The Fall began with the eyes.
No.
It began at the beginning. The first moment their eyes opened in the Cemetery of Ash, the Fall had begun. Though, they would not know it at the time.
Through their eyes, Lothric was obscene. Both the creatures and the world around them had been deformed into living nightmares, praying on any stupid enough to walk in their wake.
The first person they saw flung himself at them, knife raised for the kill. They easily dodged the man and ended his existence, feeling his souls rush into theirs. This repeated for the next person they met, and the next, and the next. Each one seeming more and more grotesque.
That was where it began.
Never once, did the grimace leave their face. Never once, did they delight in the world around them. As they climbed through remnants of castles long since destroyed, never once did they believe in the beauty of the flame.
And then they saw her.
They walked into Firelink Shrine, weapon raised, ready to kill anyone who dared to strike. But instead of the monsters they had grown accustomed to, they found a woman, standing tall near the center of the shrine.
Long white hair draped down her back alongside her dark decorative robes. She turned to them, and their breath was taken away. Not by any magic or sorcery, but by sheer enamourment. They stopped in their tracks, weapon lowered, and the woman gave a small smile.
"Welcome to the bonfire, Unkindled One. I am a Fire Keeper. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee." Her voice came with the wind, causing them to relax completely. Somehow, they knew they were safe. Then they were told their mission. "The Lords have left their thrones, and must be deliver'd to them. To this end, I am at thy side."
So they did as told, because she told them to.
Together, they worked in perfect harmony. They would collect and offer her their souls, and in exchange, they would be granted power enough to complete their next task.
However, after much searching, they realized their true goal. To link the first flame and continue the Age of Fire.
But they did not want to.
After they met the Fire Keeper, they assumed the world would be so much better, like they had just woken up on the wrong side of it. They assumed wrong.
Past the Fire Keeper, only more horrors awaited. Ruins and deamons and men looking to be slaughtered, plagued Lothric yet still. It made them wonder why anyone would want to go on, to want a world like this.
Perhaps they who craved for the continuation of the age were mad. It certainly wouldn't be a surprise to them. But she too wanted it, and they wished not to let her down.
Then they found the eyes, hidden deep in the Dark Firelink Shrine. As gruesome as it was, they figured she would want them, the only things she didn't have.
When they presented the gift, she was taken aback.
"Ashen one, are these… Are these eyes? How gracious of thee, ashen one. The very things we Fire Keepers have been missing…" Their cold heart swelled with the flame of passion at the words, but she was not done talking. "Ashen one, my thanks for the eyes thou'st given. But Fire Keepers are not meant to have eyes. It is forbidden. These will reveal, through a sliver of light, frightful images of betrayal. A world without fire." Her voice became shaky, but she continued still. "Ashen one, is this truly thy wish?"
They could not lie to her. They nodded, frightened of the words she might speak next.
"Of course. I serve thee, and will do as thou bid'st. This will be our private affair. No one else may know of this. Stay thy path, find lords to link the fire, and I will blindly tend to the flame. Until the day of thy grand betrayal."
They found themselves conflicted. Joyous that she accepted his choice and kept their secret, but mournful that she seemed to think their actions were wrong. An end to this horrid world would mean nothing to them if she was not by their side.
"Ashen one, forgive me is this soundeth strange. The eyes show a world without fire, a vast stretch of darkness. But 'tis different to what is seen when stripped of vision. In the far distance, I sense the presence of tiny flames. Like precious embers, left to us by past Lords, linkers of the fire." She hesitated, but continued as she always would. "Could this be what draws me to this strangely enticing darkness?"
Their cold heart was no longer swelled like that of a normal flame, but like roared like the first fire itself, magnificent in scale. Still though, she was not finished.
"Ashen one, if thine heart should bend… Kill me, and strip these eyes from my person. I will return as the Fire Keeper I once was. As it has always been."
They would not, could not ever kill her, and so the course was set in stone. The Fall was now completely and utterly inevitable.
And now here they were. After defeating the Soul of Cinder, they summoned her to them, wishing not to be apart when the world faded to black. They watched as she took the dying fire in her hands, perhaps giving it a final farewell before the blackness overtook the world.
"The First Flame quickly fades. Darkness will shortly settle." Silently, they stared at her as she gazed into the dying ember. "But one day, tiny flames will dance across the darkness. Like embers, linked by lords past."
Finally, the light faded completely, and a new age of darkness had arrived.
"Ashen one, hearest thou my voice still?" In the eternal blackness, they put a hand on her shoulder, connecting them as one.
In the darkness, they had nothing but each other. Neither of them moved, neither spoke, but they both basked in each other's presence. There was no sight, no smell, no taste, no hearing, only touch. And that was all they did, touch her shoulder. Simple, yet enough to last them an eon. And perhaps they did last an eon. Or maybe a few eons. Or perhaps only a few seconds. However long they stood there, it did not matter, for time was irrelevant in the black.
But one day, it happened. The tiniest of lights danced in the distance, neither far nor close. Still, they waited. And then another day, perhaps the day right after, one of those embers exploded with the power of the sun, and light returned once more to Lothric.
This time, things were different. The world no longer had it's deformities, the deamons had returned to the soil from whence they came, the people had finally become civilised and aware of their own surroundings. And in a place far from the new and prospering civilization, two beings of old finally looked at each other for the first time in what could have been a millenia.
"Ashen one…"
And what a beautiful sight it was to behold
More one-shot ideas from the shower. Who could've guessed?
I don't know why, but I sort of fell in love with the idea that the player and Fire Keeper go into the darkness together. There's just something I find slightly romantic about it. Like their destinies have become intertwined or something. I don't know.
I mainly did this to give my brain a rest from my main stories.
Helpful criticism appreciated, until next time,
-RMV
Edit: I haven't read any Dark Souls fanfics so if this has already been done before, I didn't mean to plagiarize.