Chapter 2: The new age
Well here is the update of chapter 2, nothing more but enjoy
It has been countless years since the Ashen One usurped the First Flame, ending the reign of the gods who were prolonging their age, so now with this duty complete he roams the Shrine, alternating between rest and restlessness.
On one time, he sits on the edge of the little Lord Ludleth of Courland's throne, where he is just rambling to the cinders of that little Lord.
"You know Ludleth, I wonder if I should have ended the Age of Fire, because I would have preferred to be a pile of ash than stuck down here alone, for lords know how long, but then I would have just prolonged a world on the cusp of death, so I think ending it was a smart move, don't you think?" The Ashen One turns his head to the throne and sighs, remembering the fact that Ludleth is just a pile of old ash. "Of course, how could I forget. You're just a pile of cinders know, ugh." The Ashen One stands up and dusts the ash off the drab cloth on top of his gold-engraved black armour. He picks up the night-black knight's helmet and places it on his head and raising his hood to cover the helmet.
He jumps down from the throne with a thud and walks to the bonfire, where the coiled sword is still stuck, but - due to the fire gone its fire has disappeared for ages.
He reaches out to touch the sword, maybe to ignite the bonfire, but before he touches it, he hears a whisper in the air: "Ashen One, arise from thy tomb and venture forth to this new world."
The Ashen One pulls his hand back and looks around. "Who's there? If you value your life, you will show yourself."
"Oh, how it has been so long, I have missed you my Ashen One"
The moment the Ashen One heard that voice again, and that word he lowered his guard, after so long he hears the voice that gave him hope in a dying world, he turns to see the Firekeeper glowing but is ethereal like a ghost.
"Ashen One, rise from this tomb and journey onwards, a new world a wait, I will undo the seals and you may leave if you so wish to" As soon as she finishes those words her body disappears.
The Ashen One tries to reach out to her but she was gone… again, the Ashen One kneels out of pure sadness, how long will his life have nothing but torment he stays there for a good 10 minutes, before getting up and equipping his weapons, the Firekeeper is right a new world is awaiting him, and to be honest it's better than waiting to go hollow in the Shrine.
Once he finishes preparing, he walks up the stairs once he is in front of the seal, he looks back one last time with a little sadness "Goodbye my companions, may the flame lead you to eternal peace." he pushes the door open revealing nothing but a cave and not the Cemetery of Ash. Has he been sealed so long that the Shrine sank under the very ground, the surrounding area is nothing but rock, being lighten up with strange blue crystals.
He takes a few more steeps drawing his blade in case anything happens, he then looks around to see if any enemies are hiding behind corners, when feels the area is secure, he then looks for a way out of this hole.
He did manage to find a pathway but all it leads to is a dead end, and there were no other pathways he could find.
"I get out of one hole, I'm stuck in another the gods must love playing jokes on me" he grumbles, but something else is bugging him "Why would she wake me up, I thought she would want me to protect this shrine or the rest of eternity, this requires further questioning if I find her again."
He looks at the dead end and sighs "Well I could sit here for the rest of time till the wall crumbles."
The Unkindled sits with his back facing the wall and he looks up to the roof of the cave "Gwyn if you are out there or other of the Gods form the Age of Fire, I may have betrayed my duty but give me some closure for once in my suffering of existence." He sits there waiting for any kind of a response, but nothing happens.
Out of fury he back hands the wall "Curse the Gods and all their lies to humanity" The Ashen One remembers something from when he first enters the Ring City "Guess that little creature was right, one day I would have cursed the gods." He laughs bitterly.
The Unkindled lowers his head to the side out of despair, but he notices a small sliver of light on the ground it then comes to him.
The Ashen One gets back up takes a few steps forwards and faces the wall, "Well it would seem that the gods have smiled upon me for once." The Ashen One raises his fits and hits the wall small pieces of wall but it wasn't enough.
"Damn, guess I need to bring out the big weapons." He opens his Bottomless box and reaches in to grabs the Demon Great Axe "Haven't used this one in a while."
He pulls the axe making flames pop on the blade of the axe and when he feels that it is charge up, he slams it forward making a fiery explosion with enough force to break the wall "Praise the Sun."
He steps out of the shadows and he is greeted to is a bright blue sky, blue like the Blue Tear Stone, the clouds were gliding on the air without a care in the world, they were so white, it looks so innocent, and most impressive the sun is up, "I thought when I usurped the flame the sun would be gone, but I guess somethings don't change"
The Ashen One takes a deep breath and did the Praise the Sun pose.
He looks forward and sees that he is on a hill overlooking a large city, surrounded by mountains, all the buildings are white from where he was standing, with the roofs being assorted colours, somewhere blue, or yellow, but none of them where drab or dingy
A large castle that would easily rival Lothric castle in size and stature, but unlike Lothric it wasn't a dirty brown colour but pure white like the whitest snow in the painted world of Ariandel and it also it didn't have the atmosphere of death and dread in the air, like what Lothirc had.
"I guess no harm in exploring, if there is nothing to try kill me." He makes his way down the hill and towards the city.
