Dark-Moon Dark-Sun

chapter 7

The lower streets of Anor Londo were calm as always. Almost completely silent, save the clattering of Arias' armor. Going by just sound you wouldn't know Gwyndolin was with him too, as his snakes were almost entirely silent as they slithered along the cobblestone road, and what noise they did make was drowned out by Arias' heavy armor. The lower city, while darker, and largely overshadowed by the cathedral, was just as beautiful as the city above. As he turned corners to new streets, Arias still caught glimpses of small slivers of sunlight running across the rooves of the buildings and trailing down the road. It was a different kind of beauty to that of the buildings above, it was much calmer, soothing even. Though the complete stillness of everything, even the air, made him somewhat uncomfortable, but when he turned to look at Gwyndolin and saw his smile, everything felt okay again.

Gwyndolin pulled his bow and quiver from the radiant light of his teleportation sorcery, it had been some time since he'd held them, they almost felt awkward in his hands, though not for long. Arias sat on a nearby crate and eagerly awaited his demonstration. Gwyndolin felt a smile forcing itself upon his face as he set up his quiver beside himself and drew three arrows. It felt nice to have someone eagerly await a performance from him. He was always ignored as a child and secretive as an adult, this was something quite new to him. Though he was sure the eyes watching him being those of his beloved made the feeling much warmer.

Gwyndolin notched three arrows together along the short bow string. He pulled the string, and let the first arrow fly, and within the second he had pulled the string back and fired once more, and again a third. The arrows flew through the air and almost immediately hit their target; a hay bale painted with faded red circles about 25 meters from him. The first arrow hit the target square in the middle, the second pierced through the first and the third pierced through that. "Wow, quite the technique! And your aim is great!" Arias cheered.

"Ah, 'tis not all yet. That was only the warmup." Gwyndolin assured him there was more yet to come, trying to no success to hide the wide grin on his mouth. Gwyndolin pulled another six arrows from the quiver and notched them upon the bow string. He pulled the string quickly and let loose a barrage of six arrows to fly at the same target, the bow string was pulled and released 6 times within one second. Every arrow hit perfectly on the mark too, piercing the arrows from the last barrage and then themselves.
Arias pumped his fist into the air and cheered loudly. "That was fantastic!" causing Gwyndolin to blush slightly. "I've never seen something so amazing! Those movements were immaculate, and so fast!" While in Arias' case, having never seen something before wasn't much of a compliment, though it still made Gwyndolin happy to hear.
"Thou'rt too kind dear!" giggled happily.

"No really, it was like art, you moved so elegantly, and the arrows fired were done so with such precision. How long did it take you to perfect that." Arias asked, he seemed so genuinely amazed by his bow skills, it honestly made him quite flustered.

"In all honesty I am unsure, it was quite some time ago. In all likelihood it took over 50 years." It was a very rough guess, and it might have been significantly longer, though at the time there was so much else to consider that his frequent training never held much space in his mind.

"That's amazing! I can't imagine spending so much time perfecting something!" Gwyndolin was reminded of the drastic difference in how gods and humans percieved time. What must feel like ages to humans is only a short time for gods. 10 years? For a god? A while. For a human? A vast stretch of time. It made Gwyndolin sad almost. His time with Arias would pass by in the blink of an eye while for him it would be so long. Maybe even long enough for love to diminish... "Gwyndolin?"

"Ah! Mine apologies I became lost in thought, t'was such a long time ago one is bound to have many memories flood back when thinking that far back." An excuse but a harmless and almost true one. He didn't want to burden Arias with these depressing thoughts. "Thou'st mine thanks for thy applause. Now, didst thou not intend to train here thyself?" Gwyndolin lifted a hand to his mouth as he chuckled softly.

"Ah right. I almost forgot haha. Well thanks for the show anyway!" Arias laughed. He walked off to an old dummy made of hay and some sticks, and proceeded to slice it clean in half with little effort, seemingly by accident. "Hrm." He staked his greatsword in the ground and leaned on it, holding his visor in thought. "I think I'll run out of dummies a bit too soon." He thought aloud.

Gwyndolin, who had taken a seat upon the crate Arias had previously been seated on, couldn't help but laugh at his antics. He was so preciously oblivious sometimes. "Apologies dear, but I do not believe those old things are not quite suited to thy fighting abilities." Gwyndolin stifled a giggle as he spoke. "Here, this shouldst suit thee much better." With a wave of his staff, a pale knight with no discernable features appeared before Arias. It held a kite shield and a long sword, and it stood almost perfectly still. "Tis an illusion of course, though thine sword shalt be able to touch it. Go ahead, strike it."

