Authors notes:
This is my first fic so mind that, I have triple read this chapter, as-well as ran it through grammarly and the abcAI on app, so hopefully no mistakes make it through, beware of my language, I struggle poetically with words, however that may sound, when you read the fic, it will make sense. Without further ado, the wayyyy we go!
"grmmh…" A pained, low gurgle comes out of Somber's mouth, as he looks down to see a rather large, covered-in-wire, longsword sticking out of his chest, he feels it being dragged out of his insides and is promptly kicked to the ground. He quickly fumbles for his estus flask, to be met with a stern stab through the neck. The next thing he knows, everything is black.
This is the first time he's died, apart from his death when he was still human. Somber begins to see his life flashing before his eyes, and a sudden wave of nostalgia hits him as memories of his human life, as well as undead life begin to play out.
"Get down! Now!" A commanding voice yells, Somber sees his allies, getting on their knees and disposing of their weapons while some continue fighting. He feels disappointed in those who are not as he focuses on his task at hand, which is combating the assailants. His opponent seems to be a knight from Carim, at least that's what their captain informed them of before this happened he was sent on an intelligence-gathering mission, and he and his Platoon were supposed to gather information about a group of Carim knights lingering on the outskirts of Astora.
He parries a blow from the shotel of the Knight, before delivering a blow to his stomach with his broadsword, twisting it clockwise and booting the knight off of his weapon, ripping it out and removing the blood by whipping the weapon to his side gracefully, before going to help his allies, he rushes over to the now separated platoon, which is overwhelmed by the amount of Carim knights attacking them. He sighs and rushes in, taking out 2 knights, parrying the blow of another and kicking another one away from an injured ally.
"STOP THIS SOLDIER!" He hears the voice of the captain yell. He grips his sword tightly before decapitating another one of the Carim knights.
"Oh?… and why should I?" Somber responds casually, as he whips around and takes 2 more Carim knights off their feet.
"Because I am your captain and my order is to surrender!" The Captain yells, dropping his weapon on the ground.
"Pathetic, I don't care, die all I care," Somber responds as he begins to get swarmed by more knights, there seems to be only so many left. "I'm doing just fine." he finishes as he takes the arm of the last Carim Knight in his way, and begins to proudly walk towards his platoon, clearly proud of his work.
Then he felt an explosion of pain shoot through his stomach, one singular Knight, that their captain was fighting before he got to it survived, and now had him impaled on his weapon, he gritted his teeth as he attempted to slash at his assailant.
He then fell quickly on the ground as he saw his whole platoon and their captain flood the scene, All of them staring at him, instead of helping.
"Wh- imbeciles! Help me—" he got out as he felt another explosion of pain through his stomach, his captain now stabbing his weapon through his intestines.
"This is what you get for disobeying orders." The captain says coldly, before pulling out his weapon and begging to bring it down on Somber's neck.
"…Filthy tra-" Somber attempts to say as he is killed by his captain.
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Somber gasps for air as he wakes up in a rather small cell, devoid of any windows, he attempts to move but finds himself shackled to a wall, he can't believe he's still alive somehow as he begins to speak.
„hello?… is anybody there..?" The only thing that meets him is silence, as he tunes in his hearing to hear… breathing, and a slight growling. He winces a bit from the realization that he's not alone here, but he might be left with a feral creature.
He looks down at himself, he still is sporting his elite Knight of Astora set, aswell as his helmet, judging by the way his vision is obstructed by it, he feels relief wash over him as he is allowed to keep this armor set which was very important to him, he found its weight to be comforting.
He then looked to his hand and saw his broadsword, utterly rusted and snapped, leaving just the handguard and the handle itself. He gasped in surprise at how weathered his weapon looked, if he didn't know any better it might have been left out for even a century. He began looking around the cell and noticed that it too looked like it had been constructed over a century ago, it seemed weird that these items looked so weathered, his armour also had seen better days.
He attempted to free himself from the shackles that bound him and found the iron crumble from the tug of his hands, freeing him. He began to wander around the cell looking for a means of escape but found none, so he decided to sit down on the spot he first awoke from, and waited. For days.
One day he heard footsteps on the top of the roof of his cell, he looked up through a hole in the ceiling, to find another elite Knight of Astora, he had been rescued! They exchanged no words and the knight on top dropped a rotten corpse, sporting a key on its side, Somber quickly took the key and opened the door to his cell.
