronghold before them. Yeral wondered briefly how old Reise must have been, if she had heard of this centuries-old structure, but he decided not to say anything. As they cautiously strode into the fortress, there was a loud click below Yeral's feet. Reise, thinking quickly, tackled Yeral down to the ground, as three arrows whisked above them. Making sure that the trap would not reactivate, Reise stood up and helped Yeral to his feet. "This place must be rigged with traps. We must be on our guard." she said shrewdly, as Yeral looked down at the floor. He saw, just faintly, the outline of the pressure plate that he had triggered, almost indistinguishable from the tiles of the floor.
At that very moment, a low hiss emanated from the depths of the dark chamber, and two hideous creatures skulked out of the shadows. They had human-like bodies, but they were covered in green scales, and sprouting from their necks were enormous serpentine heads. In their hands, the snakemen wielded simple iron bucklers and crude oversized cleavers. Having already had plenty of experience in Lordran, Yeral knew that they must be hostile, and immediately readied his sword. Right as one of the snakemen reared up to strike him with its cleaver, he slashed it widely across the chest with his zweihander. The snake staggered, thrown off balance, as Yeral slashed at it again and again. As he hoisted his blade upwards for the final blow, the serpent warrior regained its stance and quickly sliced its sword at Yeral, mimicking his own move.
Undeterred by the shallow cut, Yeral smashed his sword down with all of his might, forcing the snake downwards face-first onto the floor, where it writhed in pain for a moment before dying. Reise, unfortunately, was not having as much luck, as the snakemen had caught her off guard. The surviving warrior bashed her in the face with its shield and then chomped its huge jaws directly onto her neck. For one agonizing instant, it looked like Reise was doomed, before she jabbed her claymore upwards through the snakeman's jaw. As its teeth relinquished their grip and the snake slumped over, Reise swiftly produced her Estus Flask, its soothing orange liquid mending her bleeding wounds. "Hmph. I am... less than fond of these creatures." she spoke sharply, obviously hoping not to encounter any more.
"This fortress is most likely full of them. If you want my advice, go on the offensive." Yeral responded sincerely. He wasn't intending to mock Reise, he really did want to give her helpful advice. Unfortunately, Reise seemed to take his words the wrong way, and strode past him briskly without a word. As they progressed into the next room, they found themselves standing on a small platform in front of a deep, dark pit. A thin brick bridge stretched out across the chasm, but huge bladed pendulums swung back and forth, making the bridge a treacherous thing indeed. Across the narrow path, a snake warrior saw the two intruders and tried to make its way towards them, weaving carefully between the swinging blades. It mistimed one of its movements, however, and quickly vanished from sight as it was flung into the pit.
"Who designed this place? What purpose do these deadly devices serve? Even the guards of the fortress cannot survive them. Does that not seem unwise?" Yeral asked to no-one in particular. Reise nodded slightly in agreement, but said nothing, her eyes focused on a balcony jutting from the wall. Yeral glanced up to see what she was eyeing, and faintly made out a golden snakeman, which didn't seem to have noticed them yet. Silently, Yeral produced a pair of poison-coated throwing knives from his pouch and hurled them at the snake with all of his might, then quickly ducked back into the hallway with Reise following suit. Judging by its high perch, Yeral had deduced that the serpent had some variety of ranged attack to pick off trespassers, which was proven correct when a bolt of lightning impacted the brick wall where the knights had stood. Not long after, the poison from the knives took effect, and the snake flopped over dead.
"Good thinking, Sir Yeral. I am impressed." Reise said, sounding sincerely pleased. Yeral smiled slightly at the compliment, but Reise had already turned her attention back to the matter at hand. Deciding that there was nothing else to be done, Yeral ran up to the thin bridge and slowly began to make his way across. "Be careful, Sir Yeral!" Reise called out, but Yeral had already stopped in front of the first blade, watching its swings closely. As it reached the peak of its swing, he sprinted past it, and proceeded to do the same with the other blades. At the end of the path was a tricky set, with two pendulums at once, but Yeral dashed through with ease. Behind him, however, he heard a fearful gasp and his heart dropped.
"Reise! Reise!? Are you alright!?" He yelled frantically into the pit, as the loud thudding of Reise's landing echoed throughout the chamber.
"Ugh... I am alive, at least... go on without me..." Reise responded weakly some moments later. Yeral stayed where he was, however, and called back down into the pit.
"I cannot simply abandon you! There must be a way to get you out." he replied, clearly distressed, and feeling just a tiny bit guilty. As he started looking around frantically for a way down into the pit, Reise spoke up again, her voice sounding stronger this time.