Arias did just that, hitting the illusory knight with an overhead strike. His sword dug into the armour slightly, but didn't cleave straight through. "Perfect! Thanks!" Arias turned to Gwyndolin and gave him a thumbs up. He proceeded to practise the basics of greatsword fighting, different angles for cleaving attacks and slashes, thrust attacks, spin attacks, heavier charged attacks. He went on to try out some of his more unorthodox methods of fighting, savagely bashing the illusory knight into the dirt, before proceeding to change swords.

The Moonlight greatsword, Gwyndolin was quite interested about how Arias procured such an ancient mythical weapon. He didn't have it for long, and it showed as he wasn't entirely sure how to use it. It was a fitting armament for him to be sure, a moonlight sword for the knight of the god of moonlight. Again, though it sparked a curiosity within Gwyndolin, it was a little too perfect.

"Gwyndolin." Arias asked, taking Gwyndolin out of his thoughts.

"Hrm? Yes dear?" He replied.

"Is it possible for you to tweak the illusion to make it counterattack? Nothing serious, just make it meet my strikes when I attack it." He asked, motioning with his hands a sword clashing with another sword.

"Very well, that shouldst be simple." With a wave of his staff, the illusion disappeared, another flick and a new one appeared, almost the exact same but with a red glow around it. "There, go ahead." Gwyndolin motioned towards the illusory knight and again Arias struck it with an overhead slice. The knight met his sword with it's own, and it proved incredibly sturdy, at least enough to stop his attack. Arias lifted his sword and brought it back down only to be met with the illusory sword again. It seemed to be working perfectly. Arias turned and gave Gwyndolin another thumbs up. Gwyndolin gave him a thumbs up back this time. He was glad he was feeling so much better now.
With that he returned to training, he would attack, roll, sweep, all in a bid to get through the knight's seemingly impenetrable defense. Gwyndolin found the way he fought to be interesting. It was undoubtably crude, savage even. Yet he could not deny how impressive it was, his quick reflexes, stubborn refusal to falter, the way he did everything in his power to claim victory and that sheer might he used to overwhelm his enemies. Indeed, he was a valuable warrior. Though even still, he did wish he was a bit more refined in his approach. Gwyndolin feared that as he fought now, he could bring destruction to much of his surroundings as well as his enemies.

He supposed such a type of fighting still had its use to a lord, though it still limited him as a fighter, which was a shame. Even so, with his help and the other blades, maybe Gwyndolin could build this city back up to some real glory, not this hollow painted shell it has become. Of course, the Way of White held much more power elsewhere now, he believed it was still led by his great uncle Lloyd in Thorolund. Gwyndolin was certain his position as Gwyn's last true male descendant would guarantee him leadership of the way of white were he to come out of hiding, though knowing Lloyd, he would not let power slip from his grasp so easily.

He would need a way to strongarm him into relinquishing the title, to prove without a doubt that should Lloyd retaliate he would regret it. Gwyndolin believed Arias was that way, his immense strength and will to face off against even gods would surely be enough to challenge the knights his great uncle certainly championed. With that, Gwyndolin would have his love, and his own full city and a new prosperous age of fire. A perfect fairy tale ending.

Arias lazily sat beside Gwyndolin on the crate, taking Gwyndolin from his train of thought. "I think that's enough training for now." He huffed wearily, lifting his visor. "Wouldn't you agree?" He asked, staking the moonlight greatsword in the dirt and leaning on the hilt.

"A-ah yes I suppose I wouldst." Gwyndolin stammered, having been so lost in thought, he didn't even realize how much time had passed.

"Something on your mind?" Arias asked, giving him a curious and slightly concerned look.

"Ah nothing to worry about I assure thee. Just... Well, being perfectly honest many things, running a city, no matter how quiet... Can be quite difficult, there are many things to take into account and such." Gwyndolin explained, calmer now, when the Moonlight greatsword caught his eye again. "Though it is unrelated... Couldst thou tell me. Where didst thou happen upon this weapon?" He asked, motioning towards the sword Arias was leaning on.

"Oh right, I never told you, did I?" Arias leaned up, lifted the sword from the dirt and held it in both hands before them. By the flame he held that giant thing as if it was a roll of parchment, that incredible strength continued to surprise and... impress Gwyndolin.

"No, thou didst not." Still before anything else, Gwyndolin was very curious about this weapon.

"It was surprisingly simple considering what it is. Though I am not entirely sure what happened. It was when I fought Seath for the final soul to open the way to the Kiln..." Arias stopped for a moment, seemingly worried about something. Gwyndolin wondered, was it... something to do with fire that caused those episodes? "But, after I'd slain him, as I was about to leave, a blue glint in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Where the primordial crystal had been, there was now this sword sitting within the crystal dust. It was as if it was beckoning me." He continued. Gwyndolin ran a finger along the blade, it hummed a familiar tune, two in fact. That of crystal and that of the moon.

