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Unkindled

Chapter I

The End of Fire

The Unkindled One otherwise known as Fyr, had never really understood why he was the one chosen to return the Lords of Cinder to their thrones.

He wasn't particularly good at much, apart from dodging sword swings, and then proceeding to dish them back threefold. But that talent apparently served him well in Lothric.

Fyr had also quickly learned that bonfires were a godsend, since whenever he died in his unfortunate existence as an Undead. There was also that first Heir of Cinder, somebody who got affected by the Abyss called Iudex Gundyr.

He managed to kill the Heir of Cinder relatively easily, his dodging skills being a natural boon to his survivability against Iudex. As he absorbed his soul, Fyr noticed the sword that looked similar to the ones in bonfires.

He sat down next to the bonfire, and immediately healed himself, also restoring the Estus Flask that he had used in the fight. He continued onwards, and opened up the massive iron door.

A sight greeted him that immediately made him feel at peace, with himself for the first time since he had been awoken by the bells. He trudged towards the bonfire, and set his revival point.

"Thou ist Unkindled One?" asked a feminine voice behind him.

He jumped in surprise, but answered, "yes. I'm a Unkindled. Why do thou ask?"

"My duty as Fire Keeper, requires me to see if thee have any souls." She stated. "Thou must put the sword into the bonfire."

He nodded, and pulled out the coiled sword that was on his back, and stabbed it into the ground. The Fire Keeper nodded appreciatively, so he asked, "what is thou name, Fire Keeper?"

"Mine name is Seleria." The crown-wearing woman replied. "What is thou name, then?"

"I am Fyr." He introduced himself. "I must go, milady. The Lords of Cinder requireth to get back."

"Then go, Ashen One."

His journey continued, but as he faced the Soul of Cinder the final thing before his goal, for the first time since his rebirth as Undead, he felt afraid.

The tall amalgamation of all those that linked the fires stood in front of him, he was forced to roll to the side, as the massive knight swung at him, with his flame engulfed sword.

The fight began, as Fyr and the Soul of Cinder battled it out, Seleria with her new eyes was seeing the battle from her place in Firelink Shrine.

Suddenly, all of the injuries on the Soul disappeared, with a red glow accompanying the amalgamation. Fyr widened his eyes, and chugged on one of his Estus Flasks, leaving him with three left.

The Ashen One rolled to the side as various lightning bolts struck down, where he once was. He held out his sword and rushed towards the Soul of Cinder, frantically dodging an overhead strike, and lashed out with his swords, making it stagger.

He took the opportunity to infuse Darkness to his sword, and just after he was finished with the action, the man swung his sword at Fyr who barely managed to roll to the right, and continued to roll as white orbs were thrown at him.

As soon as the assault relented, the Unkindled One took the opportunity to strike out with his katana and managed to once again stagger the amalgamation, and took the opportunity to strike nearly six times, before he was once again forced to roll to the side.

The cycle continued like that, until suddenly the Soul of Cinder lashed out striking Fyr once, which threw him into the air, and slashed his body downwards. As the Ashen One fell to the ground, the man struck his blade into the Unkindled's stomach.

Fyr rolled away frantically, and pulled out two Estus Flasks, and healed himself before rolling to the side as the sword from the amalgamation struck the ground where he just was, in an unusual calm, the Undead stabbed the Soul of Cinder in the abdomen.

The man fell to his knees at Fyr's feet, and quickly died right in front of the Unkindled One, who absorbed his soul with practised ease.

Right next to the bonfire, that had caused the Age of Fire, was a bunch of text, which Fyr quickly recognized as the symbols that Seleria had told him to summon her with.

He merely raised his hand, as the Fire Keeper came, in her robes.

She knelt next to the Fire, and cupped the flames into her hand, as the world went black around them. She whispered in dread at either his absence, or simply worry. "Ashen One, hearest thou my voice still?"

"I hear your voice, Seleria." He replied, immediately noticing that the way that he spoke, had been completely changed.

"Why do you speak that way?" The Fire Keeper asked, before noticing that she was also speaking differently. "What is happening, Fyr?"

"I don't know. I was about to ask you, that question." The Undead answered, bluntly. He did note the thing that was flying towards them. "What's that?"

"I'm not certain. I feel a presence, but not what it is." Seleria said, before sitting down at the bonfire. He also sat down, and observed the thing landing right in front of them.

