Hi, someone please write a Dark souls and Danmachi crossover just like Mr ashbell. I really wanna see a fic like that so this basically one of thoese challenge fics except I actually kinda write first chap.
In order to understand what's going on, you have to have decent level knowledge on DS1, DS2 and DS3. Complete all 3 games essentially and pay attention to the story. You don't need to go balls deep into the lore.
Oh and this is my head canon. Dark souls has always been about interpretation so please don't drill into my ass if I get YOUR FACTS wrong. Plus added a few twists for fanfiction sake. Okay bye.
Whatever, I wrote this in a hurry so enjoy I guess if you wanna read. Am correcting my other fic so can't really spend time on this one.
Of Ashes and Cinders Chapter 1
" Why?" he couldn't help but ponder, failing to register the course bedrock digging crimson trenches into his unblemished back. Dressed in torn and muddied black pants soiled by sweat, dirt and blood and in a black long-sleeve, also torn and bloodied, worn over chainmail armor, Bell shivered.
" Where did it go wrong?" he asked himself as foul stench that vaguely resembled that of an ox assaulted his nose. He would know. He was a farm boy who had been taken by the many great tales of heroes saving the masses and bringing times of joy.
They created places where even those who could not eat could smile, where those who could only cry could smile and where those who had been forsaken by the world itself could smile. Glory, joy, heroism and… Women in a dungeon? Those were the things Bell pursued.
As a child he had been smart enough to know that to be a hero, he would need to know how to fight first and because of that he turned to his grandfather. Bell used the skills he acquired to create an impossible winning streak against his peers and to a decent struggle against the older boys.
Them training with Bell wasn't slaughter, the boy actually had been able to fight back despite being a feeble pygmy when compared to them.
He was proud of his efforts and in response to everyone who saw him grinned. The grin was directed to them as a greeting and gesture to show that he appreciate dthem and also served as a way to pat himself in the back for going through another day of hard work.
At the rate he was going, he thought that he would be like them. No, he knew he could become just like them but…
Where did it go wrong?
Rust colored fur was rooted to a burly body with the torso of a man and the legs and head of a bull. Crimson eyes far deeper in hue that the aspiring hero's glinted to show case their master, the taurus monster, desire. Puddles of a foul stenched liquid pooled onto the dungeon's, more specifically the 5th floor's surface.
It openly salivated at the sight of the athletic young man who had been backed into a corner, his will to survive still strong indicated by him appearing to attempt to create his own tunnel by driving his body into the wall but it was no use.
His teary eyes made the minotaur's heart jump in joy and the sight of his blood was like a drug, driving it a state that stood at the threshold between intelligence and madness. Its body twitched uncontrollably as it slowly approached the young, aspiring hero.
It looked like a demon that had spotted a virgin maiden.
Its nose twitched prompting it to lower its eyes to spot a miniature river swerving past its hooves, originating from the boy's crotch. Bell's flared eyes watered at the sight and sound of the monster guffawing at his expense, ridiculing him for feeling cornered but he couldn't do anything. It was as if all the training he had done had been forgotten by his muscles and brain.
As a show of mercy uncommon from monsters, the bull raised a single hoof to end the pathetic creature in front of it so it may finally have its meal.
"No-" Bell cried as the hoof thrusted forward like a piston, shattering his skull like a crystal orb would if dropped from the heavens.
SPLAT!
What should have been his end by the minotaur's hoof was subverted by the comforting ambience of a forest. A sound he had grown to love since his younger days. There was cacophony of screeching metal in the distance but Bell ignored it in favor of evaluating his surrounding visually. He was in a forest with signs of civilization.
Resembling ancient elven cities, the forest city had countless multistory, mossy stone buildings and an assortment of towers built like they had been trying to compete with Babel. Massive butterflies the size of three corpulent nobles drifted idly through the forest's foliage like poltergeists, releasing a trail of what Bell immediately associated with pixie dust.
He saw a great manticore soaring through the sky, roaring and releasing lightning from its maw, slaying a purple creature that resembled a dragon. Not allowing the spectacle to put a halt to his survey, he brought his shining eyes back to the earth, fear lost. He saw humans roaming around but strangely enough no demi-humans.
There were strange mushrooms, humanoid bushes and people whose skin resembled bacon. The sudden change in scenery had shocked him so much that he failed to notice a ring of fire appearing on his nape, resembling a solar eclipse.
He failed to notice massive stone warriors accompanied by humanoid tree people wielding a variety of farming equipment approaching him until they went past the 6-meter threshold. Noticing the danger and noting that the people remained hostile despite everything he had to say, Bell managed to defeat one person and take their blade.
