//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Friendship is Scaleless // by Limescale //------------------------------// Being among Lordran’s undead populace certainly had its perks, but it also had its drawbacks. While having already suffered the trauma of death and resurrection did a great job of relieving many of the fears one tended to face in their lifetime, it also made it hard to determine when one was truly dead for a second time, or whether they had simply been put down temporarily until being resurrected again at one of Lord Gwyn’s ethereal bonfires. In both cases one experienced the sensation of floating through a black void, hearing voices echo all around them. Though they felt light as air during this phase, if one tried to move they would find their body was as heavy and immobile as would be expected of a corpse. For Seath, a being privileged enough to be dubbed a true undead (among his many other titles), such was now the case. His whole form felt like lead, yet all he could sense was a choking sea of infinite black. For one who had lived and died before, both in his current life, and the one before it, it certainly seemed like the end had come again. The only problem was he could still distinctly remember something was off about his demise. The Chosen Undead had been there before him, her blade poised to strike, yet something had happened to prevent her from finishing him off. He could sense himself being wounded, but not slain, and the voices that echoed around him this time, they sounded like no dialect he’d ever heard before. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And that had him curious. “Well his wounds aren’t bleeding any more, that’s good. I dread to think of what might have happened to him to get him to this state though…” Such flowery tones, such worry for his well-being. No voice in Lordran ever carried that level of concern for him…well, not for many centuries at least… “And this…Twilight, can you help me roll him over onto his side?” He was being moved, not floating, just shoved aside like so much worthless meat. It was humiliating, not to mention painful, but it was also informative. He shouldn’t be able to sense his physical form if he was truly deceased, heck he shouldn’t have even HAD a physical form anymore if that was the case… “By Celestia…is that…his tail? Did someone cut this poor dragon’s tail off!?” The voices sounded as disgusted as he felt. Strange, tails were considered a great trophy amongst those who hunted Lordran’s more ferocious beasts. Why would anyone sound so disgusted that his had already been claimed, unless they had intended to claim it for themselves? “Twilight, hand me the disinfectant and a roll of bandages, quick! This looks like it’s partially scabbed over but it’s going to get infected if I don’t clean and dress it immediately.” Seath had only a moment to contemplate what nonsense these voices around him spoke of, before he felt what could only be described as the sting of a sanctuary guardian, magnified tenfold. Wrenching liquid agony shot up from the base of his midsection to give his withered body a fresh beating. On instinct he opened his mouth to roar in his suffering and felt himself shiver as breath passed his lips. He was still of the physical plane after all! “Just hold still please, Mr. Dragon! I know this hurts, but it’ll be over in a minute. Just let me bandage your…umm…back area up.” Seath gasped as he felt blood flow from him anew. Were these ignorant cretins actually trying to heal him via purely physical means? How backwards must they be to not recognize an undead and thus the pointlessness of their actions? Silently he cursed the creatures for prodding at him like some specimen of study, then he cursed the irony upon realizing this must be how the many specimens he’d experimented on felt as he subjected them to the same treatment. Seeing that this train of thought was getting him nowhere, Seath went back to processing his current situation. His tail was gone, for now, and with it the Moonlight Greatsword. He’d also lost the Primordial Crystal thanks to his rage and the damn craftiness of the Chosen Undead so that left him in a very bad condition indeed, and now these…whatever they were, were just making it worse by picking at his open wounds. He raised a hand and tried to swat them away, but found his strength was all but gone. “Please Mr. Dragon, don’t struggle! I need to treat your injuries!” The lighter of the voices claimed. “It’s okay, my name’s Fluttershy. I take care of animals like you.” Animals? This thing dared refer to him as a common beast? Had he still had it in him, Seath would have reduced her to a cursed husk of spikes then shattered her remains himself for that insult! As it was he could do no more than weakly roar as he felt cloth being wrapped around what remained of his tail. At the very least that caused the pain to abate for a bit. “Look at his blood, it’s…turning to crystal? Huh…okay I guess that explains the patches growing over his body…” The deeper more authoritative voice commented. “And no Spike, you may not eat one of those just to see how it tastes.” A smaller, more masculine voice gave a gasp of dismay. “Wha? Twilight, I didn’t even say anything!’ “You were thinking it. I could see it in your eyes.” The commanding female voice replied. “But I didn’t….hmph…” The pluckier voice gave an aggravated grunt. Seath shared the sentiment as he returned to taking inventory. He wasn’t back in limbo, and he apparently wasn’t in the caverns anymore. Yet if he still drew breath that might mean… Weakly the dragon reached for the softly glowing part of his midsection. For the first time that day…well the first time that century, he briefly felt a bolt of joy shoot through him upon sensing warmth radiating from his skin. He still had his Lord Soul fragment! The damn Chosen Undead at least hadn’t been able to rip that from his corpse before being interrupted… Okay, so he at least had something to work with. Not much, but it was a start, and for all their annoying pokes and prods, these creatures didn’t seem to want to kill him for their own ends so that meant he was out of danger for the moment. With renewed determination, Seath forced himself to roll onto his back again, giving his three companions a start. “No! No I need you to stay still while I finishing bandaging your wounds, Mr. Dragon!” The voice that called itself Fluttershy pleaded. Seath felt a weak urge to laugh. For her claims about being a healer, her methods were incredibly primitive. Dressings and mere tonics were of no benefit to an undead. They needed something more powerful if they wished to mend him. With slow, shaky movements, Seath closed his hand around one of the larger crystals growing from his abdomen. He felt weaker than ever, but maybe if he could just concentrate a little he could teach these ignorant savages the proper way to care for a higher being. Grimacing as his arm ached from the exertion, Seath broke the crystal off his body and brought it to his lips. “Now what is he doing?” The voice known as Spike queried. “I…I don’t know. Trying to tell us something maybe?” The voice known as Twilight hypothesized. Filling his lungs with as much air as he could muster, Seath blew on the crystal, enacting upon it a transmutation sorcery to turn it into that all favored means of communication: an orange soapstone. Feebly he lowered the stone to the ground and began to etch a message with it in the dirt. All three voices gasped as blazing letters appeared on the ground before their eyes. “N…E…E…D…Need…E…S…T…U..S…estus! He needs estus!” Spike declared triumphantly…right before sensing a problem. “Um…what’s estus?” Twilight peered closer at the writing. "I'm familiar with what 'aestus' is...as in the old word for 'fire', 'burn', 'heat' and 'tide'. That can't be what he means though." “It sounds familiar to me too…wait!” The voice known as Fluttershy commented. “Wait, Twilight, do you have any books on alchemy anywhere in your library?” “I might, follow me!” The voices drew away from his consciousness, leading Seath to drop the soapstone and silently hope this gamble was going to pay off. *** Sometime later, the two ponies and one dragon were seated amidst a pile of tomes detailing all the known forays into magical advancement via manipulation of the chemical buildings blocks that made up life. “Medicinal uses…Ambrosia….Essence….here we are! I knew I’d heard it somewhere before!” Fluttershy tossed her book to Twilight who levitated it up onto a stand. “Estus…AKA ‘The Bottled Fire’…a medicinal concoction believed to have originated with the discovery of fire magic back during the Dark Ages. Lore states it has the ability to heal any sort of injury though no records exist to confirm if this is in fact true. The solution requires the following ingredients to be mixed with water in a flask made from emerald, then heated to the point where they will swirl around in the container like liquid flame and smell of sunburned oranges. The solution must then be immediately consumed in order to gain its full effects.” Twilight read. “That…doesn’t sound particularly safe, or tasty.” Spike commented, scrunching up his nose. “Apparently it isn’t. According to this, all recorded experiments with it resulted in the subject dying from their insides being destroyed by the heat shortly after drinking it, and as such its medicinal properties remain in doubt to this day.” Twilight knitted her brow. “Yet the dragon outside specifically mentioned that he needed it. Hmmm, Fluttershy, you’re the caretaker here, what would you say?” She turned to her pegasus friend who looked like she was now in the middle of an internal debate with her conscience. “Normally I’d say no…but…from the extent of his injuries, and how much blood he’s lost, I don’t think he’s going to survive regardless.” Fluttershy nervously toyed with her mane as she argued and pondered and warred with herself. “I don’t want to hurt him any more than he already is, but…if anyone is going to survive ingesting liquid fire it’s going to be a dragon.” Spike nodded that this was a fair point. “If he really wants it, I guess we could try?” Fluttershy meekly concluded. Though she remained dubious, Twilight turned back to the book and read the rest of the entry. “Well the formula for it is right