Remnant 1: Last of The Abyss

Chapter 7: Not an End, But a Beginning

The steps to the Kiln were no longer littered with Black Knights like in the past, and the voyage to the first flame was shorter than usual. The disappearance of enemies was due to the importance of rekindling the flame, and the constant melting of the terrain from past lords made the land mass shorter and easier to travel. The soul of Cinders body melts away into the wind as ash, and his victorious opponent, the Ashen one, sits by the edge staring off into the burning ring in the sky. The man was at the peak of hollowing and yet hiding it with a simple ring, because none of the good men who wanted to see the sun shine would let him pass without it. A hollow venturing to the kiln would spell the end of the light. He heard footsteps come up behind him and turned to see a Darkwraith. "Oh, so you've come to kill me too. How many times will it be, twenty, a hundred, a thousand. When will it end, this never ending pain of death."

"No, we don't think we will. It would be such a waste after all of your trials." it said.

The man looked back aghast, eyes wide in confusion. "Are you... are you one of them? The seven? Why are you here, to push me into this 'king of hollows' business?"

"Do you know why a false representation of the sun was placed over this burning ring?"

"I... no, why?"

"In the beginning, a fire grew and within it came lords. That fire became this ring you see before you. But the lords decided that this thing was not a symbol of hope, but of the end, and so they wrapped it in the burning image of a sun. Now, why are we here? To have you pursue the fate of the Hollow King and let the light continue, yet dimmer? This pain you speak of would continue, and another would come to light the flame in the future. No, we would only wish to step into this disgusting place to give you another option. End the flame and let the dark continue."

"End it? But how?"

"Give the firekeeper the eyes from the shadow covered shrine beneath Lothric. After that she will finally see the world as it is and will know the truth. Come back with her and end it. No pain, no death, only endless slumber."

"The only reason you would say anything is if you want something, so what do you get out of this?"

"The only thing we ever wanted, true darkness forever."

The man sat there in silent thought for a while until his decision was made. He got up and turned toward the Darkwraith, raising his hand towards it. "It's a deal then." The Darkwraith reached out and shook his hand. "We are happy you understand."

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They rode back home in a bullhead without any further interference, with two smaller security planes with them. At this point team CFVY were done with work for a while, and unanimously decided an extended vacation was in order. Coco and Fox fell asleep during another of Port's epic stories, Patience sat in silence with his cloak ready for landing, Yatsuhashi was cleaning his weapon of any dirt, and Velvet was still a little wobbly from the last crash. "Oh, for Oum's sake, why won't this headache go away?" she groaned, clutching her head in pain.

"You will have a chance to rest once we get back, but until then you will have to deal with it." Yatsuhashi said, still cleaning his weapon.

Patches stepped away from the window and toward Velvet, pulling a small bag from behind his back filled with slimy purple balls. "You can have some of these. They can numb headaches pretty easily, although they are mainly used for heightening resistances."

"What is it?" she asked, disgusted by its sliminess.

"It's called moss fruit, a plant from back in our time. I just so happened to save some and asked a friend to keep a garden full of this and other things."