Holding a small mushroom humanoid hostage, the boy managed to escape. Unbeknownst to him, a tall man in a coned hat had been watching him. In his hand was a wet blue cloth.
It didn't take long for him to die. Or was supposed to. It happened a lot, whether by giant porcupine black cats or by butterflies shooting lasers at him or getting punted across the field by one of the giant stone knights.
For some reason, they never took him prisoner. It was evident they knew something about his apparent immortality but that did not encourage them to imprison him like the other people with wrinkled pale or red skin or even worse, red skin but attached to crosses. They killed him and allowed him to come back to life.
Soon he would find out that this was because he had caught the attention of one of the legendary warriors of the forest. One sworn by the blood of an ancient wolf to repel the forces of an entity known as the abyss.
An abyss watcher.
He had ordered them not to imprison Bell.
Bell asked him many questions, such as where he was, where Orario was and why he started losing his humanity the more he died. The kind stranger took him in and addressed each and everyone of his questions calmly, even when Bell lashed out at him.
He left his goddess behind; a woman who he held in high respect and affection because of how fun it was to be with her despite them having nothing. It was amazing really. Bell didn't believe people could be happy without some extravagancies as he had envied the wealthy adventurers who came to his village and the countless heroes recorded in his books. It wasn't a surface feeling more like something hidden within but Hestia had unearthed it and shook it clean.
He broke his promise to his grandfather citing that he would become a hero that legends would envy. Someone who would bring smiles to the faces of the people no matter how awful the circumstances. He swore that he would wear a pleasant smile as he beaten down by adversity before rising and fighting back.
He swore he would smile for those who couldn't smile but... He failed.
The man offered his sympathies and spoke of his own experiences before he partook in the Blood of the wolf. He told Bell that the world they lived in was weird. The rules of space and time were skewed meaning that people from the past would randomly get thrown into the future and vice versa.
The man's true name was Artorias, former knight of the Lord of Sunlight and current leader of Farron's Undead Legion. Only Bell knew his name. Bell was ecstatic when the old knight spent all night by his side, regaling him with many tales such as his union with a giant wolf known as Sif, his slaying of great dragons and much, much more.
He was in front of a man equal to or far greater than the heroes he read of.
With a new mentor, purpose and goal, Bell Cranel trained for 50 years before partaking in the blood of the wolf. He and the wolf knight celebrated his membership only for their celebration to be cut short by a massive arm appearing from a dark portal and snatching the wolf knight.
He was distraught but he forged on. He knew his purpose and he still remembered his goals of returning to his world. Hestia would definitely wait for him, after all she is immortal so her sense of time was warped, at least by mortal standards.
Plus he had a lot of friends such as a humanoid tree creature that emerged from painting of Ariandel known as Sulyvahn. He came to Farron in order to improve his sorceries at their institutes with recommendations from a plethora of magic schools located in Irithyll.
The man had connections to the legendary crystal sages who were rumored to be descended from an ancient sorcerer known as Big Hat Logan.
They sure had interesting heroes around here.
Exciting as it was, Bell couldn't afford to bask in the childishness that somehow failed to fade after half a century. Not when there was an abyss terrorizing countless lives throughout the world. Artorias told him of what happened in Oolacile, of how he had been corrupted by the abyss but had almost been slayed by the second lord of cinder only for him to overcome his corruption.
He promised himself that he would stop the abyss in his stead. And prayed that Artorias ended up back in his time so he could finally confess to Ciaran and wipe the mud of Gough's visor. Seriously, how in the world did that giant manage to hit dragons from dozens of klicks away while blind? And why didn't they insist that he wipe the mud off his visor, also didn't he take it off to clean it?
Come to think of it, he lived and trained with Artorias for 50 years yet he had never seen the man naked. Them living meant them seeing each other at least half-naked was bound to happen yet it never did. Artorias never changed clothes yet he never gassed up the house. Oolacile and Farron sorceries sure were interesting.
Digression aside.
Many kingdoms fell to mighty legion made of approximately 200 warriors. It did not matter what kind of alliances they made or what kind of special forces and weapons they implemented to their military, hundreds of thousands of capable warriors were crushed by the power of the wolf knights.
If the abyss appeared, even a world power would be toppled.
They were undead yes but most were rarely killed, showing the great power each warrior wielded with one being worth thousands of knights.
Their two most recent conquests before linking the fire were Izalith and Carthus.
For background, let us touch on Izalith.
Izalith is realm that is has odd ties with the rest of the world. For one, it's inhabited by creatures collectively known as demons and secondly, they didn't need to worry about the fading of the fire. They needed to worry about two.
