The dark and damp foggy forbidden woods is not the best place to hunt... Still whatever her majesty wishes is shall comply, after all she did to help me...
The knight, no... hunter, stalked it's prey, sent after the poor man's blood dregs, He dresses pretty much identical to the outlanders that were described in one of the many books Annalise asked me to read...
The young knight was very fond of those few memories, where Annalise personally helped him in his education as a knight, since all of her subjects lay dead or are mere beasts, however strangely enough they do not attack her, even bowing before her, sending bell into a spiral of thoughts... perhaps beasts still retain conciousness..? But it could not be proven.
"So, thou are yet to learn the history of Yarnham in it's entirety, however thou are familiar with the church, is that correct?
"Y-yes your majesty."
"Very well then, read this book, it shall serve as a small warm up." The queen said as she handed him a book.
"The constable's..." Bell read aloud.
"Yes, they were outlanders who arrived here in the midst of chasing a beast, later they would come to dissapear, either dead or just mixed in with the locals, still their tale is mentioned in many historical records, as such i expect diligent reading on your part."
"Of course..." Annalise could see a weird sparkle in his eyes, almost like a child, she wondered why but after remembering why she choose him... she had a pretty good idea. He was a pretty good candidate for a knight, didn't believe in the church's lies, had a strong sense of what is right, although that may become a problem later... and he was naive enough to be easily molded into a perfect royal knight.
But this did not mean that she went easy on him, her harsh lessons could even be compared to those of a certain half-elf in Orario... And although he did not like this lessons now, he could see their uses.
Such as learning about rallying or blood rapture, turns out the vilebloods were adept at the runes of Caryll, even making some of their own, which was given to him when he chose to become one, he could still feel the burning in his veins if he concentrated enough, it was a bit of a special case since most get used to it within a day or two.
Hmmm so this is where he stays most of the time... Bell noted in his mind as he stalked his target from afar, that's enough intel... i should get going... Suddenly the white haired knight entered the abandoned building, dressed in a pompous suit that, despite being not as suitable for fighting, was just as effective in sending his queen's message.
"You sir, I assume you are the leader of that group of hunters."
"Ah, you scared me there for a second." The man's voice a bit muffled by the metal helmet he wore. "But yes i am the leader of the League, do you wish to fight against those despicable, filthy and horrendous impur-" He was cut off.
"Your majesty the queen of cainhurst sends her regards, surrender yourself or face her wrath." Bell spoke in a clear and rehearsed manner as a vileblood knight of cainhurst should.
"You! You bastard! i can see it now! your impure! filthy and should be erradicated!" The man raised his weapon, but Bell was faster.
A white flash appeared before the man's eyes, covered in the gray mist, and brought down a powerfull slash of a modified blade similar to a slashing rapier or a saber. Blood flew off of the League confederate's uniform and onto the former pristine clothes that Bell wore.
Surprise and confusion plagued the man's heart, and in moment of rage he tried to retaliate but his plans were utterly destroyed by the smoking barrel of an Evelyn, He was sent back and in that single moment of an opening, he felt the hand of the boy who looked so harmless penetrate his insides, grasping his very heart and ripping it off in a cruel and brutal motion.
Bell was caught off guard for the sudden boost in his energy, he could feel the blood rapture working as even though he did not have injuries that needed healing, the reinvigoration was powerfull, almost made him fill good about brutally killing a man, even if he had not truly fought him. I'm not a barbarian... i just like fighting... yes, fighting... Were all the words he could come up with to justify the act he commited now.
He then used another mark to go back to the dream, from where he would travel to Cainhurst and report to his queen about his first assignment.
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"Hello Mr. Gehrman, it's been a while hasn't it?"
"Oh yes... you are usually talking to the doll when in the dream... but i see you are making yourself useful, joined the Vilebloods huh?" The old man spoke with his voice as tired as ever. "I had a student who got it's roots from Cainhurst she was the best i ever had..."
"Is it something you wish to talk about?" The white haired hunter asked.
"N-no, i suppose it's just some painfull old memories... but it is better to remember those than to be engulfed in this monotonous dream of ours... isn't it?"
