Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-14138255-20170320024103/@comment-14138255-20171006191009

Chapter 15: Band of Brothers, The Abyss Watchers

 Pyrrha shivered uncontrollably while still tossing, turning, and twitching in her sleep. Her eyelids were pressing hard against her face, and from them, hot tears poured down her cheeks and her teeth were barred from the stress. “ AHH!” Pyrrha screamed as she sat up, breathing heavily as she always did. But before she could settle down and collect herself, she panicked and scrambled for a reflective surface. She spotted the shield the Handmaiden left behind and held it up to her face.

Pyrrha sat still, holding up the polished shield for hours. She saw her own, faintly glowing red eye floating in the middle of the darkness that was her eye socket, surrounded by dry, dessicated flesh.

The sight of this sank her heart though she continued to stare at the reflection, despite herself. It wasn’t a dream or a nightmare, just the reality of her situation.

The inescapable truth was in front of her. She was dead.

Or rather that she was hollowing, this looming shadow that grips everyone in this already frightening and oppressive world. And yet, somehow, so selfishly she felt, she always thought it wouldn’t happen to her. She thought she was safe, that all she needed to worry about was getting back home to her family and friends, hopefully before they were gone. ‘ Before I’m gone,’ a thought went through her mind. She looked around the shrine. Hawkwood wasn’t at his post this morning, completely absent. For whatever reason, Hawkwood’s absence only served to make Firelink seem even more empty. She saw the Fire Keeper sitting on the steps, her head down and hands in her lap. Pyrrha closed her eyes. “How long do I have?”

The Fire Keeper did not move. “I do not know. It is different for everyone.” Pyrrha lowered her head below her arms, skin covered by her new armor. “ I have to go out there...don’t I?” She said. The swamp, the darkness, the toxic water that burned her skin and poisoned her. She didn’t want to go back...but if what everyone said was true, about how and why people die and then turn, then she had no choice. She had to find a way…

If she didn’t, she’d be worse than dead.

“ Irina?” she called out, her voice bouncing off the alcove. She heard the shifting of cloth at the end of the hall. “ Pyrrha? Oh, it’s good to hear your voice.” Hearing this, Pyrrha couldn’t help but smile as she went over to Irina’s side. “You...you feel so cold, and you’re shaking. Pyrrha is something the matter?” Pyrrha’s smile immediately faded at the reminder of her...condition. “ I...it’s…” She forced a smile, despite Irina not being able to tell, “it’s nothing really. D-did you ever give the Fire Keeper that soul we found on the tower?”

Irina’s face sank and she closed her blind eyes. “I did, but...there was nothing she could do. The soul inside was so damaged, so...weathered. At least she took it into herself, but...I don’t think anymore could be done with it. It was so lost.”

Pyrrha closed her eyes. “Irina, I’m-” “ I’m so sorry we had to go through all that for nothing, I was so sure that…” Irina trailed off and began shaking. Pyrrha couldn’t finish her own apology. No matter her own grievances and feelings, she had to put them aside for those who looked up to her and needed her help. And that still applied to this world, of all places. As sorry as she was, Irina was more sorry, if that could be believed.

She reassured Irina and gently rose to return to the bonfire, to begin her journey again. She walked out of the hall that lead to the alcove when a voice called out to her. “ Hello ugly…”

She turned around and saw the goblin-like helmet of Eygon, Irina’s former bodyguard, leaning against the arch overlooking Irina’s alcove. “ What are you doing here?” Pyrrha asked. “ Relax, I’m just checking up on her. Have to keep on eye on her you know. At some point she’ll wander off where she doesn’t belong. Bloody annoying, keeping her around.” The words stung and burned in Pyrrha’s mind, and she narrowed her eyes on Eygon, who was casually relaxing on the arch. “No, much better that you’re taking care of the girl rather than I.” “ I agree! At least I care about her.”

