KILN OF THE FIRST FLAME
By now, the battle had spread throughout the ashen dunes. Fina had quickly taken over for Ciaran, who had been having a much harder time awakening the others. It was one thing to rouse Quelaag, who hated even the sound of her voice; it was quite another to stir the magical slumber of humans who had never met her. The true goddess of fate had no such trouble. She simply whispered in their ears how each of their destinies had changed.
One by one, they remembered how Lex had saved them, and soon, they joined in against the seemingly limitless number of Ravens. Only pyromancy seemed to slow Velka's regeneration, but she shied away from Nito and Priscilla altogether. If anything, it looked like she was forced to split her attention among all her duplicates, and soon, only the copies closest to those two posed any real danger. Spread thin as her black soot was, the majority of her bodies were armed only with their black talons. Against the much longer weapons and magic of those she faced, they were of little use.
Solaire found little use for his shield and ran one dupe through while hurling a bolt at another some distance away. Siegmeyer and Sieglinde fought back-to-back as a whirlwind, their zweihanders able to clear through a crowd of the fragile copies in a single swing. Beatrice had an even easier time, looking on the battle from above as she rained dark orbs without care for how close she came to hitting the others. On the ground, Quelana and Laurentius wove the largest firestorm since the last battle against the dragons, except without the madness of Dark or Chaos, they were able to direct their flames away from their allies. As the inferno grew to fill the battlefield, the crows made from the soot of fallen Velkas began to gather in one place.
"Well, enough of that," one copy said, throwing her arms wide.
The others exploded, and the birds rushed into her body, splattering like ink as the outfit grayed from spreading too thin turned to pitch black. There seemed to be more crows than ever, and still more alighted on her arms without joining her.
"I wasn't feared for cheap magician's tricks…isn't that right, children?"
Soot that had gone unseen in the sea of ash swirled about. Countless hands formed in the powder, rising like a waterspout. They grabbed at Priscilla and Gwyndolin before crashing down into the dust, smothering the pair as they struggled to get free. Velka wasted no time in leaping over the crowd to reach the pyromancer duo, drawing a long black razor from the palm of her hand. Laurentius shoved Quelana out of the way and blocked the attack with his undying body, though he nearly fainted from the sight of his blood spraying across the ash.
Velka danced out of the way of Quelana's Great Combustion and lunged forward for a counterattack, only to be caught in a pillar of Quelaav's golden barrier flame. She screamed as the sunfire blasted her body to dust, whirling away as a vortex of crows. They perched atop one of the slagged pillars before her form restored itself using the ash below.
"Quite an accurate copy you've got there. I thought I was dying again for a moment. Your mother would be proud. A shame even Gwyn's flame couldn't finish me off."
She threw her arms wide again – only this time, they kept going and going. They stretched to an invisible thinness before falling into the dunes and raising a tide of ash, sweeping the group toward the great firepit. Quelaav quickly formed a wall to stop the others from falling to their deaths in the gorge while Beatrice guarded her with a shadowy wall of distorted space. Velka simply grinned as the surf changed direction, a sudden rush of ash driving up and throwing the group back toward her. Only the two flying witches were safe from the attack, and while evading erupting geysers aimed directly at them, they were unable to retaliate.
The quiet sound of bare feet against stone could hardly be made out over the roar of the waves, so it came as a complete surprise to everyone when the upper half of Velka's body arced through the air and into the dust. At last, the churning ash came to a stop, and those half buried quickly dug themselves out. Priscilla suddenly appeared atop one of the melted pillars, the glassy stone having done nothing to give away her position. Several of the skeletons comprising Nito's body applauded as he used his main hands to remove his head and shake the ash out.
"Clever girl!" Velka cawed as she stood on new legs of ash while her old legs of soot became crows and alighted on her shoulders. "Were my body not in such a state, that would have surely slain me. Unfortunately, a blade can hardly cut that which is already in tatters. It was fun watching you hope, though."
"If not a blade, then perhaps this is more apropos," Nito hummed as he raised his hands.
With the others finally separated from Velka, there was nothing in his way. A cold breeze blew across the dust, scattering only the lightest of flakes. The Raven quickly took flight, batting the ill wind back with black wings, but as she rose, she found she was not alone.