The Capital
The Ashen One finally arrives in the capital and what he sees is, large buildings some white and others brown, but what really surprised him were the people, as there weren't only humans, but as well as humanoid animal people, and people who have animal parts, and all of them had a look of joy and happiness on their faces.
But he is not the only one staring, as some of the people stop and look at the Ashen One, it's the way he dresses all black and brown no colour, and an air of death surrounding him, this causes the nearby kids stop playing and watch this new stranger, with a slight curiosity in their eyes.
The Ashen One continues walking, he never liked being the centre of things, so he wants to find a place where he can be alone.
He first went into a building that is a pub of some sort, but all that causes are more people to look at him, so he quickly leaves and finds a small alley way for him to ponder over.
He is sitting on some stairs, his swords and shield are back in his bottomless box, so he doesn't look suspicious, he keeps his helmet on, but his elbow is on his knee and resting his head on his hand.
"I have no idea what's going on, those animals are not normal, could they be left overs of Sulyvahn experiments? Or maybe when the Firekeeper took the First Flame it caused some sort of mutation to occur? Or maybe are they part of the Lion Clan from the East, but some of them are canine or reptilian."
As the Ashen One is pondering in his thoughts someone calls out to him, he looks to see three individuals.
One is a small child with brown hair in the style of a bowl hair cut wearing a white t-shirt, brown trouser, and a green cloak.
The second one has white short spikey hair with a collar and chain, wearing white damaged t-shirt and trousers that have individual circles going down the leg.
The last one has long black hair, but his head has bandages wrapped around it, he is wearing a white tank top with purple vest and white trousers.
"Hey, what are you doing in our turf" the small one shouts.
The knight doesn't answer and ignores the brat's question.
"Hey, do you think he is deaf" The second one he asks his partners.
"Nah he is just ignoring us, listen you are in our territory so if you want to go stay in this area you need to pay a toll or else we will need to call our buddies and teach you some manners." The first one says.
The Ashen One takes a deep breath and stands "Look guys I have had a long day and I mean a really long day, so if you push me I won't hesitate to end your life." He makes the end part every clear.
This causes the three to laugh
"You kill us that's priceless, if you try and kill us, one of us can just go and tell the guards you would be thrown in the deepest part of the castle dunge…" he stops as the unkindled laughs.
"Ha ha ha ha, do you honestly think that a dungeon would scare me? My Gwyn you three are truly idiots you have no idea the depths that I have gone through as a dungeon would seem like a small paradise to me." The Ashen One laughs manically
"Ok this guy is officially a whack job, lets leave him be." The three turn and leave.
But, as they did something flies past them and impacts the wall in front of them making a hole in the building in front of them.
The three stops to look at the damage a small pebble caused to the wall, the wall had a ball size hole indented into it by the force of the throw alone.
He cracks his knuckles "Don't leave yet the feast has not yet begun, and I need an appetiser to calm my hungry fists."
They shakily take out their knifes, as this maniac thought of being thrown in the dungeon as a paradise.
"Tell you what since it has been such a long time since I had to fight, I'll let you have the first stab." He says while spreading his arms out to the side.
The three looks at each other wondering what to do, this guy is allowing them to do some damage, but it seems to good to be true.
"Come on, What's the matter? an opportunity like this doesn't come often." He taunts them while grinning inside his helmet.
The thieves look at each other and shakily nod before charging at him knifes ready to kill.
He waits for a few seconds before grabbing the nearest one which happens to be large one in the group.
This shock the large one as he can feel himself being swing effortlessly and hitting the little one both crashing into the wall.
CRUNCH!
The Ashen One immediately punches the thin one causing his jaw to be dislocated and blood spewing from his mouth.
"H-hay… uou zaid… yoeu…whould…litz…hus…hiat…bou" the one Birsingr punch complains
He scoffs "You think I was playing fair, where I'm from that sort of thing gets you killed quickly, next time someone says you can do stab them, run because it won't end well." He then kicks the guy in the face rendering him on conscious.
"Consider this a mercy from me otherwise next time your jaw will not be the only thing broken." He warms them
"On second thought let's see what you have." He starts walk to each one of them to loot them.
As he was searching he notice that the little one has the most coin which in total is a 11 gold coins.
He looks at the gold coins to see a large dragon in the centre of the coin, "Do they worship the ancient dragons? But it looks different from the ones back in Lothric."
He needs to put the coins away and putting such small currency in his box will be a hassle to get out again but mainly, he doesn't want people to question how he gets gold out of thin air.
He notices that the thieves have coin pouches on them, he grabs one from the large one and ties it around his waist under his cloak and puts the coins in the pouch for safe keeping.
As he is starting to continue his way he hears glass breaking behind him, he turns to see a foot implanted on the front of his helmet pushing down and hitting his face.
The foot belongs to a young girl, with long Hair in a large pony tail as bright as the brightest gold, with dark red eyes, she has a bright red scarf that goes down to her knees, wearing a dark strap on her chest on top of that is a brown jacket, she is also wearing dark skin-tight thighs, with it torn on the right side and on the right side of her foot, there is smaller red scarf on her legs.
"You're the way slow poke" the little girl quickly tells him.
He immediately regains his posture and quickly grabs the girl by the leg "You're not going anywhere you little brat."
