Corruption of Souls

Ch. 3

“DARING, THIS IS CRAZY!” I yelled as we flew over a volcano that had the Old Iron King’s Fortress resting inside. How did she even know where to look?! I can barely see Majula on the coast near here, I would rather explore that! “Can’t we explore the Village?!”

“Nope! Considering how long it took to get you processed and get a flight to the outskirts of the Far Frozen, I’m not about to detour!” Daring declared cheekily from her place in the chartered biplane cockpit in front of me. I mean, yeah, it took a few days to get me registered at the Department of Registration, apparently due to my situation as being both an Undead and a Displaced. What would normally take just one day took three, and Daring apparently has a near-compulsory need to be active and doing something, so she made those three days torture.

“It’s in a Volcano!” I yelped as she dove. “Where’s the airstrip?!” I wailed as I tried to brace myself for a fiery death.

“Ha! As if any aircraft built by pegasi need a landing strip!” Daring cackled as she interacted with her dashboard, and the organically-shaped wings of the biplane folded back as the engine cut out. I screamed, anticipating us dropping like a rock, but instead the shape the wings held had us nearly parachuting down. “Don’t be such a baby Willow! You’re the one who can’t die!”

“YES BUT I FEEL PAIN! Or at least I think I do?” I mused, contemplating the weird relationship I had with pain.

“If Undead can feel pain, it’s really muted,” Daring replied as she guided us towards a large flat opening on the roof of the keep, which had bells suddenly going off. “The Bell Keepers are violent, but if we’re not here to touch the bells, they won’t kill us.”

“I know of them. I’m so glad I don't need to eat.” Even though I can if I want, I’m glad I haven’t had anything recently because I am seriously queasy right now. I groaned after the plane landed, getting up and stretching, my clothes now matching khaki short-shorts and mini-top to Daring’s. As I was doing so, I spotted something on the ground. A Human Effigy, or an Anthro Effigy. “Holy crap!” I excitedly cheered as I dove out of the plane for it.

“Do you wish to guard the Bell~?!” I practically jumped out of my skin at the creepy high-pitched voice that came from behind me, causing me to clutch the effigy to my bosom.

“Oh, a Bell Keeper.” I nervously noted, holding the Effigy tightly as I looked at the tiny mouse. I mean, they were originally dolls, right? Well, this one was clearly a doll, but designed as a mouse along with being tiny and in that weird armor. “Sorry, but we’re just passing through.”

“YOU’RE GONNA REGRET THAT! HAHAHAHA~!” The insane-seeming mouse doll declared ala Happy Souls before he noticed Daring. “Oh! The Head Keeper! Is she a guest?”

“Yes,” Daring grumbled, blushing.

“Then we won’t feed her to the Bell! All praise the Bell!” The Keeper praised and Daring half-heartedly mirrored the praise.

“Ah, what?” I gawked at the pegasus in bemusement. “Why are we here if you’ve been here before?”

“How would I know where to get Jade Crystallite if I wasn’t here before?” Daring asked rhetorically.

“Wait, we’re here for that?” I asked while I crushed the Effigy and immediately felt my heart beating again, consistently and strongly. Ah~ so good to be alive again. “I would also like a supply of these if I die again.” I happily declared as I rubbed my bosom over my heart.

“Why didn’t you use an Anthromanity at the bonfire to do it?” Daring questioned as we walked towards the ladder down into the keep.

I blinked before facepalming. “Because I’m an idiot?”

“An adorable idiot with fluffy tails.” Daring teased as we reached the scalding hot ladder. She wordlessly picked me up under the arms and hovered us down. The traps are still working? “Don’t worry about either the Alonne Knights or the Ironclads. They’ve long ago realized their home is without treasure to protect.”

“Uh, then why are we here to get the material to make Estus Flasks?” That stuff is clearly considered valuable enough to be a treasure.

“One, you could use one. Two, the Way of White could use more of them. Three, money.” Daring explained succinctly. “However, it’s worthless to what the Iron King considered valuable, so they won’t mind us raiding the old forge area for it.”

“Ah.” I acknowledged as we flew through the giant castle. The towering empty suits of armor that were the Alonne Knights didn’t even look at us as we flew over the lava towards a giant door.

“HAIL!” We heard and saw a bald rat with clipped ears holding a spear and shield wearing leather armor. Patches the Unbreakable, oh fuck no! “What purpose have you all the way out here? Nobody comes to Drangleic anymore.”

“Sup Patches. Here for Jade Crystallite.” Daring replied as if she was friends with this crook.

“Ah, in luck then. The Iron King’s old miners found a vein of it. I came by to fix mine up. I’m still dodging the Church so don’t mention this is my supplier.” He chuckled as he looked at me. “Oy, new friend? She got anything good besides the cloth?”

