Chapter 1 Horrifying Possibilities

When a normal person awakens they expect to find themselves in a bed and in a comfy safe house. This did not happen to wulfric, he awakens to the sound of rattling wooden wheels and the harsh bounces of the cage he finds himself in. Frightened by these new sounds and smells he opens his eyes in fright and lifts himself upright.

"W-where am I?"

Looking around he finds himself in a cage on wheels surrounded by children between the ages of 5 to 9 either crying, passed out or looking into space without emotion. In he cage there is little room to manoeuvre himself, he tries to turn to look out the cage to find out where he may be.

"Ah, poor little soul taken from his home without his knowledge. Awoken to find out what horrors awaits you!"

A man outside the cage peers into it staring at you. The man has very little, to no meat on his bones he also carries a massive scythe with him as well. After turning to meet his decrepit gaze Wulfric notices something, his body is no longer that one of a teenager but of a frail looking boy with also very little fat or muscle. After the initial shock he continues to stare at his new body in confusion, when the decrepit man looks at you with a sadistic smile.

"How lovely would it be to watch your hopeless eyes while Aldrich swallows you whole!"

"What?!"

"Oi! Shut up back there or I'll feed you to Aldrich myself!"

A person wearing red robes with an ornate design peers around the corner of the cage from his seat at the front. The decrepit man shrinks back from the threat with an expression of fear just from the thought and is unwilling to challenge the robed man.

"Y-yes sir, sorry sir."

Deciding it would be unwise to test the robed man's patience Wulfric decided it would be safer to try and find out some information from the children around him. turning to his left he sees a child around the age of 9 with light brown skin, brown wavy hair and striking green eyes which reflect his strong will.

"Hey you, do you know where we're going?"

"...."

Silence ensues. After some time Wulfric thinks he might've just started a conversation with a mute.

"Don't worry about Horrace, he doesn't like to speak much. I'm Anri of Astora and as you've heard this is Horrace."

A girl splits the silence between you and Horrace. She is slightly younger looking, Maybe 7 to 8 years of age with nice short golden blonde hair and crystal blue eyes shining with conviction. After observing the two kids Wulfric is struck with a frightening realisation.

'Wait, Anri and Horrace, the ornate red robes, Aldrich, that massive scythe and the children. Oh God! Fuck! Shit! I'm so dead, so fucking dead! This is Dark Souls 3!'

Wulfric started to tear up and cry from this saddening realisation and the hopelessness of his situation and this is not even mentioning the fact that he was in another world with no knowledge on how to get back. Anri and Horrace seeing Wulfric's outburst looked on with knowing pity seemingly relating to Wulfric's emotions.

"Hey, it's okay buddy, don't worry I'll tell you where we are going. These clerics from the cathedral are taking us there to test our faith and with a little luck let us into the religion and let the saint Aldrich watch over us."

Wulfric getting conformation for his theory from Anri did not help, and it saddened his heart when he heard what she said last.

'These kids are so young they probably don't even have a clue about what's going to happen to them. The ones that are crying probably were taken from their families and the kids with no emotions in their eyes were probably homeless and without families and have experienced untold hardships. The parents were probably tricked into sending their kids to the cathedral with empty promises of safety.'

"Also, don't listen to that man over there, he is probably insane and just trying to scare you. What's your name by the way?"

"Umm... my name is Wulfric, I don't know where I came from, I don't have a family or home either."

"Huh? That's a name not common around here it sounds like a northern name... though not common it is a nice name."

"Thank you."

After the exchange of information occurs the three are thrown back into a silence with only the rattling of their cage and the clops of horses hooves to break it. This free thinking time has let Wulfric ponder over the situation he finds himself and the information he has gathered.

'I'm guessing that the cathedral lied about what they actually are doing which is feeding children to Aldrich their saint of the deep. I believe I am before Aldrich became a Lord of Cinder and when the cathedral started to become corrupted by the evils within the deep.'

