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Information-Dark Souls and Bloodborne belong to Fromsoftware, and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth.

Chapter 23: Stories of a Lost History

The forest beyond the walls of Vale was actually quite peaceful. Of course, it was also rife with destruction from the Hedronians, but it was still peaceful. The corpses of melting Grimm did nothing to diminish the peace and serenity that the forest currently experienced...and the boredom. With everything that had happened the past few days, and his past, come to think of it, had left Scythe Hollow bored.

Of course, his journey to Lothric would take an unknown amount of time. Sadly, tNepres' death had left Scythe without his giant snake, which was a handy means of transportation. The Hedronians were undoubtedly coming the forest around the walls looking for him. The cursed pyromancy was not meant to last long. It had extinguished hours ago, the invigorating effects of their lives being drained had long since stopped.

The sound of a portal opening caught his attention. He looked behind him, but prepared to run. Drawing Frostbite also helped to keep him calm.

The portal looked like a hole had been opened in the forest. Through it, Scythe could see a building that looked suspiciously like Beacon, as well as many Huntsmen and Huntresses. Stepping through the portal, Scythe saw Ruby, and she appeared to be waving goodbye to someone. He assumed it to be Reaper.

Ruby turned to him as the portal closed. A long moment of awkward silence descended on the forest. Scythe smiled.

"Ruby." He greeted. "Don't suppose you're here to help me, are ya?"

Ruby smiled back. "Yes. Reaper also told me the Weiss, Yang and Blake would be here."

"Sorry, but I haven't seen them. I believe Weiss was taken to the Dream, but I don't know about your sister or her partner. However, we have a long journey ahead of us. Come, my heir, we must be off. Lothric grows no closer with us standing here." Scythe raised his blade and started walking away from Ruby.

The walked in silence for close to ten minutes before Ruby started asking questions.

"Where is Lothric?" She asked.

"Honestly, all I know is that it is in this direction. It has been a long time since I have been home." He responded, and started a cycle.

"How long have you been away from your home? Also, what is Lothric?"

I have been away for far too long. I don't know how many years it has been. And for your information, Lothric is the name of the country I ruled as the Lord of Hollows. You are in quite a unique position in terms of Lothric, you know that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're human by birth, Hollow by blood, Reaper by training, and Huntress by choice."

"How can I be both human and Hollow?"

"To answer that, you remember when my kingdom fell, how I turned my son human right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Well, as time went on the disguise and breeding with humans slowly turned the family from Hollow to human. Honestly, until Reaper told me that you were my heir, I thought I was the last Hollow."

"Well, yeah. There are a bunch of them still alive, right?"

"No...well yes, but I meant as a surname. I thought I was the last of my family. However, you are the current Heir of Hollows."

"Is that title supposed to be important? I mean I am already a Reaper's Warrior."

"Yes, I was a warrior myself, albeit unwillingly, and the Lord of Hollows. Being the Heir of Hollows means that in due time, hopefully when I die permanently, you will take on the title of Lord of Hollows. It was supposed to go to my son, but the kingdom fell before he could inherit."

"If you don't mind me asking, what did you do after your kingdom fell."

"Well...it's a long story, so I'll just tell you a brief summary. Maybe tell you more later. After Lothric fell I was-WOAH!" Scythe cried out as his face became rather intimate with the ground.

He looked over his back to see what he had tripped over and was quite surprised to find a rather ornate lantern. The same lanterns that appeared in quite a few places of the blood-addled city of Yharnam. Although it appeared to have been constructed in a hurry. The humming sound that Scythe knew so well could be heard. A bluish mist appeared around the lantern and a body slowly came into existence. When the mist disappeared, Scythe and Ruby recognized Weiss.

She slowly stood up and looked around. Scythe was about to ask a question of her when Ruby ran up and hugged her. She disengaged after a minute. Scythe just watched the interaction with mild interest.

"Weiss, Yang and Blake weren't with you, were they?"

"No. I thought they with you. Speaking of which, where are we?" She looked around.

"I would say about seven miles from Vale in that direction." He pointed in the direction of Vale. "I would assume that Yang and Blake ended up with the TimeKeeper. When he'll send them to meet us, I know not. Now come Lothric still grows no closer and I was just getting ready to tell a story about me."

Scythe started walking. Ruby and Weiss were quick to follow.

"What were you going to talk about?" Weiss asked.

"A brief overview of my life after Lothric fell. I only have one definite time frame, and that is the time I spent in hiding. It was about three hundred years in hiding."

"Why is that the only definite time frame you have?" Weiss asked.

"Well, when you live long enough, the amount of years you are alive become irrelevant, and you slowly stop caring. For me, I stopped caring after three hundred years of hiding. Anyway, my time in hiding was mostly spent city hopping and practicing. I spent most of my time focusing on pyromancy. I kept my blade skills up, but pyromancy was my first love during those days. The only really remarkable thing that happened during my time in hiding was that I helped prevent a human kingdom from being overthrown."

"Why? I thought that you were a Hollow, and so soon after humans overthrew your kingdom." Ruby asked.

"I was a Hollow, still am, thank you for noticing. However, if I didn't help that kingdom, many more lives would have been lost. Including the life of a friend of mine in that kingdom."

