OOLACILE TOWNSHIP

"Now, watch and see how Gough hunts dragons."

The old giant loosed one of his massive arrows as the Black Dragon arced over the valley below the Sanctuary. The spear struck the beast in the back as it turned, and with a terrible cry, it fell into the chasm. The giant chuckled.

"Yes, a truer shot was never loosed! That bat will be grounded for a good spell. The rest is in your hands. I await good tidings. Ahh, dragon slaying. Knighthood's highest calling…"

His tone grew nostalgic as he set his bow down to retrieve a new piece of wood and his knife.

"We're going to beat the crap out of him!" Lex said confidently.

Ciaran's face was still hidden behind her mask, but her reaction was self-evident. Sif wagged her tail happily and barked but made no move to follow the group as they headed through the coliseum and out the other side.

ROYAL WOOD

There was a ramp next to one of the elevator buildings that led down into the valley. At the top, where there were logs wedged into the ground as crude steps, lay a corpse with a floating soul clump on it. Lex stuffed it into his pack and led the others down into the creekbed. At the bottom of the ramp were piles of logs cut down in the kingdom's heyday, but that had been so long ago that they were overgrown with moss. As they walked alongside the shallow creek, a feral dog turned about and snarled at them.

It was no ordinary dog, but neither had it been corrupted by the Dark of the Abyss as the humans had been. Its fur had fallen out, but rather than a wrinkly, fleshy creature, it looked as though it was made of rough black stone, turning orange at its facets. Its eyes were glowing the same color. Still, a dog was a dog, and when it lunged at him, Lex knocked it out of the air with his sword, letting Oscar finish it off with a quick swipe.

"What is this, Lex?" the knight asked, feeling his sword and thinking of the hard sensation of striking the beast.

"You know, I hadn't actually thought about it since evil dogs are fairly common. It looks like these have morphed into mini-Kalameets. See, they're all obsidian-y. Now, these are the big dogs, so I don't think they breathe fire."

"Well, thank the Lords for small blessings…" Oscar mumbled sarcastically.

They killed two more dogs before reaching a tall wooden barricade. The demigod-sized gate was missing, but the path was blocked by a fog wall. The humans pushed through to the other side, where the creek reached a cliff and became a small waterfall, a much more impressive one on the cliffside opposite. At the left side of the cliff was an enormously long ladder leading down into the basin below. Lex slid down first, with Oscar starting his slide once the cleric passed the halfway point.

The Black Dragon stomped into view from around the corner. It was a wicked-looking beast, long and sleek, with a single glowing orange eye in the center of its spear-like head. While the White Dragon had the wings of an insect, the Black had the wings of a bat – as Gough had mocked – and spikes that could serve as curved greatswords jutted out along its back. Lex quickly moved away from the cliff wall to give the rest of the party room to climb down. The instant he was away, however, the dragon leapt into the air and dove at him.

He tried to roll out of the way, but the beast swept its terrible claw along the ground and scooped him up. As Oscar jumped from the ladder and charged, it swooped high into the air, taking Lex with it.

"What?!" the cleric roared.

"You thought I was downed, didn't you?"

Like the communication rings, this voice was felt as a buzzing on the back of the neck. It was definitely the voice of the proud dragon, rich and sibilant.

"Acting."

The dragon raced to the end of the basin, before sharply pulling away and following the wall on the opposite side of the entrance. He perched on a stone atop the larger waterfall and idly dangled Lex over the edge.

"Imagine my surprise when I find those three. Dear old Gough hasn't lost his touch. Tell me, human: is that Dragonslayer hiding or has he become a mere housecat?"

"Ornstein is probably still doing his guard duty thing."

"Yes, I suppose he has little choice in the matter. When the cat's away, the rats will play. And there are so many rats. Hm. Human, you seem rather calm about this."

Lex shrugged as he dangled by the back of his breastplate.

"I figure falling to my death is pretty painless, all things considered."

"You don't fear death? Funny, I thought human civilization was based around making the most of your mayfly lifespans."

"I'm… Undead?"

