KZD: I own neither Dark Souls nor Kingdom Hearts.
Everything was silent until a shrill scream broke the air like as if were a thin sheet of glass. The disruption of the foe placidity cause Aqua new twitch from under her armor as her body went on high alert. But as quickly as the sound came it dissipated into the silent air once more.
"This place is creepier the Halloween Town." She muttered under his breath. Just as she was getting use to the eerie silence her head peeked at the sound of a soft humming. Moving in the direction of the humming it grew louder but was soothing nevertheless. Coming into view, Aqua spotted a large fire that flicked and licked itself upon a burning sword that stuck erect from the ground. A suite of armor stood before the obstruction with its head hung low in a sullen matter. The person didn't budge an inch as if contemplating something or even so, mesmerized by the intense flames of the supposed bonfire.
Aqua tilted her head as she watched the down crested knight from behind. Was this the other human that she was supposed to meet up with? Ciaran made it sound like he was much further ahead. He honestly didn't look like much. He wore armor that looked like it was from the early medieval era, a simple long sword strapped to his waist and shield to his back along with a bow and a quiver of arrows. But she knew well that appearances are more if not always deceiving.
"Um, hello?" The Elite Knight nearly jumped out of his skin. He quickly drew his weapon as he turned and pointed it at her, just a few inches from her helm. The Keybearer didn't flinch from the sudden action. She anticipated the immediate hostility as everyone on this world so far seemed extremely tense and wary of each other. With all of the silence, Aqua could clearly hear the ragged breathing of the other as she waited for him to calm down to see that she wasn't a threat. He looked over her shielded form and didn't see any obvious weapons on her person. It took time, but the knight finally lowered his sword only to keep his tense stance. She raised her hand about chest level in a submissive gesture.
"Don't worry I'm not here to pick a fight. More of the opposite really." The Elite Knight straitens himself feeling more at ease after hearing the women speak. There's definitely a certain air about her that one would call a soothing aura. Definitely a good change of pace for the knight considering all the other acquaintances on his journey who reeked of killer intent.
"Are you the one who calmed Artorias?" The knight stayed silent as he nodded his head to the female. Aqua smiled from under her helm. This would be easier the she thought but something about Ciaran's final message and this man's down casted manner still put her off. She brushed the icky feeling aside for now as they're more important matters to attend to.
"Then we have the same goal in mind. We both want to grant his last duty to stop the spread of the abyss." The knight continued to stay silent until he made a sudden gesture as he pointed forward at her or more precisely the amulet around her neck. The keyblade master brought a hand over the trinket and squeezed it slightly feeling the ancient magic that surrounded it.
"That's right," she sighed, "This amulet belongs to him and helps in repelling dark magic." The Elite Knights perked up from the trinkets helpful description. As of recent events, dark magic is now the bane of his cursed existence. He would trade a hefty amount of souls for such an item. But by the way the woman's holding it, he doubt that she wouldn't relinquish it easily.
"I don't know much of this place, but there's safety in numbers. I'm willing to work together to defeat this Manus if you are." The knight pondered this offer for a moment. This woman wasn't a white phantom by any means or a sunlight warrior. She could easily betray him and stab him in the back sending him straight off the cliff without a care if he wasn't carful like many red phantoms had done to him in the past. Each one of his death were scared deep within the knight's memories as a lesson to never repeat the same mistake twice for which each death he lost a part of his sanity. But this place of Oolacile is proving to be a bit more than the knight can handle by himself as he recalled his last death. A companion to watch his back wasn't such a bad idea. And even if she betrayed him, he would just resurrect once more, find her, than rob her of all humanity as punishment. In his mind no harm no fowl.
The knight straightens up before giving a proper bow to the keybearer in acceptance of her offer. Aqua was slightly taken aback by the strange gesture but bowed back nevertheless. "Can he even talk?" She thought but didn't ask thinking it would be rude if he actual couldn't. "Maybe he had his tongue cut off." Aqua joked in her mind unbeknown of the possibility that her own imagination of the man being true.
The Elite Knight readied his sword and shield putting his shield in front and weapon to his side and pointed down the stair case leading into town. Aqua smile from under her mask and summoned Rainfall to her. "Lead the way."
