//------------------------------//
// Learning the Basics 
// Story: Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Rarity stared at the bonfire that Edric was sitting in front of for a few moments, not sure what to make of her current situation as one of the cursed Undead that apparently wandered the mysterious land she had found herself in. According to what her companion said he had noticed the symbol of the curse appear on his shoulder some time before he actually died, which must have been why his skin had started to rot bit by bit. As far as she could tell she was still whole, as in she hadn't died and hadn't started progressing towards becoming a Hollow, which had to be what nearly happened to Edric before he came to the area they were in. Unfortunately she knew that her inexperience would cost her, which meant that part of her fate was to take on the same appearance that her companion had been wearing when they first encountered each other... though she was thankful for having the fortune to not see what Edric had looked like when he woke up earlier.

A few moments later, however, Edric got up and walked over to the cart that was resting near the bonfire, to which he gently moved it out of the way and picked up two items; a torch and a strange white substance that coiled around his hand, which made Rarity think that it was a soul of some kind.

"Is... is that a soul?" Rarity asked, as she had very little experience in this sort of thing, save for Tirek stealing her magic some time ago, but that wasn't relevant to their current situation.

"I think so," Edric replied, though instead of doing anything with it he simply opened the pack that he was carrying and storied the items inside it, before he closed it and looked at Rarity, "I have absolutely no idea what to do with a random soul that was laying on the ground, but something tells me that we'll figure that out in the near future. Now come on, we had best get our journey started and get out of this area."

Rarity wasn't too keen on starting their journey, especially since she was son inexperienced in this sort of thing, but she also didn't want her companion to depart from the area and leave her stranded here with no one to talk to. After another few seconds she let out a sigh and pulled herself back onto her new legs, allowing her hooves to touch the ground once more, before nodding to Edric. Together the two of them approached the opening in the wall, which was halfway between where the bonfire and the cart was located, and ventured into unknown territory, to which Edric drew his sword and Rarity tightened her grip on her staff.

They only had to take a couple of steps before they found themselves in a new part of the area they had awoken in, though the area around them seemed to be made out of large trees, with several openings that were surrounded by fog, and walkways that appeared to be made out of stone. Rarity also spotted several scones that they could light and bring some extra light to the area they were in, though Edric was the one with the torch and it was his decision if he wanted to use the torch so soon after finding it. She and Edric walked a few more steps forward before they investigated the fog on their left, which was acting like some sort of gate or door and only dissipated when the duo had placed their hands on it.

Since they had just opened up another path to take they decided to see what dangers awaited them, to which Edric walked in front and Rarity stayed in the back... though not a few seconds later they found some signs that gave a brief description on how to attack, along with two hollows for them to practice on. Edric, having some experience with a weapon, was able to dispatch his opponent in seconds, though it took Rarity longer than that to deal with the enemy that was in front of her. She had absolutely no idea how to command this world's version of magic, which was the only thing that she was really good at, until she eventually focused on the spell she had learned minutes ago and thrust her staff forward... to which a blue ball of magic, which almost resembled an arrow, shot forward and blasted the hollow into the nearby wall.

Rarity and Edric stared at the defeated hollow that she had blasted, as she was surprised that the creature could have been so easily defeated, but then she determined that this had to be a training ground of some kind, for people like her and Edric, and that the enemies were this weak on purpose for them to master their skills before they moved onto the area that was beyond this one. She stood there for a moment, still a little shocked that she had actually killed something, before the defeated hollows turned to dust before their eyes, though at the same time she felt something stir inside her for a few seconds before settling down. It was a curious feeling, making her wonder if these training enemies had some soul fragments that she and Edric might be able to collect, as they had been told to hold onto their souls, but at first she had thought that the elderly ladies were referring to their own souls and not ones they collected... until she finally shook her head and decided not to think about it at the moment.

Since she didn't know anything about this world, and what the elderly ladies actually meant, she figured that it was better to learn the basics that the area was teaching them before she got left behind.

The next few signs they found detailed the importance of locking onto your enemies, which they both excelled at, dashing around an area, which caused Rarity to fall face first into the ground, and scoring valuable hits by attacking an enemy's back. Once they had gotten those down, even if it was just a tiny bit of practice, they moved onward and found that the area they were in was much larger than they had first thought, where Rarity noticed two large creatures walking in the water beneath them. They were massive, at least twice the size of both her and Edric, and their skin color resembled a grey stone of some kind, while at the same time Rarity noticed that they had one eye and carried no weapons... though she already didn't want to tangle with them.

"Edric, do you have any idea what those creatures are?" Rarity commented, pointing down at the pair of creatures that were walking in the water, while at the same time spotting a path that apparently lead right to them.