"HEY! Let go of me you tin can" She tries to wiggle out of the Ashen Ones grip.
"Stop struggling it's pointless, now explain this to me why did you step on my face using as a leaping board while trying to run?" He asks irritated.
"It's none of your business so let me go." She demands again.
The knight sighs dealing with kids was never his favourite thing to do "When you smashed my face you made it my business, so I'll ask you one more time what are your running from."
This time she didn't answer, but what she did was grab some dirt from the ground and throws it into The eyes using him to drop felt and quickly remove his helmet to clean out his eyes.
"That's what you get." She sticks out her tongue and runs off.
With his helmet off the Ashen Ones facial features are now visible.
He is a young man who is in his twenties, with black wavy hair, his eyes are a baby blue colour and on his left cheek is a scar that could have caused by blade.
The knight swears "FUCK! How could I fall for such and amateur move like that, Patches is probably laughing in his grave right now." As he rubs the dirt out of eyes.
he hears footsteps coming from behind him thinking it is that girl, he quickly turns around and blindly swings at the source of the sound.
The Unkindled's fist hits a solid wall of what feels and sounds like ice breaking into tiny pieces "Oh I see you know how to use magic, well unfortunately for you that won't save you from my wrath."
"He could be that thief's companion" a voice which does not sound like the girl's voice from before.
"Your right we should freeze him get some information from him." A second voice that sounds more feline.
The knight quickly rubs the rest of the dirt out his eyes blinks a few times to get his vision cleared up and he sees different people.
The first one is a young girl who is 18 years old with long silver hair and a small white rose on her left side, she has light violet colour eyes that contrast with her shiny silver hair, she is wearing a white and purpled dress and with a misty green crystal on her neck, wearing white purple stockings and purple flat shoes, but what stood out to Birsingr is her ears which are slightly pointed.
The second "person" is a small floating cat with silver and white fur and green eyes, on his right ear which is floppy has a small gold ring on it and uniquely the cat has a small purple bag on it."
Wait where is the second person did she run past me when I was blinded, he looks behind to make sure no one blindsides him but sees nothing, so he focuses on the girl.
"Who are you?" The Unkindled asks.
"I should be asking you that, I need to know where that girl ran off to and if you are defending her I'm sorry, but you must tell her where she is!" The pointy eared girl asks, as mist is forming around her.
backs up a little bit now knowing his opponent is a magic caster, he needs to move quickly and close the gap as magic casters are weaker in close range combat.
before he does that, he tries a different approach "Listen I have no idea what you are after, and I am not associated with that girl, I'm just a bystander."
Before the girl could speak the little flying cat floats in front off her "Wait he is telling the truth."
He looks dumbfounded and he cleans his ears to make sure his hearing isn't going bad "Did that cat talk, or am I going hollow."
Emilia disperses the mist but keeps an eye on the knight.
"Are you sure he is not dangerous?" the girls ask.
"He does have a darkness around him, but I don't feel malice coming from that darkness, so he should be fine." The cat informs the girl.
"What do you mean darkness without malice?" the girls ask.
"I know it sounds impossible, but I do not feel any malice coming from him" the floating cat responses to her.
"Pardon me, but I am standing right here you know." The Ashen One reminds them of his presence.
"Can you explain why you have an unusual darkness inside of you?" the girl asks.
"Instead of answering that question how about I point to the direction where the girl was heading." He offers to dodge the question, The Unkindled points down the alleyway.
The girl looks at him suspiciously that he tells them where the girl is instead of asking the question.
The knight can see hesitation coming from the girl "Listen I was in the wrong place in the wrong time, but if you wish to end up like those three stooges" he points to the poor fools on the ground.
The cat floats in front of the knight face "Now now, if you try and harm my daughter you end up as a popsicle" the cat threatens with puffed up cheeks.
He scoffs at the threat and turns his back to the cat "I wouldn't recommend picking a fight with me right now I am in no mood furball."
Before things could escalate the girl stands in between them "Stop! There is no need for a pointless fight over this."
The girl turns to him "I need to know are you a mercenary?"
"In a way I am" he answers.
"Well then, I am…" she couldn't finish as the cat interrupted her.
"Emilia we can do it ourselves, he would switch sides at the drop of a coin and plus we don't know him." The cat makes a x sign with his paws.
"Fine by me, I do not want to be involved in any way it is your business not mine." He says without care.
He walks past them "Now excuse me, I have better things to do." As he grabs his helmet and walks out the alleyway.
Once out of the alleyway he dusts his helmet puts it back on and pulls up the hood before walking in the crowed making his presence disappear.
While walking on the road he is pondering in thought "That was an annoying encounter in which I never want to partake again."
He notices that some people are still staring at him was it because of his armour, the way he walks, or perhaps the dread feeling they get when near him, but it matters too little to him.
"Now where for me to stay while I figure out what is going on around here." He then takes the coin sack around his waist and looks at it, he counts the money he stole from the thieves which is 11 gold coins. "Now that I have some money on me wonder if there is any cheap place for me to stay?"
He looks around, but he can't understand any of the words on the signs "Damn, I can't read a thing here."
He looks around for someone to ponder information out of.