Almost immediately the pair was ambushed by a stay bloated head civilian. Its arms thrashed around violently from their crooked angle as it screeched with blood thirst. The knight shielded against the blows as if on cue. He already knew of this trick from a previous mistake made but not again. When it tired Aqua easily defeated it with a quick firaga spell. The bloated head citizen let out a shrill scream before a cooked body fell dead on the ground completely charred.
The knight looked suspiciously at the armored maiden that he chosen to partner with, but more specifically her blade and its smoking tip. He spied no pyromancy glove so he found it intriguing how she was able to cast such a grand fireball at the enemy. The weapon she held was strange and completely foreign to him compared to the ones he seen big bosses have used in the past. He wondered if such a catalyst could produce sorceries and miracles as well.
"You alright?" He nodded in response and continued to take the lead in this expedition. He took no damage from the monster so there's no reason to worry at the moment. He nodded his head grateful for the concern.
They descended down the stair case more towards the center of town. The two warriors have the higher ground as they spied a group of the bloated headed citizens standing stagnate and making gruesome noises. The two knights stayed silent to not alert the enemies. Aqua made a signal with her hand that she would take on the two to the left and her pattern nodded as he started to sneak his way to the other two on the right.
Aqua silently stalked over to one of the monsters. The one just before her target took notice of her and screeched out an alert but not before watching its companion get cut down with a single swipe to its massive head. The second one roared in anger and swung its arm out at her that was easily repelled by her reflect barrier and it fell to the ground. Just before it could get up, the keybearer impaled it threw the chest.
The creature let out a squeal before it died with blood gurgling from its mouth. Aqua flinched from the sight. She was so use to enemies to simply disintegrate from existence, not one that left a carcass behind like these when she slew them. Heck, even Xehanort didn't leave his body behind when he was vanquished from the worlds. She continued the watch the blood flow from the body and stain her blade. These things are human right? So did that make her a murder? The very though made her skin crawl. No, these things weren't human anymore, their humanity completely run rampant that made them monsters not innocent bystanders and she slayed monsters for the good of the worlds. Aqua looked over to her right and watched as her new friend back stab one of the mutant monsters. The crimson fluid splattered against his armored form as he kicked the body away and dogged rolled away from a swinging shield before dashing in for the kill of the second monster. None of this seemed to faze him and Aqua didn't judge him, as the man probably has spilt his fair amount of blood in his lifetime without a second thought unlike her. As the second monster came up to the man, he quickly blocked with his shield from its swinging arms before slashing at the monsters torso leaving it dead where it stood. Yes, cutting down monsters is easy and should be done without a thought.
Aqua pulled her keyblade out of the bloated beast chest and continued with the knight at her side. He stuck a hand out in front of her and pointed to an arch like structure. She stopped to watch him as he stepped up to the arch and stood on a platform. He then proceeds to point at the ground.
"Is something there?" The knight nodded as she stepped up to the platform near the outer edges seeing what he was pointing down to. There's a square that has a strange pattern designed into it and didn't looked to sturdy. Aqua tilted her head, suspicious of the indent before lightly pressing her foot against it. The square lite up with a radiant blue hue and released a soft humming. The two warriors soon found themselves descending on the platform into a black cavern only to stop in front of a narrow passageway. "A short cut then." The Elite knight nodded and took the lead but not without his shield up. Aqua squirted her eyes in a mild glare; he knew something was just waiting for them at the end of the hall.
The Abyss definitely had a strangle hold in this new area below the township. It grew and pulsated off the wall like a blooming flower with its vines corroding and corrupting the architecture. The air itself has become heavier to breath with the pressure of the darkness increasing at a drastic wait. A darkness Aqua was all too familiar with as it's identical to that of when she was trapped in the dark realm. Her blood ran cold at the very thought of having to return to her prison. She did her best to bit back that fear and instead watch her companion as he seemed to be searching for something against the blood stained ground.
The knight's head moved back and forth until he spotted a peculiar blood stain. A green glow of power emanated from it and swirled in a curious manner just before a stair case. Placing a hand out to it, the green aura attached itself to the knight as he absorbed the power from it and the blood stain vanished into thin air. He let out a ragged sigh, pleased at recovering his lost power with little trouble thanks to his new partner but now came the hard part and the reason why the blood stain was created.
