//------------------------------//
// Sages and Invaders 
// Story: Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Tirek, upon returning to the shrine with Sarana and Martok, was more than happy to empower himself with what they had acquired from the enemies they had faced in the Crucifixion Woods, even if it was nothing compared to what Yoel offered him by drawing out his true power, before he went out and visited the two magic users he had recruited to the shrine, as he was curious if they had anything interesting to offer him. As it turned out Orbeck, who reminded him of the promise that had been made earlier, had a few spells that interested Tirek to some degree, as in two great versions of the Soul Arrow and Heavy Soul Arrow spells he had been using since he found himself in this world, along with a few other spells that might be useful in the future, like one that released an orb that emitted a running sound, to distract enemies and make them head to where the sound was located. Cornyx only had two more spells that he could even purchase at the moment, since he apparently needed pyromancy tomes to reveal more spells for them to learn about, which were Great Combustion, an up close and personal spell, and Flash Sweat, which apparently increased one's resistance to fire, meaning that Tirek would have to, at some point in the near future, come back with more souls for the two, since some of the spells they were selling might be useful in the near future.

Once he was done talking to Orbeck and Cornyx, after seeing what they had to offer him, Tirek headed to the side area of the shrine that Yoel called home, where he found the pilgrim standing in the same area that he had left him in and, just by looking at him for a few moments, he could tell that Yoel had recovered his strength once more, meaning that he was ready to draw out even more of his strength, if Tirek told him to do so.

"Ah, Champion of Ash, you've returned from your adventures," Yoel said, which was something that interested Tirek a little, that he seemed to be one of the few people in this area that seemed to care about him returning safe and sound, he had no idea why that was the case, but at the same time he did act more like a servant in some instances, "I have regained enough of my strength to draw out more of your true power... just say the word, my Lord, and I will do everything in my power to appease you."

"You may proceed." Tirek replied, though at the same time he liked the fact that Yoel was starting to refer to him more as a 'Lord' than a 'Champion of Ash', since most of the people in the shrine seemed to think that he would do the same thing that the rest of the Unkindled seemed to be doing, hunting down and slaying the Lords of Cinder to restore them to their thrones, when he just wanted their power for his own purpose.

Yoel nodded his head and directed his energies towards Tirek once more, where Tirek felt his power rising to another level that was beyond what he had been using earlier, now fifteen percent if his thoughts were correct, and his body was now around the sixty year old mark, meaning that he was able to move with a bit more speed and agility than what he had been using earlier. He still had a long way to go before he reached the thirty year mark, the youngest form he was able to take, which would come when he got half of his full power back, but this was far better than what he had started with and he wasn't about to stop anytime soon, not when they were so close to where two of his targets rested, which would really boost his power once the two Lords of Cinder were taken down. Yoel, seemingly happy with his progress, lowered his hand to indicate that he had done what he was able to do and that he would require some more rest before he was able to do the same thing again, allowing Tirek to move from where he had been standing and head back to the center of the shrine, where Sarana and Martok were waiting for him to return. Tirek didn't care much for the other people that came to the shrine every now and then, like the depressed warrior that had been sitting off to the side when he and Sarana first entered this place, so he turned his attention to what he was doing and quickly came to a stop as he neared both of his companions, who seemed ready to continue their quest. The only other thing they could do was talk to Ludleth, since he was one of the Lords of Cinder, but for now there wasn't much for them to do, so the three of them gathered by the bonfire and headed back to the Crucifixion Woods, or the bonfire that was outside the ruined fortress, as it was time for them to make their way to the Cathedral of the Deep.

