Chapter length has still yet to be determined, so don't assume all chapters will be less than 2k words.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
As the Ashen One trekked through the snowy forest with his spear being used as a walking stick, he thought about those that were in Firelink Shrine when he and the Fire Keeper snuffed out the First Flame.
He didn't think he would have much time to think about them, since the last time he went on a journey similar to this, he was almost always fighting, but this time it was different.
Unlike before, the Ashen One barely encountered anything. Sure, he would spot a creature of some kind off in the distance, but none of them interacted with him or wandered too closely to him, almost all of them kept their distance from him.
Nonetheless, It was odd for him, but he wasn't entirely against all of this, for it does give him the chance to think about Andre the Blacksmith, Greirat the Thief, Irina of Carim, and many others like he was doing so now.
At the moment, the Ashen One was currently thinking about Greirat the Thief.
He liked him, and indeed found him to be extremely witty, but what he was currently thinking about was who was Loretta to him. He had never asked, despite all of the talks they had, so he couldn't help from wondering when thinking about him now.
It was obvious she was someone very important to him, but the question he was asking himself was how important was she to him? Was she his mother, or was she someone much closer?
He had spoken about the two of them quite a handful of times with Greirat, but not once throughout their conversations did Greirat ever mention their names, so now that he had time to think about the past, he couldn't help but wonder if the bone he had given him was one of the two.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to dwell on these thoughts forever, for as he soon entered a clearing, and at the center of it, found a woman who had light blue hair crouched down and cutting into the body of a large grey creature. As for her clothing, she wore a brown fur coat, and brown fur pants.
He didn't notice this at first upon entering the open area, but she was humming a soft tune as she carved into the dead animal. It also looked like she didn't notice him, but the Ashen One was a little skeptical about that, and decided to stare at her from afar.
Eventually, after who knows how long of staring at her, she stopped what she was doing and said in a loud and clear tone as she stood up. "You know, it's very rude to stare at others like that."
At this, the Ashen One tensed slightly, and tightened the grip on the spear he was holding. He didn't know if this person was going to be a friend or foe, but he had a feeling it was going to be the latter.
Seeing how he didn't respond to her, the woman turned around to face him and said as she did so. "Anyways, do you need something from me?"
The Ashen One said nothing once again and continued to stare at her. She was old, but nowhere near as old as the shrine maiden back at Firelink Shrine. However, unlike before, he eventually replied.
"... I'm looking for someone, a woman to be specific."
That was what he declared and upon declaring this, the woman chuckled. The tone he had spoken in was deep and masculine.
"A woman?" The blue-haired woman questioned in a humored tone. "You're looking for a woman all the way up here in that?"
The Ashen One was silent at first and didn't quite understand what she meant by in that, but he eventually answered her question while nodding his head.
"I am."
At this, the woman laughed once more, which caused him to scowl, however, after a while she asked him another question. "Can you be a bit more specific? I can't really help you if you don't tell me what she looks like."
The Ashen One remained silent again, but that wasn't because he couldn't recall what she looked like or anything of that sort, he was just having a difficult time coming up with a short and simple description of her.
"... Pale blonde hair, fair skin, soft voice, wears an ornamental eye plate on her face, and wears a long black dress." The Ashen One revealed after nearly a minute of thinking about how to easily describe her.
The woman once again furrowed her brows and began to try recalling someone who matched that description.
"... Sorry, but I haven't seen someone like that out here." She stated aft a good while of thinking with a shake of her head.
The Ashen One frowned at this, and said in a lacklustering voice. "I see," before continuing his trek.
The woman, who had expected him to ask a couple more questions was surprised by this action, and cautiously watched him move past her. He didn't seem hostile, and appeared to be no longer interested in her, but that wasn't enough for her to drop her guard and go back to what she was doing before he came along.
Eventually though, she lost visual on him, and upon doing so, she let out a sigh and muttered as she turned back to the carcass of the animal behind her. "I wonder if I missed out on a great opportunity to hear some interesting stories? It's been a long time since I interacted with something that's not an animal.."
After leaving the old woman to the thing she was doing before, the Ashen One let loose a sigh. His search continued, and he still had no idea where the Fire Keeper went.
It's unfortunate she didn't see anyone that matched the Fire Keeper's description, but I guess it's to be expected.
He wasn't expecting much from that old woman, since they were indeed in what looked like to be the middle of nowhere, but he was secretly hoping she did.
Nevertheless, he was disappointed, but this wasn't going to stop him. He believed that once he got to a civilized place, he would find somebody that had seen her or something better. He would find her there.