"Not really," Edric replied, taking a moment to study the creatures that had been brought to his attention, as he wanted to be sure he had some information on them in case they encountered more of the in the future, before something came to mind, "I'm not one hundred percent sure on this, but maybe they're ogres... and they'll likely squish us flat if we're not careful."

"Right..." Rarity said, taking one last look down at the two ogres, if that was what they really were, before she followed Edric up the path that was on their left, allowing them to see whatever lessons remained for them to learn.

They encountered another enemy that was intended for them to practice the backstabbing ability on, which Edric performed so they could reach the upper part of the path they were on, to which they found a body that had a dagger, much like the one Rarity was carrying, resting next to it. Edric insisted that Rarity at least take the second dagger with her, because they had no idea what sort of gear they would need in the future and he was sure that, at some point in time, they would discover a shop that she could sell it to. Rarity, deciding not to waste valuable resources, picked up the dagger and stored it in her own pack, which she hadn't noticed until this point in time, because she had been too focused on learning about her new affliction and what it had done to her companion.

With the second dagger in hand the duo turned around and walked through another opening, where they discovered a sign that told them how to roll and a second one that, for some reason, told them how they were able to switch between the weapon they were carrying and one that was on their belts. In order to practice the second one Rarity handed Edric the second dagger they had acquired and watched him sheath his sword in order to draw the dagger, before returning to his original weapon. Edric then handed Rarity the sword, which caused her to bend over a tiny bit, and had her practice for a few moments before he took it back, so they could focus on the two hollows that were patiently waiting in the area around them.

When the hollows were taken care of they spent a few minutes rolling around, which Edric was able to perfectly perform after his fifth attempt, though Rarity was still having problems and by her tenth attempt she called it off so they could continue moving forward.

They followed the path to their left for a few seconds, as it brought them to a tunnel that wasn't much higher than the area they had been in, before they approached a sign that taught them how to backstep, which was basically them jumping a step or two backwards. Rarity determined that this ability was useful for taking out certain opponent, as in they could jump back and allow the attacker's weapon to hit the ground in front of them, allowing her or Edric to jump forward and land a blow that would win them the fight. Edric seemed to agree with her statement, though they were given the opportunity to practice the ability with another hollow that appeared to be alone... until Rarity noticed that there was an archer at the back of the room.

As Edric focused on taking out the warrior hollow, and commanded all of its attention, Rarity did her best to avoid the archer's arrows as she used two of her Soul Arrows to take the archer down, opening the way forward once their opponents had been eliminated.

"So, how does it feel to take a life?" Edric asked, though at the same time he approached another corpse, which had been there when they entered the room, and made sure to grab anything useful that might have been left behind.

"I feel terrible." Rarity admitted, staring down at the archer that she had taken out, which evaporated like all of the other enemies they had taken out so far, before she turned to her companion, "I know that these enemies are hollows, and that they'll stop at nothing to kill us, but they were once people that were searching for the same cure that we're looking for... only they failed in their mission. A part of me is happy that we have freed them from this fate, while the other part of me is terrified of this fate happening to me and is horrified that I'm fighting them... and killing them I might add."

"You still have your humanity, which is why you feel this way," Edric explained, though as he spoke he pulled a crystal from the corpse he had been looting and turned to face his companion, "Trust me, it isn't easy to take a life. I was forced to take several of them during the attack on my village, but that was in self defense and the fact that if I didn't do something my family was going to die before my eyes. Rarity... do you have any family?"

"Y... Yes." Rarity replied, somewhat shocked by the question, though at the same time she only worried about her younger sister, who was likely scared out of her mind by now, "My parents and my younger sister."

"Then keep your family as your focal point," Edric said, a smile appearing on his face and he placed a hand on her shoulder, though something told Rarity that she knew exactly what he was going to say to her, "Thinking about my family got me through the attack on my village and drove me to come here... so let your family drive you to overcome your fears and push you towards finding the cure."

Rarity had never considering thinking like that, especially since she had never been in a position like this before in her entire life, but she couldn't fault her companion's logic, as she knew that his family had been the reason he was here, so he could cure himself and go home. She pictured Sweetie Belle in her mind for a moment, and all the fond memories that she had of her younger sister, and mentally promised herself that she would find the cure and a way home, before sighing and looking up at her companion.

"Its weak at the moment, but I can see the determination in your eyes," Edric said, to which he approached the fog door that was blocking their path and placed a hand on it, "Come on, let's see what else those elderly ladies wanted us to learn before we find our way out of here."

Rarity nodded and followed Edric through the fog door, to which they found themselves on a ledge of some kind and that a nest resting near where they had walked out of the room they had been in, while at the same time Rarity found a ladder that would allow them to descend back towards the walkway they had been walking on earlier. Of course Edric had to kick the ladder to make it connect back to the path they had been walking on, but it was worth it considering that they were allowed to return to the location of the first fog door. Once they were back on the lowest walkway they continued walking forward, until they stopped at the fog door on their right and opened it up, finding another area for them to explore, and likely more lessons to learn before they walked out into the dangerous world.

