The sun was rising over the mountains near a certain village, one which Bell despite his messed up memories would still recognise, yet he was nowhere to be seen. Atleast, not where a 3 year old child normally would be, this day however, would also mark the day that Zeus's plans were demolished.
Bell was never an interactive toddler, he seldom spoke or tried to any person outside his grandpa. That could be disregarded as simple shyness, but what gave away the fact that there is more to it, was his lack of energy, he wasn't a playfull child and would rather sleep most of the mornings away before having lunch. Zeus was worried, to say the least, that perhaps genetics had not been as kind to him as he'd hoped, but confirmations to his unfounded fears would only come in the form of a terrible memory, one that Bell's mind had trouble acessing, as if his mind had been put under a spell, he could discern fragments of what happened but it was never anything concrete, only during the bloody parts of the hunt, were his mind clear enough to catch the faintest glimpses of the displaced recollections...
Yet once he touched the cord, an unrelenting bond had been formed, he contacted something, an entity he was fully ignorant of. Yet reacting to his wishes of being free, it showed him a glimpse of what was taken from him, an elder god, old one who in it's selfishness found it in itself to help a most curious mortal, one who's soul was quite unique, and would no doubt attract further attention.
"Bell? Bell, my boy, wake up! it's 10 in the morning!" Spoke a rather excentric figure, he was an old man, of that Bell was certain, yet he had envyable muscles and despite his age, a lot of hair. But what truly stood out for Bell was his face, unfathomable to him, as much as he stared to the memory of his own grandfather, he could not recognise his face, it was as if a mash of features adorned the man's head, but the result left Bell obviously disstressed.
"Hmmm... gramps?..." a younger voice said, it's was Bell's, but not his own, he suddenly got up from his bed, again movement, but he was only a spectator, locked away inside his own mind... This was a memory, he was sure of it, yet why did it felt so foreign to him, so alien, as if what was disturbing his very psyche was not something of his plane of understanding.
"So Bell, are you hungry?" Zeus asked, inside his own mind though, praying for a good answer.
"N-nope." Bell said innocently, oblivious to the worry in his grandfathers heart.
"Okay... then, Bell i have to ask you, do you feel anything different... these days you seemed a little sick..."
"I am... a bit, but what does it have to do wit-" he was cut off.
"Bell, i have not told you this but... your mother... was very sick before having you... in fact she was sick most of her life." The serious tone on his voice made the small child instantly listen.
"She passed on, thanks to that sickness, yet even then she still fought hard so she could have you, to be with you... or at the very least hold you in her arms..." Bell began to cry. Yet the counciousness trapped in the memory still tried to make sense of what he was seeing... truly, his memory was scrambled, perhaps he had been cursed by more than just the dream...
"I... i fear that you may have gotten it as well... and i don't want to scare you but... you might have it too..." What... did i... truly have this... it cannot be real... but... it feels so real...
Just as suddenly as the flashback started, it also changed, a few days forward or so, Bell could not tell, yet he was forced to keep his eyes open to the dream, to experience the distortion of everything he held dear...
"Bell..." His grandfather said, with a stoic face that no doubt held back fear. "I called in a favor with a friend from orario, a doctor should be coming soon to see you but... untill then we just need to be a bit more carefull about your health my boy."
"Ok grandpa..." The boy hardly spoke, clearly struck by the horrific curse in his own blood. Later that same day, Bell would start coughing the red liquid in his veins, In the mind of the boy's image forced to recreate the fading memories in his head, The hunter had tried to bring the fleeting light reason to his situation, only to be swallowed whole by the endless abyss of the starry darkness, taunting him for his powerlessness inside his own mind...
"Bell, can you get up please? the doctor is here..." Zeus called, only to hear the faint response out of the boy's mouth, stumbling upon the small living room of their cabin in the woods, a small distance away from the village they sold their small stock of home-grown vegetables at.
In the modest room, there was only a small hearth, a sofa and a table that they ate dinner on, beside his old man sitting on the sofa, there was another man, with the standard clothes of a healer, a white cloak, potion belt and prestine gloves of the purest white, Bell could have swore the man was part of the church, despite having a familia emblem that he could not recognise, but what was more strange was the man's face, long ears typical of elves, and long but fair features that made him the definition of handsome, his skin was light, by human standards, only losing to the sheer paleness of the white haired child infront of him.
