“Aah, a hunter are ya? Very sorry, the incense must’ve masked your scent” said the weird creature in front of them. It could speak although it appeared devoid of that ability. It had a triangular long face. Its skin was ashen gray and it wore a log red robe. It had white eyes and a wide gaping mouth. Looking at it felt like looking at a ghost with flesh and bones. It had long fingers, twice as long as a human being’s. Surgit didn’t like that creature one bit. “Who are you?” said Karla. She was as stunned by the creature as Surgit.

“These hunts have everyone locked up inside. Waiting for it to end… It always does, always has, y’know; since forever. But it won’t very nicely, not this time.” “What do you mean?” Surgit didn’t trust that thing one bit but he was curious to know more. “Even some folks hiding inside are goin’ bad. The screams of wimminfolk, the stench of blood, the snarls of beasts… none of em’s too uncommon now. Yharnam’s done fer I tell ya.” The creature finished its short speech with a desperate voice, on the verge of crying. “Then what are you doing here alone, in this place I wonder. Aren’t you afraid of monsters?” Asked Karla. “The incense wards off the beasts in this here Oedon chapel. If you spot anyone with their wits about ‘em… tell ‘em about this here Oedon chapel. They’ll be safe here. Spread the word… tell ‘em come on over here, if you don’t mind… hehe… hehe… hehe… hehehehehehe…” the creature started laughing nervously and couldn’t stop.

Surgit and Karla looked at it, still bewildered at its existence. They moved aside, towards one of the doors leading outside and started discussing what to do with the creature. “That thing looks a bit crazy but I don’t think it can pose a threat to anyone. It’s blind and it doesn’t look like it can move” said Karla in a whisper. Surgit agreed, he preferred not to kill anyone who didn’t deserve to and this creature, although creepy, didn’t pose any threat. They came back to ask him more urging questions, Karla spoke first.

“Tell me, did an old man come through here by any chance?” “There was an old man yea, he asked about the Upper Cathedral Ward.” The creepy creature replied. “And do you know of the way to the Upper Cathedral Ward?” Karla became more agitated. “The door on the right takes directly o’er there. He seemed in a hurry and from his voice I could sense fear and anticipation.”

Karla tried to open the closed door again to no avail. She was frustrated but at the same time surprised that Francis had made it all the way there. “Didn’t you say that the way was blocked earlier?” she looked at Surgit with distrustful eyes. “And the door leading to the place where Francis went was open too. How he managed to get through locked doors is beyond me. We need to find another way around.” He was willing to help Karla as he was curious to know how Francis had made it all the way up to the chapel and then through that closed door. Karla went back again to the blind one and asked him: ”is there any way around to that Upper part? I really need to get there.” She was getting more and more restless. “Not that I know of, but there are many secret passageways in the Cathedral Ward, if ya explore it well enough, I’m sure ya can find a way in.” The blind man willingly and calmly answered.

They decided to take one of the doors leading outside. The one they took led them behind the chapel. They found a cart parked right next to the door. Behind it stood a tall man, with pale skin, wearing a top hat looking at them. He let out a growl and moved towards them. He was holding a cane and on his neck, a bell hung from it as if it were a pendant.

The man made to attack and before his cane could reach any of them, they both cut him open in two perfectly timed strikes. He collapsed on his knees and let out another growl before it died. “Oh I see you’re using a new weapon.” Karla observed. “I took it from the hunter I fought earlier. It handles pretty well so I decided to give it a try,” Surgit answered. In addition to the strap he had on his back, Surgit had another one on his right leg. It was useful to strap in smaller weapons and even though the axe was gigantic when elongated, it could be shortened and fit the strap nicely.

They looked ahead and saw some stairs leading towards a gigantic metallic gate. “Everything needs to be closed by gigantic gates in this city” said Karla in a frustrated voice. They went up and met with two other tall pale skinned men. They took care of them and tried to open the gate, to no avail. “I can squeeze through the bars and open it from the other side” said Karla. She was slim enough to actually fit in between the bars.

She reached the other end of the gate and made for the lever but before she could touch it, two tall men attacked her. She dodged and danced around them. Their attacks were too synchronized for her to find any kind of opening though.

Surgit clenched his axe tightly, he wanted to help but the bars were too narrow. He tried to fit in but to no avail. He saw two more incoming attackers coming towards Karla from a distance. The situation could turn from bad to horrendous in a flash. He inserted both arms between the bars of the gate and held his axe firmly. He threw it with all his might at one of Karla’s assailants. A “Thud!” was heard as the axe buried itself deep within the tall man’s skull. Karla barely had enough time to finish the second one before the others were in attacking range.

“Get out of here!” Surgit shouted. “I will find a way around to the upper ward. If not, let’s meet back at the chapel in a couple hours. Stay on your guard, these things are deadly in groups.” Karla nodded and ran towards the darkness. Her speed and agility helped her eclipse herself and get away from danger. The two assailants tried to catch up to Karla but she had disappeared before they could move away from Surgit’s vision field. He made towards Oedon Chapel but before he turned around, he saw a peculiar scene. Beyond the gate, where he’d killed the tall man with his axe, messengers of the dream appeared as if rising from the ground. They grabbed the axe and disappeared immediately afterwards. “What the fuck have I just witnessed?” he shouted. He had to get back to the dream to investigate what happened but he also had to catch up to Karla. He decided to investigate the side of the chapel then get back to the dream. He was worried about leaving Karla alone in those dark streets.

Back at the chapel, he took the other door and found himself in a square. In the middle of the square there was a well. He could see two ways that led out of the area. The first one was a set of stairs that took up while the other, right in front of him, took downstairs. He turned left towards the stairs that took him up and saw two of the tall men coming his way. One of them held a strange lantern on his left hand and a cane on the right. They both wore while leather long coats and black trousers. They both had the bell pendant around their neck and the top hat on their heads.

The one holding a cane alone attacked him and Surgit shot him right before the hit landed. The man fell to his knees and Surgit used his beastly arm to eviscerate his opponent. The other one soon followed, in the same fashion. Surgit wondered at the cerebral capacities of his opponents. It seemed to him that they weren’t capable of thinking strategically. They would see him dispose of an enemy in a way, right in front of their eyes. Yet they would repeat the same mistake and get killed in the same fashion.

Surgit then saw, next to the stairs and under a tree, an chest that drew his attention. He went for it and opened it, nothing. ‘Well that’s disappointing,’ he said. Then it hit him, he had to use his third eye. Inside the chest he found a set of clothes, hunter’s garb from its appearance, and a top hat. He tried the top hat and it fit him perfectly.

He liked it a lot and, as he was swapping his actual cap with the top hat, he heard a strange noise. He looked in front of him and saw a mini vortex. Stars and nebulas could be seen in the vortex and Surgit couldn’t help but wonder at the beautiful scene in front of him. He felt absorbed by the scene and felt that either it became bigger or that it got closer to him. He then felt hands grabbing him, invisible ones.

The vortex disappeared and he tried to free himself from the grasp of the invisible thing that was holding him. He felt his feet depart from the floor and he saw the tree and the whole square from above. The grip around his body got tighter and he felt that he was going to be squashed by its strength. His head started hurting badly again, and his eyes widened. He saw a shape, although invisible. He managed to see some sort of gigantic spherical cage with holes all around it. That was all he could witness before he felt blood rushing out of his veins and exploding outwards. The pain was so strong that he fainted. When he came to, he was on the ground, back in the square, his heart beating faintly.