• Published 3rd Oct 2020
  • 992 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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Anor Londo

It took the tower a few moments to rise back up into the position that it had been resting in before Martok used the first lever that was right outside the chamber with the hidden passage, but it was worth the wait as Tirek stared at the walkway that connected to the front area of Anor Londo, the city that rested above Irithyll and, if everyone was right in what they were saying, Aldrich's current resting place. When the tower came to a stop Tirek could see that two of the walkways went nowhere, which was just fine since the third one did go somewhere, to which he and his companions walked around the control mechanism and approached the walkway that would take them right to their destination, giving them an even better look at the massive structure that was their destination. Tirek had to admit that this place looked more like a temple or a castle, instead of the city that he had been told about, but he wasn't about to argue with the ones that knew this world far better than he did and simply looked at the darkened area they were in, almost like it had been lighter at some point and had been reduced from whatever shining status it used to possess. From what he could tell there were only three openings they could walk through, one on their left, one on their right, and one in front of them, even though the large doors that were in beyond the steps meant that the central path was blocked off until they found something that would allow them to open the doors.

As such that meant there were only two paths for them to take and that they needed to explore their options before they picked one, hence the reason that Tirek stepped off the tower's walkway and walked on the short stone path that was in front of him, allowing him to reach the bonfire that was resting near the tower and light it as both Sarana and Martok joined him, even if they were more focused on the possibility of enemies following after them from the area they had just left, before glancing at the structure in front of them.

"So this is Anor Londo," Tirek commented, because despite his own thoughts it was nice to see the area up close and personal like this, especially after hearing about it a few times while having next to no information on what they might find when they reached this place, but after his recent power boost he was sure that they would be able to clear out the foes that were between them and their target, "the city that another city was built under at some point in the past, and just so happens to be where one of our targets had been hiding since they were brought back to life. Well, its nothing like that swamp we had to pass through earlier, so we should be able to make good time in clearing this place out and opening the large door that's in our way, before we find and kill Aldrich."

"Still, we should be careful, as there's no telling if there are more like Pontiff Sulyvahn in there," Sarana replied, as she knew that Tirek felt that his power was the greatest in the world, something that most of the sorcerers, pyromancers, and other magic users believed in until they were smashed by those that stood in their way, she also knew that being careful would allow them to reach the area that their target was resting in, once they entered the actual structure and started to look around for any clues as to where the large slime that was the Lord of Cinder was hiding.

"Well, there's a knight coming our way," Martok added, referring to the steps that lead up to the area that was right in front of the large door, allowing Tirek and Sarana to spot the silver knight that he was talking about, though he shifted his greatsword for a moment and readied himself, knowing that they would have to fight a few foes to get anywhere in this area, just like they had to do when they traveled through all of the other areas they had passed through earlier, though he was sure that the enemies in the cathedral would be ones they had faced in the past.

Neither Tirek or Sarana were all that worried when they laid eyes on the silver knight that Martok had spotted, as both of them could easily take one of those knights out with their individual abilities, and then Tirek raised an eyebrow when he spotted a second one further behind the first one, meaning that there were a few foes for them to fight through before they were allowed to get inside the cathedral building that was in front of them. Tirek wasn't surprised by that fact, due to all of the enemies they had to fight through so they could reach the Abyss Watchers, and he could even see a third silver knight in the area that was to the right of the large door, coming from their direction anyway, so he was more than ready for the foes that would be standing in their way, especially since they were getting closer to their target. Fortunately both of the silver knights that were patrolling the steps in front of them only went down a certain number of steps before taking a moment to turn around and head back up to the start of the path that they patrolled, meaning the group could either fight them on the steps or they could rush up the steps and fight them on the landing that they were guarding, where both of the methods worked for Tirek since he wasn't worried about their odds of winning. It didn't take them long to see what their foes were doing and moved towards the stairs, as it was time for them to take the fight to the silver knights and take both of them down, which would allow them to open the way into the cathedral and start the search for their target, which would prevent any of the Invaders from following after them once they located Aldrich and entered his domain.

