Alright guys, here it is, the introduction to the fan favorite, Solaire. Due to his sheer amount of awesomeness, it was very difficult to add him to this story, but I somehow managed to pull it off. Also, if you feel the need to nerd out, please do it before reading this story.
Hope you guys enjoy.
The two walked into the tower that the Taurus demon had been guarding and proceeded to walk down some stairs that lead them to a bridge that was much larger than the one that they had battled on previously. About six hollows, who were standing in the middle of the bridge, were staring vacantly at the two warriors who had just appeared.
Oscar faced toward the far end of the bridge and began walking, prepared to face the creatures head on, but Kaylen stopped him in his tracks and gestured toward a balcony in the opposite direction, where a lone figure stood gazing at the sun.
"Okay, this is it." Kaylen thought to himself, "I'm about to meet Solaire. First impressions are everything. Just don't geek out too much and you should be fine."
As the two approached the figure, he turned to face them and began to speak in a bright and cheerful voice.
"Ah, hello! You two don't look hollow, far from it! I am Solaire of Astora, an adherent of the Lord of Sunlight."
"I am Oscar, Knight of Astora. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir."
"And I am Kaylen, prophet of Demacia."
"A prophet you say?"
"Yes, and I know all about your quest, Solaire. I am here to warn you of how it will end."
"Judging from your somber tone, I suppose it will not end well for me?" Solaire said without losing his cheerful demeanor.
"Well, in a way, I guess you can say that you succeeded, but the price you paid was too high."
Oscar just looked back and forth at Kaylen and Solaire as they spoke, completely lost as to what was going on.
"Hold on, hold on." Oscar said, "What are you two talking about?"
"Sorry, forgot that not all of us know the future." Kaylen said "Solaire here, is a warrior who purposefully became undead so he could come to Lordran and find his own sun. Also, dude's the most optimistic guy you will ever meet."
Solaire chuckled at Kaylen's introduction.
"I suppose you really are a prophet. Then would you be so kind as to tell me where I will reach my sun? I would like to acquire it as soon as possible."
"Yeah, I'll tell you. But please let me explain what will happen to you first. After that if you still want to go after it, I won't stop you."
Solaire gave a slight nodded towards Kaylen. Oscar stood at attention, ready to hear of what would become of this new warrior.
"Okay then, where should I start? Um, your quest to find your own sun is a hard one. You scour far and wide all over Lordran for quite some time. Your search takes you from Anor Londo all the way to Lost Izalith helping the chosen undead along the way, but no matter where you looked, you couldn't find it, and then you slowly started losing hope."
"But I thought you said that he found his sun?" Oscar pointed out.
"I was getting to that." Kaylen said to Oscar before turning back to Solaire "Sadly, your tale ends due to the light of a creature called a sunlight maggot."
"A sunlight maggot?" Solaire said "What's that?"
"It's a disgusting little parasite that inhabits Lost Izalith. It emanates a bright light when someone wears it as a helmet, but it drives the wearer insane. I don't know if you're tricked by someone or simply saw its light and decided that this must be your sun, but I do know that you do put the maggot on and you do go insane."
"So that is my destiny, eh? To go mad due to some parasite?"
"Yeah, and after that happens, the chosen undead is fated to find and kill you."
"Then so be it. If that is the way it is meant to be, then I will travel to lost Izalith and find this creature immediately." Solaire said in a resolute manner.
"Wait, WHAT?" Kaylen said.
This was not the reaction that he was expecting from him. Kaylen was expecting him to want to change his destiny, not blindly accept it as what is meant to be.
Solaire then began to walk away from the two, determined to head straight for Lost Izalith and find the sunlight maggot. But Kaylen stepped directly in front of his path with a somewhat panicked face.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You realize if you go to Lost Izalith you're going to die, and what's even worse, we'll be forced to kill you. Everything that I've told you doesn't have to happen; we can change it!" Kaylen said.
"The prophet is right. You do not need to throw your life away." Oscar said.
"I am sorry friends, but I have sacrificed everything for this journey, and I plan to see it through to the end. Even if I am fated to die trying." Solaire said before he began walking away again.
"This is bad." Kaylen thought to himself, "Solaire's a huge asset for the chosen undead, and now, instead of having him fight alongside Oscar and me, I just told him that he was a dead man walking and gave him clear directions of where to find his grave. Now the guy's headed straight for Lost Izalith to get himself killed. What the hell do I do? The only thing that's going to stop him is the idea of getting his own sun, and there's no way I can give him a fucking-"
Kaylen's thought immediately stopped as he looked up at the sun that was presently shining brightly in the sky and an idea formed in his mind.
