Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-14138255-20170320024103/@comment-14138255-20170414190256

Chapter 5: Wall of Death and Ashes

With her rest disturbed, Pyrrha began wandering the shrine, looking to collect herself before beginning her journey. She began reading the plaques behind the thrones, the ones belonging to Lords of Cinder she apparently had to bring back. “Yhorm the Giant. Of the Profaned Capital,” read the one belonging the truly enormous throne, the title clearly not hyperbole. “Watchers of the Abyss,” read the comparatively smaller one, which was lined with swords and draped in wolf pelts. The one at the head of the shrine’s thrones seemed carved in still heated magma, and that read “Holy King Lothric. Last hope of his Line.”

“Lothric,” Pyrrha repeated, the name of the kingdom she was told she was in.

She went down to the next throne, the one belonging to “Ludleth the Exiled.” However when she got there, she heard humming in front of the throne. Curious, she climbed down and walked to the front of the throne when-

“Ah, evening Ashen One” came a kindly voice from the throne.

Pyrrha turned her head and gasped in surprise, nearly falling off the ledge the throne was on. The voice came from what looked like a living corpse, adorned in tattered regalia and a crown worn off center. While he still retained his nose and his skin appeared healthier than the creatures she’d encountered in the graveyard, his appearance was still of an atrophied body, and below his waist he was missing two legs, his lordly gown hanging loose over where his stumps were.

“Woah there youngin’” chuckled the man, “I didn’t mean to startle thee. I may not have most genteel of appearances, but I assure thee I am  quite harmless.”

Having calmed down, Pyrrha began to address him. “Who are you?”

“Weren’t thou not reading the plaques on the thrones? I am Ludleth the Exiled, originally of Courland, though I doubt thou hast heard of such a place.”

Pyrrha smiled, disarmed by Ludleth’s unambiguously kindly demeanor, “No, I’m sorry I haven’t.”

“And what would thine name be, if thou don’t mind my asking?”

“Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos” Pyrrha answered earnestly.

“Ah, a pleasure to make thine formal acquaintance Ms. Nikos. I trust the Handmaiden and the Fire Keeper have informed thee of your mission’s location?”

“I’m to go to a place known as the “High Wall of Lothric” am I not?” Pyrrha stated a bit confused.

Ludleth cheekily smiled, “But thou’st not know how to get there do thee?”

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Pyrrha shuffled, “They told me to place the sword I obtained from the graves into the center, but…”

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">“Don’t be so hard on them child. They have dealt with many an Undead who had known their purpose and the way our world works. When thou rest at the Bonfire, the Fire Keeper will assist thee in transporting yourself there initially. To return, simply rest at a bonfire, clear your mind, and think of the place you wish to go to, visualize it, and you will find yourself there.”

