• Published 28th Oct 2017
  • 3,240 Views, 220 Comments

Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials - Blackdrag-rose



Rarity's curiosity gets the better of her and she steps through the crystal mirror. Now she's in an unfamiliar world, with an unfamiliar body, and she's cursed with being undead as well... and has to complete an insane quest to go home.

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Dragon Aerie

Once Edric had rested for a few minutes, and was ready to go, the duo walked through the other entrance of the dragon's nest and headed across the walkway that was in front of them, though at the same time Rarity marveled at the sights that were all around them. Edric and Rarity stared at the sights for a moment before walking through the stone hallway that was in front of them, before climbing onto the elevator, which was definitely out of place in their eyes, and let it carry them up into the air as they headed to whatever area rested above Aldia's Keep. It didn't take them long before they reached the area that the elevator connected to, though as it came to a stop, and opened up for them to walk out into the shrine like area that they were in, the duo carefully followed the path outside. Moments later they found that the pathway turned from modern structures and went back to a pathway that one would find in a mountain area, though the change made them draw their weapons as they walked out into the open.

As they left the safety of the modern hallway, however, Rarity and Edric paused as another dragon flew overhead, though this time the beast didn't seem to see them, but that told the duo that they had to be careful and try to avoid fighting another dragon so soon after the first one... though as they followed the pathway they noticed more than one dragon flying in the air, meaning that they were in an area that could be considered a dragon's nesting ground.

"Great, more dragons," Edric commented, though at the same time he paled for a moment, because the dragon they had fought had been pretty powerful and he didn't want to fight this many of them, as he knew that if they attacked one of them the others might converge on their location.

"Let's try our best to not engage them," Rarity said, but she already knew that, based on the path that was connected to where they were, there was no way the two of them could avoid all these dragons, while at the same time staring at the large shrine like building in the distance, "though, if I were in a betting mood, I'm willing to bet that whatever we're supposed to find is in that shrine over over."

The other thing she noticed, in addition to all the dragons and the shrine, was that the Emerald Herald was standing in front of them, though she appeared to be staring at the same structure that Rarity had been staring at... to which the duo approached her, as they were interested in what she had to tell them this time around.

"Bearers of the Curse." the Emerald Herald said, turning back to look at the two of them as they approached her, though both of them kept their guards up since they were still in enemy territory, "Long have I awaited one such as you, one who might shatter the shackles of fate... one who can set me free. Bearers of the Curse, it was my own manifestation that led you here. The ancient dragon has watched over the world for aeons past. Take this."

As Rarity and Edric listened to what the Emerald Herald had to tell them, about one of them shattering the shackles of fate and setting her free, the Emerald Herald pulled out what appeared to be an ancient feather and held it out towards them, to which Edric took the feather from her.

"Do not resist." the Emerald Herald continued, to which she beckoned towards the large shrine that she had been staring at since the duo had arrived in this area, "The dragon welcomes you."

Rarity wasn't sure she wanted to be welcomed by a dragon, one that had been watching the world for who knew how long, but in the end she and Edric decided to follow the path across the wooden bridge that was near where the Emerald Herald was standing and crossed over to the next floating island. That was where they found the first bonfire for this area, though they rested at it for a few seconds, to let themselves quickly recover their energy and spell capabilities, before they followed the path away from the bonfire. As they crossed a second bridge, however, they spotted a zombie resting at the other end with what appeared to be a glowing yellow crystal in it's chest, which Rarity quickly dealt with by loosing a Soul Arrow at his chest, blowing their opponent to pieces. The duo then entered the cave that was in front of them, though instead of bothering with the paths on their right at the moment they walked up the path on the left and followed it up towards the top part of this island.

Unfortunately as they made their way to the surface the duo spotted that this was where one of the dragons had landed and was definitely blocking their way, though at the same time the beast definitely wanted a piece of them since it tired to bite them the first chance it got. The only good thing about a dragon being their enemy was that it appeared to be the same type of dragon as the wyvern they had found earlier, which meant that dark based attacks were it's weakness, to which Rarity breathed a sigh of relief as she came to that conclusion. With that information in mind Edric charged forward and distracted the wyvern, allowing Rarity to move into position as she searched for the perfect opportunity to use her power against their opponent. Since there was no cage around the island they were on, however, that meant that the wyvern couldn't flee from them, allowing Edric to cut into the beast's legs more often while Rarity loosed a few Soul Arrows to make sure that she had the perfect position to end the fight in an instant.

