4 Quella: The first Sin

From the tree formed an adolescent girl, with beautiful features. Her skin mirrored the tree bark, her hair its leaves, and she had piercing eyes of cobalt blue.

Drake hesitated to reply, He could sense the power of the being before him, she could snuff him out with ease. One wrong word and he'd be done for. He tried to calm himself and replied.

"My name is Drake miss Quella. I am... I'm a chosen champion of a god sent here to gain strength so I may assist him."

Sweat formed on Drakes brow pressured by the radiating of Quella as she looks into his eyes as if trying to peer into his soul.

"As far as I know, there are only 3 types of gods that can breach the barrier between worlds. The first, those that control time and space that can twist open the void with their sheer raw power, but someone as you with such a faint and pitiful soul could not hope to assist a god cloaked with such might, nor would they asketh you for it. The second type. A being who has domain over travel, transitions, and boundaries can slip through the nigh undetectable ever-present cracks between space. Or the third. One like me who presides over dreams. A product of power that, in its very nature, can cross through the myriad worlds through its own plane."

Drake listened to the expounding of the goddess before him, she walked towards him while talking, getting closer, until their noses almost touched. Drake stood still nervous, as she stares into his stormy grey eyes for a moment before taking a step back.

"Ahhhh... I see. A dreamer then, when this one looks closer, I can see the ashen grey sparks twisting out from the fires of your soul, dancing. I wonder...."

Quella looks contemplative as she crouches down, grasping her tender white chin with one hand, her arm propping it up upon her knee, she doodles in the dirt with a finger muttering to herself.

"maybe, just maybe... but no, it's impossible, hmmm..... but what if.... ahh yes it could work...

his soul though.... stronger needs to be stronger."

She stood up so fast her feet briefly left the ground; her cobalt eyes burned with a fiery hope and determination.

"Sir Drake, I have a proposition for you, well more of a."

Drake sighed internally and thought to himself, not this again.

"request a plea for help, you will not go unrewarded; I assure you, and it will certainly coincide with your wish to gain strength."

She pulled out a strand of hair, letting it go, it floated in the air towards Drake before sinking into his forehead.

Images appeared in Drakes's mind, similar to what he dreamed in the void but in far greater detail.

Quella spoke to him as the images appeared in his mind, narrating.

"This is my world, I have watched it from before its very creation, I was born out from the plane of dreams and bore witness to the life that sprang out from the chaos."

Drake saw a world of endless fog dotted by trees that grew tall and leafless, rising from the cracks of ashen grey soil, Dragons roamed living in caves formed from hollows in the trees.

"Firstborn was the dragons, half-living half-elemental, eternal and defended by there scaly hide, they wandered a world of ashen grey fog for countless millennia. But there can be no beginnings without an end, and so the age of ancients eventually came to pass. Ending that age came the advent of Fire creating a disparity in the world: with it came Heat and Cold, Life and Death, and Light and Dark and from the Dark came the hollows.

Drake saw an explosion of flame sparked out from nothing, the rules of reality divided birthing new ones, seeds of power sprouted from the divide and birthed new life. Feeling a familiarity with the story he was shown, he remembered something from his youth, before he joined the army at age 15 he got a gift from his father James, a game called dark souls 3.

This new race, wishing to overthrow their predecessors the eternal dragons, ventured forth into the kiln of the first flame searching for power."

Drake saw a large group of skeletal people, huddled around spouting flames of varying colors.

"And in the kiln, they found it. Four souls of divine might and the mightiest of the hollows claimed them.

Gwyn, a lord among hollows followed by a legion of knights, claimed the soul of cinder gaining divine power over Light and Lightning. Izalith, a witch attuned to the mana of the world, stood with her daughters and seized the soul of Chaos claiming divinity over Fire. Nito, the eldest of hollows, claimed the soul of Death. Gaining divine rule over Death. Pygmy weakest of the 4 was left with the soul of Dark. Smallest of the flames. Granting him power over the Dark from which his kind spawned."

Drake was certain now, he was in the universe of the Dark Souls game series, its creator must have dreamt of this world and recreated into the game series. Drake listened on, eager to find out the current state of the world he grew up playing in.

"Having gained significant power, Gwyn mightiest of the 4 named himself and his direct kin gods and waged war against the ancient dragons leading his army of self-proclaimed gods, he and his chosen shot great bolts of lightning slaughtering the dragons in battle. Izalith and her children wove a cataclysmic storm of Fire that blighted the lands, and Nito's miasma of Death dragged many to their graves. Pygmy, however, took a unique approach, and with his Dark Soul, he birthed a new species. Mankind. And spread tiny seeds of darkness in them, giving them power, they too soon joined the war and became fodder against the dragons."

"The Dark Soul differed from the other lord souls it could burn brighter with the will of humanity, and with it, they grew strong. With the help of mankind, Gwyn was victorious against the dragons and established the mighty empire of Lordran. This was the start of a prosperous age dubbed the age of Fire, but after a great amount of time passed and with the waning of the Fire, Gwyn grew fearful of mankind, that his kin would become like the dragons of yore, they were weak, yes, but the darkness within, held endless potential. He split his divinity among his kin and sacrificed himself, and using his soul, he reignited the first flame and with it sealed away the dark souls of mankind."

Quella took pause looking at Drake gauging his reaction, it surprised her how collected he appeared as he listened to her tale, he seemed to be immersed in thought as if trying to recall something. Quella spoke to him directly.

"Sir Drake, this is what many consider being the first and greatest sin of Gwyn or indeed the first sin in the records of man, he subverted natural law and by sealing away mankind's Dark Soul he had cursed them and this world.

Each time the first flame nears its end, his curse reappears, a plague sealing the souls of man to this plane. Creating an unholy world of undead. Countless times this has come to pass, and each time a chosen one among the undead is tricked by the children of Gwyn into slaughtering others for their souls before sacrificing themselves, relighting the flame and starting the cycle anew."

Quella sighed.

"Foolish. Natural law can only be subverted for a moment, and reality is folding itself around this moment. Time and space are collapsing in on a singular point. I hold not the power to intervene in the material plane so ask I you of this sir Drake, will you intervene in my place, you will not be unrewarded if you agree to come to my aid I have two gifts as recompense."

Off a finger, she pulled a ring, presenting it to Drake, it was plain, unadorned and made from white gold.

"My ring, it will mimic the effects of the dark sign allowing you to collect hollowed souls to strengthen your own"

In her other hand, she grasped a glowing blue gem that pulsated with a foggy light.

"You are weak, and this world may prove too much for you, so my second gift is this, crystallized energy formed from the waters of my realm, it should provide you enough energy to open the paths of passage between worlds twice. For a dreamer like you, perhaps another world will give you the strength to save this one, should you prove lacking in your current state."

"What exactly would you need me to do?" Drake asked, wanting to know what he was getting himself into.

"Gwyn and his followers have seeded the land with bonfires, these manifestations of Gwyn's power bolstered by remnants of the first flame are what maintain the curse, you need but absorb their power with your divine seed and cleanse the area of undead"

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