Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power

by Blackdrag-rose

Into the Village

It didn't take Tirek, Sarana, and Martok all that long to reappear in the cave that the second bonfire of the Painted World rested in, to which the three of them waited for a few seconds, mostly to make sure no one wanted to return to the shrine and turn in some of their souls that they had acquired since they arrived in this world, before leaving the cave and walked out to the area that the bridge resided in, finding that the magic of the bonfire had restored that as well, because it wasn't in the terrible shape they had left it in earlier. Instead of wasting time with the bridge, which they might not need to use anymore, the group headed to the left of the structure and found the ladder they had spotted earlier, to which Sarana jumped down the short distance and let both Tirek and Martok take climb down to where she was standing, even though Martok was the only one that did that and joined her in seeing what the rest of the area had in store for them, due to the fact that Tirek jumped down to where they were standing a few seconds later. From there they found that there were two paths to take, one to the right and one in front of them, to which they headed to the right for a moment and found a few of the fly creatures hanging on the ceiling that was above where the three of them were standing, mostly since it was a curved open cave, so it didn't take Sarana long to cut them down and find that they had been guarding one of the shriving stones that they had found in the past, to which she pocked it before they turned around and headed back to the ladder. After that the three of them moved forward to see what between them and where the village rested, where they rounded a turn and found an area that two of the vikings were standing in, which was followed by Martok cutting one in half and Sarana moving the other one so Tirek could blast it off the edge of the area with a Fire Orb to the chest, allowing them to move forward again.

Of course that was when they stopped when they found that the path leading to the village was a diagonal ramp of some kind, one where Tirek had to wonder if he and his companions would have to slide down to the edge of the village, or at least that was his currently thoughts on the matter, though when Sarana and Martok did just that, by using their feet to slide down towards the edge of the village, Tirek simply shook his head and did the same thing, allowing him to catch up to his companions and come to a stop behind them when he reached the bottom of the ramp. From what Tirek could see it looked like the village was deserted, at least of the normal people he had seen since his arrival in this world, and by that he meant when he woke up in the Cemetery of Ash, with Sarana being reborn nearby, and it was hard to tell if there were some Hollows in this village or not, though after having seen a few corvians outside the church he decided that it was possible for the buildings to be the home of the crow-like enemies. While he thought about that Sarana walked over to the right for a moment and found one of the lost souls, which she added to their collection for later, when they returned to the shrine and turned in the souls they had collected so far, before she rejoined them and they advanced into the village, or at least the outskirts of the village, each of them keeping their eyes open for any enemies that might be waiting in the shadows or around any of the corners that might be in front of them. What was surprising, in Tirek's eyes, was the fact that there were no guards protecting the outskirts of the village, as in there happened to be no one near the ramp they had slid down, before they found a small cliff area they could jump down and explore part of the village, no doubt leading them to an area where some enemies had to be waiting for them.

The curved stone path that they landed on, a level above the area that was in front of them, had a few corvians that looked like parts of their bodies had decayed and none of them seemed to have the energy to attack them, which was just fine with Tirek since he didn't have to waste magic on any of the foes that were in front of them, even though Martok took a few seconds to cut them all down, just in the off chance that they might become more active once they did something, a smart move that caused Tirek to nod his head, though it was possible that such a thing was just common sense in this world and the warrior was following his previous training. While they did that Sarana found some green blossoms, which were the ones that restored one's stamina if Tirek's memory was correct, before they stared down at the area that was in front of them and found a number of dead corvians that littered the area that was in front of them, while at the same time there were one or two of the odd spider ladies that they had seen back in Irithyll, though that was the moment that Tirek held his hands out and stopped his companions from heading down into the area that they needed to progress through, as he had a plan in mind. What happened next was that he loosed a burst of Fire Orbs into the area in front of them, as he made sure there were enough for him to cover every inch of the ground that they would be exploring next, where he and his companions watched as the corvians screeched as he burned them down and the spider creature stopped moving a few seconds later, and once he was sure there were no more enemies he stopped casting the spell and the flames died down over the next couple of moments.

"Well, that's one way to clear an area of enemies," Sarana commented, though while she was getting used to Tirek's magic and what he could do with it, especially like what he just did to clear out the entire area of enemies so they could conserve their power for later, she did know that there were times where his magic might have surprised her, like their fight with Pontiff Sulyvahn, as that was one of the more intense moments she had seen, before she returned her gaze to the area that was in front of them.