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Pyrrha absorbed Ludleth’s advice, and after a brief pause smiled, thankful to have someone to talk to.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Pyrrha took the coiled sword and began to plunge it into the center of the shrine. As she placed it, the sword silently caught on fire, and despite the growing heat, Pyrrha firmly plunged it all the way through and the bonfire had caught into a familiar, life giving blaze. Pyrrha sat down, rested by the bonfire. Behind her, the Fire Keeper walked slowly to her and placed her hands on her and the bonfire’s sword. Pyrrha felt a surge of energy flow through them both. <span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">“Be safe Ashen One” the Fire Keeper bid, as Pyrrha felt the universe unravel.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">When she came to, she was sitting in the middle of a room of stone blocks. The room was dirty and barren, and smelled of dust. Slightly nauseated and disoriented from the transport, she got up and looked around, moving forward to the door to the outside. She placed both hands on the door and proceeded to push, eventually creaking it open more and more. When she finally opened it all the way she gazed out at Lothric Castle. The High Wall and the castle were even more intricate and beautiful up close than belied from where she was in the graves, but both were clearly in terrible decay, and the whole area smelled of burning debris and flesh, the air a sulfuric shade of yellow. She scanned the battlements and found an unlit bonfire.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">After lighting, she rested for a while, recalling Ludleth’s advice on how to return should she need to. She got up and opted to explore. Going to the left, she went down to a section of the wall, which was lined by several statues of cloaked women holding lit candles. The sight of the undead huddled on the wall however, while unnerving at first made her heart sink. Several undead, either clothed in cloth scraps or padded armor, surrounded strange and frightening effigies of corpses on maypoles, and they pawed and knelt before them, reaching out in desperate reverence, moaning pleading prayers incoherent even to them. The undead who didn’t do this simply lay on the ground, either deathly still, crying, or simply sitting in despair.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">In all of Pyrrha’s life, she had never seen such...misery. On Remnant, despair, fear and negative feeling, in sufficient quantity and magnitude, could attract hordes of Grimm which could destroy entire kingdoms. Indeed this very thing had happened before she died and awoke in Lothric. However here, people were allowed to stew in despair and fear, the Darksign she was told of ensuring it continue until it drains them of their mind, as it had already to these people on the wall, crushingly forced to find  something<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"> to cling to if it meant to avoid losing what little they still had. Pyrrha found herself staring empathetically at the crowds of undead, sobbing around the maypoles.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">However, she wasn’t alone with them on the wall, and a hollowed soldier spotted her and rushed at her. Pyrrha had spotted him, deflected his strike with her sword and knocked him back before stabbing him. The praying undead had huddled in terror, going silent. Pyrrha knocked the soldier off her sword, but when she turned her head left, a hooded ghoul with a lantern and a broken sword hilt came from the steps, and released a loud, high pitched scream, which caused Pyrrha to cover her ears. The hollowed soldiers on the bridge covered their ears as well, but then rose in anger and began to attack Pyrrha. Whatever the lantern bearers did, it compelled them to action, and Pyrrha was forced to deal with them. She blocked a good amount of their attacks and stabbed one while pushing one into another. A hollow soldier charged, flailing wildly, but Pyrrha’s combat experience let her grab the assailant by the arm and use its momentum to throw it off the wall, before turning around and slashing another. The hollow with the lantern began to back off as another soldier charged, but Pyrrha saw its retreat and followed. Pyrrha bashed the soldier to the ground before jumping at the lantern bearer, killing it. <span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">The fight over for now, she began to gauge her-