Eygon’s head snapped to zero in on Pyrrha’s face. She heard a faint, metallic growl from his helmet before it faded. “So, is that what you are now? Is this recent? Anything to do with that ugly face of yours?” the two marched closer to each other, both unwilling to back down. “I’ve listened to those talks you’ve been having with her. You stupid bitch. You think you’re so skilled and righteous. Tell me, how will you feel when you lose your mind and hurt all those pretty, magical friends I keep hearing about?” Pyrrha shook, but didn’t give Eygon the satisfaction of knowing how she felt. “Answer me you mewling q-” “ Eygon?” Eygon’s head snapped behind him to the alcove with a slight growl. “Eygon is that you?” He breathed ferally and harshly, but his shoulders sank slightly and his breathing slowed.

He slowly turned his head to Pyrrha and looked her in the eyes, raising a finger to her face. “Safe, like I asked.”

He walked over to the arch and dropped down, emitting a light gasp from Irina. Pyrrha ran to the arch and looked down. Eygon slowly walked up to a startled Irina and knelt down. He gently took one of her small hands and covered it in his large, steel gauntlets. Irina took her second hand and placed it on his wrists, breathing a sigh of relief as she smiled.

 She faded back into the swamp. The air already began to choke her lungs, but she knew the real difficulty came from the water. The second she stepped inside and waded, it began to burn her skin again. She trudged and sloshed her way through the bog, ankles pushing away wet sand and root infested mud. She went the same way as before, but kept low and out of sight, wanting to avoid those...things that killed her before.

The flame she extinguished was still gone, darkness surrounding the alcove it where it used to be. She hid in the cluster of crosses that littered the shrine. In the fog of the mire, she saw the tall silhouette of the monster she fought. No, she saw several of them, all huddled around a small island, with a corpse in the middle.

Against her better judgement, she went closer to look. She remained hidden, using the crosses as a lioness would use tall grass. The towering beasts raised their tree branches, summoning a cloud of the red skulls they had summoned last time. Despite the fear that they had seen her, she remained where she was, staring intently at their ritual.

The shamen slammed the staves on the ground, and the skulls swirled and danced above the body before rushing down into the body. The body and the island was coated pure black, like the light above that one specific area was completely blacked out.

The darkness pulsed and shook all so subtly. Pyrrha tried to look closer, seeing if there was any detail to make out of the lightless void. The only detail she could see was the black hole that used to be land….and several small, red dots. When it subsided the hollow’s body was untouched, completely unchanged, and that’s what worried Pyrrha.

One of the tall creatures slowly brought its finger to poke at the chest of the hollow, which had a Darksign nestled in a festering tumor. As the finger approached, the red ring burned brighter, until it blackened when it made contact. The black ring oozed and dripped down, before striking and writhing around its body. More and more tendrils spilled out, eventually enclosing itself around the body, forming in the shape of a large, black snake.

Pyrrha jumped back in shock, slipping and disturbing the rocks on the ledge. They crumbled and rolled down the side, taking Pyrrha with her into the bog. She lifted her head out of the water, eyes and scalp stinging. Through her blurred sight however, she saw a tall and dark figure approaching her, its right hand with a longsword of some kind, and his left glowing bright red. Pyrrha tried shaking off her haze and stumbled back into the cliff face. The figure came into focus, a knight wearing what appeared to be a skeleton fused to its plate armor, an unidentifiable black hair-like ‘hood’ flowing over his head, almost hiding the stare that came from the skull shaped helmet.

It moved slowly toward her, and Pyrrha felt no compulsion but to press herself against the wall harder, apprehensive of what this thing was thinking or planning to do, and shivering she suffered almost drowned out the itch and burning of the water’s poison.

The figure raised his glowing left hand to her, causing Pyrrha to reach for her sword. It shined brilliantly, and Pyrrha’s hairs, what was left of them, tingled and stood up, her Darksign burning her back, eliciting a hiss of pain from Pyrrha’s face. The figure, however, stopped and bowed its head as it stepped back. It took out a small black and white crystal, barely as big as its finger and caressed it. Within seconds, this black knight was gone.

