A sudden sound had woke him up, his eyes, half open, barely recognized the room he was in, an unlit fireplace, log walls akin to a cabin, the trophies on the walls, of beasts only the dungeon would have, and to top it off, a slumbering head of azure hair was atop his lap...
Artemis... He recognized, they must have fallen asleep of course after their talk, Bell himself could scarcely believe he even could fall asleep, not that the lack of it even affected him much, the hunt and the blood made sure that tiredness was no problem.
With the stealth of a predator and the careful touch of a hunter, he slowly moved the goddess' sleeping head from his lap, noticing how soundly Artemis was sleeping, and she was none the wiser.
He stretched his legs and fixed his coat, taking off the fallen dust, just like Djura had taught him, when he could more accurately discern the sound.
Knock Knock
He made it's way to the front door, spying through a window he found a man, dressed in black and white, a badge with the symbol of the famed guild on his chest and a letter on his person, so Bell opened it.
"Excuse me... sir?" The man seemed surprised, looking at who answered the door.
"Well then, pray tell, on what business does the guild wish to contact Lady Artemis?"
The poor worker looked even more put off out by the answer.
"I-It's about the expedition, Lord Ouranos wishes to hear the results of-"
"And he shall at a later date, much has indeed happened and I'm afraid that for now it's best that we let the matter aside, I'll have this documents delivered to her."
"A-alright I-I will pass the message on t-to my superiors!"
"That is good, now, have a good day sir, and thank you for informing us about this."
He closed the door, clutching the letter in his hands as his spirits were crushed by the interaction...
"H-he was terrified... Damned be... I wasn't even trying to be intimidating... Oh and for the sake of Oedon, he must think me an stuck up noble by my speech pattern alone..."
Then, as if to stop his self loathing, came the voice of someone who had just woken up. Clearing her hair from her half opened eyes' view, just enough to see the mortified face of her champion, letting her eyes wander to what he held in his hands, she recognized the symbol of the guild on the envelope and figure what had happened.
"The guild sent that?"
"... Y-yes..." He responded.
"Orion... Did something happen?"
"Well... Yes..." He seemed to choose his words carefully...
"I just might have realized that... My... Social skills are abysmal..." He said, dejected.
Ah... That I almost neglected... He was robbed of his life for so long... I wonder... Perhaps I can help him, and repay my debt...
"Fret not my champion... Since I have not shown you around the city, it's about time we see it's wonders, and you'll even get to meet new people!"
"Thank you..." He answered, a shy smile creeping up on his face, Artemis could feel her cheeks blushing but cared little for it, focusing on how happy he seemed for a simple moment.
"Then how about this... We go out, eat something, and I show you all the important places in the city."
"This seems good."
"Very well then, besides that we do also need to buy you some things."
"Oh!" He remembered now, many daily items and things that he did not need in the dream where indeed necessary, that and his wardrobe was severely limited, so he figured that it would be a good opportunity to buy those necessities.
"Get ready then we should have plenty of things to do, and places to visit." She told him.
"Understood, I'll be waiting by the door then." He answered, falling slightly back into the same diplomatic and neutral persona he was trained to be. The words of the despicable queen still lingering in his mind: "No knight of mine will be unprepared for the pressures of high society." pushing him further away from the shy boy he once was.
.
.
.
It was around midday, a few hours and they both would have to report to the guild, but they cared little for it. Artemis, having lost quite a lot of the faith she had in the deity of sky, and Bell simply not being on best terms with the divine, Artemis being the sole exception for now.
"Really, I'd never thought that you would be so keen on dark clothes." Artemis said, a friendly sarcasm Oozing from her words.
"Then enlighten me please, Artemis, what would you rather seeing me on? Besides, dark cloth helps with cleaning blood, mud, sooth and ash."
"That... Is not something anyone ever takes into consideration... And to answer your question, a dress." She said, trying to crack a joke.
"Pfft, if that's indeed your wish, I do have an old dress I scavenged once I first arrived in abandoned Cainhurst, though I still have plans to scrap if for it's cloth. But I can more than assure you, I look better in my knight's garbs."
Artemis looked at him dumbfounded. Seriously? I better not ask...
"Anyway, how about a meal, I'm not used to hunger, nor am I hungry yet, but I do smell something quite good up ahead."