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">And she froze when she saw what was right next to her. A large, dead, lizard-like thing, with spikes, horns and, upon looking up at where it had landed on the parapet, wings. It was a dragon, and its appearance, while different to the one at Beacon, brought back unpleasant memories nonetheless. Of the beast flying over Vale, dropping Grimm where it did, the entire top of Beacon’s tower being blasted apart by its collision when it assisted Cinder, and vaguely recalling it landing on the tower just as she was defeated. And yet this creature was clearly long dead, its body covered in insects and mayflies, as well as unidentifiable black specks floating from it. Pyrrha, though horrified at seeing a creature such as this again, knew that everything in this world seemed to be suffering.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Free of her shock for now, Pyrrha pressed forward into the wall’s innards, defeating the hollows standing guard in the tower. The gate to the other side, where a ghoul was wandering aimlessly, was covered by rubble, the only way open being down a ladder through the trapdoor. Coming through the other side of the tower several hollow soldiers laid in wait, one with a shield and another with a crossbow. She sped toward the shield bearer while keeping tabs on the crossbowman. She made a light slash against the shield, but as it began to reel back for an attack, Pyrrha stepped out of the way and the crossbowman fired into its own ally. Shaken from the fire damage, Pyrrha went in for a finishing slash before turning to the crossbowman. Behind it however was several more soldiers, and one managed to fire a bolt at her stomach while the other one was reloading. Pyrrha dodged the second bolt and began to go up the stairs, but there were  even more<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"> soldiers up there, and they began to advance on her.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">At that moment however, a very much alive dragon appeared. Both Pyrrha and the hollows looked up, the hollows in confusion and Pyrrha in horror. The dragon glanced down at them for a second before screeching a loud cry and releasing a plume of fire. The hollows were instantly consumed and Pyrrha, reacting as fast as she could, went prone on the stairs and raised her shield, angled slightly to direct the flame over her body. The hollows below were affected by the flame as well. Pyrrha’s shield arm began searing in painful heat, but Pyrrha clenched her teeth and waited for the fire to dissipate. When the dragon let up, Pyrrha rose, the ground beneath her still hot from the fire, and went up the stairs. She pushed past the remaining hollow soldiers who were still on fire and ran to where the dragon wouldn’t be a threat: inside the tower. She made it inside just as the front of the tower was enveloped in flames again.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Panting in relief, Pyrrha went down the steps inside the tower. Ahead was the ladder leading out, but at the back of the tower was a peculiar chest. She grabbed the ladder’s rung, but stopped, looked to the chest, and walked toward it.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">As she grew closer, she saw that it was unlocked, and its chain was dangling away from it, as well as hearing a strange swirling sound. Cautious she grabbed the lid and slowly lifted. When she did, in the darkness she saw a shadowy battle-axe...and teeth. Her eyes snapped wide and her pupils dilated, leaping back just as arms reached out to grab her from the chest.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Having missed their mark, the mimic then picked set itself up onto its legs, which were sickeningly long to match its sickeningly long torso and arms, far too long to possibly fit in its chest form. Its mouth consisted of long, brown-red teeth and a depraved tongue, which hung drooling from its mouth. Pyrrha, under no circumstances, wished to fight this horrid creature and ran up the steps. The mimic followed, giggling as it pursued. The platform on the other side was separated by a gap, but choosing that over the mimic was no conflict and Pyrrha leaped, making the jump as the mimic fell to where it was. The mimic got up and tried to grab Pyrrha’s legs, which dangled from the platform. However Pyrrha, frightened greatly, was only just able to get her legs up as she felt the mimic’s hand brush her calf. Pyrrha hyper-ventilated, finally being able to control her breathing after a good while.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Opening the gate out of the tower, the mimic having given up and gone back to its spot in the back, Pyrrha exited, greeted again by the High Wall’s burning aroma. She walked forward and saw a glint from the doorway of the tower on the other side. Out of the entryway was a figure clad in shining plate armor with a red cape, completely set apart from the tattered jackets of the soldiers. The knight seemed to not see Pyrrha, but curious, she approached it.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">“Uh, h-hello?” Pyrrha greeted it. The knight snapped its head to her and charged. Pyrrha quickly blocked its hard hitting upper swing and dodged its follow up. She readied herself and tried circling it, but the knight would have none of that and smashed her with its shield, sending her on her back. The knight prepared another attack, but Pyrrha deflected the strike with her shield and got up while slashing its ankle, stunning it. When she got back up, the knight had readied its weapon, holding it with two hands. Pyrrha looked to its movements and waited for it to strike. The knight swung from the bottom up, but Pyrrha spun to the side and slashed at the knight when it did. She released a flurry of slashes to punish it for its opening. The knight made one last horizontal strike, but Pyrrha ducked and stabbed the knight, causing it to erupt in a cascade of light and disappear. Pyrrha, exhausted from her trek across the wall and an inch away from death, walked into the tower and up the stairs outside of it. On the top of the tower was a bonfire. Relieved, she went to it and rested. She had much more to go through, it seemed. She needed her rest.

<span style="color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">Author’s Notes: Here we are 2,000 words, and several hundred views over 1,000 (though the actual visitor count is still under that). Thank you for the viewership. Funny story; the following chapter was originally 5,000+ words long, but it has been cut in two to provide more consistency. The chapters will probably be around the 2,000 mark from here on out (barring the half-chapters of course). As always, I’ll see you Friday at 12 (btw, by 12, I mean 12 PST. Sorry for just telling you now XD).