here, so all we need is an emerald flask, and a bonfire.” She stated. “Well I can handle the first part. Still got that mega sized emerald Rarity gave me after her last gem hunting expedition.” Spike’s features fell slightly. “Was hoping to make something nice with it to give to Sweetie Bell for her birthday next month, but I’m sure I can manage without.” The little dragon darted out of the room, leaving Twilight to giggle softly at his consideration. “Guess I’ll go grab my chemistry set and get a fire going. Come on, Fluttershy, we’ve got work to do!” *** Later still, the ponies and smaller dragon were gathered around a cluster of flames burning brightly away in a pit Twilight had dug next to their large white patient (her shovel having been the only thing that survived Seath’s abrupt arrival intact). Carefully the lavender alicorn positioned a tripod over the fire and then checked the various bottles of chemicals and ingredients she’d brought out with her. “Okay, I’m ready to begin. Spike, is the flask ready?” “Yeah, pretty much.” Spike held up the glittering green vessel he’d just finished carving. “Think it could use some pretty décor around the outside, but it’ll do its job.” Twilight had to pause for a moment and giggle. “I think you might be spending a bit too much time with Rarity. Her perfectionist streak is rubbing off on you.” She teased while levitating the flask into the flames. “Okay so the chemical formula for estus is stated to be ‘Su-Ni-D’, and if I remember my periodic table correctly that means I need one measure of liquid suncorium, one of ground nitrius, and one of powdered despair.” Spike cocked a wary eye ridge at the choice of chemicals as Twilight levitated them up from their brethren. “Wait, Twi, I'm pretty sure none of those are safe for ingesting. Specially if you're going to mix them together.” Twilight scrutinized the page she was reading and finally had to shrug her shoulders. “That’s what’s written here. We have no choice but to try it.” Though he still felt wrong about it, Spike helped mix the ingredients. “And you’re absolutely sure this is going to help our guest get better?” “Well…no…but…at times like this, it always helps to listen to the patient. They usually know their bodies better than anyone else.” Fluttershy soothed. Twilight filled the flask with the estus and then sat back as she watched it slowly take on a bright orange glow. True to lore, the contents inside the emerald walls indeed began to swirl around as they mixed, taking on the appearance of fire flowing inside the container as naturally as water might. Once the flask was glowing brightly, she crawled forward and dared herself to take a sniff. “Mmmm, okay, that does smell orange-ish. I guess it’s ready.” The alicorn turned as Seath coughed pathetically. Fluttershy quickly flew up and placed her hooves over his maw. “Oh no his breathing is getting weaker! Twilight, we have to give it to him now!” Twilight used her magic to grab the flask out of the fire and flew up to gently press it against the white dragon’s lips. “Mr. Dragon, if you can hear us, we have your estus! Please, I need you to try to drink it!” Fluttershy pleaded. Feeling the sizzle of hot glass against his mouth, Seath permitted himself to take a polite sip, and promptly felt his nerves jump as the familiar burning sensation of rejuvenating magic flowed down his gullet. Taking on a sudden strength, his hand grabbed for the flask and he promptly downed its contents in one go, letting out a heavier, relieved sigh as the estus did its work and began to mend what was broken. Well, that was a pleasant surprise. Good to know that even in this foreign land the inhabitants still had the sense to study his teachings properly. With his free hand, the white dragon felt about the darkness for the source of the voices. One of them, the one known as Twilight, eeped as he finally found her and curled his fingers around her body, pushing the empty flask into her hooves. “I..uh…think he wants another one, Twilight.” Spike said from down on the ground. “Uh okay.” The alicorn wriggled herself free of Seath’s grip and returned to the bonfire to whip up a second flask of estus. She levitated it up and quickly yanked her magic back as the dragon grabbed the flask and chugged it down to join the one that had come before. “Look! It’s working!” Fluttershy declared as she pointed to Seath’s midsection. The long, ugly gash that had been cut across it had now taken on an orange glow, cracks forming across the crystallized blood that had hardened over the wound. Silently, the scab shattered and fell away to reveal Seath’s skin was slowly patching itself back together underneath. “Wow! Well, looks like the old legends were right, though I wonder why the book states that previously this proved fatal to all living beings?” Twilight pondered, before Seath gave a hungry sounding moan. “Well, I’ll have to investigate that later. Let me whip up a third flask!” She turned to grab the needed chemicals, and noticed another problem had presented itself. “Dang it, I don’t have much of the ingredients left though. Spike, could you kindly go into town and grab more of these for me?” Twilight summoned a scroll and a quill and hastily composed a shopping list. “On it, Twi!” The dragon grabbed the scroll and ran off, ever the loyal and trusty assistant. “In the meantime, give him another, Twilight, then let’s let him rest. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on him in case his condition deteriorates again.” Fluttershy flew over to her own supplies and drew out a towel and a wooden bucket. “I need to finish cleaning him up anyway, as well as see about making him more comfortable.” Nodding, Twilight handed over the burning flask and mopped well-earned sweat from her brow as Seath drank and groaned in relief, his breath steadying as his wounds continued to heal. Now that she knew he was going to be okay she could proceed to the next part of her plan, namely finding exactly whom he was, and where he’d come from! *** Meanwhile…. “This is a grave turn of events, Chosen Undead. Without Seath the Scaleless’ Lord Soul fragment the Lordvessel will not be able to allow thee access to Gwyn’s tomb.” From where she furiously paced across the ruined chamber, the female hollow looked up at the speaker. He could best be described as a serpent, but one far unlike any in known history. Atop his thin black body sat an oversized head, vaguely humanoid and graced by a pair of menacing red eyes. Below, under a large, pointed nose, two flaps of skin flopped about like a great mustache, and finishing off his appearance was a giant maw filled with huge yellow teeth that the serpent repeatedly clicked together as he spoke. “Thou sayest that Seath did not escape thee, but rather was taken from the Crystal Cavern?” The Chosen Undead nodded. “Taken into a portal of some kind?” Another nod. The serpent irritably clicked his teeth as he thought this over. “A grave turn indeed. But thou must not allow thineself to stray from what thou seekest! The Lord Souls of the Witch of Izalith, Gravelord Nito, and the Four Kings still reside in Lordran. Provided our mysterious companion does not interfere further they will at least fill the Lordvessel most of the way. Go and resume thine quest, Chosen Undead. Thanks to thine efforts, I believe there are two others here who may be able to shed light upon this mystery in thine absence.” Reluctantly, the hollowed warrior bowed and left the chamber, jabbing a thumb in her wake to signal to someone outside that it was their turn to go in now. After she had left, two other individuals entered the serpent’s domain. One was dressed in the trademark black toned outfit of an experience sorcerer. The other wore a heavy-looking suit of segmented armor, topped by a round helmet that was shaped like an onion. “What do you need of us? Please speak quickly as I wish to return to my studies.” The sorcerer muttered. His companion looked a might miffed by the lack of manners. “Come now, Griggs! Is that any way to address the noble Kingseeker Frampt? We should be honored he has need of us!” The knight scolded while hefting his zweihander sword onto his shoulder. “Siegmeyer of Catarina is at your service, honorable serpent! State your needs!” Clicking his teeth idly, Frampt grimaced. “An unexpected twist in this tale plagues us, noble undead. Seath the Scaleless has been kidnapped from his archives. I must know how, and why.” That certainly got a rise from the two individuals, though both had very different reasons. “Seath, the Grandfather of Sorcery? Gone? How unfortunate! Master Logan will be terribly disappointed. He’d just departed in hopes of studying his secrets too.” The sorcerer lamented. “Ah well, things are better for it. Without him messing up the place I can go in and see if these damnsome rumors of my daughter being sighted around the Archives are true or not. Ahh, little Sieglinde, so eager to follow in her father’s footsteps yet so ill-prepared for it.” The knight wistfully mused. Frampt politely waited for both men to stop their ramblings. “Indeed, and such is the reason why I charge thee with going to the Duke’s Archives. Noble Griggs of Vinheim, thou wilt investigate if there are any signs of unexpected uses of sorcery amidst the grounds. Knight Siegmeyer, thou shalt ensure his safe passage across Anor Londo.” Griggs turned the knight, cocking his head as if dubious as to how wise a course of action this was. He then, however, recalled how easily he’d been captured when on his own and decided not to voice his dissent. “Very well. T'was my intention to head there anyway once I had time to rest in this lovely little shrine of yours.” The sorcerer said with notably more enthusiasm. “And a vanguard of Catarina is always ready to pledge their life for one’s safety. Come on, Griggs, adventure awaits us!” Siegmeyer replied as joyfully as ever. Slapping a hand on Grigg’s back (which made the sorcerer grunt in pain from the impact of the heavy gauntlet), he walked his companion out of the chamber, leaving Frampt to hang his head and restlessly chatter in worry. “This t'was not as it was meant to be. Interference from an outside source, prohibiting our efforts, bodes most darkly for our cause.” The serpent hissed in lament. “Something is very rotten in the state of Lordran!”