Dark Souls: The first flame

Part four, The ruin of New Londo

New Londo, a prosperous place once. That age has long past. Until recently, it was a murky, dark, damp place for so many years.

The people here prospered in this underground city. That was, of course, until the Four Kings who ruled the city fell to the power of the Abyss.

Not much is said for the Abyss, other than it is an empty void of nothingness with great power over the feeble minded. And while the Four Kings were powerful, they were nothing when compared to the Abyss.

The people of New Londo revered the kings as gods, and placed all of their trust in them. Even when they were corrupted by the dark Abyss...

This was a very strange day for the people of New Londo, and especially for this young girl. She was off to the church where she could pay her respects to the kings in peace and away from the busy streets of the great city. When she arrived at the church, something was off. A man in red robes, covering his face with a hood stood in front of the alter.

'Do not be afraid girl.' said the hooded man in an old, calming voice.

'Who are you, why have I never seen you here before? Everyone knows everyone in this city.'

'Ah, well, my name is Ingward. I am here today to bring warning that the kings have succumed to their own foolishness.'

She giggled in responce. 'The kings cannot "succumb to their own foolishness" for they are gods who cannot meet defeat.'

The old man sighed in despair. 'There is no saving some people.' he said as he walked out.

She thought nothing of his comment. It didn't even occur to her that she had told him all that he needed to know. It never occured to her that the fate of the entire city relied on her words in that conversation with that stranger. Ultimately, the was no way she could've known. regardless of her knowledge of the situation however, it did make all the difference to the lives of everyone around her.

Life continued as 'normal' in New Londo, it was much darker though. Not physically, but atmospherically, it fell darker than ever. Only now she had maybe seen the error of her ways. Her way, and the people's way had put so much faith into the kings that they were too blind to see them falling apart around them.

Doubt spread over her mind. She had to find this "Ingward" again and seek answers, but to no avail. She was left with his words stuck in her mind; "There is no saving some people."

It was one particular morning that she decided to head out of the city in search of answers, to a city called Anor Londo. She had heard of the Duke of the archives an thought she may be able to get answers.

As she was headed towards the main gate however, it was apparant that the gates were closing, for the first time in her lifetime, in anyones lifetime in fact. For the first time, the city was closed off from the rest of Lordran.

It was then that she saw him. Standing by the door to the large gate controls. He stared back at her. He lowered his head in what appeared to be shame as he walked back into the pathway within the walls of the city.

It wasn't the last time she'd ever see him. And it was he who sparked anger in her heart for what came next.

In the air above the whole city, three beams of magic struck one another, forming an orb at its epicentre. The orb grew. She guessed it was Ingward and two others who were in some way related to him. From the orb, water began to drip, all the while it was growing larger.

When it stopped growing, and the streams feeding the orb were cut off. Suddenly it was clear what the orb was, as it lost its form and it collapsed to the earth. It was water.

The impact alone was enough to shatter buildings and crush most of the inhabitants of the city within seconds of the orb falling to the ground. Because the gates were closed, the water had nowhere to go. The city became a flood.

The last thing on her mind wasn't that she hadn't lived her life to the fullest, rather that she had began to understand why he had done it. If all they had worshipped had become corrupt, so had they. All hatred was thrown from her mind as the water engulfed the city, and her along with it.

When she next saw him, she was a ghost, like most of the other inhabitants of the city. It was because of her understanding she didn't mind him being here, the last of his three to remain in the ruins of New Londo. It is also why she didn't attack when the chosen undead stormed into city from an unkown entrance to the city from above. She watched as the chosen undead conversed with Ingward, who gave a key to the unknown figure to drain the ruins.

The chosen undead was going to put an end to to the kings, and for this she was pleased. The coruption would stop. It was at this peace that she finally left the realm of the living and finally passed on to the next world.