As he is looking he notices a small girl with green hair in the style of a bowl haircut, she has green eyes wearing an orange dress, and green flats, in a corner crying out of fear, he looks at her, then he glances around for the parents, but he couldn't find anyone trying to find someone.
He walks off, but he glances back every now and again at the child, he stops and sighs "I'm going to regret this."
He turns around and walks towards the child, once he is close to the child she notices him and is starting to panic thinking he might do something to her.
He notices this and starts to think of a way to calm her down, realising that he looks menacing at 6-foot-tall knight, wearing black armour and a dirty cloak she has every right to be scared.
So, he kneels so he is at her level and takes of his helmet "It's alright little one no harm will come to you." He gives the best smile he could muster up while offering his hand.
She looks up to see the mans face she wipes her tears away to get a clearer view of the man, she hesitates for a second.
"Are you a knight mister?" The girl asks afraid.
He keeps quite for a second "Yes… yes I am a knight." He reassures to the little girl "and what is your name little one?"
"You first mister, a knight always introduces themselves first." She says
A Birsingr hesitates not knowing his name but he does remember a conversation with his friend.
3500 thousand years ago in the Boreal Valley
The Ashen one is sitting in what is a kitchen with a small fireplace in front of him entranced by the embers shooting out of the flame.
"You alright my friend" a voice calls out to him.
He shakes his head to snap out of the trance "Yes Siegward I was just in deep thought."
"Well that must have been a deep thought as you looked like something was bothering you, ho ho ho ho" he chuckles.
He turns his head to look at his friend "I'm just exhausted with all the killing, it feels like it is never ending, I can't die, can't eat, or drink and no the Estus does not count." He turns his head back to the flames.
He feels nudge on his arm, he looks to the side to see Siegward holding Siegbrau. "Here this should cheer you up."
He takes it and takes a drink of the Siegbrau feeling the warm but intoxicating drink going down his throat.
He sees Siegward do the same thing and drinks his Siegbrau.
Siegward takes his seat next to him, "Can I ask you something?"
He shrugs "Be my guest."
"What is your name?" the onion knight asks.
"I don't have one as there is no need of them here." He says not caring.
"What! That is dreadful, a man with such a reputation deserves a name fitting of so let's find you one." He offers while taking out a book form his inventory.
He groans while his head sinks out of annoyance.
"I don't need a name, as everyone calls me Ashen One." He says angrily.
As he said that Siegward interrupted him "None sense! Now let's find you a name."
The process of finding the Ashen One a name took hours as he denied most of them.
The unkindled groans out of frustration "No thank you, like I said I don't need a…" He didn't finish as Siegward is snoring.
He sighs and gets up and gently takes the book form his fellow Unkindled.
Before he closed the opened book, he saw a name that caught his interest "Birsingr the meaning of fire." He stares at it for a couple of seconds before closing the book.
Back to the present
"Hm, I should try the name in this new world." He thinks.
The girl is still waiting for his answer.
He stands up "I am Birsingr Warrior of Sunlight." He says while doing the praising the sun gesture.
People around Birsingr are looking at him like he is insane.
Birsingr notices the people around him were giving him weird looks so he lowers his arms and shakes his cloak to straighten it.
He looks down and sees the girl shaking he raises an eyebrow wondering what he did wrong "Is she shaking in fear?"
As he is about to ask what's wrong, she bursts out laughing like she heard the funniest joke in her short life.
Birsingr is taken back by the girl's outburst of laughter, "Could it be because of my warrior title?"
As the girl is laughing, she wipes a tear off her eye "Sorry Mister Birsingr, it is just your title is weird." As she stops laughing
"No, it is not, my title brings hope to those who are in dire need of help." He educates her of his title meaning.
She looks at him with awe, to her he sounds like one of those knights that fight to save the princess and defending the people.
"Now that I told you my name, what is yours young one?" Birsingr asks.
She does a small curtsey bow "My name is Plum." She introduced herself to Birsingr.
"Thank you, young lady Plum now why are you crying? And where are your parents." Birsingr asks
"I was walking with my mommy, I saw a cute kitty, I went to go pet it and when I was done, I turned around I didn't see my mommy anymore."
"Well how about I help you find your mommy, I bet she is just as worried as you are." Birsingr offers his hand, and Plum takes it with a smile.
"Thank You Sir Birsingr." She says happily.
Birsingr puts his helmet back on and makes their way on their merry quest.
As the duo are walking Birsingr asks Plum a question "Do any of these people look like your parents?"
Plum shakes her head "No" she says with a sad look.
"Don't worry little one we will find your parents." He reassures Plum.
She looks up to Birsingr who puts hope back into her once again "Thank You."
, by the way what do your parents look like?"
"My daddy has big hair and is strong, and my mommy has purple hair and is gentle." She explains.
"How about clothing?"
Plum shrugs "I don't know"
He groans "Great."
Then he has an idea "How about I put you on my shoulder so that way you can see any of your parents."
"Ok mister." Plum says excited.
Birsingr hoists her up and puts her on his shoulder, which she wraps her hand around the helmet.
As they are walking Plum spots something "Hey mister go over there" she points at a stall.
Birsingr stares at the stall confused "What did you find your parents?"
She shakes her head "No, but I can I get some candy please."
