• Published 3rd Oct 2020
  • 981 Views, 95 Comments

Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power - Blackdrag-rose



Tirek awakens to find himself in a state of undeath, in a foreign land, and must use everything at his disposal to survive the dangers that await him.

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The First Lord of Cinder

Upon returning to the bonfire that was resting near the Old Wolf, and taking a moment to rest so they could replenish their supplies, Tirek, Sarana, and Martok returned to the shrine so they could empower themselves with the souls they had picked up since the last time they had come here, along with any Estus Shards and Undead Bone Shards that they might have found in Farron Keep. Tirek would have continued to plunder the other worlds and slay more of the Unkindled, stealing their souls and their powers, if they were a sorcerer like some of them had been, but after being killed by the same scythe lady his mood was ruined and he didn't want to waste time, especially since they were so close to the first of the three Lords of Cinder that had abandoned their thrones. They were the real targets in his quest, both because of their power and due to the fact that they would lead the way to Prince Lothric, the fourth and final missing Lord, and with all five of them returned to their thrones something interesting would happen, of that he was certain, and by that point he was going to be back at the peak of his power. The challenge was getting to that point and surviving everything this land threw at him, as there was no telling what he and his companions would have to face in the future, but he was sure that Sarana had learned her lesson and would tell him about places and creatures when they spotted them or discovered them, instead of waiting for a couple of seconds to do that.

It wasn't long before they finished what they were doing in the shrine and returned to the bonfire, even though Tirek made sure to grab a chime from the Handmaiden, which allowed them to teleport back to the ruins that was right outside the large stone door that they had opened with the extinguishing of the three flames that were scattered throughout the swamp, the one place Tirek disliked with all his heart right now, as they could move forward at long last.

Once they returned to the bonfire in question, and ignored the pack of Ghru that were resting on the bridge behind them, Tirek walked down the ramp that was in front of them and was joined by Sarana and Martok, where they jumped over to the path they had unlocked and made sure their weapons were at the ready, as there was no telling what they might discover next. The first thing they discovered was a row of weapons on either of side of, forming a path that looked like it might lead them to their destination, where Tirek discovered that the weapons were mostly swords and there were a few spears embedded in the ground, making him wonder if the Undead that joined the Abyss Watchers discarded their old weapons in favor of new ones, but ultimately decided that he didn't care. After that they discovered two paths for them to take, one that seemed to be the main path and one that seemed to be a side path, so Sarana headed up the side path as Tirek and Martok moved along the other one, where they quickly spotted some of the crow hollows that they had seen on the Road of Sacrifices, except they were really docile this time around. Of course that was when they spotted one of the sorcerer crow hollows, one that would incite the others into attacking them if it was given enough time to do so, but even as they thought about that Sarana appeared behind the sorcerer and sliced its neck open, before killing it without even giving it a chance to fight back, which was just fine with Tirek. As soon as that was done with that she jumped down into the area that Tirek and Martok were in, to which the three of them continued to follow the path as it brought them even higher into the area that they were walking through, only for Sarana to cause them to stop for a few seconds, when she spotted something that might complicate things.

Tirek glanced at the area Sarana was looking at and found that there was a humanoid creature slowly marching up the hill they were walking on, who didn't seem to know they were even behind it, but the being was wearing dark armor over its body, armor that looked like it might crumple at any moment, and it seemed to be incredibly dangerous, or that was what he was assuming, based on Sarana's movements.

"What is that thing?" Tirek asked, though they patiently waited for the being to walk forward, which was around the time that it rushed forward and started attacking a group of Ghru that were between it and the building that they were heading towards, but even as that happened he found a building to their right and headed towards it as slowly as he could, mostly since Sarana might be worried about something, but he was sure that they had seen a creature like this earlier and his companion hadn't said anything about it.

