HAPPY NEW YEARS BRO'S!

I hope that each every one of you have made an awesome resolution for the brand new year.

I myself have the perfect list for things to do before the year is up.

1. Run up to someone random on the street and slap them with a loaf of bread.

2. Walk into Sea world with a fishing pole

B. learn to count.

4. go to a library and ask for a book on how to read.

6. Get in a taxi and when they ask what the destination is yell FOLLOW THAT CAR! and point a car

Yep, as you can all see, it is going to be a pretty exciting year for me. Welp, I think I've distracted you guys plenty enough. Here's the next chapter of the Derp Saga fresh for the new year.

Hope you guys enjoy it.

Lower Undead Burg

They all felt uneasy.

After their brief talk on the subject of the truth, none of them could shake the feeling of anxiousness and tension that hung between them. It was almost as if by speaking of things plainly to one another, they had unintentionally opened up new thoughts of fear that came with not knowing what would happen next.

But nevertheless, they moved forward to continue their journey. Making their way down an absurdly long ladder and through a doorway, the three came upon two staircases, one in front of them leading further downward and the another at their right seemingly leading upward.

"Which way should we take?" Siegmeyer asked.

"I doubt heading back topside will take us where we need to go." Oscar answered. "We should take the one that lies ahead."

Not seeing any reason to disagree with this, the two knights followed behind as the Knight of Astora lead the way down the small flight of stairs. After descending for but a few moments, they were all became very much aware of the sound of crackling flames nearby and what could only be described as a charcoal-like smell mixed with a sulfurous odor.

None of them were greenhorns of war and battle. Each one of them had experienced the horrors that people were cable of in times of panic and war. So when they came to the bottom of the stairs and their eye's fell upon the sight of a burning mound of corpses, none of the said anything regarding it aloud. Deciding only to wish a silent prayer for the poor souls, before walking forward into what appeared to be a small township.

All the buildings in the area around them seemed to be covered in green moss, mold and long strips of some form of vegetation. It was a wonder how they haven't collapsed on themselves already.

Walking further down the stairway, the silence of the area was suddenly interrupted by the echoing of a faint sound of patter along the ground.

"Do you two hear that?" Oscar asked aloud.

Almost as if in response to his question, three fast moving beast suddenly round the corner not far from them and were closing in fast. The three creatures looked to be of rotting flesh, pure white, dead eye's and bearing ravenous blood ridden teeth.

"HOUNDS!" Solaire shouted to everyone's attention, before quickly retrieving his talisman from his side, summoning a spear of coursing lightning and hurling it at one of the creatures, causing it to give a sharp yelp of pain before rolling along the ground and stopping dead.

The other two hounds were handled just as quickly as Siegmeyer quickly rushed forward and grabbed one of the lunging beast by its throat mid air, barely keeping its snapping maw away from his person, and throwing it over his shoulder into the blazing flames of the corpses, sending into the embrace of a painful death and causing it to shriek so loudly that it seemed to reverberate off the surrounding building walls. The last hound tried to lunge towards the Onion Knight but was quickly bashed backward by a shield baring Oscar, who quickly pierced its heart before it could recover from the ground.

The three knights took a few moments to ready their weapons before continuing further.

"Well, this is a good way to start things off, eh?" Siegmeyer said casually.

"Be on your guard. There could be more in the area." Oscar warned.

"How are we to even find anyone in this place?" Solaire asked curiously. "The most we know about the two we seek is that one is trapped inside a building somewhere and one is about to be eaten inside a place called the depths."

Oscar took a moment to think his response over before speaking.

"I'm willing to bet that the one known as Griggs is somewhere around here. We'll just have to search the area and hopefully stumble the right building." Oscar explained. "We'll have to worry about the other one after. Its not a perfect plan, but its better than nothing. I'll lead the way."

With that said, Oscar moved forward with his shield and blade at the ready. Siegmeyer followed close at his side leaving his shield at his back and hefted his Zweihander onto his shoulder, while Solaire placed his talisman back on his belt and retrieved his sword and shield.

