The Chosen Undead

by Demonfire463

Chapter 2 A New Face, a New Blade

Chapter 2

The giant black bird drops me near another bonfire then flies off. I land on my feet and absorb the shock. I observe my surroundings. Very high up, stone arches, a well that probably dried long ago, a man in chainmail, and a bonfire. Behind me there is a large church that is falling apart and a small pool of water in a small room. I sit by the fire. A small pink creature pokes its head out from behind a pot. Well, I just killed a giant green monster wielding a hammer, and I killed it with a knife. I should learn to expect everything yet this surprises me. I pull out my dagger and the creature retreats. It seems to mean me no harm.
"Please. Don't hurt me. Why does everything here just want me hurt?" I hear the creature is close to tears. I sheathe the knife.
"I won't hurt you then. Come on, take a seat by the fire." As much as I would prefer to do this journey alone, I suppose I can point this creature in the right direction. Or maybe I could if i knew where I was. She sits down by the fire opposite me. "What's your name then?"
"Pinkie Pie."
"I'm Zander. I'm an undead. What are you?"
"A pony. Have you seen any if my friends?"
"Are they ponies as well?"
"One of them is." She says quietly. I hope she isn't too traumatized from this land already. "I don't know where they are, but they could be scattered all throughout Lordran."
"Lordran? Is that what this place is called?"
"That's what that guy told me." She says pointing to the man in chainmail. "He said there are two Bells of Awakening and that one is up in the undead church and one is somewhere called Blighttown." Well good. That sounds bloody delightful.
"Tell you what. I'll make you a deal. You help me through this land, and I'll help you find your friends." If they're anything like her then they'll stick out like a gold coin on a cobblestone street. "So, what do you say? Deal?"
"You won't hurt them when you find them?" She asks tentatively.
"Of course I won't." I hold my hand out. "So?" She puts her hoof in my hand and we shake.
"Deal." I stand.
"Then let's go."
"Ok. There's an elevator that way down those stairs, a sewer tunnel up that hill, and a graveyard through that pool area." Sewers, disgusting; don't feel like an elevator; graveyard it is.
"Let's go through the graveyard then." We walk through the pool of water and to a staircase that leads to a field of graves and stray bones. I found three black sprites near the well, just like the one that the demon dropped. I see a white flame floating above a corpse. I jump down and pick it up. It floats just above my hand when I hold it. I crush it in my hand and more of the white essence goes into my body. The bones around me begin to shake violently. I turn to run but the bones form full skeletons in front of me, blocking my path. One strikes with a scimitar, I parry and run around him. "Pinkie! Follow me! And hurry!" She follows without question, very quickly too. I charge down a staircase into total darkness. More skeletons arise, Pinkie and I charge around them. We arrive in a room with two skeletons and a few pillars, a door blocks our path now. I look around, we are trapped except for one hole in the wall. "Pinkie, I have an idea. Wait here." She cowers by the door and shields her eyes with her hooves as the two skeletons slice at me. I parry and riposte one, the other I dodge and slash at furiously. They fall to pieces. Brilliant. I walk down the ramp into the hole. A scimitar plunges through my back and I am kicked to the ground. Both skeletons are right behind me! An old man cackles wildly in the corner of the room, by a lever or some sort of switch. I throw three knives at him, all hit him in the chest. I rush him and stab him in the heart. Crazy old bastard. He drops the skull he was holding as he dies. I turn to the skeletons and kill them both again. This time I watch them closely. They remain still. That man must have been a necromancer. I look at the skull he dropped. There is a small but bright flame inside, and light shines brightly through the eye sockets. He was using a human head as a lantern? I walk to the lever. I push hardly on it and it goes inside the pillar it is connected to. A bonfire lights on my right. I sit down at it. "Pinkie, you can come down now." I shout. She walks down slowly.
"You're hurt!" She says, observing my wounds and cut armor. The bonfire is slowly healing them.
"I'll be fine. You should be careful though." I crush one of the black sprites and all my wounds are instantly healed. The black energy rushes into the flames and my skin feels different.
"Woooooow!" Pinkie says.
"What? What happened?"
"Take your hood off. Your skin!" I take my gloves off so I can see. My skin isn't decayed anymore! Well that's good to know. You sure do learn fast in Lordran. I take my hood and mask off, and I put my gloves back on.
