>Perhaps you've seen it.
>Maybe in a dream.
>A land brimming with Hollows.
>But you'd definitely never thought to find yourself there all the same.
>You don't remember how you got there.
>Or how long you've been there...
>You can scarcely remember who you are.
>Just opening your eyes seems to be a struggle...
>Your body feels... unsynchronized.
>You try to move... and your body is unresponsive.
>Only a few seconds later do you find your arms lifting, your (dessicated?) hands and fingers curling and balling into a fist.
>Everything is blurry
>You can't tell what's what.
>There's only dull grays around you.
>And something glowing warmly on what's probably a wall.
>You're cold.
>So cold...
>The world seems to swim and sway... but it eventually settles, and so do your thoughts.
>It's strange, you can't feel much of anything, even your brain seems numb to everything surrounding you, and the feelings you should be experiencing are not there.
>Something scratches at the back of your head, a nagging sensation... Like you should be remembering something but can't possibly seem to recall it.
>Or perhaps a task undone, an order forgotten, or something else. A memory? You couldn't tell.
>You breathe, raspy. Your chest feels... tight, for but a moment. Slowly you recompose yourself, strength regained to your body, and you realize you're wearing what can barely be recognized as the dingy, dirty, tattered remains of what was once proper clothing. Your skin underneath looks cracked, dry, stuck to your bones.
>Something crawls up your spine and you feel as though you should be screaming in terror. Is this a bad dream?
>You touch your chest. Your skin is leathery, almost fragile, but something seems to hold you together. You look like a walking corpse, mummified.
>Every part of you is the same. This has to be a bad dream--
>And then you hear it, a chuckle, hoarse and childish, muted.
>Startled, you look for its source, and find it... right next to you.

>It's small, tiny, and just as ugly and dirty as you are, wearing similarly tattered robe-like sack cloth. You can't see its face in the dark, but swear you can see a pair of glowing dots where its eyes should be, under the hood that hides its face.
>"You're... awake." It speaks, its voice dry, gentle and lucid. You can't quite tell if its a man's voice or a woman's.
>...
>"Are you scared...?"
>You shake your head.
>"Of course you aren't. What could you possibly be scared of...? You're dead already, ahahaha!"
>Strangely upbeat, for a creature in a similar situation to yours.
>"Um... You're not hollow are you...? Can you tell me your name...?"
>Your name... You can't remember your name. You already tried to recall it. You couldn't quite seem to grasp it. It didn't seem important. It doesn't seem important right now either.
>You tell him you don't know.
>"Oh. Well, that's a shame. Hye-he-he! You're halfway there, then. Almost a hollow, that is. That's a shame. I would've liked to have a companion to make the trek with."
>Trek...?
>"Oh, you don't know, either? My, how long have you been here for...? I only just arrived a few days ago. Or has it been weeks...? I thought I was here on my lonesome, since you looked gone already. I never expected you to wake up. I guess you still have /some/ strength about you!"
>You look at him puzzledly, not that you can really make an expression, with how dry and stiff your face is.
>"Well, I'm glad you're not a hollow at least. Yet, anyhow."
>Somehow you have an instinctual knowledge of what you've become. Both of your states spells it out clearly for you both. You're undead. Not yet gone, but close to the edge. Your bodies are the first thing to go. Then your memories. Then your identity. And then, finally, your personality. You've held onto that last one it seems, for better or worse.

>"It's not like our captors are here, anymore, but I never quite worked the courage to go out after the last time, you see..." He stops for a second, as he tilts his head quizzically one way and then the other, as though weighing his thoughts.
>"Oh. I might have been here longer than I thought... I can't... I can't recall /when/ I came here, either! Ahaha, gosh and here I was thinking I was still holding on..."
>Your own thoughts begin to crystallize, and become slightly clear. You seem to be regaining your ability to think properly, at least for now.
>You ask him what he meant by captors, and what happened last time.
>"Oh, uhm... our... our captors, yes... Uh... I-- I can't remember... I can't remember their faces... But they tossed me in here for being Undead, like you I suppose. Or maybe you've been here for even longer! Um, the place no longer looks as it did before though.. .Everything was... less run-down, I think."
>He's going off-track again, you tell him.
>"Sorry. Well... T-there's a monster outside, guarding the castle's gate. I can't... I can't beat him. Every time... he just... he kills me. And I wake up here. Once more. I couldn't take it anymore. So I just decided to waste away here... until I Hollow."
>So he just gave up?
>"Didn't you? That's why you're here, aren't you?"
>You tell him you can't remember.
>"Haha, well, lucky you, to have a momentary relapse of bravery and courage, born of your lack of memories. You must've been a great hero long ago... or a fool."
>You fall silent. There's definitely some comfort in the thought of giving up and letting yourself fall to oblivion... but there's something inside you pushing you to go on.
>You tell him you're not going to stay here until you lose yourself, that you'd like to recover your memories.
>"You're welcome to try... But I don't think you'll be capable of slaying the monster. It's just too strong... and you look like you could snap just from someone breathing on you too hard..."