"Ah, yes, I recall. That new curiosity. Before, you know, that term referred to the bodies of my fallen brethren, which did not truly die even as they rotted away. Tell me about it."

"Basically, if I die, I lose all my souls, including humanity, and then I get spat back out, healed but looking a lot like beef jerky, at the last bonfire I activated. If I make it back to where I died, give or take, then I can recover my souls. I can then sacrifice a humanity to the bonfire to un-jerky-fy myself. When an Undead runs out of humanity, they tend to go insane for some reason."

"I see. My, how convenient. With so much humanity, you're nearly immortal, then, aren't you? Well, since you're headed back, do tell those three to pay me a visit."

"What?"

"Ta ta, human."

Lex's screams were drowned out by the roar of the falls, and after several seconds of freefall, his body splattered on the wet ground. Kalameet looked over the basin below. Three of the other humans had made their way down the ladder and were staring up at him cautiously, while the last was making a swift retreat. How he loved the cowards. They tasted like chicken.

With a blast from his powerful wings, he flung himself into the air again and dive-bombed the opposite cliffside. As the human rushed desperately toward the clearing fog gate, he unleashed a torrent of Dark flame that flooded the overlook, killing that one as well. With a self-satisfied smirk, he wheeled about and landed near the others.

"Hello, humans. Shall I presume that you are all Undead?"

"Why would you-?" Oscar started.

"I'll take that for yes."

He breathed again, too fast and too close for the humans to get away. Solaire and Oscar raised their shields to deflect the brunt of the flowing energy, but Laurentius took the attack directly, tumbling backward. He was tougher than Chester, though, and his robes provided a cursory resistance to magic.

"I say, you are quite durable."

The dragon lunged forward and crushed the pyromancer underfoot before he could rise. As Laurentius erupted into souls, the knights charged in, Solaire striking at the offending foot and Oscar slashing at the great beast's underbelly. It was like striking stone, however, and they both gritted their teeth from the recoil.

"Ah ah ah!" the dragon scolded.

He reared up on his back legs, flitting his tail back and forth like a cat. He stooped and lowered his head toward them and beckoned with both arms and both wings. The knights fell toward him but stopped in midair before reaching the ground. As he straightened his back and raised his arms, they rose through the air. His single eye burned with a wicked light, and a horrid ringing shrieked in their ears.

At last, they fell to the ground, and the dragon raised his head again.

"See you soon."

Dark flame rolled over them once more, and they had no time to raise their shields. After a few moments, they both collapsed, leaving the dragon alone in the basin.

OOLACILE TOWNSHIP

"Welcome back, guys," Lex said sarcastically as the knights appeared from the bonfire.

"Don't be disheartened," Gough rumbled as he put the finishing touches on a wooden carving of the Black Dragon. "Few are those who faced Kalameet and lived, Undead or no. That old bat is just as wily as he ever was."

"But now he thinks Anor Londo has ordered his slaying," Ciaran hissed. "Losing Artorias on that Abyss mission was bad enough. We can hardly afford a guerrilla war with the Bearer of Calamity."

"We'll go back and kill him. Eventually," Lex said casually.

"What if he doesn't just sit idle and wait for you to do that?! There is nothing to stop that dragon from just up and leaving! Do you realize how many people will die?! How many humans?!"

"Calm thyself," Gough said gruffly. "Thy shouting will only aggravate sleeping Artorias." He shook his great head and continued, "With all that is happening these days, what is one more Calamity? Anor Londo would do well to face them all at once while she still can."

The masked demigod stared at the helmeted giant, then turned to the prophet.

"What does your future say about the Black Dragon?"

"Nothing. He just… disappears."

"And ourselves?"

"Artorias and Sif allegedly go on to fight the Darkwraiths of New Londo, as mentioned. Gough disappears along with this coliseum. You…"

"I what?"

"Artorias is given a more elaborate grave in the Sanctuary above than the crude one you initially construct in the coliseum. It's not clear what happened to you, but… your body is found leaning against the back of the tombstone."