"Well, hello little one, you truly do look just like Meteria." The elf spoke, soon realising the can of worms he opened by mentioning that name.
"H-hi..." the small child could barely muster the strengh to give him a proper greeting without yawning, being absolutely drained of his energy thanks to the disease he carried.
The man quickly gave a glance to Zeus before starting the examination, He had child Bell sit on a chair and asked him about his symptons. Meanwhile Bell was slightly despaired, he felt like he should have remember such crucial details about his life, and yet here he was in as much of a surprise as any bystander who would see this from another point of view.
"So, how do you feel lately?" The elven healer asked.
"*Yawn* tired... and my head hurts sometimes..."
"Have had any coughs?"
The child looked to his grandfather and replied: "N-no..." The medic understood what he meant to do, and in his own head cursed the child's harmfull behaviour.
"Okay, then i'd like to ask to leave please." he said to Zeus and the god left.
"Now, i believe i know the answer already, but were you telling the truth before?"
"No..." The child answered.
"I see, and have you coughed blood?"
The child this time only shook his head in a yes motion. The elf just called Zeus back and took a small amount of blood from the child, and used his own magic to examine it, slightly smilling at Bell's sparkly eyes at such display.
When he finished, Zeus asked Bell to go to his room and the doctor gave him the sad news:
"Zeus, i'm afraid it's exactly like her..." The man said with a mix of anger and sadness, he had met the boy's mother, in fact, he monitored her disease's progress, yet could never do anything against it.
"Thank you, if you are not going back today feel free to spend the night here, i know how tiring the journey back to Orario is."
"Well, i accept your offer." Yet Bell never heard those words, for as his child counterpart drifted into sleep and he once again found himself at the abandoned workshop, next to the forgotten doll.
His head pounded and he could feel something slowly writhing within him, wasting a blood vials in the hopes that tge adrenaline could stop the terrible pain, and while it did help, it was completely worthless as his mind could no longer resist the abhorrent sensation, he raised his saw to his neck and plunged the jagged teeth into his own flesh, feeling it burn and be torned apart.
Resting his heavy eyes for a rest he knew was only temporary, he saw the messengers surround him and once again, stop his moment of calm...
"... And that was it, basically." The hunter concluded, having explained his recent encounters with the unexplainable madness lurking around the damned city.
"... i see..." Said the doll, clearly tense and dreadfull of the possibility that her master may not be so kind to this, still her fears were interrupted when the hunter said:
"Also, i wanted to give you this..." he said pulling out a hair ornament that he found near the real doll, he figured that there must be atleast a sentimental connection to her and so should return to it's rightful owner.
"...Good... hunter... i... thank you..." she said, perhaps had this been a different hunter she would have reacted different but to see him not only alive but still himself was a relief to her.
It really was a surprise to her seeing how close she had become to the white bunny in front of her, truly she cared about other hunters but not this much, perhaps it was his rather innocent nature that drew her closer to him.
"Thank you hunter." she said after a while of silence, but before she could say anything he interrupted her yet again, swiping off a single tear from her right cheek before continuing the conversation.
They continued for a while, even when he started working the tools he knew so well, to the point of being able to tell from a glance what was the problem in every single one of them.
Eventually the doll had to leave, she still had work to do and was already a bit behind on the dusting, Bell had offered to help but sge refused, leaving him sitting on the steps to the workshop, staring at the flowers and occasional little one who would pop up.
It was calm, untill he felt a shiver down his spine, and the sensation of being watched was so intense, he could tell it was no longer just paranoia. Something was out there, a terrible presence who could only be slightly perceived looking down on him from the only celestial body visible in the skies of the dream.
Trying to escape this feeling he ran to the grave that led to the forbidden woods, weapons left in the dream but he could get them later from the messengers.
He ran as scared rabbit would from a predator, often times a beast who hadn't enough reason nor intelect to stay away from the rampaging hunter, even unarmed as he was, he would still slay his opponents in the most gruesome of ways.
Without any destination, he wandered through the forest untill he could hear himself think again, that was inside a cave, he was utterly lost and already resigned himself to using a mark when leaving, still he thought to atleast occupy his mind while there, and decided to explore the cave.