"Really? I can't smell anything... Must be your improved senses then... The city always overwhelms me a bit..."
Bell moved a bit closer, not noticing the blush on her face, "Are you alright?" He said, unaware of how his words affected his goddess, who had little experience to handle them.
"I-I'm alright... Thank you Orion..."
"That's great, now let's get moving, lest we arrive late for the meeting at the guild."
"Oh yes, Ouranos must be waiting for the report..."
"There is nothing to fear, so let's go, I believe that there is potato... snack? Never heard of those, either way, they seems to be quite popular."
"Oh! You mean Jyagamarukun? It was a popular snack the last time I've spent some time here, during the dark ages and the great feud, my girls and I helped around the city, mainly due to Ouranos closing the exits so as to isolate possible escapes for Evilus."
"Seems... Highly ineffective, were one to dig a hole, use the sewers... Hell! Climb the walls, they could escape without a problem."
"Yup, but we couldn't leave any possibility!"
"So then what about the number of adventurers then? They would be spread too thin..."
"We were..." She answered, the slightest pain in her voice indicated the worst, but that was long ago...
No sooner had they began to talk about other things, that they reached the stall, the queue, unusually large for such a small place, was held back by a blonde warrior with an bizarrely large order.
There, they waited, and Bell couldn't help but feel weird... The crowd passed around them, the noise and liveliness was far too foreign for him... In a way that deepest part of him still enjoyed the quiet of the hunt.
"And... Are YOU alright?" The girl at his side asked. Her face told him of worry and annoyance, clearly at the irony of the situation.
"M-me?"
Had he been transparent? Surely not, he was trained to be unreadable... Then again... Perhaps Artemis knew how he operated? Questions for a future hunter.
"Yes! You've been with that blank expression for a while now, you look dead ins-" She realized then her lack of sensitivity. But before she could apologize, she saw a black and white blur launch itself towards her, impacting her side in a tackle hug.
"Lady Artemis!" He shouted, as he jammed the moonlight great sword between his goddess and whoever was the other woman. The fine grey mist around the weapon was still dissipating by the time he reacted, a sign of the messengers' hands at work.
"ORION! STOP!"
"WHAAAT!?" The shriek came from the human, no, goddess in front of him, long black hair was messily covering her back as she looked at him with fear, but also a great deal of confusion and astonishment, he wondered why.
"P-Please Hestia! Let me explain!"
So started a lackluster explanation of recent events, brief if only because of their more pressing matters, not that Artemis cared much for that meeting, in fact, Bell probably would not be granted entry, meaning that he would just enter the dungeon for the first time, not really a terribly dangerous experience as he was no rookie, at least in combat he was not, though who knew what the dungeon had in store?
The chaotic encounter might have been awfully surprising, but not unwelcome. They seemed really good friends, and, though he knew far too little about friendship, he understood that it might be good for her, he needed to relax after all, the dangers of Yarnham had been all but left in the past, yet that incessant hum on the back of his head called instinct was still screaming at him.
"I will have to ask you, Lady Hestia, please refrain from tackling Artemis to the ground."
"It was an accident! Besides, it's been to long since I last seen you!"
"It has been indeed, it's nice to see that you descended but... Why are you working here?"
"Well..." She scratched her cheek with her finger, ashamed of her story but, well she couldn't lie to her best friend... And her... Boyfriend?! Surely not... Yet Artemis was owing her a big explanation afterwards, something really changed her... The, heavens forbid, MAN beside her as proof.
Yet there was time and place for everything, and since her lunch break would start soon, why not a little sooner?
.
.
.
"Ottar?" Came a silky smooth voice to the ears of a powerful warrior. The giant boaz immediately turned around ashe saw his beloved goddess stare mesmerized into the mirror.
"What is it, my lady?"
"Look there... Can you see the blue haired goddess?"
"Artemis I believe?"
"Yes, I told you about her before."
"Indeed." He responded, confirming his knowledge.
"And what do you think of the boy beside her...?"
The high leveled set his gaze upon him, perhaps with far too much pressure as the boy noticed him right away.