The first thing they did, as they walked up the set of stairs that lead to the front door, was draw the attention of the first silver knight that was blocking the way, where Martok swung his greatsword and parried the incoming attack that was coming his way, preventing the knight from pushing him backwards as he forced his foe to remain where he was standing, something that allowed Sarana to stab the unsuspecting knight in the back and end that fight rather quickly. Tirek, while his companions did that, summoned a Fire Orb and hurled it at the second silver knight that was finally noticing what was going on and was starting to come over to where they were located, though while the spell didn't finish off his target he used the opening that the flames provided to lash out with his blade and cut into his foe's armor, because while he may not need the catalysts for spells anymore he did know that it was good to keep an actual weapon on hand, at least in this world it was. Of course a single cut from his blade wasn't enough to do the job, rather it took a few more and he had to dodge a couple of attacks in the process, but at the end of the fight he was the victor and actually emerged without taking any damage, meaning he had to be learning from watching Sarana and Martok fight, something he really wasn't expecting to discover during their quest, though he wasn't about to argue with the results. As he walked up the stairs, to join Sarana and Martok at the top, he felt the energies in the air shift as several new Invaders seemed to pop into their world, all in the area that they had been in a few minutes ago, to which he chuckled for a moment, as it was a bad day to be those fools, before the tower shifted and lowered into position for the path that lead up here, indicating that some of the Unkindled had figured out where they had run off to.

Instead of worrying about the Invaders that had caught up to them, since it would be another minute or two before they would be under attack, Tirek and his companions headed to their right and walked through the opening that was over there, since there happened to be one in the architecture of the area and was reflected on the other side of the walkway that was behind them. In front of them rested an extension of the walkway, while to their left rested a locked door that didn't seem like it could even be opened by anything, meaning they only had one direction to go in at the moment, though to their right rested a short set of stairs that lead nowhere, save for the red eyed silver knight that happened to be in the middle of patrolling the area he was in. The knight, seeing them at the top of the stairs, charged at them with his sword at the ready so he could cut them down and protect his master, which was why Martok swung his greatsword and quickly parried the attack, though as he forced this knight backwards, due to his height advantage, Sarana darted forward and cut into the silver armor a few times before backing off, which was the moment that Tirek snapped a Forbidden Sun into the area that was in front of them and blasted their foe in the chest, knocking him over the edge of the area. It was clear that he was dead a few moments later, due to the souls that they got for doing that, to which they turned around and headed back to the stairs that would take them back to the bonfire, even if they weren't going to use the rest point, allowing them to watch as the tower moved back into position and a pair of Unkindled Invaders, where both of them were red colored and they just so happened to be wearing the armor of the silver knights that were guarding this area, started to approach the area the group was standing in.

Tirek grinned for a moment as he focused his magic for a few seconds and summoned another Forbidden Sun into the air above his land, one that he hurled down into the area that their uninvited quests were moving towards and let it explode the moment it struck the walkway, knocking both Invaders backwards with the force of the explosion, opening the way for Sarana to jump down and stab the one on the right a few times, before knocking him over the edge, while Martok cleaved his foe in half, diagonally from the right shoulder to the left hip, and allowed the pieces to his foe to tumble off the walkway that they were standing on.

"Two more Invaders have perished, but more are on their way," Tirek stated, as he could feel the vibrations in the air and could tell that all of the Unkindled that were coming for their heads, be they Aldrich's defenders or scavengers looking for easy souls to pillage from weakened enemies, meaning that sooner or later there would be more enemies in this area, as it appeared that all of the Invaders had been deposited in the massive area that was beyond Pontiff Sulyvahn's church, to which he turned towards the path he and his companions had been following for a moment, "Come, let us continue our fight against the knights that are guarding Anor Londo, and, more importantly, Aldrich... once that's done we can deal with the Invaders as soon as they catch up to us, that is if any of them survive fighting each other to the death."

Sarana and Martok glanced at each other for a moment, as they both knew that with Tirek's new level of power, which seemed to surprise whoever they fought and left enemies stunned by what they were seeing, before nodding their heads as they followed him towards the opening that was to the left of the main doorway, as it appeared to be the only one that they could even use right now, but as they walked over there it was easy to find the body of a long dead giant, a yellow coal that it was holding onto, and a square shaped staircase that lead to the top of the tower that they were now in. Tirek started to walk up the stairs, since he didn't much care for the coal and it was only picked up by his companions, showing that his focus was on the fact that they were getting closer to where Aldrich was located, as the Lord of Cinder had lead the three of them on a merry chase through this world, since one would have assumed he would have been in his tomb for a time and not the structure they were currently invading, a chase that was coming to an end so they could focus on Yhorm, the last of the Lord's that the group knew the location of. Once they found where Yhorm and the Profane Capital were hiding, which would be right after they crushed Aldrich, Tirek was sure that it wouldn't be long before they figured out the location of the fourth and final missing Lord of Cinder, Prince Lothric, even though that would be followed by him breaking the cycle of this world thanks to the power Yoel, Yuria, and the others of their group had given him access to, hence why he was so focused on what they were currently doing.