"A Darkwraith, and he's not alone." Sarana replied, where she pointed further along the path that they would have to walk up at some point in the very near future, revealing a second being, in identical armor, slaying a few Ghru while the other one caught up to him, so they could tackle their foes at the same time, "They were once knights to the Four Kings, a long time ago anyway, and now they're known as the oldest and the deadliest of invaders, supposedly invading the worlds of the Undead to steal the humanity from their targets, or just to kill whoever they wish. Basically they are great warriors and shouldn't be taken likely... the one we fought earlier was nothing compared to these two, so we might have a slight problem, since I'm positive the Abyss Watchers are inside that building."

"Good news, we have a bonfire." Martok commented, as while he knew that Tirek was interested in the Darkwraiths, and that Sarana was fine giving him the information he was after right now, he had found a bonfire inside the ruins that were to the right of the hill they had walked up, and it was a number of steps away from the opening, so the pair of beings wouldn't come charging at them if they rested at the bonfire.

To Tirek that was good news, as it meant that they didn't need to bother with running through the swamp or dealing with the crow hollows that were on the path leading to this area, so the first thing they did was light it, as the magic of the bonfire would remember that the three of them had been here and would revive them in this area, just in case the Abyss Watchers were stronger than they realized and were slain after the battle started. Once that was done they made sure all of their gear was in order, especially Tirek since he was adding a chime to his arsenal, since he needed that to cast his new Lightning Spear spell, but it wasn't long before he nodded his head and they stepped outside, where they started to walk up the path that would take them to the door of the building that their targets were inside. The Ghru, as the group found out, had put up a good fight, but in the end they were no match for the Darkwraiths and had been slain by the attackers, who were now standing some distance in front of the structure's only door, looking like they were ready to slay anyone and everyone that tried to approach the building, which meant that they would have to fight the pair before they could even face the Abyss Watchers. Of course something interesting happened as Tirek approached them, even though he was ready for a fight, as the pair of Darkwraiths looked at him for a moment and then, instead of rushing forward to do battle with him and his companions, they actually walked by where he was standing and headed down the hill, like they didn't care to fight him, or there could have been another reason, but he considered themselves lucky as he turned towards the door that was in front of him and his companions.

If what they had heard was to be believed the Abyss Watchers were on the other side of this door, and they could very well be since Tirek could hear the sounds of someone fighting inside the building, though as he did that Sarana walked off to the side and tapped a sign that was on the ground, where a man that was wearing black armor, leather of some kind, and had a hat on his head, appeared as one of the white phantoms he had heard about.

"Gotthard, he's an acquaintance of mine and his skill will be useful in taking out the Abyss Watchers," Sarana stated, where Tirek had to wonder if he was one of the Black Hand members that Sarana had ever so briefly talked about, despite the fact that she had said nothing about them and what they did, but he remained silent as Sarana made sure that their new ally knew that he could trust Tirek.

Instead of saying anything to that, other than nodding his head in acknowledgement, Tirek opened the door that was in front of them and they invaded the area that the Abyss Watchers should be in, where he came to a stop as he noticed a number of dead bodies resting all over the middle of the chamber that they were walking into, all dressed like the scythe lady, even though they were wearing a pointed helm of some kind. A trail of blood lead the way to a pair of Watchers that were in the middle of fighting each other, among the bodies of their fallen comrades, meaning they were either fighting to pass the time or some of them had gone totally insane and that was why most of them were dead, and if they were like all of the other creatures he had seen so far they would revive themselves in no time. Not a few moments later the fight that was going on came to a stop as one of the Watchers staggered the other one and drove his large blade, which rested in his right hand, straight into the chest of his comrade, who seemingly died as that happened, before the Watcher pulled his blade back and seemed to focus on something else, which was the moment that he turned towards them and glared at the area they were standing in. Based on the shape of the helm that he was wearing it was hard to see his eyes, or the rest of his face, but even as that happened he turned towards them and raised his right hand so that the tip of his blade was pointed at them, like he was issuing them a challenge or something, while moving his left hand, which held a small dagger of some kind, so that the blade of the smaller weapon rested near the side of his arm.

