//------------------------------//
// The Sinner 
// Story: Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Rarity waited for a few moments, which meant that she was patiently sitting by the bonfire and resting as she waited to see whether or not Edric would appear near where she was sitting, while at the same time recalling what had happened down in the area they had discovered. She knew for a fact that there were three aberrations inside the slightly submerged area, as the two of them had been able to successfully kill one of them without any incident, only for her to fall when one of the other two used their tail to crush her. For a moment she actually considered whether or not there were any other enemies in that area, besides the ones they had seen, though a few seconds later she discarded the thought and knew that there had to be one or two more waiting for them.

Not a few moments later, however, she watched as Edric faded into existence around the bonfire, looking more dead than he had been when they went down into the area they had discovered, to which he sighed and sat down on the opposite side of the bonfire.

"There's more than the aberrations inside that area," Edric commented, knowing that Rarity was going to ask him some questions and decided to get them out of the way, especially since he had seen something else before he had been killed, before they resumed their journey, "from what I could tell there's also a zombie or two down there, lurking in the water near wherever the aberrations are hiding, so if we go back down there we'll have to be more careful. I also noticed a door that would allow us to get out of there, in case we decided not to deal with any of those enemies, but we'll come to a decision on that once we're back down there."

"Are you sure that you want to go back down there? Especially after what just happened?" Rarity asked, though at the same time she beckoned to the gargoyle that was still flying around the area, as she recalled what they had been told before they came back to this area, "Shalquoir told us that the road to the Lost Sinner would take us through two powerful creatures, the Ruined Sentinels and the Belfry Gargoyles. We've killed the sentinels, but so far the only thing we know about the gargoyles is that one is constantly flying around the area and we have no idea where to fight it. Shouldn't we spend our time searching for the location that the gargoyle calls its nest?"

"She said that there was more than one gargoyle, but I've only seen the one so far," Edric replied, to which he shook his head for a few seconds, before glancing at the elevator that would allow them to access the chamber they had been in earlier, "No, we should continue along the path we have chosen and see where it takes us... and maybe we'll find the Lost Sinner without having to find and fight those gargoyles."

Rarity didn't feel too good about going behind what Shalquoir had told them, as she hadn't steered her and Edric wrong so far, and she knew that the cat had likely told them to defeat both the sentinels and the gargoyles in order to prepare them for their fight with the Lost Sinner. Since her companion seemed sure that this was the way to go, despite the fact that those aberrations were going to be waiting for them, Rarity decided to go along with his decision and see where they went. Once Edric had determined that they were going to be heading back down to the chamber that the aberrations called home, so they could retrieve their souls and investigate the area further, the two of them got up and climbed down the nearby ladder.

Of course they had to fight their way through the enemies that had come back to life after them dying and resting at the bonfire, but since they knew the movements of the hollowed soldiers both Rarity and Edric were able to quickly maneuver around the undead warriors and made their way back down to the elevator. When they arrived at the elevator they carefully stepped onto the platform and rode it back down into the area they had died in a few minutes ago, though this time around they were going to be keep their guards up and not get surprised. The moment the elevator stopped they climbed off it and let it rise back into the air, to which Edric beckoned for Rarity to stay put and walked out into the open area for a few seconds... though not a few seconds later he ran back towards her as the first aberration charged after him.

Edric jumped backwards to avoid the aberration's claws, and avoid getting cut in half in the process, though at the same time Rarity started launching Soul Arrows into her target, intending to save the greater ones and her other spells for the other enemies or a powerful creature. Experience told her that she should be careful with her spells, especially since there might not be a bonfire between the one they rested at and whatever was in front of them, though she was happy to see that the aberration easily fell to the combined power of her spells and Edric's attacks from behind. The moment the first aberration was dead the two of them advanced into the chamber in front of them, though when they reached the two small rooms, with one on their left and one on their right, the other two aberrations noticed them and emerged from their hiding places.

Rarity and Edric fell back as the two aberrations came after them, though at the same time Rarity called upon some of her power and threw a Lightning Spear at her target, clearly annoying the creature as she spotted Edric slashing at his opponent before backing away. Now that they knew about the tails that the aberrations possessed, and that avoiding them was one of the keys to surviving this fight, the two of them avoided their opponents and their various attacks, before both of them delivered the final attack that knocked their opponents out completely. The instant the aberrations, their main worry in this area, were taken care of they carefully walked forward for a couple of steps, though when Rarity stopped she fired a Emit Force spell at a zombie that was waiting at the base of some stairs, stunning it long enough for Edric to finish it off.