Pyrrha sweated and shook, the tension of encountering that...knight, whatever it was. There was so much wrong in this swamp, in this world. But of all the creatures she met, the knight seemed the most….inhuman. It was like staring at absolutely nothing, the darkness of a goliath sized Grimm consolidated in a...in a human shape. It was so...wrong to her, somehow, so unnatural to the way things worked, what people were supposed to be.

She knew that humans could be evil, such a person had killed her. She didn’t understand how evil could be human. She shook her head and tried to breathe deep, despite the gaseous toxins wafting through the swamp, taking a sip of Estus when the burning water began affecting her. The thoughts worried her, but amongst all the pain she currently felt, she tried to find a silver lining, a positive. ‘ At least such things weren’t on Remnant.’

The thought didn’t comfort her however. The reality was that she had no idea if that was true…

 The world cracked again while she was walking. Pyrrha was headed to the other fortification where she thought one of those fires would be when an earthquake nearly sent her into the bog and with such force that she nearly broke her ankle, which was submerged in the...mud.

She heard squawks and screeches coming from the hill she was approaching and tried to quietly walk up the stairs to sneak by them. Walking up the stairs, she saw a light ahead of her. The same small delicate flame, huddled in the crucible, almost hiding from sight. She approached it, seeing how much smaller it was and how little it moved. She briefly rested her hand above the vessel before lowering her hand. This time, the world did not shake as it did before. But the entire swamp went completely dark, shrouded in more of the yellow fog as the sun seemingly dimmed, like a light bulb near the end of its life.

But behind her, there was chattering and growling. Pyrrha froze where she was as her blood chilled. Light came from behind her, and she turned to see six of the shadowy creatures she fought before holding torches.

Pyrrha and the creatures remained still, staring at each other. The creatures growled and hissed, but didn’t move. The tallest one, which wore a long, scrappy robe, subtly twitched the horns on his head as it glowered at Pyrrha. A faint, ‘splish’ sound came from behind her. She swiveled around and threw a lightning spear almost automatically, hitting a naked creature that was sneaking up on her square in the chest.

The ploy having failed, the creatures that stared at her before suddenly rushed toward her, screaming their shrill scream. A spear wielding creature thrusted, Pyrrha blocked. It bashed its wooden shield, Pyrrha pivoted left. The creature tried to pull its shield arm back, Pyrrha quickly swung her sword to force it away from its body. She followed quickly with a stab, driving it in more with a second thrust.

Another with only a loincloth and a jagged knife ran at her. Looking up from the creature dying on her sword, she removed it from its stomach and twirled from it, beheading the charging creature in an ellipse of blood.

The robed creature stood where it was as its pack member fell headless and bloody on the ground. When Pyrrha rose up from her stance, it raised its staff and from its end grew a cloud of darkness. Pyrrha began to raise her shield, but the cloud darted toward her like an arrow, striking her in the stomach.

The impact hit her like a rail train grinding against her abdomen, and through her agony, she felt a numbing chill throughout her body.

Her vision went black. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t feel. For a few seconds, time was lost. Existence clicked back with no fanfare of any kind. In front of her, the robed creature’s head and left arm slid off its body. The head of the staff, held in its right arm, dropped off the stick.

As the corpse fell to the ground, Pyrrha remained still, her vacant eye holes fixed on what ‘she’ had just done. She wasn’t in control when this happened. So what was?

She walked through numb and staggered. She moved forward increasingly quickly, trying to get away from where she was trying to get away from the fight she had just finished. She was looking over her shoulder when she tripped on something, landing face first onto muddy brick.

She nursed her throbbing face and broken nose long enough to not immediately see what was in front of her, the body of a dead mushroom-like creature with an alabaster, fiber-like skin. When she did see it, she didn’t move a muscle.

It was a curious thing, the mushroom creature, it was small and unassuming, and yet it was so viciously slashed and torn, blood soaking the brick floor. Pyrrha couldn’t help but have her heart sink. Worse was still to come, as had become typical, for in front of her were dozens of such bodies, manymuch larger than the first body she saw. Some of the smaller mushroom bodies leaned against the bigger ones, limply embracing them.

