Satin Black Chapter 1
Genre: Gothic, Horror, Action Adventure.
Alone in a field of white flowers, surrounded by gravestones, Jaune stood. Gehrman, the decrepit man fell to his knees, blood dripping from a wound in his throat.
"You have done well, hunter. But beware, fouler prey than I stand before you. She will descend and do her best to ruin you. You have found the cords, do not let it take you, while they are gods, you hunt the gods, so do not fall prey to them." Gehrman said and the hunter, Jaune, stepped forward, chikage raised, the blood coating the weapon honing it to a razor's edge.
"Forgive me, I am sorry the end must come this way. Thank you for bearing the burden until I could get here." Jaune drew up his blade and the blood fell away, giving way to an ornamented blade. The steel polished and pristine, the handle, once gold, now wrapped in blue cloth.
"No forgiveness needed, grant me freedom, hunter." The old man spoke, his voice desperate, and the blade descended, decapitating the ancient hunter.
The body fell but was caught by Jaune, his hands gently laying down Gehrman's head and body and he removed his coat, laying it over the body of the First Hunter.
"Goodbye, Old Friend. I will find the way out of the endless night." Jaune said and stood beside the body as a form descended from a now blood red moon.
Light cascaded off the reptilian flesh of the Great One, shadows burned themselves into the ground as it landed.
"Doll calls you Flora, Of the Moon. The Moon Presence, Progenitor of the Hunt. No longer shall we abide by rule of creatures that torment and torture us." The being seemed to make a growling sound before a screech resounded that caused my ears bleed, vertigo striking as I rolled away from an attack.
Chikage fell from my hands as I drew the Burial Blade that I had removed from Gehrman, the wretched symphony of wails beat against me, the force enough to make even my heart sound as if it may implode.
The scythe glowed as I used the trick feature, forming its full length, then the beast charged. My aura pushed into the weapon, slicing through the flesh of the monster, blood coated my clothes, the white shirt and black vest that were protected by my coat now soiled with the blood of a doomed god.
"By what right do you have to declare yourself a god? Huh?! Why shall we sacrifice, falter and die for you. Good and honest men and women, who swore themselves to the defense of the people, who are you to puppeteer their fates? I know not what forked tongue thy uses, I will not pretend to know how you came to be, but by right of blood and steel I declare that no more shall you toil with mortals. They are not yours, they are under my protection!" Jaune roared as runes formed on the scythe, magic, lost to aeons long since past and far stranger.
"Blessed is he for so spake the King in Yellow, cast not in shade nor shine, but void of creed, for he stands above all that which gods craft with such frail hands." Jaune recited the curse he found in the labyrinth so long ago, this curse, the First Curse.
The Moon Presence, as he recited the First Curse, charged at him, claws tore asunder the flesh of the Hunter, but he did not yield. As blood spattered the flowers he did not stop, as the air was torn from his lungs, he did not halt.
"Let all that is eternal lie, for strange Aeons have come, and shall so forth your turn to die." Jaune growled out the final portion of the Curse and the blade of the Burial Blade hummed with power, drawn from the heavens and stars themselves.
The blade descended, striking the neck of the mighty god, the blood of its alien form burned the ground, withering flowers, aging the soil, rotting the world itself. With each strike, the Hunters' Dream shattered more and more. Bricks fell into the world below, the workshop itself collapsed and descended into the void. As the battle raged, the pillars surrounding the workshop collapsed, destroying the world above. The Hunter could see the different dream realms falling, the nightmares crumbling.
Blow after blow was exchanged, neither side granting quarter, the blade of The Hunter sliced cleanly the leg of the beast, leaving only tendons holding the limb together. With a merciless kick, Jaune slammed his foot into the ruined appendage, the great one collapsed and fell. The blade descended again pinning Flora down.
Jaune stared at the writhing monster, its body flailing but lacking the strength to stand.
"Do you not see what you have done, what horrid waste you have placed at our feet. Do you not see that the creatures you use as if they were nothing, they reject you." Jaune spoke as he tore the blade from the body of the deity and then slammed it down again.
Suddenly pain overcame Jaune's mind, pain that he has never felt before, the Moon Presence was calling to him, forcing him to release the weapon. Jaune gripped the weapon as tightly as he could. The pain increased, his eyes began to bleed, his knuckles cracked under the strain as he clenched his hands even tighter.
Images of Yharnam, collapsing and falling apart, and Jaune had to make a choice, a single choice that would define the entire world being held up by the god. If he killed the deity, havoc would spread across the world, it would kill almost everything. But despite this he knew the right choice, death was a preferable alternative to eternal torture beneath an uncaring god.
Jaune raised the scythe, the edge sang as it sliced cleanly through the neck of the god.
Then the world went black, and Jaune felt peace.