//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: 00 // Story: Abyssal Redemption // by SCP Pinkamena //------------------------------// Abyssal Redemption A Loss Of Sanity He was feeling weak. Every thrust, every strike, every movement in general hurt to his very core, but the threat in front of him couldn't be ignored. A figure, the size of a human, walked into the colosseum, wearing the armor of his King, as well as wielding his blade. The shield he held seemed familiar, but yet he could not put a name to it. He only knew two things: His name was Artorias, and it was his mission to stop the Abyss. This... creature, was it too from the Abyss? The monster he had pinned under his sword writhed weakly, before he pushed in farther and twisting, ending it life. His left arm dangled uselessly on his side, but his right still held his sword, which is all that mattered. He could hear its voice calling in his head. "It wants nothing more than your soul... It wants what's left of your Humanity... Kill it before it's too late!" The energy around Artorias gathered until he let out a painful, agonizing scream before whipping up and launching the monster on his blade at human. The Undead human rolled out of the way as quickly as he could to avoid it, but caught sight of the corrupted knight leap in the air, ready to strike. He quickly hid behind his shield, to which Artorias was still having trouble to remember why it looked familiar, as the knight slammed his blade down in the dirt. Quickly recovering, the Undead swung his sword meeting with the knight's weak arm. Artorias got a good look at the human. He had golden hair, and hard look to his face, like that of someone who had been beaten multiple times. Scars traced his face and arms and most likely his chest, back, and legs too. The Abysswalker snarled and swung his blade whilst flipping back, striking the intruder. Artorias then knew three things. That his name was Artorias, it was mission to stop the Abyss, and that if he ever wanted to complete this mission, he was going to have to win against this human or die trying. "My Dearest, Most Faithful Student, Twilight, "You know that I value your diligence and trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading reading those dusty old books! My dear Twilight, there is more to a young ponies life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this years location: Ponyville. And I have a even more essential task for you to complete: Make some friends!" Twilight's ears folded down and she let out a pitiful groan. "Look on the bright side Twilight, the princess arranged for you to stay in a library, doesn't that make you happy?" "Yes! Yes it does. Ya'know why? Because I'm right!" As she was explaining to Spike her plan it prevent Nightmare Moon's return, she failed to notice the small light out in distance of the Everfree Forest. While talking to talking to Twilight, Spike noticed a pink pony walk up to them. "C'mon Twilight, just try!" He said with a smile. Twilight looked a the pony with a hesitant look. She smiled, almost shyly, and spoke, "Uhh... Hello?" Almost immediately, the pink pony jumped into the air letting out a huge gasp, before zipping off. Mostly talking to herself, Twilight said, "Well that was interesting alright..." Before walking off with Spike to their first stop, Sweet Apple Acres. As soon as they entered the gates, they suddenly heard an outcry of "YeeeHAW!" and watched a orange Earth Pony gallop at full speed, before braking herself and simultaneously turning around to kick the apple tree in front of her. When all the apples from the tree fell into the buckets, she crossed her foreleg over the other and smiled at her work. "*sigh* Let's get this over with... Good Afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle--" Her introduction was suddenly cut off by the pony shaking her hoof vigorously up and down. "Well how do ya do Miss Twilight, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. I'm Applejack, we here at Sweet Apple Acres, sure do like making new friends! So, what can I do for ya?" She said, finally letting go of her hoof, but yet Twilight's kept going. Spike stifled a giggle and stopped Twilight's hoof for her. The only thought running through Twilight's mind at the time was that of her plan to stop Nightmare Moon. Now, it was accompanied by her next thought, "Oh sweet Celestia, these ponies are going to kill me before Nightmare Moon does!" After asking to sample the food, Applejack rung an old, rusted triangle and yelled out as loudly as possible. "SOOOUPS ON EVERYPONY!" Those thoughts were now accompanied by a resounding, "Oh no..." Prior to the flash in the Everfree He was feeling weaker than before. His stance faltered, and his blade was feeling heavier than before. Artorias stared at the human with malice in his eyes. Throughout his fight, however, he had recovered so many thoughts and memories. He remembered that he was Artorias the Abysswalker, the one who halted the spread of the Abyss in New Londo. He knew that he was part of the Four Knights of Gwyn, he followed behind Captain Ornstein, then after himself was Hawkeye Gough, and finally Lord's Blade Ciaran. He remembered how he was commissioned by Gwyn himself and was ordered to to venture to Oolacile to stop the spread of the Abyss once more. He quickly put up his sword to block the greatsword of the human. Although, that was all he could remember. He knew he had a wolf companion, but its name did not come to his mind. He tried hard to remember, but yet he couldn't remember it. He could feel it, one more hit, then he would be done. Spinning in the air, he slammed his blade in the ground, he repeated this, hoping to kill human, but on the third and final one he found himself unable to remove his sword from the ground. He as fought to dislodge it, it came to him. The name he was searching for. Sif. Her name was Sif, and she was his friend.