The Unraveling - It Spreads

Amidst the raging and roiling of the icy cavern around the worm, the thundering of heavy pass racing across the ice and leaping from jagged ledge to jagged ledge echoed from the distance. He had followed them after they’d left Hearthstone amidst the calamity of the red sky and the shifting earth. Call it intuition or paranoia, but with the world in its current state, one couldn’t be too careful. As it turned out, he had been right. He heard the roaring of the monstrous worm from down in the cavern, followed Ciaran and Clove’s scents down into the arctic abyss, heard Clove’s scream and Ciaran’s cry of pain. A howl of righteous fury responded. He was coming.

A father always knew when his children needed him.

A flash of black and white as two ravens swooped into the cavern, and then the Lord of Cinder leaped down onto an icy ledge. Enraged amber eyes burned like blazing coals as he took in the scene. The massive ice worm, the wounded and dead wolves, his children, Ciaran injured, blood everywhere… Most of the wolves were young—far too young to be witnessing this. The only instinct running in Artorias’ body was the innate drive to protect his children and the other young wolves at any cost, his only thought preserving their lives. That was his purpose. So he did what he had to.

Claws gripping into the ice for stability, Artorias leaped down from ledge to ledge until he hit the battlefield below and raced towards the worm. Years of athletics and acrobatics in his explorations navigating difficult terrain gave him agility and speed as he sprinted over the frozen floor and leapt over cracks and crags in the ice. "Corbin, Eira!" At his call, the ravens swooped down alongside their master, then shot towards the worm, aiming to encircle the great beast with shrill croaks and slashing talons intended to distract and break its attention from the wolves.

Sprinting closer to the worm, Artorias drew his sword and ran alongside the worm, snarling as he sought to drive the sharpened point of the sword into carapace and flesh as deep as he could. He would then attempt to continue to run and carve his sword along the grounded worm’s body as far as he could go. He showed no fear, no hesitation, only rage at the creature that had harmed his son. This was not the first time Artorias had fought such a beast before and he’d killed it before and he’d kill it again. It was made of ice and he was born of fire.

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian"