A Distant Call From The Queen

Fear is a better catalyst than motivation. That's what Karla learned as she saw the kidnapper approach her on the bridge. She knew she was nimble, quick on her feet. The kidnapper on the other hand was faster and stronger.

She had to find a way out of that predicament and quick; knowing that she was no match for him one on one. And so she jumped on the railing of the bridge and ran towards the other end of it. The kidnapper followed and tried to interject her.

Every time the beast stopped and tried to attack, she'd jump to the other railing and continue running. She knew that one attack could send her free falling off the bridge. But it was also harder for the kidnapper to attack her head on. These beasts were huge and fast, but they had no agility and could not face her standing on a railing.

As soon as Karla crossed the bridge she made her way towards the first building in sight; another tower as tall as the one she had just come out from. Inside, the building was dark and silent. She could hear the kidnapper hard on her heels and she had to make haste.

She ran upstairs towards the top of the tower. She had a plan in mind and it relied solely on her capacity to reach the top first. If she was to lose her life, she would've preferred it to be on her terms.

She assumed the stairs were aligned the same way as the ones in the previous tower. She had to make that gamble; the beast might have better eyesight than hers and could catch up with her at any moment.

She jumped on the wooden railings. As soon as her feet made contact with the old rotten wood, her feet flailed and she almost fell off. 'This is going to be a dangerous endeavor, but so be it.' She thought as she blindly jumped to the opposite side, throwing her arms forward, looking for a solid surface to hold on to.

Her hands made contact with wood and she found herself clutching the railing of the opposite staircase. Her assumption was confirmed and so she jumped again to the opposite side. She started climbing the tower one jump at a time zigzagging through the void in between the staircases.

She had gained a significant lead over her pursuer. In no time she reached the top of the tower. The conical roof stood imposing on top of her head, 'one last climb…. Come on, you can do it' she mentally screamed at herself. She could hear hurried footsteps approaching.

She had but few seconds to get her plan in motion. She saw the window on top. The stairs that used to lead to the attic on top were destroyed. She climbed and clutched every small crevice she could find on the wall and made her way towards the open window. As soon as she got out, she felt the fresh air slap her face and the wind almost blew her off balance.

She heard the kidnapper scream underneath. The beast tried hard to jump towards the window to no avail. Karla was out of breath. She was holding onto the window pane in order to keep her balance. She stood there and pricked her ears for any sign of movement inside the tower.

She didn't know for how long she hung from that window. The kidnapper had gotten bored of trying to climb towards the window and gave up. Karla chose to stay out there and wait long enough for her pursuer to be far away in order to get back inside the building.

From there, she managed to spot a road that took back towards Central Yharnam. This place was hidden from the masses sure, but from high up, one could see a way back towards the aqueducts. It didn't seem to be an easy way since the streets were crawling with monsters, possibly something worse than the kidnapper. But she had to make her way there and get back to Yharnam.

****

Blood, fire and corpses became Francis' routine. Everywhere he went, he'd leave a trail of corpses behind him. The beasts inhabiting Hemwick were no match for him. He'd been thinking about his nameless master's words all along.

He would kill beasts and collect their echoes in order to get stronger. He had an idea on what to strengthen once he'd collected enough echoes of blood. All that was left for him was to thoroughly cleanse Hemwick from the beasts roaming it.

His thirst for knowledge hadn't been satiated yet but he had to settle at that moment for what he had been given. He would roam around the village, leaving no stone unturned until he'd finally manage to understand what has really been happening in there.

From what he observed before, the women – now turned beasts – had been harvesting human bodies for some kind of end. They would mainly take organs as the remains would be burned later on. Only at some moment, the women turned mad and started killing everybody who dared approach their hamlet.

He was standing on top the tiled roofs of one of the houses in the village; watching over the howling women below him. He felt like the grim reaper; an eastern one wielding a katana instead of a scythe. Half a dozen mad women were roaming below him, screaming and tearing their hair away.

One of them stood far away, with two dogs at her side. He knew from experience that this one fought from afar, raining Molotov cocktails at him while the others swarmed him and dogs hindered his movements. He had made the mistake before and he wasn't willing to fall into the trap again.

He jumped from roof to roof until he reached that woman first and struck her down with a clean cut that sent her head flying several feet away. The poor disheveled dogs didn't have time to riposte. They were dealt with swiftly as Francis made his way towards the five patrolling ladies. As soon as he reached them, he performed his bloody dance around them and slashed them open with his sword.

He stood motionless as he heard a bell ringing. The sound felt like it was coming from inside his head, but at the same time he swore it could be heard in the outside too. As soon as the bell's timbre stopped, a red shadowy aura concealed a figure appearing from underneath the ground. It had gray skin and long disheveled hair. The creature wielded a scythe on its right hand.

As soon as they made eye contact, the monster let out a howl and charged at Francis. The fight went on in Francis' favor as usual. He dodged the crazy looking being's first two attacks and relieved it from its arms with two clean strikes.

He then proceeded to stabbing it and splitting its body in two vertical halves. He'd grown bored of creatures who pose no immediate threat to him. He even started begging from some new challenge that would bring the adrenaline rush back… and the fear of death. He started to forget what that felt like.

As he moved forward, Francis noticed that he was getting deeper into uncharted territory. Hemwick was a pretty big town. Two main buildings had caught his attention the first time he had been in there. The first one was where he encountered the nameless hunter. The second was the one he was heading to.

It appeared to be a big mansion from which light was always on, as a beacon beckoning him towards it. A metallic gate used to bar his way from reaching it but he had found his way around it.

He was then standing in a crossroad. On his left was the gate which he opened using a contraption once he managed to find his way round. On his right there was a road leading to a broken bridge. Under the bridge there was a massive lake and far off, he could see some gigantic building on an island. He could not make out what the building was or how to reach it.

Little did Francis know that the building he'd seen in the distance had called to him in his dreams, ever since he became a hunter.