Before he reached the door of the cathedral, Surgit saw a ladder leading up towards the clock tower. He decided to climb it and go have a little chat with the Gatling gun owner. The climb was long. Every step Surgit took, he felt his trousers scratching the empty space between his legs. He still mourned the loss he had just suffered and dreaded coming back to the dream and finding out that he’d lost his pearls permanently. He couldn’t afford dying though as he knew that Gatling man will be waiting for him again. He had to get rid of him first. That was the only way he could imagine himself traversing the hamlet in peace.
But when the finished climbing the long ladder, he started doubting his ability in terminating the defender of Old Yharnam’s beasts. He found out that he hadn’t reached the clock tower yet. He was standing in some sort of gallery.
The gallery led to another ladder on Surgit’s left which ascended towards the top of the clock tower. On Surgit’s right, he saw a quick access leading towards an open window that apparently led to the upper floor of the Cathedral. The Gatling man didn’t make any move to look for Surgit. That unnerved him a little.
He had two theories in his mind. Either the man on top had complete confidence in the abilities of the hunter downstairs, or he was just waiting for him to climb on top. He imagined the man hiding and waiting for Surgit to pop up then send him down, whence he came from. He couldn’t afford losing to that man yet.
He didn’t want to make the trip all the way back. He thought of the promise he had made when he found out about the poor little orphan. “I’m not running away from a fight!” He spoke out loud as if speaking to the world. “I’m just exploring other alternatives to get rid of my foes.” He decided to leave the Gatling man alone for the moment and explore the cathedral. He hoped to find some other access towards the clock tower from the inside. Perhaps there were some stairs that took upwards from the inside. The ladder, after all, looked like an emergency exit in case of fires.
He went inside the Cathedral through an open window and found himself on a wooden platform that crossed a hall and led towards the ceiling of the main building.
The high wooden roof of the cathedral offered Surgit a good hiding spot and a good vision over the place. The nave below was full of beast patients. They were all crying in unison and their voices sent chills down Surgit’s spine. It was as if they were mourning the loss of someone, or something in this case.
There was an altar at the end of the spacious hall, and something shiny was placed on top of it. Surgit saw an open door behind the altar. He made a mental note of it. If he wanted to access that are from below, he would need to find a way to access that door below. At that moment though, he decided to move through the catwalk and discover more about the place.
There was a chandelier below him. It was large, as large as the ones he used to see in the big opera house in his hometown. He found himself reminiscing about the past and the civilized world. He blinked as if to bring himself back to the reality he was living. The chandelier had long lost its magnificent look. The wood on which it was attached started getting moldy and threatened to collapse at any moment.
From where he stood, he could make out something hanging under the chandelier. He moved further towards a large wooden platform on the other side of the catwalks. He had to move slowly and carefully. One misstep would send him down to his doom. And given the quality of the wood on top which he walked, he had to be twice as cautious.
From there he turned around and had a better look at the thing that was hanging from the chandelier. When he thought that he could not be shocked by anything in Yharnam anymore, something new came at him and distorted his standards.
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A new kind of beast was hung on the ceiling. Its arms were chained and linked to each extremity of the chandelier. A pool of blood formed underneath it and the beast was pale as it was emptied from its blood. Its flesh looked strange. Its body looked lean and very muscular. Its skin had a purple color; the kind of color you see on a suffocating person’s face. Something in the beast’s appearance was off. Surgit had a feeling that he was missing some important detail.
Upon inspecting the beast’s head, Surgit saw something extremely peculiar. It looked like it had a red veil on top of its head which hid its face. It resembled the kind of veils the female beast patients had on.
On second inspection though, Surgit understood that the veil was actually its skin as he noticed the shapes of arms and legs on the fake cover. It appeared that the beast had been flayed and emptied out of blood, then hung on the chandelier to provide an example to whoever opposed the one that killed it. The purple color he mistook for the beast’s skin color was actually a result of muscles being emptied out of blood and left to rot.
The cries of the beast patients down below made the scene even more terrifying. Surgit wished he could travel back in time and understand exactly what had happened in here. It seemed that at some point, beasts and men were fighting each other, but Surgit couldn’t know who came out victorious.
Surgit came back silently towards the first hall he had crossed earlier through the first catwalk. The beasts in the nave were numerous, and dropping down amidst them would mean his imminent death. He didn’t want to be surrounded by those beasts. Even though they were not very difficult to dispose of, being outnumbered would mean his imminent death.
The torch he had before became extinguished and he couldn’t light it up again. He abandoned it in the old pub when he decided to run for the foot of the clock tower. He jumped down at the crossing below and found himself faced to three veiled beast patients. All three of them were the size of the male beast patients though, they were less dangerous than the big ones, but he still decided to remain careful.
Blood vials allowed him to heal, but being hit by the claws of those poisonous beasts could mean death before he could reach for his vials. Besides, poison gets into the blood stream, and he wasn’t sure that more blood could eliminate the poison; it could just buy him more time.
He dashed at the first enemy and killed it with three swift strikes from his saw. The more blood his weapon had, the more efficient it became at killing beasts. It was as if it his weapon yearned for more blood. The more he killed, the easier it became to dispose of other. It was either that, or he became more efficient at disposing of the beasts in the city.
The other two beast patients posed no problem for him to dispose of. Surgit kept on walking and soon came across some stairs leading down towards the main hall. He went down and was greeted by a dozen of crying male beast patients. They all held their heads and moaned, as if mourning a big loss. They didn’t seem to pay him any heed.
The moans and laments that came from women in funerals back in his hometown used to give him the chills. Now Surgit was witnessing a similar scene, but performed by beastly creatures. He felt his hair stand on end. He had a very bad feeling about the situation he was in. ‘The fool feels it too…’ said one of the echoes. ‘The live ones lament the dead. Who do you call beasts now, good hunter?’ asked another echo. Surgit was standing, motionless by the door he had spotted from the catwalks up above. Something deep inside told him not to move a muscle.
Fright had taken over again. He felt fearful but didn’t know the reason behind it. He was more afraid of that feeling, of the unknown. Fright led to indecision, which in turn led to inertia. Surgit slapped himself awake and decided to move. It was fright that got that little girl killed. It was fright that stopped him from facing Gatling man. He wasn’t going to let it control him.
The sound of the slap attracted the attention of one of the beast patients. As soon as it spotted him, it screamed in loudly. The shrill scream sent Goosebumps down Surgit’s spine. Soon after, the laments and moans of the other beasts stopped, and they were all running towards the source of the scream. He was facing a new horde of enemies. Twice as big as the one he had faced at Central Yharnam’s main square.