I watched. Watch still, even as the flame burned out, even after I was nothing more than an ember, even as the world changed. The Undead disappeared, the Darksign gone. The Giants and Gods went away, and all that were left were the holders of the Dark Soul. Humans.
On some level it made me happy. But watching them fight amongst themselves, with stronger and more deadly weapons with every year, something about that saddened me immensely. Was that...what I fought for?
No, there wasn't much point in being sad. So long as there were at least two beings of intelligence in this world, one would want to kill the other. Regardless of circumstance.
That I managed to secure a future for humans on a whole should be enough. It was satisfaction. With that I could rest, deep within the Kiln of the First Flame.
And yet...
It caught my eye. Young girls, using a strange Sorcery, fighting for their lives and the lives of everyone around them. A strange white creature that granted them these Sorceries, linking their Souls to gems that eventually darkened, corrupted. Strange white creatures that reminded me of the primordial serpents in their manipulations. In that sense the Undead lived on, still stringed along by beings beyond them.
So much like Seath. So much like myself. It sickened me to look at them, for a great empathy came over me.
I observed them, over history. Logan would have been so proud to see Sorcery playing such a strong part in the development of humans...what were their names? Cleo...Cleopatra. Joan of Arc? I couldn't remember clearly.
And then...then two girls in a city, in a place known as Japan. Another not far off.
A girl with ebony hair, who traversed time, trying to save this one girl who meant so much to her.
One with a mane of blood, who fought to sustain herself, to fill the void she felt.
Another, kissed by the sun, who wielded weapons that brought to my mind Pyromancy. So alone, so desperate, so close to...
A world of decadence, of sweetness, of fake promises, of things forbidden to the creator. Like Ariamis.
Hollowing. Becoming a Witch. It meant the same thing.
Life lost because of passion. Countless timelines, repeated over and over to save that girl. Despair and love, gripping the Soul itself and turning innocence into madness. Innocent wishes. Pain.
I remembered Quelana's words. Laurentius. Griggs, Logan. Andre. Seigmeyer. Solaire. Everyone.
'Don't you dare go Hollow on me.'
So many times I would toe that line, dying once too many. But they were always there, their images in my mind bringing me back from the brink. And they all perished in the end, suffering the same fate they told me to avoid. Turning into nothing but vestiges of their former selves solely because they sought to move forward, to find some meaning in their lives. I was the only one to make it...and even then, I became this. Nothing more than fuel for the Flame.
Destruction on a vast scale. A Witch's Night, a laugh piercing into the sky, painting the world in dreary greys.
I couldn't save them.
Tears.
I couldn't even save myself.
Screams.
But these girls...
The sound of an hourglass turned.
I can save them.
---
Fire runs, burns, creates, births. From the embers of the linked Flame arise the Chosen Undead, to pave the way once more.
---
A breath as she rises from her bed, drenched in sweat. Her chest rapidly rises and falls, and tears threaten to fall. Another failure. Another repeat. Didn't matter, she just had to keep tryi-
"Welcome back," comes a voice. She's on edge immediately, a handgun pulled from nowhere. But before she can even see who had spoken, the gun is snatched from her grasp and her wrists are clenched in an iron grip.
"Wha-?" she begins, only to look up and stare into dark eyes.
Depthless pools, wise and tired beyond measure. The eyes of a killer, a murderer, a war veteran too deep to ever return. Those eyes made her lose her breath in fear and awe.
"Who...who are you?"
He smiles, returns the weapon, and chuckles. "Just call me Pygmy, Ms. Akemi."
---
AN: so this idea came to me in the shower and it wouldn't leave until I wrote it. nice and refreshing to just put out a one-shot every now and then.
don't hurt me
