Chapter 16: A Night In Firelink Shrine

I'm back and better than ever baby!

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< Have slain 1x{Taurus Demon} +3000souls >

< You have completed the Challenge [Taurus Demon]! >

< You have acquired

5000 souls

Demon's Greataxe

>

I may be dead inside but I'll be dammed if that oversized cow didn't put my balls in my throat on several occasions.

To further emphasize my point I removed my glove and glanced at the beautiful tearstone ring on my finger.

'Thanks for saving me, friend. If it weren't for you I probably would have turned into red mush by the Taurus demon.' But even though I had evaded getting turned into fine paste I was still tired as all hell and my wounds weren't going to fix themselves.

If only I had any estus left.

Wow, I really barely made it out alive huh?

''Haaah... Man, it hurts like hell.''

Even though I chugged the last of my estus my body hadn't fully healed from getting tossed around like salad by the Taurus demon. And the immense strain from abusing deadman's blow didn't help my situation one bit.

As I was getting up I noticed something in the corner of my vision, and that was the Taurus demon's corpse actually hadn't disappeared. That was a first.

Thinking why not I got up and limped my way over to the corpse and deposited it into my inventory. Maybe I could turn its corpse into something useful. Who knows maybe I could cook it into something edible. Like a Taurus steak?

Wait... Now that I think about it, when have I last eaten anyway? It should have been like months right? That's kind of depressing, I hadn't noticed due to my body resetting so much, preventing hunger.

Anyways I should be getting back to the bonfire now. Normally I would head to undead Paris after resting at the bonfire but I have a multitude of reasons not to.

First, I really needed a break, Although the condition of my body resets its peak every time I die, my mind doesn't. And the days and hours of nonstop fighting, murder, and getting murdered seem to have really taken their toll on my mind. So you can't really blame me for taking a break.

Second is the hellkite bridge. I am not wasting this human form that early by getting cooked to well done by an oversized lizard with wings whose only joy in life is watching undead burn to death while he sits on his ass all day.

Bastards the Lordran equivalent of a Call of Duty camper.

So I have decided to take a break from Lordran's bullshit and take a rest day at Firelink.

Also, it would be great if I could nab some miracles from Shitrus of Thorusomething. Having the homeward miracle would be very convenient. Speaking of homeward I used a homeward bonedust to get back because Gwyn knows I am not walking back to the bonfire in my condition.

...

After warping back and resting at the bonfire I made my way back to Firelink shrine while murking any who felt like getting in my way. So after around half an hour and a pile of corpses, I finally arrived back home.

Man, I wish the bgm was here...

Although something curious caught my eye after coming here. It was sunset. Even though it was midday when I killed the Taurus Demon.

I guess time is convoluted in Lordran. Or however that works.

''What's wrong? Get a bit of a scare out there? No problem. Have a seat and get comfortable. We'll both be Hollow before you know it. Hah hah hah hah...''

*Sigh* Of course this asshole is the first thing that greets me after making my way here is this crestfallen ball of negativity and pessimism. Because Lordran just didn't have enough of that already apparently.

I wasn't really in the mood to reply to his words so I just nodded him off and sat next to the bonfire. After sitting for an hour or two I started getting sleepy so I got up and made my way over to Petshit in hopes of getting some miracles out of him.

As soon as I stepped through the door the living waste of space started talking

"Hello there. I realize that I have requested that we retain our distance, but I also want you to know that it is not meant in ill-will. Here, take this. As a token of peace. No, go ahead. It's for you."

"Mm? Do you perhaps need something? Oh, I know. How about this... I have to await my companions here anyway, so, what if I were to teach you some miracles? Would that please you?"

*Nod*

"Very well. Then first, a Covenant with the Gods."

< Join covenant {Way of White}? Y/N >

"Alright."

< You have joined the covenant {Way of White} >

"Excellent, Now, let me share my Miracles. Only, their ultimate effectiveness will be determined by your efforts, and your faith."

Saying that he brought out a bottomless box and pulled out several old-looking papers and two talismans.

"Here are the miracles I can teach you if you show a little faith."

Now let me think, first of all there I could immediately cross out a few miracles I did not need at the moment. They were force, great heal, and seek guidance.

First on off was force, I could already push people off cliffs myself, I didn't need to pray to some story to do it for me.

I don't have the stats to use great heal properly and I don't think there is good enough guidance in lordran to warrant me getting a miracle for it.

So I decided to pick heal. It was not very costly, and reliable with its low faith requirement. Besides It was pitifully easy to find homeward bonedust just about anywhere in lordran so the homeward miracle wasn't a necessity at the moment.

I have always been interested in the miracles of dark souls. I find the concept of using faith to draw power from epics and myths of gods to be very interesting.

After picking heal and giving Petrus a ''Donation'' of 4000 souls. He started to tell me the basics of miracles like where they come from how they work and all that jazz.

What followed after was the most boring and tedious retelling of what otherwise should have been an interesting tale. By the end of the tale, my patience had thinned to a damn thread. How can someone be so boring and condescending at the same time?