Once that was done the two of them separated and climbed one of the two sets of stairs that they had discovered, Edric taking the one on the left while Rarity took the one on the right, before they continued along their set paths and each took out another zombie that were positioning themselves to hurt them from above, had they been walking in the water. At the end of their respective walkways sat a door, though they each quickly discovered that their respective doors were shut and that they wouldn't budge, to which they returned to the walkway that was partly covered with water and approached the main gate they had seen earlier. Edric carefully pulled the lever that would open the gate as Rarity kept watch for any enemies that tried to attack them from behind, though once the gate was open the two of them walked through it and left the area they had been in behind for now.

The two of them stepped out onto a narrow walkway that apparently connected the area they had been in with some sort of building, though the walkway allowed them to cross over the water that had been located in the small cove they had found themselves in. At the end of the walkway rested another fog door, indicating that they had found another powerful creature of some kind, to which the two of them prepared themselves as they approached the door and walked through it. As they walked into the area that the fog door was connected to they discovered a barely lit area and spotted two small torches on the other side of the chamber, though that was before Rarity spotted someone, a lady by the structure of the body that was in front of them, who raised her head to look at them.

Rarity could tell that the lady was wearing some sort of iron mask that made it impossible to actually see her face, while at the same time she was wearing some sort of robe and ragged clothing, though that was before she spotted some sort of scorpion creature move into one of the mask's eye holes. A few seconds later the lady, no doubt the Lost Sinner, moved her hands to her face as she shook in pain for a few seconds, though that was before she picked herself up and carefully picked up the two handed sword that had been resting in front of her, revealing that her hands were bound close together by a wooden block. The Lost Sinner barely waited before she swung her arms and used the force of her swing to dispel the torches, shrouding herself in the darkness that had been resting around the chamber, effectively making it harder for Rarity and Edric to see their opponent.

A few seconds passed before the Lost Sinner disappeared from where she had been standing, or had slipped into the shadows as Rarity considered what they had seen a few seconds ago, before she heard the sound of something moving through the air and jumped backwards. Of course her reaction was still a tad bit slow, though she was able to avoid the majority of the damage of the Lost Sinner's attack, as there was a light gash on her stomach area, though she knew that she could easily heal the wound with a healing spell or her flask. Instead of doing that Rarity focused her energy into an Emit Force spell and threw it forward, intending to hit her target before she had a chance to dodge, but she heard the sound of her attack hitting the wall and the sound of someone hitting the floor.

Rarity looked around and found that she couldn't see Edric at all, indicating that fighting in the dark like this was one of the worst things they could have decided to do, before she heard the sound of her companion grunting in pain, to which she turned towards the sound and charged forward. She had to stop herself and retreat a few seconds later as she heard the Lost Sinner coming at her once more, though this time around it appeared that their opponent was already using them against each other, wounding one of them to make the other do something stupid so she could hurt them. Rarity was sure that the Lost Sinner had been coming up with a plan like this for quite a long time, but while she wanted to praise the lady for her skills she knew that her opponent needed to be taken care of if they wanted to get closer to completing their quest.

A few seconds later the tip of a sword pierced the shadows the struck Rarity in the chest, indicating that this was a thrust attack of some kind, though she coughed up some blood as she pulled herself away from her opponent, who continued to chase her and completely ignored Edric. That was, however, until Rarity stumbled over something and found that the Lost Sinner had already killed Edric, using the shadows to her advantage to avoid being seen until it was too late for either of them to stop her from killing them. The Lost Sinner used that opportunity to cut another gash into her back, causing her to stagger for a moment, before her sword pierced Rarity's heart, just like the Pursuer had done.

As Rarity felt her life fade again, a feeling that she hated with a passion, she knew that she and Edric were ill prepared to fight someone like the Lost Sinner... and she hoped that he would listen to her when they reappeared at the bonfire in the next couple of minutes, as she was sure that defeating the gargoyles would give them the key to defeating this foe.