"For all time...? Then you intend to remain here forever? That is a lonely existence indeed..." Yeral spoke softly as Priscilla finished her story. He had remained silent up until now, as the crossbreed shared a glimpse of her past. Priscilla simply stared at him sadly, and for a long while they sat in absolute silence. Yeral had been curious about Priscilla before, but now he felt nothing but pity. Her life was an unhappy one. In fact, Yeral suspected that, if anything, she had downplayed her misery for his sake. "Thank you for sharing that, Lady Priscilla, that could not have been easy to say." he said eventually. To his surprise, Priscilla smiled gently.
"No, I thanketh thee for listening. I hath needed to speak my ills." Priscilla replied lightly. Yeral could tell that she was still upset, but he decided not to pry. "Truly, Sir Yeral, I feel as though I can trusteth thee." she continued. This comment sent a sliver of guilt into Yeral's heart... after all, he was still hiding something from her... but he quickly shook it off. Priscilla saw the change in Yeral's attitude and furrowed her brow slightly in worry. Was something troubling the young knight? Seeing her staring at him, Yeral quickly changed the subject.
"Ahem! Now where were we...? Oh yes, Anor Londo, of course. How fitting that we have another tale from that city, no?" he said, hoping that Priscilla would care to hear the next installment of his adventures. To his relief, the way that her eyes lit up told him that she did.
Yeral and Reise stared up at the massive doors of the enormous cathedral in front of them. Just moments before, they had finished dispatching the two bronze sentinels that flanked the doors. They had already battled several of these silent guardians on their way to the cathedral, and they were mighty opponents indeed, though still far weaker than the Iron Golem. Other than the sentinels, the path to the cathedral was relatively uneventful, save for a short detour into the chapel that housed Priscilla's painting.
Oddly, even though they had been in Anor Londo for some hours, the sun had not moved at all in the sky. It was like the entire city was bathed in perpetual daylight. The two knights had noticed this fact, but shrugged it off as some sort of magic. Yeral glanced down off the side of the platform that they stood upon. The city was built so high up, he could not even see the ground below him, just a layer of thick fog. What a nightmare it would be to fall, he thought to himself. He was broken out of this stupor by the sound of Reise's voice.
"Damn it all! The doors are locked tight!" she exclaimed loudly, pounding her fist into the heavy door. Yeral sighed lowly, he wasn't sure why he had expected anything different. Not just anyone could waltz into the home of the gods. Of course, speaking of gods, thus far the city had been strangely empty, as if all the people had simply left. Reise was still swearing angrily under her breath as Yeral looked around for another way in.
"Look, over there! Is that a balcony?" he asked, pointing around to the right side of the cathedral. Reise squinted, and saw that Yeral was right. Jutting out of the side of the building, just barely visible, was a small balcony. And if there was a balcony, then there must be an entrance. "And look, a thin walkway that leads right to it! What luck!" Yeral exclaimed excitedly. He was rather proud of himself for spotting the alternative route. Reise wasn't quite so happy – the path looked quite precarious to her – but she decided to head towards it anyway.
Walking down some steps onto a lower level, the two knights saw that it was not so much a bridge as a series of wide archways which lead up to a thin railing on the side of the cathedral, which in turn lead to the balcony. Still, it was the only option they had at this point. Cautiously, Reise stepped out onto the first arch, with Yeral following not far behind. Slowly walking upwards, they saw a large pillar in the middle of the two archways. Yeral heard some odd sounds, like clanking metal, but otherwise the climb to the midpoint was uneventful. Slowly making their way around the central pillar, Reise suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Yeral rounded the corner behind her, and his blood froze.
Standing at the end of the second archway, atop the thin railing leading to the balcony, were two Silver Knights, staring coldly down at the two intruders. In their hands, the Silver Knights held massive bows, as tall as they were, and they had quivers of long javelin-like arrows on their backs. Clearly, someone had anticipated intruders trying to use this method of entry, and stationed guards on the treacherous paths. Yeral and Reise both knew that one shot from those knights would send them hurtling into the chasm below. Slowly, both knights drew arrows from their quivers and nocked them on their bows. As the knights took aim, Reise sprung into action, sprinting up the archway as fast as she could.
Yeral shook off his surprise and chased after her, as the knights loosed their arrows. Reise ducked quickly as one of the silver arrows sailed over her head, impacting into the wall behind her. Yeral heard a whooshing sound as the second arrow narrowly flew past his head. The knights prepared to fire again, this time more quickly, as Yeral and Reise approached the top. As one of the knights shot again, Yeral saw the arrows hurtling towards him, and instinctively raised his shield. The arrow bounced off of the hard metal shield, but the force of the impact sent Yeral staggering back, and he slipped off the side of the archway. At the last moment, he caught the edge with his hands, hanging on for dear life. The second archer aimed its bow directly at him, and he closed his eyes... but the shot never came.