"I never saw your eyes before." Pinkie says. "They were just black, with a little red light in them. It was kinda sary." She claps her hooves together softly.
"No need to be nervous, I told you I won't hurt you or your friends."
"I know... But I didn't make any deals with them."
"I'll protect you Pinkie. As long as I live." The fire crackles and embers rise into the air above the sword. "We should get a move on." We stand and leave, careful not to wake the skeletons. We leave through the now open door. I see piles of bones and a necromancer nearby.
"I have an idea. You run and I'll follow you. Don't fight them."
"That's just what I was thinking. Hope you're fast." I take off sprinting. I jump clear over all three skeletons. They give chase but I'm much faster. I kick the necromancer off the cliff he stood on and into the large pit. I see a swarm of skeletons chase me and I run even faster. Another skeleton stops me at a dead end. I run the other direction, just barely dodging swords from the moving bones. I jump off a ledge and land on a small protrusion from a lower cliff. Pinkie jumps off as well. I catch her.
"Are you okay?" She asks.
"Other than my legs, fine." I take a drink from the Estus Flask. My wounds are partially healed. Oscar gave me a healing flask! Many thanks friend. We turn around and go theough a doorway into a long hall. The stonework is very old and has yellowed over time. Some bricks crumble and fall off the walls. I see a demon guarding over something on a corpse. I want what he's guarding. I look around for a hiding place to go after I grab it. One if the coffins is open and empty. "Pinkie Pie?"
"Hm?"
"I want you to hide in that coffin. I'm going to grab what that demon is guarding and I'll be in there shortly."
"Uhh, okay. Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely." I have a plan. She hops into the open coffin. I charge the demon and hop over its attack. I run around him and grab the corpse's treasure, which turns ot to be three large orbs each resembling an eye. The demon grabs me with its catch pole and slams me onto the ground twice. I drink the rest o my estus as quickly as I can then hop into the coffin with Pinkie Pie. Both of us are breathing heavily, her probably due to stress, me due to the short beat down and sprint.
"What are those things?"
"Don't know. But they're mine now so I can figure it out. They look like eyes don't they?"
"Yeah, it's pretty creepy." She says with a giggle. The coffin lid starts moving. "What's going on?" Pinkie shouts, terrified.
"I don't know." I look up to just barely see two bone hands shutting the lid. "Damn skeletons."
"Zander, are we gonna die in here?"
"No, of course not." She hugs me close. "I won't let you die in here." I push up on the lid. It moves a bit. I shove hard on our stone tomb. The lid slides just enough for me to see the ceiling. We're in a different place now. She looks up as well.
"W-where are we?"
"I'm afraid I don't know." Two skeletal hands push the lid the rest of the way off. I leap out of the coffin. No skeleton, other than the giant one in a huge sarcophagus.
"GAH!!!" I run backwards for about a foot then trip over a rock. I fall in water that is about ankle-high. Why is everywhere here in Lordran flooded?
"What is it?" Pinkie peeks her head out and shrieks with pure terror. "What is that thing?!"
"I... am the Gravelord... Nito." It says.
"Zander! What is it?"
"Didn't you hear him? He said he's the Gravelord Nito."
"I didn't hear anything. Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Come closer..." It whispers. I do as it says. I see now that it is cloaked in dark robes and is made of many skeletons. "Zander..."
"How do you know my name?"
"I know... more than that... young thief... of Carim..." He takes large breaths between each phrase, as though he is close to dying. "If you wish... to serve me... I shall... reward you..."
"Why me?"
"You have... the Eyes of Death... It is what... my covenaters seek..."
"What do I get if I join your covenant?" I ask.
"Join a covenant? What's that?" Pinkie asks. She walks up next to me. A sword appears on the ground in front of me. It is made of bones mostly, with a cold steel blade.
"You get... the Gravelord Sword..." I look at the sword. "If you wish... to join us... and serve me... take it..." I pick up the heavy sword and a bright light shines from my right hand. "Excellent..." Nito says. "To wield it... use the souls... at the bonfire... pray for strength..." A small bone appears inside a grey scroll on the ground with something wrapped in cloth next to the bone. "Take the talisman... and my miracle... Use them... well..." I pick up the scroll and its contents.
"Did you join?"
"Yes. I think this is a good choice."
"Why?"
"Do not question my decisions Pinkie. Let's just go find your friends." She smiles weakly.
"Okay." We slip back into the coffin and the lid shuts.