It was a surprise to see that in a cave, SO many poison plants could grow, tainting the small lake inside it with a slow but powerful poisonous substance.
Traversing it was not so bad, he even found a few blood gems that were lying beside the enourmous beasts and giant vermin. Either way, he found a ladder out of the cave, climbing it revealed him at the very begining of his adventure, in the heart of Yarnham, behind a locked gate that he quickly opened.
He wondered if he should see Iosefka, but quickly discarded the plan when a roar was let loose in the deeper graveyard that he was in. I will need to kill it, lest it hurts Iosefka, or her patients. Running to top speed in a few seconds, the bunny jumped in the air and grabbed on to a ledge on a building, using said ledge to climb to the rooftops of the building.
Running through those damned copper roofs he cleaned up every possible beast there, yet he still heard noises near an open window, entering it he found a split in two corridors, following one he encountered the room where he first woke up in yarnham, putting bad memories aside, he saw it.
Blue skin and swolen head, some bandages and weird behaviour, he did not know who that former person was, but recognise the same experiments of the church in that damned lecture hall.
"... You, please... do not resist... it will be better this way..." he said, before giving it a mercyful end. However, as the weird discolored blood hit his blade, he inspected a familiar object in it's hands... a blood vial, one made by only one person...
No no no... it can't be, not her... oh gods... who... did this to you, Iosefka...
He was about to leave the room when he grabbed a letter on a weird operation table, it seemed out of place and so he thought to inspect it later in order to find Iosefka's killer.
Through the steps of another flight of creaky wooden stairs, the hunter prowled in search of his target, but it was dead silent... too silent... he knew that the experiment was relatively recent and required lots of atencion, whoever did it to poor Iosefka was still here. Great sword in hand, he stepped through the doorway of another room when he was suddenly ambushed by a shadow in white.
A rather fair face and brown hair fashioned into a ponytail, there was a woman who wore the despicable fashion of the white church members... those in charge of the more horrendous experiments along with the damned group of inhuman monsters called the choir.
She lashed out with her bladed whip, but the hunter just blocked it with his transformed sword, jumping back he sent a wave of light traveling towards the woman, but as it was about to hit her, she rolled to the side and avoided it quite narrowly.
Bell took full advantage of her overconfidance and prepared against an attack out of the roll, with pistol in hand he shot her in the right shoulder, the impact of the bullet taking the air out of her lungs as she struggled backwards.
A hand reached out to her only to hold her firmly in place while the other was sent through her very body, grabbing whatever tissue and organs it could on it's way out.
As Bell sidestepped backwards he heard the voice of said woman bearing uncanny resemblance to Iosefka's but not truly the same.
"Ahh but what a shame... be still won't ya? i'd love to try my hands on a hunter..." The woman's voice was sickening, how could she so casually talk about such horrifc sins commited by the church in their search of the gods of this world.
Loosing his patience he planted his feet on the ground and used all his force to jump at that hollow woman.
But was utterly stopped by white tentacles, coming from her palm, limbs of an outer god, the Augur of Ebrietas, tool which harnesses the power of that entity for nefarious purposes of the healing church.
The enemy quickly launched it's counter strike, a furious dance of the cane-whip she wielde, and with each crack of the bladed rope Bell's dodges were getting tighter and tighter, he tried using a hunter's tool of his own but could only reach the weird bone on his belt, thinking why not try it... he broke it with one hand and when he tried dodging the next hit, he noticed how sloppy it was, how slow it had become to him, and he saw how the bone worked it's magic to make him dissapear into thin air only to reappear a moment later in another position, this helped him tremendously and he was now ready to properly retaliate.
The weapon he was using had vanished into thin air and in it's place was a cane, the same weapon the woman is using. After quickly dissapearing to evade another attack, the hunter prepared a dangerous item, a piece of paper that stored the power of the bolts of black beasts, or eletricity as others called it.
He started wildly swinging his extended whip at the ground, the eletric blades emitted blue sparks and thunder-like sound, her attacks were blocked by a wall of sound and sparks that would make his grandfather proud.