The first pair of signs they discovered in the new area detailed how to use a weapon in a two-handed manner, which Edric decided to use while Rarity simply watched him cut the two hollows apart, as she had no intentions to use a weapon in such a manner. The next room they walked into had a sign that detailed the art of a dash jump, which Edric used to jump over the gap in front of them and loot an Amber Herb from the corpse that he and Rarity could see from where they had been standing. He then returned to Rarity, allowing her to practice the skill as well for a few moments, before they turned towards the sign and spotted a ladder that lead them up to an area that had three signs; one that detailed how to parry an opponent's attack, one that detailed how to do a plunging attack, and another that detailed how to do a guard break, which Rarity assumed had to do with a shield.

Once they had the information in mind Edric jumped into the area below them and slammed his sword into the opponent that was down there, knocking him to the floor for a few seconds, though while he was stunned Edric beckoned for Rarity to join him and caught her when she jumped down. The moment Rarity touched the floor she turned her attention to an enemy that was hiding to the side and turned her staff on it, blasting the hollow into the wall while her companion dealt with the hollow he had landed on. With the enemies taken care of they spotted a door, a wooden one, resting in the hole that Rarity had spotted the hollow in, though when they opened the door they found a corpse that had a red of orb of some kind... one that was cracked, as Rarity noticed the condition as Edric held it for a few seconds.

The moment they were done in this training area, which was very short in Rarity's opinion, they passed through the next fog door and walked out onto another walkway, which required them to drop down onto the walkway below them so they could move onto what appeared to be the third and final training area... though they walked back to the bonfire to take a quick break before they moved forward.

After a few minutes of rest they got up and made their way to the third training area, with its fog door, where they discovered a large tree that looked like it would be rather easy to knock down, a sign sitting next to it, and an archer that wanted to hurt them. Rarity, however, used her Soul Arrow and put the archer down, allowing Edric to make sure that the sign was detailing how to knock things down, like the tree next to them, before he actually pushed the tree down and created a walkway for them. They spotted a hole that would take them to the area below them, where a fog door was located, to which they jumped down and were attacked by the enemies that were in there, which happened to be another archer and a warrior.

Rarity, once again, focused on the ranged attacker while Edric dealt with the warrior, though once their enemies were taken care of they found a short ladder that allowed them to reach the area where the fog door was located, which brought them to the area that one of the ogres were in. Edric, instead of engaging the ogre, walked up the path to the left of the area they had walked out of and knocked over another tree, allowing them to walk back onto the main walkway once more. Rarity followed him and inquired why he didn't want to fight the ogres, not that she wanted to fight them either, and he said that he knew that they weren't ready for such an opponent, especially since she was still so inexperienced with her new body and skills.

They moved over the new bridge that Edric had created and they returned to the main walkway, which brought them to what appeared to be a passage in the rock wall that they had been heading towards... though when they reached the end of the passage they were surprised by what they found. As they walked out of the passage, and let the bright sunlight touch their faces, both Rarity and Edric glanced down the path in front of them and spotted a town of sorts resting in front of them. When they reached the entrance of the town, however, they found that it was decaying before their eyes, as one of the buildings seemed to have a busted roof of sorts, while at the same time noticing that there was a monument resting on the edge of the town.

Edric and Rarity walked into the town and took stock of what they could see, which included what appeared to be a large hole in the ground, a small well that had a rock on it, four buildings that resembled houses, though the one with the small well looked like mansion and less like a house, and a bonfire resting near the cliff on their right. The first thing they did was activate the inactive bonfire, giving them a place to relax in the future, before they spotted a lady, wearing a green cape and hood with what Rarity guessed was some sort of priestess clothes. The lady didn't seem to notice them until they were literally right beside her, though when they stopped next to her, and Edric started to open his mouth, the lady turned to them and observed them for a few seconds.

"Are one of you… the next monarch?" the lady asked, causing Edric and Rarity to look at each other, because this was the first time they had heard that line, before they glanced back at the person they were listening to, "Or… Merely the pawns of fate? Bearers of the curse… I will remain by your side. Till this frail hope shatters… Take these with you. May they ease your journey."

That was followed by the lady pulling out two flasks that contained a yellow-orange colored liquid inside them, though Rarity and Edric took them and attached them to their belts, despite the fact that they weren't sure what the flasks were for just yet.

"Go on, and see the King." the lady continued, her hands returning to where they had been a few seconds ago, before she pulled the flasks out, though she was still looking at the two of them, "He who made Drangleic what it once was; he who peered at the essence of the soul... King Vendrick."

