Let's RP: Dark Souls! Part 8

It was a long while before I felt fit to go out into the Depths again. I stayed by the bonfire, nursing my wounds and repairing my blade as Andrei had taught me. The simple clothes I wore under my armor was stained red with blood... Nothing I could do about that now... Though it took an hour or so of rest, I did eventually set back out into the sewers. I waded my way through the sewage and undead, trying to find some reason to be here. I knew it was my mission to do so, but to what end...?

The sewers were vast and labyrinthine... No matter where I went, I always felt as if I was going 'round in circles, shambling through muck and mire for nothing. I would need some sort of guide to get through here effectively... I had inadvertently wandered deep into the sewers, and had gotten completely. As I wandered through the rancid water, a terrifying wave pulsed through my very soul and I froze in terror.

Invasion.

My muscles tensed, but I remained unmoving, the memory of the last invasion racing through my mind. Who are these invaders?... My pen still wavers in fear as I write this. Are they monsters or men, I cannot say, but their very presence feels wrong. As if the entire universe was crying out to send them away, that they are trespassing in a world in which they have no right being...

The splashes of footsteps in water broke me out of my trance of trepidation and I brought my shield to bear, my hand still trembling. Around the corner ran a red-black phantom, charging straight at me with none of the careful patience of the last one. I nearly jumped out of my skin but something held me to the floor. The dark, spiky figure charged me with a wicked barbed longsword and came crashing into my shield. My quavering legs nearly gave out but I held firm and backed away. The two of us circled for a brief moment before he unleashed a torrent of sweeping blows, which I blocked to the best of my ability; his blade managed to get around my guard twice, cutting deeply and creating great jagged wounds that caused the sewer to run red with blood. On the third stroke I bashed his blade away with my shield and plunged my broadsword deep into his chest, twisting it and bringing him to his knees. As he struggled to rise to his feet, I circled around behind him and thrust my blade down his spine.

It was no honorable way to kill... but something told me that it wasn't honor that brought it here.

I stopped there and caught my breath. I don't know if it was my nerves or something mystical, but I felt stronger... I continued on my way, leaving the gradually fading phantom there where he lay.

My wanderings through the sewers finally brought me to a dry room; I climbed over a pile of rubble to reach a long room, with barrels on the opposite end of me; hearing a cry for help, I rushed into the room and was nearly felled by a great blade crashing down from above. I brought my shield to bear just in time to intercept the blades of the other mighty butcher, the bolt still embedded in its chest. Though startled, I was ready for it. Deftly, I circled around it and cut it from all sides, and finished it more quickly than even I thought possible. Once it was slain, I followed my ears to the trapped man, a pyromancer by the name of Laurentius. He was certainly grateful, and thanked me before turning to depart, but I stopped him. It was far more dangerous than he expected, I told him, and I would rather than he leave with me later. He was not loathe to spend time in the protection of a skilled knight, so he agreed and followed me back to the bonfire. As he did, he explained the basic points of pyromancy to me, how to manifest and hold fire in the hand. Though I had no glove with which to practice, the knowledge would certainly come in handy. We arrived at the bonfire in the depths and both had a much-needed rest.