"No. Go. I will find my own escape. You must head for the top of the fortress. Our mission is more important than anything." she said calmly. Reluctantly, Yeral turned and slowly marched deeper into the fortress. The rest of Sen's Fortress was very similar to the first two rooms: traps, swinging blades, and snakemen. Yeral had a few close shaves with rolling boulders and a particularly thin bridge, but otherwise the ascent was relatively uneventful. As he emerged at the top of the fortress, he heard a very loud grunt, and suddenly the ground in front of him exploded into flames, which he just narrowly avoided. Looking upwards, he quickly saw the source of the blast, in the form of a giant hurling bombs from atop a tower.
Snaking his way across the rooftop, Yeral eventually found his way to the stairs of the tower, and strolled right up to the giant. The bulky gray giant roared loudly and swung its arms down at Yeral, intending to crush him, only for Yeral to roll swiftly away from its fists. The giant stamped its feet in anger and then rushed with surprising speed at Yeral, flailing its arms back and forth. Yeral just barely managed to stumble his way back into the safety of the stairway before the giant pummeled him to death. Luckily for him, the giant had very little stamina, and simply slumped over to regain its breath from the furious attack. Seizing the opportunity, Yeral dashed over to it and drove the point of his sword into the top of the giant's head, killing it instantly.
"Not as tough as you look, are you?" Yeral asked mockingly, although he quickly stopped himself. One could not afford to get cocky in Lordran, after all. It was only a matter of time before an enemy too tough to defeat arrived. Heading back down the tower, Yeral came across a large archway that he had overlooked before. The arch exited out onto a stone bridge, which in turn led to a large square platform. At the back end of the platform was a massive white wall and an extremely tall humanoid iron statue. Yeral was overcome with an inexplicable feeling of foreboding as he stepped out onto the bridge. About halfway across the bridge, his feelings were justified as the "statue" began to stomp towards him, wielding an axe larger than Yeral in one hand.
The Iron Golem, as it was called, swiped its axe through the air, and something akin to a burst of wind blasted outwards, though Yeral was thankfully just out of its range. Whatever that blast did, it tore up some of the stones on the platform, so it must have been strong. "Thank you Sen's Fortress, today was too easy." Yeral groaned sarcastically, before sprinting head on at the golem. He was hoping to get below its legs where it could not swing its axe, but he was forced to dodge sideways when the golem slammed the mighty blade downwards at him. He sliced at one of the thick iron legs before him, and his sword left a visible scratch, but he did not have time to strike again. The golem scooped its empty hand down and Yeral, a moment too slow to react, was grabbed in its mighty grip. The iron behemoth reared back to slam Yeral into the ground, and he closed his eyes slowly. It was all over, he thought. There was no way he could survive that.
"Metal beast! Drop him at once!" rang out the voice of Lady Reise, sounding more determined than ever. There were the clanking sounds of a blade clashing with iron, and the golem simply dropped Yeral to the floor as it reeled back from multiple hard blows. Yeral opened his eyes slowly and saw Reise's hand extended in front of him, offering to help him up. As he climbed to his feet, he saw that she was holding a long metal staff with a circular blade at the top: the catch-pole of a titanite demon. How she had acquired it, he had no idea, but she held it confidently, far more than she had with her claymore. "There will be time to catch up later, the golem still lives." she said with a slight air of exhilaration.
Whatever magics gave the golem life did not seem to be particularly intelligent, for it was apparently unable to manage two strong targets attacking it. The two knights were able to attack its legs with impunity as it tried to swipe its axe at them. Every time the golem would almost manage to hit one of them, the other would stagger it with their strongest blows. Reise's arrival had completely turned the tide of battle, and the golem soon fell, leaving behind nothing but a glowing magical core. A glowing yellow ring of light appeared in the middle of the platform. Reise reached out to touch it, only for four white bat-like creatures to descend, seemingly out of nowhere, and grab the knights by the arms. They were hoisted into the air by the bat demons and carried over the white wall.
Yeral let out an audible gasp as he saw what was beyond the wall: the shining white city of Anor Londo, in all of its glory. The bat demons dropped the two down safely atop a small tower, and flew off into the distance. In the distance, Yeral could see Anor Londo Cathedral towering above the rest of the city.
"So that is how thou travel'd to Anor Londo? Most unusual." Priscilla mused. She suspected that Yeral's story might be coming to a close soon. After all, her painting was in the city, how much more could there be to tell?
"Ah yes, Anor Londo. If you are wondering when I found your painting, there are still several stories to go." Yeral said knowingly. The look on Priscilla's face had told him everything. As Priscilla glanced at him, intrigued, he started to continue his story. "As we arrived in Anor Londo, we-"
"Sir Yeral, thou hast told me so many tales already. Might thou permiteth me to share a story of my own?" Priscilla asked politely, and Yeral smiled softly. Of course he would be willing to hear more about her. Besides, he had been speaking for hours at this point, and a break would be very welcome. He nodded enthusiastically, and Priscilla began. "I cannot promise thee adventure, but merely recount how I came to this painted realm."