"Who was this friend?" Weiss asked.

"The queen. She came searching for me after learning of a swordsman who could freeze his enemies solid. I later found out she was looking for me because she could do the same, but with not sword. Fun times. Anyway, the main changes in my life began when I first learned of the Eldritch truths that world hides."

"I had heard about a rumor shadowed manor in the north. Apparently it had become a den of occult horrors. As naturally curious as I am, I decided that an investigation into the place would be in order. The owner of the estate was hiring literally anyone to help clean out the place, and I was lucky enough to be hired. At this manor, I encountered a disease that was spread through the blood. According to the owner of the estate, it took nearly two years to root out the evil that was nestled in the estate's lands."

"After leaving and being gifted with some insight into the Eldritch truths of the world, I came to learn of a city that was drowning in blood. I learned about them through a passing rumor about a healing liquid that could knit the flesh back together. It sounded so similar to the estus of my time that I had to investigate."

"Estus?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, estus, the liquid in that golden flask I would drink after classes at Beacon, surely you haven't forgotten." Scythe explained. "Anyway, I found the city's name was Yharnam. The less said about that cursed place the better. All you need to know for now is that I learned of the Eldritch, met, fought and beat several Great Ones, including the Greatest One, and after freeing myself from that neverending nightmare, I burned the city to the ground. Oh, I also got my scythe Bloodstain in that city."

"After Yharnam was razed to the ground, I focused my time on practicing with the scythe. As you know, I had the blade mastered in a matter of time. After Yharnam, a period of nothing passed. Actually it wasn't in until the turn of the twenty first century that I had anything interesting happen. One major thing that happened was a strange shifting castle. I still don't know how I wandered into that place. Apparently, it was supposed to be hidden from the prying eyes of the world. My insight from Yharnam must have allowed me to see it. I was actually asked to teach there. They claimed to be wizards, hah. I had laugh with that, their magic was insignificant. I did teach there for some time though. After about a year, I left. Crossed the seas to the Americas. Don't ask, it's just the forgotten name of a forgotten land."

"It was on the eastern seaboard of this land that I met some really strange super powered individuals, one of whom could throw blue lightning from his hands. People called him the Electric Man. Stupid superhero name, but in reality he really wasn't anything special. Cool powers though."

"The only other major events that happened were a mercenary was hired to kill. That guy was everything wrong with being completely insane. Kept talking to voices in his head and kept claiming to break the fourth wall. I swear, if I hadn't met him before I would've thought he belonged in some form of media. Probably a comic book. After the fiasco with that nutball, the world was flooded with darkness, and you know the rest of the story from there."

"That was a brief overview of what you did between the fall of your kingdom and now?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, maybe at a later date, I might divulge a little more. As for now, it is getting late. We'll make camp here for the night and continue in the morning. You girls get some rest, I keep watch."

As the shattered moon rose higher into the sky, the group made camp. Scythe was pleased to see that moon was no longer a Paleblood moon. Ruby and Weiss had long since fallen asleep. It was going to be a long night.

I must say, your school has become quite the center for my operations. What do you think?

"I would like to be set free, but I can see that reasoning with you would be a pointless effort."

I take offense to that. I am not unreasonable, I just have a mission that most people don't seem to get. Do you? I mean, you must right?

"You want to rule the world?"

Must you be so sarcastic? Were you like this when you had a body? Rhetorical question. Do you know why I trapped your consciousness in your skull?

"You were bored and wanted someone to talk to that wasn't one of you underlings. You tell me this nearly every day."

And nearly everyday I tell it's because I'm bored. Talking to my underlings is really like talking to myself. The Nameless King can't talk back either. Thus the trapped mind of the Bacon's headmaster. I am curious though, is it cramped in there?

"Its Beacon. And not really. Having no physical body has that advantage. So are you going to tell me what your mission is or not?"

Well, my mission is simple. I want power. Not just any power, but the powers to manipulate every aspect of reality as I see fit. It's called the power of Infinity. So named because the last person to have these powers called himself Infinity.

"You want power? Is that why you do evil things?"

Sure. If that's the reasoning you want to take, go for it. Although, your reasoning isn't really that far off. I know why I choose evil. It's convenient. Evil is the most convenient way for me to achieve this reality altering power.

"What were you before...this?"

A mechanic. I repaired vehicles for a living, until I got a taste of power. It was glorious. The rush, the thrill, the ecstacy. Oh, I wanted more. I needed more. Power was like a drug. Yet, it was so much more…

"So, you basically had nothing, then you had power?"

Indeed. I guess you could call me the epitome of the idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Jack is probably the only person still alive that remembers me from before my change into...well...me. He's told me I was actually a pretty decent guy until I went a bit power crazy. Do you think I'm power crazy, Ozzy?

"Crazy...yes. Power crazy? Not so much. I would just say power hungry."

Fair enough. Sadly, I must take my leave. You know, we may have differing ideals, but I do so enjoy these conversations.

"What is it you need to do?"

I guess there's no harm in telling you. I am going to practice my skills with the blade that belonged to Scythe Hollow. There are some things that need my attention with my army. And we must prepare. The Keepers are sure to be preparing their own invasion force as well. Good night Ozzy, see ya soon.

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