The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 107

And so, a new chapter rises from the Abyss. For the first time since the formation of the Abyss, it had a new ruler. The old king had been overthrown. And for the first time since the beginning of the Abyss, there was peace and quiet, like it was always meant to be. The dark was quiet.

The five daughters of the Abyss have now left. They have seen all there is to be. The next direction the Abyss goes now depends on the will of their new father. When she was turning Artorias into the Lord of the Abyss, she also held her own understanding of the dark.

The Abyss and the darkness of humanity are quite nuanced things, representing free will and life, a place of peace and tranquility. Manus has twisted the Abyss into things it was never meant to be.

The Abyss once had form, but then dissipated. And yet, traces of its existence endured. Each fragment, thirsting for power, spread Dark, with no relent. The daughters of the Abyss' collective impact cannot be understated; kingdoms have risen and fallen under their tenure.

Artorias stayed silent as he watched the five daughters slowly disappeared. He waved his hands slowly as powers of dark gathered around his palm. The Abyss Watchers also slowly gathered where Artorias was for they sensed the Abyss in him.

They did not rush at him but looked at him in confusion. Their leader was now part of the Abyss. Should they uphold their duty and fight against the Abyss? Or should they join him?

But the decision was also decided quickly when one knelt before him. Another one join and another one. One by one they knelt before their new lord. Crowd mentality, she supposes. It was a magnificent sight to behold.

Ten thousand troops kneeling in front of their new lord. Watching this, she supposes it is time for her to go. She did not belong to the Abyss. Artorias shall do his own thing before the day when she needs his help comes once again.

"Keeper ... do you know if any other knights who made it here? Ornstein? Gough? Ciaran? Or ... Gwyn?"

"I have neither seen nor heard of them but I will be sure to inform thee when I heard of them."

"You have my thanks, keeper."

"Let my work be none of thy concern, Artorias. If all things are done for now, allow me to leave."

"Go ahead, keeper. I have some work to complete here."

And so, she left with Kalameet and Moris. There was no need for a farewell for they shall meet again one day. Farewells were meant for two beings that will never see each other again. Farewells were meant for the death, not the living.

They still have yet to die and the day they shall see each other will come again. And so, flames rose from the ground as they enveloped her and Kalameet. Kalameet shook his tail agitated but managed to calm down.

They first teleported to the den of the dragons where Kalameet flew off immediately straight to Alduin. She followed him as she wanted to meet with Alduin once again before she left this place once more.

"So, the Abyss has a new leader. That was a surprise.", noted the king of dragons as she walked in.

"It is nice to see you again, Alduin. I come in hopes of thou answering some question of mine."

"And what would those questions be, keeper?"

"What manner of being art thee? Kalameet mentioned that you were there in Lordran first."

"Ah ... so the keeper wonders what I am?"

"Yes, I do. And I hope the words that come out of thy mouth to be true."

She did not know how to read dragon expressions, but he seemed pleased with the fact that she chose to ask directly instead of finding it out discreetly herself. He appears to be smiling.

"I will admit I was once an 'evil' being. I once mentioned being hailed as the World Eater, did I not?"

"Yes, I recall those moments."

"I was an evil dragon meant to be slayed by a 'hero'. Something similar to the Chosen Undead. In my last moments, I unleashed a curse upon myself that hurled me into another world. I refused to believe that I could be slain. And that is your world, keeper. The world of Lordran.

Once I arrived there, I created the everlasting dragons in my image. I live in peace in regrets of my past mistake. But then, came fire. The fire that was truly the child of Lordran. You see, Lordran cannot move on with outsiders. It needs insiders and so it gave rise to the first flame."

"So, is it true that the dragons are curses of Lordran?"

"Curse? You amuse me, keeper. I was hailed as both the creator and destroyer in my old world. Many would consider my words a blessing rather than a curse."

"What exactly is the curse? Is it not just merely turning someone into a stone?"

"Turning someone into stone is the least of its abilities. The thing you call 'curse', we have a different name for it. We call it Thu'um."

"Thu'um?"

"Language of the dragons. The first beings to use it in Nirn, my old world. We can teach it to other beings, but we are the only ones who can use it to its true potential with the exception of the few."

"So, the art of curses was much more prominent back in Nirn."

"Indeed, it is much more widespread with less restrictions than in Lordran. Know this, keeper. There are other worlds than yours and mine out there. And I have a reason to suspect that the world we currently roam is a combination of two or more worlds."

"Why would anybody wish to combine worlds? Are things not fine the way the are? I believe we should leave things to be themselves."

"Every world has its controllers. 'They' watch us like entertainment. All our sufferings, all of joys, they are all but mere entertainment to them.

Whether it be mine, yours or this world, there exist many different 'versions' or 'endings' to each world, and they watch it over and over. Like entertainment.

I suspect that somebody combined multiple unrelated worlds to reduce the number of versions each many have.

For example, in the world of Lordran, there may be a version where the age of dark begun without the world ending. The may exist the version where the age of fire continue yet again.

It is far too predictable and thus have many 'endings'. After combining it with many worlds, it becomes unpredictable thus reducing the 'endings' they may seek."

"So, who are these beings thou claim as 'they'?"

"I hold no clues of who 'they' are, my dear keeper. Nobody does."

"So, this world is still under 'their' control?"

"Everything that you and I know are under their control, my dear keeper. The words that are sprouting out of my mouth might not even be mine. It might be their new way of entertainment. There exists no way of opposing 'them' in any way."

So, 'they' were watching her every movement. According to Alduin, her current thoughts might not even be her thoughts. She thought of the moments where she would run into 'foes' and seemingly never run out of things to do and complete.

She wondered if it is 'their' work too.