"What..." The warrior muttered, for instead of cowering in fear or averting his eyes, the boy held his own, no, he was utterly not affected, yet his sharp gaze was the one of an experienced fighter, nay, one of a veteran... It reminded the Boaz of those in Zeus' extinguished familia yet, somehow, his was far more dangerous, wild even, as if his eyes promised harm upon him and his goddess, and as ridiculous as it was, it may not be an empty threat...
"So, Ottar?"
"He is peculiar, not strong... Perhaps skilled, but he has not the aura of a high leveled adventurer... Yet I believe he has seem more battles than most."
"Truly? Unusual then..."
"Why so milady?"
"Ottar, whatever he is... He intrigues me... Because he has no soul." Her expression seemed to darken for a moment as she let her words hang in the air.
"Surely not, Lady Freya, is there anything capable of obscuring your sight?"
"Yes, however those ways do not hide a soul, or rather, the presence of one, as long as I know that there is indeed a living being in my line of sight... I can sense their soul..."
"You mean..." He wondered. "That he is not a mortal? Perhaps he acquired a never before seen ability... That seems likely, his apparent experience justifies it."
"I cannot see the souls of gods, for they cannot be judged... If that boy is indeed one of my kind however... I believe not..."
"Why so?" He asked, his young appearance but warrior poise seemed to coincide with a god's.
"The one at his side..." She explained. "I also never seen his face before in all of heaven, and I have seen much there..." Her voice died down at the end, clearly painful lonely memories hang around these words.
"Milady..."
"Ottar, keep those two under watch. I wish to know how a mortal can hide from my gaze. Until he truly can be judged, I will look for him..." She didn't meant the hunter, not specifically, but there is a chance, she noted to herself.
"Wait, Lady Freya, look at this."
He pointed as a scene just happened, when she turned back to the window, the boy was pointing an old great sword at... Hestia? More importantly... Where in heavens did he hid that great sword?
.
.
.
Inside an opulent mansion's master bedroom, stood a peculiar figure, sat on a sofa near the side of the room, he was silent but wouldn't be for much time as a knock on the door was heard.
"Ah Luan, my dear Luan, what news do you bring me?" A sickening voice said, a perverted tone that was enough to denounce it's owner as a horrible person.
"Of course lord Apollo, It seems that your sister is indeed in Orario, yet her familia... Is not, or rather he is." The prum who entered said, uneasy as his expression was.
"Something happened? WAIT! What do you mean 'he'?" The god responded with a face contorted in anger, his expression spoke of pure jealousy.
"It seems that her familia was wiped out, the only surviving member is a white haired boy."
"...A man... A MAN?! THAT UNGRATEFUL BITCH! LUAN, Gather Hyacinthus and the other executives! I want total surveillance on those two!"
"As you wish, lord Apollo..." The prum said before leaving the room and his lord... Dealing with him had always been difficult, yet worth it for his love alone, or so Luan said.
.
.
.
Stone corridors... Not the same as those in the wretched labyrinth, neither those below the cathedral, no... These ones were kept clean, ancient as they are, the halls were tidy, not much decorated them besides the torches, Artemis wondered how many times she'd been here, to the path that lead to the ancient chamber...
She had left Bell to his own devices... Mainly the exploration of the dungeon... She didn't worry much, he was far stronger than many adventurers out there.
Yet the peaceful and silent walk ended at the doorway to the great chamber below the city, Ouranos' personal command center.
"Welcome Artemis, I trust that the mission has been successful." A booming voice came from the stone throne.
"...It was not..."
"I understand that the losses were far too great... But Antares is destroyed, is it not?" The old god said, his expression turned somber at the last part.
"Indeed it was... My last child finished it..."
"The... Young man... Interesting child... Yet I sensed something more... He is connected to the arcane."
"Yes..." She answered, truthfully, she didn't want to disclose that information...
"Does he control it? Or is it some external force?"
"I do not know... He... His story is private to him and whoever he wishes to tell. That being said, what he has endured may as well break our entire understanding of Gekai. He came from a place outside our own..."
"A plane beyond... We have theorized about it... But until now... Not even a god could bridge the gap..."
"Make no mistake, he cannot control it fully, neither is he sure that he was the one that crossed the line in the first place..."
"Other gods? An external influence? Artemis this is beyond serious, are you sure of it?"
"Yes." She replied.
"Very well, Artemis, you and your familia are hereby prohibited from leaving the city, understand that this is a measure to protect you."