"Wait a minute, of course!" Kaylen said to himself before turning back to Solaire. "What if I told you I could give you your sun, Solaire."
Solaire stopped in his tracks and turned to face the prophet.
"I understand your concern for me, prophet, but do not lower yourself to lying. How could you hope to give me my sun?" Solaire said in a serious tone.
"Well, not me but I know someone who can."
"Who?"
"Gwyndolin, the last remaining god left in Lordran, guards the tomb of Lord Gwyn in Anor Londo. He can create a sun for you, no problem."
"Create a sun? It is no easy task to simply make a sun, even for a so a god. How can you be sure this Gwyndolin person can even make one?" Oscar said
"She already has." Kaylen said before pointing at the sun in the sky. "That's not the real sun, it's an illusion that she created."
"WHAT?" Oscar and Solaire said in unison.
"Yep" Kaylen said cheerfully, "The real sun went out because the abyss is encompassing the world, so she created an illusionary sun to keep Anor Londo looking bright and pretty. Keep that on the down-low by the way guys, that kind of news can plunge the world into chaos. Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn't have told you guys that because you might-"
"Prophet FOCUS, what this about an abyss?" Oscar said, interrupting Kaylen's train of thought.
"Oh, the abyss? Yeah, that's all that inky black stuff that comes from Manus." Kaylen said to Oscar before turning back to Solaire. "Anyway, the easy way for you to get your own sun is to come to Anor Londo with us. I'm sure that I can convince Gwyndolin to-"
"THERE'S NO TIME FOR THAT!" Solaire screamed and approached Kaylen in a sudden motion, "TELL ME WHERE I MAY FIND THIS FIEND YOU CALL MANUS! I WILL MAKE HIM PAY HIS BLASPHEMOUS ACTIONS!"
Solaire was seriously pissed now, which was odd since he was always happy and cheerful. But Kaylen saw this as a chance to get him on his and Oscar's side.
"Well, we were going to kill him anyway. But you don't really find him, he finds you."
"What do you mean? How were you planning to kill him if you don't know how to find him?" Oscar said.
"Dang Oscar, you always ask questions that have really long, complicated answers. Okay, see… well…" Kaylen said trying to find the right words to explain. "… Manus's anger transcends time. Once we obtain the broken pendant that he's looking for and go to the Darkroot Basin, then he'll come for us and pull us back to the past. Then we can kill him and stop the abyss… or at least slow it down. I'm not really sure what happens to the abyss after we kill Manus."
Solaire gripped his sword tightly in determination. Now that he knew what he must acquire, all he needed to know now was where it was located.
"So, how would we attain this pendant?" he asked.
"Well, getting the pendant is more of a chore than actually getting to Manus. We gotta rescue a woman named Dusk from a crystal golem, get the Lordvessel from Anor Londo and then go to the Duke's archives and kill another Crystal golem who's guarding the pendant. Then after we do all that, we gotta go all the way back to the Darkroot Basin and allow Manus to drag us back through time."
"Then there is no time to waste, we must leave immediately." Solaire said in a determined tone.
"Agreed." Oscar said.
At that moment, Kaylen felt he could have burst with joy and excitement.
"YES, YES, YES. I got the sunbro to join the team!" Kaylen thought to himself, "Now if I could just get Big Hat Logan on board, then we can really get things moving."
They all then picked up their equipment and started walking toward the other side of the bridge, where the hollows were still waiting. Oscar and Solaire were readying their weapons, when Kaylen suddenly remembered something.
"HOLD ON A MINUTE!" Kaylen screamed.
Oscar and Solaire looked back at him wondering what was wrong.
"Oscar, you remember our little bet, right?"
Oscar was a little caught off guard by this. Though he did remember their little bet, after that little reveal about the abyss and Manus a minute ago, he was a little afraid of what might lay ahead and, though he would never admit it, the prophet made him feel a little safer.
"Um, maybe we should forget about that, prophet. It was a bit immature and childish of us to even make that wager anyway." Oscar said trying to seem above such actions.
"Oh, I get it. You're having second thoughts about making a bet with a guy who knows the future, huh? Well it's too late to back out now. Your either gonna cross this bridge or you just admit you were wrong and give me the souls you owe me."
