To see a Darkened Sun
chapter 6
The light vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, and Arias found himself back in the cathedral, just below the bed chambers of Gwynevere. Of course he didn't remember he'd fought Ornstein and Smough here, and wondered why there were so many scorch marks on the walls of an empty room.
He slowly walked down the staircase before him, he luckily still remembered that the fire keeper at the wall was a blade of the darkmoon and that's probably where he'd get a map from. He saw two giant figures in the room ahead of him, however they did not make a move to attack him, they just watched him as he moved past. He felt uneasy being watched by such large creatures, even more so when he saw there was a silver knight training their eyes on him too.
He just continued walking carefully forward, prepared to grab his shield at any moment, but an attack never came. It was strange, he'd never encountered these beings before but he got this feeling deep down that they were incredibly dangerous and could kill him swiftly. Probably some lingering muscle memory, the real reason for his caution was definitely lost with his other memories when he was hollowing.
As Arias eased up, he felt something rumble in his pack, the sudden movement enough for him to immediately grab hold of his shield and raise it in front of him. There was no attack and he sighed slightly in shame at how cowardly he must look. Putting his shield away, he reached into his pack, searching for the source of the rumbling.
He took out a strange black orb, the exterior was hard and felt like rock, rough all over. However, there was one side that was smooth, turning it around he saw an eye staring back at him. It was certainly gazing at him, he could feel it's stare penetrate his soul, suddenly, everything was black, like a void.
Soon, black and white shapes formed in the distance, the whites and blacks deepened, and from them color bled into the world once more.
Arias stood in the same hall, but at the other end, the giants and the archer were gone, instead, a group of people stood at the other end of the hall. He trod carefully forward, taking hold of his sword and shield in preparation for a battle. There were three people in total. What looked to be a mage and another looked like a soldier wielding a spear and shield, he couldn't see much detail on them due to the white light that covered them.
The person in the middle was easy to see though, he wore peculiar golden armor, it looked like the armor was even embracing him. He wielded two shotels and had an ominous aura about him, something that made Arias' skin crawl, and instilled within him with an intense emotion which he could not really understand, though part of it was most certainly hate.
"Well, look at you." The man in golden armor spoke, turning around to face Arias, his two summons also turning around.
"I thought you were wiser, but I thought wrong!"
"Tis a terrible pity. Like a moth flittering towards a flame." There was a certain uncaring tone to his voice, one that betrayed his words of feigned sorrow.
"You fellows? No? Don't you agree?" He chuckled lowly, drawing his shotels and charging forward.
Arias raised his shield and prepared for the attacks. And this time they came, multiple blows, all striking at his shield at once. He anticipated the next blow and suddenly thrust his shield to the side, causing the man with the spear to fumble and almost fall over. Arias took his chance and sliced straight through the summon in one large strike, killing the summon instantly, but also resulting in him getting tired and leaving himself open.
The golden knight charged at him, landing multiple strikes on him and then jumping backwards before Arias could retaliate. Luckily the knight didn't hit anything vital, but it still hurt badly, as if the blade had burnt him, though it didn't seem to have any resin applied. The mage cast a soul spear and sent it hurdling towards Arias, he lifted his shield in time to block it but it knocked him back, and a blow from the knight knocked his shield right out of his hands.
This time Arias saw the attacks coming, and as the knight brought his weapon down, Arias used his now free hand to quickly push the knight s hand away. Before Arias could make use of this opening, another soul spear hit him in the torso, sending him flying backward. When he landed, he quickly jumped up and avoided a blow from the knight.
Lifting his greatsword up, he rested it on his shoulder as he nimbly ran away from the knight, and toward the mage. Staying quite low to the ground, Arias as able to dodge the soul spears fired at him and was greatly outpacing the knight. As he reached the mage, he quickly knocked them to their feet and with breakneck speed he brought his sword down and sliced their head clean off.
Arias turned to the knight, lifting his greatsword back up to his shoulder, crouching low to the ground, he looked almost animalistic, covered in blood. The knight stood still for a moment, almost hesitating, before resuming his charge. Arias bounded toward him somewhat like a wolf, raising his sword with his right arm and swinging as soon as he was close, the knight dodged and retaliated with multiple swings, hitting Arias' back.
Arias quickly swung around and sliced at him, cutting to the bone of his shins. The knight cried out, falling to the floor. Arias lifted his sword for the final blow, but as he brought it down, the knight lifted up his shotels, using one to parry Arias' sword and the other went straight through his chest. Arias cried out, falling backward.
He hacked up blood, the blood splashed all over his own face. The knight could not stand, so all he did was watch as Arias desperately rolled over to his side, blood pouring out of his visor. In one last attempt, Arias quickly rose up and ran in the opposite direction of the knight using his free hand to keep himself stable, causing him to look even more animalistic than before. Then he ran back at the knight, sword held high above his head.
The knight prepared his shotels again for another parry but when Arias brought his sword down, he sliced straight through them, going down through the knight's skull and hitting the wall. In one swift move he was dead. Arias lifted up his sword once more and began wildly bashing it back down on the body of the knight, rage engulfing him as the finely crafted golden armor was soon unrecognizable.
Soon everything darkened once more. And as the shapes and colors bled back into the world, he found himself kneeling over a wall, with no corpse, looking at himself he was free of wounds, though the blood remained, and the pain faded incredibly quickly. He even felt his shield on his back. Looking back down at the spot on the floor where he'd thought he'd just killed the knight, there was only a strange soul, humanity nipping away at it. Arias gently picked it up, gazing at it he now recognized all the emotions he was feeling.
There was not only hate and rage. There was also sorrow, loss, guilt, regret. It wasn't long before tears poured down his face, washing away some of the blood. Just who did this soul belong to to inhibit such a strong emotion in him. He slowly rose from his position on the floor, looking around, the giant knights were still in the room along with the silver knight archer. He looked down at the soul in his hands, it was clearly incredibly important to him in some way, and it may help him find out who he once was.
Arias carefully placed the soul in his pack before picking up his greatsword and leaving the cathedral.