While Wulfric was pondering over this information the vehicle was being drove through a large town that Wulfric could only assume was the real life version of the undead settlement. It was much bigger than he imagined and also less hollow and there aren't any of those big cathedral women that shoot deep miracles yet.

'This place seems less corrupted and less destroyed than in the game, but that is probably because this is before the game actually starts. it almost seems like a normal town even though a very poor looking one.'

After the undead settlement they travelled down various grassy roads which Wulfric could only assume was the road of sacrifices which was way longer than in the game as it took several days in order to get through it. During this time Wulfric had come to terms with the situation he found himself in as best he could when he was having constant reminders of his hunger and thirst. After they made it out of the road of sacrifices the children were fed one loaf of bread each and a barrel of water each, though some children were already dead from either starvation or dehydration before that could happen.

'Disgusting, how am I supposed to at this bread which looks half rotten or this water which looks like they got from a nearby swamp?'

Looking around Wulfric can see several children eating without much hesitation on their faces like this was the normal standard of food they're used to. Anri and Horrace can be seen drinking and eating with some gusto, happy to get enough food on their journey to the cathedral.

"Hmm? Are you not going to eat that? You should, you know. You need enough energy for what is to come next."

"Ah. Yes... thank you."

Wulfric steels himself for the food he's about to eat. Taking a single bite out of the piece of bread sent warning signals to his brain making almost gag, stopping him from swallowing it.

'Soggy and dry in various places, smells and tastes like shit and probably disease ridden. This is a new low point for me, and it can only get worse from here.'

Wulfric forces down the rest of the bread piece by piece until all of it was gone. The bread leaving an awful taste in his mouth and also leaving it dry makes him thirsty. The bucket of 'water' if you could call it that, sat between Wulfric's knees while he debates whether it was worth the pain of drinking it.

'I have to drink it. I haven't drank something since I woke up and it's been two days since then meaning I could die if I don't'

Wulfric deciding he doesn't have any other option decides to down the bucket of water as fast as he can trying to ignore how much the water taste like piss and shit. During this the carriage finally stops in a familiar looking spot.

'This place is the stone circle place where you first meet Anri and Horrace in the game.'

"Oi you, open the cage and get them on their feet. The dead are to be put in a pile for the knights to carry to Aldrich."

"Yes, sir"

The robed man ordered the skinny decrepit man to let the children out. As he pulled the cage door open another person comes into view, a giant man easily towering over the robed man or rather the cleric of the deep. This cathedral knight waits for the decrepit man to let the kids out so it can take the dead bodies to Aldrich in a massive bag. As Wulfric gets out of the cage he stumbles from the weakness of his legs and ends up hitting something very large and metallic feeling. Looking upwards he sees another cathedral knight holding an ultra great sword staring down at him.

'.....'

'ha...ha...ha'

Wulfric freezes in fear and silence takes over with only the noise of the knight's heavy breath being heard.

"Come here you!"

The cleric shouts and grabs Wulfric by his hair and drags him back to the group of children and starts to explain what will happen to them. The cathedral knight continues to stare absentmindedly at Wulfric from afar.

"Now the road ahead it too difficult to ride through on a carriage and we're pretty close to the cathedral anyways so we must continue on foot. Don't get any ideas about running away various beasts lurk in this area, the safest place to be would be next to us."

Getting a better look at the cleric, his face isn't nearly at degraded as the clerics are in the game it can be seen that the man is of average build and is white with a brown beard and brown hair and a pair of brown eyes. The man has many wrinkles denoting his age which suggest him to be in his upper 50s .

"After we get to the cathedral you'll be cleaned and prepped for testing to see if you have enough faith to become a cleric and part of the cathedral... Now let's set off!"

'What? Maybe we won't be eaten after all. Hopefully.'

With this new information Wulfric eyes light up with hope, maybe there is a way out of this precarious situation. While Wulfric thinks of new ideas on how to get out of his imprisonment and maybe find a way home, a cathedral knight stare at him from the back of the group while they're walking.

'Is that you Edmund.'