At the top of the stairs Tirek found a diagonal set of stairs that lead into the main building, which did look like a large church or castle of some kind, and it appeared that there was an upper area to the structure they were walking in, where he could see a number of deacons patrolling the area that rested between the main door and the massive Fog Door that Aldrich had to be resting behind, as even from this distance he could feel a massive source of magical energy coming from it and determined it had to be the Lord of Cinder they were looking for.

Of course the Deacons didn't want the group to even be inside the structure, because they started to launch fireballs in their direction, from both the walkway that would lead Tirek and his companions to the area that the door was in and from the stairs that were in front of the Fog Door, though instead of allowing those spells to hit them Tirek used his magic to blow the spells out of the air so that Sarana and Martok could challenge the enemies that were currently standing in their way. By that Sarana jumped over the edge of the railing and quickly stabbed the Deacon that was standing near the bottom of the stairs that were to the left of the opening they had walked through, while at the same time Matrok ran down to the area that three of the Deacons were standing in and beheaded one before it had a chance to attack them, causing the other two to back up a little as he advanced on them, allowing Tirek to focus on somewhere else since his companions were already dealing with the enemies that were around then. As he did that he found a few more Deacons that were turning towards them, who just so happened to be standing near some of the slimes that seemed to be gathering around their feet, to which he grinned for a moment as he made sure that Sarana was out of the way and then bombed the areas his targets were standing in with a Forbidden Sun or two, blowing away the smaller blackened slimes while damaging the Deacons so Sarana could rush in and cut them down, which just so happened to be around the time that Martok ended the other two enemies and marched down the stairs to join them. While they quickly walked down to the walkway that was between the massive door and the Fog Door, and both Sarana and Martok dealt with the Deacons that were standing around them, Tirek noticed the mechanism that would allow them to open the door and access the area the previous bonfire rested in, which would allow them to rest before the battle with Aldrich, before he glanced at the ceiling for a few seconds and spotted one of the large spider beasts hanging on the ceiling, no doubt waiting for someone to try and open the main door so it could ambush them.

Tirek chuckled for a moment as he focused his magic on the spider beast and blasted it with a Forbidden Sun that hit the creature's chest, where the beast shrieked in pain for a few seconds as it dropped from the ceiling and crashed on the ground in front of the main door, but as it rushed at Tirek, who dodged the attack and then blasted it again with the same spell from the back, his companions quickly moved over to the mechanism and forced it into the position that allowed the main door to open, something that would allow them to return to the bonfire if they needed to rest, which was when Tirek blew up the beast and it stopped moving at last.

"Good, we can confront Aldrich at last," Tirek commented, though at the same time he noticed that the tower moved once more and several Unkindled started to walk off the walkway that allowed them to step foot in Anor Londo, where he found that there were knights, mages, rangers, and even a cleric in the group, and all of them were red colored that told him and his companions that they were truly Invaders that wanted them dead, to which he shifted his stance for a second as he channeled his magic around his arms and hands, "so, shall we engage our foes, or do you want to run towards the Lord of Cinder's chambers and face him instead?"

"There's ten of them and three of us, and right now they're standing between us and the bonfire," Sarana replied, as she had taken the time to count the number of enemies that were in front of them and she was a little surprised by what the number was, as that was far more than she was expecting at one time, where she had the feeling that if they engaged these foes it would be a close battle, even with Tirek's powers, to which she glanced back towards the chamber that their target had to be resting in, "We should make a run for it and fight Aldrich, due to the fact that such a thing would send the Invaders back to their worlds, as they can't follow the Unkindled of the world they're invading through the various Fog Doors that we've seen so far."

