Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-14138255-20170320024103/@comment-14138255-20170908185740

 Chapter 14: Mali Principii…



Though many hollows remained, still praying outside, the Cathedral of the Deep seemed rather quiet since her battle with the Deacons. The ominous shadow the Cathedral cast over the surrounding area has lessened, but not vanished.



She returned to the well where she had left Siegward last time he was here. She nervously approached the well, worried she’d find a disheartening sight or even nothing at all. Both possibilities made her heart ache, but then she heard a loud cry and a crash of water from below the water.



<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Oh, blast it all, that won’t work either!”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha breathed a sigh of relief and went to the edge of the well. “Siegward?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Hmm?” she heard from below, “oh, Ms. Nikos! It’s been too long, have you spotted where my armor had gone?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Yes I managed to get it” Pyrrha sighed, recalling her experience with Patches.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Excellent, if you would be kind as to just drop it down, I should be able to catch it.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">As soon as she dropped the set down the well, she heard a crash and a light swear echo. “I’m sorry!” Pyrrha said, a playful chuckle leaving her mouth despite herself.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Errgh. Ah finally, reunited! Thank you, Ms. Nikos, I am in your debt yet again. Don’t worry about me; now I am plenty equipped to climb out of this well.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha turned to leave, but stopped herself and looked back into the well. “Siegward, what was that promise you talked about? The one to your friend?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">She didn’t hear anything for awhile, not even the shuffling about she heard shortly after dropping the suit of armor down the well. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to tell, especially to you. We were sworn battle-brothers, having fought and bled and died and returned side by side countless times against the forces of darkness and the fires of evil. Even when others distrusted him, even as the world conspired against us, I remained by his side and he to mine. When our...his mission was nearly complete, he made me swear that should the time come, should the worse come to pass, I would find him...and kill him.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha recoiled slightly from the well when she heard this, and her eyes went wide. “W-what?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I suppose it would be difficult to understand at first, but when a person completes their purpose, achieves their destiny, they are forgotten by the world, and they go mad despite their best efforts, or they if they’re lucky, they die. My friend did not want this to happen; he did not want to return and harm all those who he and I saved, no matter his feelings for them. So he asked me to help him should it happen.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And you accepted.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I was his closest, most cherished friend Pyrrha Nikos. I could not refuse.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Firelink was quiet as ever that day, save for Andre’s blacksmithing and the gentle crackling of the bonfire. She stood and stared at the flames, thinking of what she had heard at the Cathedral of the Deep. She was only vaguely aware of what the people here called hollowing, a vague state of undeath where those afflicted eventually go insane, no different from the shambling corpses outside in Lothric. The loss of personality that comes with the curse she’d been told she had.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And then there was the chill. Pyrrha shivered again, as she stood near the bonfire. She looked at her hand and went to the alcove for answers. She walked silently, looking down and thinking of what to ask.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Yoel? What is-,” she then gasped, and her pupils dilated. On the floor of the alcove, Yoel lied still on the stone brick floor, the light from the rest of the shrine casting down on him. Pyrrha stumbled forward before rushing to his limp body. “Yoel? Yoel!?” She felt for a pulse, for all the good it’d have done her. Her breathing became heavy and rapid, “no no, answer me Yoel, please! Help! Help, somebody!”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha continued panting and begging Yoel to respond, her eyes welling and breathing becoming shaky. “He passed a little while ago.” she heard from behind her. She stood up and turned around, seeing Yuria curtly standing behind her, impenetrable with her mask.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha calmed down and looked to Yoel’s body. “How long ago?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Shortly after you left.” Pyrrha furrowed her eyebrows, and her gaze fell. “He had fulfilled his destiny, in helping you achieve yours, and died peacefully. A truly great honor.” Pyrrha felt sick to her stomach at this, and her eyes and were frozen, staring through Yoel’s body. Images of Penny Polendina’s body flashed into her mind, split into four pieces. She saw Loretta’s head, oozing blood.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha’s eyes couldn’t move from either.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sorry I guess.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">At this point, hearing his voice made Pyrrha’s blood boil. “I’m sorry, should I ask?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">For your loss,” said Hawkwood, “thought it’d help. Personally, I don’t see why you’re so in a fuss. I don’t trust those shifty types from Londor, all sorts of trouble follow them.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">All I saw was a kind old man who needed my help and a purpose.