A never ending nightmare

'How did I ever get into this mess?' Karla was climbing a high wall, a gamble she had to make if she wanted to reach Yharnam. 'First we pursue a legend no one was sure even existed. Then we find a dying man who claimed to know the way there. We finally reach the place to find ourselves in a place akin to a nightmare.' She blamed herself for being dragged into such a dangerous place. All her previous thoughts and wishes for death had been wiped out from her memory. She wanted to live. Moreover, she wanted to leave this nightmarish place.

'No place is safe in Yharnam. All the strong warriors who came with us died fighting each other or their own madness.' The wall she was climbing looked like it was made to conceal Yahar'gul from people's sight.

She didn't want to know the reason behind it. All she wanted was to reach Central Yharnam then the Cathedral Ward; the last known place for Francis. The higher she climbed, the longer she thought.

The monsters that appeared to be out of this world, the people who looked like they'd lost their minds for a long time. Surgit, the withering man who was at death's doorsteps saved her life before. 'From all people it had to be him? The man I looked down on so much for being a weakling?' The memory brought back all the shame she had felt and the pain that Paul had inflicted on her.

But amongst all the injuries she had suffered, nothing equaled Francis' abandoning and disappearing to god knows where. She had to find him and have a word with the old man. 'This city has a tendency of making weak people strong. I hope he hasn't lost his mind either. That blabbering old fool would better have a good explanation to give.'

She was angry, mainly at herself for being a trusty pawn. 'Finally back! First things first, I have to find the sword I lost to that scary kidnapper.' Karla was familiar with the set out of Central Yharnam at that point. She knew the streets she had roamed with Francis at her heels.

She was at the great bridge leading towards the Cathedral Ward; the one where they'd fought that cleric beast. That place brought back the memory of how she helped Surgit defeat it. 'That man had become a hunter? He has limited fighting skills, but the ability to heal his wounds and regain the upper hand on the battle sure is handy.'

She was surprised as she felt a tinge of jealousy seeping through her veins. She was a formidable fighter. Everybody attested to that. However, looking at somebody who barely knew the basics of sword fighting bring such a gigantic foe down was something worthy only of great warriors.

She still resented blood healing and resorted to it only during critical moments. Karla had taken the other route towards Cathedral ward. She was already close to reaching the lower streets through the dark tower she had seen Francis come out of earlier.

Although it was from afar, she swore it was him. Call it instinct or women's intuition, she was sure the man walking down the dark alleys was Francis. Tracking him would be difficult but she had to retrieve her sword first.

She wasn't comfortable using the heavy one the church doctors had lent her in Yahar'gul. And so she leapt from one building to another like a nimble cat until she reached the lower dark streets of Yharnam. It was there that she'd lost her sword and got kidnapped by that beast. It was there that she realized the horror in which they had landed.

'Back to square one!' a sense of déjà vu had overtaken her. Dealing with the kidnapper would be quite troublesome in her current state. The beast could take many hits without showing any signs of weariness or fear.

They keep relentlessly coming back with more ferocious attacks and deal a lot of damage if she were to take one hit. She remembered that pale beast which looked like a human. Tentacles grew out of its mouth and it had some kind of antenna on top of its head. She knew what to do.

She was walking carefully through the dark lower streets of Yharnam. Every sound made her look around, prying for any sign of an enemy attack. She knew where to find the kidnapper and how to prompt the fight.

She walked through a small alley, taking a detour to surprise-attack the monster and deal some heavy damage. Every step she took was carefully calculated. She made sure that no sound whatsoever would come out from her steps; like a feline hunter, stalking its prey from the shadows.

She spotted the kidnapper standing watch over a small plaza. The street next to it would eventually lead her to where the other monster lurked. She knew that most of the monsters end up coming back to life. She didn't know how it triggered. All she knew is that Yharnam loves torturing people so much that it brings deadly creatures back to life just so they could be tortured some more.

She felt like she was exploring a nightmare where the agony never stopped. Worst of it all, the pain she experienced felt real, and the wind on her face felt refreshing. She never remembered her dreams being so lifelike. On the other hand, this place felt like a nightmare, the worst she'd ever had.

As she approached the kidnapper, she jumped towards his knees and used the momentum to strike as hard as she could. Mixing speed with strength had always helped her severe her enemies' limbs. The kidnappers bones cracked but the beast still managed to turn around and let out its dreadful scream. Karla took flight and headed towards the small alley. The kidnapper, despite not showing its weakness, was slow to follow her. 'That injury could be enough for the two to duke it out equally.'

Her suspicion about monsters coming back to life was confirmed as she saw the strange pale creature standing near a tree at the end of the street. Karla didn't wait until she was spotted by the beast but jumped towards a balcony and started climbing higher.

'This would give me a chance to watch the fight and assess my best course of action.' She sat down on a balcony on the third floor of a building by the time the kidnapper had caught on –or so it thought- with her.

As soon as the pale beast looked at the kidnapper, it screamed and let out a blue halo from its hands. The halo flew straight towards the kidnapper and surrounded it. It was like a chain, binding it.

The kidnapper tried hard to break the seal, to no avail. The pale creature ran towards the tall snatcher and caught its shoulders with big pale hands. Karla then looked at the pale beast inserting the antenna protruding from its head into the kidnapper's.

It looked like it was sucking life out of the tall monster. As soon as the pale creature finished "drinking" whatever it found in the kidnapper's head, the victim collapsed on the floor.

Karla got ready to get down and kill the pale creature when she saw the kidnapper rising back up again. 'Now it's going to get angry' Karla knew what was about to happen. The kidnapper got up and a red aura enveloped its body.

The snatcher became faster and more aggressive. The fight ended in two strikes from the angry kidnapper. An uppercut followed by a smash with the bag the monster carried on its back were enough to bring the pale creature to eternal slumber; or in this case, momentary slumber until it comes back to life again.

Karla, watching from above, was devising a plan on how to finish off the kidnapper. She had noticed her sword lying beneath the tree in the small plaza. She immediately plunged towards the kidnapper and thrust her sword between its shoulders.

That attack should have been enough to immobilize any living creature. However the monsters inhabiting Yharnam still managed to move as long as they could still breathe. Karla rushed towards her sword while the kidnapper was slowly following her, struggling to move.

She picked up her sword and with a swift pirouette, managed to dodge the incoming attack aimed at her head. She then swung her sword with all her might, aiming for the kidnapper's neck. The monster's head rolled down on the floor. Only the big sword's hilt remained to replace its head.

'Now's the time to look for Francis' thought Karla as she swung one more time in the air with her sword, splashing blood on the ground. She felt much better with her own weapon at hand.