Reise had reached the railing, and with a mighty kick, she sent one of the knights falling downwards off of the ledge. The second knight turned its bow at Reise, who had nowhere to dodge on the thin railing. Pulling himself up as quick as he could, Yeral saw as the second knight drew back its bow, and dashed as fast as he could up the archway. He leaped at the Silver Knight with all of his strength, tackling it back into the wall. The knight staggered from the force of being smashed into hard brick, with Yeral essentially pinning it to the wall. The knight struggled with Yeral, trying to push him off of the thin ledge, but Yeral unexpectedly ducked his head. A moment later, Reise's catch pole swung down and smashed the knight in the head, causing it to disintegrate into white sparkles. Yeral almost lost his balance, but Reise grabbed the collar of his shirt and hoisted him up onto the railing.
Together, they carefully made their way around to the balcony, which had a small doorway leading into a long hallway. Thankfully, a side room just past the entrance contained a bonfire, where the two knights rested and regained their breath. The inside of the cathedral was very dark, with no light sources asides from small windows and the crackling bonfire. Still, despite the darkness, the building was not at all dank or dingy. Even after centuries of being empty, the white bricks were still absolutely spotless, and the wooden furniture showed no signs of rot or decay. In fact, there was not even a speck of dust to be seen.
"It is unnaturally clean... something is not right here." Yeral said uneasily as he and Reise stood up from the bonfire. Reise looked at him curiously. Obviously, she hadn't observed her surroundings like he had.
"Hmm. Probably just the magic of the gods. After all, the princess of sunlight would not live in a dirty shack..." Reise said flippantly, but Yeral wasn't so sure. He felt as though something was being hidden from him, almost like a strange dream. Still, there was no time to linger on such things. "Well, we should move on. There must be some way to the Princess's chambers from here." Reise spoke confidently, but Yeral was still on edge. As they stepped out into the dark hallway, he half expected some sort of grotesque monster to attack them, but nothing did. Asides from their clanking footsteps, there was nothing but silence.
The inside of the cathedral was sprawling, but it was not an especially dangerous area compared to the hazardous archways leading to it. There were a few Silver Knights scattered about, and at one point Yeral and Reise had to make their way across a rooftop, but it was otherwise uneventful until they reached the main hall. The central chamber of the cathedral was split into two sections, with one massive hallway leading to stairs up into another equally-gigantic room. Yeral noticed that the floor tiles here were far more intricate, with white-and-black marble designs covering the floor. Wide white pillars stretched upwards to the vaulted ceiling hundreds of feet above. Behind them stood the ornate iron doors that had impeded their progress earlier, still sealed tightly, though there was a large lever nearby to open them.
While Yeral admired the scenery, Reise had trudged onwards towards the stairway, clearly intent on reaching her objective. Shaking his head slightly at her impatience, Yeral jogged after her to keep up. Reise turned back to look at him for a moment before pointing forwards.
"If there is any way to reach the princess, it would be beyond here, I would think." she explained. Yeral nodded. Reise's theory made sense, after all, this was the central hall of the cathedral. As the two knights strode confidently up the stairs, they saw that the second room of the hall was lined with glass windows, light brightly by the eternal sunlight. "Of course it would not be unguarded..." Reise muttered with frustration. Yeral understood the sentiment, for he was feeling something similar.
Standing before them, at the back of the large room, was a hefty, rotund figure in golden armor, hoisting an equally-large hammer. Above the weighty warrior was a balcony overlooking the room, where a lanky fellow in lion-themed armor stood, a long spear held in one hand. The two opponents glanced at each other, and then glared intently at the intruders.
"My, my, Ornstein! We have little rats sneaking about!" the fat guardian exclaimed, followed by a deranged chuckle. "What say we squash them?" he asked tauntingly. The lion knight sighed slightly to himself and looked down at Yeral and Reise.
"I see no rats, Smough, but instead proud warriors. They must be mighty indeed to make it this far." Ornstein said sternly. Smough muttered angrily to himself about how he hated being scolded, but Ornstein ignored him. "I am afraid, however, that your journey ends here. No undead shall pass while we live." he continued, addressing Yeral and Reise now. Yeral was half-tempted to groan in annoyance, the dogged guardian routine was getting old, but he kept it to himself.
"Stop yapping and get on with it!" Smough snapped irritably, raising his hammer. Grudgingly, Ornstein hopped down from the balcony and landed with a clank next to his overweight partner. He readied his spear as Yeral and Reise prepared their own weapons. Ornstein thrust his spear forwards at the air, and somehow propelled himself across the floor at rapid speed, practically flying at Reise, who just narrowly avoided being skewered. Smough, meanwhile, held the head of his hammer up in front of his chest, braced his legs, and barreled across the room at Yeral like an angry bull. Yeral tried to jump out of the way, but to his surprise, Smough swung his hammer sideways at the last moment, smashing it into Yeral.