It didn't take long before Rarity loosed a Dark Hail into the wyvern's open mouth, since it finally determined that she was the real threat and needed to be taken out first, though even with that knowledge it only opened itself up to Rarity's attack... silencing it like she had done to the other that had been trapped in the cage.

With the wyvern taken care of the duo searched the surrounding area, finding all the Titanite lizards had fled the moment they had arrived, to which they simply walked back down into the cave below them and used the first path on the right of the bridge. They had to smash through some stones that could have been eggs, though Rarity really wasn't sure what they were since she had never actually seen a dragon's egg and knew that, even if she did, they would be different from the ones in her home world. The cave they chose brought them to yet another bridge, one that allowed them to access the next island that they needed to traverse before they reached the shrine, where they walked through a small tunnel and reached the other side in seconds. From there the two of them dropped down onto the walkway below them, though this time around Edric swung his sword and beheaded the zombie that was coming at them, allowing them to walk up the pathway without having to worry about enemies.

They then followed the path all the way across two more bridges, where they had to take care of another zombie, before reaching an area where a wyvern was sleeping, though instead of waking it up they carefully walked along the exterior of the area the creature was sleeping in before reaching a cave... one that forced them to kill another zombie before stepping outside, where they stared down at another wyvern, one that was active at the moment.

Since it appeared that they were going to have to fight this wyvern as well, as the way forward appeared to be behind the beast, Rarity grabbed onto Edric's back and charged a healing spell, because Edric jumped off the edge and slammed into the back of the beast. Before the wyvern could respond Rarity released the healing spell and mended Edric's wounds, to which they separated from each other and repeated the pattern they used against the other wyverns they had fought so far, as it was an effective strategy against the enemies they were facing. Thanks to their strategy they were able to make quick work of the wyvern, allowing them to cross over the bridge that was it guarding the entire time, before coming to the long bridge that connected the floating islands to the one the shrine had been built on.

One thing the two of them did as they walked across the long bridge was take it nice and slow, because the wind was causing the bridge to sway left and right as they made their way forward... but their patience served them well, as they eventually reached their destination and approached the building on their left that contained a bonfire, as well as a familiar creature that was oddly smaller than the last two times they had seen it.

"Young Hollows." the flaming creature greeted them, surprising the duo with the fact that it was even here, but at the same time they carefully lit the bonfire as they talked with the creature, "How you grapple, without falter, with this dreadfully twisted world. Peace grants men the illusion of life. Shackled by falsehoods, they yearn for love, unaware of its grand illusion. Until, the curse touches their flesh. We are bound by this yoke. As true as the Dark that churns within men. All men trust fully the illusion of life. But is this so wrong? A construction, a facade, and yet... A world full of warmth and resplendence. Young Hollows, are you intent on shattering the yoke, spoiling this wonderful falsehood?"

"Stop making it sound like we're going to destroy the world," Rarity replied, though at the same time she noticed that the flaming creature was paying no attention to her and was focusing on Edric, which made sense considering that he was from this world and she wasn't.

"I am Aldia." the flaming creature revealed, indicating that the keep the duo had run through earlier was his domain, while at the same time causing Rarity to wonder what had happened to the former man, "I sought to shed the yoke of fate, but failed. Now, I only await an answer. Seek the throne. Seek light, Dark and what lies beyond..."

Before either of them could say anything Aldia disappeared as quickly as he had arrived, to which the duo simply sat at the bonfire and rested for a few moments, not saying anything since they knew that they would free themselves from the Curse and not do what Aldia had been telling them about. The moment they were rested up the duo walked out of the building they had found the bonfire in and traveled up the stairs that were along the path they had been following, though when they reached the next level they found a tall knight waiting for intruders. As Edric engaged the knight, however, Rarity backed up and stared at the mage that was higher up than they were, as it was throwing spells down at them while they were fighting the knight. Instead of letting that happen Rarity focused her efforts on breaking the mage down before it could harm her or Edric, where she eventually one when she knocked the mage into the wall behind it, where it stopped moving after hitting the ground.

Fortunately it didn't look like Edric was having any problems either since the knight he was facing had the exact same moves as the ones they had fought back in Heide's Tower of Flame, though a few moments passed before Edric toppled the knight and claimed victory. With the first foe defeated the duo knew that the correct path would be to head up the stairs that were in front of them, but instead of doing that Edric smashed the crates in front of them and found one of the locations where they could use a lockstone. Since they happened to have one in their possession, and the area was clear of enemies, he slipped it into the lock and a face appeared on the wall behind him, one that, when struck with something, faded away and revealed an iron chest. That chest contained a suit of armor that looked like it might belong to a sorcerer, but what caught Rarity's attention was the staff, as she could feel the power of the weapon the moment she laid eyes on it... though she gladly took the weapon into her arsenal, while Edric stored the armor away.