Moving at a snails pace, the three warriors were more than prepared for any sort of conflict that might come their way. But was surprised to find that they had made nearly directly in the center of the town without so much as spotting enemy.

"Somethings not right here." Solaire said. "Its far too quite."

"Indeed." Oscar said. "The prophet could have been a bit more specific on telling us what we should expect down here."

'Heh, heh, you need to learn to enjoy the moment a little more, Oscar. I personally find this all quite exhilarating." Siegmeyer laughed. " After all, with the three of us together, what's the worse that could happen?"

At this, Oscar and Solaire visibly stiffened as they both raised their shields and swords in a defensive posture.

"You've got to be kidding me." Oscar complained.

Siegmeyer, though entirely confused about why his two allies were suddenly on the defensive, readied his weapon with both hands and quickly began to gaze across the area.

"What? What is it?" Siegmeyer asked.

"Heh, heh, that phrase you just said. The prophet believes it to be incredibly cursed." Solaire laughed as he readied himself for the inevitable incoming danger. "Bad things tend to happen when it is spoken aloud."

"Bad things like wha-"

CRASH

Suddenly, a handful of doors suddenly burst open as three hooded figures quickly rushed out of the buildings. Each of their body's were thin and lanky with glowing orange eye's peering from beneath the dirtied hoods on their heads. Each of them were carrying large knives and a round shield that appeared to have four strange protrusions on its front. As well as a small assortment of throwing knives on their belts.

As each of them stepped out of their respective buildings, they rushed forward toward the three knights and attempted to surround them.

"Heh, heh, bad things like that, my friend." Solaire laughed heartily before he rushed forward to greet these new foes.

As Sunlight Warrior locked himself in battle with the hollow ambusher closest to him. The one furthest away from the group threw a knife at Oscar, who raised his shield and blocked it with ease, before he broke into a charge towards it. Reacting quickly, the other remaining hollow started after him, but was quickly stopped as Siegmeyer brought a massive overhead strike down upon it.

Moving more off instinct than actual thought, the Undead assassin performed a hasty backflip away from the attack. Unfortunately for him, Siegmeyer had plenty of experience in battle dealing with enemy's more agile than himself. So the second the Assassin managed to regain its footing, it found itself looking up at its own legs as Siegmeyer quickly readjusted his grip and delivered a devastating swing, cutting his body right through the middle.

It didn't take long for Oscar and Solaire to wrap up their own battles in a similar manner.

As the Assassin attempted to deliver a strike with its large knife, Solaire was easily able to side step the attack and proceeded to severe the hollows arm then turn on his heel and cut through its throat with a spinning slash. The last thing that came from the hollows body as it fell to the ground was the sickening sound of it choking on its own blood.

Oscar finished his foe in a somewhat more brutal fashion. As he charged forward, the Assassin pulled its knife free from its side and attempted to run it through the Knights heart. Oscar needed only to redirect the blow to his side, before responding to the hollows attack in kind by running his blade straight through its gullet. Once he felt the stream of warm liquid flow down his hand and the metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils, the knight of Astora pushed his blade further into the hollows body before roughly yanking it free, causing the hollow to fall to its knee's as a red stain began to grow across his chest. Showing no mercy, Oscar proceeded to place a strong kick straight into the hollows face, sending its body sprawled across the cemented ground.

Taking only a moment to glance around for any further incoming enemies, the three warriors proceeded forward with the Onion Knight chiming in with a small comment.

"Well, that wasn't too bad." Siegmeyer said optimistically. "You two had me worried there for a second."

"Give it time. I'm sure there's plenty more excitement for us ahead." Solaire said cheerfully.

As the approached a small alleyway of apartments, the three knights slowed as two more dogs suddenly rushed around the buildings corner and towards them. Having their guards up and ready, the two beast were easily caught on Oscar and Siegmeyer shields and quickly dealt with, one being impaled by Oscar's blade, the other running itself through on the large blade tip of Siegmeyer's Peirce Shield. No more than a single second after this did two more doors bust open directly at the groups side and two assassins ran towards them.