Demons came into existence as a result of the chaos flame produced by the witch of Izalith and her children in an attempt to create the first flame but something went awry and ended up turning her and two of her daughters to the most atrocious boss I mean, most violent keeper of the lord soul. ( AN: I'm still bitter about all the times I got punted into the holes. FUCK BED OF CHAOS! Smelter demon runup in Old Iron Keep is fairer)
The chaos flame began fading leading to of demon-kind's life source fading. Their flames were their life blood, their water, their nectar, ambrosia or anything that describes absolute dependence. The demon king, whose name is too complex for undead to pronounce, was quick to act upon this.
The kingdom's greatest warriors were brought forth to link the flame and its greatest pyromancers were brought to create a new flame in an attempt to save their race but it was no use. Everything they tried failed.
One day, the demon king had an epiphany. The creator of the chaos flame had a lord soul that assisted in the process. Most would think that the lord souls were lost after they had been used in the lord vessel but that was untrue.
There were vestiges, inherited by countless beings throughout history with the most recent being an entity known as The Lost Sinner. That was thousands of years ago. The Lost Sinner was defeated by The Bearer of The Curse but there were no records of him using the soul.
Evidence of the chaos blade's existence prior the bearer's arrival to Drangleic was strong so the only use he had for it was going past a number of verifications that required him to have the soul of a great one. It was said that the Bearer of the curse preffered using what is debated to be a nagamaki.
It was said to be bewitching and was likely taken from a man from the east whose service to one of the monarchs of that era was so satisfactory that the country's knights were named after him.
The demon king launched an invasion of the surface after tricking legions of black knights into going elsewhere, giving them time to rush to the surface to search for the soul. As demons, they were exceptionally sensitive to it.
This mad rush caught the attention of a skeleton who desired to be the last of the dead, high lord Wolnir or as Bell loved to call him (Mockingly) the spook lord. Despite fighting 3 fronts, Izalith managed to not only fend off the black knights but also managed to thwart Carthus through the use of giant sandworms and crabs. No one understood how crabs were able to survive the sauna wannabie or rather a sauna is a wannabie of it.
There was a slight miscalculation on their side. They defeated Carthus and took part of their territory. Territory corrupted by the abyss which led to some demons being corrupted and turned into goatlike creatures. They managed to contain the abyss after fear of the watchers enticed them to do so. Their power was known even to the demons.
The corruption that turned the demon into a goatlike creature became a disease that mutated some demons into odd creatures wielding machetes. Fortunately, the disease wasn't very infectious (For demons) so containing it was possible despite their primitive medical procedures.
The chaos soul vestiges were found and the chaos flame was relinked bringing great joy to the kingdom of Izalith despite the pending pandemic. This changed one day when several high-ranking demons suddenly lost their flames and the king lost a large chunk of his. This was caused by the chaos flame absorbing their power and birthing the Demon Prince, sending them all back to square one.
They couldn't get rid of him because surely the abyss watchers would come for them and Carthus and the Demon Prince was a manifestation of the chaos flame. The demons worshipped him as a god and couldn't think to have him killed for the flame to be relinked.
Their fates were sealed when Wolnir cleverly used abyss pyromancies to corrupt the demon prince in an attempt to buy himself and his kingdom time to build up counter-measures against the watchers of the abyss.
The prince of demons was suddenly ejected from the present and sent to the future with his cohorts only to be bested by Prince Lorian and get split into two demons. Their names were too complex to be pronounced and they had sounds only demons could produce so they were simply called the demon in pain and the demon from below respectively.
One of the watchers unknowingly got infected by the illness as he left Izalith. All corrupt demons were purged under Bell's leadership. The rabbit in his kindness had at some point decided to change the ways of the watchers to eliminating only the infected, containing the abyss and leaving the others alone.
The young? Old? More than 400 years had passed at that point, hero was enraged by Wolnir's acts leading to Bell getting help from his close friend Sulyvahn.
Wolnir had gone too far. Not only had he actively had young maidens kidnapped to produced a concoction known as Carthus rouge but he actively attacked and killed off many people without provocation. For someone who wanted to be the last of the dead, he picked a lot of fights and the one he picked with Bell was not one he was going to win.
Despite using the abyss frequently, Wolnir feared it so Bell had a fun idea that he had Sulyvahn assist him with. With Farron coals, they produced 3 large golden bracelets that repelled the abyss as a preliminary before Bell grabbed a chalice that was used to seal a fragment of the chasm of the abyss.
While Bell confronted Wolnir, Sulvahn built him a suite in the threshold between Irithyll and Carthus. It was place worthy of a king with gold, silver and jewelry everywhere along with countless breath-taking art pieces. The tree man realized he was having too much fun but couldn't fault himself as he knew he wouldn't see his close friend Bell for a while as he was going to travel to the Profaned Capital.
