Bloodborne

Arnold turned towards her and gave her a stern look "Do you really think that we stand a chance against those things? We were lucky we had to face only one of them. If the one that had been patrolling this area here earlier had seen us, they would"ve been the ones standing by now." He was clearly shaken by the previous battle and his morale which seemed high earlier had been broken. "Except we aren"t, and they"re the dead ones now" intervened Arthur "this woman here saved my life while you two were struggling to get back on your feet."

Feeling that a fight was about to break between them, Karla tried to calm them down. "Let"s focus on getting out of here and learning from our mistakes. I think that two of us can easily take a kidnapper out. Their legs are clearly their weakness. If one manages to attract their attention, the other can bring them to their knees and with our joint forces we can kill them quickly before they could counter attack." Bernard and Arthur nodded in agreement while Arnold looked at her, unable to find words that could contradict her.

He turned towards the statue again and said: "I heard from a hunter before that kidnappers used to take people at night and bring them to a jail in a hidden village called Yahar"gul. I"m sure that this is what he was talking about. He said that the people in the village used to partake in strange rituals which required human sacrifice." He turned and looked at the others who were intently listening to what he was saying. "Legends say that they worshipped some kind of G.o.d, or G.o.ds, who demanded sacrifice in exchange for granting them extreme powers. I wonder if this sculpture here is what they imagined as their G.o.d."

Karla looked at the statue and felt shivers running down her spine. "This looks like a terrible G.o.d. I wouldn"t want to meet something that looks like that, or even worship it." As soon as she finished her sentence, the chants resumed and the four of them jumped, startled.

They left through the main entrance of the building. The choir chants resumed even louder. As they stepped outside, into the village, an even more terrifying view welcomed them. The street where they stood was cobbled and large enough for three big carts or wagons to drive by, side by side.

The buildings, in what was supposed to be a village, were as tall as Yharnam"s and looked even more sophisticated. The cone shaped roofs were decorated with dark green tiles and the tall buildings all had large colorful windows. The houses seemed empty and no light was to be seen on any window.

Night had fallen and the streets were darker, save for few poles that illuminated only some parts of the large avenue they were in. Statues were scattered in a disorderly fashion, as if to break the organization that this place had.

The statues were big and large. They depicted human bodies tangled and mixed with each other to form only one praying woman, veiled with both her arms holding something against her chest. Karla looked at the sculpture then heard Arthur"s voice behind her: "They have a strange taste for art." She turned around and saw the three men looking at the statue as well, trying to figure out its meaning.

"This place seems to be well organized apart from these statues that are present almost everywhere," commented Arnold, to which Bernard answered: "Everything here looks old apart from these sculptures though. It"s like they have been made after the city was established. And this singing makes these things look even more sinister."

Karla nodded and agreement and added, "I think we should move, spending more time here will make me go crazy." The others agreed and turned away from the statue, in the direction of the large avenue.

They walked through the cobbled avenue and looked at the wagons that were stationed everywhere on the side of the road. The wagons were large enough to accommodate a big number of people. They all had small barred windows. They seemed to have been used to transport prisoners, or in this case people who have been kidnapped and dragged to the village in order to perform some kind of ritual.

Only the wagons remained and there was no sign of life within them. Arthur tried to look inside but found nothing. They walked further until they reached the end of the street. The road ended in front of a square which had a huge circle drawn on the ground. "It looks like there was a plan to build a fountain over here, but it never came to fruition" commented Arnold as he pointed to a hole in the middle of the circle.

In front of the circle, stairs led down towards another bigger square. The group stopped in front of the stairs and looked at the abomination that was climbing the steps, coming in their direction. "Is that a pig?" asked Karla, not able to contain her surprise. "That"s a man eating boar. They"re boars which were fed humans, then transformed into abnormal creatures. They"re very fast and dangerous. Let"s spread out!" Said Arnold and everyone immediately obeyed.

The boar let out a deafening strange scream, and ran towards Bernard who was left in front of it to bait it. As soon as the boar came close to attacking Bernard, Arthur shot the beast twice on it muzzle.

The attempt to divert its attention didn"t work however and Bernard was sent flying and crashed against a parked wagon. Karla ran towards the beast and struck at its hind left leg. She had gotten more used to handling the sword and managed to injure the beast pretty badly.

The pig, with a surprisingly swift attack, turned and hit Karla with its bleeding muzzle. She was surprised to see the beast"s neck extend in order to reach her. She underestimated its attack"s reach and she was rolling down the stairs. She started feeling dizzy as her head hit a few steps before she finally reached the bottom.

She stood up, bruised and b.l.o.o.d.y, and looked up. Arnold was on top of the beast, trying to keep his balance and striking at its back with his sword while the shadows of the others appeared to be kicked away only for them to stand up and fight back.

She injected herself with another vial and ran upstairs to lend them a hand. The beast"s screams mixed with the choir"s chants made Karla feel like she was living a nightmarish scenario. She reached the top of the stairs and avoided the boar"s hoofs as they brushed up against her left cheek.

It was jumping around trying to get rid of the one standing on top of its back. Karla stabbed the beast from behind through the only thing that remained tiny from its transformation, its a.s.s hole. The beast screamed at the top of its lungs then fell to the ground, calm and breathing steadily. The three church doctors took care of finishing the poor animal and the fight was over in no time.

"What a mess this is. This village is no good news. We need to find a way out of here and quick." Arnold was out of breath and struggled speaking those words out. "I glanced a big gate down there when this disgusting pig threw me down the stairs" said Karla. "Great, let"s check it out, it could be our way out" replied Arthur who was also impatient to leave the village. "These chants really add to the creepiness of the place" commented Bernard as the four of them took the stairs which were leading down.

As soon as they arrived to the bottom of the stairs, they saw a big closed wooden gate. It seemed that the gate led further into the village, but the group wanted to just move and find a way out of the place. They looked around and saw two more wagons parked in the street preceding the gate.

There was another road which led directly towards the gate that came from the southern part of the village. "More wagons must mean that this place is either the entrance to the central part of the city or the exit" said Karla in a murmur, as if she was talking to herself. "There is only one way to find out" replied Arnold "we"ll just have to push that gate open and see what"s behind it."

They all went towards the gate and as soon as they approached it, a creaking sound announced that the gate was being automatically drawn. The chants became louder. The church doctors and Karla stopped and looked at the gate as it slowly revealed to them what lied beyond it. It was as if the chants came from behind the door.

The more it opened, the louder the chants began. The three doctors held their heads as if to protect their ears from the loud sound. Karla observed in surprise as the three of them screamed in pain and fell to their knees. Their screams mixed with the extremely loud chants filled her heart with terror.

Bernard was. .h.i.tting his head on the floor while Arthur hit his with both hands as if he tried to make the pain stop. Arnold pulled on his hair and howled in pain. Karla observed them but didn"t feel any pain. She was just terrified at what she was witnessing.

The door finally opened completely and the chanting stopped. The three doctors stopped screaming and looked at the gate while sitting on their knees. Karla looked and saw just the expanse of the village. It was the city center after all.

She looked back at the men to ask if they were feeling better. All three of them bowed down to the ground and put their foreheads on the floor, as if they were performing some kind of prayer. Karla approached them and called each one of them by name. None answered or moved. They just knelt there, immobile. She checked their pulse individually. They had all died.