/I can see why Patches pushes clerics off cliffs now./

But my patience wasn't in vain.

< You have learned the skill {Miracle: Heal lv.1}! >

---

[Miracle: Heal lv.1](Active)

Elementary miracle cast by clerics. Restores HP. The strength of the miracle depends on the caster's faith and talisman.

---

''Come again. The effectiveness of the teachings depend upon your faith.''

I will refrain from meeting you as much as physically possible.

Talking with Petrus for an extended period of time has led to me attaining a greater understanding and agreement of Patches' actions and beliefs.

Although I would like to train {Heal} I am not masochistic enough to hurt myself just to train {Heal}. Besides I can train it in field.

After learning miracles I sat down by the bonfire to rest and laze around but something felt... odd.

I couldn't rest.

I couldn't get comfortable.

Ever since I came to Lordran I have been fighting for my life or have been preparing to do so. So not having to do anything and just resting felt vastly uncomfortable. I wanted to rest but my body and mind didn't.

Having mostly given up on the idea of resting I sat up and decided to put one of the things I had pillaged from the houses to good use.

A sewing kit.

I found one of these bad boys in one of the wardrobes I looted. Since I had the Natural Craftsman trait and knew some sewing from college from when my clothes were torn so I thought myself the basics of sewing from Utube. So I should be able to make myself some basic overwear.

Wearing broken old and most likely rusty armor over naked skin wasn't exactly comfortable by any stretch of the word.

I took out the torn tablecloth from when I fought the black knight and cut it into appropriate pieces then stitched those pieces together into my desired shape using the sewing kit. And voila! Something that vaguely resembles a shirt! I also made some trousers and underwear while at it using another tablecloth.

< You have learned the skill {Sewing lv.1} >

< Your skill {Sewing lv.1} has leveled up! >

< {Sewing lv.1} -> {Sewing lv.2} >

By the time I was done it had already become night. At least I wasn't aggressively uncomfortable any longer. The night in Lordran was truly beautiful with all the stars in the sky unobscured by air and light pollution.

Ignoring the voices in my head telling me to keep working I sat down by the edge of the shrine and contemplated while stargazing.

Why am I even fighting this much? Why was I even trying to bother with the fate of the undead? Is there anything even worth fighting for in this world?

Everybody is either dead, insane, or hollow. And even if there are a few sane people left, why should I care about them? What am I even fighting for here?

After all, my end will either be of burning for years to unnaturally prolong a useless age of fire or stomp out the flame and become the dark lord, leading what's left of humanity into an age of darkness of which I knew nothing about. Or third, waste away and watch the world die around me.

Why was I even sent here in the first place!? Why did I get a system!? Why!? Why was I taken from my relatively good life and sent to basically fucking hell and told my fate is to kill myself by burning to death for years!?

...Could I even get back home...?

*plop*

''Well, you certainly look depressed, what happened?''

I didn't even register it when the crestfallen warrior sat down next to me until he spoke.

''...What do you want?...''

''You certainly look glum compared to your boastfulness before mr. Chosen Undead. But well, I may not be useful for much but I can at least lend an ear to your troubles.''

''...That's awfully kind of you _crestfallen warrior_.''

''I do have a name you know, my name is Gerald. And what's yours? or do want me to keep referring to you as chosen undead or something? hah hah hah...''

Now that I think about it... Can I even call myself John Moore at this point? I am sure that if my past self saw me he wouldn't in a million years guess it was him. And if my late parents saw me like this, what would they think? Am I even the same person as their son anymore? When I cant even remember their faces?

Am I even John Moore anymore?

''... It's John...''

''Alright then, John what's got you so down? After coming out of that graveyard unscathed and paired with that undying confidence of yours you would be the last person I would think to act like me. So as someone with more experience, I can lend an ear if you want.''

After a minute of silence, I spoke.

''...Gerald, what do you think of the fate of the undead?...''

Contemplating a bit Gerald spoke.

''Hmm, well I for one think it is complete dung. I once believed in it myself but that was in the past. I mean, how ridiculous is it? An undead making it out of the asylum, just to throw themselves at the most formidable foes in Lordran? You'd have to be de- sorry it seems like it hit a bit too close home, didn't it? Hah, hah, hah.''

Although I gave him a dirty look I completely agreed with his words on the inside. After that, we settled into a semi-comfortable silence.

"Hey, Gerald."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Taurus demon meat is edible?"

"It should be, I've heard of plenty people fighting chaos turning them into provisions. Apparently, it's not half bad too, just smells a bit odd and is notoriously tough. Why are you asking?"

"It just so happens that I have the fresh corpse of one me, wanna try cooking it?"

"How did y- Where did even store- You know what, I should have expected this. Hah hah hah."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Fine, I'll go prepare the fire pit you can take care of skinning and dismantling it."

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Bonus chapter at 200 power stones!

Question: What's your least favorite location in Dark Souls 1?