Chapter 08: The pieces begins to fall in place
Disclaimer: Neither Dark Souls or High School DxD belongs to me
The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that I wasn't in that blasted forest but back in the firelink shrine which didn't make a sliver of sense. After all, I wasn't in Lordran anymore and the last bonfire I lit was the one inside the kiln of the first flame.
The second one was that I wasn't armed with my claymore but instead with my ever reliable uchigatana that somehow was in pristine condition which while weird it was a welcome surprise.
And the last one was that I wasn't alone here because someone was watching me from the shadows, hidden from my view, so I unsheath my sword and took a defensive stance.
"Calm yourself young undead, I come in peace." In that moment the person that was watching me from the shadows came into view: he was a man of my apparent age, with messy black hair, fair skin and piercing red eyes that revealed a great deal of power, dressed in. All black with a white tunic over it.
Yet, what revealed his identity was his staff, a staff I saw many ages ago in Oolacile and the aura of pure and unadulterated darkness that permeated around him. I know this man; I fought and killed him in the depths of the abyss back in that fallen and accursed city. "Manus." I muttered with apprehension which made the man smile a bit.
"In the flesh, so to speak." He said with a mocking bow before taking a more serious look on his face. "And we need to talk about great, many things." He sat down in front of the bonfire as he said that and I cautiously followed suit and I couldn't help but note that his mere presence devoured any light around him because everything behind him was pitch black.
I took a seat just in front of him making sure that the bonfire was lit and was between us. I did not want to be unprepared for the situation. After all, he was the furtive pygmy and I don't want to see what he's capable of doing now that he has recovered his sanity.
The Man just smiled at me, most likely finding my reaction funny, which made me angry. After all, I never liked to be the butt of the joke. "Okay, what are those Great many things you want to talk about?" I cut right through the chase. "I know for sure that you didn't come back to life because I took your soul after defeating you in the abyss, so there are only two options of what's happening here." I said to the primeval man who looked at me with interest and curiosity on what my reasoning was.
"I'm either hallucinating and this is just some delirious dream I am having in the middle of nowhere after apparently using the First Flame for the first time." I said as I raised a finger to point out my guess.
"Or?" The Man asked clearly interested in my thought process, I then took a deep breath and raised another finger before exposing my other theory with a tired yet serious expression.
"This is all real, and we are in some astral/spiritual demi plane where we can talk thanks to the Flame somehow." I finished my explanation before throwing some sticks at the bonfire. "And knowing my luck is the latter rather than the former so speak up your mind already so I can go back to business." I told the man looking him straight in the eyes.
I was tired of cryptic wisdom bullshit already.
"Okay I will go straight to the point young undead; like it or not, by playing Gwyn little scheme you have become a Lord, a Lord Of Cinder." Okay, I neve expected that. "And more so you have brought into this new world the same poison that almost destroyed our world, so I will ask you this: what are your plans now Young Undead. Will you continue the cursed cycle that the Lord Of Sunlight began or will you break it?" As he said that his eyes were fixated upon me with such intensity that I almost felt my soul laid naked.
Yet,I kept my composure and looked at the furtive pygmy straight in the eyes without breaking eye contact, which made him smile. "I will set the record straight with you; the only reason I Link the fire in the first place was because the other option was allowing what happened to Oolacile to repeat across the world."
I rose from the floor and went towards the first human and told him right in front of him. "So fuck the gods, fuck the demons and fuck you. I will do as I see fit, and if anyone have a problem with that then they can meet me in the battlefield if they have a problem."
At my words the father of the abyss couldn't stop laughing, yet it wasn't a mocking laugh but a genuine and satisfied laughter and once he stopped he cleared his face from the tears and looked at me with genuine respect for the first time. "Good, very good Young Undead. That's the attitude that a monarch needs to possess."
At his words I looked at him puzzled. "Why did you call me a monarch? I'm no King." I inquired not understanding what he meant by that. After all, the notion of me being a king was ridiculous to say the least.
"You don't get it eh?" Manus asked me with genuine surprise, before returning to just smile at my expense. "Like it or not you have within you the power of creation and after your latest display many will come after you, from the highest heavens to the deepest pits of hell, although your little witch friend showed you that already." At that moment he got up and looked at me with a solemn expression.
"Because by defeating The Lord Of Sunlight you have become the newest King of the lords and sooner or later you will get the crown in your head for that's the fate of the Lord Of Cinders."
He looked at the sky with an annoyed look before looking at me again. "Unfortunately, our reunion shall be cut short because you are waking up young undead, we will see soon enough."
And just like that I finally opened my eyes and found myself resting in the bed that Merlin and I shared for time to time when we arrived to her studio and as I rose up from the bed I noted that I was covered in bandages in my arms and torso which wasn't surprising having in mind how was my state after fighting that wolfman.
At that moment Merlin entered the room carrying some medicine and bandages, yet once she noticed that I was awake dropped them on the floor and went at me like an arrow. "Mikael, you finally woke up!" Screamed Merlin happily as she rushed at me and hugged me, smothering my face in her chest.
And while that felt nice, I had some more pressing matters at hand, so I gently separated myself from her. "Hello, Merlin." I greeted her as I got up from the bed with her help and went to a nearby table to sit while she conjured food from the kitchen which I promptly began to eat in earnest, I was famished.