After an admittedly disappointing battle against the high lord, Bell did not bother killing him, instead he humiliated him by shoving him into the cup and placing that cup at the center of the room built by Sulyvahn.
Then to make things worse, he used his great power to create a massive pit surrounded by countless traps that would launch Wolnir's would be rescuers straight to the bottom where they would meet every abyss watcher in trainings' bane of existence. Giant crabs. Not just any giant crabs. Izalith, chaos giant crabs.
Sulyvahn and Bell had a blast watching Wolnir's shinobi getting munched on by the oversized crustaceans. They got so upset that they ceased attempts at rescuing Wolnir and went to Izalith to build a gigantic crossbow. Only for them to them get wiped out by a single worm.
Cruel, probably but it was hilarious. The tree man despite having no eyes actually cried as he and his best friend leaned against each other, bellowing with laughter as the skeletons unleashed profanities that they have never heard of despite being alive for hundreds of years.
The best part was the fact that Wolnir was stuck on a slanted island that was surrounded by the abyss. Wolnir had to hold on for dear life for all eternity if he wanted to be the last of the dead. Wolnir had truly earned Bell's ire. A man he was but even he would snap when irritating simmered for hundreds of years. Bell really didn't like him.
Alas fun times ended. The flame faded and the abyss watchers chose Bell to be their amalgamation. Their souls and share of the wolf's blood rested within him so he had more than enough power to link the flame with factors falling into his favor such as immense number of souls that had become his strength and the countless humanities he gained over the years.
When the bell of awakening rung, three of the four lords of cinder were confused. Saint Aldritch, Yhorm the giant and Bell, the abyss watcher. They were stupefied by the fire keeper's explanation detailing the refusal of Lothric to link the flame, condemning this world to darkness.
Because the twin princes were so powerful and were backed by a formidable military that used the power of drakes to augment itself, nothing could be done. If someone managed to defeat the Lothric army then would also have to defeat the King's Black Hands afterwards.
A group of 3 formidable enough to make a joke of an esteemed company of knights known as the Ruin Sentinels on their own. Each of them boasted the power to face armies alone so fighting them is the equivalent to defeating 3 battalions of soldiers. Ridiculous. Not even Anor Lando risked it against Lothric and the Black Hands so royal family in Anor Lando decided to summon the lords from the dead to link the flame again.
Nope. None of them wanted anything to do with that. One, it was painful and two, it was stupid.
The lords all turned to Ludleth and gazed upon him with scorn, relegating him to the status of an idiot. Man had crawled all the way from the Kiln to Firelink shrine just to be burned again? And he was a scholar so he knew very well that them linking the flame again was a terrible idea.
They were cinders and ash.
Just like Gwyn. Gwyn, although hollow still had some sense in him. He may have fought the second lord of cinder but at least he had enough sense to not link the flame again. He still had his soul and his soul still had power so why did he not link it again?
Prior to his sacrifice, Gwyn with the assistance of Gwyndolin and the research done by the witch of Izalith concluded that one needed a dark soul to be able to link the flame again. This explained why Firekeepers needed humanities to stay alive with their life force being tied to the flame they tended to. If the died, the flame died and vice-versa.
The flames need sustenance and that sustenance came in the form of the manifestations of the dark soul known as humanities.
This meant that Gwyn needed to be turned into an undead with a ritual currently known only to the hollows of Londor. That is why Gwyn hollowed, because he branded himself with the dark sign and turned into an undead.
The problem with the lords linking the flame was that they were ash, in other words used up fuel. If it were that easy then Gwyn would have been revived multiple times but he wasn't. Gwyndolin and Frampt had been the ones to engineer create the story of Gwyn not leaving the flame and having to kill him.
They then embellished undead to encourage them to go forth and link the flame but it was all a ruse. If that was the case then a number of warriors in Anor Lando qualified but they never went to link the flame. Bell had met Ornstein and the nameless king at Archdragon peak at some point in the past and conversed with them.
They confirmed quite a number of things for him.
The lords being ash would only smolder the flame if they attempted to link it as they were nothing but used up fuel capable of storing souls. Doing this was so bad that they wouldn't be surprised if some entity bearing the cinders of previous lords appeared to stop them. A defense mechanism by the first flame.
Really, the most they could be is kindling because they still had their cinders but for them to actually link the flame. It was a fat no.
Aldritch didn't want to link the flame because of a new age that would appear known as the deep and the flame fading was a requirement of that. And knowing that him linking the flame again would do far more harm than good as the flame's reaction was an unknown factor but at some point later, he stopped caring.
The lords left their thrones together because if they linked the fire it would all be for nothing. Bell returned to Farron and released his comrades from their homogenous state, Yhorm discarded his shield and returned to the Profaned Capital, Aldritch was last seen amassing an army at the cathedral of the deep and preparing to invade Irithyll.