She preparred her arcane tool, but before she could use it, the ringing sound of a gun was brought into her ears, she went to recover from the bullet in her shoulder but was interrupted by a fast unseen strike. The hunter's cane was now embedded deep into her chest, she meant to scream but the sparks shocking her entire body didn't let her, she tried to counter attack him, but her arms were getting heavier and heavier.
"Oh, what a shame... think of the things i could have done... with a hunter like you..."
"This was for Iosefka... you vile murderer."
May you now rest in peace Iosefka... sorry i could not help you just as you helped me...
Bell left the clinic, with a hollow and regretful feeling. After he sat on a bench he remembered the weird letter he saw inside the clinic.
Reading it aloud with a curious expression:
"Thou has been invited by the court of the queen of Cainhurst to present thyself infront of your majesty the vileblood queen of castle Cainhurst."
That... castle Cainhurst... should i... go? the letter was not for me but... i cannot let this chance go away... i have wondered about Mr. Alfred, could it be that he is not right... the church does lie to it's members... At the thought of one of his only friends being deceived by the church, Bell decided to see for himself just who were the Vilebloods of Cainhurst.
He read the location on the letter: The Henwick charnel lane, and quickly set out to find his destination, passing through the Cathedral at the church district was as easy as he could wish for, running from the beastly dogs being guided by crazed Yarnhamites was not, still after running for his life from gunshots and frenzied dogs, he found a lamp and the entrance to the small village, getting through it was rather obnoxious but not threatning in the slightest , after passing through the village he started to make his search for any other clue as to where he should be.
Bell figured that he should go to the ruined tower at the small hill nearby in order to have a better view. Killing the crazed citizens that blocked his path. however inside the building the only path he could find was down a set of old stairs to a basement, the moment he entered it he felt the fog close his entrance and exit.
And so he was faced with the witches of Henwick, which were nothing but a pushover, he easily defeated the gross hags who could only hide and summon monsters to fight him, after all, he had dueled Ludwig and won, this was nothing to him.
After plunging a greatsword deep into the last witch's body, he went around the basement looking for anything that would make this fight worthwhile, he started to like fighing, he had to admit, but even then this was just terrible, no fun whatsoever.
At least i found this... he thought after finding the last workshop tool that was lost by previous hunters, the rune carver, with it, he could finally ingrain upon his very mind the power of the Carryl runes, or atleast that was what the doll and Gehrman had told him.
After leaving the ruined building he went on to read the letter once again, figuring out that the letter mentioned some sort of mark, finding a weird monument out of black stone, he tried to inspect it but was stopped when the sound of wheels on the ground reached his ears, and infront of him, stopped a carriage without any driver, the door opened itself in front of him and seeing no other option, Bell took it, trusting that he would be taken to this castle.
The minutes he spent on that carriage seemed like hours, or perhaps an eternity, he was snapped out of that drowsy feeling when a chill had crept up on him, suddenly the noise of horses and wheels had suddenly stopped.
As he stepped out of the carriage, he notice the snowfall on the bridge he appeared to have just crossed, however, the bridge was broken and ruined, in a way that looked like it had not received any attention in decades. The horses which had pulled him to the castle were just semi rotting corpses half preserved by the snow and ice, and in front of him thwre was a heavy gate that seemed too sturdy and durable when contrasted with the surrounding towers and bridge.
The gates opened when he walked near them, but no one was there to be seen, he walked through it and found a single lantern in the midst of an open sculpture garden, once again burdened by snowfall. As he crouched past blood sucking beasts who looked way more dangerous when counting their numbers, he slowly mad his way to the entrance of the main wing of the castle.
He had made a rather frightening discovery, the servents who still roamed the castle, barely clinging to their humanity as beasthood could surely overtake them, and besides them were the ghosts of past maidens who once inhabited the castle.
He continued to explore the castle, going from terrace to terrace before entering through another doorway and finding the entrance to the library, inside it he found a couple of gear around the disorganized halls and messy books and manuscripts littered through the floor, he also found a register of what is supposedly all vilebloods, and while extensive, the heavy book showed a weirder truth, they have been all killed.
Decimated by the church, none left alive and perhaps only the so called "Immortal queen" had survived whatever tragedy happened there. Overall his trip around the damned halls weren't that time consuming, although time is a resource he does have in abundance.