"...I can see that... But what about internal threats?"
"The guild will issue special protection as if you were a newly formed familia, granted, that will only last until your first 10 children or one level up."
"That is already enough, besides, Orion is no pushover."
"That title... Very well, you are free-"
RRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR
The ground shook and the lights flickered, the circles of intricate writing seemed to dim at the throne's feet... Something blocked his prayers...
"That feeling... This... Is... Happiness? No... Excitement..."
"W-why would the dungeon be happy?"
"I have little idea... FELLS!" He called his assistant to investigate, wondering what could have brought this interference...
.
.
.
That woman was awfully kind... I just hope I haven't scared her off... Surely she must be used to adventurers right?
Bell thought as he gave his first steps into the dungeon's entrance... The words of a half elf still ringing on his mind... If it hadn't been for his quick thinking she would have probably dragged him off into a lesson... Yet he could convince her there was no danger... Well really there isn't... He was a hunter after all, one which defeated so many others and preyed upon so many beasts... One who slayed so many gods...
Clad in his crow hunter attire for the simple reasoning that, a dark cloak might help him hide in the dark underground, he stepped into the dungeon for the first time.
Cavernous walls, aimless halls... Beasts all over the shop... He felt at home there... In a sick sense of the word home, yet he would not think much of it.
Eventually a goblin appeared in his line of sight, dashing at the hunter with it's puny arms raised and ready to attack, only to be blasted by a quick shot of his pistol. Smoke still came from the barrel when he placed it back in his belt.
"Weak..."
Yet he didn't really mind. He figured already the next few steps after the mountain of paperwork he filled for the registration, even if the advisor didn't really like the idea, floor 5 at least.
His thoughts were interrupted as more monsters launched themselves at him. Only to be met with a sickening slice and the vision of their guts sprawled on the floor. So came the hunter, a long scythe was wielded by him. He felt weird using Gehrman's weapon, but to let it fall to disuse was an offense to the legacy of the very first hunter, a bloody legacy indeed, but one none the less.
"Thank you my friend... It's a fine weapon indeed..." Bell mumbled before continuing his trek down, mapping on his mind the path as easily as when he discovered the ptherumerian labyrinth. The most abandoned and unfinished layers that is, but part of the great tomb either way.
The grime and filth that sometimes appeared on the floor was no bother, the collection of stones was no grotesque task in his books, at least not as much as the visceral attacks that he perfected in Yarnham. But something did bother him...
"Why are there so little monsters..."
He noticed it quickly but maybe it was the quantities of beasts he was accustomed to, nothing unwelcome really, yet he felt as if something malicious brewed on the horizon. As if the dungeon was giving his very own house warming gift, or maybe, just waiting for him to spring a trap, very little adventurers came by, so maybe he was just unlucky enough to be late, and had his prey stolen from him... No that couldn't be it, wasn't the supply of monsters unending? Something was really wrong... This place was wrong... It felt so much like an inversion of the chalice dungeons... Structures made by nature itself, that was not normal, and above all.. Why... Did this place felt so familiar, like home he would say... Except he would say that the feeling seemed to grow stronger by the minute, as if something from the very bottom of his being called him forward into the depths of the dungeon.
So he went on with his adventure, or expedition as one might say, leaving behind a red colored trail as the few monsters tried to stop him were slashed, pierced, shot and bludgeoned to death. The job of a hunter required versatility, and he was quite the adaptable warrior, able to change weapons, stances and tools at the drop of his tricorn hat. The hunt was a struggle, but one that he learned to overcome with discipline and ruthlessness, yet that was the price to pay for leaving the hunt alive... Even if something really did change... Yet he chose to take it one day at a time, what he was didn't change WHO he was, but it might as well change his future.
That being said, he needed to continue... So he walked down the path, noticing how fewer and fewer monsters appeared, he also noted that... adventurers were very little... That or the path he took was less used, more prey for him he reasoned. Bell was about to descend to the seventh floor, but it seemed that the dungeon had other, VERY different plans...
Because that was when he heard it...
A ringing in his ears...
Metallic as the sound seemed, it became deeper...
He clutched his ears, his head was hurting badly, a splitting migraine that would not go away, he knew what it was, just not from where he got it.