Knowing that he would have to combat Bell, the strongest lord of cinder in history, exceeding the likes of Gwyn and Vendrick, Aldritch corrupted one the crystal sages and had them conduct a ritual that infected some of the abyss watchers with the deep.
This led to Bell sealing himself and the others in a large hall and battled his comrades endlessly for a countless number of years, allowing Aldritch to invade Irithyll and defeat Pontiff Sulyvahn who had been corrupted by the Profaned Flame.
Sulyvahn despite his defeat was not devoured by Aldritch, instead he was forced into servitude. A miscalculation on Aldritch's part was that he ended up becoming a victim of Sulyvahn's schemes leading to him being used to devour a number of gods, most notably Gwyndolin the dark sun and Velka the goddess of sin.
Nito was not devoured, he was killed the chosen undead. Priscilla was not devoured, she was killed by Elfriede and had her soul transposed into a frost scythe that doubled as a catalyst that allowed the woman to cast exceptionally powerful ice sorceries and invisibility magic.
Many other gods were defeated by Sulyvahn and fed to Aldritch. Because of his love for Yorshka, Sulyvahn locked her in a tower far away from the palace so that Aldritch may not get his hands on her. His expert Oolacile sorceries which he had learned in Farron allowed him to conceal the tower, leaving the woman there until he had enough power to stand up to the devourer of gods and kill him.
He forgot that Anor Lando was built by talented architects so a lone tower just standing there was hardly inconspicuous but alas no one had the heart to tell him that. Not even Aldritch's cruel deacons but unbeknownst to them, prison tower had a mechanism that would explode, causing Yorshka to fall into the church where Sulyvahn would easily be able to rescue her in the event that Aldritch finally decided to investigate.
Sulyvahn was ridiculously strong with Aldritch citing that if his deacons were not present and Sulyvahn decided to use his powerful pyromancies and ice sorceries, the Ariandel born sorceror might have repelled him.
Pontiff knights and outriders are exceptionally powerful but they are poorly matched against the curse specializing deacons.
The Profaned Flame burning within Sulyvahn made him twist innocent people into rabid beasts. He knew what he was doing was very wrong but he couldn't stop. Obsession drove him. Ambition drove him. He knew he was shaming everything he stood for but the corruption cared not for him.
In a final act of defiance, the Sulyvahn sent the dancer and Vordt to Lothric castle so they may be defeated. The dancer had a powerful healing spell that could repel Aldritch's power and Vordt possessed one of the pontiff's eyes which allowed the wielder to continuously increase damage.
Before Sulyvahn died to the hand of Ashen one, he cried. The weapon used to deal the final blow resembled the one that belonged to his best friend.
The lords of cinder fell for different reasons. Yhorm did not want to kill his friend, Siegwald, Aldrich concluded that the deep was inevitable no matter what the first flame's reaction, and Bell...
Well, his home was gone and all its people were warped leading to his positive outlook fracturing. What was the point? The boy was no longer innocent, he lived for hundreds of years and trained endlessly before joining his brothers in the subjugation of the abyss.
The blood of the wolf that linked them was almost gone, only existing in their bodies and worst of all…
Some of his comrades get corrupted by the abyss so they dueled endlessly in a special hall constructed to keep Carthus sealed and the watchers inside. Bell not wanting his comrade's minds to fully disappear to the abyss' corruption decided that the merciful thing to do was to allow themselves to be slain. A final act of mercy fto all his brethren.
The crystal sages could stop Wolnir if he ever escaped, if not then the high lord would run into the Dark wraith clan stationed within Farron's swamp and be overwhelmed.
When he was killed by the ashen one, Bell found himself in a space where he was able to maintain a proper state of mind. This was where his beliefs of the abyss were shaken with the cause being one of his brothers who had deserted the Legion, Hawkwood.
The blood that linked them allowed Bell to look through his memories and found that he had been obsessed with dragons. Why was that?
Hawkwood became acquainted with a man known as Gundyr who had failed to link the flame in time leading to him deciding to become Firelink's protector. At some point, Gundyr became infected with the abyss and turned in a pus of man, a creature Bell was very familiar with.
They had been destroyed by the watchers before they could be allowed to complete their life cycle. Because Hawkwood lived for so long, he was able to observe the life cycle of the creature and Bell was genuinely shocked.
It turned into a dragon. Gundyr's pus of man had the claws of a dragon growing out of it. It was like the development of Larvae, the adult form was not what you expect from the initial appearance. This didn't change the fact that the abyss hurt a lot of people but it did lessen Bell's hatred for it.
