To see a Darkened Sun

chapter 8

A lot of time had passed since Arias had left firelink. Two, maybe three days straight searching. His first destination was the catacombs behind the shrine, it was hell down there, but it held nothing interesting, it seemed there were once great entities down there but they were all dead now. After finally escaping the Tombs, he wandered on.

Finding himself in New Londo, a strange hollow in chainmail attacked him. They didn't pose him much of a real threat but he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. Exploring the city, he managed to dodge most of the ghosts, though one caught him by surprise and knocked him down into the city below. He had little time to even react to the strange dark skeletons around him, barely dodging them in time to drink some much needed estus.

With some difficulty, he managed to fight off the dark skeletons and earned himself some breathing room down in the forgotten city. He once again found no traces of any great lords, he did find a bottomless pit, but from it only came a crushing silence that made his hair stand on end. Leaving the city, he found himself in an old valley, and surrounded by small drakes.

He had a very rough time even surviving them let alone fighting back, but he somehow managed. He trekked down to Blighttown, a disgusting cesspool of filth and poison, moving quickly through he found himself back in the demon ruins. Hesitantly he returned to Blighttown to explore the area more thoroughly. He managed to find a large hollowed tree, exploring inside he found himself going further and further down, avoiding more and more hazards the further down he got.

When he exited the tree through a hollowed root, Arias was greeted to a breathtaking view. There were even more great trees similar to the one he'd just come from in every direction, There was so much water everywhere, more than he'd ever seen before. He was so taken aback by the sight that he didn't even take notice of the Hydra blatantly in front of him. Soon he continued, resting at the nearby bonfire and battling with the Hydra.

Even after doing all that he still could not help but be in awe at his surroundings. Walking down the path of ash and sand he found himself surrounded by a forest of much smaller trees covering the narrow path. As he continued, soon before him was something he'd never expected. It spread out it's magnificent wings, revealing itself to him, an ancient dragon. It did not attack, nor did it show any signs of hostility, it simply sat there, watching him.

Arias almost fell over he was so surprised. He may have lost his memory but he'd heard of the legends since. So many amazing things he'd discovered in one day, his mind was having a hard time coping with it all. It was not a great lord, nor was it anything connected to him or of any real importance to him at the moment, but he still sat in awe. It was a long time before he shook himself out of it once again.

He walked over to the bonfire and lit it, as he searched for a place to warp to, a bright light suddenly surrounded him and transported him away.

As soon as the light faded, he had a split second to react to the knight charging at him. He managed to raise his shield quick enough to knock them back. The knight staggered before backing away in surprise. Arias had a moment to finally take in his environment as he held up his shield.

They looked to be in some sort of hallway, a very long one at that. Golden sunlight shone in through the windows and reflected slightly off their armor. The knight in front of him wore the same armor that he did, only he wielded a straight sword in his left hand and a shield in his right.

"You are..." Arias muttered under his breath, only to be interrupted by the booming voice of Gwyndolin from a few feet behind him.

"O Heretic, who would so carelessly trespass upon the great lord's tomb. Thou shalt now face judgment at the hand of the valiant knight of the darkmoon. Go forth mine champion! And bring vengeance down upon this wretched sinner!"

Arias drew his greatsword and waited behind his shield for the knight to attack. But instead, the knight spoke up, lowering his own shield.

"Oliver, step aside. I have come to undo your shackles" The knight spoke confidently, staring him dead in the eyes. Arias didn't move.

"The old gods hold no power over us anymore Oliver! We can defy them, break the shackles of the curse and become lords of the dark!" The knight continued. The sound of a bow being drawn echoed throughout the hall, Arias remained still.

"Look, even now, your own god draws his bow to your head!" Gwyndolin tensed up for a moment. He knew what humans were like, as soon as he found out about the truth of the curse he would turn on him like a mad dog on their master. Driven by greed and a self righteous need for 'the truth'. He held his bow drawn, prepared to fire on him at any sign of traitorous intent. Though, his heart began beating faster and faster, a strange sense of worry filling him, one that would not leave him no matter how hard he tried to calm himself and concentrate.

"Hmph... Stubborn to the end as always... well then have it your way. I shall free you myself, old friend." With that, Oscar lifted his sword and shield again and charged at Arias. Arias did the same, preparing to meet head on with the darkwraith.

Arias was the first to strike, his sword hitting Oscar's shield and forcing him back slightly. Oscar knew that his sword was no match for Arias', it would likely be broken on impact, so he'd have to be tactful in how he approached this battle.