"Yes it is..." He responded, remembering the time he wasn't hunting on the regular or even before that, when he did not know the pain of the hunt, even if his body was terribly afflicted with such potent curse as his ill fortuned soul was set to inherit from birth.
They then started to talk about whatever would come up, mainly about weapons, but sometimes Gehrman would talk about the Yarnham of old, and the differences of the place, the main difference was the older districts were unharmed by fire and flame that consumed the houses and lives of different people, in a vain effort to stop the ashen blood and scourge of beast.
"Oh, good hunter, how long have you been there, surely not waiting for my assistence i hope." The doll's soothing voice made it's way across the workshop, making her presence known.
The hunter tried his best to calm her down, explaining that he was simply speaking to Gehrman before going back to Cainhurst, but the poor lady's sense of duty could not listen to such a blatant lie! Which of course was no lie at all.
After a while and a rather refreshing conversation, Bell went back to cainhurst, were he could be finally initiated into the royal knights and be given the chikage, a rather intricate blade which could harvest power from one's very blood to kill whatever stood in it's precise path.
"Oh... but thou art already back... i see thy hunt has gone well, then let us delay this no longer, give me the dregs of blood." The queen said, once the hunter had presented proper respects by kneeling infront of her.
She grasped the weird object born of blood and absorved it, the she once again offered her wrist to the hunter.
"Thou have done well, now it's thy privilege to partake in this blood corrupted by but a single drop of the highest of ichors."
Bell did as he was told, even if it reminded him a bit too much of the vampires that sometimes appeared in his stories. It was an unnerving act, but the small burning in his veins was proof that whatever cruel deed that his queen had ordered him was done.
"Thou doth realise, henceforth thy life as a Kinght of the royal guard starts know, as such we shall bestow upon thee thy very own chikage, such weapon requires absolute mastery of the tinge of blood. In order to prove thyself, thou shall train in the arts of blood manipulation, we have already arranged for the proper books and manuscripts in the royal library."
The queen's orders were absolute, and he began to train in order to properly use the chikage. Plunging the weapon into himself was not the worst part of it, maintaining the blade made of blood was far worse.
Eventually he moved on to slowly getting used to the drain of the blade, it's attacks had a heavy weight on the user's vitality, even being able to dry off a person's blood, rendering them nothing but a corpse. Meanwhile his normal studies had doubled to prepare himself, the royal guard's knights had a very strict code and even tougher assignments, that ranged from leading the queen's army, to being by her side in stressfull diplomatic duties, Even though those were no longer necessities considering their lack of manpower and total lack of a single ally.
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It was the same star riden lake as Bell once saw, the university of byrgenwerth laid beside it. The moon hung low in the sky and many stars were reflected along the lake. Making it's way through the building, a man covered in plated armor opened the doors of the lake-side balcony, There he saw an old man on a wooden chair, pointing towards the lake for some unknown reason. The armor clad man spoke:
"You are the master of the University right. The one who opposed the healing church to the very end... rest easy, though you cannot speak or barely move, know that your life was taken in the more gentler of ways... considering the state of this beast ridden world."
A single silver streak ran through the old man's head granting him a bitter-sweet but peaceful end.
There the man realised, there was nowhere left to hide, to run, to go. Only the all consuming lake was open, available, inviting almost, as if the bright moonlight called to him...and he answered it.
He longed for answers not on his level, far from his grasp, yet he was on the exact path to get them. The flowing waters gave way to pale light and soon he was discovering the ways to the domain of Rom the vacuos spider. A man made god that could rival many in his land.
A simple fact it was, that to win this battle he would have to remain sane, a very serious problem, as a single slip of mind could send him to an abyss, such was a pretty standard rule when dealing with beings above your understanding, as instructed by the same institute that the man had explored.
Thousands of eyes stared at him through holes in a harden carapass that covered it's head. A very unsettling sight indeed, one that was multiplied for each of the god's spiderlings that followed it around.
The hunter quickly began to dispatch them, killing the monstrous beast with immaculate precision and bladework, the far-eastern weapon he had was obviously mastered through an extensive and painful training. Few would guess that this hunter had less than years of experience, the fact that he could devote so much of his time to mastering the blade would be incredible despite not needing to sleep eat or rest.
