Dark-Moon Dark-Sun
chapter 4
It was a unique kind of pain. Seeing someone so strong, emotionally and physically, someone who'd cared for you, protected you and fought for you. Someone like that... Seeing them in such despair. It broke his heart.
Arias had been silent for a few minutes now; it seemed his panic attack had ended. Though despite that, Gwyndolin was still trying to contain his own tears. He had to be strong for Arias, as he had always been for him.
"Thank you." He heard Arias whisper, as he clung to him a bit tighter.
"Of course. I am always here for thee dear." Gwyndolin whispered back, gently patting him on the head. Silence settled again before Arias lifted his head and spoke.
"Could you... continue with that story? About Boletaria?" He asked.
"Very well." Gwyndolin nodded, promptly resuming where he'd left off.
Saldus arrived at a large wall of colorless fog, a glowing fissure piercing it in the middle. Showing no hesitation, he ran for the fissure, desperate to find the truth of what had happened to his homeland. Running through the fissure, all light seemed to vanish, and the ground under him turned to shallow water.
Unfazed by the sudden change, he kept running for the light. Soon he passed through the fissure. and found himself in a strange waterway in an old keep. Saldus' determination did not waver, and he resumed his sprint, only to run into a dregling, a slave soldier, one of many used in the Northern most part of Boletaria.
The dregling made a strange groaning sound and then attacked him much to his surprise. Saldus was easily able to repel the attack and counter, killing the dregling with a quick beheading, though he was confused, Latria was no enemy of Boletaria, why wouldst a slave soldier deign attack him? He shook these thoughts off and continued, now far more wary in his approach. He ran into many more dreglings on his way, but they were no match for his skill. Soon he found himself in an isolated courtyard with no way out. But there was something strange in this courtyard, a cracked stone with a strange sword or pike sheathed within the stone.
Curious, he touched the sword, only to suddenly find himself surrounded by fog, when the fog dissipated, he found himself in a completely different place. It seemed to be further inside the same keep, but the door was closed behind him, locked shut. More cautious than ever, Saldus continued still. Soon he found a soldier, unlike the slave these men were well trained and could likely be reasoned with. But this soldier did not speak a word, instead he charged blindly at Saldus. "Wh- What provokes thee!?" Saldus shouted, but to no response from the soldier. Saldus blocked many stabs from the soldier's blade, before parrying an attack and using the opening he'd gained to stab the soldier with a killing blow to the throat.
Saldus' confusion only grew more, and worry clouding over him, but he knew he could not stop, and thus continued through the keep, running into more dreglings, soldiers, and even a few knights, that were just as unresponsive as the others. Finally, Saldus approached a thin wall of fog. With no other way to go, he wearily pierced the fog and walked through to the other side.
As Gwyndolin told his story, he noticed Arias' breathing had slowed, and upon listening closer, it was apparent that he was lightly snoring. Good, rest could help him after such a strong attack. Still he wondered what could have shocked him so.
Looking over to the fire, Gwyndolin wondered what he could've seen in it. His first guess would be Lenovis or Gwyn, though Arias remembered none of that fight, so it was unlikely. O what could it be that scared him so. If only he knew with certainty, he'd do anything to keep something like this from happening again. To keep Arias safe.
Sighing to himself, Gwyndolin slowly stood, lifting Arias up with him and carrying him with great difficulty to the bed. Good lord he was heavy. How on earth he leapt around like an animal in full plate with two swords of that size would forever be a mystery.
As careful as he could be, Gwyndolin placed Arias down on the bed before getting in with him. Pulling the sheets over the two of them, he took him in his arms once again and held him close. He wasn't all that tired himself but after what'd just happened he wasn't going to leave Arias until he knew he was okay.
"Goodnight my dear. I pray thou'rt better come morning." Gwyndolin whispered, kissing him gently on the cheek as the sun set over his empty city.
A/N I'm finally feeling like continuing Dark-Moon Dark-Sun, it's only been... 2 years... Oh Gwyndolin forgive me. Though don't worry, despite 2 whole years having passed, I do remember the plot so hopefully without further distractions I can get right back on track, speaking of which, I figured I'd make this chapter short and simple to ease myself back into the groove of writing. Next chapter should be quite a bit longer with more lovey dovey Gwyndolin x Arias stuff.
Along with the new chapter I've gone through the fic today and changed Arias' pre-hollowed name from Oscar to Oliver. To anyone coming back (Which if you are thank you so so much) allow me to briefly explain how it worked as I remember seeing comments of people struggling to understand it.
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 his and Oscar of Astora's conflict came to be a central part of the story, and especially after Arias' conflict with his past self replaced that as the story's central conflict in Dark-Moon Dark-Sun, so to fix this honestly moronic naming decision, I'm changing Oscar B's name to Oliver.