One attempted to strike down Siegmeyer as he finished off the Undead Hound, but was quickly run through by Solaire's blade. Another tried to take advantage of the opening the Sunlight Warrior had left as he attacked and attempted to stab him in the back. But Oscar quickly parried the attack before spinning and decapitating the assailant, causing it body to flop to the ground in a bloody pool of it own blood.

Once again pausing to scan the narrow area for incoming enemies and finding none, the three moved forward a bit further until they came upon the unexpected sight of a large fog wall.

Cautiously, the three warriors did not hastily run through the opening as would a novice do.

"You think Griggs could be located beyond this wall?" Solaire asked his friends.

"Its possible." Siegmeyer responded. "The prophet said that he was trapped inside of a building and these fog walls usually mean their is a powerful foe nearby. Perhaps he meant that he could not leave for fear of being killed."

They let that question sit between them as they contemplated their next move. It was Oscar who finally decided to step up and make a decision.

"We won't get anywhere standing here doing nothing." Oscar said confidently. "Lets just keep moving forward and remain on our guard."

Stepping through the fog wall one after the other, the three were met with an absolutely haunting sight.

Beyond the fog wall was what appeared to be a wide courtyard with a few boarded up buildings leading into it and a staircase that descended from the second story of someone's home. Next to the stairs was a tall dying tree. But none of this was what held the warriors attention. What truly caught their eye out of all of this was the abomination that stood in the courtyards center.

Standing at the height of about three men, the sight of the monstrosity was enough for all three to tighten their grip on their blades and go slightly wide eyed. Its large body was thick with muscle and tension as it lazily held onto two blades that were far to large to be called swords. Appearing massive, thick, heavy and far to rough. It would be more fitting to describe them as large heaps of raw iron. Even more disturbing was that on its head sat not a gaping maw or malicious grin, but instead what appeared to be an oversized goats skull with four fleshy, glowing eye's that peered down on them.

Suddenly, there was a loud barking coming from up the stairs. Two more Undead hounds growled and bared their teeth at the newcomers from up the stairs

Oscar felt a bead of sweat fall down the side of his face as he stared at this new foe. As the beast coked its head slightly and gave off what he could only be described as a deep, inarticulate growl, he felt a tingle low in his stomach. He'd felt this feeling before. When he and the prophet faced off against the Black Knight.

It was fear.

The creature then took a single step forward. Oscar gasped. It took only the small action from the monster for him to realize how much danger they were truly facing. This thing was a primal hunter. A thing that would simply kill anything that stood in its way, regardless of numbers. Imposing, powerful and savage, this creature was the something that lived for battle and bloodshed. That much was clear from the dried gore that crusted over the ends of its blades and its claws.

"By the gods." was the only thing Oscar could say before the creature suddenly rushed forward.

Moving faster than any of them believed possible, the creature charged across the courtyard with both blades raised to strike the Knight down. While his brain took the time to process how something of such immense size could move so fast, Oscar's shield was coming up. Defend and then counterattack was the only clear plan he could come up with using the time that he was given, but the creature interfered before such a plan could come to fruition. The interference came in the form of a blow that was so powerful that it made Oscars eye's go wide with surprise. As the dull blades slammed into his Crest Shield like a hammer hitting a nail, the Knight of Astora was sent flying into a nearby wall off to the side, slamming into it roughly before falling to the ground face first.

His vision faded in and out for a few moments as his body dealt with the wave of numb pain the shot through it. His breathing came hard, and after a few moments, he could feel something trailing down his arm and his face. It was blood. His blood. A great deal of it in fact. He was sure that no one could lose this amount and live.

But as the pain began to fully set in, Oscar couldn't help but feel a sense of remembrance. As if he had somehow been in this situation before.

Looking forward at his comrades through his blurry vision, he could just barley make out the battle between Solaire, Siegmeyer and the Goat headed beast. The two warriors fought bravely against the overwhelming power, speed and stamina that the beast held. But it was no use. The battle was over almost before it had even begun. Siegmeyer, deciding to take the offensive, charged forward with a raging battle cry and raised his massive weapon high in the air for an overhead strike. In response, the beast simply grunted before using its skull to ram into the humans body and flipping him over its head, sending the Knight a good ways into the air before he crashed back to the earth with a heavy thud.

