Nightmare's End

Past: Sins of the First

All the blood, painting a few of the numerous buildings a wet red. The screams of women and children as they were murdered, their skulls being forced open in search of eyes on the inside. The growling of the journeymen hunters as they slaughtered and butchered, almost inhuman in voice. Maria was hiding in one of the buildings, and watched as Gehrman partook in the massacre. He beheaded three villagers with one swing and knocked back four more with a follow-up. She could hear his heavy breathing as he stood hunched over. I should help him...

As she ran outside, someone tackled her, screaming something about blood. Maria grunted as she kicked the person off, and quickly shot them with her Evelyn, just as she saw it was a hunter. "Master, I really think we should leave...!" Gehrman growled as he turned to face her. His face was covered in blood, but that wasn't what scared her. It was his eyes; the pupils were collapsed, almost mushy in appearance, at least from her view. He roared, as if he were a beast, and lunged at her, his Burial Blade raised high, as Maria's scream echoed against the wood buildings...

***

Maria snapped awake, gasping for air. Her skin felt cold and wet, and a drop of water fell from the ceiling of her tent and landed on her forehead, rolling down her nose. She wiped it off and threw off her covers, as the chilly air wrapped around her. Within a minute she was dressed, and then, carrying her Rakuyo, she left the tent for the treeline forty yards off.

She danced with the falling leaves, her blades sending ripples through the air as she spun and lunged and twirled and leapt. The nightmare still haunted her mind, but it rode in the backseat as the wind and dew and leaves watched Maria do battle with the darkness of the trees. When the sun rose, she returned to the camp and helped prepare for the final stretch. A scout had returned recently, reporting that their were no visible humans at the village, and that a few creatures he thought were dogs had chased him for a good half mile. The leaders of the expedition agreed to send the hunters first, and that four would stay behind to guard them.

***

The first merman came from the south, behind them, and had nearly skewered Gehrman. Fortunately, he was listening closely and heard its approach, and evaded the attack as Maria cut its throat. "Something tells me that we will not be welcomed warmly, unless it is in blood..." Gehrman muttered, drawing his scythe.

Bursting from the wood came waves of iron and pale grey flesh, gurgling as it charged.

The hunters formed a line of defense, about twenty of them all standing back to back and positioned to repel the onslaught. Three hunters went down on impact, the harpoons of the mermen pinning them to the ground as berserkers chopped at their raised arms and faces. The yellow-garbed lad swung his cleaver horizontally, knocking back a pair of enemies as he shot another, dashing in to rip it apart. Gehrman flew around the road, slicing apart any that challenged him, and came to Maria, who had been pushed by the flow to the head of the line. She was dueling three berserkers wielding kitchen knives and cleavers. Lunging forward, she cut two at their stomachs and decapitated the last, all in one attack. As the lines of the mermen thinned, the outcome began to seem less bleak when a roar from further down the road sounded, as if a larger merman was coming. Gehrman peered long the road ahead and saw what they heard.

A massive fish-man, armed with the anchor of a ship, was running toward them, gurgling ferociously. As the last few mermen were slain, the big one made contact. It threw itself at them, thrashing about like a child throwing a fit, its limbs catching a total of seven hunters, killing two. Gehrman and Maria rushed at it and cut its legs, crippling it, as it swung the anchor. The arc caught Gehrman's scythe and threw him away. Left alone, Maria looked up at the staggering giant, and gasped nervously as it turned toward her. It made to grab her, but she rolled away and stabbed its hand quickly. Not deep enough to draw blood, but enough to test the waters. The flesh was tough.

As it slammed the anchor down at her, she rolled between its legs, slashing at the inner thighs, and leapt up onto its back. Maria climbed up to its head and raised her arms over her own head, and brought down the points of her Rakuyo into its skull, killing it instantly. It slumped over as she wrenched her blades free, soaring through the air to land near a recovered Gehrman. "Master! Are you well?"

He was leaning on his scythe and was clutching his stomach, yet he replied,"I'm fine. What of the others?"

Maria scanned their surroundings; only three hunters survived, including the yellow one. The rest laid with the corpses of the fishmen, their blood mingling. Tears welled in her eyes as she recalled memories of training with them, meals eaten together, jokes shared. She wiped them away however. "Let's get this expedition done with, then," she growled. The remaining hunters, five in total, gathered small trinkets from their fallen comrades, in hopes of memorializing them upon their return to Yharnam.

The worst was yet to come.