Blood flew off his weapon, a pale and unnatural one, that could belong only to a sinister type of creature.
Eventually his prey started using tricks to dissapear, calling more minions to his aid, and starting his own attacks, Pattern that no hunter or experienced fighter would follow, it was simply too obvious, his attacks had easy give aways and it was easy to know that whatever the strange creature would do.
But even an experienced hunter could be caught by surprise, as one of the spider grunts pounced on his back clinging to the hunter trying to bring him to the ground, failing to realise that the hunter had other weapons at his disposal.
A blood-augmented blade passed right through the man's torso and the creature's soft belly. The Hunter then slid the weapon off his body and used it to cleave another beast in half with a different stance than usual. Many more of the god's minions tried to ambush him, but he simply stepped back and blew a loud wooden whistle.
The ground shook and through the white mist a contrasting black reptile rose. A large snake, it's scales were hard as armour and blacker than night, it's fangs were yellow and sharp as the best of knifes, in a sudden motion the snake swallowed the spider like monster's whole and gave the hunter an opportunity to strike.
Jumping at the bigger spider, the hunter grasped the edge of the hardened shell that covered it's head and with the blood red blade he wielded stabbed through one of the many eye holes. White blood was leaking through the opening and spread through the ground, the creature tried to launch the man forwards but he held on to the spider, untill one of Rom's minions attacked him and sent him to the ground, the giant beast raised itself ready to crush him but a simple act stopped him.
*Bang*
An evelyn made the creature stagger long enough for the hunter to roll on the ground and leave the beast's proximity, after Rom crashed to the ground and his body became stiff, the hunter new he had won the battle.
As the minions began to dissapear the hunter slowly took of the helmet he had, revealling the white hair that blended so well with his enviroment.
"What was that... The queen will be curious... atleast..." The hunter managed to say between heavy breathing, the chikage still left him exhausted after a long battle, and this definitively counted as one.
He raises his head once he renewed his breath, only to be met with the distant image of a woman in a white dress. Her veil was iluminated by a low red light, of the moon who crept up against the sky, blood red in a distressing tone, when looking at the moon, he could hear it's colour, smell it's sound and touch it's imagine, it overloaded his senses untill only the most primal urges remained, a mindless beast he was to become...
Not here, not now... i have more to live for, the queen gave me an order... to return... He collapsed to the ground... I'm sorry doll, i'm sorry Gehrman... I'm sorry your majesty... i wasn't strong enough to resist it... i am truly sorry gramps... Those were his laste thoughts as he resigned himself to whatever dark future would await him, he could only hope that he would bw put down by another hunter... maybe Djura or Eileen.
The wave of happiness he felt once he could think again, feeling the cold hard stone floor similar to the cathedral he quickly got on his feet only to be greeted by the sight of an Amygdala, lesser great ones but still gods, he decided to run, already exhausted by the fight with Rom, he also needed to report to his queen, Like he did many times before, Hunting others for their dregs of blood and offering them to his queen, that was how he gained lots of usefull items and learned many secrets, like the nightmare lecture hall where that Amygdala would take him, truthfully, he had already being taken by them two times, he did not need to go back to those forsaken places, even if he still had to fullfil a promise to Simon, he could only dread when the time was right for him to go back there.
He wondered what he should do when he realised something obvious but he was completely oblivious to, the sky was filled with purple hues and flashes of smaller colours, and the red moon was still there, just silently observing them from afar. Do not think about... it's not the weirdest thing you've seen... how many times have i made this same excuse to myself though...
The small words fo reassurance were useless the moment he found himself back at the front of the cathedral... There lied another hunter, bleeding on the ground her black feathered cape was red with her own blood now.
"Eileen!" Bell shouted as he ran over to her.
"Wait a moment, please." He said as he injected her with a blood vial, despite her best efforts to stop him.
"*Cough*Cough* Please stop, i've taken enough blood... Bell... Beyond this doors is a dangerous man, the bloody crow of cainhurst... He is my mark..." Eileen then looked at his clothes and realised what she just said.