Birsingr lifts her off his shoulders "No, I believe finding your parents is more important then sweets."
Birsingr is about to leave the area but Plum does some puppy eyes to guilt trip him into buying the sweets for her.
"Those won't work on me little one"
Plum tries harder by making her eyes as big as possible.
"No." he says sternly.
Plum is walking down the street smiling with a bag full of candy, and Birsingr who is checking his pouch out of bewilderment "Why in Gwyn's name are sweets that expensive!"
Birsingr empties his coin pouch and recounts his money in which he has only 3 gold coins left, he rubs his face through his helmet.
Birsingr looks up to see Plum gone, he looks around to try and find her.
He grabs a random person and pulls the person towards him "Have you seen a small girl walk passed you?"
He shakes his head rigorously.
Birsingr pulls the man closer "Are you sure!?" his eyes glowing red inside his helmet.
The man shakes his head very quickly to try and not anger the black knight.
Birsingr lets the man go by shoving him making him stumble into a nearby stall.
"My cabbages!" a voice calls out in horror behind the stall.
Birsingr takes that as a queue to leave.
"I look away for one second and she is gone." He thinks in a panic.
He grinds to a halt as he sees Plum talking to a large man muscular and firmly built fruit man, with a twig in his mouth. He has bands in his hair back into a slicked-back style, with a hairband to hold it tightly together. He wears a black vest with a golden outline, and two bracelets line his wrists.
Thinking she might be in trouble he trudges his way to Plum.
Before the man could do anything Birsingr grabs the man's hand "You have a lot of nerve to go after little girls."
"What are you talking about?" the man questions.
"Don't play dumb with me you were planning to kidnap her weren't you!" he says accusingly.
"What? Why would I kidnap my own daughter." He yells at the knight angrily.
Suddenly all tension evaporated from Birsingr, as he looks at Plum then back to the man then back to Plum "he is your father?"
Plums nods happily.
Birsingr lets go of the man and steps back "I'm sorry good sir, I miss took you for something else" he chuckles nervously.
"Are you that knight my daughter is talking about?" he asks.
Birsingr nods "Yes I am sir, I am the knight Plum is talking about."
"He bought me candy Daddy."
The father looks at him strangely "Now I think you're the kidnapper."
The father grabs Plums hand "Come on Plum lets go back, your mother is worried sick about you."
She nods and takes her fathers hand, as the two are walking Plum turns around and waves good bye to Birsingr.
Birsingr gently waves back to Plum and soon the two of them were gone from sight.
"Now that is over and done with, time to find a place to stay."
Birsingr continues to search but he stops when he sees a familiar face.
"oh no, if she is here that means she didn't find that girl, and she will accuse me of lying to her." He quietly but quickly turns around to get out of sight, unfortunately for him she stops him.
"You there, stop this instant!" she points to Birsingr
After that Birsingr took off with a sprint to try and lose her.
As Birsingr is running an object zooms past him and hits a wall besides him, "She's a magic user! But I didn't see a catalyst, or a chime."
Birsingr takes a quick look at the wall to see a jagged piece of ice sticking out of it, "She can cast ice…" before he can finish, he notices that she is almost upon him, so he quickly runs into an alleyway to lose her.
He quickly looks around to see another alleyway "I feel like a rat going through these areas, I have no other choice but to go down this path." He quickly enters the alleyway.
The girl stops and looks frustrated as she as been lead to dead ends and that man is the cause, and he needs to answer for it, so she follow the same path he took.
In the alleyway she looks around but she feels uneasy, so she summons some ice spells to defend herself.
"You know I did nothing wrong, so trying to attack me seems a bit unnecessary ." He says while his voice echo's in the alleyway.
"You tricked me by leading me down the wrong path." She accuses.
Birsingr steps out of the shadows behind her with his twin blades in hand "I told you the truth, it is not my fault that you can't find her." He says annoyed.
The girl turns around as she feels a presence behind but sees nothing, she turns forward to see Birsingr in front of her.
"Now I don't want trouble so how abo…" he couldn't finish his sentence as she fires one of the icicles at him.
He sees the ice coming so he prepares for it and once it is close, he dodges it by shifting his body to the side making it zoom past his body harmlessly "Nice try, but you are going to need to try harder than that." He smirks under his helmet.
She frowns and fires another one, which Birsingr slices with one of his swords causing it to shatter to into small ice pieces.
She fires another one icicle at Birsingr, which he slices with the other blade again making it shatter "Honestly you're just wasting mana trying to hit me."
Suddenly the small cat pops out "Not if I'm with her."
"And what's a small furball like you going to do to me?" The Ashen One says confidently.
Then the cat smirks
On the other side, Birsingr is blasted thorough a wooden fence separating the alleyway due to the force of the spell the cat created
Birsingr is on the ground dumbfounded "How can a small cat have such power its unheard of." He steadily gets up from the attack.
"Now are you ready to cooperate with us or should I freeze you like a statue?" the cat says triumphally.
"Oh, just give me a second." He puts his swords back in there sheathes and silently takes out Yorshka's Chime and puts it behind his back and starts mumbling a small prayer.
The cat has a look of confidence on his face while his arms are cross "What's the matter giving up?".