While Tirek knew that they could stand and fight the Invaders that were coming towards them, even if it was possible they would be mowed down by all of them, he decided to take Sarana's suggestion as he and Martok turned around and followed her towards the Fog Door, even though he made sure to blast the couple of Deacons that were on the stairs that were in front of their destination and knocked them down, allowing them to push their way through the Fog Door, which was followed by him sensing that the Invaders were being forced to depart from this world. After that he noticed that they had stepped into a massive chamber that must have been rather pristine at one point in the distant past, as the floor was covered by what he assumed was Aldrich's soul slime or something, the pillars seemed to be corrupted by the darkness of the being they were looking for, and, on the other side of the chamber, rested a tall humanoid figure, a male god based on what Tirek was feeling, that was halfway devoured by the sludge that was around them, showing them that Aldrich was in the middle of devouring a god, as per his title, and it might be the best time to kill him, while he was distracted by the vast hunger he felt. Since it appeared that Aldrich hadn't noticed them yet, which wasn't going to last forever, Sarana took the moment to inform Tirek that the godly being that their target was devouring was Gwyndolin, the Dark Sun based on what she remembered, which meant their foe would have access to several new powers, skills, and tricks, but even as she said all of that Tirek stepped forward and channeled his magic for a moment and hurled a Forbidden Sun through the air, one that struck the sludge that was devouring the god and caused it to shriek in pain, just like how the fragments of Aldrich had reacted whenever he flamed them in the past.

As that happened, and their foe turned to stare at the one that dared to attack it, Sarana and Martok moved over to the sides of the chamber so Tirek could stand in the center of the area, though that was when Aldrich swung the staff or spear that seemed to be Gywndolin's weapon, as it was hard to make out what it happened to be due to the dark magic that was resting along the upper most part of the weapon, and loosed small orbs of dark magic that rushed at the area he was standing in. That was the moment that Tirek grinned as he focused his power and the orbs struck him, as this was the power he was seeking and he was able to absorb the attacks as they struck him, adding small fragments of power to what he currently had, so while it was possible that he could just feed during a long fight he knew that taking Aldrich down was the better option for them, hence the reason that he nodded his head so Sarana and Martok leapt out onto the creature and attacked Aldrich with their weapons. Interestingly enough Aldrich didn't target the ones that were near him, rather he seemed to understand that Tirek was the greater threat at the moment and channeled the power of the god he was in the middle of devouring to form a bow with the staff his target had been carrying, one that allowed him to loose a number of arrows into the air over the period of a few seconds, arrows that rained down on the area that Tirek was standing in, but instead of moving Tirek kept the grin on his face as the magical projectiles pierced his arms, legs, and chest, causing him to stagger for a moment as his companions briefly paused, as they knew that if he fell it would be harder for them to beat the Lord of Cinder they were facing. Not a few seconds later the arrows glowed for a brief moment and broke apart as Tirek absorbed the power of the god that Aldrich was using to fight them, where his wounds healed in the process as he took a moment to lick his lips, due to the taste of the magical power that was being offered to him, before he glared at the being that they were in the middle of fighting.

"This power is... delicious. Give me more!" Tirek stated, as he found that the mix of Aldrich's power and Gwyndolin's own magical power was far better than what he had tasted so far, during his entire journey to recover his magical power and his true form, and he was willing to taunt his foe into focusing on him so he could be subjected to more attacks, as he could absorb the magic and heal his wounds while his companions dealt some damage to Aldrich's body, and the moment the time was right he would kill the second Lord of Cinder and take the combination of power that was being used against him right now, which would push his power to new heights.

Aldrich swung Gwyndolin's spear-staff and loosed some more of the orbs through the air, which Tirek absorbed as he blasted the Lord's tail with a Forbidden Sun since his companions were no where near their foe, something that prompted him to sink into the muck that was around them and reappeared in another part of the chamber a few seconds later, as in the right corner from the entrance, though he then loosed even more of the dark orbs as he moved across the top of the muck, making Tirek wonder how many times their foe was going to use this trick. Fortunately it appeared that their foe was either stupid or sluggish, either could be correct in this situation, and the reason behind that thought was due to the fact that he was ignoring Sarana and Martok as Tirek stood in the middle of the chamber, meaning Aldrich was targeting him and no one else, and that became clear when another burst of arrows rained down on him in an attempt to pin him to the ground, even though he absorbed the power and healed his wounds. In fact that was about the time where Aldrich tried a new technique, one where he swung the two handed weapon and loosed an incredibly powerful burst of magic at the area that Tirek happened to be standing in, to which he braced himself for a few seconds and let the attack strike him, not that it mattered in the long run since he was able to absorb all of the energy that was being used against him, which was when he hurled another Forbidden Sun into his foe's chest and knocked it backwards. Such a thing allowed Sarana and Martok to hack into the part of their foe that was Aldrich, something that apparently did the most amount of damage to the Lord of Cinder since attacking the half that happened to be Gwyndolin didn't do all that much, but, once more, it did seem like their foe was more interested in Tirek and not his companions, which was just fine with him since that meant all of the spells were coming his way and he could absorb the power that was used against him.