"Eileen, wait here. If this man truly is who you say he is... then he is going to pay." The feeling of betrayal was rampant in his heart. That liar... queen of bullshit... i've killed for her, and she just... I guess i just wanted to believe huh, all those stories about knights and heroes, i've never grown up right...
The hunter's stride seemed slow to him, like time was but honey
"Hunter! stop, don't go there!" Eileen tried to warn him but was ignored.
The blood of the beast Vicar Bell had once slain could still be seen from the entrance of the cathedral, oh how he wished to go back to those earlier times.
When he made it into the hall, the altar with Laurence's beastly skull still laid there, but in front of it was a man, wearing a similar feathered cape to Eileen, but a helmet like those of the Cainhurst Vilebloods.
The man spoke nothing but threw himself against Bell, Chikage in hand, he brought the blade down only for it to be parried by Bell's, their styles were similar yet one could easily see the vast diference in the level of skill each had with the blade.
Bell quickened to the side hoping to catch the man off guard, but was stopped by the simple threat of the enemy Evelynn. He couldn't afford being parried, and even worst would be being caught between the man's fist and the cold wall.
He tried to go back but was pinned down by the tip of the Bloody Crow's sword, who managed to catch the collar of Bell's clothes who were hidden beneath the armor plates, being rarely exposed.
The hunter ducked, ripping his inner shirt but regaining the tempo of the fight, he dodged to the side and began to run away from the fight trying his best to hide his next move.
As the Bloody Crow moved in for the visceral, Bell's plan came into perfect execution, he stabbed the Chikage through his chest catching his enemy's arm and piercing it through the middle, after that he pulled the blade through the arm, rendering the entire limb useless untill healed.
"You bastard! How could her majesty have accepted you!" This only served to light the fire in his heart.
The man's chikage was hastly thrown in front of his face only to be met by a feint, Bell brought the blade up and wiped off the blood in it's edge making sure to hit the Crow's headpiece, blinding him.
Bell trusted his messenger companions to take care of his sword, so he threw it away and called another weapon he was familiar with. A blunt force hit the man's armor right in it's weaker spots, another slashed at his arm but he dodged it, and the last attack revealed green light to the man's freshly cleaned visor. He took the wave right in the chest, knocking him off balance, following the attack was a kick to his shoulder.
The man was now on the floor, Bell still wondering how he pulled this off so quickly, either way the man Bell pinned down had some answers to his questions.
"How... are you even alive?" Bell questioned him. "The queen said all vilebloods were wiped out..."
"That would be the case, if only part of us hadn't retreated away by her very own orders... I can see it in yer face... you thought you were the last... HA!"
"SILENCE!" The hunter's scream was powerfull and was backed up by the glowing blade drawing steadly nearer to the Crow's neck.
"Okay, Why purpose do the blood dregs serve?"
"For us? None, for her? The are the key to the birth of her child of blood, The next Paleblooded heir..."
"So... it was all for that... such stupidity..." Bell's mind was a mess, sure he knew that other people would not see him as righteous person, or a good guy in their stories but he believed the queen, they were supposed to be enemies of the corrupt church not just mindless murderers. Perhaps the tales of knights and their heroic deeds were severely misguided, or maybe Bell was never a good person in the first place even if that sounds idiotic he couldn't help but doubt himself.
"You are not doubting yerself now are ya? You just learned that there are more of us just waiting to join her majesty's cause, sure we may have once ran away but now we can regain our strengh, few are those still left in the church and now we are sure to smash them to pieces like they once did with us!"
"Do you have no ambition? this is our time, as the Vilebloods who inherited a drop of paleblood, we were destined for thi-" *Bang*...*Bang*...*Bang* Bell's Evelynn rang out as the victory bells anouncing his enemy's defeat. But he wouldn't celebrate that "Victory" he still had better things to do.
He rushed over to outside of the cathedral and there he met Eileen once again.
"Ha... you never listen..." The old hunter said. "I won't inquire about your relationship with the Vilebloods, mostly because i don't have enough time... but i can see your inmer turmoil."
"Eileen don't say things like that!" The hunter screamed.
"There you are, back to the little brat you used to be, i prefer it this way... Don't worry about me... it's time for me to rest... but i wanna leave you something... take this..."
