The inside of the castle was just as chaotic as the outside, mirroring
the unparalleled hell. The candlelit halls, containing monks and
deacons that chanted their Queen’s holy scriptures, were drowned out
by the sound of steel boots marching and sporadic yells slicing the air.
The ground was unstable for a brief moment; like an earthquake had
ripped through the very High Wall and the castle itself, though when
the situation began to realize, people would wish it was merely a
natural disaster.
Deeper within the bowels of the kingdom, a deity stirred. The most
immediate thing on the elite knight’s mind were the safety of their
Queen. Lothric had taken a mighty blow when their King’s mental
health declined and went missing, and thus the protection for their
remaining ruling monarch and her royal children was paramount.
The captains were already working overtime in making sure their
faithful were kept secure (as well as the royal treasury) as their godly
Queen made it no secret she favoured the religious in their trinity of
ruling. The clergy were ushered further away from public eye while
many rushed to the ruler’s chambers.
Gwynevere was lurched over one of the altars, hands turning white
from gripping it’s marble surface, hair spilling over her shoulders and
obscuring her face as she willed herself to steady. Age had not been
kind to her health, even if it gave a pass at her vanity – long had she
become frail; weak. She had heard – nay, she had FELT it’s arrival
the moment it happened. A morbid thought crossed that perhaps her
borrowed time was due; and Nito’s reapers had come to collect their
toll.
Paranoia trickled in the back of her mind like a steady stream of cold
water – perhaps it was the Pontiff of the Boreal Valley coming to claim
her for his false Saint. Or, maybe the fire God had not taken her divorce
as easily as she had thought and decided to strike her when she was
at her weakest. She had too many enemies, and all of them wanted her
dead.
Her thoughts jumped to her children and her heart quivered for
them. They were likely more capable than her, yet an innate instinct
drove her to protect them, even if the twins exceeded her in power.
Just as she decided, she rose, and one of her knights burst into her
chambers.
“Most holy Queen, we must evacuate thee to safety. The
Kingdom is under assault by some kind of wrathful fiend.” he
informed, strong tone belying his fear. “We–”
She cut him off, turning to face the knight with a stony expression.
“ – we must stop him, at all costs. We will see this enemy, and
plan accordingly. Lothric may fall but it can be rebuilt – the
Princes, must be moved to safety. That is an order.”
The knight looked as if he wanted to defy that request, yet thought
better of it. Gwynevere was both a queen and a god – there was
little room for argument. As he left, the deity drew in a breath to
prepare herself.
Hell has arrived, and she was about to go and stare it down.
God, bless those of faith,
for Hell’s maw remained unhinged.
“TAKE FORMATION!! NO FIEND SHALT PAST, NONE! “ Uncounted, each distinctive soul amassed in liberal sacrifice, a union risen to serve as a rampart of human flesh & steel; martyrs of glorious Lothric. Respectful and experienced, a living embodiment of war stood vigil, stellar in warfare and at such moment, it was time to prove that his kingdom was no laughing stuck; eternal devotion. Stationed upon the battalion’s rearward, the captain’s gauntlet rested anxiously upon a steel visor, chanting its downfall until all vision declined into a tunnel --- was this monster, truly as powerful as the scout had spoken? Hesitance held no seat in a battlefield.
Oh, how soothingly and dauntingly it settled, absence of sound as if all life ceased to exist. Unhindered by fear they remained, two hundred men of honor, chained by valor and ready to attain another victory for their devoted Queen. There was no certainty, no true definition of who the enemy was, that sensation of unknown had always been an alienating feeling as if not crippling ---- who or what would they face? Intelligently the captain had already redirected other battalions, their purpose was to escort Lothric’s children into bastions of safety; nothing could penetrate a solid force of dozens in steel and so he believed that two hundredth could stand their ground, until reinforcements arrived.