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Hmmph, you need to stop seeing with your eyes.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">How dare you!” she snapped, standing up and over Hawkwood, who hadn’t moved an inch or even bothered to look up at her. “The way you scoff and belittle every opportunity you can get, all I can see is that you are an awful, pitiless man. You don’t understand just how important Yoel was; he was almost like family for me here!”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Hawkwood’s eyes widened, and then he emitted a faint chuckle. “Heh, family...right. I had a family once you know, real big one at that.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">What are you talking about?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">You know those big shots you’re going after? Farron’s Undead Legion? The Abyss Watchers?” Pyrrha nodded her head in response. “I used to be one of them.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha gave him the oddest look. Even with her limited understanding of this world, the concept just sounded ridiculous. “You? You were with the Abyss Watchers?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Oh yeah, even made a pact with the Old Wolf himself. They were my family you see. Until we had a falling out. You know families, I’m sure.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Now Pyrrha was genuinely curious, and Hawkwood seemed to be telling the truth. “What happened?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I wanted to use a shield,” Hawkwood said, with an exasperated tone and a stone face.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I-is, that it?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Petty, isn’t it? They were traditionalists, them. They all held greatswords and daggers, all to be like the founder Knight Artorias himself. Oh, they didn’t kick me out because I insisted on a shield, but from that moment on, we knew where we stood. I was the outsider, and we all knew it, and they made sure I knew it too. Eventually, I read the writing on the wall and pissed off like they wanted me to.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Hawkwood...I’m sorry.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">For what? Bunch of gits, they were. I turned around and never looked back. Now if you want to pay them a visit to their keep, you’ll need to snuff out the fires keeping the gate closed. Small little things, surprised they never went out on their own. Pinch those fires out, and the gate will open up for you to go to work.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha absorbed this information before slowing down, when a thought, a question, drilled into her mind. “Hawkwood, why are you telling me this?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Moral of the story: If you aren’t with them, you’re against them. Best thing they ever taught me.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">She trudged through the murky swamp once more, slimy gunk and scum squelching as she pushed through it. The bog was dark and thick, in the water, the vegetation, and the air.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha’s head was heavy and her mind numb. The humidity and the darkness weighing down her already troubled mind.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">A friend was gone, after having gotten a semblance of being used to this world, after he had put his faith in her. She still thought of all the people who died because of her actions; Penny, all the civilians, and huntsmen during the Battle of Beacon, Loretta…herself.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s all my fault,” she said out loud, unintentionally shaking her from her stupor. She had walked through the sludge and found herself standing near a bonfire at the lip of the greater swamp, even darker than before, even though she could see the sky for a change, the bisected bridge from Lothric Castle towering over the entire land. Sunken in the bog were several buildings and constructs, including a bridge that seemed to have broken in half as it sunk, and growing in it were countless trees with hideous growths on them, as though covered in tumors. She blinked and lowered her head, turning to light the bonfire before going forward.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">While the swamp was initially shallow, it soon went up to her thighs, and she could barely walk, let alone run. The air, it seemed, also grew thicker, and she had trouble breathing, coughing and gagging from the sheer power of it all. Worse than that was the itching and burning she felt on her skin as the water leaked in, bringing minute but still present pain. She tried to climb up on the bridge sunk in the bog to get away from the water and to get a vantage point.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Ahead was a set of stairs that gave her a clue as to where to go. The water’s effects stuck with her, and grew to the rest of her body, causing a stinging pain along her skin. Trudging past the swamp, she saw several ‘islands’ floating above the waters, with campfires in the middle and ringed by several crucified creatures, cut from the waist down and with elongated skulls.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">She struggled to stop looking at the display in horror, but eventually climbed to the top of the stairs, where there was a stone archway lined with more of the crucifixes, and in the middle, in a sort of ‘shrine’ was a small, delicate flame. She widened her eyes and walked up to it, taking a moment to look at it. This was one of the flames Hawkwood told her about, the ones that, when extinguished, opened the gates of Farron Keep. She took her hand and proceeded to smother it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The immediate area around her darkened, and she felt a brief but intense quake, like a tectonic plate just moved directly underneath her. Besides that she was alone, but something was wrong. Just as she began to move, her Darksign chilled again, and she heard rapid footsteps. She turned and saw, a Beowolf! It growled, and its eyes glowed as it charged at her, the sight of such a familiar creature caught her off guard and allowed the creature to knock her to the side.