Chapter 51
Back on the balcony of the Duke’s Archives, some much needed post-emotional sentiment was being shared between teacher and student. After airing a fair portion of their troubles, admitting their faults and sins to each other, Seath and his daughter Priscilla seemed to have reached a state of acceptance of who they were, how both had failed each other, and yet did not blame each other for their mistakes. Though the question of where they went from here still hung on the air, it did not weigh upon their minds as heavily as before.
Now, as Priscilla lay napping in her father’s arms, exhausted from both the battle with Gwyndolin and the emotional impact of being reunited with her father, Seath for once looked out at the looming darkness of night, and did not see it as a harbinger of doom. The bonfire before him still burned, as did his Lord Soul Fragment, he had not been rejected by the one he felt so sure would abhor him for what he had done to destroy Lordran… indeed, it seemed tonight there flickered within him an ember of what could possibly be hope, that he may yet not lose everything as he had before.
Such was why he now felt the need to confer with the one who made such a miracle possible, the tiny alicorn now sitting in his palm, perhaps one of the greatest examples he’d yet encountered of how even the smallest of souls could still make the biggest of differences.
“What dost thou wish of me now, of us, Twilight Sparkle, student of mine?” He asked, getting a slightly confused cock of the alicorn’s head.
“What do you mean?” She asked. Seath nodded to Priscilla while smoothing out a few stray strands of her snow white hair.
“All this hath been made possible only due to thee. Had thou not struck me down and ceased mine torture of the Chosen Undead in Anor Londo, never may I have learned my daughter lives. Had thou not insisted upon mine reuniting with Gwynevere, we may never have learned of Gwyndolin’s treachery. If the flames of thine soul burned as the Great Lord’s fire burns, harsher and merciless, without thine gentle, forgiving warmth… I know we would not be here now. Thine friends and thee hath suffered as I hath suffered, yet thou hath seen to it all is not entirely in vain.”
Twilight blushed as Seath moved to stroke her own mane now, again making her tremble at how he could so easily crush her like a bug, yet she sensed she was in no danger.
“From here, though, I know not how to proceed. The path ahead is as cloaked in darkness as the Abyss itself, yet to halt now would bring greater disaster than to go onward.” The white dragon lamented. “Mine student thou may be, but in these affairs, I sense thou may teach me just as well.”
Twilight snorted nervously, reaching to rub a hoof behind her head.
“I hope I don’t crush your spirits by admitting I’ve been mostly winging it since we’ve been here. Frankly, I’m even more scared about what to do next.” She admitted before taking a deep breath. “All I know for sure is we need to be as prepared as we can, both in knowledge, and in allies. Even with all I’ve learned over the past few months, I suspect there’s still entire realms of information among your shelves waiting for us to study. You want me to know what to do? Then teach me the spells, the tools, and whatever else I’ll need to help you. It’s high time we got back to hitting the books anyway.”
Seath nodded.
“It shall be done. Indeed, there is still much for thee to learn about the majesty of sorcery.” He said. Twilight smiled and leaned up to gently kiss the dragon on the lips in gratitude.
“We also have to make sure our friends and allies are likewise as prepared as can be, and a good place to start would be with that giant blacksmith.” The alicorn continued. “You said the crystal ember he was seeking is still somewhere in the archives. Do you have any idea where?”
Seath rolled his eyes and snorted dismissively.
“Last I saw t’was when I ordered it be moved from my study to elsewhere, where ne’er again it would taint my sanctum with its failure. The channelers shalt be more than happy to show thee its location.” He replied. Twilight nodded and spread her wings.
“I’ll go retrieve it and give it to him, then. Let you and your daughter have a little more time together while the calm lasts. I think you’ve both earned that much, at least.” She replied before flying into the inner sanctums of the archives. Seath let out a soft sigh as he looked down at Priscilla, watching her curl up tighter, as if afraid something would steal her away from her father again.
“Pray may it last at all...” Seath muttered verbosely.
***
“The crystal ember? Now there’s a surprise.” The six eyed sorcerer commented as he guided Twilight down one of the library’s grand halls. “Years ago, the Grand Duke finished his work on the large magic ember, and stated he wanted nothing more to do with its predecessor, so we stored it here, in one of the wings he never ventures to.”
Twilight nodded as she continued to drink in the sheer scale of her environment, how the shelves and cases of books seemed to continue on without end. By all accounts, this should indeed have been a dream come true, yet the more Twilight saw of her teacher’s domain, the more she felt something was off about it...
“By any chance, did Seath state what exactly he felt was wrong with his effort?” She asked. The channeler just shrugged.
“He did not, only that it was a failure and he wished to see no more of it. We had it appraised by a few of the smiths in Anor Londo, and they were likewise as confused as we were. By all accounts, it’s a masterpiece of sorcery. Perfect and ready for use.” The human replied. Twilight spread her wings and flew up to one of the higher shelves. She ran her hoof along the books, coming away with not a single speck of dirt or dust.
“Apparently not perfect enough for him, though...” She commented while checking another case of books. Everywhere she looked, the place was so orderly and clean it was unreal. Not even she and Spike, on a good day with all the time in the world, had ever managed to get their library back home as clean as this, and Faust knew they’d tried!
“Indeed. The Grand Duke has always held unusually high standards, but as the Grandfather of Sorcery, that is to be expected. If he deems something doesn’t measure up, we trust his judgement that it is indeed flawed in some manner.” The channeler replied, making Twilight feel that little bit more uneasy.
“Yeah… I can imagine.” She replied, looking further up and noticed the tell tale sparkle of crystal fragments lining the base of the ceiling, another sign of when Seath had lost his temper over something. Normally, she’d have said the white dragon was trying to achieve the impossible… except, then she thought over the time she’d tried analysing the crystal her castle was made of to see if she could replicate it. For two solid weeks, she’d tried and tried, yet always there was something off about the sample she conjured up, some face that didn’t look right, or a spot where the shine was just slightly off. It hadn’t been the first time she’d started a project and then given up on it when she couldn’t produce the results she thought she should obtain, either.
Twilight turned around, taking in the scope of the hall again. If she’d had a similar domain, one where she could accumulate and hoard all this knowledge, and use it for however she wished… how different might it look?
Would it look different at all?
“Just through here.” The channeler said, breaking Twilight out of her thoughts. She turned around and saw the six eyed sorcerer pointing through a doorway. Following him into a small study area, the alicorn noticed several books had been piled up on the floor, possibly a sign someone had recently been using the room, though now it looked deserted.
“Right here, in the darkest corner… yes, here it is.” The channeler approached a chest hidden behind several of the stacked books. “Just step back for a moment while I make sure...”
Twilight landed and cocked an eyebrow as the sorcerer checked the chain lying beside the chest, then stabbed the wooden lid hard with his trident. When this produced no discernible result, the channeler relaxed and proceeded to open the container.
He then just as quickly jumped back and stiffened up again, holding his weapon in a defensive position.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Twilight ran forward, blinking in shock upon seeing the chest’s empty interior.
“It… It’s gone!” The channeler declared. “But… yes, I’m sure this is where the crystal ember was stored!”
“Indeed.” A new voice quietly stated. “It was.”
Both Twilight and the channeler whipped around, to be met with a sudden rush of brilliant white energy from the shadows of the room. It promptly enveloped the two, giving them cause to cry in pain as crystal suddenly erupted from multiple parts on their bodies.
“While smithing may not be my forte, the construction of such a marvel proved quite inspiring, giving me just the right idea to evolve my own skills.” The voice replied as both pony and human collapsed to the floor, writhing in agony until their bodies were immobilised by the jagged crystal. “And thanks to you, I have the perfect subjects to test out the new marvels I was able to concoct with those spells. Heh heh, my time here has been well spent, indeed!”
A second rush of energy, toned with the blue aura of sorcery, shot out from the darkness, hitting the channeler dead on and exploding him into a mess of shattered glassy fragments. Twilight felt nausea mingle with the pain wracking her body, her mind slipping as it proved too much for her to bear.
“And now, we shall see if those skills are suitable towards testing a few more theories of mine, to see if you, Miss Twilight Sparkle, are who you and the Grand Duke claim you are, or indeed if you are actually whom I believe you to be.”
Twilight made to cry again as spires erupted from the flesh of her neck. Unfortunately, they proved too quick in growing to cover her mouth and gag her as a shape stepped forward, one graced by a familiar enormous black conical hat.
“Are you truly more worthy a sorcerer than I? We shall find out.” Logan seethed while making a gesture to several more shapes emerging from the darkness. “Take her to the dungeon and tie her to the bonfire. It’s time to see what kind of soul burns in this equine’s fetid carcass.”