“ARCHERS, prepare thy arrows! Upon my signal, rain DEATH upon thy enemy! “At last the sound had arrived, an impregnable sound that wormed and borrowed deeply into each of their bones; gnawing at their marrows. Soul of Cinder’s magnificent and battle worn visage a marvel in sight, unchained by fear, unbeaten by time ---- ascending so uncaring along the extensive stone stairway leading to the main chapel. Many curious minds couldn’t possibly comprehend as to why, why be there a warning as if a dragon had descended upon their kingdom? And yet here they were; awaiting to battle a single man. In relentless scrutiny they misjudged, calculating this to be a façade or perhaps a drill to consistently keep their experience on edge . . .
. . . but, how sweetly mistaken they were.
Unknowingly the captain traveled betwixt guards, wishing to deter the intruder’s intentions with civilized peace treaties. Victor instinctively acknowledged that the other was no lamb, much alike a wolf adorned in sheep skin, but something subconsciously chanted for a talk --- something to hesitate in more blood being shed. Sabatons marched coherently in valorous steps and no sooner he stood afar from the main force, yet strangely the opposite figure didn’t seem to halt ---- and the more Victor stared into the opponent’s visor. . . . there was only a blackened nothingness.
“. . . MEEEEEN! FIREEEEEE!!!! “
Hundredth knelt aback from hoisted shields, hundredth tugged upon their strings of death. Soon the sun gave no luminescence for dozens of cascading arrows descended, heads piercing through thin oxygen and in immediacy they pierced the walking deity. Soul of Cinder’s anatomy turned at each suckled impact, yet once riddled with an unthinkable horde of inanimate war heads --- he too remained unmovable at the top of the stairway.
Astonishingly they sizzled, every puncture poured a viscous cardinal juice, reminding our deity that his essence remained among the living --- absolutely divine. Each living witness gawked as their bows became reloaded, steadily they observed how their enemy’s body gained motion, a marionette tugged by a deity’s strings; standing ever so strong. Soul of Cinder craned his helm unto untarnished heavens above, basking in marvelous sunlight’s warmth as his entire outlines became engulfed in a blazing and ever consuming blaze. A flame so volatile that green lushes in the surrounding vicinity ignited, a combustive beauty that truly painted a horrifying picture of devastation ---- the trees that adorned the pathway up from the barbican to the chapel burnt.
So they wished to battle? Fools, martyrs whose vessels would savor the power of light. As soon our intruder peered directly into the forces: a miracle erupted, an unfathomable act truly fit for a Lord of Cinder; a spear of plasma and absolute beauty. Its serpentine body erupted from accumulated faith and firmly the left gauntlet grasped unto it, illuminating the field in an even brighter light in comparison to the burning trees ---- but an order came through too in retaliation, “ FIRE !!! “
Victor shouted whilst pondering how he had risen to battle every manner of spell caster, but none, none; ever truly came to match a legend from a buried past. Alas as they shot a hundredth arrows so too did he, Soul of Cinder took a stance of an athletic Olympic and threw the sunlight spear, its colossal fortitude had smitten majority of the arrows and even torn apart a hole through the accumulated nebulae. The knights of Lothric exhaled in contemplation of their enemy’s failure . . . but why did he throw it in such a bizarre unorthodox toss? Neither them nor Victor truly understood, why did the colossal combatant start to march in such courageous display too? But then it dawned upon the veteran, that the spear which traversed the heavenly canvas was so alike the paintings in the scriptures, the bolt which defeated many dragons at a time, “ I – It can’t be. . . “
Hesitatingly peering above, a hushed self-prayer exited as if a silent murmur before those two hundredth men became bombarded. One spear of sunlight to serve as a mortar of absolute destruction, and in their death, our Soul of Cinder pushed open the main chapel’s strong gates as to where every zealot preached. The holy house that served as a gateway to reach the upper level where the pathway to the main keep resided, along with the King’s private garden. Furthermore, since there were so many who preached housed in their respective quarters, as soon Cinder entered the holy house, he couldn’t see anything else but dozens of souls praying determinedly to their Queen and Goddess . . .
. . . the name they chanted, it brought memories. . .
Meanwhile a full hand of maidens and guards remained by the Queen’s side, escorting her through her decision, hopefully praying that their highness would not take the most obvious route.
“ Shalt we take a route of safety, thy imperial Highness? “