It looked like an eldritch monster composed of human flesh and bone, with the exception of its head, which was a hollowed face with tentacles for hair.

Fyr stood, and walked over to the being, holding out his sword. It screeched at him, and out of it's mouth came a woman wearing an outfit similar to his own. She had red hair, so he took her on his back, setting her next to Seleria.

"What are you?" He asked, his tone dangerous. Since he had rested at a bonfire, despite the fact that it was now extinguished, he was now ready to fight.

The beast replied, by launching him towards the two women, and he landed in a skid.

Before he could react, the eldritch being had knocked him unconscious.

Ozpin looked over the screen showing him, a very interesting sight. There was a man wearing a masked outfit, fighting off Grimm as if they were mere play toys.

It was certainly interesting, since the man's figure or outfit didn't seem to be on the records. Neither was the female fighting with him, who was also dealing with the Grimm.

However, the silver-haired man was trying to figure out what a blind person was doing with the two clearly experienced Huntsmen. She didn't seem like a fighter, but the cloaked man seemed intent on protecting her without a regard for his own safety.

The blind woman did seem to have some prowess since she was reasonably capable of dodging certain things since, when a Beowolf attempted to dissect her, she jumped backwards.

When the battle finally ended, the headmaster decided to send out teams JNPR and RWBY to try and contact this trio of unusual people.

"Glynda," Ozpin called. The blonde witch quickly appeared in front of him, so he continued, "could you please get teams RWBY and JNPR to my office?"

The disciplinarian scrunched up her features, but nodded. When she had first given the footage to the headmaster, he'd ignored it until the man managed to engulf his sword with flames.

And that was when he was interested. Whilst it wasn't rare for Dust to make weapons like that, it was the fact that he only did it with his hand that had made the headmaster curious.

And then the two women that were with him, decided to show off their abilities. The blind one actually didn't do that much, but she did provide support - by creating a barrier in front of the duo that was actually fighting, which honestly looked like a safety measure.

But, she did what her boss told her to do, despite the fact that she had a nagging feeling that if it devolved into a fight, that the two teams wouldn't come back from it.

Glynda came across the group of friends, in the cafeteria with the other two boys from Mistral. "Team RWBY and JNPR. Come with me."

The duo of teams looked at each other nervously, before following the professor who was already at the door. The witch's thoughts quickly drifted to the strange trio, that had seen fighting the Grimm.

The blind woman and the man definitely knew each other, so it was likely that the other woman was new to the group, which was only obvious if you looked close enough.

Their fighting styles were similar, with the woman having a massive blunderbuss to help herself out if a beast got too close, whilst the masked one obviously preferred melee, and only had a shield to help himself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the tell-tale sign of clocks ticking, in the headmaster's office.

"Good to see that you're all here." Ozpin said, as he sipped his coffee. "Now I think that you're all wondering what you're all doing here."

"Er... Yes we were." Ruby commented, nervously.

"Well, you see here, Miss Rose, Mister Arc," the silver-haired man continued, as he pulled up footage of the masked man fighting off Grimm like it was chore, with another woman next to him doing the same thing. The blind woman wasn't doing much, but when a Beowolf attempted to get her, she deftly avoided it.

The man cut the werewolf-like beast's head off, like it was butter and they continued fighting the monsters.

"That we have a trio of unregistered Huntsman, fighting off Grimm that seem attracted to them like wasps to sweets. So, I'm going to send the eight of you with Professor Goodwitch to help them out." The man explained, easily.

"Okay... When are we getting ready?" asked Jaune, blinking.

"Now. I hope that your ammunition is ready." Ozpin answered without blinking.

The eight of them ran out faster then the normal human eye could see, and Ozpin was left with his assistant Glynda. "I hope that you're also ready, Glynda."

"Why is that?" The witch questioned, curiously.

"Simply because I don't want my assistant to die, because she wasn't prepared." Was his answer, as simple as it was.

"I'll do my best." She reassured, despite the fact that she felt nervous.

Fyr gave a sigh, as he cleaved through another werewolf creature. Since it turned out to be the last one, he asked the woman who had helped them out, "will you introduce yourself, stranger?"

"I'm Nirva. And you two?" The gun-wielding woman replied.

"This is Fyr, and I'm called Seleria." The Fire Keeper introduced.