That was frenzy, an overload on the mind, common on the hunt or in the lives of the students of Byrgenwerth. Bell reached for his pockets, as if expecting the vial of the sedatives that could numb down the symptoms. The messengers delivered as he brought it up to his mouth just as he seemed to loose control of his own strength, shattering the vial and making the liquid fall to the ground. He fell to his knees as the sound amplified into a cacophony of voices all saying the same line:
"My child... My son... How much you grew... How much you changed..."
After that came the incessant Laughter of a mad woman, the voice WAS feminine, he was certain of it... And yet... He could not concentrate on it long enough to truly fix it on his mind... Then he felt the wetness inside his ears, they were leaking blood, just as his mouth was filled with the metallic taste of it, realizing he must have bitten his tongue, he tried to remain conscious, he decided to use a vial of blood, the last resort that he tried not to use, lest he too became a beast, yet before he even could reach for one, the voices grew louder:
"We never truly met did we?... No... Only a figment of me was present on that wretched nightmare... I live on... Consciousness in here... Yet my true body lies at the heart of the labyrinth..."
What was the voice? Why was the voice so... Familiar... As if the echoes in his blood screamed because of it. That voice was more than familiar with the nightmares... Was it... From Yarnham? If so... Why did he felt so... at peace... Despite that noise, despite that pain...
"You changed... You became just as you were meant to be... From the moment of your birth... You clawed you way into what was yours by right... Show it to me... That fierceness. Prove yourself to me... My heir..."
It seemed to die down as a roar sounded, the walls started to break and shatter around him, the growls and snarls of beasts were all he could hear now, the ringing had stopped, and the monsters rolled in, a mob of black kobolds whose dark red eyes reminded him so much of the beasts he hunted, his very body seemed to be more than ready for a fight. The grip on his weapons tightened, his breath became far too low and his eyes seemed to glint at the sight of such prey, before he even knew it he launched himself at the army of beasts... It was a hunter's job wasn't it? Besides, he knew from personal experience that, when dealing with the foreign and puzzling, questions are to be made after the danger has passed. It wasn't as if he was going to simply forget about his problems... But the hunt came first and called to him already.
He could still remember the time where he fought his first mob... He was innocent at the time... Inexperienced and most of all... Too soft for the hunt, yet he was made into who he was today by much effort and sacrifice, even if he wished sometimes to have never been a hunter...
"Always comes down to this huh... I wonder... It's been too long since I used you..."
He took something out of his pockets and, squeezing it tight as he held the tiny object over his head, saw himself as the conduit for a power that now, he too controlled. BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, small explosions shook the battlefield as a field of stars appeared around him, a call beyond seemed too powerful... And he had a pretty safe bet as to why. I truly did change... My blood... I can feel the arcane so differently now... I thought at first with the moonlight sword that it was something different... I wonder what this means for me...
Yet he had not time for any worry... No time to ask questions, a lesson he learned from the hunt, yet that did not mean that he could not test the limits of his change... Of his new blood.
Sidestepping a bite aimed for his neck, he called upon the messengers to deliver him his weapon, catching the glint of it sticking from the floor, Bell rushed towards it and in a single crescent motion slashed at the creature that attacked him. Blood spurted from the wound as he now held what was clearly the blades of mercy, joined together as a short sword.
Quickly the sound of the blades separating echoed in the room as two rabid beasts tried to skewer him with their sharp claws, he ducked under them and leapt at another kobold nearby, all while leaving a delayed molotov at where his feet used to be.
BOOM
It exploded as he pierced the limbs from his next prey, yet instead of finishing him off, he wanted to test all his tools... The blood flowing through him seemed to amplify arcane to a dangerous potential, so he might as well use it.
SHHHIIIINNG
His eyes were shining like bright stars on a dark sky, clouds of light specs appeared as though constellations surrounded his gaze, the light intensified until two bright blazing meteors seemed to cross from the painted image of his starry eyes into this plane, shattering on impact with the kobold's head and scattering the splintered rock all over the battle field, piercing some beasts and leaving deadly traps at the ground.
"Two meteors at a time huh... That's new... And that potency... Reminds me of the living failures..." He said between the wild fight that was taking place, dispatching the beasts of black fur as he realized that the walls were spawning less and less, yet they were being covered by the monsters that appeared in other areas... Monsters that, by the the sound of the screaming were...
