Dark Souls 3: Cinders of Power

by Blackdrag-rose

Darkeater Midir

"We already got the Reality Stone, so why are we staying here?" Martok asked, mostly because he was sure that Tirek had gotten tired of the Ringed City and that he wanted to bring an end to their quest at long last, though at the same time he wasn't all that sure of what they were doing back in the city that they had been exploring earlier, even though they had picked out the bonfire that rested just beyond the first giant of the city, the one that summoned the large army of phantom archers to put them down, so he was hoping Tirek or Sarana would say something and tell him what they were still doing in this place, especially since they had completed their Lord's mission.

"Lord Tirek wishes to find Midir and see what might happen when the two of them are face to face," Sarana explained, as she knew Martok better than anyone else in the world and also understood why they were still in the Ringed City, but even as she said that she glanced at the area they were standing in as they headed over to the area that the previously locked door was resting in and stared at the elevator that would take them back down to the statue of Lord Gwyn they had seen earlier, before she sighed for a moment, "I understand that you want to bring this quest to an end, but we have one more errand to run before we return to Firelink Shrine and put an end to our quest, so just be patient and we'll be back in the Shrine in no time."

Tirek said nothing to that as he stepped onto the platform and waited for his companions to catch up to him, though the moment all three of them were on the elevator he tapped the button in the middle of the platform and let it lower them back down into the chamber that they had found earlier, as he was positive they might find the path to where Midir was resting by backtracking through part of the Ringed City they had explored earlier, though there was no telling where the path in question was located and if they didn't find what he was looking for then they would return to the Shrine and put an end to their main quest. Once the elevator came to a stop the group walked out into the chamber that it was connected to and headed down the set of stairs that would take them down to the second bridge that they had forced the large black dragon off of earlier, before they reached the church and discovered where his target was resting, though as they stepped into the chamber that was near the end of the second stone bridge Tirek felt an Invader breach their world, to which he sighed for a moment and shook his head, as this was something he could do without, before deciding to leave this in both Sarana and Martok's hands. Of course that was when they found a red knight, wearing the armor of the ringed knights and a weapon from one of the Twin Princes, appearing in the middle of the chamber that they were entering, to which Tirek stepped to the side and allowed his companions to step forward, though that was the moment that the knight seemed to have second thoughts about what was going on and actually ran around the chamber that they were standing in, dodging the incoming attacks that were coming its way, but what Tirek found to be interesting was that one of Martok's swings on a section of the wall that rested to his left caused an Illusiory Wall to fade away, which revealed a small room of some kind that had a undead cleric inside it, something that he blasted into the wall that was behind it with a Fire Orb, which also did some damage to the wall and revealed a second opening that appeared a few seconds later, one that contained another room that had a spell page for him to collect, one that detailed the Lightning Arrow spell and was added to the spell tome he was carrying, before he headed outside and found his companions kicking the knight off the stone bridge that was just outside the area he was in.

Once that was done, and Tirek was sure that no more Invaders were coming to annoy them, he thought about something for a moment and returned to the passage the elevator was located in, where he glanced upwards for a moment and did find something interesting, there was a passage they must have missed and he had both of his companions wait near Lord Gwyn's statue for a few moments, to which he rode the elevator back up to the area the bonfire was in and stepped off the elevator so he could step into the hidden passage they had missed earlier, before finding a room full of statues that he placed a portal in and allowed Sarana and Martok to step through so they could join him. Sarana ended up discovering that there was a hole in part of the tunnel that was beyond the area Tirek had brought them to, one that lead down to the statue they had been standing near and decided not to waste time picking up the ring that was resting on one of the stone hands, to which she returned to where the others were standing and they stared at the rest of the statues, as even she realized that there had to be something special here, as it didn't make sense to put a hidden chamber like this in an area and not have a hidden passage. That, of course, was when Martok noticed that one of the statues wasn't like the others, due to the fact that part of it seemed to be missing, which appeared to be the sword, though he beckoned to it and Sarana struck the statue with her daggers, which caused it to disappear not a few seconds later and revealed a hidden set of stairs that seemed to head down to another hidden chamber, something that was followed by Tirek walking down it while both of his companions followed after him. As it turned out there wasn't much to the stairs, as it just turned into a rather short tunnel that brought them to a square hole that had a ladder resting inside it, complete with an area that was just beyond it that seemed to have nothing inside it, save for a spear fragment of some kind that Sarana picked up, but once they were sure that there was nothing else in this area Tirek gripped the side of the ladder and propelled himself down to the area it would take him to, which, as it turned out, happened to be a small church or chapel, where he found the attire of someone who once prayed in this area, a bracer that seemed to go with it, and a large hole behind the altar, which seemed to be what he was looking for.