Her mind was doused in electricity as the pieces were added together inside. Families, parents and their children. She looked down, her skin and face burning, and not from the poison in the swamp’s water. In the entrances to the building she was in were several of those dark creatures, ribcages and skulls crushed and caved in, explaining the blood on the mushroom ‘parents’ hands. “ Oh, they got them too huh? Bloody shame. Of all creatures in this gods-forsaken place, I actually hoped the Ghru wouldn’t get them.”

Pyrrha slowly turned around to see Hawkwood, wielding his round shield covered in cloth and a bastard sword.

Hawkwood, upon seeing Pyrrha took a step back. “By the Lords...your face…” Pyrrha looked down crestfallen at the remark, but Hawkwood’s face softened. “I...see. I really am sorry about that.” “ I...what are you doing here?” “ I got homesick. So where are you going?”

He was referring to Pyrrha beginning to leave the scene of this brutal massacre and out into the swamp once again. “I’m going to find the last of those fires. To open the door?” “ Oh that. Don’t worry about it, I got one of them already, the door should be open.”

The shaking of the swamp she felt earlier, that must have been what it was. “You already got the flame…” “ What did you want me to do? Wait?”

 The Farron stronghold, at least the parts not buried by fluidic mud, was a crumbling fort, but the perimeter was left surprisingly intact, excusing the decay and dilapidation present in all of Lothric. The gates that kept so many creatures out was ajar, the impenetrable marble opened after snuffing out the flames. Hawkwood made a point of wiping the most recent layer of dust and grime off of a relief on the door.

They stared at the main entrance, shrouded in fog and guarded by a multitude of these ‘Ghru’ creatures that were elsewhere in the swamp. They wielded spears and knives, and had several guard dogs. “ What are they doing here? How did they get in here, the keep was sealed off...” Hawkwood mused. “ Should they not be?” “ It’s like they’re protecting them, but the Abyss Watchers were made to keep a check on the Abyss and the creatures that came from it. They’d watch them, if you will. None of those would help them...unless...”

He didn’t continue, forcing a glance from Pyrrha. “Hawkwood. What is it?”

Hawkwood was still holding his chin like it was a sword hilt, his eyes closed. He finally turned to Pyrrha, “-Unless they’re so weak that the only thing they have to worry about isyou getting to them.” “ Weak?” “ Come on.” He waved at her to follow him, quietly sneaking around the guards through a path behind various columns and shrubbery. “Oh they’ll most likely kill us, but here we have to get passed them, and once that’s settled we have to fight all of them by ourselves.” “ All at once?” “ Yeah, they’re big on honor, which for them means fighting against impossible odds...and actually winning. Convenient, isn’t it?” They remained quiet as they got closer to the Ghru standing guard. They tried to get as close to the fog as possible without being discovered, and Hawkwood gently reached for the- “ Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr…” “ Oh hell with it all…” Hawkwood muttered. The two quickly turned around, but the dog was growling at something away from the keep, and the two guards immediately outside the entrance turned around after hearing them, and raised their shields.

The two readied their weapons, but at that moment, a howl cried out elsewhere in the swamp, causing them all to look around. At the entrance to the perimeter came two of the black, shadowy knights, wielding the red hands and dark steel swords. A Ghru was thrown limp into the path as the two walked forward toward the Ghru guards now facing all their attention toward them. They walked in no particular hurry. “ By the Gods...They actually exist…” Hawkwood muttered. “ Hawkwood, what are they? Tell me!”

A Ghru fell from the ridge above them in front of the guards, followed by two of the beings falling from the same ridge to join the others. Pyrrha’s Darksign became a piercing cold and her thinned hairs stood up on her head. A few feet ahead of them, a red puddle of energy swirled, and out from it came another one of them rising up, briefly colored red before changing to his natural color. “ Darkwraiths, attacking whoever they could find and taking their souls and humanity. They always were in league with the Abyss, but they haven’t been around in...ever, really. I just thought they weren’t around anymore. You know, ‘till now...”