>You take a long look at yourself.
>While you don't feel much of anything... you sense he might be right, in a way.
>"...Are you still going to try...?" He tilts his head again, quizzically. You still can't make out what he is, but as you stare closer, you realize he doesn't quite have humanoid feet. It's hard to tell inside the cell you two share, it being dark and all, but... That looks like an animal's foot.
>You nod at him, then ask him if he'd like to come along, after all, he did mention a trek he wished to do. Surely he hasn't lost /all/ hope, right...?
>"... M-maybe... I don't know... It's-- It's been so long I don't-- But then, maybe things will be different...? You woke up, after all. Two people might be able to take on the Gate Guardian."
>You nod again, and as you start to stand up, you realize just how weak your body feels. You nearly keel over, but you manage to steady yourself, and as you do, the chains and manacles on your wrists fall apart like sand.
>They were rusted beyond recognition.
>You feel a sudden rush of vitality flow into your body.
>Perhaps you are not as far gone as your companion thought you were...
>"You're going to need a weapon. There's hollows out there, and I don't think any of them are as friendly as me or you... We're in the castle's dungeon you see. Everyone else has already gone mad."
>You blink slowly, and as if on cue, you hear it now. Howling in the distance. Lonely moans, pained, sorrowful howls.
>It blends into the whistling of the wind that scrapes the walls and the ground.
>"I still have my wand. I can protect you for the time being, but if they overwhelm us... Uhm, let's hope it doesn't come to that, yes...?"
>You ask if he knows where you could find anything to use as a weapon.
>"We could head to the armory, but... that'd be dangerous. I haven't really looked around much, but then... I also don't really remember the layout of the castle, or what's what anymore."

>You can hardly blame them.
>Still, somehow you have a feeling you'll come across something soon enough.
>You get the feeling that no matter how hard you try...
>You will 'die again' at some point... Only to reawaken here.
>Like a recurrent dream.
>Or nightmare.
>Your cellmate stands up, and only now, this close to torchlight can you make out some features.
>An elongated skull with its nose missing, eyeless, its flesh as dry and desiccated as yours, like old worn leather drawn too tight around its skeletal framework.
>It stirred a sensation of dread within you...
>But you didn't let it show.
>There was also a tinge of sadness, although you could not tell from where it welled up, or why.
>The creature's body was covered in patches of greying thin fur wherever sores did not cover its body.
>You weren't much better.
>Still, you wondered what sort of thing... person, it was, back when it was alive.
>Your head begun to hurt a little.
>What did... what did /you/ look like...?
>You looked your hands over, nails overgrown and dirty, dried blood caked to your mummified skin, greenish, pus-ridden ulcers...
>And you couldn't feel it, not a single thing.
>Or even smell it.
>Perhaps, for the better.
>"Are you... okay?"
>You regard your new companion, nodding.
>"Very well."
>You take a second to realize that the both of you could speak so clearly, despite being so...
>So clearly rotten.
>Ungainly.
>Dead.
>...
>As you crossed the threshold into the hallway that lead beyond the many locked, rusting cells lining the walls, you could already see it:
>the occasional undead, long lost, long gone, wandering about.
>Just a handful of them, stuck in repetitive motions.
>Smashing their heads bloody against the walls.
>Scribbling on the ground.
>Biting their fingers raw to the bone, flesh long gone.
>Unthinking beasts.
>Would... would you... also become like that...?