As soon as he spotted the large hole in the wall that the altar was in front of, and noticed that there were no other paths to pick based on what he was seeing, Tirek walked over to where the hole was located and found that it was a rather long drop into a cavernous area, from what little he could see right now, to which he waited for Sarana and Martok to catch up to him before he jumped into the hole and sailed down into the area that was far below them, where he discovered that the hole brought him to what was definitely what he had seen a few seconds ago, where he found that there was a thin amount of water below his hooves and some rocky areas around him, though for the most part this area seemed to be bare and there were no places to hide, not that he needed such a thing.

"There he is, resting from what we did to him earlier," Sarana commented, where she and Martok landed behind Tirek and took a moment to take in the cavern that the hole had brought them to, though it was easy to locate the powerful dragon that had claimed their Lord's interest the moment he laid eyes on it some time ago, who definitely seemed to be resting near the area they were standing in, though at the same time she and Martok walked in the opposite direction, mostly due to the fact that this battle was one they didn't need to participate in, especially when they eventually came to a stop and their Lord summoned a barrier around them, one that had to be far stronger than the others they had seen him use when they faced the dragon earlier, even though this would keep them safe from any stray attacks.

Tirek said nothing as he stepped into the area that was in front of him and approached the area that Midir was resting in, while at the same time bits of lightning danced around his right hand for a few moments, as he knew dragons were weak to Lightning based attacks, though as he approached the massive dragon Midir's eyes snapped open as he heard Tirek approach and pushed himself into a standing state, once more showing off its rather impressive and imposing form as he did so, though once the dragon was prepared for battle he roared for a few seconds, giving Tirek a chance to grin before the two of them engaged each other. The first thing Midir did was loose a burst of flames in the direction that Tirek was standing in, one that seemed to morph into a rather powerful Fireball, or rather it seemed to be a torrent of flames based on what he was seeing, to which Tirek used the Power Stone and punched his way through the flames that were coming at him, something that was followed by Midir rushing forward as he clawed the air that was in front of him, which was when he jumped to the side to avoid the incoming series of attacks, due to the fact that Tirek was sure that getting caught by one of Midir's claws would be devastating, regardless of the power his Infinity Gauntlet possessed. The reason he didn't just use the Space Stone to redirect the incoming flames into his foe's backside was due to the fact that he assumed that Midir was resistant to that element, just like he was probably resistant to Dark based spells and attacks, though while he knew that Lightning based attacks were the way to go that left the Soul based attacks, or Ice as he was starting to think of them as, as the only element he hadn't tried yet, so when Midir turned to face him, and seemed to be setting things up so he could loose a torrent of flames and then rush into a series of claw swipes, Tirek gathered some magic and hurled an Ice Orb through the air, something that hit Midir in the head and did absolutely nothing to the dragon, something that was followed by Tirek moving out of the way so he could avoid being run over by the dragon. That action told Tirek everything he needed to know about Midir's weaknesses, as it appeared that the dragon had a high level of resistance towards the Fire and Dark elements and seemed to be immune to Ice entirely, meaning Lightning was the only element he could rely on at the moment, not counting the powers of the Infinity Stones he had gathered, which he could now use in the Ringed City thanks to the power of his Reality Stone.