It didn't take them long to return to the bonfire in question, so the moment they appeared in the Crucifixion Woods Tirek left the bonfire and headed into the ruined fort that was in front of them, where he and his companions started to engage all of the hollows they had fought the last time they had been here, the grave tenders and the sorcerers that didn't want them to progress through the area. Now that the three of them knew where each of their enemies were located, and how each of them fought when they were confronted, it wasn't all that hard for them to make their way through the first structure and cross the short stone bridge so they could take on the second building, which had more enemies for them to deal with and, if Tirek was right, would lead them to another powerful opponent. Tirek was positive that he was correct on the matter, as the room in question screamed that something like Vordt or the Greatwood would be in that area, and would have attacked them if they went too much further into the area, but all they could do now was fight their way to the area in question and see what was waiting for them when they reached the arch he had stopped at. This time around he walked through the arch when they finally reached the walkway that lead to it, allowing him, Sarana, and Martok to enter the area that he felt a powerful creature was in, to which they kept their eyes open as he looked for the enemy that had to be hiding from them.

As they did that, however, an area directly in front of them, in front of one of the still intact stone walls, was a quick movement as a robed figure appeared before them, where the robes seemed to flow around the area and made their new foe look larger than what he or she actually was, and they happened to be wearing a large hat on their head, one that just so happened to be even larger than the ones the other sorcerers had on their heads.

The sage, as that seemed to be what sort of enemy this was, held a crystal ball in its hands and appeared to be using that as the catalyst so it could cast spells at them, as the first thing it did was summon a floating crystalline object that was purple colored and appeared to be dangerous, to which the three of them separated from each other and prepared for a tough fight, if the other powerful creatures were any indication of what they should be expecting. Sarana, seeing the orb coming after her, baited it into hitting one of the stone pillars that were in the area, releasing a decent magical explosion that would have hurt if she had actually taken it head on, but while she was doing that the sage made sure to summon a set of five smaller orbs around its head, ones that lashed out at Martok when he got near their foe. That caused him to dodge the attack to the best of his ability, since he didn't want to get hit by that sort of attack, and while that happened Tirek raised his new staff and blasted the sage with a Heavy Soul Arrow, figuring that such a powerful attack would do some good, especially with his new level of power. What interested him was the fact that their foe, while taking a decent bit of damage from the attack, wasn't phased by the arrow as much as he had been hoping, so he switched to his flame and hurled a Fireball towards the sage, one that did do a decent amount of damage, more than the arrow had done, which told him that fire was the way to go for this guy. Sarana, of course, lashed out at the sage whenever an opening revealed itself to her, which meant that it was a good thing that Tirek and Martok were their foe's current targets at the moment, but she also had to be careful when the sage loosed a beam in her direction and almost hit her, where Tirek noticed that the attack left a trail of crystals in its wake.

He had to admit that this foe was unlike the others they had fought so far and that it provided its own challenge, but even as he thought about all of that the sage loosed a crystal bolt into the air and that caused a burst of them to rain down on the battlefield, forcing the three of them to move so they didn't get hit by any of the bolts, before they retaliated with their own attacks as Tirek loosed a Fireball into their foe's chest, where he was just now noticing that he was able to cast his spells a little quicker, either due to the latest ring or his new power, but he focused on the fight for now.

Eventually the sage sunk into the ground and disappeared, causing the three of them to stand their ground for a few moments as purple and clue colored crystals burst out of the ground, in random spots to be exact that missed all of them, before the sage appeared in another part of the area, forcing them to follow their foe and zero in on where it was located, while dodging any attacks that it sent at them. Once the sage was above ground again Martok rushed over to their foe and started attacking it, allowing Sarana and Tirek to focus on it as well and continue what they had been doing so far, while Tirek kept his eyes open for anything that might endanger them, since there was no telling what the sage would do once they backed it up against the wall and showed it that they were stronger than it was. When the sage took enough damage it sunk into the ground again and disappeared, but when the crystals burst out of the ground, to indicate that it was in the middle of moving to a new location, Martok wasn't the one that found it this time around, as Sarana located their foe the instant it revealed itself and lashed out with her weapon, cutting into their foe as Tirek made sure a Fireball slammed into its chest, weakening it even more than they had done so far. From there they had a useful strategy of sorts, just wait for the crystals to appear and then either Sarana or Martok would find out where their foe was going to appear next, leaving whoever was the furthest of the two to keep their eyes open for any dangers while Tirek joined the other in attacking their foe, no doubt surprising the sage with how effective they were as a team.