“Not really Patches. She just woke up recently.” Daring’s response said she didn’t mind Patches being a dishonorable thief!

“Damn. Oh well, at least she isn’t a cleric...are you?” Patches asked casually, to which I quickly began waving my hands and shaking my head frantically.

“NO!” I yelled knowing he hated the church and anything to do with religion and miracles. Something about them holding themselves over others while being no better or something. I’ve experienced Trusty Patches fucking me over when I played a Cleric starting class, I’m not making that mistake again!

“Whoa there, rather sudden to deny it. Not a fan of the cloth?” Patches asked curiously, so I calmed down to answer as honestly as I felt was necessary.

“I’ve got nothing against them on a...personal level, but I’m not religious or anything,” I admitted, to which Patches chuckled jovially.

“Ah, a skeptic. Good. Keep this one around Daring, she’s got her head on straight.” He said before cracking his neck. “Not like the git in the Throne of Want, much too devoted to that and their crown. Lust demons are banging on that door as we speak. Bitch isn’t nearly as strong as my friend Coldra! That Ashen actually snuffed the fire!” Wait, why are you bringing this up?

“Which plunged the world into a cleansing darkness for a Cycle until the Fire was relit. I know my history Patches, no need to remind me.” Daring huffed with a roll of her eyes. Hold on, this exposition feels really out-of-place!

“Well, I’m saying it for the pup here. Still looking for Hethra to thank her for that, even if the gal was devoted to that Herald of her’s.” He chuckled. “That lizard knew how to fight.” O-oh...um, thanks, I guess? For filling me in on something? Uh, what just happened?

“Considering you’ve aided the Chosen Undead, Brave Undead, and the Ashen One fight their final battles, I’ll take your word for it,” Daring responded, and I had to blink. Patches doesn’t help the Chosen Undead past selling them goods if you don’t piss him off in the original. I...think he Does help with the final battle in DS2. Does he in DS3?

“Now, the gnomes should be coming up soon, be kind to them folks, don’t stare pup.” He told me sternly as small gophers pushed minecarts up a rail line full of Crystals and precious ore. “I’ll be along now. Oh, and Daring...I Feel It coming. Be sure to tell your goddesses.”

“W-what?!” Daring squeaked as if in existential terror before Patches held up a feather and vanished with a cackle. “Th-that can’t be...no. Nope. Don’t fret Daring. He’s a cruel jokester. Oh Lords, please let that have been a mean joke.” Daring whined as she guided me down the hall beyond the large doors. “Let’s get enough to make a few flasks and get back to Neighapplous.”

“Okay, but what did he mean?” I asked as she rushed me along.

“That this Cycle might be nearing its end. Patches has seen the End of every Cycle, and he survives it. He’s always one of the only ones, and is possibly the oldest Undead still existing without having been torn asunder by the turning of the Cycles.” Daring informed as we entered a massive storeroom filled to the gills with treasure, and beelined for the area mostly full of green gems.

“Yeah...he seems like some god that just hates the idea of religion.” I mulled over how he acted in-game. “Like the Emperor from Warhammer 40K. He never asked to be deified.”

“Do not even joke about that. I don’t think we’d survive his ego-inflating to the point the world is crushed under the weight of it.” Daring snickered to her own little joke.

“And he’s unregistered? Wouldn’t Luna want his Dark Soul?” I asked, realizing he didn’t wear a collar like I and every other Undead I’ve seen has.

“Let’s just say Celestia hates him, Luna likes him. That said, the Way of White and Warriors of Sunlight loathe him for his irreverence while Luna and her Darkmoon Blades and Blue Sentinels adore him. His philosophy on life, Generosity, and Kindness are extremely rigid.” Daring explained, while at the same time avoiding explaining much at all.

“Oh, that seems weird,” I commented as we picked through the dull green gems. One I touched turned blue though. “Ack, sorry!”

“No, that’s fine. You just found Ashen Jade Crystallite. It’s even rarer, and it’s like a replenishing mana potion when used to make flasks. More valuable to mages than anything.” Daring explained as she pulled a large sack from one of her magically expanded breast pockets and began shoveling the gems in.

“Huh.” I looked over the blue gem, the glow oddly enticing to me. “I’m just touching them, how are they found normally?” I asked as Daring seemed to be seeing money now.

“By channeling mana into the Jade Crystallite. If it flashes blue, it’s Ashen Jade Crystallite. Your soul is Magic, right? Maybe you’re inherently gifted with channeling mana?” Daring informed me as she finished filling the sack. “Good enough for over a dozen flasks. Let’s get another of Ashen Jade Crystallite now that we know you can channel mana.”