"Now that wouldn't be fun would it." He says while walking towards the cat.
Once he is close enough, he stops in front of the cat which he looks at Birsingr confusingly "What are you doing?"
"Just giving you a cleaner shot" he replies while standing perfectly still in front of the cat.
"Are you going to answer our question?" the cat asks with a bored look.
"Nope." He simply replies.
The cat looks at him weirdly before shrugging "Your funeral" the cat arches his body slightly forward to cast a spell, but nothing happens "What?" so he tries to cast again, nothing happens.
"Is something the matter? I'm waiting to see my funeral" he says mockingly "If not then I've got other things to do."
"Emilia can you cast any magic either" the cat asks the girl now named Emilia.
Emilia raises her hands and aims at Birsingr; however, she can't form any magic either "I can't Puck, I can feel the mana, but I can't cast anything."
"Such a shame you rely on magic and not other viable methods." He says before flicking Puck away like a little fly.
"Puck!" Emilia screams as she runs to Puck.
He puts the chime back on his belt and walks away now knowing that they will stop bothering him.
As he gets out of the alleyway, a girl bumps into him "Watch it." He says gruffly.
"Sorry sir." She apologises as she scuttles off.
"Huh, kids these days" he says before continuing on his way, but he makes a sudden stop "That girl looks familiar." Birsingr notices that his belt feels slightly lighter.
He turns to see the same kid from earlier with his chime and gold pouch in hand running away "Oh, that daughter of a bitch." He says while running after her, but it proves pointless as she as agile as the Corvian Knights from Ariandel jumping from roof top to roof top.
Birsingr takes out his Sunlight Talisman and starts preparing a spell but he couldn't because of his casting of Vow of Silence "Damn it, today is not my day."
He continues to chase her down until she jumps to another roof top that makes him lose sight of her.
He growls and out of frustration hits a nearby wall making a fist size indentation.
he hears a voice behind him "Can you not scare off my customers." A familiar gruffy voice tells him off.
He turns to see Plum's father sitting behind a fruit stall.
"Oh, it's you, come to accuse me of kidnapping again?" Plum's father asks.
Birsingr looks at him before sighing "No, I'm just chasing a little thief."
"Did this girl have yellow hair, with a red scarf wearing a vest." He asks
Birsingr nods.
The man nods as well "That's Felt for you, always going after people with valuables."
Birsingr rushes towards the stall frightening the man behind it for a brief second.
"I need to know where she is, what she stole from me is important to me."
The man crosses his arms "Sorry but I don't give information out like that for free."
"Listen how about I pay you later as I have very little in terms of money." Birsingr offers.
The man sighs "How about consider this a debt being paid for saving my daughter."
The man explains that Felt lives the slum parts of the city and that he should start looking there if he wishes to find her, but he did give warning that there is a giant who protects Felt and that he is no joke when it comes to a fight.
Birsingr nods and thanks him before realising something "I never did get your name?"
"The names Kadomon Risch" he offers his hand."
"Birsingr" he shakes the hand before he leaves to go to the slum.
The journey to the slum is not that bad due to the fact he has been to worse places, but it is annoying because he has an unwanted guest.
"Would you mind telling me why you are following me." As he turns behind him.
He sees the same girl he used Vow of Silence on "I'll give her this she is persistent."
"You know where the girl is, and I need to get back what she stole as it is very important." Emilia angrily replies.
He walks over to her and shows how he towers over her "Listen this is can go one or two ways, you can come back here when I'm done, or two I can make things really hard for you as all ready as it is." He threatens.
"Why can't we go together?" she questions unfazed from his threats .
Before Birsingr could reply he feels a little weight on his helmet.
"I wasn't fond of what you did back there, especially to my daughter." Puck said as he flattens his fur.
The Unkindled looks to Puck then back to Emilia, "I don't see the resemblance" he flatly said.
"I may not have conceived Emilia, but I protect her as if she is my own" the cat proudly boasts, "But that's besides the point you still need to answer for what you did to Emilia and me!"
Birsingr looks up and quickly grabs the furball off his head "well if you let me alone, I wouldn't have to do that."
Birsingr is tempted to just squeeze the cat into paste, but he has second thoughts as he sees ice crystals form on his hand, so out of instinct he lets go and jumps a few feet back.
"That won't work on me a second time." Puck confidently.
Birsingr looks at his hand which is now encased in ice, he looks at his hand and with a flick of his wrist a small flame ignites in the palm of his hand causing the ice to melt "Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're not the only one that knows how to cast elemental magic." Birsingr clamps his hand to extinguish the fire.
Puck smirks "Finally a challen-"
Birsingr starts walking away from them and steams starts coming out of Puck's ears "HEY!" he yells angrily at Birsingr.
Birsingr stops and turns to face Puck "What is it?"
"Why are you walking away from a fight?" Puck asks.
"You're wasting my time and I have better things to do." He says, before he continues walking.
As the Unkindled is walking, he hears whispering coming from Emilia "Puck will you stop antagonizing him."
"But Emilia, did you see what he did earlier he manage to somehow temporary sealed away our magic, and I have unfinished business with him! ."