Oscar did not want to simply give away the souls that he earned, so let out a deep sigh and glared at Kaylen before responding.
"Fine. I'll cross the damn bridge." he said.
Oscar walked onto the bridge, ahead of the other two warrior and began planning. Solaire turned towards Kaylen with a questioning look.
"Don't worry, he won't die, but this'll be good for a laugh." Kaylen said.
Apart from the hollow, the bridge seemed normal enough. The prophet seemed like the type to plan, so Oscar was expecting a huge beast to stand in his way. As he approached the walking corpses, two of them suddenly charged toward him.
He was in no danger in this situation; it would take more than a few hollows to kill him. Oscar laughed at himself as he thought of how ridiculous he was acting, and he began preparing wisecracks to say to Kaylen when he crossed the bridge.
Then, as the two hollows approached, Oscar readied himself to fight.
"Heh, I hope he didn't think this would be enough to stop me."
Almost as if on cue, Oscar suddenly heard a deafening roar coming from the distance. When he looked up, he saw the red dragon that they had encountered before, flying toward the bridge at a swift speed. The dragon threw its head back in preparation for the hellfire that it would unleash upon the bridge.
Oscar had to decide quickly. Does he keep going forward and hope that he can speed past the hollows and make it to the other side, or does he run back the way he came?
Making his choice, Oscar sprinted back toward Kaylen and Solaire as fast as his legs could carry him. With the heavy armor that he was wearing, bolting back across the bridge was not an easy task.
By the time the dragon came upon the bridge, Oscar was a few feet away from his companions. Solaire was looking just as panicked as he was, but Kaylen was holding his sides while laughing very loudly.
"DAAAAAMMMMMMMNNN YOOOOUUUU PROOOPHEEEEEEET" Oscar screamed as he dove towards his companions, just as the dragon let loose a wave of flame upon bridge, killing all the hollows and slightly charring the back of his armor black.
Kaylen was still laughing when Oscar stood up and regained his composure. Oscar was more than a little pissed at the prophet.
"PROPHET, YOU BASTARD, WHY DIDN'NT YOU WARN ME ABOUT THE DRAGON?!" Oscar screamed.
Kaylen was apparently unable to stop laughing his face off, so Solaire decided to answer Oscar's question.
"That isn't a dragon. It's a drake."
Remembering that those were the exact words that the prophet told him the first time they encountered the dragon, Oscar seemed to grow a bit angrier.
"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT IS! That thing almost roasted me alive." Oscar said to Solaire before turning back to the prophet. "Why didn't you tell me there was a fire breathing lizard up there?"
Kaylen thought he should probably just apologize for his actions, but he seriously felt that this was too funny to pass up. So, with an innocent look on his face, he began to speak.
"Well, it wasn't was it?" Kaylen said with a smile and a shrug.
"What do you mean?" Oscar said gritting his teeth.
Solaire, chuckling along with Kaylen, then joined in on the teasing.
"It wasn't there until just now." he said.
"And I suppose it never crossed your mind to say: 'Hey Oscar, I'm pretty sure a dragon will appear. You might want to watch out.'" Oscar said in an irritated tone.
"Nope, not really." Kaylen said innocently.
"And it's a drake" Solaire added.
Oscar had to take a moment to suppress the urge to strangle both of them.
"Whatever. Can we please just hurry and find a way to get past the drag-" Oscar quickly corrected himself when he saw Kaylen open his mouth. "Let's just get past this thing, please."
"Alright then, let's get moving." Kaylen said.
Somewhere in Undead Burg
With one final heave, it pushed itself up over the edge. Finally, it had made it back to the top.
The two warriors were gone, but the screams of the Taurus demon were heard not very long ago. That means that they have not gone very far. So slowly, but steady, it began to pick up its black shield and large sword and then walk towards the stairs.
This creature is relentless, its sword punishes all without distinction, and it will seek out and find those that seek to harm Lord Gwyn and then end their miserable lives.
No one escapes a Black Knight.
How will the trio deal with the return of this old enemy? What sacrifices will they have to make? How many new enemies will cross their path?
Only time will tell if they'll survive or if they'll simply go hollow.
Dear reader,
due to Solaire's awesomeness, the narrator has had a stroke and is currently too busy puking up rainbows to make a funny comment to end this story. Please accept these dollar signs as compensation. $$$$$
Also, please leave a comment or review about what you thought about this chapter in the story.
*Special thanks to Antoine for beta-reading