Gwyn, the lord of sunlight and his cohorts wiped a large number of dragons who were tied to the world itself. Their deaths and the linking of the fire lead to space and time becoming skewed. Because people kept linking the fire, they kept denying nature its course leading to it producing the abyss. Manus didn't create the abyss, he just caused it to spread further with his violent dark soul.
The abyss was attempting to bring back dragons. The world was fine without the godlike creatures for sometime until nature couldn't hold out anymore and began producing the abyss to restore order. Well… Not what he had expected from his worst enemy.
It didn't matter, the abyss would be able to spread as it liked as there would be no age of fire to suppress it. Kingdoms lived just fine in the age of dark and Oolacile's inhabitants being driven mad was entirely their own fault as they kept shoving humanities into Manus and forcing some kind of reaction from them.
Indeed, the age of fire would end and dark would reign once more.
The unkindled are vessels for souls but that does not make them qualify to link the fire. Those who link the fire must have a dark sign, which signifies that they are undead. If they don't, they'd be doing more harm than good. Imagine picking up a lord vessel and yeeting it into the first flame and calling it a day. No.
They had the right idea by using the cinders of the lords as kindling but what was the point of kindling if there would be no further fuel?
That is why Gwyn went hollow. He turned himself into an undead so he could be fuel for the fire. Why else would Firekeepers need humanities? Manifestations of the dark souls.
Bell respected the ashen one because he was very strong but linking the fire was a foolish choice. He didn't know what the hell was Gwyndolin was thinking by ringing those accursed bells. Even the first flame itself rejected the idea and manifested the soul of cinder just as all the lords had expected. ( A/N It was Sulyvahn in this story lol and the gods are the ones who give the fire keeper permission to ring the bell.)
Why else would an amalgamation of all the lords manifest to stop the ashen one? It should have welcomed him with open arms but... Well, there is that.
Bell recognizing there was no way out of the fire fading as Lothric and Lorian were dead, he reached out to the other lords of cinder to make the fight easier for the ashen one. Getting them to cooperate was easy because they had become fast friends. Yes, even the person who was supposed to be Bell's mortal enemy, Aldritch became a dear friend.
They agreed to help out because their assistance would greatly increase the ashen one's chances of defeating the soul of cinder.
After all, the 4 of them were the strongest lords of cinder in history with each of them boasting power equal to or exceeding Gwyn's. Even the twin princes agreed to assist the ashen one and so they used their power to become giant souls so to speak so that the ashen one may fight Vendrick.
( For those of you unfamiliar with Dark Souls 2, you need Giant souls to fight Vendrick because they weaken him. Without them, he hits like meteor and tanks like a planet, making him pretty much impossible to defeat. Having a giant soul is kryptonite to him so in this case, the lords of cinder and the twin princess turned themselves into the soul of cinder's kryptonite.)
The ashen one's battles against the soul of cinder had to be the best things the lords of cinder and twin princes have watched. It was so hilarious and happened so many times that the 4 lords and twin princes started making bets about how the ashen one would die next.
Countless lords of cinder made for countless possibilities for how he/she would die. The ashen one had a weird habit of visiting Rosaria after about 20 deaths to seek comfort in the form of laying on her lap. As usual she was silent but her maternal talents more than made up for the gap. She cheered for him/her while the lords of cinder and twin princess guffawed at his/her expense.
Being gentlemen and good friends, the lords of cinder refrained from partaking in your mother jokes at the expense of Lorian and Lothric. The normally distant princes enjoyed their experience with the legendary figures from throughout history.
As ashen one got washed by the soul of cinder, the lords endured countless perils together with the worst being the cursed great wood, creation of a man known as Arstor. They hated that thing as I always approached them with the offer of "milk" and "lollipops without sticks."
""""""FOR FUCKS SAKE YOU STUPID TREE, NOBODY WANTS TO SUCK YOUR NUTS!"""""" They would scream as the giant tree swayed side to side, strutting it's… Pus balls. Yes. Let's call them that. It certainly didn't improve their opinions when the giant hand would emerge from the tree's crotch and gently massage the scrotum looking things.
Bell was especially irritated because this space was for lords only. Just what the hell was that tree on? Also why hadn't it been his favourite tree, Sulyvahn? Why? Needless to say that Earl Arstor's soul was fortunate to be lost, otherwise he'd face severe punishment from the lords of cinder.
The lords of cinder rejoiced when the ashen one finally defeated the soul of cinder... To their surprise he/she realized how stupid what he/she was attempting to do was so he went to Londor, only to be forced to slaughter them because they wanted him dead for killing a pilgrim in Irithyll? Something about about a Yorshka.