"Indeed, and while that would have taxed by body earlier, like when I was below fifty percent, or even closer to fifteen percent, now it does nothing but take a little of my magic to pull off," Tirek remarked, because this demonstrated that he wasn't the weak individual that Sarana had started this quest with, something that should be clear to her given the rather powerful spells he had pulled off so far, to which he grinned for a moment as he jumped down into the area that was right in front of them, as they were now able to explore it without worrying about enemies, at least for the part that he used the mass of Fire Orbs to purge anyway.

From what Tirek could tell there were two paths to choose from, the one of their right basically heading back to the area that the sliding area rested in and the one that was a tunnel that lead through one of the buildings, so it was easy for them to decide on which path to take as they walked through the opening and left the area Tirek had torched behind, even though it was possible they might come back here at some point since he knew some places liked to backtrack and open up new areas for the Unkindled to explore. As it turned out the tunnel in question was really more like an opening for the three of them to walk through, so they were able to enter another part of the village and start exploring it, even though it was followed by Sarana stabbing a corvian until it stopped moving, as from what they could tell those particular enemies were just like the ones outside the Painted World, so it was better to defeat them and move forward than to allow them to get onto their clawed feet and come after them while they were busy fighting something else. Not even a few moments later they discovered that they were in what could have passed as the sewer system for the village, or maybe it was once a river of some kind, though there was some of the rot they had seen earlier growing under the bridge to their right and they even spotted a gate to their left, meaning the path on the right was the way to go, though as they headed towards the area on their right they spotted a humanoid figure that was definitely a corvian, only it was carrying a pair of weapons that it could grip and had the appearance of metallic claws. It was possible that the creature was an assassin, potentially sent by those who wanted Tirek to leave the Painted World, meaning Friede and her guardian, though that was when Sarana stepped forward and put herself between them and the assassin, which was followed by the two of them swinging their blades at each other, giving both Martok and Tirek a show as Sarana, despite the number of blades her foe possessed on each arm, was more than a match for the assassin as she rapidly moved around the area, avoiding attacks and dealing a bit of damage when an opening revealed itself, and moving with a grace that would annoy any living creature that was even trying to outdo her.

Even though the corvian assassin had some skill and grace with its weapons, enough to make Tirek consider the slim possibility that maybe it had been a lady who danced or something before their transformation into the being that was in front of them, though that didn't stop Sarana from dodging the next attack and swung her blades once more, taking her foe's head off in the process, allowing them to regroup and press forward as they explored the rest of the village, though Tirek did take a moment to congratulate her on winning the battle, despite the fact that he knew she would have won the moment the battle started. After that they found that there were two corvians beyond where the assassin had appeared, who happened to be guarding a lost soul that the group added to their collection, before they reached what appeared to be the edge of the area, which included a fall down to the area the gravetender and his wolf had been patrolling, though there was a ladder for them to climb up resting near where they were standing, one that seemed to stop in front of the entrance for one of the buildings of the village, which was why Sarana started up it first, to scout the area for enemies, before the others followed her. From there they walked into the building and found a room that had a number of tables and a cart or two, along with some really ragged cloth that was attached to the ceiling, before finding a body near one of the walls, which just so happened to have one of the small Embers in its hand, something one of them could use to restore themselves to their full power if they died, though Sarana pocketed it before they found a second door to their right and noticed that it would lead them outside. While they walked over towards the door, however, there was something odd to their right, another corvian that happened to be huddled in the corner, though unlike the others they had seen, the ones that tried to attack them once they entered a certain area, it was staring at them with some interest, so much so that Tirek walked over to where it was standing, because if it was like the first corvian they had encountered in this world, the one that loved rot so much, he suspected it had something interesting to tell them.

"Hmm..." the corvian said, once more proving that, despite their bird like appearance, the corvians were capable of speaking to those that were around them and, more importantly, that the ones they had faced in the past were hollowed to the point where they almost acted like the knights in Lothric Castle, or any of the other hollowed creatures the three of them had fought on their way through the various lands of this world, before it titled its head for a moment as it looked at Tirek for a few seconds, "well, there's nothing forlorn about you. You must be the other Ash, I suppose?"

"I am more than Unkindled Ash," Tirek stated, because since it appeared that his identity had been discovered by two of the residents of this world, their target and her guardian, he felt that there was no need in hiding what he was from the rest of the people and creatures that called the Painted World home, even though he wouldn't be staying for long, since it was only a matter of time until he grew bored of searching the village and returned to his mission, though he held his both of his hands out for a moment, "for I am the Lord of Hollows, the rightful ruler of the world outside this one."