“Uh, well, that’s cool.” I chuckled as I looked at the treasure piles. I began just touching everything I could and picking out the ones that shone blue. She wasn’t kidding, not many of these were Ashen. It took a while and a lot of digging to get even half a sack. “I don’t feel like digging any deeper. I may be a variant of Diamond Dog or something, but I don’t like digging.”

“Don’t say that around any other dogs, they’ll declare you insane.” Daring joked as she hefted the lighter sack of Ashen Jade Crystallite over her shoulder, leaving me with the heavier one. “C’mon then, let’s get out of here before the Smelter Demon notices us.”

“It’s still here?!” I squeaked fearfully and hurried onward.

“It was never gone. Those things don’t truly die. Even if they have their souls harvested, they reform after a few centuries. Insidious monsters that they are, they do have their uses.” Daring nodded her head towards the far side of the room, and I noticed the moving crucibles of molten metal moving across the ceiling.

“Why are they still producing metal?” Now that I think of it, I can hear some clanging of metal elsewhere. Are they actually still forging arms and armor too?

“It was what the Iron King was obsessed with. These ghosts, remnants, they’ll keep producing more until this place is truly destroyed down to the bedrock.” Daring declared while she tested the weight of the sack as she hovered.

“Holy shit and no one just comes and takes it?” I asked in shock. “The piles of iron, weapons, and armor?!” This place could arm entire countries!

“Heh. That, pretty Willow, is exactly why we’re not being attacked right now. We’re Guests, for one, and two; we’re not taking their precious Metals.” Daring winked, and I had to gawk at the sheer simplicity of it.

“So if we tried grabbing armor or a sword they would swarm us?” I asked before seeing a glimpse of red on a catwalk below.

“Pretty much, but if you’re feeling daring enough, challenge an Alonne Knight to a duel. They’ll let you keep it’s remains if you win.” Daring leered challengingly at me as if daring me to do so. Oh, ow, the pun, it burns it’s so bad~!

“Ah...no, that’s okay,” I said before feeling an arrow stab into my back. I fell forward from the impact as a red ghost dropped to our level.

“BEGONE FROM OUR HALLS DEMON SPAWN!” Echoed an ethereal voice called, and a gigantic iron arrow more reasonable to call a spear launched through the ghost, dispelling it. “TO ARMS! TO ARMS!”

“Oh by Luna! Of all times for demons to attack!” Daring panicked as she jumped onto my back, yanking out the red arrow.

“I thought that was a red spirit?” I gasped as I pulled Daring off of me to lay next to me as giant spear/arrows flew down the hail full of ghostly red arrows as the phantoms floated through the very walls.

“Yes. A Demonic red spirit! They make occasional raids on this place to try and free the entrapped Smelter Demon they use to forge their metal!” Daring explained as she tugged us across the floor towards a corner, away from the fighting.

“Isn’t the smelter Demon Artificially made by the Iron King?” I asked as I watched the knights handily fend off the apparently fragile and weak swarm of demon spirits.

“You really don’t know your history. No! It’s an Earth-slash-Fire Elemental Demon Spirit! The Old Iron King was seduced by the power of ichorous earth and freed the Smelter Demon. For a time, they used it to forge their metal, but soon enough, it heated the earth below until it became a volcano, swallowing the keep, and the King with it. It rose over time, as the Smelter Demon’s own paradise, but the Brave Undead; Hethra, slew it. It reformed over time and was imprisoned here again since the Knights replenished their numbers.” Daring lectured as we hid behind our huge sacks of gems.

“So, now it’s trapped here?” I asked as more red demons appeared down the hall. Honestly, it was fairly annoying, seeing them get wiped out so easily by the knights. “I don’t think the demons will succeed.” Also, I’m getting tons of souls just sitting here and letting the knights deal with the threat to their home.

“They won’t. They never will. Not unless they can amass an army. Even then, the army stationed here will always outmatch them in both quality and their ability to replenish. Just be glad this place hasn’t waged war since before the Iron King fell.” Daring shuddered at the concept, I joined her.

“Yeah.” hoarsely agreed before a huge thud happened and five Alonne Knights grouped around a huge 10-foot tall red Holstaurus which had emerged from the lava at the base of the room. She had skimpy black armor which barely covered the nipples of her enormous boobs and a massive cock was visible under her skimpy metal mini-skirt as she hefted a battle axe half her size.

“Damn weaklings. Even if I can’t get others of my higher kind here, these implings will have to do.” She snarled to herself before she cracked her neck. She looked at the Alonne knights and snorted before cleaving them in half in a single wide swing, and finished climbing out of the lava.

“Oh. Shit. What is a Corruption Demon doing here?!” Daring fretted as the monstrous muscular heifer cleaved through her enemies, ignoring the spears launched at her as they bounced off of her rippling musculature or her breasts by some impossible magical defense. “That power, she’s easily way up in the hierarchy…” I gulped nervously at Daring observation.