The Watcher rushed towards them as soon as he used his gesture, barely giving them the time to move, but they were able to get away from the area he landed in, because he stabbed down at them and ended up missing due to the fact that they had moved, causing him to stab the ground for a second, only for him to rip his blade out of the ground as Martok and Sarana moved around their foe, while Tirek stood back and readied his magic as Gotthard sheathed his sword and drew a bow with an arrow at the ready. Despite the cuts that Sarana and Martok delivered to the Watcher, before he had a chance to retaliate, their foe tanked the hits and lashed out with his greatsword, for that was what his main weapon had to be, where Martok parried the blow and was actually pushed back a tiny bit, demonstrating the power that just one of the Abyss Watchers had, making Tirek wonder what happened when the entire army was assembled. Tirek, taking advantage of what was in front of him, switched his casting tool to the chime he had collected earlier, where he gripped the golden item for a moment and channeled the power of the new spell he had found in the area near the stray demon, where a bolt of lightning formed in the chime, like a lance or something, informing him of what he needed to do. In that moment, while the lone Watcher had no idea what was going on, Tirek pulled his arm back and then loosed the Lightning Spear at their foe, where it disconnected itself from the chime and flew through the air, only to collide with the back of the Watcher, who staggered and shook for a second as the lightning coursed through his body, before returning him to normal.

That action told him exactly what he needed to know, there was a chance that the Abyss Watchers were actually weak to lightning based spells, and finding one before facing them was a boon to their chances of actually defeating them, but he made sure that his companions lashed out at the stunned Watcher before he had a chance to fight back, where Sarana and Martok cut into his chest and Gotthard loosed a pair of arrows into his chest, even though that didn't seem to stop the Watcher in the slightest. In fact the Watcher shrugged off their attacks and continued to chase whoever he deemed to be the most threatening foe of them all, which seemed to be at random as he tried to lash out at Sarana, who jumped away before she could be hit, Martok, who just parried the incoming attack with his greatsword, Gotthard, who had to retreat to avoid being hit, and Tirek, who had to tank the hit and blast their foe away with a Lightning Spear to the chest, forcing him to heal afterwords. The only reason Tirek had to do that was because his speed was nothing like the Watcher or all of his companions, mostly because his body was still old and it would be some time before he had the speed that his true form possessed, but at the very least using the Lightning Spear seemed to be the best course of action at the moment, as it did stun their foe long enough for the others to lash out without having to worry about hurting themselves in the process, only to pull back when the effect wore off, so they didn't leave themselves open to being harmed.

It wasn't long before something interesting happened to them, one of the fallen bodies, the very one that the Watcher they were fighting had slain before their battle started, rose from the grave and joined the battle with the same speed and grace that the first one had, meaning they had to divide their attention between the two, though Tirek focused on the first one as Sarana joined him, allowing Martok and Gotthard to go after the second one. The reason for that quick decision was due to the fact that Tirek believed that the Watcher they had started fighting was the main one and that hurting the other would only take down a single foe, instead of taking them both down if the Watcher that served as the main one was defeated in battle, and that was without knowing if he was right or not. He had to admit that this was a rather interesting fight for them to be in, where they had to split their forces and focus on individual targets, though even as he thought about that, and a few more moments passed as he blasted his target again, a third Watcher rose from the pile of bodies he had been laying on and joined the fight, just like the one that came before him. This time around, however, there was a red glow in the third Watcher's eyes, from the glance that Tirek spared him, and instead of targeting the four of them, like he thought their foe would, the newest Watcher turned his blade on his own comrades, showing that one of the insane Watchers had been brought back and that he was going to continue the fight that they had started earlier, despite the fact that his comrades were in the middle of something at the moment.

Thanks to that timely aid, and what they were doing so far, it wasn't long before the group and their new temporary ally, who they had to be careful of, toppled the Watcher that was Tirek's target and caused all three of them to fall to the ground, but as that happened Tirek felt a change in the air and his companions noticed the glance in his eyes, where they kept their weapons at the ready as they witnessed what happened next. It was in that moment that bits of power, ash, and blood filled the air as they left the piles of bodies they had been in a few seconds ago, where they carefully watched as all of it gathered around the main Watcher that had been the one they started fighting a few minutes ago, when they first entered the chamber, meaning he was regaining his power. The instant all of the power was in a single body, and was no longer moving through the air, the main Watcher's greatsword caught on fire as his attire took on the embered state that an Unkindled had when they were embered, before he raised his sword and stabbed it into the ground, allowing him to use it to push himself into a crouching position, only to remove it and swing it as he readied himself for battle. To Tirek this was just fine, because if all of the power of a Lord of Cinder was in one body, like it was now, it would be rather easy for him to finally get his hands on it, which was why he summoned a new Lightning Spear and hurled it straight into their foe's chest, knocking him backwards a bit as smoke came from the area the attack had struck, showing Sarana and the others that Tirek was no longer playing around.

This time around, how that the Watcher knew they were being serious, he rushed at them and dragged his blade on the ground as he tried to hit them, causing the four of them to disperse before he managed to strike them, and that even included the trail he left behind being lit on fire, demonstrating the sheer power that he was using at the moment, which told the group to keep their guards up as they fought him. They also had to be careful of the instances where the Watcher swung his flaming sword at them, as there were moments where nothing happened and he missed them, and there were other times where a burst of fire raced across the ground in the same direction that he happened to be swinging in, which did add a level of difficulty to what he had been doing since their battle started. Tirek and the others found that their foe's responses were much faster than what they had fought earlier, which made sense considering that he was in possession of all the power of his comrades and was fighting on a level that was befitting the status of a Lord of Cinder, hence the reason that he and Gotthard stayed some distance away from the Watcher so they could hit him, but Tirek was the only one that truly stayed away, as even the man that Sarana summoned charged into battle with his weapon drawn. Tirek did note that their foe liked to spin through the air, like he was rolling or something, and it was always accompanied by his greatsword moving towards one of his targets, but it was in the short moments that the Watcher paused, to take note of who he was fighting and deciding on who he wanted to target, that Tirek hurled his stronger Lightning Spears at their foe, blasting him backwards and opening his defenses for his companions to deal more damage to him.

Even so, despite the sheer power that the Watcher was using against them, it wasn't possible for him to fight all four of them at the same time, with the tactics they were using against him, as in stepping in to make sure someone could heal a wound or gather their energy, which eventually allowed Tirek to loose a powerful Lightning Spear into their foe's chest and knock him to the ground, only this time he collapsed on the floor and stopped moving, followed by a bonfire quickly appearing at the back of the chamber, proving they were victorious.

"We... we won." Martok commented, because while he knew that Sarana had faith in their abilities, especially with all they had seen from Tirek since they joined him, he had been a little worried that they might lose that battle, especially with the power that their foe had possessed in the second half of the fight, even though their foe left behind two things for the three of them to gather, as Gotthard bowed his head and disappeared as soon as the battle was over.

"Ashes of a Lord of Cinder," Sarana said, referring to the first item that they were looking at, which was a pile of ash that happened to be resting near the body of the main Watcher, something that she quickly packed up and tucked away for when they returned to the shrine, because this was how they were going to return the Lords of Cinder to their thrones, especially since they were unwilling to return themselves, before she and Martok looked at the other item that was in the area, the item that Tirek was more interested in.

Tirek was staring at the swirling bloodred energy that had been spread among the members of the Abyss Watchers, and brought into a single body in their time of need, before he ignited his magic and grabbed onto that power, where he sucked all of it up, making sure not to miss even a single drop, and he could feel his own power rise to new heights as this happened, as well as the youth returning to his body, before he eventually came to a stop as the sheer power of the Abyss Watchers had been added to his own.

"Wonderful, simply wonder. I'm at thirty-five percent now," Tirek remarked, though at the same time he noticed that his body was much younger than it had been when they started the fight with this Lord of Cinder, maybe between forty to forty-five years by his estimates, and while he still needed one of the casting tools to wield this world's magic he could tell that his power was much stronger than it had been moments ago, and he blasted a small hole in the wall he targeted, an action that charred some of the stone around it, "Yes, this pleases me greatly, and this is only the first of the four Lords of Cinder that we are seeking. Sarana, where do we need to go next?"

