I recommend listening to Epilogue from Dark souls III for this chapter.


The air reeked of death. Of things that were, that are not. Turned to ashes long ago, now mixed and inseparable in the boundless desert.

The ash they stepped over, dry and hard, where did it come from? What was it before?

A shrine? A Person? Maybe a tree, or maybe not.

So much was lost here, so much sacrificed… and yet, deep down, a slight sense of wonder was growing despite that.

Simply being able to walk and never reach a wall or an edge. It felt exciting.

The wind brushing past her to places unknown, playfully pulling her cloak with it.

The sun rising in the morning and setting at night.

The light, pure and benevolent, warming up her skin in the day and letting it cool back down in the night with its absence.

She was fearful at first, when the sun disappeared and took its warmth with it, yet it was not long after when it emerged once more, burning just as bright as it did before, that she realized where it had gone.

The world was adhering to a new cycle now, that of day and night.

So many things she heard and read about, yet could never experience herself. Never able to, never allowed to.

Until now, as she followed the ashen one into a world born anew.

They were slowly traversing the ashen landscape that remained of the kiln of the first flame. When the wind was calm, they walked on waves of ash, following the sun and the moon for guidance.

When it grew fierce and swelled into a storm, they settled down behind a great shield and waited for its end in companionable quiet.

Days turned into nights, turned into weeks with no signs of ending, of time running out.

She could feel no beasts who sought their souls, no hollows who sought their humanities.

No further presence, corrupted or otherwise, besides themselves.

They traveled the land in the safety of solitude and death, as no life could sprout here, nor survive.

Yet they were not alive, so the desert welcomed them with open arms and allowed them to traverse its vast expanse with ease, if not speed.

Yet despite her excitement she did not forget herself, nor her duty.

The quiet anxiety turned into relief, into anxiety once more.

The ashen one would not "speak" it, nor complain, yet she could see it in the way he moved, the way he looked, the way he searched for enemies that were not.

He was worried, expectant.

At every moving shadow, his muscles would tense, his grip tighten, his steps would slow and deepen and his posture would lower, only for nothing to appear.

The tension would leave him soon after, for the first couple of days. Yet with the passage of weeks the more fiercely it clung to him.

She understood why. Of course she did. She had seen many undead go through the same after all.

Betrayed by the world and paranoid, untrusting of safety even in her shrine.

"Like you could protect me when an enemy arrives, you sheltered…" They would tell her before leaving again.

Yet to never rest is to live through constant fear and stress that wears down your mind and brings you closer to hollowing.

A course she sadly saw and failed to stop all too often…

Her ashen one would not succumb so easily, nor so quickly, of that she was… certain. He was the champion of ash for a reason after all!

Still… she couldn't just let him torture himself unnecessarily like that.

Whenever his agitation grew too severe, she would try to reassure him as best she could and would succeed in doing so. At first. Yet her efforts proved less and less effective as weeks turned into months.

Nothing seemed to change at a glance. They continued walking at a steady pace over mountains and plains of ash. Steady steps and steady breathes, yet his hand never left the handle of his scythe, his other never strayed too far from his bottomless box.

His steps measured, his muscles tense, his balance controlled and maintained at all times.

Her words were heard, yet it was clear they failed to register. Nods of acknowledgement were given, yet the tenseness and anxiety never left, nor did it even lessen.

Many attempts were made, yet nothing she said made a difference and eventually she stopped trying. She feared she was growing tiresome and making the situation worse than it already was.

But then, what was the point of her even being here?

She was supposed to tend to the ashen one, to be his caretaker. She already lacked the strength to protect him from physical harm. If she also failed to protect his sanity, to safeguard his mind, then what was the point of staying by his side? 'Am I even taking the place from someone more capable? Is that why he helped her become a fire keeper…?'

Yet as she watched him refuse to seek shelter behind his shield, getting needlessly battered by the storm, she took a deep breath and cleared her mind.

Her own worries weren't important right now. Regardless of her failings, she was the only one here right now. So, it was up to her to do something.

Firming her resolve, she sat to the side to make room for him and beckoned him closer.


The ashen one felt this was the worst time to be distracted. Stuck in a stationary place with no visibility and practically no hearing over the strong winds made them prime targets for an ambush.

Luckily nothing had happened during the previous storms, but it was only a matter of time until something did. After all, if creatures could survive and thrive in a dark poison swamp, then surely some could adapt even to this environment.

The fire-keeper did say she could not feel any souls around them, yet there was no guarantee that the new residents of this world even had souls and humanities in a way that they could recognize to begin with.

Whatever creature lived in this terrible place was clever too. Instead of simply attacking on sight, it stalked and observed from a distance. Studying them closely before striking.

Worse yet he had not managed to catch a glimpse of it, or them, yet, despite constantly being on the lookout for them.

They must realize pretty soon, however, that they won't learn anything more simply by observing them, which means their attack could come any moment now.

Scanning his surroundings closely one more time he quickly ducked down behind the shield and kneeled next to the fire-keeper.

"Ashen one, I ask thee to rest, I am certain there are neither beasts, nor monsters around us."

He sighed inwardly 'I don't doubt your sincerity, but, once again, we can't be certain of that.' He nodded and turned to leave.

Before he could however, two hands reached out from behind and gently grabbed his shoulders as they pulled him back.

"The beasts you knoweth were a symptom of their time ashen one. A time of corruption and decay. No such things could exist now."