The Ghru guards charged, but the Darkwraiths cut them down, splitting their shields and their heads, barely breaking stride. Pyrrha and Hawkwood dared not move, merely gripping their weapons harder.

The Darkwraiths continued to march forward, but stopped, mere feet away from them, and bowed their heads. They remained still, but behind them, Pyrrha saw a red glow, and her Darksign began to act up again.

They then parted like manor door would, revealing the figure that appeared behind them. “ Y-Yuria? What is this, what are you doing here?”

Hawkwood’s face turned with a sneer, “isn’t it obvious? That Londor shrew is with them, maybe always had been.”

Yuria didn’t flinch and stepped forward, the Darkwraiths closing ranks behind her. “If that is true, would that be so bad?”

Pyrrha stepped in between them. “Yuria...what, are you doing here?” “ Isn’t it obvious, my lady? I am here to help you.”

Hawkwood grunted, “Help you, heh, shows up with more Darkwraiths in one spot at any one time and she says ‘I’m here to help you.’” “ Regardless of your clear bias toward me,” Yuria interrupted, “I am offering warriors, as well as myself, to bring these lords back to their throne. This task is important to my lady, the Champion of Ash, you would not deny this would you?” “ Explain this Yuria” Pyrrha said, matter of factly wondering what Yuria’s reasons were. “ I am here with some brothers from Londor, who are willing to see the fire be linked, and to do this, the lords must be returned to their thrones. They are ready to die many a time to fulfill this.”

It didn’t answer her question precisely, but the important thing was she seemed to be sincere regardless. And regardless of intent, there was one simple fact that stood out to her. “ Hawkwood, we can’t fight these Abyss Watchers alone.”

Hawkwood looked to the Darkwraiths, then to the Ghru corpses on the ground. He shifted his sword and spoke. “Hmph, fine. It’ll add some...poetic justice anyhow.”

Yuria lightly bowed, “I am honored to serve the Champion.” “ Go jump off a cliff…” Hawkwood muttered before turning around. Yuria almost certainly heard that, but it was impossible to tell how she reacted.

The eight of them waded through the fog. It was a long, flat room, with practically no furnishings of any kind besides reliefs on the walls and ceiling. Filling in for the decorations were torches lining the walls and dozens upon dozens of corpses, all wearing conical, hat-like helmets and leather armor with steel gauntlets and capes.

Up ahead near the end of the room were three figures, the Abyss Watchers, gathered back to back brandishing their greatswords. Surrounding them were three more of them, except their eyes glowed a bright red, and they were shrouded in darkness. The six Abyss Watchers were fighting amongst themselves. The dark ones charged forward, only to be chopped, stabbed, and beheaded respectively, all three of them landing on the floor.

The three Watchers spotted Pyrrha’s entourage walk in and stood up to face them. They bowed their heads and raised their greatswords in one hand, pointing them at her while their offhands, wielding daggers, went across their chests in salute. Hawkwood casually spit something out as they stopped. The Abyss Watchers and the group readied to fight.



 The middle Abyss Watcher charged forward blindingly quick, Pyrrha being barely able to tell it had begun to move, the group dodging out of the way. One Darkwraith was not so lucky and was impaled by its sword before being thrown to the side.

The other two were taking the opportunity to go around them in opposite directions, both twirling in a circle with their blades. Hawkwood kept one at bay while several Darkwraiths kept the other.

The middle Watcher turned its attention to Pyrrha, who was currently still recovering from her dodge earlier. It paced up to her before giving a quick slash, which she blocked but still was sent sliding across the room. Pyrrha looked up from her shield to find her opponent crouching down. He then jumped and flipped in the air above her, slamming its sword down on her and knocking her over. Pyrrha saw him walk over to her currently vulnerable body, ready to quickly deal the mortal blow, but at that moment a blade erupted behind his back. After a cry of pain, the Watcher quickly twirled around, sending a head flying next to Pyrrha, wearing a skull helmet. She got up and took a sip of her Estus before the Watcher pulled the sword from its back.