When the sage took enough damage from the three of them, however, it disappeared like it did the previous times and more crystals sprouted from the ground, though this time around more than one sage appeared a few seconds later, indicating that it was using a cloning spell of some kind to make sure they couldn't easily detect where it actually was, and there happened to be five of them in the area, four fakes and the real one. The trick, as Tirek soon realized, was that all of the fake sages had blue colored magic and the real one had purple colored magic, meaning all they had to do was focus on the ones that used purple attacks, though to be on the safe said Sarana made sure to cut down one or two of the fakes so that he and Martok could deal with the real sage. That disappointed Tirek a little, as he was sure that the sage had a lot more spells that could be used in this battle, even if it was forced to run away from each of them when it suffered a decent amount of damage, but it seemed to be of the opinion that fighting this way was the best way and that the spells they had seen it use so far were the only spells that it would be using for the rest of the fight, which meant they wouldn't have to keep an eye out for any significant changes to their foe's routine. As such they continued the pattern they had established and made sure to keep an eye open for anything that would force them into submission, or cause their deaths, but Tirek found that the sage did nothing new and that was just fine in his eyes, because their current plan of attack was good and this meant they could take down their foe without any nasty surprises.

In the end they dealt the finishing blow to their foe and the sage staggered backwards for a moment, where it seemed to burst into bits and disappeared before their eyes, to which Tirek watched as all three of them regained their embered state, gained the soul of another powerful individual, and acquired a number of souls that they could use to strengthen themselves, where a smile appeared on Tirek's face as they lit the new bonfire that appeared in this area.

"Good, we have crushed another powerful creature and opened the way forward," Tirek commented, to which he took a moment to sit by the bonfire, mostly to replenish the flasks that he had used during that fight, as most of his were of the Ashen variety to replenish his magicka when he ran out of power, and the reason he wasn't focusing on Estus Flasks was thanks to his companions, since they faced their foes head on while he stood at the back of the pack.

"That we did, and, if what Anri said is to be believed, the Cathedral of the Deep is ahead of us," Martok added, where he gestured to the structure they were closer to, while at the same time showing Tirek that he was paying attention to what he heard and that he could make his own decisions on things, even though he and Sarana knew that they could either proceed along the path they had opened or continue exploring the woods that were behind them.

"Before either of you ask, we're returning to the woods for a time, as I know there are some items we should collect for our quest," Tirek stated, because while he wanted to continue towards the Cathedral of the Deep, and hunt down one of the Lords of Cinder so he could steal the power they held, he knew that they hadn't fully explored the watery area of the woods, thanks to the Great Crabs that had been in their way for a time, and he was curious if they could find anything that they could use in the future.

Sarana seemed to consider what Tirek was saying and nodded her head, showing that she agreed with his idea to take a few moments to backtrack to the woods for a time, but before they walked down the path they had used to reach this area, and headed back to the woods, the three of them used the bonfire and returned to the shrine, as they now had a good deal of souls and wanted to spend them. As such it wasn't long before they reappeared in the area that the Fire Keeper was in and approached her, taking their turns in using their new souls to empower themselves further, since this would aid them in their quest and against the other enemies they would be facing soon enough, especially since they had no idea what to expect in the Cathedral of the Deep and Farron Keep. Once Tirek was done with what he needed to do he considered seeing if he had enough souls to purchase the remaining spells that Cornyx and Orbeck had to offer, only to come to the decision that he would wait until he had a few more souls so the pair didn't even consider laughing at him if he didn't have enough souls to afford the spells. The moment he came to that decision, however, he returned to where the bonfire was located and patiently waited for his companions to finish up what they were doing, though as he did so the one knight who seemed to be moping did make small talk, where Tirek simply nodded his head as the man talked, but the piece of information that he found interesting was that to gain access to the Abyss Watchers they would have to douse three flames in Farron Keep, something to keep an eye out for in the future.

The moment Sarana and Martok were done with the Fire Keeper, and approached the bonfire, Tirek got up and joined them near the fire, where the three of them used the magic of the coiled sword and teleported back to where the sage had been located, so they could see what sort of items they missed in the woods and if any of them were even useful to them, or if they were wasting their time by searching the rest of the area, to which they headed down the path that had brought them here and braced themselves for what was in front of them.

