Bloodborne 111 The real meaning of Fear

From all the enemies she could meet, those kidnappers frightened her the most. She dreaded meeting one of them alone in that dark building. She doubted that any would be climbing the stairs of this building, up and down, just to make sure that no one was around. But then again, she understood that they were mindless beasts, taught to bring humans to the city and imprison them.

If they ever catch you outside the cages, they just simply execute you. They were simply jailers, and terrifying ones at that. The types that don't make threats to instill fear in your heart. But the type to break all your bones until fear was the only thing your heart knew. Then they'd execute you in cold blood.

She chuckled bitterly as she understood what fear really meant. She looked down on Surgit before who, truth be told, was weak and afraid of the sight of a weapon. Maybe the gods above were punishing her for looking down on their weak creatures.

She had reached the middle of the building when she started hearing strange sounds. She regretted not taking the torch from one of the three church doctors who died before. But then again, using a torch could give away her position.

The building was dark and the voices were coming from everywhere. It seemed to her that she was surrounded by strange creatures who whispered in her ear. But when she extended her shaking hands to check if she could touch anything, they closed on nothingness.

She turned around her and tried to inspect where the voices came from, tried to pinpoint a source. Every time she'd turn somewhere, the sound appeared to be coming from the opposite direction. She hugged a wall and placed her ear on it, then followed the voices she was hearing.

She had abandoned the stairs and was now in some kind of hallway. She walked through the hall, following the voices that resembled a multitude of people whispering blames to your ear.

As much as the voices annoyed her, they also scared her and made her feel uneasy. She reached the end of the corridor and didn't find a thing. In fact, the voices seemed to be still close to her. But their source appeared to be farther on the opposite direction, the one she came from.

The chant seemed to have faded to a background noise by then, still present but faint. Those complaints and blames were louder. Voices of people accusing her and blaming her for being there, voices that seemed to be present everywhere without a source or a physical body to utter them.

She clutched her head in horror and started screaming. She swung her sword left and right, trying to chase those phantoms away, trying to get rid of this nightmarish situation. Alas her sword was of no use against voices, nor was her screaming and shouting. She heard a step and she stopped in her tracks.

This was a real sound, not one of the multitudes of voices that poisoned her head. It was real and it was coming from the other side of the corridor. Step by step, the sound was growing louder and her heart beat was getting faster. The strange voices were mixed to the steps approaching her.

There was nowhere she could hide. She unsheathed her sword and clutched it tight. She was tense and she knew that being tense led to an early demise. But she couldn't bring herself to relax. Squinting didn't help her see in the dark either.

It was useful only when the light was blinding. She would offer anything to the gods above and below, the ones who existed and the ones she thought didn't exist, to have a small ray of light that would show her what was coming towards her. She felt like she became blind and she had to rely on her remaining functioning senses.

From the sound of the approaching steps, she could assume that whatever was coming towards her was bipedal and was about ten steps away from her. What she was about to attempt was risky, but with nowhere to hide and not knowing what was coming near her scared her more than the possibility of dying in this dark place.

She took the gun she snatched from the corpse of the church doctor and shot towards the source of the approaching noise. The effect of the explosion of the bullet in its muzzle gave a flash of light. One second was enough for Karla to see what was coming her way. One second was enough to get her to relax a bit more and dive towards her confirmed opponent. She swung her weapon in the darkness and her blade met with flesh and tore it apart.

What she saw in that instant was one of those hideous men, transforming into something inhuman. She saw the hairy face and the long fangs during the second when light had flashed from her gun. She knew what kind of foe she had in front of her and fear instantly dissipated from her heart. With one hit, she put the poor soul to rest and heard it hit the wooden floor with a heavy thump. There weren't only kidnappers in this city after all.

The sound of gunfire attracted more of those wandering men that came to inspect what was happening in the empty dark corridor. Their voices while they moved, resembled moans. It was as if they were complaining of some disease but the words never formed in their mouths. Only painful sounds emerged from their gaping holes as they approached Karla.

She assumed that the passage from which she came was barred and she had to cut her way through in order to regain the stairs. She let two more bullets leave her gun in order to have a clearer idea of what awaited her at the end of the corridor. No doubt about it, the voices she was hearing were the moans and cries of these weak imbeciles.

She felt stupid for succumbing to her fears earlier and panicking like the weaklings she despised. She held her sword in two hands and ran towards the swarm awaiting her at the end of the corridor.

She closed her eyes and relied on her ears to calculate the distance between her and her foes better. As soon as the voices grew louder, she started her dance. She cut and slashed and corpses fell around her left and right. By the time she was done, she had to climb a mountain of immobile bodies in order to reach the stairs and continue her ascent.

As she climbed the wooden stairs, the chants became louder and the voices she had heard dissipated. A door became visible up above, a faint light emanating from it. She had finally seen the exit. The sound of her heels hitting the hard wooden staircases was the only thing keeping her company as she climbed and climbed.

By the time she got to the door a gush of wind welcomed her, cold and soothing. The stench of blood had covered her from head to toe and she welcomed fresh air with a wide smile. She stopped by the door and looked up. The stairs went on to lead to the top part of the building.

She had climbed more than two thirds of the tower, but there were more stairs to follow in order to reach the top and have a better view of the city. She had no need of the top floor however, with the cloudy sky, there wasn't enough light to see the outlines of the city.

From the door where she stood, she would access the bridge she had seen earlier from below. It was high enough to get a glimpse of where she had to go. As she walked through the door and onto the bridge she saw and endless amount of high buildings towering above the great city.

Far away in the distance, she could make out a faint blue glow that she recognized as the Great Cathedral's clock tower. Yharnam wasn't too far from there. If she ever found a way out of Yahar'gul, she'd be able to reach Yharnam in less than an hour.

She heard something move behind her, she turned and her heart skipped a beat. A kidnapper had found its way up to the top and joined her. They were a few paces away from each other. She could feel fear creeping up at her heart and bones again.

Chapter end