Dark Souls 2 Black Gulch Novels & Stories

“What is it?” Daniel pointed toward the screen. Three black SUVs were moving slowly through the forest road leading toward Gray Hollow. Mercer had found them.

A low growl echoed through the open space. In an instant, every Sentinel turned. Through the trees came a black convoy. The Black Ridge. Naturally. Before they completely stopped, Grayson got out. He appeared almost unreal due to the storm. The black coat was flapping wildly in the wind. Under the rain, silver eyes glowed a little. He exudes power that causes weaker wolves to instinctively avert their eyes. He glanced at the corpses once. Next, at the cliff's symbol. And his face took on a dark hue.

Reality Two The blackness broke into a jarring scene: the border between River and Rivermirror. Hound’s chest was gaping open, a hole where his heart should have been. He was dragged across the dirt by Argent, a briefcase clutched tightly in her hands. Blood poured into the empty cavity, seeping into the dirt as pain seared through him. Behind them, shadowy figures closed in, their faces obscured. Who are they? The searing pain intensified, his breathing shallow and desperate. The darkness came again.

"Because it's not a weapon, boy. It's a god. Or what's left of one. Bound in steel, carved with the bones of the first cursed child. We don't speak its name because names are doors, and doors open things we're not always ready to face." "And you think it can cut a bond like Zeina's?" Dirus stepped closer, eyes gleaming with something ancient and hungry. "If it can't... nothing can." We walked for hours more, though time had lost meaning. Downward, always downward, until the stone turned glassy, and the air hummed like a held breath. Then finally, we reached it. The Black Altar. A chamber carved into the earth's heart, where no sun had ever touched. The ceiling rose in jagged teeth. At its ce

The sun labored to break through the smoky clouds, glowing the world in sickly amber light. “This is it,” Serena said. “The Black Hollow.” A low rumbling sounded under their feet. Kael stumbled. “Something’s moving. Underneath.” Lucian unsheathed his sword, the ground cracked. Then a shape burst from the earth not far from them — not an animal, but a construction. An arrowy needle of obsidian, taller than any tower they had ever seen, forcing its way up from the beneath, like a tooth through flesh. Clouds of dust and debris rained down. The roar, a sound like mountains wailing, was deafening.

I realized, slowly, that if I hadn’t learned to tap into my energy, and hadn't mastered the rhythm of my Core, I never would’ve made it this far north. I pulled my vest tighter and set my jaw. “You cold?” Lucan asked, his voice low, gentle. “No, I’m fine,” I replied, forcing a stiff smile. I was the one who wanted to come, after all. The Black Market was beneath the coldest cave in the stretch of Blackcroft. It was a place whispered to be built atop the graves of the vengeful dead. They said the spirits buried there were the Called who had never become Initiates because their Cores got contaminated and failed the Trial of Mirror.

I whispered, the name tasting like cold ash. From the black-emerald light of the Ziggurat, a new figure stepped out—not a god, and not a machine, but a Revenant of the Foundry, his skin still charred by my sunset-gold fire, his eyes glowing with the hollow, blue light of a Man who has already been through Hell. "Welcome back to the Foundry of the Soul, Darlene," Silas growled, his voice a perfect mirror of my own nightmares. "It’s time to find out if the 'Queen' can survive the Ghosts she thought she had Buried."

The descent into the earth was like walking into the throat of a sleeping giant. The hidden entrance to Black-Stone was buried beneath a rotted iron mine, a place so toxic and jagged that even the Council’s satellites ignored it. Kaelen led the way, his hand locked around Sera’s wrist. The air grew thick and heavy, smelling of damp stone, sulfur, and something sharp the scent of thousands of rogue wolves living in the dark. Every step deeper triggered the Life-Tether. In the total darkness of the tunnels, Sera could see the golden glow of the bond pulsing between them like a physical heart. It was the only light they had.

Thorncrest Keep to the east. The quarry trail to the south. Human villages scattered like fragile sparks across the borderlands. And north, inked in black, a place no one willingly entered. Black Hollow. The name seemed darker than the rest of the map. I touched it. A chill passed through the tent. Not from outside. From below. From memory. Chains dragging across stone. A voice in death. Finally. I found you. My fingers stilled. “What are you?” I whispered. The candle beside me flickered.

“No dark.” “No cage,” I promised. “No dark.” Caleb’s voice came low beside me. “Scarlett, if she bolts, we can’t stop her without restraints.” “We’re not restraining her.” “She might kill someone trying to get there.” “Then we go with her.” He stared at me. “That is your plan?” “My plan is still forming.” “That is not reassuring.” My communicator crackled again. Daniel’s voice came through, strained. “Scarlett, the grave is open. There’s a chamber underneath the burial stone. Black Thorn bodies here. Recent. Something killed them before we arrived.”