The tower looms in the distance. Your destination. You raise
your rookie sword and shield and venture across the battlements that lay ahead,
venturing from the safety of the bonfire you had just recently been so happy to
discover. As you rise the ghostly figure of a fellow warrior sits beside you,
another runs past, no more than an outline. A memory. The knowledge that you
are not alone spurs you on. Your rusty armour clanks as you step into the
light, attacks come quickly from both sides, you scrape through and press on.
Fireballs reign down on a narrow bridge, more enemies await should you rush to
the end. Grisly skeletons with wooden shields, but daggers that pack a punch.
In a brief moment of respite you replenish some health from your finite supply
and press on. Eventually you reach the tower, the boulder trap on the way up
takes away most of your remaining health but still you survive. Up the steps an
ominous white doorway lies ahead. You steel yourself, dwindled supplies and a
reckless abandon. You enter. Death doesn't take long. The giant Taurus Demon
makes short work of you.
You died.
You awaken at the bonfire again. The same but different.
Your collected souls lie with your corpse, your health replenished. You peer
out of the same doorway, onto the same battlement. Let’s try that again.
And so there comes a time when that castle, that cunningly
designed labyrinth of death and surprise, becomes your domain. You neatly waltz
across the bridge dispatching enemies with precision. You instinctively dodge
an oncoming fireball, remembering the enemies on the roof. With careful timing
(you must always be careful) you fight your way back to the stairs. At the last
second you remember the boulder trap and dive to safety. With a wry grin you
approach the fog-gate once more, this time with health. This time with a plan.
When the Tauraus falls he's gone for good. This is your
victory, savour it. The way across the broken bridge lies open, you pause and
look around. Below great forests carpet the landscape, in the distance a
sprawling cathedral. Atop the distant cliff face a walled city looms. All
these places you will visit. All these places you will die, and then conquer.
Unbeknownst the depths lie below, through swamp, dungeon and into cavernous
flame, the very depths of hell itself. A world seemingly without boundaries,
that feels at once familiar and alien. Its denizens cryptic clues, its monsters
cruel and unforgiving, but pure of purpose. Lordran cares not for you, and yet…
and yet… glimmers of hope in the corners. Respite for weary travellers, words
of encouragement from fellow players in the form of messages scorched into the
very earth. The tolling of bells both high and low a reminder that victory is
possible, urging you forward, careful step by careful step.
There is beauty here, and wonder and reward for those who
seek it. But for now you have a bridge to cross, and a new challenge to face.
You emerge onto a battlement, a giant drawbridge lies ahead, at its end the heart
of the castle. With a cautious glance ahead you step out. Halfway across a
dragon appears overhead blood red and steel clawed. Its breath makes short work
of you.
You awaken again at the bonfire. That same bonfire, and can’t
help but laugh. Here hubris will be your downfall. So you suit up, ghostly
companions by your side, take a breath, and go again.
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