Wanting to protect his ally, Solaire ran towards the beast with his shield raised in anticipation of an attack. The beast responded by raising its colossal weapons and sending four brutal attacks towards the Knight, each one slamming into the brightly colored shield and forcing Solaire lower to the ground until he was down to one knee. The final blow delivered by the beast was the same one it dealt to Oscar, a heavy two handed swing that sent the Sunlight Warriors burly frame flying into the wall directly opposite of Oscar's own at speeds human bones were never meant to withstand. The only difference being that once Solaire slammed into the wall, his body went completely limp.

As the creature turned towards the Onion Knight, who stood on his hands and knee's gasping for breath after his sudden freefall, Oscar found himself surrounded suddenly by the Undead hounds, who growled and snarled at his bleeding form. It was then that he remembered why this all felt so familiar to him.

"Ah...that's right...left beaten, bloody and broken by some monster...this is exactly how it was before in the Asylum...perhaps it really is my fate to die like this..." Oscar thought as the cold embrace of death slowly closed in on his mind. The pain he was feeling was way beyond his threshold. But just before unconsciousness could claim him, Oscar's hand flopped to his side and onto the steel of his blade.

Lazily turning his gaze towards the simple sword, the knight suddenly felt so...angered with himself. Perhaps, it was all the blood he had lost, but he could almost imagine clearly what the prophet would say right now if he were here.

Is that it? Are you really giving up like this? Is this all you've got to give? Is this as far as your willing to go?

"No. No, its not!" Oscar said defiantly through blood and gritted teeth as his hand gripped the handle of his sword tightly. "I am not...some pathetic pawn of destiny. I will not lie down and die like this. If fate says that this is all there is for me...then I'll go down fighting it every step of the way."

At that moment, that one of the hounds charged forward baring its teeth madly as it leapt onto Oscar's form. Moving quickly, Oscar turned with his sword outstretched and allowed the beast to impale itself on his blade. The second hound then charged forward in a similar fashion, but once Oscar had laid the dead dog away from him, he killed the last remaining beast with a quick slash across its head, cutting its rotting cranium clean from its body.

Giving only a few grunts of exertion, Oscar then steadily made his way to his feet, tossing his shield aside and removing his helmet from his face, revealing his surprisingly young face with black hair. He was trying his best to prepare fully for what he was going to do next. His helmet was stifling. It narrowed his vision, and he needed to be able to take in all of the beast movements with clear sight. His shield was all but useless, nothing but extra weight to slow him down, and he body must be allowed to move unhindered.

Strangely enough, though he was sure he had more than a few injuries and his blood was trailing down his face, he felt ready for this. No. It was more than that. He felt strong. Was this how the Prophet felt when he faces his enemy's? Not a feeling of accepting your death, but rather a feeling of defying it?

"MONSTER!" Oscar shouted defiantly, gaining the goat headed creatures attention. "Face me if you're ready to die."

Turning away from the fallen Onion Knight, the Goat headed monster gave another growl before it charged forward and sent one of its blades crashing down upon the humans body. But this time, Oscar was ready. Moving as swiftly as his legs would carry him, the Knight went under the creatures massive arm and ran behind it as he cut into its vulnerable ribcage.

As his blade cut through its flesh and caused blood to pour from the wound, Oscar skipped backwards just out of the creatures reach and assumed a defensive stance.

The beast rounded on him, its eye's glowing a dangerous red and it grip on its machetes tightening. Playtime was over.

"Calm." Oscar told himself. "Passion is the enemy of efficiency. This monster has no concept of defense. I must strike the second it leaves itself open."

Taking a slow, relaxed breath, Oscar spoke aloud to the creature.

"What's wrong? Afraid?" Oscar mocked, causing the creature to deliver a much more menacing growl towards him. "Yeah, yeah, real scary. Now shut your mouth and come and get me already?"