A singular bloated head monster twitched its head at the bottom of the stairs listening for prey but it wasn't alone. On the adjacent ascending stairs stood two lanky bodies with a feminine physic but shared the same horrible head as the rest of the mobs. Both held large like tree branches in their clawed hands. But engraved it the knight's memory was the true reason behind the blood stain. Just hiding outside of view behind the sides of the walled descending stair case, are two more corrupt citizens waiting for an ambush.
Aqua analyzed the two new monsters thinking of the best way to approach the situation. By the look of the weapons they carried she deducted that they were casters and knowing her luck they more than likely used dark magic. The singular melee monster was positioned so that he was almost like a lure to draw them in closer for the sorceress and possibly more. Something she wasn't going to fall for and from the look of her companion, neither was he as he pulled out his composite bow.
An electric shock pulsed through her keyblade and it dissembled itself. The pieces transformed quickly and came back together into a mock version of her gliders own great bow form. Aqua squinte her eyes as she locked on to her visible targets and ready her hand to weave the light arrows needed to take them out. She gave the knight a nod prepared, and he walked forward slowly with his shield raised up to his chest.
The single visible bloated headed monster shrieked when it spotted the knight alerting the rest of its monster brethren. As Aqua expected, black energy started to form on the catalyst of the tall sorceresses. He rolled back quickly as two more monsters jumped from their hiding place behind the stair case. Black beads of darkness shot from the tall ones ivory wooden wands, nicking the knights heels as he backed off. The moment her got back to Aqua's side, streams of light struck all five of the monsters on their horrible heads. They let out a gasp of surprise before falling over dead on the spot.
"You alright?" She asked while her blade reverted to its normal form. He nodded. The wound was thankfully superficial and barely left a dent in his armor. The darkness from the blast seemed to have no obvious effects on his body as if it just naturally absorbed the blackness. Aqua was startled by this but remembered Artorias's words of humans being inherently dark. She started to wonder if that's the case for humans of this world and hoped it was only for this world. The keybearer let out a sigh to shake off her probing thoughts and continued forward with the knight lagging behind as he was checking and of the bodies for loot.
As she walked up the stairs and avoided the bodies she slew, she stopped dead at the sight up ahead and tilted her head at the creature waiting for them.
"What in Kingdom Hearts is that thing?" This thing didn't look like the other monsters seen so far, mainly because it has a normal size head but with hideous growths on its shoulder and back. It looked like something that escaped from an asylum. It struggled in vain to move its arms but his torso was covered with thick chains that connected to an iron ball that scraped the floor with each steep by its legs and a wooden pole strapped to its back. The chains themselves looked rusted and parts even fused with the new monsters body.
Aqua couldn't help but feel some pity for the former human. Likely, it was just captive prisoner unable to run away from the spread of the Abyss causing it to become mutated with its bindings. The Elite Knight finally came up beside her and started at the poor creature with a tilted head.
"It doesn't look to fast but that chain mail is a problem. Physical attacks will just bounce right off it. Do you know any magic?" She received a shrug as an answer. Aqua sighed in mild annoyance at the knight's gesture wishing that he could talk. For all she knew a shrug meant "maybe."
The monster moaned as it took notice of the two warriors and began to trudge forward, its ball screeches at its feet with each steep. The knight steeped up first and ran up to the monsters side while Aqua mirrored him flanking to the side. His long sword slashed against the monsters chain mail. It only scratched the mutant as the weapon unexpectedly bounced back catching the knight off balance. He hadn't fought this beast before so he didn't exactly know the best way to go about slaying it. Maybe the girl's right. Physical means won't kill this thing.
With little time to react, The Elite Knight brought up his dragon crest shield to block the beast charging with the pole on its back extended out to him. The impact is stronger then he expected and drained his stamina severely to the point where the strike made him crash into the nearest statue in the room.
Aqua cursed as she heard the knight groan in pain and immediately cast a thunder spell on the creature. It did little but gets its attention. It quickly turned its body around and its chain ball flew from the momentum. Her eyes widen from the balls speed as she put a reflect barrier. The barrier didn't have time the finish properly and easily shattered like simple glass. The rusted round object smashed against the side of her armor head creating an impeccable dent in the magical armor.
