Gavril, in his meditative state received a vision from his queen. The message was clear: ‘seek the new hunter, and recruit him to our cause.’ Excitement filled the old knight. It had been long since he heard her thoughts. His queen was concealed from them and that pained him tremendously. The bridge connecting to the castle to the village had been long destroyed. In order to reach the castle now, one needs to have a special summons made in their name. Only the queen can seal the summons in one’s name. The manner in which the summons was sent to the one worthy of an audience was not known even to him, her most loyal knight.

It pained him even more that the queen didn’t summon him to the castle. If there was one worthy fighter in all of Yharnam, capable of freeing her from captivity, it was definitely him. But the queen saw something in some unknown hunter who had just risen. He knew he had to train him to be capable of reaching the castle. He despised that he was transformed into a mere trainer.

Perhaps the queen shunned her knights for not being able to protect the castle. But years of exile and atonement would surely be enough for her to forgive and forget. She was not the kind of person to forget easily though. He knew that this would be his permanent status and it would never change.

Gavril wore a regal black coat adorned by intricate gold needle work. The stitching was extremely detailed and brought to mind the pomposity way knights of Cainhurst loved to dress. Underneath the coat, he wore a crimson vest ornamented with golden locks that brought the two sides of the clothing together. Black knee height boots concealed the rest of his black trousers. On his hand, he wore red leather gloves and the bracers he wore were golden with intricate engravings on them. The man was old, too old. He had white hair and a pointy nose. Despite age, his face still kept noble features. He looked younger than any normal middle-aged man nonetheless.

He decided to get a change of clothes first. If he ever had to train a new hunter, he needed to look familiar to him. Besides, Yharnam was too big of a place to be wandering about in his knight garb. He didn’t wish to soil them with profane beasts’ blood. He left the peace and silence of his tower and descended to the village. There were too many dead hunters in there anyway. The women had done a great job hunting down any poor soul that dared explore the hamlet. He was sure to find some dead hunter to loot for an appropriate attire and weapon.

***

Surgit looked at the dead body which lied next to his feet. His body shook violently after the fight was over. The adrenaline rush was exhilarating. After a moment, he regained his senses and started analyzing the situation he was in. The hunter he finally managed to slay was mystery. He didn’t know who he was or why he relentlessly attacked him on so many occasions. ‘Use your insight good hunter,’ said the echoes in his head, imitating the doll. He used his third eye and too much information popped up in front of him.

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The first thing he learned about the hunter was his name. ‘Father Gascoigne’ the insight had showed him. His third eye showed him the hunter laying on the ground in his human form, not the beast he’d just hacked to pieces. The man had hands crossed over his chest and held two items. The first one had a crimson glow and upon inspecting it Surgit realized that it was the hunter’s core. The information he received looked like crudely written letters that flew on top of the item or the person he inspected.

+ Gascoigne’s core: give to the messengers to receive a gift.

The other item which Gascoigne held glowed a green light. He inspected it and it read:

+ The echo of a man hunter. Pop to receive echoes.

Another item shone on Gascoigne’s pocket. He inspected it and knew immediately what it was: The key to unlock the closed metallic gate.

+ Oedon tomb key: use to unlock the gate towards Oedon Chapel.

Surgit opened his eyes and massaged his head. Using insight for too long always caused him to have terrible headaches. He had finally beaten the hunter and even got the key in the process. He looked at the music box and smiled. “If it weren’t for the gift that little gir-“ he stopped mid-sentence. The thought that came to him surprised and horrified him at the same time. The girl had told him that her mother played the tune to her father when he forgot about them.

Surgit inspected the box and on the bottom, he could read two names which were engraved in the metal casing: Gascoigne and Viola. His whole body shivered at the thought of what he had just done. ‘If you had used your insight before….’ Some of the echoes whispered. “Not now voices!” Surgit shouted. He had just orphaned a little helpless girl. What’s more, her mother was nowhere to be seen.

He decided to explore the graveyard before he headed back to Karla. The first thing he did was open the big metallic gate. The key worked and his paranoia calmed down. He couldn’t trust everything the echoes or the insight told him. He had to learn this as some of the echoes led him to his demise many times before. He returned to the graveyard and went to the place where he had first seen Gascoigne. As he got closer to the dark corner, a horrifying scene awaited him. Many man-beasts were on the ground, in pieces. Gascoigne was hacking them all using his axe. Surgit was still holding on to that weapon. He liked how it handled despite it looking crude and heavy. With his hunter’s strength, using that weapon wasn’t going to be too much of a hassle.

He was standing next to an old cabin. Perhaps that was where the graveyard keeper used to live. He tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. He slammed his shoulder on it and a fetid smell made him stop his attempt. Gascoigne had actually been killing every beast that came his way and cleared his space by throwing them inside. Blood trickled down on Surgit’s forehead. He looked up and saw a corpse’s arm dangling from the roof.

Surgit jumped up and inspected the body. A woman wearing a black dress was lying face down on the roof. She had dark blond hair. Surgit squinted at the woman’s hair and his heart skipped a beat. A red jeweled brooch was attached to the cold corpse. He took it and hoped against hope that what he dreaded didn’t come to reality. He flipped the item and on its back a name was engraved. He didn’t need to use his insight to inspect the item. It was clear whose ornament it was. ‘Viola’, the name gave Surgit the shivers. The poor helpless girl had lost both her dear mother and her hunter father.

He dragged his feet back towards the clinic to see Karla.