***
Across the skies of Oolacile, a dark shadow searched. Though the terrain around him looked unchanged, that is to say it was as rife with monstrosities, and the ever encroaching blackness of the Abyss as dark as ever, something was still off. There was an echo on the wind, one the shadow knew it had never heard previously. Little more than a faint whisper, it spoke volumes to the one capable of hearing it, telling that the events it had set in motion were reaching out further across time and space. That much, it knew, was inevitable, and indeed it had spent many centuries planning for such, yet still the cry of new presences answering to the disruption of events had still hit with the same shock of hearing a bell ring for the first time in uncountable years.
The shadow cast itself over one of the larger buildings, touching down and letting itself get lost in its thoughts for a moment. The need to complete its plans and escape this decaying realm of existence was growing more urgent with every passing second, and yet it could do nothing until Manus had fulfilled his role.
Roof tiles crumbled under the tense grinding of giant, saber like talons. It knew Manus was hiding something. As primordial and warped that abomination had become, he had not been totally robbed of his reason, or his intelligence.
He was oddly a lot like Seath in that way...
The talons curled themselves into a fist and drove themselves into the roof, punching a massive hole straight into the floor underneath. Much like Seath, Manus would only have agreed to lend his aid if doing so progressed his own plan, the plan he’d concocted ever since he found his own dark soul in the First Flame. Much as the shadow knew he could end that decrepit pygmy’s life in an instant if needed, the threat of violence had not been what had ultimately ensured Manus’ cooperation. Both entities were working towards their own goals here, and annoyingly, despite having years to ponder, the shadow could not fathom what its partner in crime ultimately intended… nor whether it would interfere with its own intent...
The shadow broke from its musings upon hearing the distant sounds of voices, of minds far too sane to be part of Oolacile’s mutated population. It took off from the roof and flew towards the horizon, telling itself now was not the time to be getting suspicious. Manus had done his part in getting as many of the Lord Souls to Equestria as he could manage, and had braved the ponies’ wrath to rescue Sombra. Whatever his ultimate intent was, the pygmy wasn’t likely to backstab him now. Best to focus on more immediate issues, like who else had answered the call of its interference in the flow of events.
And not too soon either… for as it turned its gaze to the ground, it saw something it could never have expected to see at this point.
“So lightning worked the best on Manus when he invaded your world?” Ciaran queried.
“More so than any of our other weapons did. Even if it only managed to slow him down, it proved he’s at least weak to something.” Celestia replied, much to the assassin’s dismay.
“And thus the timing of his emergence here in Oolacile becomes even more tragic. Had this happened before our Great Lord left to link the fire… when he could have brought down upon the Abyss the same mighty sunlight bolts that destroyed the Everlasting Dragons… who knows what tragedy could have been averted?” Ciaran sighed. Celestia paused and turned to regard the human in sympathy.
“All hope isn’t yet lost. Clearly, some force at work here wants us to try and help you, otherwise, why would the bonfire have sent me here instead of to Twilight’s location?” Celestia pointedly asked. “Seath told me your Great Lord Gwyn was blessed with an affinity for sunlight. Well, I bear a similar power, blessed upon me as a diarch of Equestria.”
Ciaran paused as two bloat headed monstrosities dragged themselves out of a building along the path the two stood on. Celestia used them as a demonstration, igniting her horn and aiming it at the sun overhead. To her companion’s amazement, a trickle of solar energy seemed to stretch down from the burning star, flowing into Celestia’s horn and allowing her to direct it at the approaching enemies, vaporising them into ashes.
“Granted, it’s not so easy to do that when I’m not outside, but still, you want a sunlight wielder on your side, you’ve got one!” The white alicorn said proudly, before adding. “Whether that’s a coincidence or not is another matter to be investigated once we’re done here.”
Ciaran looked at the ashen remains of the bloatheads, idly reaching up to twirl a lock of her golden hair around her finger.
“Regardless, there is something I found that might be useful to you.” The assassin began hunting in her pockets. “It was gifted to Artorias as a reward for facing the Abyss in New Londo. An ancient treasure he brought with him here to defend against the dark… yet… apparently lost after he arrived. I found it lying in a house while retracing his steps.”
Ciaran slowly pulled out a sparkling silver pendant, quite elegant in craftsmanship, and polished so finely it seemed to glow in the light of the sun.
“It, like you and the Great Lord, is imbued with the purity of light. Against the darkness, and Manus, any advantage could help you to...”
Ciaran never got to finish her sentence, on account of a low, murderous growl suddenly shattering the air around her and Celestia. Both souls looked up to see the great shadow explode out of the sky, enveloping them in its dark expanse.