As he considered all of that, however, Midir charged through the space that was between them and seemed to be ready to use his head as a battering ram, to knock Tirek into the ground or something, which was the moment that Tirek raised his hands and channeled the power of the Power Stone for a few moments, mostly to increase his own strength so he could be ready for what his foe was doing, before the two of them came into contact with each other and the cavern shook for a moment as that happened, which was understandable when he considered the dragon's power, though he followed that up with an uppercut to knock Midir away. The dragon, however, flared his wings for a moment and caught himself before he could move too far away from where Tirek was standing, something that was followed by him flying forward as he let out a burst of flames down on the area that he happened to be standing in, causing Tirek to call upon the Space Stone and make a vortex in the air above him to suck up the flames and teleport them elsewhere, since he knew Midir could resist his own flames, so he dropped them on the swamp area as he focused on his foe, who landed nearby and rushed forward as he clawed at the air that was in front of him, making Tirek dodge again. This was a rather interesting tactic when he took a moment to think about it, as it appeared that Midir was attacking him fast enough to make sure he didn't have a chance to fight back and basically force him to defend against all of the attacks that were coming his way, though as he figured that out Midir landed nearby and gathered his fire once more, just like he had done in the past, before loosing another burst of fire at him, though this one transformed into a beam of dark energy that raced across a section of the ground as Midir maneuvered his body and was followed by a wave of explosions, especially when he seemed to target the ceiling and then snuck up on Tirek from the left. Tirek found that the only way to avoid the attack, besides jumping backwards and possibly opening himself up to being attacked while he was distracted, was to use the power of the Space Stone to open a slightly modified portal that covered his entire area and soaked up the majority of Midir's Dark Beam, dropping the energy on top of the inhabitants of the swamp, even though he found that part of the ceiling was open and must have been the area that Midir had fallen through some time ago, before the attack was over and he was allowed to lower the portal he had created to make sure he didn't get smashed to bits.

All of this confirmed one thing in Tirek's mind, Midir was a powerful dragon and part of his power likely came from all of his battles with the Abyss, potentially darkening him in some sense if what Shira had told them was to be believed, even if he didn't believe the mysterious figure that had talked to him and the others before they entered the swamp, though as Midir rested his claws on the ground, and seemed to pause for a few seconds, Tirek gathered his power for a moment and hurled a pair of Lightning Spears through the air, blasting the dragon in the side a few seconds later, where it seemed like he did some damage, despite the fact that Midir was ready to go not even a few moments after he shrugged off the smoke that rested around him. After shrugging off the smoke the dragon rushed through the space between them and Tirek used his hands to catch the charge before it could reach him, even if it pushed him backwards a little, which he followed up with an uppercut to the head and then punched Midir's snout a few more times to knock his foe backwards, though that was the moment that Midir swung his claws down at him, where they clashed with each other and the cavern shuddered while that happened, something that was eventually followed by them forcing themselves apart and landed with some space resting between them. Once that happened Tirek rushed forward and hurled a pair of Lightning Spears forward, blasting Midir backwards a little when the spears hit him, though that was when the dragon loosed a torrent of flames at him once more, something that was followed by a red glow coming from the Infinity Gauntlet as Tirek tapped into the Reality Stone this time around, forming a shimmering wall in front of him that the flames slammed into, only for a bunch of bubbles to appear on the other side of the wall and rush out towards the area that Tirek was standing in, who chuckled as Midir took a moment to stop and tilt his head in confusion, showing that what just happened confused him, and Tirek could see that even Sarana and Martok were surprised by what he had done. The interesting thing was that some of the bubbles moved into the air that was above Midir's head and Tirek channeled the power of the Reality Stone again, transforming the group of bubbles into a mass of Lightning Spears that rained down on the dragon's head, something that caused Midir to move backwards in shock before he growled and rushed through the air, where this time around Tirek dodged the attack that was coming his way by jumping into the air, spun around once he was above his target, and hurled a more powerful bolt of lightning into Midir's back, blasting the dragon into the ground and caused Midir to jump to the side before loosing a burst of fire in Tirek's direction, who fell backwards and landed on the watery ground as the attack missed him.

"You are incredibly powerful, Midir, and I can see why Shira is trying to have you destroyed," Tirek stated, as Midir was one of the strongest dragons he had seen in this world, one that he was sure would have required a decent number of heroes to take down normally, and he could understand why the mysterious lady wanted him to be wiped out before the dragon could fall to the darkness of the Abyss, but even as he said that he smiled for a moment as he faced Midir, "but, if you ask me, that would be a waste. Come, join me and you can be a god to the next age."