Bell genuinely surprised when the ashen one told him Sulyvahn had a fixation on her. The ashen one joined the darkmoon knights and Bell understood immediately. She was extremely attractive despite her appearing a little emaciated and so adorable that Aldritch stated that he wouldn't have dared to lay a finger on her. He was a devourer of gods and a saint not a monster.
They all questioned why a pilgrim would be in Londor and Ludleth explained that a majority of pilgrims were associated with Londor and its Sable church. They were in Irithyll to manipulate a woman named Anri into becoming the bride of the lord of Hollows which should have been the ashen one if Bell's power didn't accidentally kill Yoel.
What happened was because Londorians had associations with the abyss, ashen one bringing Bell's ashes close to Yoel, got him killed. Wolf's blood had a curse etched into it that caused abyss associates to weaken. Yoel was already in poor health so bringing Bell's ashes close was the final blow.
The people of Londor were all hollow yet they did not lose their sense of reason. That explained why the hump backed people were everywhere, they were missionaries from the sable church trying to indoctrinate people by proving that you could maintain your sanity even when hollow.
It would have been an amazing attempt if Londorians didn't have their horrible reputation. trying to teach people how not to go crazy when hollow. They must have figured it out with the help of a sock puppet looking serpent. Bell would have liked to have a discussion with the Dark Wraiths but sadly they were extremely hostile to the abyss watchers.
The Londorians would have been excellent to have discussions with as well because of the dark sigil which was similar to the brand on undead except it did not have a ring of fire around it. This made a lot sense because the dark sign was essentially the dark sigil but sealed by fire which uses the humanity as fuel hence keeping the humanities under control.
Humanities and the abyss were linked but they were not the same. The thing with humanities was that they had the ability to arouse the abyss as shown with Manus. There was nothing wrong with humans, it's just their ability to arouse the abyss which Gwyn feared. An abyss whose mission was producing dragons and Bell was sure Gwyn knew that.
Gwyndolin and Gwyn were truly geniuses to come up with such an interesting measure, sealing it with fire. Don't misunderstand, the curse was awful but that didn't discredit the father, son duo's creativity. Bell was also curious as to how the Londorians and Sable church were able to figure it out.
Bell felt like an idiot for not figuring it out after the countless firebombs he had thrown at pus of men. And the traditions of his own people, the people of Farron (Farron followers in-game name). Those who were sent to assist the Milwood knights in their battle against the abyss dragon in lieu of the abyss watchers who were occupied with other kingdoms.
They carried around torches that they use to burn the areas infected by the abyss, thereby curing them. Bell felt like a donut.
Artorias made a covenant with creatures of the abyss and he didn't hate them, he just hated the abyss itself and its effects on other life forms. The forging of a covenant proved that they were sentient and capable of thought and decision making.
It truly was a pity that the dark wraiths hated the abyss watchers with zeal. He couldn't blame them, if it was him in the past, he would have decapitated them all without second thought but now that he had more knowledge he changed to be just like his mentor.
Artorias too tried to talk to the dark wraiths but they tried killing him too so in self-defence the wolf knight defeated them.
Bell admitted it was amusing how they attempted invasions on Farron only for them to get their asses handed to them by blind folded weirdos with sharpened boughs, crabs, giant crabs, goat looking things with even shabbier sticks and former abyss watchers who lost control of their wolf's blood.
Londor and the Dark Wraiths were on friendly terms but their goals were different. Londorians wanted the fire for themselves and Dark Wraiths wanted the fire gone.
And so, the boy used the lords' cinders to go to ringed city, a place where the dark soul lurked according Lorian and Aldrich. Lorian knew this because he was the one to vanquish the demon prince to this place and Aldrich knew because he had a dream about it.
That's where the dark soul was, the ringed city. The lords had a fun time watching the ashen one go on another losing spree versus the Dark Eater, Midir. Aldrich the slime howled with laughter as the ashen one was quickly chomped in half or roasted by flames emerging from the dragon's muzzle.
Bell and the other lords soon joined him because the ashen one kept complaining about death lasers. It was unfortunate that lord souls couldn't be used to weaken the dragon. The ashen one was taking this quest because he desperately needed titanite slabs which he could have easily gotten if he asked any of the lords except Ludleth.
They all had treasuries with dozens of the material and they all had no use for them. No one told him/her because them dying was even more hilarious than when he/she kept dying to the soul of cinder. Even the stoic Lorian was driven to tears.
After a few months the dragon was finally slayed much to the disappointment of the lords but they didn't dare let that ruin their fun. They told the ashen one about all their treasuries leading to the wannabie lord of cinder crying, screaming and whining under the echoes of their roaring laughter.