As they walked down the path that they had chosen to pursue, instead of focusing on the Cathedral of the Deep, the first thing they did was attack the pair of sorcerers that were in their way, who definitely weren't expecting an attack from behind and didn't even try to defend themselves until the first one was nearly dead, and by the time that happened it was too late for the pair to save themselves as the trio finished them off. The moment that was done Tirek and his companions faced the rest of the grave tenders that were in in the area around them, where they quickly killed all of the enemies that tried to stop them and approached the hole in the floor, which was when the three of them jumped down into the area that Tirek had found the spare sorcerer attire and his fourth ring in, though he was the first one to head down there and he blasted the cross hollow that was waiting for them. It didn't take him long to bring down the cross hollow and clear the way for Sarana and Martok to join him, which told him that his power was definitely stronger than it had been some time ago, something that was good in the grand scheme of things, and when his companions were with him again they moved out through the opening that was nearby and returned to the woods, where he found that the Great Crabs were still alive, meaning that they were linked to the bonfires, just like the rest of the enemies they fought. This time around Tirek didn't hesitate to wipe out the smaller crabs that were around him, allowing his companions to ambush the incoming Great Crab that was annoyed with him, to which the three of them brought down the first of the pair and then walked out to wait for the second one to come towards them, before they ambushed and killed the second one.

With the Great Crabs taken care of the trio were able to explore the area as much as they desired, where Tirek found a suit of armor that looked like it belonged to a fallen knight of some kind, though directly beyond that was a structure that seemed to be the way into Farron Keep, if the pair of beings, knights he guessed since they were wearing black metal armor, were anything to consider. Instead of messing with those warriors right away, since he knew they would have to be taken down at some point in time, Tirek continued towards the other side of the area that the woods contained, as there was another part of the area they hadn't explored yet and, thanks to taking out the Great Crabs, they could see what else the area had to offer them. As such they found another set of magical cloth armor resting on one of the large roots for one of the trees in the area, one that looked like they belonged to a conjurer or something, but what was rested next to it was a tome of some kind, a pyromancy tome to be exact, to which Tirek grinned for a moment as he stashed it inside his pack, because he was sure that Cornyx would enjoy reading this and offering him new spells. From there they continued across the water and approached the opening in the wall that interested them, as Tirek had seen the stone wall from afar and knew that it had to be important, though it was being guarded by a cross hollow and a few poison mushrooms, which were Tirek's name for the odd purple poison creatures that rested in the woods, but, thanks to their new level of power, it didn't take them long to take down the cross hollow and the few poison mushrooms that were near them.

Once that was done they walked into the door-like opening that was in front of them and discovered that they had two paths to choose from, one that lead to the right and one of the mature Crystal Lizards, while the one on the left would take them down to where a knight in intimidating black armor was standing, and happened to be carrying a greatsword by the looks of it. Unfortunately, as Sarana soon discovered, the door to their right was locked from this side, meaning that it could only be opened from the other side and would no doubt serve as a shortcut back into the Crucifixion Woods, even if Tirek was sure they wouldn't need to come back here once they progressed into Farron Keep, so all they could do was head to the path on their left and see what the knight was guarding. The knight waited for them to get close before even walking up the stairs that it seemed to be guarding, though when it neared them it raised its weapon and tried to smash them into the ground, where Martok raised his own greatsword and parried the incoming attack, allowing Sarana to slip by their foe and stab into his sides, as Tirek was sure it was male, while at the same time Tirek used his Fireballs to blast their new opponent, even if it seemed like it didn't do all that much to him at the moment. Sure enough the black knight was incredibly fast and very dangerous, that much Tirek could tell right off the bat as they started the fight and both of his companions had to move before the knight impaled them with his blade, but even then their foe seemed to have a hard time fighting against three opponents at the same time, so much so that they were able to bring down the knight in a few more moments and opened the way forward.

