Bloodborne - 161 Lowly beings

Within the darkness of the room, the sound of the bell’s tinkle was the only thing keeping Karla company. She didn’t know for how long she’d been trapped in there. A day, maybe a month, she couldn’t tell. She was sure that no more than a day had passed, but she felt like she’d been held there for eternity. Lady Maria didn’t speak a word to her since she bound her to that cold metallic chair.

Her bare flesh stuck to the metal. Her sweaty feet slipped down the ground every time she tried to struggle. “Tinkle, tinkle” the bell would ring every now and then, putting Karla into a frenzied state. ‘What the hell is this bell effect? I can’t even think straight after the ringing starts.’ Karla was trying to steady herself. She needed to clear her mind in order to get herself away from this dire situation.

Lady Maria had asked Karla about her origins. She clearly didn’t buy her initial story. Karla wasn’t a born liar after all. She usually let her sword do the talking. Now that she was stuck in a city where scheming and spying was the common currency, she had to adapt. But how could Karla outsmart people who have lived their whole lives scheming against others? She was but a lowly beginner compared to them.

Karla tried to tell the truth, but something inside of her didn’t let her speak. She couldn’t even believe her own story. She didn’t expect anybody else to believe it. Lady Maria was surprisingly impatient for someone who played the scheming game.

During the time between the tinkles of the bell, Karla had time to think of a way out of this situation. Lady Maria had “left her alone with her thoughts” after she got bored with the interrogation. Karla was indeed left alone with her thoughts. Every time the bells rang, Karla’s mind would go in shambles. She started dreading the soft tinkles, fearfully expecting the next sound.

“Tinkle! Tinkle!” The soft bell ringing sound reached Karla’s ears another time. She had lost count of how many times the bell had rung.

‘You insolent beast, you dare defy the world order,’ voices whispered in Karla’s head. Multiple voices spoke at the same time inside her head. Some were screaming in agony, others laughed crazily. The ones Karla hated the most were the ones speaking to her. “Leave me alone!” she’d shout when the voices spoke. She’d had enough of their whispers. She felt like she was about to lose her mind.

‘You didn’t leave us alone. You had no right to claim us as your own. Insolent lowly being! You dare imprison us here? We’ll break free. And when we do, we will toy with your weak body until it bores us. You are but a mere tool to us,’ the voices spoke. There was a mix of male, female, and childish voices all speaking in unison. Coupled with the wails and laughter in the background, Karla felt fear crawling through her entire being.

Karla couldn’t move either. Her hands and feet were tightly bound by leather belts. She couldn’t move a muscle. She could only shout at the voices, trying to push them away from her mind. “What do you want from me?” She shouted. Her voice broke down, hoarse from all the shouting.

“The truth,” Maria’s melodious voice answered. She sat down in a dark corner, ringing the bell at intervals. “You can feel fear spreading through you. In time, you will lose your identity. You won’t know who speaks inside your head. Are the voices inside of you memories of the past? Or is it your consciousness fighting to tell you something you don’t want to face? You will start wondering who you really are. You’ll even forget your name and the reason behind your existence.

“Your body will ache. Your bones will crack and pain will soar through you. That is the transformation process. You’ve witnessed it, didn’t you? That poor hunter in the woods, you put him down yourself.” Karla’s heart started beating faster. That woman with the sweet voice terrified her. “Tell me what I want to know. Where did you come from? What do you know of Yharnam, of Cainhurst?” Lady Maria rang the bell one more time.

Karla started screaming. Her feminine voice soon changed into the wails of an injured beast. Lady Maria’s melodious voice reached her ears despite her loud screams. “Tell me what I need to know, and I will end this suffering.” Karla couldn’t take the pain anymore. There is something worse than corporeal punishment. Karla learned this the hard way.

Everything inside of her begged her to tell the story, give up on her own stupid stubbornness. She struggled to keep her sanity. “We will get you for this. The lonely woman doesn’t know who she’s upset.” A hoarse, loud voice came out of Karla’s mouth. Lady Maria, stupefied, smiled and got up from her dark corner. She slowly walked towards Karla.

A slap brought Karla back to her senses. “It seems the transformation is almost complete. You’re a good hunter, brutal and relentless. Tell me what I need to know, I’ll grant you a swift end.” Lady Maria’s rolled her tongue as she pronounced the “r”, giving her sweet melodious voice a barbaric aspect.

“The lowly woman doesn’t know her place,” Karla’s face contorted as voices merged in her vocal chords. “Her blood doesn’t excuse her actions. She is not chosen. The blood in her is tainted, filled with impurities.” Another slap and Karla bared her teeth. “We will make you suffer. Lowly humans and their frail ambitions, you shall never stand above us.” A long, loud shrill exited Karla’s mouth, Lady Maria winced at hearing this foreign sound.

A punch to the stomach emptied Karla’s air reserve. Another punch to the face sent her head wobbling backwards. Lady Maria’s strength was peerless. She had held down on Karla as she tortured her. “Lowly creatures, we will prevail.” The leather belts, binding Karla, started expanding dangerously. She struggled to break her restraints. Lady Maria let out a long sigh then kicked Karla so hard it propelled her towards a brick wall behind her.

The metallic chair made a humming sound as it slammed against the wall. Maria produced a thin needle from her pocket and injected Karla with it. She sat down in her corner, re-arranged her hair then pocketed the bell. ‘One more day until the hunt, this woman will either budge or die.

‘Laurence, I won’t let you get there by yourself. You think you know everything of the Great Ones. They’re proud beings, easy to anger.’ Lady Maria sighed as she waited for Karla to wake. ‘If the reports are correct, she might even be dead by the time we reach her. Greed will be the end of us, not our salvation.’ A soft moan echoed through the dark stone room. Karla woke up, her body aching from the beast that took over her body and the hits she received from Lady Maria.

‘My dear lady, you are on the verge of death. How many times have you evaded death I wonder? It seems that even death despises you. Where did you find the chair? Tell me and I will heal your wounds, let you join the hunt if you want.’ Karla’s state of mind was on the verge of collapse. Lady Maria knew that. ‘This one didn’t want to tell, I won’t grant her mercy. She’ll collapse after the red moon. At least let my false sympathy appease her mind.’

“Water…” Karla’s mouth was dry. Her human needs took over. She no longer craved blood or the excitement of fights. She only needed the basic water every human needed to survive. “Where did you find the chair?” The lady’s question brooked no counter argument. “I was put there… by a mysterious man. I…I don’t know why…” Karla’s voice was hoarse and broken.

She felt weak, her mind in a haze she couldn’t get out of. “Why were you put there?” Lady Maria asked her questions, confident to get her answers from the broken naked lady on the chair. “I only remember one thing… he asked me for summons…I was badly injured…” Karla finally lost her consciousness.

Lady Maria injected her with a blood vial extracted from a holy nun. This type of blood heals without putting one’s mind into shambles. ‘The queen eventually closes her doors as she planned to do eons ago.’ Lady Maria left the room where she imprisoned Karla. She had to send dispatch letters to all the workshops around the city. ‘I have a bad feeling about this. I must keep this one close to me. I need to learn more.’

Lady Maria’s connection to the castle never died down. Despite her affiliation to the hunters and the church by proxy, she never let go of her sense of belonging. ‘I must learn what happened in the castle. This one might not know much, but I can make my own deductions when she tells me of Yharnam’s state. I will convince Gehrman to take an extra…’