The masked guardian didn't move at first. It instead stood still, with its staff crooked across its chest, the screaming bone mask gleaming faintly due to Ember's flames.
~DRIP~DRIP~DRIP!~
Blood continued to seep out of the walls behind it and dropped onto the floor. Then the Catacombs whispered once more.
'Albedo'
The sound wasn't a single voice anymore. Now it was hundreds of voices, some of them hissed his name like a curse while others sang it sweetly, almost pleading for him to give in.
The overlapping tones pressed against his skull, trying to smother his own thoughts. The guardian's head twitched. And then it lunged venomously.
~BANG!~
The guardian's staff came down like an executioner's blade. The air around it bent as if the weapon were dragging gravity itself in its wake.
Albedo twisted aside and the blow smashed into the floor, cracking it open. Blood welled instantly from the fissure and began snaking toward him, as if alive.
