Greetings to you, dear readers,
This is my first attempt to publish a story and I dare say one of the first attemps of writing one. Because I think summary is not good enough - I enlarge it a bit here. So, this is Dark Souls (hereandafter refered as DS) and Inheritance crossover where few beings from DS world end up in Alagaësia. During their adventures they 'll meet our beloved heroes - Eragon and his faithful Saphira. As I said in summary there are some OCxSaphira planned, but such things will happen at a pretty slow pace in later chapters.
I guess there are enough spoilers already, so regarding the rating - for now I decide to make it M, cause there will be descripted bloody scenes, suggestive themes, and a stuff like that. But also it's to be on a safe side.
What else there is to say? Well, I hope this story will be decent and hopefully I'll manage to grow as a writer. So, contructive criticism and reviews will be greately appreciated.
Also I must say that I do not own Dark souls nor Inheritance cycle universes, only the plot of this story, same goes for any characters, except OC's, from the original games and books, the rights belong to their respective owners. And in this particular chapter the intros from DS1, DS2, DS3 were used which are made in italics.
I guess that's enough of my blabbing, let's start our journey.
In the Age of Ancients the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of gray crags, Archtrees and Everlasting Dragons. But then there was Fire and with fire came disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course, light and dark. Then from the dark, They came, and found the Souls of Lords within the flame. Nito, the First of the Dead, The Witch of Izalith and her Daughters of Chaos, Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, and his faithful knights. And the Furtive Pygmy, so easily forgotten
With the strength of Lords, they challenged the Dragons. Gwyn's mighty bolts peeled apart their stone scales. The Witches weaved great firestorms. Nito unleashed a miasma of death and disease. And Seath the Scaleless betrayed his own, and the Dragons were no more.
Thus began the Age of Fire. But soon the flames will fade and only Dark will remain. Even now there are only embers, and man sees not light, but only endless nights. And amongst the living are seen, carriers of the accursed Darksign.
Yes, indeed. The Darksign brands the Undead. And in this land, the Undead are corralled and led to the north, where they are locked away, to await the end of the world... This is your fate.
The world always seemed to be static. Eons passed without change and dragons had a fair share. Other species dwelled in their shadow. And then the world was set in motion, new age has begun and it meant that older rulers had to step aside. It is the natural order of things, if there was a beginning there is always an end. The Ancient dragons knew that. Granted with knowledge of everything they could have easily defeated bearers of great souls but there was no point in fighting against nature. The world itself decided to evolve and so dragons decided to let things happen the way they should. But still they wouldn't pass without challenge. The beginning of the new age came at a price and at some point that age will end. Unfortunately, new Gods didn't get it and so, when the first flame started to fade and their strength to fall, Lord Gwyn made a decision. One that changed the world forever…
Some would say that he wanted to save his family and subjects. Some would try to blame him for defying the nature in order to let the gods rule longer. In the end, mortals' beliefs make no difference. Indeed, it helped for a time being: mortals stopped to turn into hollows and the order was restored. However, other Lords were not so enthusiastic to return the great souls to the flame. Nito stayed in his grave, Seath madly pursued his dream of immortality and the Witch… In her self-confidence she tried to create a new great flame and she succeeded, in a way, corrupting herself, her children and the whole Izalith, becoming the Bed of Chaos. And as if it wasn't enough, the hordes of demons were created. Gwyn was not able to return all the great souls to the first flame. Most of his strength was lost and only part of his once great soul remained in his possession. In a desperate attempt he made a plan and then gave his soul to the flame, becoming the first Lord of Cinder.
The Great Lie was developed and the weight of the world was placed upon mankind. For only the Chosen Undead can stop the beginning of Age of Darkness and enlarge the Age of Gods. An impossible task of feeding the flame was put upon humans. Many brave souls lost themselves giving too much of their humanity for the fire, even more became hollow on the false trail. Years carried on this way, each day the number of undead increased and lies about the Fate of the undead were spread. Many adventurers choose that path yet none succeeded. It's hard to tell how many years had passed before one undead managed to complete this quest. Or were there many of them? The flow of time was damaged, the past may happen in future and each undead seemed to have its' own world. During your journey you may meet the same person as your friend, as your enemy, even as your killer or savior. In times like this it's hard to say anything for certain.
And so, with the Great souls the Chosen Undead ignited the first flame once again and thus the age of fire continued, bringing new cycle of prosperity…
Again eons would pass, new empires will rise and fall and the stories of previous cycle become legends that will be forgotten. Witnesses of the past would disappear or die out and there will be no traces of them. Until the fire start to fade again…
Perhaps you've seen it, maybe in a dream. A murky, forgotten land. A place where souls may mend your ailing mind. You will lose everything... once Branded. The symbol of the curse. An augur of darkness. Your past. Your future. Your very light. None will have meaning, and you won't even care. By then, you'll be something other than human. A thing that feeds on souls. A Hollow.
Long ago, in a walled off land, far to the north, a great king built a great kingdom. I believe they called it Drangleic. Perhaps you're familiar. No, how could you be? But one day, you will stand before its decrepit gate. Without really knowing why... Like a moth drawn to a flame. Your wings will burn in anguish. Time after time. For that is your fate. The fate of the cursed.
And from the second time the fire would start to fade faster and faster. Ages of prosperity will shorten each time. And the state of world will worsen… New Gods will rise and new heroes appear and the flame will be ignited again. And again. The wars between empires will start and end. The lies of true purpose of Kiln will be spread. The motion of the world will go in spirals. Until the point when there won't be enough to feed the flame with…
Yes, indeed. It is called Lothric, where the transitory lands of the Lords of Cinder converge. In venturing north, the pilgrims discover the truth of the old words: "The fire fades and the lords go without thrones." When the link of the fire is threatened, the bell tolls, unearthing the old Lords of Cinders from their graves...Aldrich, Saint of the Deep... Farron's Undead Legion, the Abyss Watchers... And the reclusive lord of the Profaned Capital, Yhorm the Giant... Only, in truth... the Lords will abandon their thrones... And the Unkindled will rise. Nameless, accursed Undead, unfit even to be cinder. And so it is, that ash seeketh embers.
In time the process of igniting the flame will become regular. But it won't hold the coming age for long. The gods are no more and the lords' will to ignite the fire no longer exist. For they understand now how useless the process is…
But the bell still tolls and undead rise from their graves in attempt to ignite the flame yet again. The world became a pile of different ages, with no way to understand this madness. The time had stopped and order is no more. Yet champions of ash still blindly try to ignite the embers of the flame. There is a way to stop the age of fire and let the world proceed, but until now there were no one to take that path… Or perhaps there were and plenty of them…
And once again a nameless champion defeats the Soul of Cinder and ignites the flame again. But the strength of the fire is so little that it only unmade all of the champion's deeds and send him back to the beginning of the same journey... There is one change though. The last ignition caused some sort of commotion atop one of the distant mountain chain. Through the eons none of the empires or even small settlement managed to dwell in this place. In a blink of an eye magical shockwave thrown away the icy peak of a mountain revealing few beings that slept there. They are survivors of the ancient war and first age of fire. Unchanged by time and protected by magic they stayed. And at this time, one of three stirred.
Large eyes with slit pupils opened revealing irritation that turned to rage almost instantly. With great effort the creature lifted its' head and inhaled as much air as its' lungs could. And with an earth-shaking roar the last ancient dragon made its' presence known to the world.