With that thought in mind, the Ashen One trudged through the snow towards where he assumed civilization was located.
Nothing interesting happened for a while, but as the sun drew closer and closer to setting, the Ashen One started to feel a presence watching him. He wasn't sure who or what was watching him, but he did feel something's gaze on him.
Curious as to what was watching him, the Ashen One casually placed his other hand onto the black spear and started to look around in an attempt to find whatever it is that was watching him. He didn't see anything, and the trees didn't look like the tree women he had encountered in Ariandel, which caused him to scowl.
Maybe I'm just imagining things? He highly doubted this possibility, and was tempted to try locating whatever was watching him when suddenly he heard the sound of a tree branch breaking to his left.
Turning an entire ninety degrees to his left, the Ashen One looked for whatever had caused this noise, but didn't see anything. All he saw was snow and ice falling to the ground.
His scowl deepened. Why is the snow and ice fall-
It clicked with him, and no sooner did it click, did he look up and see something that looked like a cat hugging the tree he was standing not too far from and staring down at him. It was big, and had whitish-grey fur and yellow eyes.
He wasn't sure what it was, and had never seen something like this before, but it growled upon being spotted by him before leaping off of the tree and onto the ground behind the Ashen One.
The Ashen One followed its movements with his eyes, and watched as it leapt over him and gracefully land on the snow that was below it.
Once on the ground, the large cat hissed at him and showed him its fangs as it began to walk to its left.
He didn't react to any of this and simply watched it with curious eyes. It wasn't as big as a Great Wolf, but it was bigger than a normal wolf and appeared to be a lot more agile than them despite it being bigger in terms of size.
As it continued to walk to the Ashen One's right, it snarled at him a couple more times, but still, nothing happened. He wasn't fazed at all by its attempt to frighten him. However, he was concerned about getting hit by its claws.
Suddenly, and without any warning, the large feline bolted forward and pounced onto a tree before pouncing at him.
The movements it made were swift, and completely unexpected, but the Ashen One had been mentally preparing for the unexpected and was able to quickly move out of the way.
Once out of the way, he turned back around and saw it leaping towards him again.
He dodged the attack once more, but unlike last time, he did a combat roll.
The large cat didn't stop there though. As soon as it touched the ground it did everything in its power to turn its body towards him and tried once more to attack him again. It had pounced on him just like how did before, but unlike previously, it attempted to hit him with its claws as he rolled away.
It was unsuccessful in this attempt, but that didn't deter it in the slightest. It desperately tried to him several more times not only with its claws and pouncing attacks but its mouth as well.
Eventually, after who knows how many evasions he performed, the Ashen One ignited the black spear and thrusted it into the large cat, killing it almost instantaneously.
Once certain it was dead, he removed his spear and began to get another look at it as he acquired its souls. He didn't feel any remorse for it since he had defended himself, but that didn't mean he wasn't fascinated by it. He had encountered all kinds of beings, but not once had he ever encountered something like this.
The world has really changed.
He highly doubted he would have encountered something like this back when he was on his quest to find the Lords of Cinder, he was positive of that. If anything, he'd probably encounter some corrupted version of it, but not the actual animal like he had done so now.
Certain of this and now done with his examination of the dead cat, the Ashen one stopped staring at it, and was about to resume his journey when suddenly he heard a womanly voice from behind.
"You shouldn't continue on, it gets a lot more dangerous at night."
The Ashen One turned around upon hearing this, and saw the woman he had met earlier standing a few feet away from him.
"... Have you been following me?" He asked inquisitively. He was surprised to see her here and was curious about how she had managed to get behind him like this without making a single noise.
"Yes and no, I wasn't following you at first, but once I was done harvesting that Rhinaco, I decided to see if you were still alive or if you got killed by some of the wildlife." She answered with a smile.
"... I see." Came the Ashen One's response.
"Anyways, wanna come back to my place? It's about an hour or two back in that direction." She declared as she pointed her thumb over her shoulder.
He didn't say anything at first, and was hesitant to accept. He had to find the Fire Keeper as soon as possible, but if what she said was true, then wouldn't it be best to go with her for now? Not to mention, he could learn a little more about the new world he was in now.
"... Sure." He agreed after a decent while of thinking on it, which caused the woman to smile.
"Wonderful, it's been so long, since I've had company!" She energetically stated before turning around and marching off in the direction he had came from.
The Ashen one said nothing in response to hearing this, and slowly trailed behind her.
To Be Continued.