"Yes, but he is the only one who knows where the girl and my crest are, so if you fight him he could render you useless with his weird magic."
Puck thoughts about what Emilia said and puts his paw under his chin, then he has and idea "How about I cast faster then him and that way he can't use his weird magic."
"Hm, why don't we put that theory to the test then." He says behind Puck.
Puck floats back out of pure shock "Emilia you didn't warn me he was behind me."
"I didn't notice him until now" Emilia defends herself.
"I don't need magic to beat you, you caught me off the first time but now I'm more than ready furball." He says.
Puck readies himself for a fight.
"Puck, calm down." Emilia pleads to Puck
Birsingr raises his hand signalling Puck to cool it, as he is not interested in fighting right now "I am curious, what is so important about a crest that you have caused nothing but trouble since I met you."
"We don't need to tell you." Puck says threatening The Ashen One.
"Fine then, its your business but if you don't want me to lead you to your precious crest then tuff luck."
"Fine what do you want?" Emilia asks.
Birsingr puts one finger up "I just have one request, leave me alone after this."
Emilia nods "Very well you have a deal."
The Unkindled smiles under his helmet because for once things have gone his way "Very good, follow me."
"So, this is the place?" Birsingr says to himself.
He is stands in front of an old run-down building with cracks in the face of the buildings, on the roof some of the tiles are missing, the windows are misty and some of the windows are barricaded preventing anyone from looking in or escaping, and the door seems a bit worn down from prolonged use.
"So, my crest is in there?" Emilia asks.
"Yes, if what the locals told me are true then your little trinket should be in there."
Pucks floats forwards "What are we waiting for let's go in there."
But before he could do anything Birsingr grabs Puck "Stop we don't know if anyone is watching to alert them." Birsingr quietly explains.
Birsingr looks around to see if there is anything out of place, and as far as he can tell nothing seems odd, so Birsingr climbs up the small stairs but stops in front of the door and turns around to see if anyone is following him, aside from Emilia and Puck;
Inside the building a a bulky figure who is standing at a towering 7'3, though his hunchback-like style, he has white strands of hair lining his eyebrows and is bald. He wears a sleeveless vest and possesses a crimson sash around his waist, his eyebrows stood up in addition to having more hair, and he wore black pants
Next to the giant is Felt presenting the rest to the client, who has long black hair tied into one tail on the left side along with eyes that droop, giving her a gentle aura, she is also wearing a cape covering her back, but leaving her revealing dress visible.
"So, you have what we agreed?" the woman says with a smile.
"Show us the money first then we can give you the crest." Felt arrogantly responded.
The woman smiles at Felt "I have what we agreed on." She reaches to the pouch her waist and pulls out a small pouch "20 gold coins for the crest like we agreed" she empties the pouch on the table.
Rom counts the coins then nods to Felt "Alright that will stuffiest"
Felt reaches in her hip bag and pulls out the crest and places it on the table.
As the woman goes in to grab it, they hear a knock on the door.
Felt looks at the Giant "Are we expecting other customers?"
"None that I don't know about." He gruffly responded.
Outside the building Birsingr knocks on the door again.
"No one must be home." Puck suggested
"Just wait." Emilia responds
Birsingr knocks again but no response, "Well time for plan B" Birsingr lifts his right foot.
He quickly puts it back down when the door opens, and large man sticks his head out.
"What do you want?" The giant asks.
"You have something that belongs to me and I would like it back." Birsingr says.
"Sorry don't know what your talking about, so piss off." He says before slamming the door in Birsingr's face.
"What do we do now?" Emilia asks
Birsingr clenches his fist out of anger, "Well here's what I'm going to do." Birsingr hears a yawn behind him.
"Listen Emilia I'm almost out of mana, so I need to sleep, can you handle things from here?" Pucks asks half-asleep.
"I'll be fine Puck, you go get your sleep, and I'll see you tomorrow." Emilia reassures.
Puck floats to Birsingr with a look dangerous animal "If anything happens to my daughter, I'll freeze you and shatter you into tiny crystals" the cat impends.
"I don't really care what happens to your "daughter" it will be her problem if she gets in my way or dies." The Ashen One replies uncaringly.
Puck glares at him then floats to Emilia "Call me if you run into any problems and I'll come"
"Thank you, Puck." Emilia smiles.
Puck yawns one last time then vanishing into thin air.
Birsingr faces the door and pulls back an arm "Knock knock." He then unleashes his strength upon the door.
Back inside the building the Giant is walking back to the discussion table.
"Who was that old man?" Felt inquires.
"Someone looking for something, guy was wearing an odd-looking suit of armour." He looks to Felt "Did you steal something from that type of guy."
Felt pondered for a second on who might this be until she remembered a guy wearing a odd looking armour "Oh him, he was an easy prey left a chime strapped to his waist, like some sort of weapon." She says with a toothy grin. "and I took his gold pouch but not much left in it, but the chime should be worth something." She takes out the chime.
"May we please, finish up our transactions I have other places to be right now." The woman in black asks.
"Yes, my apologies, we have a de..." the giant couldn't finish as the front door was forced off its hinges.
The opening revealed the man wearing black armour "Like I said you have something that belongs to me"
"And you have something that belongs to me." Emilia yells in the background.