After climbing a ladder and traversing a rather cruel path on the snowy rooftops of the property, Bell discovered a corpse on a peculiar wooden throne, he went to inspect it but was met with fog closing him in once again... but now he had a dreadfull feeling that whatever awaited him in the other side of the arena was not as easy as the witches.
There atop the snow covered roofs of castle Cainhurst, Bell found the corpse of master Logarius, a tenacious church executioner who even in death continues to defend the seal that stops the vile bloods to regain their strengh.
The living corpse then began to fire spells weaved of what looked like the damned souls of those who perished along the property of Cainhurst royalty. Doding the spells and different attacks was easier said than done, and while he could easily dodge a few stray spells, a thought out combo might just kill him.
Sidesteping the spell's explosion, Bell went on to plunge his greatsword into the corpse's torso, and turning it on while leaving, Logarius had jumped back and prepared to throw the cursed skulls of his magic attacks.
The same cautious dance repeated itself only slowed down when the hunter got caught by a unpredictable change in his pattern but he was quick to adjust.
However that fight was unsustainable and was bound to be broken at some point, and it all started when Logarius started to charge a powerfull attack, Bell decide to wait for a chance to be more agressive. It was a good choice since the area around Logarius had exploded with magic, and he seemed way more terrifying with an aura of determination to win the fight. The living corpse had plunged a small ornate dagger into the floor and watched as it summoned various small blades dancing through the air before aiming at Bell in full speed.
This put Bell in overwhelming disadvantage, having to fight a war on two fronts was difficult enough but Logarius had become even more agressive and it his attacks more numerous, he needed to stop the blades flying at him, but he didn't know how. Trying his best to think of a way, but he was too busy fighting to think, that was untill Logarius had pushed him into the dagger's direction tripping the ground and having to roll on his back to avoid a fatal strike, but it did give him an idea.
He pulled his pistol out of the holster and crushed the bone, granting him the quickening technique, and vanishing from sight he appeared further away from Logarius who raised his weapon, only to hear the sound of gunshots, a quicksilver bullet flew into the dagger knocking it out of the ground, stopping the blades instantly.
And when his enemy tried to retrieve it he quickened before him and brought his blade down from his shoulder, cleaving off a chunk of the corpse's flesh before he followed up with a rather unusual way to utilize an old tool.
Holding Logarius in place with one hand, he grabbed the flamesprayer out of the tiny limbs of helpful messegers with he other and sticking it in through the inside of the corpse's ribcage and letting the flames consume his enemy from the inside. Eventually the corpse managed to free itself from the hunter but it was too late, the hunter finished him off by thrusting through the still burning flesh of the old master executioner.
As the last remenants of activity left Logarius, he vanished in a cloud of mist, leaving only his crown behind.
As the fog around his makeshift arena dissapeared, Bell picked the crown up and in an act of childlike curiosity, put it on.
Revealing the entrance to a higher tower in the roof, who was once invisible to him, leaving Bell little choice if not exploring it.
inside he found a hall and an extensive carpet leaving to a throne room, there only one person lied sitting in it's chair, a woman in an expensive dress wearing an iron mask, aproaching her she revealed her true identity:
"Moon scented hunter, i claim no subjects yet here i am, kneel before me or get thee gone."
Bell complied, if only to show a little respect and know more about the vilebloods.
"Very well, then you may speak..."
"Thank you, i assume you are queen annalise?"
"Yes, we art the queen that rules this castle."
"Then i shall get to the point, i wish to know what happened here, while i am not too fond of the church, i wish to know wether my friend is being deceived by the executioners." Bell said with a serious face.
"To make a request to a queen... thou art a peculiar one indeed, i accept thy request and if listen i shall make thee a propostion." The queen said.
"Of course." Bell replied.
And so the queen explained the story of the vilebloods, their origins connected to the pale blood of the gods and their downfall by hands of the executioners.
"...So, you have heard our story, then shall thou hear my proposition?"
"Yes."
"Then i ask thee to be my personal knight."
"Wh-What?"
.
.
.
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That is it for this chapter, thank you for reading everyone and i would like to ask if you guys have any suggestion for pairings, since i did want to keep this open and set up multiple possibilities i wanna hear what you guys have to say, so please leave a comment or review.