AN: Sorry that this took so long even though it's short chapter, but this is the last of what can be considered the prologue. It's mostly self-contemplation to build up some of the Ashen one's character. I actually held this back a bit so I could make a fair amount of progress into chapter 4 before putting this one up, so I should be able to get that up soon. I rearranged and rewrote some of both which added to the delay. Hope enjoy and leave a review.
Ch. 3: That Which Was Left Behind
The sun had already risen high in the sky, and the mystery knight was still nowhere to be seen. Qrow let out a sigh of frustration before taking a sip from his flask. He had come back to the campsite on the off chance that Ruby's mysterious savior would have returned. Unfortunately, as his luck would usually have it, it did not look like the so-called knight would be coming back. Things could never be easy for him; then again, Qrow was used to having to do things the hard way.
He took another sip of his flask for good luck and not because he was still disturbed by the dried bloodstain on the ground. With a practiced motion he had perfected over the years, Qrow morphed into the black-feathered bird he was named after and took to the skies. It should not be too hard to find a huntsman in full armor, after all.
The only evidence of his presence was a stray, black feather left behind. Even as the sun set, the clearing was left undisturbed, but only when the shattered moon rose high in the sky did it change. Without a single sound, a section of the wall at the base of the cliff faded away, revealing ancient stonework that lead deeper into the cliff with Ruby's mysterious knight standing at the entrance.
He stepped out into the clearing, holding a twisted wooden staff in his hands. He sheathed it on his back as he plucked the aforementioned black crow feather from the ground. As far as he could tell, it seemed to be a normal feather, but he knew otherwise. While he would admit to some curiosity, the man's sorceries were his own.
He was right to hide and wait for as long as he had. Though the girl—Ruby, if he overheard correctly—and her family may mean well, he had no intention of getting involved with anyone anymore. In the long run, it would be better this way. No more fickle attachments.
As he turned his gaze to the shattered moon, he could feel its image sear itself into his mind once more. The Age of Fire was no more, as was the Age of Dark that came after. The Ages had long passed, and now, it seems that a new Age was upon the world. The life-giving Flame, its presence one that once saturated the world, was gone, and the land around the Firelink Shrine had shifted and been reborn as something new.
The only remainder of his late Age that he could recognize was the Abyss. Even after countless cycles, it still managed to survive. Yet, just like the First Flame, it too was waning in power. If it were not for what he had become, he never would have sensed it in these creatures of darkness. It was so unlike the taint he felt from the Pus of Man, Darkwraiths, and other creatures the Abyss had claimed. Those traces were akin to the embers of a fading power.
How ironic.
It's funny. Here he was, past his journey's end. The last of the Undead. He had done the impossible; he had ended the cycle of fire. Yet, he could not feel any satisfaction—no joy.
No. All he could feel was how exhausted his very soul felt.
He had survived multiple cycles of fire, a feat matched by few, surpassed by fewer and utterly and solely beaten by him.
Gonna miss that sly bastard.
How long had he fought off the threat of Hollowing and now that he wished he could succumb to it, he finds himself immune to the prospect. It seemed that he was damned to wander the world until the end of times at this rate. The irony was not lost on him that, to free the world from the Undead Curse, he had to become the sole bearer of it. The fourth Lord of the First Flame and Lord of Hollows.
What was he lord of now?
A lord of ashes. A relic from a damned Age that did not belong in this world. As long as the Flame sustained him, it also trapped him. He dared not attempt to remove it for fear of restarting the cycle and unleashing the Undead Curse on the world once more. And so, he dedicated his existence to guarding Firelink Shrine. The title of lord meant nothing to him now, so he abandoned it with no hesitation.
The Shrine was the closest thing to a home he has had since Carthus.
The vigil he kept over the Shrine had granted him a sense of purpose and peace. For the first time in ages, he felt he could finally rest. So, in an ironic twist of fate, he took over Gundyr's former role as the guardian of Firelink. It was then that he eventually fell into a, for the lack of a better word, slumber. However, he had no dreams to keep him company and, thankfully, no memories to torment him.
All he had was an endless void and a faint sense of the world around him.
He was surprised when a silver light unexpectedly began filling the void, only to be quickly reduced to a mere flicker. A flicker that slowly made its way towards him. He recognized the light of a soul, so he rose once more to meet it. As he dragged himself from the dirt he had become buried in, he had expected to face many things—the most common being grave robbers with ill intent. It would not be the first time he had to deal with such individuals.
What he had not expected to encounter… was a dying little girl.
A little girl whose blood was inexplicably drawn to him. It took him a moment to notice it, but she carried an ember inside her. It was a tiny, single spark, but an ember of fire all the same. It was related, no doubt, to how such a small girl managed to survive such a fall. He had an intimate understanding of what the human body could take and knew for a fact that the height of the fall should have killed her instantly and splattered her skull along the floor.
Yet, she had survived with only a severe gash on her head that she bled profusely from. She had the faint sensation of soul sorcery surrounding her. It was enough to save her life, but it would not prevent her from bleeding out.
It left him with a choice: to save her, or to leave her to her fate.
To his shame, for a moment, he had considered leaving her. He may not be much of a knight regardless of what he told her, and he had forsaken most, if not all of his vows, but he swore to never withhold aid if he could freely provide it.
Surprisingly, he found he enjoyed the interaction he had with her. His interactions with children were few during his existence, limited by the villages and cities that would tolerate an Undead amongst their ranks and those that had not yet fallen to the Undead Curse. She had an innocence around her that he had only seen when the Flame was at its strongest. It was a welcome change from all the death and despair that marked the end of his Age.
Whatever troubles this period faced were no doubt far from his own. It was the only reason he could rationalize as to why she thought it would be safe to enter a forest, stalked by creatures of the Abyss, at night.
No doubt, this age had its share of monsters that its people were more than capable of fighting. There was no longer the fear of Undeath, of becoming damned at the end of one's life.
There was no longer a need for him, which was fortunate since he had no intention of fighting for this age's people.
His journey was over, and he wanted to rest.
So, he turned back to the Shrine. He still needed to secure it and ensure none of the graves within have been disturbed. If by some miracle of the gods, a looter had managed to sneak by him, he would hunt the thief down. Even if the robber is long dead and his prize changed hands a hundred times over, he would find what was stolen.
After all, with no quest to bind him, he had all the time in the world.
AN: In case you never got the ending or never played Darksouls 3, I am going off of the usurpation of fire ending for the Ashen one. This chapter isn't supposed to give a full view of his character, rather provide a base that will be built upon as the story progresses. Expect there to be a decent amount of world building for history before the start of DS3 and what happened after he became the Lord of hollows. For any worrying about chapter length, all chapters from this point on will be much longer than these last three. Also, I am aware that I have yet to drop the name for the Ashen one, its intentional. Thanks for all the reviews so far.