A single badge was handed to him.
"Show this to the messengers of the dream, they will know what to do... join our covenant if you wish just pick up the rune inside my pocket, you would be perfect for it... only if you wish to leave Cainhurst that is... but i can see they scarred you pretty badly."
"Eileen... thank you..." The hunter whispered, hiding his own tears.
"Also... as a final gift and a favor to me, use my blades once in a while... they are yours to take... please remember, do not give in to the scourge... farewell good hunter say hello to the doll for me..." Eileen gave her final breath, as her head and limbs were no longer moving. Bell did as she once asked of him long ago when he asked her about the crow feathered cape, he gave her a sky burial, just as her clothes indicated, she wanted to be left for the crows.
Grabbing the Blades of mercy and the rune, he was ready to go back to the dream, he concentrated on the hunter's mark to go back and vanished into fine mist.
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In the dream, the hunter appeared in a rough state, something that the doll quickly noted. She approached him but could not start the conversation.
"Doll, have you met a hunter by the name Eileen?"
"I do recall her yes, what of it good hunter? how is she?" The doll asked, her devotion and care for all her hunters clearly shown.
"She is... no longer hunting."
"Don't tell me, did the scourge...?"
"No thankfully, she died with dignity, her prey had fought back..."
"Good hunter, are those her blades?"
"Yes... she asked me to keep them, and offered me to join the hunters of hunters."
"Aren't you part of the Cainhurst Vilebloods?"
"Well..." The hunter then described the encounter with The bloody Crow of Cainhurst, and how there are more Vilebloods alive, the lies that he was told, and how he wished for that realisation to come to him earlier, but either way, the hunt needed tp go on, he decided on a plan to free himself from any ties to cainhurst, once and for all, but most importantly, he needed to cool his head down or else the plan would never work, so he made his way to the grave of central Yarnham.
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He meant to speak with his old friend who had given him his trusty flamesprayer, but that would not be the case.
Gilbert? were have you... what the actuall... how did this beast made it here... he looks like one from central yarnham... WAIT! No it can't be... he was supposed to die a human... please... not Gilbert... Bell made his way to the beast and with a single shot of his Evelynn, he dispatched his friend.
"I am sorry Gilbert, you did not deserve this... whatever happened in old Yarnham was not your decision... i just hope you can forgive yourself up there..." The hunter talked to a newly closed grave in the cemitery that he passed through when reaching the fake Iosefka, he recalled the story Gilbert told him about, how the horrors of what happened in old Yarnham scarred him for life... and why he gave Bell his flamesprayer, Bell had just recently become a knight then, but now only his grave and memory remain. Perhaps Bell had become used to it, but the presence of death no longer felt horrifying, now only soothing, as if the world had become inhospitable and those who still wander around it don't deserve to live there.
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A dark plain illuminated by a sky of pulsing lights and ethereal colors extend across the horizon, the moon hung low on the same sky and was blood red, a dark haired woman could only watch as the moon descended into the plain which was covered in white flowers, below it was only a single shadow, a white rabbit with blood red eyes. She tried to move, even scream, but could not, she watched in horror as the moon fell to the ground and a blinding light followed, but the bunny was unharmed. The sky had calmed and became a light grey, as if the former astral horror was but covered and the small bunny was responsible for it, as if he had done such effort to do the impossible. She could see his fur had red spots all over it, it was painted with blood.
Then just as suddenly as she started dreaming, Cassandra woke up, her entire body was sweating and she could hear her breath was uneven. Her red haired friend who also woke up thanks to her asked.
"Cass... what ish it dis time?" Her friend said, barely awake.
"A-another dream..."
"Seriously? the bunny one again?"
"Y-yeah..." Cassandra lowered her voice too low for her to be heard, but Daphne got the message.
"Was it on the weird city? or that fishing village?"
"No, a field of white flowers."
"Go back to sleep..."
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And that's all for this chapter ladies and gentleman, i'd like to thank you all for reading and following and to take this moment to anounce two things, number one: the next chapter will be almost ENTIRELY in Orario, Secondly: i am working on another series which will coexist with this one so be prepared! the next chapter might take a while so goodbye everyone.