As Somber carefully traversed the claustrophobic corridor, he spotted what looked like a rotting corpse, but it wasn't a regular corpse, no. This one was standing, hunched over, holding only a handle of a weapon he can't make out. As Somber ponders on the particular sight before him, the corpse- or Hollow he calls it in his mind, turns around and begins to run at him, mindlessly slashing the air as it attempts to strike at Somber. Somber raises an eyebrow as he easily parries the blow of the hollow and impales, or stubs the hollow with the handle of his weapon before kicking it away from him, following up with two carefully planned attacks at the hollows supposed liver and stomach. The hollow falls over and Somber begins to see the hollow disintegrate into ash, and some sort of white substance flies over to his chest and is absorbed into it, he feels strangely empowered by the sudden rush of the matter, but pays it no mind, leaving it for later.
As Somber makes his way through the Asylum, he fights more hollows, taking them out with no effort, he notices one hollow standing on-top of a staircase, seemingly holding up a boulder as if to push it down the stairs at any minute, he easily recognises it as a trap and baits the hollow to push the boulder off as he promptly leaps off the stairs. He sees the boulder roll off of the staircase, smashing into the wall behind him, and hears a pained yelp, which makes him flinch. None of the hollows make these types of sounds, it could only be a fellow human.
As Somber rushes through the new hole in the wall, the trapper hollow long forgotten, he come into a sight he was dreading to see. The elite knight of Astora, who had saved him. There on the ground, heavily injured.
"Good gods… are you okay?" Somber says.
"...Oh, you... You're no Hollow, eh? Thank goodness... I'm done for, I'm afraid... I'll die soon, then lose my sanity... I wish to ask something of you... You and I, we're both Undead... Hear me out, will you?" The knights asks, voice trembling.
"Yes, whatever it is say it if you wish…"
"…Regrettably, I have failed in my mission... But perhaps you can keep the torch lit... There is an old saying in my family... Thou who art Undead, art chosen... In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords... When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know... Well, now you know... And I can die with hope in my heart…"
"…W-" Somber opens his mouth to speak when he is interrupted by the knight.
"Oh, one more thing... Here, take this... An Estus Flask, an Undead favourite... Oh, and this…" The knight says, handing Somber a Estus flask and a key.
"Thank you, but fellow warrior… May I ask for your name… mine is Somber of Astora." Somber said, feeling pity for the knight, he appears honourable, instead of his past platoon…
"Oscar of Astora…Now I must bid farewell... I would hate to harm you after death... So, go now... And thank you.."
"No, thank you. I'm flattered by your trust in me to fulfil your mission, however I'm Astoran too… how come I had never heard of this saying…" Somber pondered, slipping into his thoughts as he spoke.
"Hm… your armour does look very weathered… it looks like the older version of the Elite… no matter, you should go… I don't wish to burden you after death…" Oscar spoke, pushing Somber to leave before he goes hollow.
"Your wish has been granted, farewell." Somber said, leaving the small room.
As Somber travels through the asylum, he gathers a broadsword and a small target shield, which he disposes of, as he doesn't like how a shield feels like a burden of weight, before going on to slay the Asylum demon without much difficulty and is carried by the crow to fire-link shrine.
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Somber finds himself on top of a tower, 2 archer hollows slain, and a very angry taurus demon bellow him. He contemplates on what to do for a moment before jumping down on-top of the beast, it had been his only challenge so far, apart from that snarky, pessimistic knight back at fire-link shrine. Making small talk to that guy was harder then taking on a dozen men, in combat.
As the taurus demon stumbles from the sudden plunging attack, Somber takes an opportunity to slash at the back of its legs, taking it off guard and making it fall on its back. Somber making sure he isn't crushed to death by the demon jumps to the side, barely avoiding the large demon, while keeping balance on the narrow bridge.
Somber jumps on-top of the demon, plunging his broadsword one last time into the demons neck, causing it to disintegrate into ash.
With the demon taken care of, Somber makes his way over the bridge, and down the staircase inside. Once he reaches a door way he looks both ways to see; a beautiful balcony, illuminated by the sunlight gazing down upon it, on the other side he sees the fire drake, ready to breathe fire on the hollows that riddle the bridge bellow it. He decides to go forward into the latter and finds himself staring at a man, with a iron great helm who appears to be mesmerised by the sun. He quietly approaches, making sure to not disturb the knight as he indulges in whatever… activity he's doing. When suddenly the knight whips around, instinctively Somber reaches for his weapon when the knight begins to speak.
"Ah, hello! You don't look Hollow, far from it! I am Solaire of Astora, an adherent of the Lord of Sunlight. Now that I am Undead, I have come to this great land, the birthplace of Lord Gwyn, to seek my very own sun!"
Undead? He's heard that a couple of times, he knows that he is undead, but he only thinks of it as a second chance to life. He doesn't acknowledge that he's tilted his head sideways at that, and Solaire begins to speak again.