With that taken care of the duo continued up the path of stairs that were right above the area where the lock had been located, though this time they were being careful since they had no idea what sort of enemies were waiting for them this time around... which was immediately answered in the form of a mace wielding knight.

What surprised Rarity was the fact that this knight went down in three hits, as Edric stood between her and the knight and fought the person back while dodging incoming attacks, but she had to assume that he was getting to be a warrior that didn't need her to kill everything for him. From there she decided that it was best if Edric picked the route, to which he headed forward, and not towards the stairs on the far left of where they were standing, before walking up the stairs that took them to the next part of the shrine. That was when they discovered two more large knights were blocking the door they needed to walk through, though while Edric took on one of them Rarity focused on the other, using her spells to wear her target down before finally putting it to rest. The only disadvantage she found out was that these guys didn't have a specific elemental weakness, which she actually enjoyed having since that meant that she wouldn't kill them quickly... not unless someone attacked them from behind, despite the fact that Edric was lightly to wait on her to call for aid before offering her assistance.

Since she didn't need help taking out her opponent, and the coast was clear, the duo approached the door that the knights had been guarding and opened it, where they discovered some stairs that brought them to a second door, though behind that one they found the stairs that would take them right to the front of the large shrine. As they walked up the stairs they got a good look at what stood between them and the shrine, as there was quite a number of knights, like the ones they had been fighting so far, standing in their way, along with some knights whose armor was modeled after the dragons that were flying around the area. The two black armored knights went down easily, once again thanks to the strategy that the duo had come up with, before the two dragon knights started walking down the stairs and revealed that they were much quicker than their larger comrades.

What Rarity discovered was that these dragon knights could really take a beating, as her Dark Hail definitely wounded them, but they pushed themselves through the pain they were feeling and continued their attack, or they were really stubborn and wouldn't give up no matter what. Eventually she wore her opponent down with her spells and caused him to collapse, allowing her the chance to see Edric finish off his foe before she healed his wounds, since he had been nicked a few times during the course of the fight. Once they were both healed the two of them continued up the stairs and stopped when they discovered that their new enemies were two more of the larger knights and one more dragon knight... though at the same time Rarity decided that enough was enough, to which she snapped up a barrier around her and Edric. She grinned as one of the knights hit the barrier and bounced backwards, though as the other two paused for a moment Rarity dropped the barrier and she and Edric charged towards the opening that they had been guarding.

The good news was that the trio of knights refused to follow them, though they immediately found out why when they noticed the large and ancient looking dragon, which actually looked like a dragon since it had four legs, a pair of wings, a deadly looking tail, and the head Rarity often associated with dragons, simply resting on it's belly as they approached... but when they stopped at it Rarity dropped to one knee and knelt before the majestic creature. She knew that it was powerful, since it had been able to survive for so long and watch over the world as a whole, but she could also feel the power radiating from it's body... and knew that neither of them would survive if they got into a fight with the ancient dragon.

The murk shifts and stirs. an ancient voice said, though Rarity immediately noticed that it was coming from inside her head, indicating that the ancient dragon was speaking into their minds, Yet another stands before us… Then so be it. For the curse of life, is the curse of want. And so, you peer… Into the fog, in hope of answers.

Rarity and Edric remained in their positions for a few moments before a small white orb, one that radiated a power that was similar to the dragon's power, appeared before the two of them, though that was followed by it disappearing as it passed through Rarity... though when she looked up at the ancient dragon it barely motioned with it's head, to which she nodded and backed away from the powerful creature.

"What was all that about?" Edric asked, though he waited until they were a good distance away from the dragon, because if Rarity was going to kneel before it that meant that they would lose in a fight and didn't want to upset the powerful creature.

"I think... he gave us a way to see into the past," Rarity replied, though at the same time she recalled what she and Edric had learned back when they first entered Drangleic Castle, about the King and the Giants, before a smile appeared on her face, "and I know what we need to do now. It's time we scouted out the Forest of Fallen Giants once more and see if we can't find anything useful while we're there."

She was sure that this was what the ancient dragon was referring to, as in the hatred between the Giants and King Vendrick, but all she could do is see if she was right when they returned to the forest... and, if she wasn't right, they could always ask Shalquoir about it.

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