After touching Filianore, ignoring Aldritch and twin princes' warnings the ashen one was hurled to a distant future where the entire world had been turned into a desert. Only he/she and a man named Gael were alive. There were ornately dressed pygmys as well but they didn't exactly qualify as alive because Gael slurped everything out of them. Their humanities. He slurped out their humanities leading to severe hollowing.
Both were seekers of the dark soul and Gael had managed to find it albeit in a fragmented state. Ashen one had a number of humanities because he didn't kill the hollows of Londor with the blade, he killed them with the dark hand.
Ashen one was instantly overwhelmed by Gael, leading to he/she deciding that if he/she couldn't beat Gael then one of the laughing fools would. The bigender person quickly performed a ritual that summoned the dead and he chose to summon the strongest lord cinder in history, Bell.
The ashen ones soul had taken Bell's place in the lord's space and they attempted to make a bet with the lords of cinder on how Bell would die. Every lord was sure Bell would win without a doubt and the abyss watcher certainly did not disappoint.
The ashen then attempted poking fun at Bell only for this to backfire when the cursed-great wood appeared… Again. The ashen one was a man at the time so one could imagine his disgust when the cursed-great wood said, "Oooo yes baby, I remember you thwarking my balls so violently that one time. It felt fantastic, wanna have a go again, I'll even let you suck them."
Ashen one turned to the lords of cinder for help only to be met with a wall of laughter. Gael just so happened to let out a crazed chuckle with timing that made it look like he was laughing at the ashen one. Bell was giggling too.
Homosexual trees and laughing lords of cinder aside.
The battle shook the world itself leading to the fight taking a dramatic turn with lightning falling across the battlefield as the two combatants dueled. Gael managed to overwhelm Bell after the man got control of the dark soul forcing the lord of cinder to activate his embers. They battled once again with Bell gaining the advantage as his weapons and blood were extremely very effective against those of the dark.
Bell decisively defeated Gael, and returned to the ashen one's time. He went to the painted world and offered blood of the dark soul mixed with the blood of the wolf to the painting lady who gratefully accepted. She then requested he free the painted world from Friede's tyranny.
It was done easily but Friede was not killed, instead the pair entered a relationship after Bell healed a burn mark caused by her attempt to usurp the fire, only to be shamed because of her failure. Her sisters Yulia and Liliane betrayed her leading to Friede entering Ariandel and slaying Priscilla.
And indeed, Bell got the conversation he had been dying for. Friede told him all about Londor and their history and explained how exactly they discovered the dark sigil. He was ecstatic.
All good things come to an end however as Bell conducted a ritual to resummon the ashen one. He then gave the dark soul to the ashen one and told them to do what they wanted with it. Friede remained in Ariandel and swore to become its guardian to honor Bell.
Friede conducted the ritual to convert the ashen one to an undead and with that, they finally had the option of linking the fire or letting it fade. Friede, unknowingly copying Ciaran, requested Bell's soul and the ashen one accepted before also surrendering the souls of the lords as well to keep the watcher company.
The ashen one truly appreciated the watcher's assistance even though he had a tendency to poke fun at them with the other lords. Plus he didn't think he would be able to handle the lords of cinder poking fun at him for entering Gwynvere's chambers and wearing high heels as a man. Bell was usually the one who calmed them down but with him gone…
They also knew about the ring. Jokes aside, the ashen genuinely thought of all the lords as valuable comrades. Except Aldrich. All of them except Aldrich. Aldrich was an ass.
Women are nice but they cannot replace brotherhoods.
One moment Bell's soul was tenderly caressed by Elfriede then the next she falls into a void with Bell and the other lords in tow.
He was back. He remembered the Bull whose hoof he had just evaded perfectly. Hundreds of years and the image hadn't warped once.
The minotaur froze, its eyes wide at the overwhelming presences before it.
Accompanying the white-haired boy were six people, all extremely handsome.
One had a feeble body and was dressed in swaddling clothes, while another wore crown that paid homage to the sun while another looked like simple warrior in chainmail.
They were similar in that 4 of them wore crowns while Bell and the person dressed in prayer robes were an exception.
Only Bell didn't have his equipment while the others had all theirs and were human sized. Aldritch had taken Gwyndolin's appearance and was dressed in white robes.
The lords of cinders had gathered.
Yhorm the giant.
Elder prince, Lorian.
Younger prince, Lothric.
Saint Aldritch of the deep.
Ludleth of Coureland
And.
Bell Cranel, the Abyss Watcher.
The monster quietly crumbled away at the face of their overwhelming presences. They didn't need to exercise their powers.
They killed it by standing there… Menacingly.
End
There, bye. I might or might not continue. Just rewrote this fanfiction for the fun of it and no its not an april fools joke… Anymore.
If you a reader of my other fanfiction, chapter 9 will come. Be patient. Please and thank you.