Now sufficiently pissed off, the goat headed monster charged forward with the same two handed strike as before...and that was when Oscar struck. Dancing under the beast attack, he delivered a savage cut near its jugular causing it to begin bleeding profusely, but not enough to be killed. The beast staggered slightly, delivering a wild swing of his blade at the humans body. But it was too late; Oscar had already quickly back stepped out of its reach. The monster then lumbered after him, ignoring the blood that poured from its neck, and swung its blade once more. Planning his next strike more carefully than the last, Oscar ducked low underneath the beast blade and pirouetted, facing his foes back. He then raised his blade and cut deep into the creatures shoulder, forcing it to release it hold on one of its blades.

As he saw the creature in a momentary stunned state of pain, the Knight of Astora was on top of the beast in a heart beat. Tugging his weapon free from the monsters bloody flesh with a sickly sucking sound.

Looking up from the ground, Siegmeyer watched on in amazement as Oscar hastily delivered a series of crippling blows to the stricken creature. First, he took out the tendons behind its legs, bringing the beast to its knee's, then he went to work on disarming the creatures other weapon, piercing his blade deep through the shoulder blades of the other arm. The unfortunate monstrosity tried to fight back, even managed to land a few glancing blows. But without its blades or its mobility, its claws had no way of penetrating the knights armor. Meanwhile, Oscar toiled like a surgeon. Working on the assumption that this creatures humanoid form held the same weak spots normal human body's did, he rained blow after blow on its weakened body. Turning it into a kneeling pile of bloody muscle in seconds.

It was pitiful to watch. And the Knight wasn't done yet.

As the creature fell on its hands and knee's, giving what one could only guess was groans of pain that begged for mercy. Oscar gave a few deep, tired breaths as he grabbed ahold of one the beast horns.

"Lets see how much bone you have under you chin." was all Oscar rammed his sword underneath the beast skull, causing it to pierce straight through with a sickening wet crunch as the tip broke through the top of its head, killing it instantly. There was a small silence as the creatures body dissolved into souls and filled Oscar's body. It was then that the knights legs finally gave out and he allowed himself to fall backwards onto the ground. The searing pain the permeated almost every cubic-centimeter of his body a great reminder that was indeed still alive.

"...heh...heh heh..." Oscar laughed to himself through what was surely to be broken ribs, hardly believing that he had somehow managed to not only survive, but emerge victorious.

Laying there in the dirt, the Knight of Astora suddenly held a great feeling accomplishment. As if he had taken a step forward towards some purpose he had yet to discover.

"I did it. I won." Oscar thought to himself through labored breaths. "I won't stand by and let the Prophet carry his burden alone. I will not let destiny decide whether I live or die. I'll be there with him...fighting for a brighter future."

With that final thought, Oscar peacefully allows his eye's to close shut. Before the serenity of unconsciousness took him, Oscar felt he could faintly hear someone calling out to him, but his mind was already to far gone for him to really focus who it was.

Firelink Shrine

Things in the small Undead Sanctuary seemed to take a relatively surprising turn. A few minutes after that Undead boy had left to pursue the small group of clerics in some ridiculous rescue attempt, the Fire keeper took it upon herself to try and talk too the somewhat abrasive Crestfallen Knight.

"So, um, Sir Chuckles, h-how did you two become friends with the Prophet?" Anastacia asked awkwardly, yet innocently.

The Crestfallen Knight showed a look of mild annoyance at this.

"Two things, keeper. One: I don't care what that boy told you, do not ever refer to me as Sir Chuckles." the Knight said sternly. "And two: I am not his friend."

Anastacia looked a bit confused at this.

"But didn't thou aid him in my rescue before?" the keeper asked. "Does that not make you friends?"

"No, I didn't help him. I was helping myself." the gloomy warrior explained in further annoyance at her questioning. "They wanted to take something of value from me, so I stopped them. End of story. Now would you please stop you incessant chatter."

At this, there was a few moments of pause as Anastacia looked back towards the bonfire with a small look of guilt on her face. Carefully moving her eye's to watch the Knight once again, she began to silently study him. He didn't look as angry as she had imagined him to be, just somewhat irritated. She also noticed his intense frown and started to feel somewhat regretful for bothering him.