"Irithyll of the Boreal Valley is a hard place to access, and with that doll we should be able to get inside the city with no effort on our part," Sarana replied, as she knew the layout of the land that they had to go through and had figured out the path they needed to take so they could find the second Lord of Cinder, and potentially the third as well, even though she was thinking of something else at the moment as she answered his question, "to get there we'll have to go through the Catacombs of Carthus, an underground place that is said to have a number of entrances, most of which might have been sealed off over the years, but, as it just so happens, there should be one in the back of this chamber, where the alter is resting to be exact. However, before we do that, might I ask that we make a stop somewhere else?"

"Is the Dancer bothering you still?" Tirek inquired, as that was the only thing that could be on Sarana's mind right now, especially after they bested the first Lord of Cinder and were ready to start down the path that would allow them to find the area the next one was lingering in, but all it took was a nod from his companion to tell him what he needed to know, as he also had a score to settle with the Dancer, to which he turned towards the bonfire and lit it, "Very well, let us return to the castle for a moment and hunt our foe down, so we can repay her for slaying us at the beginning of our quest and use her souls to further empower ourselves for the Catacombs of Carthus."

For a split second Sarana was surprised that he even listened to her, but it wasn't long before she knew that he was seeing it more as a chance to really test his new power out, as he seemed far stronger than he had been earlier, to which she nodded her head as Martok joined them by the bonfire for a moment, where all three of them focused on the bonfire that was where Vordt had been resting, as it was the quickest route to the area their target was in. A few moments later they reappeared in the area that they had been focused on and walked away from the bonfire that they had appeared by, where Tirek stepped forward and headed for the stairs that would allow them to reach the church that the Dancer had to be waiting in, as he intended on breaking her with his new level of power. This time around the three of them were strong enough to deal with the weak soldiers and the knights that were guarding the area, as Sarana and Martok were more than capable of cutting down all of the weaker foes that were in their way, leaving Tirek to use his new Lightning Spear on all of the knights, of which there were three blocking the way forward, where he found that they didn't light this spell either and fell within a few seconds of him attacking them. It was possible that they were far stronger than when they ran through this area for the first time, or at least that was true for Tirek, but in the end none of the enemies that were in their way stood a chance and soon they were in front of the church that Emma had been in, where they stared at the Fog Door for a few moments before Tirek forced his way through it, allowing his companions to follow after him.

Sure enough the Dancer was lingering in the middle of the church that they had found Emma in, seemingly waiting for something to happen, as nothing happened when Tirek entered the area, which was rather interesting, but when Sarana and Martok entered the area their foe turned her head and started her slow walk towards them, showing that she must have been waiting for all of them to enter the church before engaging them. As such the three of them separated from each other and made their foe decide who she wanted to fight first, though it quickly became clear when she swung her long flaming sword at Martok, who decided to dodge out of the way this time, instead of taking the attack head on, but as that happened Sarana lashed out at the Dancer's legs as Tirek loosed a Lightning Spear through the air, striking their foe in the back. Unlike the Abyss Watchers, who had a reaction to being hit by this sort of spell, the Dancer didn't seem to care all that much, but he was sure that it had done some damage to her and was going to keep hitting her with that spell, as she was distracted by his companions and didn't seem all that interested in him this time around, which would bring about her defeat this time around. In fact their foe stabbed her sword into the ground near her, like she was trying to hit Sarana or Martok, and then curved her blade backwards in a half circle, cutting a light gash into the ground while bringing up a line of fire as an after attack, but both of Tirek's companions were on edge after the battle with the Abyss Watchers and were ready for whatever the Dancer threw at them.