Arias striked at his shield once more, Oscar pretended to be staggered, and when Arias moved in to stab him, he dodged to the side and dug his blade into his left shoulder. Quickly, Oscar then hit him in the stomach with the edge of his shield, providing him enough time to pull back his sword and then stab him through the chest. The sword went straight through his armor and down to the hilt

Arias cried out in pain and was soon coughing up profuse amounts of blood. Oscar pushed him off his blade and watched as he went limp on the floor. Gwyndolin couldn't believe it, for his finest knight to be bested so quickly, and his heart felt like it'd gone still, only making it more difficult to react when Oscar charged at him.

He shakily aimed his bow at the knight and missed every shot. Panicking, he pulled out his catalyst and cast a giant orb of soul magic, hurling it at him. Oscar guarded it with his shield but it still managed to hit his legs and stagger him, long enough for Gwyndolin to cast another spell, sending a large amount of smaller blue orbs at him. Oscar hid behind a pillar and resumed his charge when the orbs had dissipated.

Before Gwyndolin could cast another spell, Oscar was upon him. Time slowed for but a second, Gwyndolin could see the blade coming towards him, he could predict the imminent strike, and there was nothing he could do. But much to his surprise, a shield was flung from across the room and hit Oscar square on the back of the head.

Looking behind him, Oscar saw Arias standing, holding his greatsword as a crutch while finishing off his estus. Looking back over to Gwyndolin, he saw a small glimpse of the god before he teleported away.

Arias was bounding towards him now, running like a crazed wolf, greatsword in hand. He raised his sword above his head for a strike and Oscar prepared his shield. He was unprepared for the sheer might of the blow as the force of it sent him to the floor. On his back, he still held his shield up. After a few bashes to the shield, Arias relented, and just as Oscar was considering getting up, he felt a pair of hands grab him by the foot.

Arias lifted him up into the air before smacking him back down onto the ground face first. His visor crumpled inward a bit and a loud "PANG" reverberated inside his helmet, hurting his ears. He quickly rolled out of the way before Arias brought his sword down once again. Standing a few feet away from Arias now, he was kind of scared at his show of power, along their travels he'd never seen him do something like that.

Just what had he been doing since they were separated in Sen's fortress? Arias tossed three knives at him before jumping at him with his sword. Oscar managed to dodge the brunt of the attack, but his foot was sliced a bit. Arias swung at him again but this time Oscar parried him, Oscar went in for the kill, aiming for his neck he jumped up and brought his sword forward in a quick movement that was suddenly halted.

Oscar couldn't believe his eyes, Arias had stopped his sword by lifting his left arm in front of his neck. His sword had gone through his arm but the armor greatly reduced it's force and Arias was actively pushing back against the blade with his arm. Arias kicked him down to the floor and readied his greatsword.

Oscar managed to barely dodge the hits, rolling far enough away for a second of rest. Panting, he looked over to Arias who had already made his way over and was mid thrusting attack. Oscar managed to dodge the attack and land a slash on his side. Arias cried out and quickly kicked him in the stomach. Oscar was winded and fell to the floor, he barely lifted his shield in time so that his head was not split open then and there. He'd lifted his shield too high though, and cried out when Arias brought his sword down on his ankles, cutting off one foot and leaving the other barely hanging on.

Arias then kicked off his shield while he was stunned and just as Oscar was raising his own sword in defense, Arias' greatsword crashed down onto his head, smashing it like a watermelon.

Gwyndolin stood by at the end of the hallway, totally taken aback by what he'd just seen. He'd never taken Arias for such a savage fighter, and the end of the fight was just brutal. Still, he felt a sense of relief that he'd survived the encounter. And he'd done all that for him.

Arias held onto his greatsword as a crutch and panted, leaning over the dead body of what once was his travelling companion. He knew that he would get back up again soon, such is their curse. He snatched Oscar's estus and drank it, preparing himself for what was to come.

15/01/2025 update: Changed Arias' pre-hollowed name from Oscar to Oliver to make the story less confusing.
Just to make things a bit clearer, before this change there were two Oscars: Oscar of Astora from the game, in this fic he survived and became the companion of a different knight named Oscar, let's call this one Oscar B, Oscar B would later get separated from Oscar of Astora and become a knight of the darkmoon, eventually he starts hollowing leading to the start of "To See a Darkened Sun" where he's renamed to Arias. This eventually created a lot of confusion when him and Oscar of Astora met in this chapter and their conflict came to be a central part of the story, so to fix this honestly moronic naming decision, I'm changing Oscar B's name to Oliver.