Claude's hazel pupils contracted as he realised that what was about to overturn everything he had thought he knew about the world he had wandered into.
Soon after the hand emerged, the rest followed.
A hideous face, broad frame, towering height, and most importantly of all scarlet red skin.
A Bloodborne.
Soon cogs began turning in Claude's mind and answers soon started appearing.
'That's it! No wonder they didn't seem to engage in any sort of reproduction every time I found them, and their numbers seemed to constantly dwindle.'
'If this is the only way Bloodborne are created and the portal is supposed to be 'closed', then everything could be explained.'
However, another question did pop up, who were these people?
The comforting answer would be people from the prior world, yet the numbers here, the fact this facility might not be unique and exist in other regions of the castle, along with the 'closed' portal seemed to point at one thing.
'These people are from other worlds too…? And, are these people linked with the Shadowfiend Cult...?'
Yet, Claude's attention was then diverted as the newly inundated Bloodborne slammed his fists into his chest, shouting in joy before climbing up a pair of stairs that had previously remained hidden from his eyes.
Whoosh!
With little to no hesitation, Claude vanished from his spot as he inched away from the room.
Once he had moved a sufficient distance away, he collapsed onto the wall, his eyes vacantly staring at the void before him.
His brain felt like it was being overloaded by the vast amount of information that had been rudely shoved into his skull.
Combing a hand through his hair, Claude's eyes soon regained their focus as he tried to ponder his next plan of action.
'I can't just keep wandering. For all I know, this hallway might not actually end. Hell! This might actually be a labyrinth. That staircase might be the only way out…' Claude contemplated.
'I'll just play it safe for now and keep looking...'
He promptly got up and walked briskly down the hallway, his footsteps urgent. But no matter how far he walked, the hallway seemed endless.
Tap!
Tap!
His boots echoed in the silence, but something was wrong. The floor felt different under his feet, the air colder, heavier. And then he saw it—a door just ahead, splintered wood, cracked slightly open. He froze, his breath catching.
It was the same door.
Claude's stomach twisted. He had walked down the hallway for what felt like ages, yet somehow, he was back where he started. His heart raced as confusion turned into dread. 'Is this some kind of trap?' he wondered, his pulse quickening. But how? He hadn't doubled back.
Yet here he was again.
Taking a deep breath, Claude decided to test the situation. He walked away again, his pace quicker this time, eyes scanning the corridor for any signs of a way out.
Yet after what seemed like an eternity of walking, there it was again—the same door. No matter how far he tried to go, it was always waiting for him. His head swam, disbelief turning into frustration.
"This can't be real," he muttered, shaking his head. But the cold, oppressive air around him begged to differ. Claude stood there for a moment in silence.
'This hallway... its forcing me here'
With a sigh of exasperation, Claude stepped closer once again. His fingers trembled as he pushed the door open wider, just enough to get a better look inside. The sickening stench of blood filled his nostrils once more, and his eyes settled on the pool.
As he watched on, a single question floated to his mind.
What was he meant to do now...?
Was he meant to aimlessly keep wandering in such an alien place?
Or fight his way through to that flight of stairs...?
'But then again… how?'
It's not like those dozen Bloodborne guards, and those people were simply figments of his imagination.
'Think Claude! Think!'
Clutching at his hair, Claude tried to draw upon the bank of knowledge he possessed for a solution.
Especially his understanding of the Bloodborne.
After all, in his years Claude had been travelling, he did create quite a few hills of Bloodborne corpses.
Considering that to simply a waste, he thought it would be better to try and investigate their bodily structures to help combat them in the future.
It would also allow Claude to understand what the source of their power was.
'Hyperactive liver, fostering rapid metabolism for muscle growth and healing. High amounts of adrenaline are in circulation at all times. Muscle and bone density approximately four times that of a normal person.'
Bits of information flicked across his mind as he kept searching.
'Pupils seem to lack standard human acuity, poor kinetic vision. Intelligence seemed to be reminiscent of a human seven-year-old, though that might not apply here…'
'Unknown organ behind the pancreas. Purpose unknown. Seems linked to their ability to manipulate blood. The poor rotary ability of joints in favour of accommodating their mass.'