Aqua skidded across the floor from the impact. When she finally stopped she swore she saw double of the monster trudging to her. She gritted her teeth and shook her head to see straight in time to see the beast charging at her wooden beam extended and ready to pierce right through her body. She cursed under her breath as she rolled away at the last second as the pole broke the ground. The monster heard her attempt to escape and swung its make shift spear to her side only to miss once more but not by much. She was wrong about the monsters speed and with the way it was fighting, Aqua deduced that it was blind and using its hearing to "see." The pity she once felt for the mutated monster was quickly dissipating.
The keybearer jumped back to where the knight was as he pulled himself from the rumble just as the prisoner reared its pole back, swaying side to side listening for its opponents. Aqua put a finger up to her helm telling him to be silent before pointing to the dark hallway that he monster guard, the knight nodded his head in agreement. Watching the beast the knight made to step away from the ruble but his foot caught on a stray stone, kicking it away.
Aqua cringed as the mutant roared at the two and dashed to their location pole aimed. She sent a salvo of spells at the creature only for it to not stagger or flinch in the slightest in its rage.
"Bind!" A circular electric field surrounded itself around the chained prisoner. Aqua quickly dismissed her keyblade as she caught the wooden beam. The bind spell had done the trick of stopping the monsters dash but not its attempt of murder. With her back against the wall the beam was only an inch from piercing her chest as it was held still by her metal coated digits. The monster couldn't move properly but it didn't stop it from applying its strength to its weapon knowing soon that the women's stamina would run out as it felt her struggling.
Fire erupted in the form of lava on the monsters back and it screamed horribly. It reared its pole back away from Aqua as the bind spell lifted. Its body ignited at it couldn't escape the pool of lava that formed around it. It let out one final roar before it fell to its knees and turned into ash in a similar matter that Artorias had then the way that the other creatures have and left a carcass. All that was left the beast was a glowing golden sprite that was shadowed by the body of the knight who's hand glow a strange red.
The Keyblade Master let out a sigh of a relief as she stared at the knight as he picked up the strange soul and it suddenly change in to chainmail armor in his hands. He then proceeded to pull out a box from his person and stuff the new items inside.
"And here I thought you didn't know any magic." The knight put his box away and tilted his head to the armored women. He really didn't know any magic and started to wonder, if where she was from, were pyromancy and magic the same thing?
Aqua took the time to cast a cure spell on herself and reveled in relief as her head injury disappeared. She offered to heal the knight but he held his hand up in protest before bulling out a burning orange flask and took a swing of it. Aqua guessed it was a potion or something similar but she found it funny that the knight never removed his helmet to drink as its healing constant seemed to just be absorbed by his body much like the darkness had before. Odd enough the left over droplets look like the remnants of sunlight.
The two walked cautiously threw the dark narrow corridor until they arrived at another elevator switch just like the one above ground. The knight steeped on the switch and it released a blue light and a hum of the platform making its way to them. When it arrived, alone bloated head citizen came up with it back turned to the warriors completely unaware. The Elite Knight shrugged before promptly kicking the monster of its perch and to the abyss below. Aqua had to muffle a laugh from the odd situation. Poor thing didn't know what hit. With the obstruction on the elevator gone, the twosome hopped on and pressed the secondary switch to head down deeper into the corruption and light became minimum.
The air was dense with darkness, an all too familiar feeling to Aqua as she and her companion steeped of to the elevator. From the looks of it they were it a busted dungeon, possibly where the iron prisoner was being held before he escaped. Strangely enough there was a bonfire sitting not aflame. The knight rushed passed her, relief at the sight of wood and sword combo and stuck his hand out to it. The fire ignited to the knights presents revealing its soothing presents to all. The knight let out a relived sigh as he took a seat near the bonfire. He looked back to his companion and made a gesture for her to join in which she took.
"Maybe a little rest wouldn't be so bad." The knight nodded his head in agreement before fixing his gaze on the flames. Aqua had to admit that she felt some comfort from the flames and kind of wished she had something like this while she was in the dark realm. She rested her back against the stone wall and stared lazily into the flames before taking a fleeting glance at her companion who looked like he was about to nod off. A little rest wouldn't hurt if what has happened so far was only a taste for what is to come. For this would be the only light that they would see for a while.
KZD: I'm writing and uploading this story during my school hours so that it is why its taking so long to upload.