Midir growled for a moment before he rushed through the space between them and swung his claws down towards the area that Tirek was standing in, which meant that he was going to have to beat some more sense into the dragon over the next couple of minutes, until either Midir was able to make a decision on his own or he was forced to put him down, but as he dodged the incoming attack the dragon gripped the area around his claws and spun where he was positioned, which just so happened to be the time that he used his tail like a whip to hit Tirek. In the following moment Tirek channeled the power of the Space Stone and slowed down Midir's attack, so much so that his tail came to a stop before it could hit him, though that was when Tirek summoned a Lightning Spear and channeled the Power Stone's power into it, something that he hurled into the dragon's chest and knocked it backwards through the air, where it crashed into part of the ground on the other side of the cavern that they were fighting in, before Tirek walked over to where his foe landed, keeping his guard up since he knew Midir wasn't done yet, especially since he didn't channel that much power into his attack. When he got close to where the dragon was resting, however, Midir seemed to shudder for a moment before releasing a burst of dark energy into the area that was all around him, something that caused Tirek to jump backwards to avoid the blast, where all of the bits did nothing to the dragon, which made sense due to the fact that he was the one that had channeled the attack in the first place, though once the attack was done Midir regained himself and resumed attacking Tirek with every tactic he had used since this battle had started, while occasionally throwing in the brand new technique whenever he got close to where Tirek happened to be standing at the time. That wasn't the only other attack that was added to his list of tricks, as the dragon also cast a power of sorts that involved summoning a dark version of the Soulmass spells that Tirek had used and had seen in the past, where the dark spheres rushed out and focused on him as they flew through the air, which he countered with the power of the Space Stone, opening portals in front of some of the spheres and then sent them flying into some of the others, though for the most part it appeared that they were evenly matched, in terms of base power since Tirek wasn't using the full power of the Infinity Gauntlet against the dragon, but even as he thought about that he could tell that Midir was getting exhausted and that he seemed to be thinking about something.

In the following moments Midir placed himself near one side of the cavern that they were positioned in, where Tirek found that the barrier protecting Sarana and Martok was holding up just fine and the dragon seemed to be totally ignoring them, before Midir took a deep breath and started to gather the dark energy that he had access to, almost like he was going to perform the Dark Beam attack he had used earlier, though this attack was much stronger than the previous version had been and it seemed far more dangerous than the low powered Dark Beam. Tirek, seeing that attack being prepared, took a moment to jump backwards and land a few steps further back from where he had been standing earlier, though once he did that he focused for a few moments and all six of the Infinity Stones glowed, because while his original plan would have been to use the four elements in a Reorigination Beam, to cancel out Midir's attack and possibly blow up the area his foe was in, the dragon had a great resistance to two of the four elements and of the remaining two he was totally immune to one of them, so going this seemed to be the best course of action. Once the two of them were ready to go, and neither of them were backing out of this battle, Midir loosed his Empowered Dark Beam through the air and it rushed towards the area that Tirek was standing in, while at the same time Tirek thrust his left hand forward and fired an Infinity Beam, where the two attacks rushed through the air and slammed into each other in the middle of the cavern, something that caused everything around them to shudder for a time, even though rainbow lightning branched out in all directions, which had to be coming from the Infinity Beam, though it wasn't long before the rest of the cavernous area started to shake and he was sure that it was spreading out into the rest of the area, transferring over to where the swamp rested and possibly the rest of the Ringed City. In fact cracks started to form in the ceiling and parts of it seemed to fall to the ground, shattering when they struck the stone that was below them, and the watery area they were standing on also seemed to be breaking under the sheer power that Tirek and Midir were throwing at each other, where Tirek assumed that it was the power of the six Infinity Stones clashing with whatever power of the Abyss the dragon was capable of using, though that was when Midir's power weakened and the beam faltered, allowing Tirek's attack to push against the Empowered Dark Beam and make its way to where the dragon was resting.

In the end Tirek's attack smashed through Midir's Empowered Dark Beam and blasted the dragon in the chest, something that pushed the dragon backwards and caused him to crash to the ground for a time, showing that he was dazed from the attack that had hit him square in the chest, possibly feeling the effects of the six Infinity Stones wreck havoc on his body as he laid there, which was followed by Tirek rushing forward and delivered an uppercut to the dragon's head, knocking him up into the air for a moment, and then loosed a few more punches that knocked his target's head until he paused and let the dragon's head crash onto the ground that was in front of him.