"I'll kill you and take your title!" Beatrice laughed madly as she unleashed an arcing bolt of darkness at point blank range.
Velka's body exploded, stunned crows spiraling out of the air. Gwyndolin unleashed a volley of homing soul masses at the birds, and they popped like confetti. As the pieces drifted toward the ground, Nito stirred one finger, and they floated back upward before decaying into nothingness in his invisible miasma. For a moment, no one dared move.
"What a terrible opponent," Solaire said at last, chuckling nervously as he broke the silence. "Good work, everyone."
Suddenly, a black spike erupted from the sun on his chest.
"Yes, good work. It takes a dedicated audience to believe an illusionist is truly dead."
Velka, who had simply appeared from nowhere rather than reforming herself, kicked the knight over as she ripped her sword out his back.
"Did you think I would fight you fairly?" she scoffed as she dug her dagger-like heel into Solaire's wound.
Siegmeyer and Sieglinde moved to either side of her, zweihanders held defensively.
"Like this?"
Velka turned one way and the other at the same time, splitting in two. Both copies lunged into a flurry of strikes, causing the Catarinans to sling their shields around defensively. At last, the onslaught ended, and the knights swung their blades overhanded. The Velkas grinned and swept the swords aside easily, following up with a deadly riposte on both sides.
"You all attack in obvious patterns. It takes nothing but patience to learn how to unravel them. Believe me, I've had a long time to study."
Artorias and Sif ran along either side of the copies, slashing through them in an inescapable as Quelaav swooped in to rescue the injured. Velka's raucous laughter merely echoed at a distance, her crows rebuilding her atop one of the pillars.
"You are all mere slaves to the Flame. It blinds you to your flaws and to its own. Only little miss ego trip had the slightest inkling of freedom, but with that shard of Gwyn's Soul, she is now as bound as the rest. Even if there is betrayal in your heart, you make it plain as day with melodramatic laughter and preemptive admissions of the crime. The illusion of free will you now possess exists solely because the so-called prophet intervened in your preordained fates.
Every effort you make against me is because I summoned him here, because I allow you to fight against me. Yet even placing your hope in him is futile. Now that he's taken a Great Soul, he too is part of this world and bound by Flame's order. I couldn't have asked for a better pawn."
"Can't I be a bishop? That keeps the chess theme while also showing that I'm a cleric."
Velka's ashen body distorted as an ear-rending bass wub ran over her, but she didn't so much as flinch. Lex landed next to Kirk as Quelaag flew overhead like a jumping spider. She raced up the stairs out of the Kiln without looking back while her husband grinned smugly.
"It's the final countdown! Doo doodoo doo! Doodoodoo doodoo! Doo doodoo doo! Doodoodoo doodoo doodoo! Doo doodoo doo! Doodoodoo doodoo! Doo doodoo doo! Doodoodoo doodoo doodoo! Doodoodoo doodoodoo doodoo doodoo doo doooooo doo dooooo doodoo! Oh! We're heading for-!"
Velka churned her sword exhaustedly through his gut.
"That's enough of that," she sighed.
"Would you have…" Lex choked, "…preferred…We Are the Champions?"
"Lex!" Kirk grunted, hammering his elbow into the goddess' side.
She swept her claws at him, but he twisted his body unnaturally to avoid it before using the torque to drive his barbed sword through her own abdomen.
"Please," Lex chuckled, "call me Alexander Anderson."
Twisted vines knitted themselves across his torn midsection before changing color and binding together so tightly as to be indistinguishable from human flesh. More such vines snaked out around Velka's sword, trapping it in his body and racing up to grab her arm.
"You're full of surprises, it seems," she mused. "I'll make a note for the next cycle."
Sword and body alike erupted into crows. No matter how quickly the vines lashed around them, they simply split into smaller birds and flitted away.
"It's good to have you back, Lex," Siegmeyer said as he and Lin joined the Chaos consorts. "But as you can see, we've run flat up against a wall. Or an immortal ash monster, as the case happens to be."
"If there's a wall in our way, we smash it down! If there isn't a path, we carve one out ourselves! Say it with me, aniki!"