>Time flows by, and it's hard to tell how long you've been exploring the depths of the musty dungeon you and your friend have been locked in.
>You've managed to pry a rusted, chipped sword from a hollow after your companion obliterated its body with a Soul Arrow.
>Handy.
>But...
>It's dark. And you've already lost a sense of time, by now. There are no windows or grates that one could look out of, or for sunlight to come inside.
>Just dull, grey slabs of stone, mossy and dirty and ever-burning braziers lighting the halls.
>And as you continue exploring the maze-like layout of the underground complex...
>The two of you have begun to realize the depths of your companion's hollowing. They simply do not recognize the layout of the castle anymore.
>None of it seems to spark a memory within them, and they realize that their memories are nearly as jumbled as yours... And... it drives them to a momentary lapse of anxiety
>"Gods, h-have we...? H-have I...? How many years has it been!? Oh gods I can't remember...!"
>He clutches his head in his hands (paws?), sinking to the ground to his knees he sobs...
>You place a hand on his shoulder, and squeeze lightly, before picking him up.
>You're unsure what sensation or feeling drives you to show some compassion to this creature...
>You tell them they needn't despair yet, that there might be a way on out of here.
>"Y-you're right.... You're right! Yes, we're... We're still ourselves, even if we can't... remember..."
>You ask if they can remember their name, and if they can tell you it.
>"I'm..." He seems to visibly struggle as he grinds his bare teeth together.
>"I'm... L-Leo... Leonard... Leonard?"
>He trails off, unsure.
>"Leonard. I'm... Leonard." He mumbles.
>He mouths the word as though he's biting down and chewing down on something that doesn't quite agree with him.
>"I haven't heard my own name in so long... Hee-hee-hee!"
>You say his name.
>He giggles again.
>"I'm Leonard!"
>It seems to cheer him up.

>You're sitting near a bonfire.
>Whatever the hell it was it was clearly magical in nature, or something.
>The moment you came near it, it just sprung out into flames, and you felt your very being be tugged towards it.
>Strange.
>None of the creatures you and Leonard had ever encountered seemed to go near it, for whatever reason.
>The fire itself seemed to be eternal. It simply didn't go out, burned as brightly as ever no matter how much time passed.
>And how had time passed.
>Leonard had come up with a name for you, by now.
>William, he called you.
>"It sounds like a hero's name, you know!" He'd said, grinning as much a walking corpse could, with its desiccated, leathery skin.
>You chuckled, but shrugged it off. William it was. William you were.
>You two had managed to slay a great number of creatures while exploring the castle's insides, and from it, somehow regained a little strength.
>You felt neither hunger nor thirst, nor the need to sleep.
>That was consolation.
>But the emptiness within you, which you had felt at first...
>It was beginning to be quelled, somehow.
>With each foe slain and cut down, you could feel yourself draining something from the fallen creatures.
>You swung your sword faster, with ease, and surprisingly...
>With skill.
>Like you'd done this before.
>Of course, the second you tried to think of the memory of it...
>It eluded you.
>Worse, it ached.
>But your body, or what was left of it anyhow, remembered.
>How strange.
>Even Leonard noted on it.
>"You're awfully good with the blade," He'd muttered as you extricated the sword with quick ease from the chest of the hollow, before deftly parrying a clumsy oncoming blow, and putting yet another creature to rest.
>"Mmh... I can't say," was all you'd managed to say back.
>At least now you were a little more confident in your chances of getting out of here...
>Wherever the hell 'here' was.

>The place was a veritable maze.
>A labyrinth.
>And worst of all things seemed to shift...
>Everything except the paths leading back to your cell and the bonfire.
>It made navigating the underground complex incredibly difficult.
>Either that, or your memory was playing tricks on you.
>Still, you and Leonard both began to notice a pattern...
>Well, Leonard did.
>You didn't have his observant gaze, it seemed.
>He noted that all the paths that remained had slightly different architecture to the rest.
>They bore a distinct feature you hadn't picked up on until now.
>Etchings, engravings and strange runes that, with the shadows cast by the torches went unnoticed as scratches on the stone slabs that made up the walls.
>Smart boy had figured it out when he'd cast a particularly large soul arrow spell...
>The runes had reacted to the magic in the air, and glowed.
>You swore he glowed when you congratulated him on his epiphany.
>Equal parts adorable and unsettling to hear his tail rattle behind him as it swung from side to side.
>Inexplicably, you felt yourself drawn to pet him
>It only made the rattling louder and faster as he nudged his hooded head against your decaying hand.
>"I knew I was still good for something!" he mused, beaming.
>"You mean besides your aptitude for sorcery." You added, bumping your fist lightly against his shoulder.
>If he were alive he might've blushed, the way he hid his face from you, pulling down on his hood.
>...
>The search for an exit continued now that the two of you figured out how the castle's underground layout worked.
>This place really was a dungeon after all, one designed to keep as many hollows wandering down below as they could stuff within.
>Anyone would go mad in here.
>You had already, once.
>The only thing that seemed to keep the two of you going was each other's company and luck's grace that, somehow, by chance... Reason had been given back to you.
>Even if you were but a walking corpse at the moment.