"Um..Sir knight?" the keeper said a bit meekly.

"Bloody hell, what is it now?" the Crestfallen warrior said in annoyance. "You talk too much."

The keeper looked away guiltily as she spoke.

"I-I'm sorry if I have angered you. I only meant to attempt a conversation." the keeper apologized with a somewhat saddened look on her face. "I did not mean to be a bother to you once again. I just do not wish for us to be on bad term with one another over my words."

Hearing this and seeing the look in her eye's, the Crestfallen Knight was sufficiently guilt tripped. He knew that she had previously had her tonged removed for her offending he gods at some point, so thinking that she had offended him must have been a large matter for her. Also, though he would be reluctant to admit it, the Crestfallen Knight wasn't a particularly malicious or hateful person at heart. After all, he did try to help undead who came across his path with what he believed was helpful advice. He just preferred his silence over talking with others. So he decided that though he wasn't going to be cruel, he certainly wasn't going to encourage more conversation from her.

With that thought, he looked at her and gave a whisper of a smirk.

"Do you really think I would be mad at you?" his voice was meant to be intimidating, but brought a bright smile across Anastacia's face.

"O-Oh. Thank you, sir knight." she belted out happily. "Thank you so much. I do hope that we can become good friends."

The smirk left Crestys face.

"Ugh..." he moaned at her display of happiness. He wasn't there to make friends. He just wanted some peace and quite. "Listen keeper-"

The Knight didn't get a word further before a very familiar, heavily armored cleric rounded around the entrance of the ruined building not far from them. Looking to be out of breath, with some noticeable injuries littering his body here and there.

"...huff...I made it...I made-" the cleric said through labored breaths before his eye's fell on the surprised looked on the three inhabitants of the Shrine. "Uh, oh, it you all again."

Remembering the Prophet words of warning from before, the three each had different reactions regarding the appearance of the deceiving cleric. The merchant seemed to somewhat sink further into his dirtied clothing as he attempted to slowly reach for a few of his throwing knives, Anastacia simply held the look of worry upon her face at the man in front of her and the Crestfallen Knight barley seemed to have any reaction at all on the surface, but if one were to really focus, they might have notice his grip tightening upon his sword.

"What happened to your virtuous little lass, cleric?" the Crestfallen Knight asked, not of curiosity, but simply wanting to confirm to himself that the boys abilities were as real as he claimed. "Weren't you all you together on some righteous mission or whatever?"

"Er, It seems I've become separated from M'lady. I've scoured near and far, but no sight of her." Petrus said as he approached the group with a false look of woe on his face. "Forgive me, but I am in need of your bonfire. I will think of what to do next once I am in better condition."

As the large man walked forward towards him, the Crestfallen Knight could not help but think a single thought as his grip on his blade tightened even further.

"Ugh, what a bother this will be."

Alright, bro's. Hope you enjoyed Oscar getting to stand in the spotlight a bit this time. I wanted to give him some sort of new ability this time around, but decided that maybe its a bit early to give anyone put more of those in the story just yet. Also, I've decided if anyone gains an ability, I'm going to make it unique to them and have a deeper meaning than just "*poof* here's a new power up for ya, buddy. Enjoy." For example, maybe like an altered version of the Sunlight Spear for Solaire or something.

Also, rest assured, there will be no bystander characters in this story. Everyone's going to get their time to shine at some point in this story. Especially Solaire and Siegmeyer. I hate to see good potential for character development go to waste just because they don't do much in- game or whatever.

So for better or for worst, I will try and make sure that most people the prophet encounters develop in some way and have some part to play in this little adventure.

Well, that's all I got for ya this time guys. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Review and tell me what you guys thought of the chapter. Was it a but to on the nose with the whole "Never give up thing", did the battle with the Capra Demon need more or less action involved? I'm always looking to improve my style of writing, so don't be shy in telling my your honest thoughts about how things are going so far.

This is Supreme Gamer, signing out.

P.S. I literally have no idea how I'm going to do the whole Petrus and Crestys thing. So if you guys have any idea's, I'm all ears.