Iskall was the first to wake up, not remembering what had happened. All he knew was that he was on dark, damp, soil next to his unconscious friends, Stress, Hypno, Etho, Tango, Impulse and Izuna. He looked at them, assessing injuries. The only one who looked relatively hurt was Izuna, whose forehead was very bloody, and her hand was in a strange and unnatural position. He looked around, and not knowing what to do, he shook Hypno awake. She was his girlfriend after all.
"Wh- huh? Where are we? Iskall?" Hypno asked, the bright white beam of sunshine from the sky shining into his eyes.
"I dont have the answer to that. Izuna is the only one with injuries," Iskall said. "I didn't know what to do, and figured you might."
Hypno sat up, looking at Izuna beside him. Her eyes were closed, and her hair and clothes were unscathed. She almost looked like she was taking a peaceful nap. He took his bandana off of his head and looked around for stuff that might help.
Stress woke up around that time, and she was next to a dead hollow. She let out a shriek, taking Hypno's and Iskall's attention.
Iskall rushed to her, and so did Hypno, for different reasons. The hollow had rags for clothes, and Hypno took one, washed it off in the nearby fountain, and used it to put pressure on Izuna's head wound. Iskall, however, tried to comfort Stress, who was obviously not handling things very well.
Hypno tended to Izuna's bleeding before the broken wrist. Once the bleeding stopped, he snapped the bone back into place and wrapped the bandana tightly around it.
Etho and Tango shot up at the same time, waking with a start. "What the hell??" Etho cried.
Tango just yawned and stretched. "Where are we?" He wondered aloud.
Iskall didn't answer, he was too busy whispering sweet nothings to calm Stress, who was hugging her knees to her chest and crying. Hollows themselves were quite scary, the shape of men but crippled, skin and bones, as if they had no internal organs. Their skin was so pale it was whiter than porcelain, and they had skrieks that sounded like an incoherent attempt to form words that had long since been forgotten.
Etho looked at the hollow and jumped. "Holy crap what's that?!"
"It looks like it's hollow...." Tango said, standing up.
"Lets just call it a hollow." Iskall said hastily, trying to help Stress stop crying.
Impulse was the next to wake up, scratching his messy brown hair and forming it back into place.
Etho started sweating, and Hypno felt warm as well. "Guys, it's really hot. We should get moving and find our way out of here." Etho said.
Tango nodded, a few drops of sweat falling from his forehead. "I agree."
Zedaph and Izuna were both still out, but Zed soon woke, his shirt torn at the shoulders. The sleeves were gone, and he didn't really mind. "What's going on?" He asked, moving towards Tango.
"We don't know." Etho, Iskall, and Tango answered in unison.
"Let's get moving, like now." Impulse said, growing impatient.
"But Izuna is still out. We can't just leave her here!" Hypno yelled.
"We can carry her until she wakes up." Zed said calmly.
Hypno hadn't thought of that, and nodded, picking Izuna up bridal style. "Let's get going, then."
The group started walking uphill, picking up various bits and bobs along the way until they encountered a pile of charcoals with a strange sword stuck in it.
Etho shrugged and lit it, wispy flames flying up. They sat beside the bonfire, and took inventory.
It appeared everyone had a flask labeled "Estus" and "Ashen Estus" filled with blue goop and orange liquid, both of which seemed to be available at the bonfire. Iskall tasted each of them, and it seemed to make him feel energized. No negative effects, so they decided to go with it. Hypno applied the orange liquid to Izuna's head, and it healed within a few minutes. He wondered if having her drink it would help her hand heal.
The group sat at the bonfire for a few more minutes, talking and looking over what weapons they had, which wasn't much. They decided to wait for Izuna to wake up before continuing on.
When Izuna finally did wake, she immediately hissed in pain at her wrist.
"Drink this." Hypno held out his Estus to her.
Izuna raised her brow, but trusted his instincts. The pain numbed, and cracking sounds were made as the bones reformed together. She took the bandana off her wrist and moved it in a circle. "Hey, it worked!" She said with a grin.
"So we know the orange Estus heals stuff. Good to know." Impulse said.
And so after a bit more discussion, the group settled on a game plan and packed up, continuing on.
Iskall and Stress led the way with everyone else following close behind. They all slayed Hollows left and right pretty simply, until they arrived at a decently sized room with a statue in the center, a sword through it. The statue was covered in sticky blue goop, the colour not unlike that of their ashen estus.
This sword looked particularly strong and useful, so the group decided to take it and share it amongst them. Tango approached it and pulled hard, and the squishing sound of the sword leaving the slimy statue was ringing through the room like church bells. The squishing didn't sound like it fit with the statue's metallic finish, and after tango set the sword down to clean it off, they found out why.
The statue rose, standing on its feet and lifting the sword from Tango, nearly picking him up with it.
The blue slime slid around its body, meeting the sword and making it glow. The statue roared and stomped its foot, and the doors on each end of the room slammed shut.
Stress screamed and ran to the back of the group, and Zedaph followed. Iskall came to his senses a few moments later and tried to flee.
Etho, Impulse, Tango, Hypno and Izuna stood defensively in front of the other three, holding their weapons of choice. So they swung at the statue figure, who swung back.
"Dang, this guy has a lot of health!" Tango exclaimed
"Yeah, but there's no way we haven't done decent damage!" Impulse replied.
A few seconds after the exchange, the statue fell to its knees.
"Yeah! We should be good now! Let's open the doors!" Izuna said excitedly. But when Zedaph tried to open them, he was met with a force that seemed rock solid.
Izuna's smile quickly faded when the slime from the sword moved to the statue again, and it roared, standing back on its feet with a beastly muscular arm coming out of its back.
Everyone cried out in shock, and immediately kept swinging and slashing, dealing damage to the arm.
The arm swooped around and hit Zedaph hard, the force sending him flying into a wall. The others managed to roll out of the way, but Stress got hit when the arm came back. Tango dropped his axe and rushed to Zedaph, and Iskall was already at Stress's side.
The others just fought more fiercely, eventually slaying the statue. The statue fell flat on its face, and the blue slime dripped down and disappeared in the ground.
They rushed to Stress and Zedaph, with minor wounds themselves. The doors opened and Izuna saw a building. "Look! Maybe there's someone that can help us there!" She exclaimed.
Etho didn't notice the building, because the statue's body disappeared, leaving a fragment of the coiled sword and a bonfire identical to the one before in its place. He lit it and refilled his Estus, and picked Zedaph up bridal style, carrying him to the building with the others. Iskall did the same for Stress.
They approached the building and made their way to the door, which was open, after killing a few hollows. They walked into an open throne room, with 5 chairs and a hallway with a blacksmith and a merchant at the end. At the front of the hallway beside a set of stairs was a woman with orange hair, green skin and no eyes, a strange crownlike thing covering what wasn't there.
Izuna ran to the strange woman, and Etho lit yet another bonfire in the center of the throne room. He felt like the only one noticing the damned things.
Izuna looked at the woman pleadingly. "Help! Our friends are severely hurt! Can you help us?"
The woman looked in Izuna's general direction. "I am the fire keeper. I am at your services. Rest at the bonfire, it will heal your wounds."
Izuna didn't actually know what she meant but went with it. The group sat around the bonfire and slowly Zed and Stress sat up, pain free. The others just drank Estus to heal their minor scratches. And so, they sat there, thinking about what else might plague their journey.