"We're going to have to find civilisation eventually," Fyr stated. "Despite our respective prowess, we are eventually going to be overwhelmed."

"But... What if the Blood have affected the area?" Nirva said, sounding vaguely petrified.

"Then we'll have to fight. But it's less dangerous then being overwhelmed by the Abyss." The man responded, calmly. "These Abyss creatures that we have fought, aren't strong at all. But if they manage to assemble a group..."

"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." The Hunter said to the Unkindled One.

"I won't." He answered with a slight smile. "But let's get moving, shall we?"

Seleria spoke up, "I'm not as fast as you two. How -"

"Then we won't go as fast." Fyr interrupted. "We have a reasonable amount of time, before one of us succumbs into exhaustion. Even then, we can carry each other."

The Ashen One's thoughts drifted to that beast that knocked him out, and then suddenly they were in the middle of this forest. Had they been transported to another world, or is this the world after he had stopped the Fire?

He didn't think that world-hopping was possible, even for a creature like that one who felt so ancient and powerful. But he had always felt that sensation when he had fought one of the Lords of Cinder, and he managed to kill them, so it was always possible to kill it.

And he was certain that the Abyss didn't exist in other worlds, or he would have feared for the entire world. And then there was the question of how he even knew that there were other worlds out there.

Had the Fire given him knowledge, that shouldn't normally be available to either Undead or Lord? Had the Soul of Cinder the same knowledge, and was that why he guarded it so preciously?

The Undead only had questions at the moment, and little answers. He had always hated that about being the Unkindled One, was the fact that he didn't have answers for the many questions that he had.

He had felt like a pawn during those times - a plaything for those above. He still felt like that, but it was a less oppressive feeling then before.

The mercenary didn't exactly know what he was supposed to be doing - it was so clear during his time as Ashen One, that his job was to return the Lords of Cinder to their thrones.

Now he felt like that his purpose wasn't clear any more - at least what had been decided before hand. But Fyr felt that the Abyss needed to be gone forever.

And he'd complete that self-imposed mission...

At any costs.

Nirva looked around the forest, feeling a vague dread settle on her. This world was unlike her own, yet so similar. There were beasts to be killed, certainly, but there was a certain amount of peace that was not present in Yharnam.

Which unsettled her, immensely since she was used to constant bloodshed. But this Fyr seemed determined to change something, that look that essentially told her to not even try to stop him at whatever it is.

But, she was mainly concerned with the fact that she didn't feel a connection with the Dream any more, which honestly frightened her.

Her memories had been lost after she had become a Hunter, so all of her happiest memories were in the Dream with Gehrman and the Doll.

She had found and consumed three Umbilical Cords, and after refusing to disconnect from the Dream, she fought him... And won. Then a strange being similar to the ones that she had fought before that had come out of the moon. She had also fought it... And lost.

The good Hunter had lost conscience after that, and then she had woken up with Seleria and Fyr looking after her. It had been confusing, but when they had started actually talking she found that she liked the two.

Fyr was still a mystery to her, but she felt that her other female companion felt similar to her, honestly. Seleria on the other hand, was much more simpler to understand.

She was something called a Fire Keeper, who guarded bonfires which enabled the Undead to come back to life. Nirva noted that it was similar to the Dream, but she didn't voice that thought.

The woman was also blind, but had something of a sixth sense, which enabled her to avoid attacks. She was also a skilled magician, since those barriers had helped her against the Grimm. And there was those fire spells that had decimated one of those creatures with one hit.

Her blunderbuss had been recently reloaded, and her saw cleaver was also in good condition. The Hunter felt ready.

"What do we have here?" interrupted Fyr, who looked at the strange flying contraption that was coming near them. He barely tensed, apart from a slight roll in the shoulders.

Seleria serenely replied with a small smile, "I think that we shouldn't attack it. It feels... Safe. Like the Firelink Shrine."

The man gave a nod of appreciation at the memory, before saying. "Nirva. Please don't make our first glimpse of civilisation feel threatening."

She frowned, but deactivated her blunderbuss. The flying thing eventually settled down a few feet from them, the man barely looking unsettled by the massive shock wave that sounded out.

Fyr frowned, when he noticed that eight children and a woman came out of the strange object. Children shouldn't really be fighting monsters of the Abyss.