"Do you find that strange? Well, you should! No need to hide your reaction. I get that look all the time! Hah hah hah!"
He takes note of the jolly behaviour of the man, and stays quiet as he waits for Solaire to speak again.
"Oh, ah-hah! So, I didn't scare you? I have a proposition, if you have a moment."
"I've got all the time in the world, do what you desire." Somber said in a dry tone, he didn't expect it to come out sarcastic.
"The way I see it, our fates appear to be intertwined. In a land brimming with Hollows, could that really be mere chance? So, what do you say? Why not help one another on this lonely journey."
"Well, only a fool would turn down help."
"This pleases me greatly! Well then, take this." Solaire hands Somber a white soapstone.
"We are amidst strange beings, in a strange land. The flow of time itself is convoluted; with heroes centuries old phasing in and out. Although you look like one yourself, with that old Astoran armor, nevertheless. The very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure. There's no telling how much longer your world and mine will remain in contact. But, use this, to summon one another as spirits, cross the gaps between the worlds, and engage in jolly co-operation! Of course, we are not the only ones engaged in this. But I am a warrior of the sun! Spot my summon signature easily by its brilliant aura. If you miss it, you must be blind! Hah hah hah!"
"Hmm… interesting… but is my armour really that old? The blacksmith of Astora had made it only… a few… weeks…" he began to trail off as he counted his days in the asylum, he was locked in there for At least 4 days, or so, he couldn't tell how much longer he had been knocked out there.
"I was killed by my own captain, after I had just saved our platoon." He said, his fists balling up at his sides in anger.
"Oh my… sounds like a brutal fate, how could they have betrayed you like that." Solaire said, "If you do not wish to speak of this manner, I won't be one to press it out of you." Solaire said empathetically.
"Oh it's nothing, it's just, why do people tell me that I look like a old warrior, I hadn't been locked up in the asylum for that long, have I?"
"I am not one to have the answer to that, I'm afraid." Solaire said.
"Well, can you atleast tell me if I look aged? I haven't been able to find anything close to a mirror to check." Somber asked.
"No problem friend, go ahead!" Solaire said in his usual jolly tone.
As Somber removed his helmet Solaire gasped, he held up a gauntlet to his lips and said;
"Oh my… you haven't reversed your hollowing have you?" Reversed his hollowing? What was he talking about.
"What do you mean by… Hollowing" he said confused
"You mean to tell me you haven't noticed how your body looks?" Solaire stood there dumbfounded, as Somber took off his gauntlet to reveal dried up, rotten skin. He instantly re vaulted and put on the gauntlet again.
"What is this! Disgusting! How do I fix it! Help me Solaire!" he yelled out frantically, he hadn't been informed that his body was rotting.
"Calm down friend! It's an easy fix! Just use some humanity at a bonfire and it should fix it right up, what you're going through is hollowing, it's a process of you losing your sanity, if you go mad you turn into one of those roaming around." Solaire said looking over in the direction of the bridge.
"Well I'll go do that now, thank you Solaire, I look forward to seeing you soon." He waved goodbye at Solaire.
"You too, friend!" He waved back, as Somber practically ran back to the bonfire, and reversed his hollowing. Sighing in relief as his skin returned to it's normal state, his interest was sparked now, what else had happened to his body that he hadn't been made aware of.
A devious thought found its way into his mind, it told him to strip down and find out, it was the only way unfortunately, so he got to work. Unclasping the armour, once done he looked over his body. He was always lean and tall, but muscular due to his intense training. His legs were ripped in muscles, he ofter received complements about them but he brushed them off as just a exaggeration, he now found out it wasn't one. He looked over his calves, his left one having a large scar, he received in one of his many battles, he moved up to his thighs, where another scar riddled both of his thighs, seemingly connecting. He moved up towards his abdomen, to find more scarring, stabs and cuts mostly, one prominent one being the one his captain had inflicted on him, he moved up to his chest finding a large, black sign carved into it, he jumped in shock at the sight and breathed to calm down, this was definitely new. This is also the place he felt the "Souls" he called them flow into after he had slain an enemy. He had figured out a way for them to strengthen his own body, after all he wasn't dumb. He noted off the scar and looked over his shoulder where more scars from his human life lay, he touched his neck in the place he had been stabbed by the killing blow of his captain, to see if it left a scar, when he felt bumpy skin under his palm he sighed, it had already long healed, this confirmed his theory that he had been unconscious in that cell for much longer then he should've.
Once donning on his armour set, he looked over his broadsword to scan it for any damage, where none could be seen he climbed up the ladder and headed for the direction of the bridge.