With the knight taken care of the trio were able to explore the rest of the area that they were in, where Tirek paused for a few moments and glanced out at the open area that was just beyond the structure he and his companions were in the middle of exploring, where he got a good look at Farron Keep, or the trees to be exact, but he did spot the three flames he had learned about, so he knew the knight wasn't lying... though his mood did sour a little when he noticed that he and his companions had found a dead end.

"So, was he guarding anything worthwhile, or was this a waste of time?" Tirek inquired, because when he paused for a few moments his companions had moved forward, to see if there was anything else in this area or if the black knight was just there to trick them, though when he faced Sarana and Martok again it looked like they might have found something in this area, or at least that's what he assumed since he couldn't see either of their faces.

"I found a set of armor that looks like it belonged to a mercenary, along with the weapons to go with it," Sarana said, where Tirek noticed a pair of scimitars in her hands, in the manner that indicated that she was likely going to put them in her pack and stick to her main weapons, as if she was looking for something better to use in the future, something that he couldn't fault her for since he had switched weapons when he found something better.

"And this was at the end of the path," Martok added, which was when he held out a square metal container, one that appeared to fit in the palm of his hand, where Tirek glanced at it and found that there was some sort of flame or coal in the center of the container, though since he wasn't familiar with this world he had no idea what was so special about the item, something that his companions would have to explain to him.

"What is it?" Tirek asked, something that was starting to get rather old, as he was getting tired of having to ask this over and over again when they found an item or weapon that he wasn't familiar with, even though he was sure that those words would be leaving his mouth many more times in the future, since they were still at the start of their journey and he suspected that he would find more strange things to ask about.

"A Coal, used by blacksmiths to infuse weapons with special gems," Sarana explained, though she was expecting this sort of thing to come up and had an idea of what to say so she could answer Tirek's question on the matter, to which she glanced out at Farron Keep for a moment as she considered where they had found the Coal, "and, based on where we are at the moment, I would have to guess that this might have been used to forge the weapons of the Abyss Watchers... or the weapons of those that protect them, if nothing else."

"I see. So we should take it back to our blacksmith and give it to him." Tirek said, because it was sounding like if they gave the blacksmith this item he would be able to empower their weapons in some manner, even if he wasn't familiar with the entire process, to which Sarana nodded her head and caused him to take the Coal so he could put it inside his pack for now, giving them another item to hand over when they returned to the shrine, "Well, now that we've take the time to see what else the Crucifixion Woods had to offer, and picked up some rather interesting items, I think its time we headed back to where the sage was located and make our way to the Cathedral of the Deep, since we can always come back here later and take out the knights guarding the way to Farron Keep."

Sarana and Martok nodded their heads in agreement, showing that they were just fine with what he was saying, which was when the three of them returned to the watery area of the woods and started to make their way back to the structure that held the path that would allow them to access the Cathedral of the Deep, where Aldrich was supposed to be resting at the moment, but after walking by a tree he stopped and turned his head for a second, as he felt an odd disturbance in the air and wanted to see what it was.

"What's wrong?" Martok asked, though at the same time he gripped the handle of his weapon for a moment and cast his gaze out at the area that was around where they were standing, seeing the various pike hollows that they had ignored this time around, making him wonder why they had stopped in the first place, while Sarana silently scanned the trees as well, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"I felt a disturbance of some kind, like someone was intruding on our world." Tirek replied, which was odd when he briefly considered the other colorful beings they had come across during their quest to find the Lords of Cinder, as none of them had been accompanied by this sort of feeling, hence the reason he stopped and braced himself, so he could give his companions some warning before something new attacked them.

"Shit, that means someone has invaded our world," Sarana stated, something that instantly told Martok why they had stopped and what he needed to do, as he lifted his greatsword and readied himself for the battle that was coming towards them, since they had no idea which direction the intruders were coming from, before Sarana did the same as she turned to glance at Tirek for a moment, "Listen, each of the Unkindled has their own version of the world that we live in, so that sad knight that was talking to you has one and Anri likely has one that she calls Horace to, and there are fissures between these worlds that allow spirits, be they helpful white phantoms or aggressive red spirits, to access different worlds, either to help someone out or hinder them to the point where that world crumples to nothingness... but, based on what you just said, I'm going to guess we're dealing with Invaders."