"Okay, so how do we see King Vendrick?" Rarity asked, because based on everything she had seen so far she knew that gaining an audience with someone as important as the king was going to be a nearly impossible journey, especially since they had no idea where the king was located.

"Seek misery... for misery will lead you to greater, stronger souls." the lady replied, while at the same time Rarity mentally moaned to herself, because this was definitely starting to sound impossible, "Neither of you will never meet the King while your souls are so frail and pallid."

"And what souls are we looking for exactly?" Edric inquired, knowing that the more they learned about their quest, which the elderly ladies told them nothing about, the more they would be able to determine where they needed to go first and what supplies they would need for the journey.

"Seek those whose names are unutterable, the four endowed with immense souls." the lady explained, though at the same time the fact that she couldn't tell them who they were looking for annoyed Rarity a little bit, because it meant that they would be killing a large number of enemies before they found their targets, "Their souls will serve as beacons. Once you have found them, return here to me. So that hope will not fade away."

Rarity let out a sigh as she and Edric returned to the bonfire, though before she took a seat Edric briefly mentioned that he wanted to talk with the shopkeepers before they started planning their first move, to which she simply nodded and followed him around the small town. The first house they came to was clearly the home of a blacksmith, as Edric recognized the structure almost immediately, but the smith was apparently locked outside of his house and told them that he had no idea where the key was located. That annoyed both Edric and Rarity a little bit, mainly because Edric was hoping to get a better weapon than his broken sword, but in the end they accepted that fact and headed to what appeared to be the armourer's shop... where they found nothing to replace Edric's starting armor.

Edric had no interest in the third shop, allowing Rarity to walk inside the building and look around while he returned to the bonfire, indicating that he wanted to think about what they knew before they started planning where they needed to go first. As she walked into the shop, however, she found that the owner was nowhere to be seen and that there was a cat laying on the table, who glanced up at her as she walked into the building.

"Oh… Undead, are we?" a voice said, though as Rarity looked around the room she was in the cat got up and sat on the table, causing Rarity to turn towards it for a moment.

"Um, yes, I guess I an one of the cursed Undead." Rarity replied, still not liking the fact that she was cursed with the same affliction that Edric had, while at the same time she turned towards the table and locked her eyes with the cat, "You are the one that talked just now, aren't you?"

"I did, though instead of calling me a cat you may call me Shalquoir." the cat replied, though while Rarity was a little shocked by the fact that the cat was talking, the tone of the cat's voice told her that the feline was female, "Enchanté."

"Its nice to meet you as well," Rarity said, because she assumed that Shalquoir had said something to the effect of 'nice to meet you', but she wasn't a hundred percent sure that she was correct in her thinking, "My name is Rarity."

"So, Rarity, did you come looking for something specific?" Shalquoir asked, indicating that she was actually the shopkeeper, though at this point Rarity wasn't too surprised by that, because she was sure that someone on this world would be shocked when they heard that a pony ran a shop... if she ever told anyone about the world she was actually from.

"My companion and I just arrived in town and I was curious as to what you were selling." Rarity answered, as that was the truth, because even if Edric didn't care what was being sold here she figured that having the knowledge of what was here would help them in the future.

"I sell four items; Homeward Bones, Alluring Skulls, Prism Stones, and Lloyd's Talismans," Shalquoir replied, to which Rarity saw an image of each item appear beside the cat, as if she was using some sort of magic to reveal her wares, "as well as some special rings that are quite expensive... especially for a fresh Undead."

"Oh, then I'll come by later when I have more of the required funds and purchase something then," Rarity stated, as she had no idea how the money system worked in this world and had no idea how much each of the items cost, though she was pleased to find that Shalquoir wasn't offended by her statement.

"As you wish," Shalquoir said, to which the images disappeared with a flick of her tail, though she also seemed focused on something that Rarity was completely unaware of at the moment, "You have an otherworldly smell about you... and it smells quite wonderful. My dear Rarity, feel free to stop by whenever you like... even if you aren't buying anything."

Rarity had no idea what Shalquoir was talking about, as she was sure that she didn't smell at the moment, but there was something about the cat's statement that made her wonder if she might know more than she was telling her. She also thanked Shalquoir for the invitation to visit her house, even if she wasn't coming to buy anything, before she politely excused herself and headed back to the bonfire. Her thoughts turned from Shalquoir and landed upon the quest that she and Edric were about to embark on, where they were likely going to travel the whole of Drangleic, which had to be the kingdom they were in, and found four beings that possessed souls that were different than what the other creatures possessed... four souls that would allow them to see King Vendrick, once they figured out where he was located.

She and Edric had been handed a seemingly impossible quest that would take an insane amount of time to fulfill, even if they managed to find the four nameless beings that they were searching for... and she was beginning to wish that she hadn't stepped through the crystal mirror.