"... Attacking new adventurers..."
He leapt to the end of the corridors, to no path in particular, just wherever the screams and sounds of battle took place, he was no hero by his standards, yet if he could not protect others, he was no hunter either, after all, the hunts started to protect Yarnhamites, even those who did not wish to be protected...
.
.
.
By the time that the guild managed to gather information, damage had been done... Reports of a "bloody blur" and mobs of enhanced species spread through the adventurers of the lower floors. A possibly disastrous occurrence, if it wasn't that weird figure... Those who left for the surface were able to tell the story of a peculiar adventurer, one who would throw himself at wave after wave of the calamitous monsters, his weapons and magic were inconsistent between reports making it so the story of one man, seemed to be the one of many, and it worried Artemis to no end...
So she sat there, at the great lobby of Babel, where the lid of the dungeon was placed... She wasn't worried... Not for his physical well being anyway, she could feel his falna going strong, what she was truly concerned about was his mind...
Bell... I can feel so much doubt around your heart... I suppose it's natural after all you experienced... And I don't even know half of it...
The goddess of the hunt waited, waited for her only follower who was by now, far too late from their original plans, then again, the irony of disaster happening on his first day in the dungeon was not lost on her... She only wished that it hadn't been so... And yet, it wasn't until the last adventurers left the dungeon that a creepy scent hit her nose, blood and that special smoke that seemed to leave from Bell's guns.
"BELL!"
She shouted as she ran full speed at him, only to hug the hunter, his face was covered by the blood, the feathers on his cape where dyed by the red liquid, and his once pristine snow colored hair now reflected the ruby-like crimson of his eyes.
Bell took off the bandanna covering his face, leaving a rather funny mark on his features, half bloodied and dirty, the other untouched by any grime. As he spoke, Artemis could barely understand him.
"I'm sorry for the wait. Lady Artemis... I believe I need to have a serious talk later."
"You don't need to apologize Orion... Now come, we can take it one step at a time, let's clean up at home, I shouldn't have hugged you after the dungeon..." She noted, her dress slightly stained with the red blood.
"Understood, I believe we can sell my spoils later."
"Indeed."
"Very well. What happened today might be a handful, and you might need more context of my time before... Going here..."
"Not a problem... I am bound to hear your story to it's end..." She replied with a solemn vow.
With the quick reunion out of the way, they were quick to return to their cabin, after all, Artemis was sure that rumors would start to spread and she did not like that one little bit... Bell's secrets were far too important, she couldn't under any circumstances let any information about him leak, so such an important talk would have to wait until they reached home...
Rushing through the city, this time with a little hidden path Bell often used throughout Yarnham, the rooftops, though it was a challenge trying not to get spotted by Ganesha familia, either way it wasn't hard to reach their little cabin at the speed that Bell... Actually carried Artemis, it wasn't that bad for her, not that she would admit it...
"ORION! What was that?"
"I... Just wanted to be fast?"
"... Next time... PLEASE give me a warning..." She said, fixing her hair a bit.
"Very well." He said as he opened the door for her to step inside, not wanting to draw attention to his blood covered form, not a pretty sight and certainly one that he wished others to avoid seeing, funnily enough, were he in Cainhurst and still serving Annalise, he would have no problem dirtying even his knight's garbs, which were often used to take care of beasts as he disliked the armor provided to him by the queen. Entering inside he had to wait until Artemis got out of the shower to finally clean himself...
With a rather tired sigh he turned the valve, letting the heated the water fall on his back and hair... What the fuck really happened today? He contemplated on his... Experience and, more importantly... What it really meant. There is a great one inside the dungeon... WHY is there a great one inside the dungeon... More importantly, how did it's voice even... WAIT...
He concentrated on that last little point... The voice... Mortals and Great ones could not communicate normally, the one to bridge that gap was Carryl the rune smith, and it only work in visual communication, the runes, when properly interpreted could wield the voice of the powerful and ancient entities, but that was it... VISUAL communication... SO him hearing... No.. Understanding that voice meant one thing he really did just ascend higher than any other mortal before...
AN: Hey sorry for the wait, got tangled with a few things, as always I really enjoy reading your reviews, so please don't be afraid to drop some feedback here and there SPECIALLY theories since I will go WILD with the path this story is taking.