"How strange..." He wondered aloud. "Just what does this blade..." He trailed off. He couldn't even ask an exact question with this thing, there was so much about it that he didn't know. Where did it come from, why did it appear then, did it actually 'choose' Arias to be it's wielder, is it sentient, and this magic... "Hmm... Well it seems to have taken care of thee, thou shouldst treat it with care, it could save thy life in dire circumstances."

Arias held the sword directly before him and remembered how he defeated Lenovis with a beam from this sword, and how it saved him from a fatal strike from Gwyn. "You're right. I do owe much to this strange sword." He said as he sheathed it with his greatsword upon the chains on his back. "Oh, and thank you again for this new sheath, it's perfect!"

"Ah I am so glad, t'was surprisingly challenging getting it to work, and even then, considering the weight of thy weapons I was worried if it would still work." Gwyndolin remembered just how heavy Arias' greatsword swords were when he held them, it was amazing to think how easily he swung them around, that extraordinary strength was truly something... Gwyndolin noticed something of a tight feeling within his chest, well it had been there for a while now but with not much else of import distracting him now he truly noticed it, and how it seemed to grow with every thought of Arias' impressive feats, specifically those pertaining to his immense strength. Alongside this feeling, his dress seemed to grow tighter along with it.

"Hah, yes I can see why. Though luckily it would seem there was nothing to worry about!" Arias smiled.

"Hmhm, yes indeed..." Gwyndolin smiled, leaning closer to Arias. "Say, Arias... I understand thou'rt happy with thine new armour, but..." After all that sword practice, he seemed so hot now, his muscular figure beneath that armour must be so sweaty and stuffy now. "...Mayhaps we couldst... return to mine chamber for a while." Gwyndolin wrapped his left arm around Arias' shoulder. "And we shall get thee out of this armor, tis quite warm today after all." He begun to trace a finger down Arias' chest with his other hand. "And thou shalt lay with me?" He finally asked softly, moving his face close to Arias'. After all, why not? It was a quiet, slow day, they were well and truly in love, and they had even done it before. And that had been wonderful.

Arias could feel his breath now; his lips were right in front of his. "...I think I will." Was all he said. He was shocked by how strongly Gwyndolin was coming onto him all of a sudden, and just how flirtatious he of all people was acting. He must really want this, though now that the thought was in his head, Arias was now also feeling that desire. There was no reason to turn him down, not when his gorgeous lover asked him so nicely, not when last time was so sublime.

"Great." Gwyndolin smiled, before placing a kiss on Arias' lips. His hand crept down Arias' chest down to his crotch where he teased the growing tent in his pants. Arias wrapped an arm around Gwyndolin's waist and pulled him closer as they kissed. Feeling brave, Arias poked at Gwyndolin's lips with his tongue, requesting entry to his royal chambers. Gwyndolin was quite receptive to the idea, opening his mouth and allowing Arias inside where their tongues met, and danced together within the bridge of their lips. "Mmmhh..." Gwyndolin moaned into the kiss.

Surprisingly, it was Gwyndolin who first broke their kiss. "Ahh... I believe we art... getting rather ahead of ourselves." He said as he caught his breath, even under his crown, Arias could just barely see how red his cheeks were.

"Think you could teleport us to your chambers? I'd rather not walk around like this." Arias said half-jokingly.

"Oh, Arias please, I wouldst not tease thee by making thee wait that long." He said as he let go of Arias and retrieved his staff. "Now just-" But before he could cast his spell, a bright blue glow emitted from a ring on Arias' finger.

"Oh?" He lifted it up between the two of them.

"The covenant, a sinner within the walls..." Gwyndolin thought aloud. "Hmph, I suppose duty is more important." He sighed. "Be back soon please? I do not wish to wait too long for thee." He waved to Arias as a blue glow surrounded him.

"Of course, that is only if your charms haven't burdened me too much." He joked.

"Oh dear, I am sure thou shalt do just fine." Gwyndolin giggled. With that Arias disappeared. Despite the jovial jesting only seconds prior Gwyndolin sighed. Now he had to wait.

A/N New chapter just in time for Valentine's Day! So, who do you think it is that's breached the wall of Anor Londo? A new character? Or a returning one? Also, along with this chapter I've also rewritten some To See a Darkened Sun chapters! Namely all of chapter 14 and the beginning of chapter 15. I wasn't really happy with them when I initially wrote them so long ago, so I figured that since it's Valentine's Day it's a good time to try rewriting some of the more romance heavy chapters!