“They better have a good axe this time.” The heifer huffed as she backhanded an Ironclad, the huge rotund animated armor crumpling under her impossibly tough fist. “Last time it didn’t last three battles.”

“She’s oddly helpfully chatty,” I commented with bemusement. At least we know she’s not doing anything more heinous than getting a new axe. We should just quietly slip away.

“What do you mean? All villains monologue.” Daring replied to my comment with confusion, and I looked at her blandly. “What?”

“Do you live in a cartoon fantasy world?” What kind of logic is that?! Normal villains barely say a word of their plans to anyone before they do it, especially not while they’re doing it. That’s like Dan Backslide’s meme! Nobody actually does that?! Come on!

“Do I smell some females alive in here?” The heifer idly questioned. “Mm...one of them smells freshly Corrupted too. Come on out little ones. I still have time for a good raping.” The heifer called out, and I shuddered as Daring picked up the smaller bag, flexing her wings.

“On three, make a break for the ladder,” Daring whispered, the Heifer was thankfully going the wrong way from the corner we’d hunkered down into. “One Cloudsdale. Two Cloudsdale. THREE CLOUDSDALE!” Daring called a split second after she’d already taken off, leaving me in her dust. Daring! She flew straight for the exit with her spoils, the Heifer quickly spotting her and snorting in disappointment, before continuing on her way.

“Flying ones are too much trouble. Where’s the armory again you little tin toys?!” The Heifer demanded, and I blinked. She must’ve figured Daring was the only female since we’ve been touching each other a lot, so she smells like us both. Daring is good at this.

Moving to follow her up as fast as I could with the much heavier bag, I heard the Heifer giggle in glee after a loud crash rumbled the building. I figured she was getting into the armory for her ill-gotten gains. I made it to the ladder but...how am I getting this heavy thing up there with...right. I have tail arms too. These things are lifesavers!

“Come to mama!” She sang before she marched back into the main chamber with a heavy black, ruby inlaid axe with a head larger than the one she’d traded for it. That thing’s blade was easily the size of one of the wings of our plane! “With this, I’ll chop Letra down a few-.” We both paused. I was halfway up the ladder by now, and she was at the doorway right by the ladder. “Oh, not fair! I can’t get up there!”

“Uh...you aren’t gonna try and get me?” I mean, she's a big, strong heifer, I’m sure she could jump up here, or smash the ladder and knock me down?

“Why bother? You’re about to escape. I can’t knock you down either without risking my new axe.” She hefted the admittedly pretty weapon, and I figured this ladder was a really, really sturdy ladder, so her fist would likely break on it.

“You’re...uh, surprisingly reasonable.” Oddly intelligent too. Even if she did waste resources just to get that axe, it is a very nice axe.

“Hey, I may be a demon, but I’m a General for a reason. No point chasing for a bird in the bush if you have one in the hand. I’ll just go bust my nuts in my whores when I get home. See you later little Imp.” She commented as she sauntered towards the lava.

“I’m not an Imp!” I snarled at her before I started climbing again, the Heifer seemed annoyed by my attitude now.

“Oh, pardon me if you forget you’re a Demon. Fools may think you’re not, but once you’ve been Corrupted the way I can smell you have, you don’t go back all the way.” She waded into the pool. “Look me up when you decide to join the fun side. I am Torturas, Duchess of the Taurens.” She declared before sinking into the lava.

“I'm not a demon.” I huffed as I got up the ladder to find Daring already starting the plane up. “You ditched me!” I playfully declared, tossing the sack of gems into the cargo space underneath the fuselage.

“Naw, I just took a head start!” Daring called over the propeller. “Get in! We’re doing a VTO!” I jumped into the co-pilot seat, and soon enough the plane moved forwards a bit. However, with the wings still in their ‘parachute’ configuration, they caught the air and tossed us nose-up, getting us pulling into the air. “Deploying wings!” Daring declared before suddenly the wings flapped back out, and we flew up, and out of the hellishly hot locale. Hey, no wonder Daring was sweating buckets, but I’m fine. Why am I not sweating if I’m alive?

“Why am I not sweating?” I asked before one of those weird demons with burning hot blue souls fell from a portal and fell into some ruins before a towering red traditional demon exited the portal. Wait, is that a Hell Baron from DOOM? “You sure the Iron Keep can hold off a demon army?” I nearly pleaded of my adventurous friend.

“Yeah! That big bitch back there was a special case. I doubt there’s enough of her level to cause the knights too much trouble.” Daring firmly believed, and I could only hope that they could hold off a Hell Baron then. Because having Tartarus armed up more than usual is far too awful to imagine.