"Wonderful, so the other Unkindled don't want competition in the race to find and deliver the missing Lords of Cinder to their thrones." Tirek remarked, though he suspected that some of the Unkindled were killers at heart and this gave all of them the chance to fulfill their dreams, by chasing down and murdering those who lived in the worlds they invaded, but he made a note to ask Sarana about this later, since he needed to know more about the other worlds and what he was just now discovering, before she held up a hand to indicate no more talking for a time.

A few moments ticked by and the trio stood there in silence, observing the area they were in as Tirek felt a few more changes to the air, two to be exact, meaning that if what Sarana said was to be believed, and he had every reason to trust what she had said thanks to what they had been through so far, they were being invaded by three spirits and that meant they were here to ruin their day. Based on the fact that the three of them hadn't been invaded until this point meant that one needed to be in an embered state to receive the aggressive spirits, like a beacon of sorts for whatever magic allowed them to seek out the other worlds, something that he would have to get answers to once this battle was over, since he was sure Sarana had more information to tell him. His thoughts came to a stop as he spotted two figures off in the distance, on the hill that would allow them to access the watery area that the three of them were standing in, though what he quickly found out was that neither of the Invaders were red colored, like Sarana had said, rather they were blue colored and had a red tint to their bodies, meaning there had to be something special about them. One of the Invaders was wearing the armor of the knights that were patrolling Lothric Castle, as in the ones in front of the church that Emma had been resting inside, and had both the spear and the large shield that one of them had been carrying, while the other seemed to be a knight that was wearing the same armor that they found on the ground not too long ago, the fallen knight set as Tirek had called it at the time, and his weapon was an interesting looking katana.

Just as Tirek started to wonder if there even was a third Invader, like the feelings suggested there were, he glanced to their right and found a third blue colored and red tinted spirit standing by another tree, this one wearing some interesting armor that seemed to be made out of leather and was dyed to be black, or at least that was what he assumed since it was hard to tell with the color of her spirit, and the only reason he knew it was female was because she wasn't wearing a helm over her head, revealing her short light brown hair... though her weapon, as it turned out, was the scythe that they had picked up back in the Undead Settlement.

The moment his took his eyes off the other two Invaders, even if it was for a few moments to see what the third one looked like, the pair rushed down the hill and raced towards the area that he, Sarana, and Martok were standing in, which was the instant that the three of them raised their weapons and prepared to defend themselves against the Invaders that had found them. Tirek waited for a moment and then rolled to the side as the scythe lady lashed out at him, while at the same time Sarana dodged the incoming spear that was coming her way and Martok stopped the katana with his weapon, showing the Invaders that they weren't to be underestimated and that they could hold their own on the battlefield, even if it was possible that these guys might be stronger in some aspects. Sure enough Tirek's foe was much quicker than he had originally thought, because when he threw a Fireball at her, intending for it to blow up in her face and knock her into the water so he could cut her down, she avoided the spell will a forward roll, going under the attack and avoided making any connections with it, before she rolled onto her feet and lashed out with her scythe, where Tirek barely had enough time to move out of the way as the curved blade of the weapon cut into his chest. Fortunately he had one or two Estus Flasks that he could use to replenish his health, so he managed to get away from the lady and quickly downed one of them to heal his wound, which disappeared before his eyes as he turned around and hurled a pair of Fireballs at his foe, including a few Soul Arrows when he was able, but what was annoying was that she seemed to dance around his spells with the grace of a dancer, before she went on the offensive once more.

Based on what he could see neither of his companions seemed to be having trouble with their opponents, even if they were more used to this lifestyle than he was, but before he could really do anything his foe rushed at him again and swung her scythe at him some more, forcing him to take a few steps back as she seemed to deliberately miss several attacks in a row, only for him to trip over a small angry crab that had come looking for revenge, allowing the lady to swing her scythe and cut right through his body, where his world faded once more as he crashed into the water.