Of course the beam attack was followed by two more for good measure, like Aldrich was testing his stolen skills, but at the same time it was clear that none of the magical attacks were doing anything and the Lord of Cinder was still trying to break him, which Tirek was fine with since he could absorb as much as he wanted, though when Sarana cut into Aldrich's back their foe changed location and apparently set himself on fire, or maybe it was his embers taking effect, but all that seemed to do was empower his attacks as he loosed a more powerful burst of arrows into the air, all of them focused on Tirek and none on either Sarana or Martok. Interestingly enough Aldrich decided to try something else as he rushed over to where his target was standing and used his magic, by spinning in a circle while the weapon seemed to shift into a scythe that was made out of magic, so Tirek was able to channel his own magic into a barrier to stop the attack in its tracks, or at least from cutting him in half given the fact that he had been damaged by the arrows, while also absorbing the power of his foe's attack, before pushing Aldrich backwards so his companions could hack into him again. After that it didn't seem like Aldrich had any other tricks up his sleeves, rather he resorted to the same tricks and techniques the group had seen him use since their battle started, which was why Tirek started to consider his options on what to do so he could take their foe down, even though it appeared that using fire type spells seemed to be the most effective against their foe, so it was rather easy for him to determine what he needed to do as he rushed towards his target for once. Sarana and Martok did pause for a moment, as they were surprised that he was even getting close to the Lord of Cinder that they were fighting right now, where Aldrich swung the scythe at him and Tirek used his magic to stop it so he could use it as a stepping stone to get over his foe's head and fall behind the Lord of Cinder, which was when he gathered his power into one of the larger and stronger Forbidden Suns, two merged into a single entity, and blasted Aldrich in the back, causing the chamber to shudder for a moment as the Lord cried out in agony as he collapsed on the sludge colored ground and stopped moving, to which his companions breathed a sigh of relief as they walked over to where he was standing.

"He's dead, and that means the second Lord of Cinder has fallen," Tirek commented, though at the same time he took a moment to grin as Aldrich's body started to break apart before their very eyes, and that included the body of Gwyndolin, who seemed to have a light smile on his face, before the strands of magic transformed into a mass of energy that quickly took on the form of the powerful being's soul, three so each of them had one, a brilliant blue soul that radiated power as he and his companions collected their reward and the ashes that remained, which would be put on the throne when they got back to the shrine, "Go ahead, return to the shrine and give the Firekeeper the 'good news', if that is what the two of you want to do, as I'll be here for the next couple of minutes, increasing my power even further, before we consider the next area that we'll have to explore, for the third missing Lord of Cinder."

Sarana said nothing as she walked over to the area that Aldrich had been resting in when they first entered the large chamber that they were standing in, as that was where the bonfire just so happened to be resting, to which she ignited it so she and Martok could leave the area that Tirek was in, where Tirek watched as the pair disappeared and left him alone for a moment, which was fine with him since his focus was on the soul that was floating above his hands and he quickly tapped into the power of the second Lord of Cinder. Not even a few seconds later he grinned as he felt the power flow into his body and increase the vast amount of power that was inside his body, rapidly increasing the power he had access to, while at the same time the soul that he was stealing the power of started to decrease in size, though even as he did all of that he could feel that there was something else inside the soul, which interested him and wondered if he could steal it as well, which he would figure out in due time. In the end he managed to steal all of the power that was inside the soul, or at least ninety-nine percent of it my his estimates, and what he was left with was a small blue soul that happened to be the size of a small gemstone, one that was slightly larger than his knuckles based on what he was seeing, and based on what he could tell whatever power he had noticed was still inside the small soul, but even then, despite everything, he had an idea on how to craft something that would be useful to him. His idea would only work once Sarana and Martok returned to the chamber that he was standing in, provided they had their versions of Aldrich's soul, though while he did that he took a moment to study the soul and felt no new Invaders coming after them, meaning no one had come into their world and he had some time to kill before his companions returned to where he was waiting.