'Perhaps, but the…'

"Even the abyss would struggle now that the flame burneth bright once more"

'The…'

"No human, undead or even hollow could traverse such a storm, much like we can't. Though even if they could they would struggle to find us within it."

'But…'

"If they were so powerful, deadly and capable, why would they need to await the presence of a storm to attack us? Why would they not have done so already?"

'…'

He heard her sigh quietly.

'Even if that is the case… the possibility is still there, of a creature or a spell we don't and could not know about. For as long as that possibility exists it's still better to stay vigilant.'

As he to made to get up again, he felt her arms wrap around his chest more firmly, yet with a touch of desperation as well.

Placing her head next to his, she continued.

"Please, you promised to take better care of thineself, did you not ashen one?"

At that he froze. He prepared to argue further for a moment, yet in the end slowly resigned himself to taking a rest…

'Staying low has its own benefits. Makes it harder to be seen for one and…'

…yet his muscles didn't lose their tension, his mind kept racing, his eyes darting.

'…I can still keep watch from here.' He moved his leg and arm to brace them against the shield. 'I can't see beyond the shield, but we are already protected from that direction.' He shifted, turning his head away from the shield. 'That just leaves three more possible angles of attack, as long as I kee…'

Yet his thoughts were interrupted as he heard something strange.

A voice, the fire-keeper's voice, yet she wasn't speaking, she was… singing.

It was quiet, barely audible over the rushing wind and yet he could hear it clearly.

Its tone was melancholy, almost sad and yet… he felt strangely comforted by it.

He was no stranger to music. It was rare, but some undead would occasionally play some music, to try and cheer themselves and others up.

He was never too fond of it though. It always felt out of place to him. More like a form of denial rather than mere entertainment, as if pretending to be happy and joyful would actually make their problems go away.

This wasn't that however.

It was haunting in its honesty. It didn't try to hide the reality of their situation nor the danger. Didn't baselessly claim that everything would magically turn out alright. Instead, it acknowledged them fully, yet it still stayed hopeful, assured that they were not insurmountable.

Just another obstacle to overcome…

Before realizing it, he was slowly pulled into the hymn, forgetting for a moment the worries that had piled up over the past months of trekking through the ashen wasteland.

As the tension slowly bled out of him, the mental exhaustion took its place instead.

His limbs grew weaker and his thoughts cloudier, as he let the safety of the warm embrace and the comfort of the bitter, yet sweet hymn lull him further from consciousness.

Until finally he fell into a trance like sleep.


A relieved smile appeared on the fire-keeper's face, as the ashen one finally rested peacefully.

And as the tension left his body, she felt her own doubts and worries ebb away and quieten as well.

Tightening her embrace ever so slightly, she rested her head against his shoulder and whispered fondly.

"Worry not ashen one, I will take care of thee, for as long as I am capable of it."

And so, they stayed as she continued her quiet hymn and waited for the storm to end.

She felt the sweet call of sleep herself, but chose to ignore it.

She felt It would have been a betrayal of the ashen one's trust to do so. Instead, she kept her senses sharp and vigilant in his stead and kept watch over their surroundings.

She didn't think anything would come, but that didn't matter.

Some time later, she was proven correct, as the storm finally drew to an end without incident.

And as It did, it also brought a new scent with it. One more "lively".

It was not long after, that they encountered the first signs of life, as small stalks of grass started sprouting from the thinning ash.

Those stalks increased in number and size and were soon joined by the occasional tree. Until finally they came upon a sparse forest.


The ashen one watched as the fire-keeper excitedly walked around the forest and swept her hands over grass, trees and bushes.

It amused him how hard she tried to retain her graceful demeanor, as if this was mere idle curiosity, yet her giddiness wouldn't allow for it.

He himself didn't like forests all too much, considering the number of deaths he suffered in each and every one of them he visited.

He did briefly consider continuing their travel in the desert to reach a different exit, preferably in the form of an open plain, but even a forest is preferable to staying in that eerie place.

After all, past traumas aside, he had a lot of experience traversing forests and therefore more of an idea what to look out for in terms of dangers within them.

A forest is also a good place to hide and escape pursuit, so they had options even if they encountered something unprecedented.

He'll have to stay vigilant as always, but… they should be fine, one way or another.

Though seeing how much the fire-keeper was enjoying it, made it worth coming here In and of itself…

He was watching the fire-keeper carefully inspect a flower with her hands, when he finally realized what had been bothering him back on the plateau!

Walking towards her he pulled out the murky hand scythe and handed it to her, while also placing a worker's hat on her head. It was a little too big for her, as it dipped down over her masked eyes, but he supposed that shouldn't really matter in her case.

Stepping back to inspect his work, he gave her a satisfied thumbs up.

Now they looked like proper farmers!


Fun fact, did you know that there were bears in dark souls? In the code for the original dark souls 1 release there is cut content for the bear set of armor, which implies that there were bears as well. It doesn't have any stats though, just textures.

Whenever I think of bears in dark souls, my mind immediately goes to Runebears, which a) are in elden ring not dark souls and b) I'd rather not think about anymore.

Anyway, I thought this would be a pretty boring and quick chapter to write, ie: "They crossed the desert. Nothing happened. It was boring", but I quite enjoyed it after all, even though the ending did take longer than it should have. In fact, this chapter was written to 70% before I even started the previous one(intermission), the latter half and some other minor changes just took very long.

You probably also realized by now why I made the recommendation in the beginning. When I was writing that scene, I had that song in mind after all. One of my personal favorites from the series.

Well anyways, till whenever I write the next one.