Hawkwood was fighting one of the Abyss Watchers one on one, both blocking and striking to a stand still. He’d shield bash, the Watcher would pull back. The Watcher would attack, Hawkwood would attack at the same time, the two clashing swords before letting them slide off.

The fights brought them to the middle of the arena the Abyss Watchers’ hall had become. Suddenly, at the entrance and the end of the room, three Abyss Watchers each, with glowing red eyes, materialized, effectively surrounding them. The light Abyss Watchers knew this and turned their heads while still concentrating on their entanglement with Pyrrha and her party.

The Dark Watchers charged, forcing the Watchers to detach from their fight and block them. The Dark Watchers attacked Pyrrha and the others as well. One Dark Watcher pounced on a Darkwraith and proceeded to rip it apart in a savage attack with its dagger. The Dark Watcher couldn’t enjoy its kill for long before a Watcher brought its sword on its neck, beheading it instantly.

Yuria, who had been lying low for most of the fight, had brandished her uchigatana and stared down a Dark Watcher that had begun walking toward her. She raised her sword sideways (te ura gasume pose) next to her head. The Dark Watcher began to spin in a flurry. Yuria brought her sword down to stop its momentum before bringing her left hand onto its head, pulling a copious amount of white and black energy from its body. The Dark Watcher then fell down, its eyes drained of the glowing red, while Yuria’s hand shimmered of silver.

Hawkwood kept battling against the Watcher. They clashed and came within breathing distance of each other. Hawkwood had dropped his shield after a particularly strong blow and the two were staring each other in the eye, the Watcher’s grey hair and ashen skin being perfectly visible. After a minute of clashing, Hawkwood reeled his head back and knocked his forehead against the Watcher’s nose, breaking the clash. Hawkwood pressed the advantage, reeling for a horizontal slash.

The Watcher, however, recovered much quicker from the headbutt quicker than he thought and began to bring a downward slash on Hawkwood. Hawkwood quickly turned his sword and went in for a stab instead. The Watcher’s sword imbedded itself in Hawkwood’s shoulder while Hawkwood’s sword plunged into his chest. The Watcher looked into Hawkwood’s pained face, a look Hawkwood didn’t like in the slightest. Pride...in him. Hawkwood pulled out the sword and lifted the sword off his shoulder, nursing it before collapsing against the wall.

The third Watcher was busy fighting one of the Dark Watchers when the two remaining Darkwraiths came up behind it, stabbing it in the leg and back. The Dark Watcher was killed, but the Watcher could only slash at the Darkwraiths before going down himself. The Watcher still mustered a final stab, killing the second Darkwraith.

The Watcher fighting Pyrrha threw her against the wall before plunging his sword to impale her. Pyrrha dodged at the last second however and the sword went through the stone wall instead. The Abyss Watcher then took his dagger and scraped a part of the wall, sending all manner of dust particles into Pyrrha’s eyes. She blindly kept her shield up, managing to block his heavier attack before rubbing her eyes to regain her vision. Through the pained fog, she saw him somersault up into the air once again. This time however, she dashed toward him and raised her sword, letting it fall onto it. The impact crushed Pyrrha, but the body soon went limp.

With great effort she lifted the body off of her and saw all the Abyss Watchers were dead, including the dark ones that had risen to attack them. She had won. “ Congratulations, Champion of Ash” panted Yuria, who had begun to walk up to her. “Truly a miraculous victory.” “ Yes” said Pyrrha, also panting from the extreme effort it took to manage them, “oh, what a fight. I am grat-” “ Hang on now,” whispered Hawkwood, in pain and writhing against the wall, covering his chopping wound, “something is happening.”

He was right. At that moment, blood began to rise out of the bodies of the Abyss Watchers, all of them. Pyrrha felt a pressure in her foot and moved when she realised she was standing on a Watcher’s body, sending a stream of blood to join the others. It swirled and twisted above one body, and it all spiraled into one stream, flowing down into the corpse.