"I see," she said crisply. "Gough. Get your things. We're going into hiding."

"What?!"

"This future may be fate – or it may be chance. I can think of no other means by which Artorias may have been saved. I will not jeopardize that by changing these humans' history. You will disappear, and they will find 'my' body. The only problem is Kalameet."

Lex shook his head.

"Since we can travel through time, that's not an issue. We can return home, draw up elaborate plans, then come back. Quelaag might be able to seal off his escape with her web, and there's a chance Sen could just build all of us flying gear."

"Sen would?"

"Yeah, Quelaag hired him because he was sick of Velka."

"If it's not one witch, it's another," the assassin hissed. "Gough, Sif, take Artorias to the Sanctuary. It will be safer there. I must inform Captain Ornstein of what has transpired here."

Before the others could say anything, she turned and dashed into the coliseum. Gough sighed and sheathed his knife, slinging his bow onto his back.

"Let us be going as well," Chester grumbled. "The rest of you may be fine with suicide missions, but I have better things to do."

"Yeah, that's fair," Lex sighed. "Unless you want to consume all our humanity and then grab another stack of sprites from the Abyss first."

"No thank you," the masked man harrumphed.

"So, where would you like to go then?"

"Is there a place where I can easily learn what era I'm going to be living in from now on?"

"Duke's Archives it is. We've actually got some old people there right now who might just be able to tell you what you want to know. Everyone go ahead and grab on. We'll drop Chester off and then head back to Izalith."

"How convenient!" Solaire said. "My next destination was Izalith. Though I did want to visit at the Altar of Sunlight for a time."

"No problemo, Sunbro. I can take you there after we deliver the humanity."

As the group linked arms, Lex scratched his chin.

"You know, I wonder if we'll have to walk there or if I can just go directly to the third bonfire."

THE DUKE'S ARCHIVES

Oolacile faded away, and the party did find themselves at the bonfire in the rear of the Archives. Hanser, Arnalt, and Logan were all there on the balcony with them.

"Hi guys!"

"Hello, Prophet Lex."

"What a plllllleasant surprise."

"Hi Seath!"

He blinked.

"What?!"

The White Dragon's massive head leaned in from outside.

"I did not exxxxxxpect you so soon, Chosen Undead."

"I did not expect you to be here at all. Or sane. Or talkative."

After the last encounter with an ancient dragon, the rest of the group were on guard. Seath's grating, insectile voice lacked the attractive timbre that Kalameet's had, but that made them all the more wary.

"Calm yourselves. My house arrest does not make me any less a Duuuuuuuuuke of Anor Londo."

Laurentius had already relaxed when he saw that Lex wasn't panicking, but this made Oscar and Solaire lower their guards. Chester did not, however, and backed away from the balcony slowly, crossbow drawn.

"Chester, it's okay, apparently, Se-"

"The last one was apparently injured, and we all know how that went. I'm afraid this is where Marvelous Chester will take his leave of you."

With that, he turned and sprinted up the stairs and out of sight.

Lex shrugged.

"Just saying, you could throw him in the dungeon, and no one would bat an eye."

"Maybe later. May I ask what he mmmmeant by 'the last one'?"

"Kalameet just wasted us all. It was pretty bad. I got thrown off a cliff."

Seath hissed.

"So that wrrrrrrrretch yet lives."

"Nah. We can just time travel. Not sure we can go anywhere other than Oolacile, though. That's guaranteed paradox-free since no one survives to tell what really happened there. I considered trying to change the past, but then Quelaag yelled at me, so I didn't. Ciaran made a big deal of not doing it either. Faking her death and stuff. Wasn't about to argue with her and get punched in the throat again."

"How very interestiiiiiing. I knew it was possible to transport oneselfffff betwixt fires, but that it could cross the gulf of time as wellllll is revolutionary. I believe I've ffffound my next project. If you wwwould, please return at a later time. I wish to test a few thiiiings before we fight to the death."

"Ooookay then."

With that, the Chosen Undead shrugged and grabbed the others before warping home at last.