Celestia made to cast a barrier around her and Ciaran. The shadow proved too fast for her to get it up in time. As the massive beast smashed into the grounding, flattening several buildings under its body, Celestia was sent flying in one direction, and Ciaran was thrown in another.
“Yea… any advantage, to thee who hath been amidst the worst of thorns, pricking and poisoning souls with her venom for millennia and beyond.” A dark and deathly cold voice seethed. “Truly, the fates doth seek to jest with this action, delivering thee unto this accursed realm when I hath prepared for so long to face thee in thine own kingdom.”
Celestia hit the ground hard, tumbling and rolling for several feet due to the reverberations from this new presence’s impact. As she finally came to a stop, she scrambled to get back on her hooves, only for something huge, black, and scaley to slam itself down on top of her, pinning her flat. She struggled, using all her strength to fight against the weight, until she felt a razor sharp talon press itself to her throat, coaxing her to lie still, lest she give herself an on the spot tracheotomy. The beast grabbed her helmet and tore it off, allowing the alicorn to lay her eyes upon something straight out of a nightmare.
Scales as black as the deepest pit in Tartarus covered a visage defined by angles as unnaturally sharp as the talons threatening to tear open Celestia’s barrel. A long thin muzzle, enough to be practically lance like lead up into the recognisable features of a dragon, regally crowned by two high arching horns, and three massive spikes on each cheek. In the center of this horrifying face sat what was either a great red jewel, or a single, fiery eye. Whatever it was, it blazed at Celestia with the same ferocity as she remembered the flames of the Izalith Chaos Bug doing, and pretty much confirmed this dragon was likely just as deadly.
“Finally we are met, Princess Celestia, noble enemy and jailer of mine son! I am he whom even Anor Londo dared not provoke, an ancient presence thou hast never known, but always feared.” The dragon leaned down to where his pointed nose was on the cusp of impaling Celestia’s muzzle, his blood red gaze burning through her soul with its angry red glare. “Thou may call me the Black Dragon, Kalameet!”
Phew! Yet again I find myself with one giant piece that desperately needed to be cut down for the sake of pacing. Now that we're past all the second storylines and emotional feels, it's time for some cliffhangers again, and boy did I have a lot of them when I was done typing this up (four in total).
Again I give thanks to my editor Lunarstallion for then reading through the lot and sensibly pointing out that maybe that was a bit too much for one chapter, and we might want to just cut it down to the most critical plot points.
Thus, here we are. Finally Logan has officially gone off the deep end, and the big bad of the series at last reveals himself. I pretty much figured it was about time since most folk have already deduced who's been machinating events so there was no more point in prolonging the mystery...even though I'm technically only revealing part of the character's ultimate significance at present.
Then again, most of you have probably figured out the other part too by this point so perhaps I should stop pretending to be so enigmatic...
Yeah I'll just be quiet and let you all read now.
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Wow, it took longer than I expected for Logan to go off the deep-end. Well, he ain't naked yet, so there's still time.
7940271 Yeah I honestly feel bad it took so long, but at the same time I guess you could say it's more realistic as he's had more time to seethe, stew, come up with a plan to 'correct' what he sees as a problem and then let the opportunity to put it into practice come to him.
7940271 Yeah... it was really only a matter of time I guess, just hope Griggs doesn't go hollow too, but he seems to be more levelheaded than Logan.
Double cliff hangar.
Well we all knew it was coming, but even so, DAMN IT Logan.
And "Kalameet" as finally made his presence know. At least to the secondary group.
I think I understand why Seath consider the crystal ember a failure. Sure the process work and you can upgrade your weapons into crystal, but essentially it's worthless.
The weapon upgrade is sure more powerful, but its durability is considerably weaken and it is unrepairable. Plus when you finally get to this ember you already have better weaponry, unless you speed run the game, and have better means to upgrade. Also this upgrade is more beneficial with the weak weapons you find first, but there again it's worthless cause you must spent resources and souls to upgrade them first to +10 and for ultimately be wasted since as I said, crystal weapons' durability are terrible.
In the end you're better using the crystal weapons you find in chests, loots, or simply buy. But still even so, I barely saw people use them outside of speed runs or low level runs.
7940490 Yeah that was pretty much my own logic for why Seath doesn't think too highly of the crystal ember. Shame really given how happy the giant blacksmith seems when you hand it over.
Don't fret too much about Logan though. He's only serving his purpose in the grand scheme of things.
7940490 at least they can be buffed with miracles and resines x'D
7940555 giaaaaaaaaaant!!!!
