Nuclear Ash (Darksouls OC X Fallout 4)

Homeward And Onward

It was a quiet morning in Sanctuary.

Irradiated birds were singing.
Auto-turrets were running.
Radios were playing music.
Brahmin were lowing.
The wind was blowing.

It was days like these that made Preston appreciate life. In between all the chaos at Lexington, concord, and the occasional raider group, it was nice to enjoy some quiet time without the threat of danger.

Preston had woken up early, as usual, and was making his usual rounds through the settlement. While the Auto-turrets guarded the main entrance and the Eastern border, the west and north were left open, which left Preston to keep an eye on them.

After doing several laps of patrol, Preston decided to sit by the fire. Edgar was a weird man, large, powerful, immortal apparently, but the fire he left was soothing. Whenever anyone sat by it they seemed to feel rejuvenated and energetic afterwards. Taking a short break by it every now and then had helped make guard duty more bearable, so everyone had started taking ten minutes to rest every two hours to keep things simple.

Preston had just closed his eyes, planning on enjoying the bird songs, when he felt something brushing against his skin. Opening his eyes he was shocked to see what looked like dust swirling all around him. Quickly jumping up and moving away from the fire Preston realized that it was ash, not dust, that had began to swirl. 'maybe the fire's ashes got picked up by the wind?' he thought to himself. That thought was quickly rejected as more ash came from seemingly everywhere to collect into a large cloud around the fire.

After a few seconds the ash started to collect into five separate twisters, all of varying heights. The clouds grew more compact as they started to take the shape of people, until suddenly all the ash compacted forming five distinct bodies. The air was now clear of debris, as if the sudden ash clouds had never been there to begin with.

Then as quickly as they had solidified, the ash figures all flaked away rapidly, almost in a puff of smoke, revealing Edgar and four others coated in ash. In unison all of them took a sharp breath, as if they had been starved of air for longer than they could handle. The four new people started coughing violently, brushing the ash off of themselves and rubbing their eyes.

"That was awful! You could have warned us that it would feel like that!" shouted a teenage boy, now checking over a small girl and helping her remove ash as well.

"To be fair, this is the first time I've seen normal people use a Homeward Bone. I am used to it, but I guess I should have expected it to be.... Uncomfortable for you. My apologies." Edgar was noticeably unaffected by the sudden appearance, and wasn't dusting himself off either.

"Well, did it work? Are we safe now?" the oldest woman in the group asked. She was looking around at the surrounding houses when her gaze landed on Preston.
"Oh, hello. Sorry to come unannounced, but Mr. Edgar said you would understand."

Preston was slack jawed. Once again Edgar was doing some crazy magic that made no sense. "Uh, welcome to Sanctuary, I guess. Would've liked some warning before you came. " *Preston shot a glare at Edgar*
"But what matters is that you're safe here."

_______________________________________

Several hours had past since the unexpected arrival of Edgar and the settlers. Preston had woken up Mama Murphy, Wallace, and Dogmeat. They were instructed to help the new family settle in, find a place to rest, and tend to any needs they have. Dogmeat was left to guard them for a while, as well as keep the youngest happy since she seemed so attached to her new canine friend.

Edgar was resting by the bonfire like he usually did. But unlike usual, he finally had proper fuel for the fire. The souls of strong individuals were often the best kindling one could find, and while these were no champion souls, they would suffice for now.