Sarana, of course, was attacking the Dancer's legs as Martok did the same, or just dodging attacks while he looked for openings to exploit, though Tirek continued to keep his distance and loosed more Lightning Spears at his target, as while he knew he could use the other spells he had gained so far this one seemed to be one of the stronger spells in his arsenal and it seemed to be something that a good number of enemies were weak again. The Dancer insisted on swinging her blade at whoever was close to where she was standing, even if she was slowly moving around the area that they were in, and she even tried to grab whoever was near her, though Sarana avoided the movement and Martok moved to the side for a moment, just so he could cut into her arm and do some damage to their foe. She even had another attack where she gathered some fire into her right hand and blasted the area that was right in front of her, where Sarana and Martok made sure to get away from where she was standing for a moment, so none of the flames hit them, but even while they did that Tirek loosed another Lightning Spear and blasted the Dancer in the chest, knocking her backwards once more, something that didn't cause her to turn on him. That was something that interested Tirek, that their foe wasn't focusing on him at all and that she was more interested in the enemies that were the closest to her, where he would have targeted the one that was doing the most amount of damage, but he wasn't about to complain about how things were going, since it would be nice to take this being down and get some revenge for the quick death that happened the first time they fought her, back when Martok wasn't with them.

Eventually the Dancer raised her spare hand into the air for a second and then brought it down on the ground, which was the moment that Sarana and Martok backed away as a wave of dark energy burst outwards in all directions, from the area that she was standing in, and she pulled out an identical weapon to the one she was already using, only this one had an aura of darkness that matched the fiery aura of the other blade. She immediately went into a flurry of attacks, spinning around the area that she was in and started to move around the center of the church, so his companions backed off for a moment, letting their foe do whatever she wanted for a few seconds, and once she stopped they lashed out once more, as with two weapons her arsenal of techniques was limited and that meant they could take her down much quicker, since they didn't have to worry about a few of her other attacks. Tirek, once more, found that the Dancer seemed to be focusing on the wrong foe, as she was attacking anything that was close to hear, before he thought about the way Vordt fought the first time he and Sarana faced the 'dog' that had been guarding the Great Gate of the castle, he had acted like a total beast and didn't seem to have a rational thought in his mind, making him wonder if the Dancer was the same way, since all of her movements seemed to indicate such a thing. Still, he knew that Sarana, at the very least, wouldn't be caught off guard by this and would react accordingly, and that Martok would follow her lead when it came to what was going on, so he decided that he didn't need to worry about anything and focused on blasting the Dancer with Lightning Spears, as it would help them take her out all that much faster.

Despite the seemingly wild nature of the Dancer's attacks, even if they were graceful in some manner, the group was able to deal enough damage to their foe and caused her to fall to her knees for a moment, before she dissolved into a mass of souls that all three of them gained, just like what happened when they beat the previous powerful creatures that had been in their way, and came complete with a bonfire to take them back to the shrine.

It didn't take them long to return to the shrine, where Sarana handed Tirek the container that held the ashes of the Abyss Watchers and gestured to the throne one of them was supposed to be sitting in, where he simply took the container and headed over to his destination, while she and Martok walked over to the Handmaiden so they could likely buy a few items before they used the rest of their souls to empower themselves. Once he was at the throne he raised the container and watched as the ashes disappeared in a matter of seconds, where they reformed as four heads arranged in a diamond formation, what he assumed were the heads of the Abyss Watchers, and all of them came equipped with the helmets that they had been wearing earlier, causing him to raise an eyebrow to that, before deciding not to question it as he headed back down to where his companions were located. It was in that moment that he discovered that Sarana used a good portion of her souls to purchase some new armor from the Handmaiden, and by that he meant purchasing the same set of armor that the Dancer had been wearing, making him wonder how in the world the Handmaiden had gotten her hands on what their previous foe had on, but, at the same time, he decided not to worry about such a thing and knew that it was something that Sarana wanted, based on what happened after they saw the Dancer for the first time. Martok, on the other hand, spent a few of his souls to get a key that, according to him, went to the tower that was behind the shrine, meaning there had to be something there they could get their hands on that could help them in their quest, something that he gave to Tirek without wasting a second, who took the key and stared at it for a moment.

Sure, he wasn't expecting such a thing to happen, but at the same time he had to agree that they might find an item or two inside the tower that they might be able to use on their quest, so he decided that it would be the next thing they checked out, since it was just outside the shrine, and once that was done they would head back to where they had found the Abyss Watchers, so they could start the next leg of their journey and find the next Lord of Cinder.