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">She quickly got up and saw her sight had betrayed her. It wasn’t a Beowolf, but a still very much malformed beast, with a goat-like head covered in purple growths and sporting a beard, with goat’s legs standing upright, and with a jagged knife, clad in a yellow cloak and loincloth.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">It then turned and hunched over, seemingly eyeing Pyrrha to see what’d she’d do. It then abruptly pounced and slashed at her. She blocked the attack, but gripped hard and pulled at her shield. It gripped, gnashed, and pulled, wildly trying to stab at her. The creature, after a violent pull, managed to cut a gash on her face, stinging and burning at the rest of her face. She screamed in pain, and the monster used this to grab at her face, but Pyrrha gritted the pain long enough to cut the beast’s hand off and stab it in the gut, causing it to let out a shrill and alien shriek.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha panted in pain and nursed her wound before taking a drink from her Estus flask, which did nothing to alleviate the burning of her skin. She walked forward, still coughing from the air and having trouble making out her surroundings in the heat and darkness. As she walked, various flies and gnats moved to her face, clearly trying to eat her wound among others, persistent despite being repeatedly shooed away. Stumbling from trying to get away from them, Pyrrha stopped in her tracks.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Ahead of her, shadowed by a campfire burning behind it, was a taller form of creature, stark naked and standing crookedly while staring seemingly straight at her, its arms jankily poised to the sides, claws unsheathed.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">It bent down and let shout another alien roar as it made a rush straight for her. Pyrrha tried to sidestep it, but it used its hand to grab Pyrrha by the mouth and throw her down into the water. Thrashing and panicking at not being able to breathe under the water, she blindly slashed at its leg, forcing it to let go. She quickly got up and slashed it in the stomach, but after a brief jolt of pain it grabbed her arm and used it as leverage to get its unnaturally long legs on to her shoulders, wrapping itself around her. As Pyrrha struggled, the beast got its claws and began scratching at her neck and back, sending Pyrrha into a state of pure agony. Desperate and in pain, Pyrrha tried striking the creature as it was on her, eventually stabbing it through the back and hearing its strange call yet again.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The weight of the lifeless creature combined with her pain caused her to lose balance and fall into the bog with the creature. After some wrangling, she got the beast’s corpse off of her and took a sip of Estus, just in time to see something else coming her way.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">They looked like dogs, but as they grew closer, she found them to be the same creatures she just fought, hunched over and gaining on all fours. The “hounds” galloped and slid through the muck and swiped its paw at Pyrrha, who blocked and chopped its hand off before delivering a slash across its abdomen. The other one jumped up onto her back, but she took it and threw it off before it could latch on. Out from the trees and hills, more hounds came in and circled her.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha struck a stance and prepared to fight them off, but the ground shook, and the hounds scampered away. The fire that was burning nearby immediately cooled off as though put out by an invisible fire extinguisher.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The thumping grew closer, and Pyrrha turned around in apprehension, her eyes widening as she saw a colossal creature coated in moss and vines, several curling horns sprouting from its canine like head, chest emaciated and prominently displaying its ribcage, and holding an entire dead tree as a staff, its furry legs partially hidden by the cloak of plant life.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha tried to step back and ran right as the giant brought the base of the tree down onto the muck of the bog, sending it flying upwards into the sky and knocking Pyrrha into the water. She turned around and saw it running toward her, prepared to smash her with the trunk. She managed to roll away from the hit, the force still knocking on her side before she scampered up.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The beast slowed down and gave Pyrrha an opportunity to heal, but then it shuffled toward her and bowed its head.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">HRRRUUUU” she heard it gurgle, before it swiped its staff. It didn’t hit Pyrrha, nor was it meant to it seemed, but out from the roots came a cloud of glowing, burning pink and ethereal skulls that floated above before diving for Pyrrha as she recovered on the ground. Rather than dodge them immediately, Pyrrha looked to the giant creature and decided to roll past them and slash at the left leg of the creature, cutting and breaking the skin, and rolled to avoid the beast’s plunging attack with the base of the tree. She dodged and managed to remain on her feet, but the beast pushed the tree down before pulling it up violently, throwing Pyrrha up into the air and into the water again.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha was panting and bleeding still, and covered in grime from the slime of the water. She was running out of energy, and the monsters weren't going to give her a chance to heal herself. She had only a few options and looked at the wound on its leg and the water it was in. She put her shield on her back and readied her sword as though she would block the tree in the creature’s hands with it. The water was thick, and she could not run well, but she trudged through anyway, lifting her legs high to get more distance with each step. The beast brought its weapon down, but Pyrrha only had to dodge once, for she was at the beast’s wound. She plunged her sword into the beast’s left leg right as it swatted her away. But as she got up she dug out her talisman and channeled her energy into it, summoning the lightning spear and raised her thumb to aim at the sword.