"Oh, oh, finally, you've come!" the corvian replied, its tone sounding like a happy one this time around, almost as if it thought that Tirek was some sort angel or agent of the gods, one that had been sent to fulfill some ancient prophecy or something, though while he was sure some people would have ignored the corvian Tirek waited to see what else it might tell him before he, Sarana, and Martok got moving again, "Oh wondrous Ash, grant us our wish. Make the tales true, and burn this world away. My Lady must see flame, and you have only to show her. You are Ash, are you not? Is it not fire that you seek? Surely you've seen the rot that afflicts our world, brought upon us by the witch that fooled the good Father, and buried the flame. After we had all made up our minds, too. So, please, grant us one wish. Make the tales true, and burn this world away. My Lady must see flame, and you have only to show her."

Tirek said nothing to that as he and the others moved through the opening that was in front of them, where it was easy to find that they had reached part of the village and that there were a few corvians wandering around right now, like they weren't interested in the three of them, which was why they came to a stop nearby and glanced out at the rest of the area that they were in, mostly to see if there was anything that might be waiting to ambush them at some point during their visit to this part of the world they were in.

"So, one corvian wants us to leave the world alone and let it rot, while another wants us to burn the world that is all around us right now," Tirek commented, though at the same time he chuckled, because it seemed like the answer was so obvious to him and that he'd be leaving a burning world behind once he killed Friede, after seeing what else the Painted World had to offer or throw at him and his companions, before he chuckled for a moment, "Well, things are going to be getting more interesting from this point forward, since I'm sure there are those that don't want the Painted World to burn, in whatever manner that means, though they're welcome to try and stop us."

Sarana and Martok said nothing to that as Tirek resumed walking around the area that was around them, which was when the lone corvian that was wandering around the opening they had walked through a few seconds ago was cut down before it could lash out at them, even though it was Sarana who did the deed as she returned to Martok's side, though that was when Tirek turned towards the side of the building the burning corvian had been in and found a corvian resting at a dead end, so he blew it up with a Fire Orb and returned to the main path not a few seconds later. The building that was just beyond where the lone corvian had been walking just so happened to contain a bonfire, meaning none of them would have to use the snow covered ramp and slide down into this area again if one of them died or they had to backtrack for something that had been missed, so they ignited the bonfire and stood around it for a few seconds, mostly because none of them needed to actually use the bonfire this time around, so it wasn't long before they walked outside the building and resumed exploring the small village they were in. It was rather easy to determine that the only way forward was by using the bridge that was in front of the building that was in front of them, which allowed the three of them to advance into the next part of the village and they raised their guards as they did so, as there was no telling if there were any enemies for them to engage or if there was nothing here at all, as the buildings looked nearly deserted so the latter option did seem to be the more reliable. Not even a few moments later Tirek spotted an open door in a building that was attached to the building to their left, so for now they ignored the other buildings and found that there were two corvians waiting for them, where Martok cleaved one in half and Sarana cut the second down as it tried to cast some sort of poisoning spell, and the moment the pair were resting on the ground the group found there was a small bridge that connected this part of the small village to the earthen wall, which seemed to end in a dead end from the looks of it, so they didn't walk across it and returned to the main part of the village so they could figure out what else was in this area.

From there the group found an area that had what appeared to be a corvian knight, who wore a cloth around its head and shoulders, that cut down the regular corvians that were wandering around the area that was between them and the next part of the village, though when it spotted the group it rushed over to where they were standing and ran right into Tirek's Fire Orb, blasting it backwards while Martok and Sarana rushed at it while it was recovering from the attack, which was the moment that Tirek sighed, as he was disappointed in the fact that their new foe didn't even attempt to dodge his attack. From there they walked up the path that the corvian knight had been patrolling and found that it allowed them to reach a more important building that just so happened to have a locked gate, though Tirek found that, instead of being able to just jump over the railing and enter the area in front of them, there was some magic preventing them from passing the locked gate, and while part of him was tempted to obliterate the area in front of them, to really test his magic for a few moments and break the barrier, he decided to see if there was a key or something somewhere. As they walked down into the village, to determine what they were going to do next since there wasn't a clear path through this area, before both Sarana and Tirek spotted something interesting, there was a path above the stone path they were currently walking along, one that seemed to be connected to some of the buildings, to which Tirek grinned as an idea came to him as they neared the bridge that would allow them to return to the bonfire and he was sure his companions would agree with him, since this might get them over the locked gate and its magical barrier. What happened next was that Martok smashed through the door of the building that was to the right of the bridge, when coming from the bonfire to be exact, and that revealed a ladder which allowed them to climb up to the second story of the building, something that allowed them to find a walkway that had some access to another building and, if they jumped down to their left, they could ambush one of the corvian knights, which is what Sarana did without wasting even a single second.

