Another Dreary Hunt: Forbidden Studies

7 O'Clock: Our Mistakes

I guess I heard it first, that awful clicking sound drowning out the gentle mutters of Rom's strange prayer. Unlike me, she was never part if the church. Books and knowledge filled her mind too much to allow any form of spiritualism, or so I thought as I watched her clasped palms shuddering in fear...No, excitement? A disgusting smile from ear to ear stretched across her face, the blue eyes that usually brought me warmth now looked like lost sapphires. Yet in her prayer she was blissfully ignorant of the shifting, twisted form of the Garden which dropped down behind her. "Rom...Step forward." I pleaded, slowly reaching out my hand as I tried not to look at the creature.

It was like a deformed insect, with the body of a grey - almost black - withered corpse. The legs which stretched and reached out of its back danced in the air, locking onto the bannister behind it as my eyes caught theirs. A bloated head covered in glowing green orbs, looking outwards in all directions. The only semblance of beauty for such a malformed creature was the fins which protruded from its neck, paper thin with a pearlescent pattern like the shining moon. The sight uneased me, always had. The Garden of Eyes all wandered Byrgenworth's grounds like shambling husks, their slow motions as if they were trying to remember their purpose in life. This one was reached towards Rom with one hand, the other clutched a small stone. The clicking grew louder, wetter, it pierced my mind as if the creature was trying to communicate. What felt like a needle began to worm its way into my deepest thoughts, past my memories and into the eternal subconscious. I heard the whispers, so sombre and upsetting. Then came the screams, of he damned and tortured. I fell to my knees as the indescribable horror began to consume me, the lake turned white and the moon blood red as for but a moment I felt a realisation. A truth that I never wanted to see.

And in a flash it was gone, as was the creature. Lost in a red mist as a dark figure moved quickly behind Rom and intercepted, allowing me just enough time to grab her arm and pull her back. The scarlet droplets splashed onto her cheek upon which her eyes regained life and I saw Rom, rather than the thing. She stepped back behind me and watched the creature drop to the ground in a pile of limbs and rot, the soft wails ringing in the air gave me a headache, but nowhere near as bad as before. "Are you okay, Chester?"
"Am I okay!?" I replied, turning to the confused girl. "You're the one who wandered outside on the Night of the Hunt! You out of all people know how the Gardens get..."
"Antsy, I know, I know." She held her arm, where the creature almost grabbed. "I feel like I passed out, what happened?"
"You two better talk about it inside." A deep voice ordered. I looked up to see a mess of long brown hair, a neat trimmed beard and those fiery green eyes. I would recognise the thick white robes anywhere, though they were now coated in a thin layer of slick red blood. Laurence, the First Vicar. "M-Master Laurence! We weren't expecting you back from Yharnam until-"
"Tomorrow? I know, things are getting bad in the city and I need to talk to Master Willem." He walked past us and into the building. I watched the graceful hunter leave, his footsteps bloody as he left a trail of shining prints in his wake. I harbored nothing but adoration for the man. I look over to his work, the mangled lifeless body of the Garden of Eyes, most of them burst into a chunky goo which slopped onto the stone floor. The cuts were so precise, clean like a surgeon. Hunting was an art and Laurence was a master painter, the horrid beasts sliced into ribbons before they have a chance to draw another breath. Rom could not look, gagging as she turned back to the building.

Inside we sat on the chairs downstairs from the observatory, in a small nook around the corner from where Laurence and Master Willem were talking. We could hear their low murmurs, but were too enraptured in our own conversation. "Why did you do it?"
"Huh?" Rom was steadying her shaking form with some strong tea. "Oh, the...thing. I don't know. Something inside me lured me out to the lake. I want to say it was my subconscious, such a mysterious thing is the mind which locks away such secrets deep within itself. 'Eyes on the inside', as Willem says. If only we could look into what answers our own minds hold..."
"I think that's what you did. You mentioned a Kos, I have only seen the name in passing a few times as some sort of long forgotten deity."
"It felt so real, like this Kos, was it? Was talking to me. No, not talking. Pleading, begging."
"Begging?"
"Yes." Her eyes were blank, not lifeless like before but I could tell she was unnerved. "Like it was in great pain, dying. A great being which held so many people within its power being butchered, torn asunder. I felt the blades cutting into my own flesh and I begged her to stop but she just wouldn't!"
"Rom, shhh!" I sidled over to her and held her close, her freezing form huddled into my warm grasp. "It's okay, you're safe here. In Byrgenworth, nothing can hurt you. Not even the Gardens. Especially not whilst I'm here." She glanced up at me with questioning eyes. I reaffirmed her with a smile, and a casual fixing of my glasses. "Am I all right in the head?" She asked, her voice gentle and fearful.
"Of course not, you're the weirdest bint I've met."
"Hey!"
"What? You asked." I laughed, it was nice to see she was laughing too.

The subconscious, I pondered. True it holds mysteries, but what about? Life? The wider world - perhaps even beyond? Whatever is locked deep within us, I began to fear Rom was starting to turn the key. "Volunteers!" Laurence cried, waltzing away from Willem. "I need good men and women to come with me to Yharnam, for the good of the church and all that is holy!" I looked at Rom, and she looked at me with fear.