After eating my fill I took a sip from a glass of water and looked at the witch with a serious expression on my face. "How did I get back here Merlin? Because the last thing I remember was defeating that strange Wolf-man beast before falling unconscious."
At my words, the silver haired woman spat the tea she was drinking and looked at me with genuine surprise and marvel. "Did you manage to kill a werewolf in its crinos form!?" asked my companion.
"I think so, tough bastard it was though. Almost killed me." I muttered to myself with a wilful smile. It was the only fight since I came here (if one didn't count the black knight) Merlin just shook her head clearly amused by my words.
I just shrugged, after all with so much time doing nothing but fighting day and night I would have ended up loving either fighting or killing and fortunately I ended up loving the former instead of the latter. After all, I didn't want to become like that cannibalistic bastard in Anor Londor.
Yet in that moment I felt a presence familiar yet unknown, but it was one I could catalog very well. After all I was very familiarized with it. A God was here so without thinking I took one of the knife on the table and threw it where I felt it.
"Mikael what the hell are you doing!?"screamed a startled Merlin at my sudden action yet she cut short her nagging when our interloper made itself known.
"Good reaction boy" said the voice of a woman who stepped out of the shadows and looked at us with mirth in her eyes, like if she was enjoying a joke she only was aware of, yet what surprised me more was the reaction of Merlin at her mere presence; pure and unadulterated fear and dread like if she was the harbinger of our doom.
"You will need it for the upcoming trials because like it or not your latest stunt caught the interest of many important people and had put you in the sights of the many factions vying for the controls of these lands." She said while walking in circles around us. I knew her type and how they loved to be so unsupportably vague and cryptic about things.
Unfortunately for her I don't have patience for that shit and if she came looking for a fight. Well I suppose that Manus wouldn't mind the company. "If you're here to pick a fight then you're lucky wench. I'm really fucking angry and I could use a punching bag" I told her which somehow made Merlin become more terrified.
For the flame sake woman stop being so scared about this petulant bitch. She may be a goddess, but so what I killed the gods of my land, I can do that here too. And now Merlin was having q full blown panic attack while the goddess was looking at me with newfound interest.
"I said that out loud didn't I?" I asked sarcastically to which the goddess just nodded with clear mirth in her eyes. "Is good someone find this funny." I thought annoyed. "Anyways who are you and what do you want?" I asked her to just get to the point because I am tired of idiots beating shit around the bush to be cryptic.
"It's been a while since someone wo brazenly asked me something without fear of repercussions." She said with a smile while reminiscing about something that I didn't know nor particularly care. "Is so… refreshing." Was her reply as she looked at me with newfound interest.
"Alas, allow me to to introduce myself: I'm the goddess of carnage and chaos; I'm The Morrigan." She presented herself with a vicious smirk. "And we have so many things to talk about my dear holder of the primordial fire." Her eyes glowed with the promise of untold chaos and bloodshed.
And in that moment I understood one thing: that once more fate has come to make me its chew toy. Unfortunately for it, I was prepared for that.
Line Break
One of the few good things about civilization was the creation of boats because it expanded the range of the clan by a great margin and the advances in metallurgy allowed the creation of better weapons. Yet it didn't change the fact that for the most part civilization was a bane that made both Kindred and Kine weak.
Which was fine by us of Clan Gangrel because it made them all easy pickings. "Are you sure you sure about this? Because I'm not convinced about raiding the very own Capital of Britannia." Asked my second in command and Childe, many would think that he was a coward. The fool the lot of them; a true predator is always cautious, more so when the prey is this dangerous.
"I'm sure Lars, you must've felt it. That warn that came from those lands. It wasn't a normal one. It felt more primal, more powerful. And whatever it was we may need it to deal with the other clans and factions." I told him as I returned my sight to the horizon where our prize was.
Line Break
Out of all the many worlds and planes across the universe I couldn't help but grow to love this little ball of mud in the outskirts of the galaxy. After all; the inhabitants of it (specially those bald monkeys) were so much fun to play with.
It was such a shame that pesky Yahweh blocked most of our influence and destroyed any cult that he got the little bit of a clue of its existence.
Yet it wasn't a problem because he will soon die at the hands of that idiotic and greedy son of his. Which makes me smile with genuine joy.
Or at least that was what was going to happen according to Yog - Sothoth, but now that path was no more something or better said someone has introduced a new variable into the equation. Because somehow a primordial flame has arrived to my playground and was screwing the board I so carefully set up.
"WHO DARED TO STAND ON MY WAY!?"
Whoever was the responsible for this it will pay dearly for this! Yet this brought many other possibilities… Yes, this could work just as well.
They will soon fear the day they stood against me.
For I was the Many Faced God, the Dark Tyrant, the Crawling Chaos. Nyarlatothep.
So I sent forth my nearest cult towards the city where the flame was being kept. Yes the great plan will carry on no matter what.
"Mwhahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!" Yes, indeed, I will win at the end, but first I will stake the deck on my favor so I went forth and move some pieces forward. Because no matter what I will win at the end.
Author's Notes: a short chapter but well I needed it to get the ball rolling. Nothing else to say only that thid fucking chapter was a pain in the add to write because it fought me every step of the way.