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Tossing the spear, it split and cracked on contact, sending sparks up its body and down into the water, spreading around. The beast began to shake and seize before eventually coming down.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha panted and breathed, down on her knees and chest deep in the slime that was supposed to be water. She tried getting up and fishing her Estus flask. But before she could bring it up, she had a violent cough of blood, and her throat was sore. She realized she couldn’t feel her body, it was in so much pain, including from the toxicity and disease of the swamp. Her hand tremored and she dropped the flask into the bog, still able to see its golden glow through the green film of the water. Her body shook, and her spine was burning, and she couldn’t keep her balance, falling into the water.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Her head was fully submerged, and she couldn’t move. She tried holding her breath and keeping her eyes shut to prevent the water from getting into her eyes, but the pressure of losing her breath got to her, and she opened both in panic. She couldn’t get feeling in time, and her entire body froze, so much she thought she’d freeze the water that was drowning her, her lumbar feeling like she had dry ice on it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">As her vision faded, all she could see was the glow of the Estus flask at the bottom of the water...and one of the black, shadowy creatures from her vision at Firelink floating slowly toward her.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">She awoke by the bonfire at the lip of the swamp, slowly as though she awoke from sleep. She felt cold for a small while before the being warmed by the fire. She got up and looked around. The Estus flask and her sword were back in her possession, but as she looked closer around the swamp, she could make out a tall, horned creature pacing around the swamp.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha returned to Firelink dejected and heavy hearted. The peace of the shrine was welcome to the dread of the swamp. But somehow she felt uneasy. There was almost no sound save for Andre’s smithing. Things were the same as they’d always been in the shrine, but something was wrong.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">She shivered and paced, stumbling at one point. But then she turned around, somehow knowing the Fire Keeper was there behind her. The Fire Keeper recoiled back, as though she was startled by her of all things. Pyrrha stared for a beat at her before asking her something.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">What’s wrong?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The Fire Keeper hesitated, another oddity. Finally, she told her the truth. “Your appearance…” she began. “You appear nearly Hollow.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Pyrrha blinked. “What?” She didn’t feel any different from when she first came, aside from being stressed all the time. She didn’t understand what she meant.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Your curse, somehow, seems to have advanced. You have Hollowed.”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I-I what?” This time Pyrrha asked for the polished shield to see. She held it up to her face and slowly gasped. Her skin had become shriveled and atrophied, as well as her muscles, skin gray from dryness, her nose having disappeared. Her hair, while still present, full and red, was malnourished and the locks had become wispy. Her teeth had become yellowed and somewhat blackened, with a black tongue. Her wide green eyes were seemingly gone, replaced by black, vacant holes, at the center of which were red pinpricks of light.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">She only held the shield up for two seconds before immediately dropping it and covering her face, where she began sobbing, finally dropping to her knees and weeping, the first time she really did so since awakening in the cemetery.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Why?” she shook. “Why...is this happening to me?”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The Fire Keeper paused, somewhat stunned by her reaction. “It seems you are progressively losing-”

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);">“<span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">No!” she screamed, “No why is all of this happening to me!? Why am I here!? What have I done to deserve this!? I just want to go home...” she cried out. She tried to say something else, but it was muffled by her hands as she continued to sob and let her emotions spill out.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">All the while Firelink remained quiet, including from Andre, walked with Greirat to see the commotion. There was nothing to do for their friend but be there. The moment all undead feared fell on the stranger from a better world.

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<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Author’s Notes (A/N): It’s finally happened, Pyrrha is seeing the curse and it’s looking her in the eye. A friend dying hasn’t done her much favors either, and she still has a swamp in the way of the Legion.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(210,210,210);font-family:Calibri,Corbel,sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><span data-mce-style="color: #dddddd;" style="color:rgb(221,221,221);"><span data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" face="arial" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I’m starting to get used to having a schedule again so that might be why this chapter’s a bit shorter than others (especially Season 1’s “finale”). As always, message me if you have questions about any part of the story you didn’t understand, I’ll see you every other Friday at 12:00 PM PST.