That was for the best as Tirek and Martok joined her, even though they ended up climbing the ladder the knight had been guarding and reached the roof of the building that they had smashed the door of a few seconds ago, though when they reached the roof there were a few corvians, who looked like mages based on the staffs they were carrying, turned to look at them and Tirek blew them up with some well placed Fire Orbs, opening the way for his companions to join him so they could see where this path lead them. Interestingly enough they were able to locate an opening that had a ladder for them to use, one that brought them to the upper stone path Tirek had spotted a few moments ago. Interestingly enough there was a tower to the right of the path, when they were standing on it to be exact, which didn't seem to go anywhere and there just so happened to be one of the corvian knights sleeping like a bat on the edge of the roof, though what they did about it was Sarana ignored it and crushed the crystal lizard that was near it, allowing Tirek to loose a Fire Orb right into his target's face, knocking the corvian over the edge and dropped it into the chasm beyond the village. With that done, and the gem from the lizard claimed, the trio continued to walk forward and found their way to the top of a building, one that was either a church or a place of prayer from what Tirek could see by looking down through one of the openings that were on the roof, though instead of dropping in immediately the three of them scouted out the area and made sure they had a good idea of what was going on, and if there were any enemies inside the building they were walking on, before Tirek found a corpse that had a lingering soul, one he claimed for later.

Once that was done, and they were sure there were no enemies on the roof, the trio used the openings to drop down on the rafters of the building, something that allowed them to find a corvian knight that happened to be resting near the backside of the structure, not to mention a second one that seemed to be guarding the entrance, so Sarana and Martok dropped down on the one near the entrance as Tirek landed in the middle and quickly blasted the other one before it even had a chance to realize that enemies had invaded the structure, the Fire Orb knocking it into the back of the building before he loosed a few more to put down his target, even though his companions took their foe down as well. With both of their foes taken care of Tirek found a body that had a spell page on it, a spell called Way of White Corona that sounded like it fired off discs of lightning that sliced through the caster's enemies and then returned to the user to disappear, or at least that was his assumptions based on what the page told him, though the first thing he did was slip the page into his spell book and then gathered a few bits of his magic as he tried the spell out, which was when he summoned three discs in front of him and hurled them at the wall, cutting through whatever was in front of him before returning to him. He did stand there for a moment, knowing that this was the basic power of the spell and it didn't seem all that powerful, to which he shrugged and headed for the door Sarana and Martok were currently standing near, where they opened the door and appeared in the area that was between the locked gate and the next building, something that was followed by them taking a few seconds to unlock the gate and dispel the magic that had prevented them from climbing over the short walls, just in case they died and had to run back to this area, something he was sure wouldn't happen at this point in time.

Instead of heading into the building immediately, like anyone else would have, Tirek investigated the exterior of it and found that there was only a path to their right, one that ended in one of the lady trees guarding a branch, so Tirek loosed a Fire Orb at the hidden foe and blew it up before pausing for a moment, to stare down at a structure that wasn't the one he and the others had fought the gravetender and his wolf in, though since there was no way to get over there they headed back to where the building's entrance rested and walked inside, where Tirek found the knight from earlier, who had been standing outside Friede's church, standing inside the building.

"So, it seems that Elfriede, or Sister Friede as you call her, has sent you to kill me," Tirek said, though as he said that he held his hand out for a moment and beckoned for Sarana and Martok to stand back this time around, to leave this battle to him and not come rushing in to aid him this time around, before he twisted his hand and withdrew his blade from its sheath, showing his foe that he was ready to do battle with him, even though he knew that the knight was going to fall by the time this battle was over, "you'll soon find that I'm not an easy mark."

"I've seen your kind, time and time again." the knight replied, where he also drew his blade and took his stance as he said that, which was fine with Tirek since it allowed him to see what was in the area and plan ahead for when their battle started, even though he was determining which spells he could use while his foe was distracted by the upcoming fight and how much of the area he could wipe out before his foe was destroyed, "Every fleeing man must be caught... every secret must be unearthed... such is the conceit of the self-proclaimed seeker of truth... but in the end, you lack the stomach... for the agony you'll bring upon yourself..."