Kirk stared without reacting as the prophet looked at him expectantly.
"Okay, fine, we'll discuss gattai later. We get to shout about magma and things that drill into your head. Totally up Chaos' alley. Seriously, though, show some spirit."
"Spirit is nice and all," Lin complained, "but a plan would be better."
"Who said I didn't have a plan?"
"Oh. I'm sorry-"
"Everyone attack!"
Beatrice didn't need to be told twice. Beams of monochrome energy swept the ash, and a stream of homing orbs whisked over the dunes in patient pursuit of the goddess, who found herself on the defensive for the first time. When at last, the onslaught began to lull, a barrage of flaming greatarrows caused the dust to explode around her, Laurentius lighting them as quickly as Gough could shoot. So distracted, she hardly noticed as Artorias and Ornstein crashed down from above and Ciaran rose from beneath the ash. Her crows quickly flitted away, only to be stunned by a bass blast and torn apart by the cartwheeling Knight of Thorns.
She almost laughed as she revealed that was an illusion, but Solaire's lightning spear knocked the breath out of her. She quickly threw up a curtain of ash to conceal herself, but now even crippled Nito had the time to approach, tearing through the wall with his deadly greatsword. A storm of crows followed her as she was forced back, Priscilla's footprints following her. Furious, she lashed out at the invisible pursuer, but Gwyndolin smirked and shook his head. The prints in front of her vanished, and another set appeared to her side just as the crossbreed's scythe flashed into view.
Velka's head hurtled through the air before her whole body dispersed once more. She reappeared to strike at Quelaav, who'd been avoiding direct confrontation, but Sieglinde's zweihander dispersed her body before it could even finish assembling. As the goddess reappeared, a pair of Priscillas charged her from either side, each leaving a trail of footprints. In a flash, she'd run through both of them with swords of black soot, but the true attack came from behind, the crossbreed half-freezing her mother with her father's crystal breath. Unable to react quickly, the illusions revealed their true forms as unstable soul masses, bursting from her attacks.
A thousand crows screamed bloody murder as the witch-goddess swept up much of the ash into a vortex. Most of the group was forced to hunker down as best they could, trying to take some degree of shelter beneath the standing pillars.
"Nice try with the ash storms, Dagoth Ur!" Lex screamed over the wind.
Beatrice, as a wraith, was completely unfazed by all of this.
"Thanks, bitch! You made it too damned easy!"
She raised both hands as if grabbing something while assuming her monstrous true form. The myriad mouths across her body all opened wide, the teeth gleaming white even in the haze of the storm. The center of the vortex shifted as the true Darkwraith fed on the goddess' power, as it washed over her. Hardly a moment passed before Velka realized her mistake and quickly reformed at Beatrice's back on black wings. A quick slash was all that was needed to stop her absorption.
In the air, where no one could save her, Velka lacerated her incorporeal body with a perfectly thin razor of soot black with sin. Quelaav quickly took flight and clawed uselessly at the Raven's back, unwilling to risk harming Beatrice with her flames of Light. A moment later, and Gough had cleared the sand from his ears, but now he risked hitting the Daughter of Chaos.
"Must I save such a heretic…?" Gwyndolin grumbled.
Still, he took aim and fired a barrage of his own arrows, accurately running them down his mother's sword arm. A moment of reconfiguring her ashen body is all it took to remove them, but Quelaav took the opportunity to rake along the wicked goddess' back with claws alight. Beatrice quickly vanished into the darkness of the Kiln, and the Fire Keeper hurriedly dove out of range. Stunned and furious, Velka didn't notice Quelaag return with a massive bag of spider silk in tow.
"Quelana, help me seal her movements!" Lex shouted suddenly.
Velka landed atop one of the pillars, withdrawing her wings into herself. Her hands vanished once more as grasping talons burst out of the dunes to swipe at the prophet and the witch.
"Siegmeyer, knock her down!"