Sure enough it didn't take Sarana and Martok long to return to the area that he was standing in and they seemed to be studying the area that they had fought Aldrich in, as if they were recalling what the legends said about this area in the past, though he could also tell that they were glancing at the soul that he was holding at the moment, which was fine since he was going to be asking them for something that could give them more power for the battles that were in their future, if they wanted something like that.

"So, what did the souls give you?" Tirek asked, because he was interested in what he could have gotten if he used the soul to make a weapon or spell, thanks to the Transposing Kiln that they had recovered for the Lord of Cinder that just so happened to be living inside the shrine that was their base of operations, though as he said that both Sarana and Martok pulled out their versions of Aldrich's soul and held them out for a moment, which was a surprise for him since he was expecting them to have channeled the power of the soul into something useful for themselves.

"We could have gotten a new spell, something neither of us care about, or a longbow, though I'm fine with the bow I have been carrying," Sarana replied, where Tirek got the feeling that Sarana didn't like to change her weapons all too often and only changed when she found something that interested her, or whatever her reasoning was, while Martok was just a warrior who liked to get up close and personal, so he was likely leaving the magic alone and had no need for a bow, hence why he still had his version of the soul, before Sarana focused on what she was going to say next, "though I had the feeling that if we brought our souls back to you... well, that you might do something with them."

Tirek smiled for a moment as he channeled his magic through the air and levitated the versions of Aldrich's soul that Sarana and Martok were carrying, where they lifted into the air and surrounded the smaller soul like it was the core of a much larger item, before he focused his mind for a moment and the two whole souls started to spin around the smaller one for a few seconds, where the entire area in front of him started to glow in the process, though it wasn't long before all of that faded away and he found a sapphire, about the size of the soul he had drained, resting in the air in front of him, though he could tell that it was incredibly powerful, as when he grabbed it he could feel the power that was inside it.

"What... did you do?" Martok asked, speaking for the first time in a long while, as he was more of a silent type and let Sarana speak for both of them most of the time, though right now he was interested in what Tirek had done and why he had done it in the first place, while at the same time Sarana stared at the stone before something interesting happened, Tirek turned his head a few times, feeling the arrival of more Invaders that likely wanted their heads before they could find the third missing Lord of Cinder, something that prompted him to beckon for them to follow him as he headed for the first bonfire of Anor Londo.

Tirek lead his companions to the doorway that was near the main stairs that would lead them to the rotating tower, where they found ten new Invaders marching off the tower and were in the middle of approaching the stairs that were in front of them, to which Tirek grinned and grasped the sapphire for a moment as he tapped into the power he had felt earlier, where he focused on the flooring that was in front of the group of foes and a dark rift, with a blue center, opened beneath the feet of the Invaders, causing all of them to vanish like they had been teleported to another area, which was followed by them falling out of the sky, out of a second rift, and they fell all the way to the ground, when his grin widened a little as he closed the rifts with the power of the stone.

"A stone that allows me to open portals wherever I want, to move something from one place to another, in a matter of seconds by the looks of things," Tirek commented, where he opened his hand for a moment and stared at the sapphire he had created, as it was an incredibly powerful tool and he was sure that he could find a use for it, even though he pocketed it and resolved to create something that would allow him to carry it without having to worry about it going missing, before he glanced at his companions for a few seconds, "Come, let us continue on our quest... but first I must return to the shrine and make sure there's nothing else Yuria wants of me, even though I'm sure there's something else she might have in mind before she swears to follow me."

He wasn't sure why he had the thought about Yuria and her having something else for him to do, after the events of the Hollow Wedding and the power he had acquired, but right now it appeared that Sarana and Martok were willing to go along with what he was doing and they headed back to where the first bonfire rested, so they could head to the shrine and move forward with their quest to bring the Lords of Cinder back to their thrones and to restore him to his full power, even though he was sure Aldrich's soul, mixed with Gwyndolin's power, had pushed him to seventy-five percent, making him a little eager for what the future held for them.