"Its time for you to decide what you want to do: continue living and become one of the gods of the new age, or perish here and be forgotten." Tirek stated, because right now it sure looked like the dragon was exhausted from the battle that they had just gone through, not to mention from the effects of the Infinity Stones being used on him, hence why he walked over to where the dragon was resting at the moment, though he kept the barrier around Sarana and Martok up, just in the off chance Midir tried anything funny, and had some of the Infinity Gauntlet's energy at the ready so he could put an end to the fight if his foe decided to perish in this cavern.

"I... submit..." Midir replied, revealing that the powerful dragon could talk, which Tirek had been expecting due to the fact that the dragon was supposedly raised by gigantic, and possibly immensely powerful, Archdragons that existed during the days of Lord Gwyn and the other Lords that probably started though at the same time he realized something important, that Tirek was far more powerful than he was, especially since Tirek hadn't used all of his magical power in this fight, and to show that he meant it he did nothing as Tirek came to a stop in front of him.

"Good to hear." Tirek said, where he raised his right hand for a moment and undid the barrier that was around Sarana and Martok, as it was cracked and had been progressing to the point where it would have shattered under the weight of all the power they had been using in the fight, though once that was done he raised the Infinity Gauntlet and started to channel the power of the Time Stone on Midir's body, restoring his strength to what it was before they started to fight, while at the same time repairing the damage to the dragon's wings and any other broken part of him, before lowering the gauntlet and channeled the Space Stone's power again, creating a massive portal that even Midir could walk through, "Come, its time to bring an end to our quest, then we can focus on the future of this world."

Sarana and Martok nodded for a moment as they stared at the dragon that was standing near them, as Midir had raised his head as soon as Tirek was done fixing him up, showing that they were concerned about him and only trusted him due to the fact that their Lord trusted him, before the four of them headed through the portal and reappeared in the area that they had faced Iudex Gundyr in all that time ago, as it was the biggest area they could bring Midir to, though the dragon took one look at the door that stood between them and the Shrine and smashed it with a swing of his claws, even if he did push some of the rubble off the area to give himself some room.

"What... in the world..." a voice said, where Tirek and the others glanced in the direction of the Shrine and found that all of the residents that had been inside the structure, minus the only remaining Lord of Cinder they hadn't slain, had heard the sound of the wall and door being smashed and had come out to see what in the world was going on, though they had all stopped when they noticed the massive dragon that was standing behind Tirek, Sarana, and Martok, who was staring at all of them in turn and wasn't attacking because Tirek indicated that they were friendlies, before Tirek noticed that it was Yuria that had started to talk, "Lord Tirek... I must admit, I'm a little confused..."

"We found something to transform into the Reality Stone, so the quest was a success," Tirek remarked, where he raised his left hand for a moment and revealed the sixth and final Infinity Stone he had added to the Infinity Gauntlet, to which some of the people that were in front of him paused for a moment as they noticed what he held and recalled the power of the other Stones he had collected, before he gestured to Midir for a moment, who was still staring at the people that were standing in front of them, "but along the way we learned about this powerful and imposing dragon, who we also learned was called Midir and was sired by the Archdragons, where one of the residents of the Ringed City wanted us to find him and kill him before he was corrupted by the Abyss... however, after sampling his power for myself, and the battle that we engaged in, I determined that killing him would be a waste and that he could help bring order to the era that follows the end of this one, be it as a god or whatever he desires."

"I see. That's good to hear." Yuria replied, though while she said that Tirek could see that the warrior known as Hawkwood was staring at Midir, meaning he might be fascinated by dragons and the power they wielded, especially after hearing that this one was sired by the Archdragons, possibly trained by those imposing creatures, and had been fighting against the Abyss for a time, even if that last part he needed to expand upon to tell them what was going on, before Tirek focused on Yuria once more, as it was clear that there was something on her mind, "My Lord, are you ready to place the cinders of the Twin Princes on the final throne and fulfill your destiny?"

Tirek nodded before he advanced on Firelink Shrine, while Midir stayed in the area they had appeared in, as it was time for him to see what happened when all five Lords of Cinder that had been revived to link the Fire, or one living Lord and the cinders of the four that betrayed their duties, had been placed on their thrones, though while Sarana and Martok walked behind him he knew this was something he would be tackling alone, despite the battles they had been through together, and he was eagerly looking forward to bringing this quest to an end.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA getting midir on his side like this is incredible The soul of Cynder better watch out cause death be comin fer it