Surely but slowly, a plan began to form in Claude's mind, though it was ever the gamble.
However, there was also the pressing matter of the people in the room.
What was he to do with them…?
'Do I just let them go?' Claude's eyebrows creased. 'Impossible. That's the behaviour of a fool. Just from listening to that man's words they seem to have a deal with the Bloodborne. They aren't trustworthy.'
'But. Do I have to kill them?' His fists clenched as he thought about it.
To take so many lives, for no real purpose, disgusted Claude.
Especially considering there may be innocents there that were unwillingly brought there.
Claude's fist clenched as he deliberated his options, and he soon came to a decision.
'Fine. That'll do.'
-----
----------
----------------
"Next." The oddly dressed Bloodborne growled at the next person in line, an ordinary-looking woman in the crowd.
"Yes, yes I hear you." Shaking her head the woman ignored the Bloodborne and sauntered over to the pool.
"Finally." Taking a deep breath, a crazed look marred the woman's face. "With this power, I can serve Him! I finally have the right to be His servant."
Without hesitation, the woman's legs tensed as she readied herself to dive into the pool.
Yet, before she could attempt to, she collapsed onto the floor.
'What? Why do I feel so…' As the woman lay there, her eyes slowly began to close. "Tired?"
It wasn't just the woman, all the people around her soon began to drop like flies, each one succumbing to the sudden assault of drowsiness.
"What! Bug, dead?" One of the Bloodborne guards looked at a Bloodborne draped in human clothing.
"No dead. They sleep?" The clothed Bloodborne answered the doubts of its comrades, as it slowly backed away from the room, towards the staircase.
Unlike its slower companions, this one knew full well this wasn't just some freak accident.
Something- no, someone caused this.
Pssst!
A soft whistling sound pierced the air, drawing the attention of the Bloodborne.
Yet none of them were able to notice anything out of the ordinary.
"Borg! Look! You, hurt?" One of the guards pointed at one of his comrades, drawing everyone's attention.
On one of the guards' bodies, a small hole appeared in its abdomen.
"Huh? You, right. Borg feels odd. Strange wound feels itchy." The clueless fellow scratched his skull as he replied.
Nevertheless, one person in the room felt an unholy terror grasp him. And that was of course the one bright bulb amongst the Bloodborne present.
'Borg bleeding? Not healing?' This Bloodborne was acutely aware that such a small wound should have healed in mere seconds.
Yet, the current situation didn't match his expectations.
Psst!
Psst!
This time multiple sounds echoed in the room.
Upon hearing this, the oddly dressed Bloodborne, turned around and tried to make a break for it, even ignoring the sensation he felt near his gut.
Hope flooded his otherwise dim eyes as he neared the top of the staircase, yet, the sound of something rushing towards him caused him to turn his head.
Whoosh!
"No-!" Without even having the chance to say his last words his world soon turned to darkness.
Patter!
The sound of footsteps echoed from behind the corpse as Claude's figure soon revealed itself.
"Well, that was a successful gamble…" Claude shook his head, "Who would have thought that a small organ sat behind the pancreas could bestow such power…"
"It's almost as ridiculous as something physical like the human brain granting a person abstract properties such as consciousness and thought…"
On the topic of humans, Claude sighed as he thought about the unconscious people he left there.
To knock them unconscious he had attempted to further manipulate the molecules in the air, thankfully for him, the air here seemed similar to the worlds he was used to.
He had managed to create a strange concoction, known as 'Laughing Gas'.
In the Cult Machina Sacra archive from earlier, he learned this gas was a type of anaesthetic mainly used for medical procedures- namely for the attachment of metallic limbs.
Nevertheless, he remembered that high concentrations of it could lead to rendering one unconscious.
However, he still wasn't sure if what he did was the right thing.
For all he knows the moment they wake up, they might fervently leap into the pool like that woman or they might try and run away just to eventually be hunted down.
"Whatever happens, at least I gave them a sliver of hope in surviving this ordeal, no matter how thin it may have been…" Shaking his head, Claude tried to remove these distracting thoughts from his mind.
Lumbering up the final stretch of the staircase, Claude felt himself momentarily blinded by a glaring white light.