We open the lid and crawl out, back where the coffin was originally. The demon is dormant. We sneak back to the outside ledge, and a white glow below us catches my attention.
"Woah!" Pinkie says. I look and her tail is shaking wildly.
"What the?" A bony foot hits me in the chest and I go flying off the ledge. Pinkie jumps into my arms as I fall. I land on my back, on the white glow. I sit up and release Pinkie. I place both hands on my back, lean back and push. Crack! Hard landing. I stand up and look down at the glow. 'Paladin Leeroy' is written in white. I kneel down above the sign. I touch the name with my hand and it disappears. "What just happened?" Pinkie shrugs. Then a white, glowing man appears. He is wearing golden armor and weilding a large hammer and a shield that looks very sacred. He bows to me. "Um..." He motions for me to bow as well, and I do. He looks down at the many skeletons below us. He jumps of the ledge and destroys them all with a single hit. Impressive, I do NOT want to run into him in a battle. He beckons me down and I jump with Pinkie. He points to Pinkie questioningly. "I'm helping her find her friends. And trying to keep her safe."
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" The paladin just stares at us in his shiny brass chainmail and says nothing. He turns and continues on. We follow him.

We run into another fog door, rather large as well. He does an 'after you' motion and I pass through. Pinkie traverses next, then the paladin. This place appears to be a giant coffin or tomb of some sort. We all jump down. I jumped the farthest and land in a shallow pool of water. It is a giant coffin, and the smell of mold and decay confirm that. Not to mention the cool dampness of the entire structure, like that if a large cave. On the opposite end of the coffin room, there is a man. The paladin prepares for battle, Pinkie and I observe him. He has six arms, all o his hands have been replaced with lanterns. He is at a table, studying something, underneath many old bodies that have been strung up to the ceiling by their wrists. A white pony is strung up as well, she has a black cloth wrapped around something on her head.
"Rarity!" Pinkie shouts. The man turns around.
"Friend of yours?"
"Yes, please help her!"
"We need to survive to do that." The man looks at us with what appears to be three heads. Each face is covered by a mask, one silver one with curly hair, a bronze one with a scraggly beard, and another silver one with a gentle expression on its face. He puts his six arms together at the lanterns and a large ball of fire forms in the center. He hurls it at us and it explodes on the sacred shield of the paladin. We both charge at the fiend, Pinkie just stares up at her friend with a worried expression on her face. Leeroy slams his powerful hammer on the necromancer, I slash furiously at it. The man conjures imitations of himself and teleports away. We begin to attack all of them, most disappearing on contact. One takes the hit and remains however. Upon discovering this, Leeroy crushes the gentle silver mask. I stab the bronze mask with a throwing knife and the paladin slams the hammer down on the bronze mask. The monster yells, then disintegrates. The cloak, two destroyed masks and body disappear. The curly-haired one remains. I pick it up and remove my thief's mask. I put the mask on and fit the hood over my head behind the mask. It has leather strings on it so it doesn't fall off in battle. How handy. With the mask on I feel much more energized, much like a young child. I look up and throw a knife at the string holding the pony to the ceiling. She screams as she falls, I catch her though. She shrieks again so I set her down.
"Rarity it's okay, he's not going to hurt us."
"A-are you sure?"
"Yep! He promised."
"I didn't promise, I made a deal. Now let's find the others. How many left?"
"Four more."
"Ugh! Why are you all even here?"
"We didn't try to come here, it was an accident." Rarity says. "And if what Pinkie says is true and you won't hurt us, I am Rarity."
"I am Zander. And I don't like this."
"Than why are you helping us?" She asks. I sigh.
"Because Pinkie obviously knows this land better than I do, even if it's just a start. I'm horribly lost, without her I would just be aimlessly waltzing around Lordran. Now let's go find the other four so I can get you home and out of my hair. Protecting you is quite a daunting task."
"Hmph. Fine then, I don't like it here anyway. How rude." Rarity says. Pinkie sighs.
"C'mon let's not fight. How do we get out of here?"
"Come here." I say. "Hold on tight." They grasp onto me. I crush the bone in my hands and we are sent back to the bonfire.

Author's Note:

Okay, not 100% sure what I'll do in future chapters, maybe this story will get cancelled. I might just decide to finish Hollow first before I add on to this one. Comment on how the story is so far, hope you enjoy. I you haven't already, you should check out my other story Hollow. Just sayin, well enjoy!

Comments

[Knowledge]

I have seen a play through of the game dark souls, but I did not retain much of the lore. Pardon if I sound a bit imposing, but I saw that you are having trouble with plot, and i would like to help you with my talent for coming up with ideas. If you want more of my help, particularly for editing and more story ideas and advice, you can reply or send a private message. The following are some suggestions I thought up fast, so pardon if they are not what you are looking for.

You could use pinkie sense to find traps. You could use Rarity to find valuables. You could use Fluttershy to stun dragons. These are a few suggestions to make it easier injecting the characters into the action.

I suggest thinking about how you want the plot to evolve from find the six damsels to giving them a purpose for being there. Perhaps they need to find the elements of harmony, and in order to do that they need to prove themselves to various covenants.

[Demonfire463]

To anyone who is really reading this story and is getting into it, if I actually do upload any more chapters it will not be for quite a while. Just informing all who are reading this and are waiting for a new chapter, sorry but you're gonna be on quite the wait. In the mean time, you can check out my other story if you wish, hope you enjoy it if you do, but yeah I'm sorry for the delay or cancellation of this story.

[Demonfire463]

*sigh* Goodbye Chosen Undead, you had such potential. But in order to channel said potential, ideas must form and motivation must be present, both of which were absent for far too long for a decent story to be written. While this cancellation does not quite bring a tear to my eye, it is the first story that I have cancelled. Maybe one day I will continue this story, or even rewrite it as a whole, but it seems unlikely as of now. To all the readers: I apologize for ending this tale before its final chapter but it had to be done. The Chosen Undead is hereby cancelled. Sorry guys.