It took the knight a moment to find his footing as he climbed over a hill, but he quickly charged right into the stone, bowling it over with his immense strength. The goddess lightly touched down in the ash, but it responded like casting a boulder into a pond, sending crashing waves over those nearby. Quelana had a brief coughing fit to rival her eldest sister's but quickly formed glowing seals in the dust. While they didn't stop Velka, they did attract her attention, and she turned immediately to breaking them. Lex quickly rushed her, swinging his sword sidelong with a horrible jangling.
She deflected the attack nimbly by summoning her own sword, then ran it through him for a deadly riposte. Just as before, the injury had little effect as the Life Soul regenerated his damaged flesh. They traded blows back and forth, Lex's body healing a little more slowly each time while Velka's body of ash and soot reassembled indefinitely. At last, the cleric jumped back while swinging defensively, a weak bass blast from the jingling rings covering his retreat.
Velka dissolved her arm and swept a wave of ash at him, but at last, Quelaag stepped in to save her husband. She didn't approach wielding her sword, but rather something else entirely. Couched under her arm was a Londish decorative vase. She quickly put a lid on it and scratched a sealing rune into the top.
"Laav, another!"
She rolled the vase across the ash as the younger Daughter dropped one into her waiting grasp.
"What?" Velka asked, uncertain for the first time.
Then she looked at her arm. It wasn't coming back. As she grew another, she realized what had happened.
"You…! This is…!"
"Pretty obvious, actually," Lex said, shrugging. "If the good guys can't beat something, they always seal it away, right? And the ashes of the dead go in decorative urns. These have been lying around all of Lordran without any obvious purpose. Look at all this pot! Dank Souls has arrived!"
The contents of Quelaag's silken bag had been emptied into the dust. Countless vases from across Lordran rested in the ash. Lautrec rushed at Velka while she was still stunned by the cleverness or perhaps sheer stupidity of the plan, trying to grab hold with all four arms again. She quickly fled, at last opting for ranged attacks in the form of Dark soul arrows. Beatrice appeared again to sweep these aside as nothing before her own power.
Crows scattered in every direction, but Quelana and Laurentius began their firestorms again, limiting Velka's escape routes. Quelaav completed the trap by raising three walls of golden flame, leaving her only escape the trapped passage guarded by the Black Knight spirits. Priscilla chased after one of the denser murders, Gwyndolin clinging to her shoulder as a homing soulmass turret. As the birds were blasted out of the sky, she would catch them in a vase slung under her arm. Artorias, Ornstein, and Gough had no trouble lifting the urns, but Ciaran and Sif worked together to overcome their shortcomings, the demigoddess holding one to the great wolf's back as they weaved among the pillars of flame.
Of the humans, only Siegmeyer's seemingly limitless strength was enough to carry one easily, and he used it like a battering ram, charging blindly through the storm of birds and fire. The others made themselves useful by helping to seal the urns before too much of Velka's soot could leak out. Only Beatrice didn't touch the vases, instead using her monstrous form to draw many of the birds toward her, where the others could catch them after she'd drained them of energy.
At last, one final Velka formed, holding up her hands in surrender. By now, even her raven hair had faded to ashen gray from spreading herself too thin. The pyromancer duo allowed their magic to end, but Quelaav kept up her sealing walls just in case.
"You can't truly win, you know, prophet? My followers remain powerful as ever in Drangleic, Ages from now. Let's say you just put me under watch, hm? Better than locking me away to go crazy. Who knows what sort of monster I'd become – and when those vases break over the millennia…"
"That's stupider than the kingdom ruled by the pyromancer tree woman being connected to Nito. Someone grab her, and let's figure out what we're doing with the First Flame."
Quelaag was nearest and so lunged at her before she could react, swiftly righting the urn and capping it.
"Sister!"
Unfortunately, that final Velka was either an illusion or only the second-to-last Velka. Now, another held a crumbling sword of ash to Quelaav's throat.
"There we go!" the goddess clucked. "Now, release those seals like a good girl, and-"
After the moment of initial panic had passed, the partial Light Lord and Daughter of Chaos simply lit herself on fire, burning away her attacker. After waiting only a moment for Kirk to spit on the charred spot, Gough quickly scooped up the last bit of Velka and slapped the cap on firmly.
"I hate risk saying it again, but good work everyone!" Solaire chuckled. "Praise the sun!"