"And hers" he says nonchalantly.
Birsingr walks into the building "So you have two options give me back what is ours," he cracks his knuckles "or things can get messy."
"You have a lot of nerve to damage my establishment." The giant says while grabbing a big club behind the counter.
Birsingr looks around and spots Felt "Ah there is my annoying thief, you caused me a lot of trouble today and I'm very pissed off."
"Serves you right for being that open and leaving such valuables wide open." She says while drawing her knife.
Birsingr responds by drawing his blades "Shouldn't have done that kid." He grimly says.
Before things escalate Emilia steps in between Birsingr and the misfits "Please if it is money you want, I can pay."
"So, you are willing out pay 10 gold coins from our current buyer?"
"And who is your other buyer." Emilia eagerly asks.
Rom points his thumb behind him towards the woman sitting on the chair watching them.
"That woman has the stench of murder behind her smile, too bad these idiots can't figure it out." Birsingr thinks in his head.
Emilia starts to walk over to the woman, but Birsingr grabs her arm.
"Listen I don't care what happens to you, but that woman has all kinds of warnings." He warns.
"Why is she dangerous?"
"I can't tell you everything, that wouldn't be fun Emilia" he shrugs after that.
"Frankly you don't have to say anything, because I am growing rather tired of these antics." She looks at Emilia "also I found my targets.
The woman lifts her cape to reveal two sheath knifes which Birsingr recognises.
"The Kukri knifes I haven't used them in years, but you do have good sense of weapons." Birsingr complements the lady.
"You know of my blades? Not many do, well not living to be precise." She pulls out one of the kukris knife out and licks it.
"I'm guessing you're the cause of their deaths?" he asks.
"Why yes, and soon you will join them, but how rude of me I didn't introduce myself, I am Elsa the Bowel Hunter." Elsa introduces herself
"Well if we are using titles, I hope it won't be a problem showing mine, I am Birsingr Warrior of Sunlight." He says while bowing.
"I'll remember that after disembowelling you, but first my target." She says while looking at Emilia.
Birsingr notices that there is going to be a fight between them "Well I'm going to sit back and enjoy this what do they say a catfight? Yes, that what it is have fun Emilia" he waves right at her.
Emilia has a look of shock before dodging a swipe from Elsa.
"Careful Emilia she's faster then an average human, so don't keep your eyes off her." He says while helping himself to a drink behind the counter, he notices Felt and the giant in the corner "Hey guys want a drink?" he offers.
Felt and the giant look at him dumbfound how can Birsingr act so calm.
They hear glass shattering and seeing Elsa slice through and Ice wall with ease
"By the way, where is my chime felt?" he asks as Emilia dodges another slice from Elsa.
"You're seriously asking me at a time like this! I'll give it back to you if trade something as valuable as it!" Felt shouts she can't believe how calm Birsingr is taking it as there is a fight happening right in front of them.
"Well you stole what is mine and I would like it back later but fine I am in a good mood I have something that will hopefully suffice." He says while taking a sip form the glass "is this supposed to be milk?" he says as since he is unkindled, he can't taste anything.
Birsingr looks back to the fight and he sees Emilia create another ice shield to stop Elsa's blade, and retaliates by creating multiple ice spears and firing them at Elsa.
Elsa cover herself with the cape allowing her to be hit with the multiple spears and once they made contact it creates a dome trapping Elsa inside the icy prison.
"Interesting." He says as he digs inside his bottomless box to find some Siegbrau to add to his milk "However Emilia this is fight far from over."
Emilia looks confuse "Why is that?"
Suddenly the ice starts to glow, then breaks apart leaving Elsa fine, the cape is gone "It pays to be prepared." Elsa says
Emilia claps her hands and uses her mana to summon Puck once again.
"What happened, did Birsingr do something to you Emilia?" Pucks says confused.
"Fortunately for me, I'm sitting here enjoying a drink." He says while mixing the milk with Siegbrau.
"Shouldn't you help my daughter?" Puck inquires.
"Its her crest not mine, plus I never agreed to protect her you said don't hurt her which I'm not" he takes a swig of his mix drink "that's good stuff."
Puck fires an ice attack towards his drink, which Birsingr casually grabs "Thank you Puck I needed ice for my drink." He crushes it and puts the smaller chunks in his mix brew.
Ignoring Birsingr, they continue to fire of barrages of ice to Elsa who gracefully dodges all the attacks.
Elsa continues to move until her foot is stuck in ice.
"You fell for our trap; those ice attacks weren't just random." Puck says while paws crossed.
A glow forms around Emilia and Puck and once they are ready, they launch a concentrated attack at Elsa.
The magic hits Elsa lifting a huge pile of dust into the air, and after a few minutes the dust settles showing an empty spot with blood, as Elsa met her end.
"That settles that." Puck says triumphally.
Puck hears clanging of metal, he turns to see Birsingr with his sword on its side blocking a blade aimed for Emilia's back.
The Ashen One takes one big swig of his drink finishing it and throwing the empty cup to the side "I'm getting bored just watching, so now I want a turn." Birsingr says with boredom in his voice.
And we are done with the new Chapter 2 hopefully now people can stick around and enjoy the new chapter