I'm crying for his fate in DaS3
7941197 Trust me, you're not alone.
I wonder if Kalameets son is free in celestia's realm, and he just doesn't yet know it?
7941421 If he isn't, he will be soon enough. Kalameet is planning on it!
7941194
They still can. I thought it was revoked in the latest patch.
Oh well, it doesn't change that must my view on them. Even the guy who hold the all boss speed run record (I think he still does.) used it only once or twice.
Crystal weapons are only.usable.in top tier pvp and with mules or save scumming. For a normal player they are worthless.
Welp, that´s one princess down folks.
Also, a friggen cliffhanger! *grumbles* Well, might as well use the time to level up my Ashen One until the grand finale of the Souls series comes out in march.
7942623
I have to ponder on that, actually. Yes March will mark the end of the Dark Souls saga but should it be the end of the souls franchise period? Meaning no Bloodborne 2 or other spiritual successor?
My friend and I were discussing Nioh and some of the other similar games that are following the formulae and we have to wonder if there's still more potential left.
7942670
There is potencial to be sure and I am positve that there will be similar games in the future, even though propably console exclusive again*grumbles some more*.
On a different note, I so hope we either will encounter the Furtive Pygmie in the Ringed City (if he not really have become Manus, that is) or the Dark Soul itself as ultimate bosses. Would be a fitting ending to the Dark Souls saga imo, to end everything with that which begun everything. I´m so fluffing hyped!
7942670
7942713
it is not the end
Dark Souls 1 is getting recreated to include everything that was cut, kindof like including the Silmarillion in a reprint of the LOTR series.
A lot of lord will be in it.
Ok, while I figured outt the other part already, I was not expecting Kalameet to be the big bad.
7943005
Do you have a link or source for this?
Oh buck it's kalameet I did not see that coming :) o be honest in the game there is more or less no real lore for kalameet so I like what you are doing
Trixie is using miracles , Twilight is using sorceries...so Rarity should logically use Pyromancies.
I could easily see her becoming a Chaos Servent because :
1 : Their chief is a "Fair Lady"
2 : Their chief is a very generous and kind being who sacrificed herself.
3 : I could see Rarity wanting to help a "little sister" of sort.
4 : Rarity looking past her sickening appearance would be interesting.
...I just hope you aren't going to hurt my Fair Lady
7943361 I guess it's just a minor flaw in an otherwise (so far) great story.
7949253
While my rule of thumb is no one in this series has plot protection, not even the covenant leaders, I can assure you I'm listening very carefully to my audience for which of the cast deserves mercy.
I don't wish to incite a lynching mob to break down my front door because I killed the wrong NPC after all.
7948255 There's no real lore in Dark Souls for Kalameet yes, but if you look at it from a more meta perspective, and reference a few other FROM Software games, you'll find there's actually quite a bit of lore surrounding him.
Okay so Logan is going to try to burn Twilight to feed the flame...Logan you dunce, do you not clearly see that she's a protagonist. This doesn't end well for you >.<. Even if plot armour fails and you perma-kill Twilight, you're only ensuring your death is going to be so much more gruesome. As the Demoman from Team Fortress 2 would put it 'Oh they're going to have to glue you back together. IN HELL!"
Kalameet, one of the most terrifying optional bosses ever. Glad to see Celestia isn't getting any breaks from the hostile insanity of this world XP. Any plans to introduce Sinh the Slumbering Dragon from the sequel game, since he should be around, just sleeping? Or maybe The Storm King and the Nameless King? from Dark Souls 3?
7954842 Logan isn't trying to feed the fire with Twilight's soul, he's copying Seath's trick of binding her to the bonfire in the prison cell that you can't warp from so he needn't worry about her going anywhere while he does...well...whatever he intends for the poor pony.
As always I will try to fit who the plot will allow for NPCs. If I feel they can serve a significant role then yes they'll be included.
Hmmm, thinking back to Trixie + Pinkie in the catacombs... have we even seen our Trusty friend Patches yet? Will he be making an appearance?
Or did he die, killed by the chosen undead.
7978885 You'll find out in the next chapter. Stay tuned.
EDIT: And here's your answer! Chapter 52
7980937
This should be good! Also gosh, isn't Seath running out of Channelers yet? I mean, so many have died...
7981304 Good thing they keep coming back like all normal enemies whenever you use the bonfire.
7954842
If you ask me, I'd suggest the ancient 'dragon', it's not too far into the game, plus, he can actually 'speak', if you count a highly distorted, broken, echoey and divine version of English as speaking.
7952056
Game of thrones anybody?