But he did find that they at least seemed prepared, at the very least. Even the most incompetent out of all them, the blonde boy seemed at least ready to fight if necessary.

"Hello." He greeted, cordially. "What are you nine doing out here?"

The leader of the group, the woman replied, "We were coming to get you, if that is necessary."

"That would be nice," the Unkindled One stated. "We have been fighting for nearly an entire day, so a bit of rest would be good."

He felt the eyes of the teenagers settle on him, and merely looked them over, noting how the group of girls were following the red one, and how the mixed group followed the blonde boy. So they were the leaders, then? Interesting.

The Ashen One entered the flying thing, finding that his outfit contrasted greatly with proper ones of the other people around here. Did humanity, despite the fact that the Fire had run out, manage to get out of the cycle?

But, he wasn't about to abandon Leonhard's armour. It was really comfortable, and was light... And there was sentimental value to it. Leonhard was a great knight, and he felt sad to have to kill him but he had found out that Leonhard had wanted death.

He took off his mask, and he immediately covered all of the entry and exit points of the thing. One of the many habits that he had obtained during his time in Lothric, but he ignored that.

"Hey!" greeted a small orange-haired girl, who interrupted her thoughts.

Fyr replied, "Hello to you, miss?"

"I'm Nora Valkyrie! And this is Ren, but we aren't together-together! Also there's my fearless leader, Jauney with Pyrrha!" The overly excitable girl exclaimed.

He shot her a kind smile, but interrupted her rant. "That's very good, Miss Valkyrie. But I think that Mister Ren is worrying about you."

Her eyes widened and shot towards Ren, leaving him with the professor. "Where are we going, miss...?"

"I'm Glynda Goodwitch," she introduced herself, before responding. "We are going to Beacon Academy, mister..."

"I'm Fyr. This is Seleria and Nirva." He answered. "But I'm wondering why people so young, are coming to get us."

"They are here because they are Huntsmen in training, sworn to protect the world from the Grimm. We also occasionally solve crimes, that go above the police." Glynda explained to the man, wondering why he didn't know this.

"Not as organized where I live." commented Fyr. "People are always conspiring against one another, that it gets relatively tiring. But I try to make a difference, wherever I can."

"We'll be arriving shortly, ma'am." interrupted the man that was at the commands of the machine. "Please don't let your students destroy the airship again."

The teacher narrowed her eyes, and nodded sharply. "I'll make sure of it, mister Bukanovitch."

"Thanks, ma'am."

"Is that a regular problem," asked the Unkindled One, curiously. "Sir? Destruction of material?"

"It is, mister Fyr. But it isn't their fault - even my own Semblance is relatively destructive in certain situations." Bukanovitch said.

"What is your 'Semblance'?" continued the Undead, as he wondered what a Semblance was.

"My Semblance is control over vehicles, so if I push myself hard enough, I could possibly crash two aircraft together." The pilot explained.

So... Semblances are types of magic, like Miracles and Pyromancy? He also used Pyromancy to make his katana to be enveloped in fire, and thus cause more damage to enemies. He hadn't used it on the Soul of Cinder, since he had assumed that he would have some sort of resistance to it, or something like that.

But Semblances seemed relatively broad compared to what he knew of magic, since that man's Semblance seemed relatively useless in a fight, but would be good for what he's doing - which is flying these 'aircraft'.

Safe to say, that he was apprehensive about this place, even if it was still his home at heart. He was still under the assumption that this was simply Lothric that had morphed over the centuries, or millennia.

Which was a pretty good bet, since the Abyss was around controlling the creatures around here which had also happened in Lothric, as demonstrated with the Abyss Watchers, which he had fought and killed.

But, he felt that this was the beginning of the storm that was brewing on the horizon. But like with the Lords, he felt that once gain it fell to him to save this place from whatever that was happening.

Duty did love to call for the Ashen One.

Cinder Fall looked over the tomb with a strange look. Her instincts were telling her to run, but she also felt like continuing, which seemed weird.

But she kept on going, the darkness of the tomb seeming to envelop around her, with Mercury and Emerald behind her, whispering among themselves.

And all went black, as a voice whispered out...

"The Abyss shall spread..."

AN: Wow. That was fun to write, and I did like reading up on Dark Souls lore, for the story.

Also... I put in the Hunter from Bloodborne for a good reason, I assure you.

Hope you all enjoyed!