While Tirek had no idea if the knight was referring to him or what Elfriede had ordered him or the corvian residents of this world to do, though in the end he determined that it really didn't matter as he rushed forward and swung his blade at his foe's head, where the knight shifted his stance and put both hands on his blade, a greatsword Tirek realized, to parry the incoming attack before they separated from each other and smashed the tables that were around them, even though the bookshelves and the rest of the furniture were likely to follow in due time. Interestingly enough the knight shifted his stance again and revealed that he had some magic in his left hand, a red aura that reminded Tirek of the dark wraiths that he and the others had found in Farron Keep, the area they found the Abyss Watchers in, and he tried to grab onto Tirek's arm a few seconds later, even though it was beat back by Tirek's blade as they separated themselves from each other and waited to see what the other had in mind for the next attack. While that happened Tirek had an idea form, one that would allow him to take down his foe in a few moments if he timed it right, but for right now he focused on parrying the attacks that were coming his way and making his foe reveal a hole in his defenses, even though his foe did have a few tricks up his sleeves, like the one where he spun around while swinging his blade, one that smashed the rest of the tables that were around him to pieces even though Tirek avoided the attack altogether. The greatest thing the knight did was channel his magic into the greatsword and wrapped shadowy flames around it, or at least that was what Tirek thought was going on since this wasn't a usual tactic he had witnessed, though his foe's moves didn't change all that much and he parried a few of the attacks as they came at him, despite the fact that he had to be careful of the flames to make sure none of them even touched him, all while Sarana and Martok made sure no one interrupted the battle.

As it turned out that was followed by the knight reaching forward and grabbing onto Tirek's neck, where it appeared that his foe was in the middle of trying to absorb his health so he could heal all of the small wounds that had been dealt to his body, of which Tirek had done plenty of them in the short period of time they had been fighting, though in that brief moment Tirek readied his power and tugged, ripping out the knight's magic as he pushed him backwards and they stood apart from each other, allowing him to devour the magic he had claimed as the knight's magic faded.

"And with that, its checkmate." Tirek said, where he rushed forward and drove his blade through the knight's chest in a matter of seconds, showing that the loss of his magic seemed to have stalled whatever tactic he was going to use next, not that it mattered since he succeeded in dealing with his foe and watched as the life faded from his eyes, though as that happened Tirek collected the blade that the knight had been using and, more importantly, an odd key that seemed to be for something in this world, something none of them have discovered yet, which he pocketed as well.

"You've gotten stronger, in both physical combat and magical combat," Sarana commented, though while she knew that Tirek wasn't out to make it a one man assault on the enemies they would be facing, since even he knew that she and Martok could help him clear out the areas of the land that they would be exploring in their quest to take down the Lords of Cinder and return them to their thrones in the Shrine, she had to silently admit that his skills had improved since they first started their quest and he was skilled with his blade.

"That I have, and I'm almost back to my full power," Tirek remarked, because while this wasn't his full potential, due to the fact that he was missing only twenty-five percent of his power and that would be split between the remaining Lords of Cinder, it did appear that this was more than enough for him to deal with the enemies that got in their way, to which he took a moment and turned towards the pair that were assisting him with his plans, "though for now we should see what else this world has to throw at us, before we backtrack to Friede's church and put her in her place... then, once she's dead, we can head back to the real world and figure out where Yhorm is hiding."

As Sarana and Martok nodded their heads in agreement, to show that they understood what Tirek was saying, he took a moment to walk over to the contraption that was behind where the knight had started and found that it was missing the lever that went to it, hence the reason he looked at the key that he had picked up from his foe and discovered that it was more than a key, like he had thought it was, rather it was a small lever that went to the contraption, to which he attached it to the mechanism and pulled it down, causing a section of the ceiling to open and drop a slanted walkway for them to use, even if it smashed some ruined books into the floor... only to find a young lady resting on a table, or a canvas that had been turned into a table, looking like a painter or some noble that had been kidnapped at one point.

"I believe... I feel the scent of ash upon you." the lady said, her tone revealing that, while she wasn't actually looking at the three of them, she did notice their arrival and her focus was still on the canvas she was laying on, meaning whatever it was, or what it was going to be whenever she got around to painting it, was very important to her and it was worth totally ignoring whoever was in front of her, "You are the one who Uncle Gael spoke of... the one that would show me flame. This is good. When you have freed this world, I will return to my chamber, as the door is open thanks to what you did, and I did promise Uncle Gael I would complete my painting."

Tirek said nothing to that as he and his companions glanced at each other, as there was one part of this realm left for them to explore before they returned to the church and killed their target at long last, even if they had no idea how to get down to the area in question, but at the very least they knew that Friede was the one that needed to be taken down, if the Painter's words were anything to go by, and soon this world would be 'freed' from whatever was going on, hence the reason the group moved, so they could tackle whatever else was standing in their way.

Comments

[fanreader999999]

So weird

[PrismStrike]

oh my if Tirek has encountered the painter that means if you go through the other dlc as well there is a chance for Tirek to collect one more lump of dark soul from the future Gael. Definitely looking forward to where this goes after Ashes of Ariendel gets finished