Yeral flew backwards at least twenty feet and landed on the floor in a lump. His whole body ached from the force of the blow, and he was amazed that he survived at all. Reise was faring better, dancing around Ornstein's sweeps and stabs with relative ease, though she didn't seem to have landed a hit on him yet. Smough chuckled lowly to himself and raised his hammer up, intending to pound Yeral into paste. Yeral forced himself to move as the huge golden hammerhead slammed down, and climbed to his feet as Smough slowly hefted the hammer back up. Seeing that the pudgy warrior was encumbered by the weight of his weapon, Yeral quickly gulped down the contents of his Estus Flask, his vitality restored instantly.
Smough swung his hammer sideways clumsily, but he failed to brace himself properly, and was taken slightly off balance by the heavy swing. Seizing the opportunity, Yeral rolled towards Smough and swung down with his greatsword, cutting a deep gash into Smough's armor. Compared to Ornstein's smooth, skillful motions, it was obvious that Smough lacked finesse and relied solely on his strength to see him through. Smough leaped up into the air, trying to use his considerable weight to crush Yeral, but Yeral simply dodged behind him, striking at Smough's back several times before Smough was able to regain his balance.
Reise, unfortunately, was not having as much luck. Every time she tried to strike at Ornstein, he would jump out of the way, often retaliating with strikes of his own. Reise had not been seriously injured yet, but she had suffered several small cuts when she wasn't quite able to dodge Ornstein's attacks completely. The lion knight lacked the raw might of his partner, but he more than made up for it in swiftness and agility. Ornstein jumped up in the air and flew forwards at Reise, his spear held in front of him, with quite a bit of force behind the stab. Reise rolled to the side and slashed sideways at Ornstein with her catch pole. To her pleasure, the circular blade finally made contact, cutting a neat line across Ornstein's side. However, he swiftly retaliated, blindsiding Reise with a lightning-fast sweep that cut clean through her helmet, leaving a large bleeding cut across her face.
Knowing that she was in danger, Reise backed away from Ornstein as quickly as she could, hoping for an opportunity to heal her wounds. Thankfully, the perfect chance presented itself, in the form of an ear-splitting crash, as Smough's heavy body fell to the floor. Yeral stood above his fallen foe, only to be roughly shoved aside by Knight Ornstein, who had dashed over to his comrade. As Reise drank Estus to heal her wounds, Ornstein placed his hand solemnly upon Smough's corpse.
"You and I did not see eye-to-eye, Smough. In many ways, you repulsed me... but I still respect your strength." Ornstein said quietly. In that moment, his body was suffused with a strange yellow glow, as if magical power were flowing into him. "Now grant me some of that strength, so you may be avenged!" Ornstein roared. The power of Smough's unique soul was absorbed into Ornstein's body, and suddenly he grew, larger and larger, until he was nearly as tall as the Iron Golem. Grabbing his now-colossal spear, Ornstein turned to face the two knights, who simply stood there stunned.
Ornstein thrust his spear forward again, and a huge blast of crackling yellow lighting shot out, scorching the ground right next to Yeral, who had been yanked out of the way by Reise. Ornstein quickly followed up by swinging the spear downwards. The force of the blow shook the floor, but Yeral and Reise narrowly managed to avoid it. Reise swiped at Ornstein's leg with her catch pole, as Yeral simultaneously plowed his greatsword into Ornstein's other knee. Ornstein stumbled slightly from the heavy blows, but swept his spear widely in front of him, knocking Reise backwards into a pillar.
Yeral managed to slip underneath the broad stroke of Ornstein's spear, and struck again at the lion knight's legs. Hopefully, Ornstein would die from having his ankles cut, he thought. Ornstein charged up his spear with electricity and reared back, but this time instead of shooting a bolt of lightning, he rammed the speartip downwards. Yeral, not expecting this move, was stabbed hard in the chest by the huge spear and hoisted up in the air, the electric current surging through his body. Yeral howled in agony as Ornstein casually dropped him on the ground and turned his attention back to Reise...
Or at least, he looked at where Reise had been moments before, but now she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Ornstein felt a searing pain in his leg, as Reise embedded her weapon into it. Ornstein fell over, his ankle completely destroyed. Yeral, limping and bleeding profusely, but still alive, staggered to his feet right as Ornstein's head landed next to him. Slowly, Yeral hefted his heavy greatsword upwards. He hardly had the strength to lift it, but the weight of the sword was enough, cutting down through Ornstein's helmet, causing the knight to explode into a shower of silver light. That was the last that Yeral saw before he blacked out from the pain.