Instantly it came alive, more than that it grew to about 8ft in height, towering over even the imposing final Darkwraith. Its body and sword erupted into furious flame and ember, its skin cracked and became a million small rivers of lava. Without any hesitation, it raised its sword and lowered it in readiness.

Pyrrha and the Lord of Cinder charged at each other. As they approached, Pyrrha slid under it, slashing at its ankles to send it flying down into the ground. As she got up to follow through, the Lord spun around, encircling the middle of the room in fire. The last remaining Darkwraith was caught in this inferno and was turned to ash immediately. Hawkwood and Yuria were trapped behind the wall as the Lord and Pyrrha were forced to fight.

The Lord Watcher walked up to Pyrrha who kept ready. It punched at her shield, forcing it aside, but Pyrrha deflected its sword slash, though she was burnt by the heat coming off it. It spun around, sending a wave of fire toward her, forcing her jump above it, where it grabbed her neck and threw her down. It then made and upward slash from the ground, sending a fire disk zooming to her location. She managed to roll away from it, but the Lord jumped and was about to crash its sword into her. She got up and tumbled away from it.

When it crashed into the ground Pyrrha wasted no time in attacking, getting off a few slashes before being knocked back by its knife. It brought in an over head and underhanded combo against her, creating an ‘X’ shaped plume of flame where it did, but Pyrrha responded by jumping back and attacking once more.

She steeled her gaze at what it was about to do. The Watcher brought in a horizontal slash, but Pyrrha bent forward and pushed her shield toward it, deflecting the sword outright and opened it up for a punishing stab. She had it, she slashed and poked at the Abyss Watcher as it was forced to go on the offensive. She remained as unpredictable as possible. She slashed its legs, lightly jabbed its chest, slashed its arms, before chopping its ribs. It only had one shot. It spun around in a ball of flame, but Pyrrha stopped its attack before rolling off its body, burning as she did, and stabbing it in the back.

Despite the pain, Pyrrha knew she was triumphant as the Abyss Watcher crumpled to the floor.

She panted and ached, but it was soon remedied by a surge of energy that healed her wounds, and a bonfire appeared at the head of the room, surrounded by the bodies of the Abyss Watchers.

Yuria was nowhere to be found, but Hawkwood got up and limped toward Pyrrha, the energy she felt clearly not having healed him. “So...this is it then huh? I pity the poor sods” he glumly said as he looked at the bodies, including those of the corrupted. “This is lordship’s final reward?”

Pyrrha felt a twinge of guilt at Hawkwood’s words, at what they had done, what Hawkwood had helped them do. She lowered her head, but at that moment a marble altar at the end of the room beyond the bonfire shifted and made sounds. “ Go on. I’ll… catch up with you I suppose. Or not, either way.”

Pyrrha blinked, but nodded, leaving Hawkwood in peace. Hawkwood walked to the bonfire where he could see all the bodies clearly. He violently sighed through his nose before he raised his sword to them and crossed his left arm over his chest.

Pyrrha made her way toward the altar. As she did, the altar gave way and slid into the back wall, leaving an opening below where it used to be, with steps leading down.

Although Lothric always smelled of the dead and of corpses, the gas that emanated from this hidden passage was...ancient.

 '''Author’s Notes: Alright, it’s done, it’s finally here. The first chapter with a Lord(s) of Cinder. Probably not my best work I’ll admit, but I managed to get out more than what I thought. Something that kind of bugs me is that the enemies from Farron Keep don’t really appear elsewhere, and thus very little really happens in the area besides “ooh look, isn’t this like Artorias of the Abyss? Does this speak to you Dark Souls fans?” I mean I guess, but still…

Up next is the Catacombs, and I actually have been looking forward to that since I was planning on doing some much needed character building there.

As always I’ll see you guys at 12PM PST on Friday (bi-weekly). Give me a message/review for any questions, and see if it’s too spoilery to answer (reviews done by guest accounts cannot be replied to, so don’t ask questions if you do those).'''