The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 74

There used to exist a kingdom above the catacombs of Carthus where the sandworms dwells with its flesh comprised of its victims. The sand kingdom above the world, Carthus, an empire that would conquer the world.

The kingdom of the desert, the kingdom of the sand was won by the warriors of Carthus. Not built but won. Every kingdom in Lordran drives their warriors with their personal creeds. Mirrah is driven by knighthood and honor; demon kind is driven by their desperate need for survival.

But what was the creed of the warriors of Carthus? The warriors that would conquer the world? They were driven by their lust. Their lust of victory and they would do anything to win. A culture focused on combat and the ability to win through any means necessary.

With their own brand of sharpened titanite, warriors of Carthus fought with heavy curved swords, some of which was specifically designed to reach their enemies behind the shields.

If you were in a distance, they would call you out not by talking but by greeting you face to face with their small machetes, kukri. They use their blood rings to dash around the battlefield like a cloud of sand.

The development of spells like Carthus flame arc and Carthus Beacon, they developed their own school of pyromancy that differs from all other as no other form of pyromancy can capture their love for victory like acid splurge that would corrode your weapon and armor.

The swordsman of Carthus paid great attention to victories and would not shun the use of such pyromancy for there was no honor in death and scoured bones. There was also the Beacon pyromancy that would heighten their aggression like an uncontrollable fire.

With tools such as these, they toppled all other kingdoms and used their resources to their own kingdom. Mirrah was a kingdom who focused on knighthood and their knights would only use magic to face the magic of an enemy and never anytime else.

A Carthus warrior on the other hand would imbue his pre-sharpened sword with fire, buff themselves with pyromancy arts and throw a machete at the face of their enemies cast a cloud of acid to eat away weapons and roll around as an invisible, invincible cloud of sand. They are the types to shamelessly drink potions if they are about to lose in duel.

They were near invincible with such shamelessness on the battlefield for they will do anything to win. Anything. Yet one man ruled over these warriors who resembled unruly bandits more than the bandits themselves.

High Lord Wolnir, whom the warriors of Carthus lived and die for. The conqueror of kingdoms, the toppler of the Lords, the grounder of crowns. A man with absolutely no respect for the monarchs and only respect for the blade.

Wolnir was a man with unique goal. He didn't want to survive the painful world. He wanted to conquer it and wish to become the last of the dead. To outlive all and conquering kingdoms was just a byproduct of his ambition.

And so, his main goal was to sentence countless souls to death in hopes of healing the world. In hopes that the souls from the death would be enough for the world to start healing. It didn't work.

But how could killing simple folk heal the world? And so, he turned to clerics who were powerful in the way of the white and seized their artifacts. Three holy bracelets and a divine great sword. They would serve him well later on.

True to the Carthus ethos of victory at all costs, Wolnir began experimenting with the Abyss, an unhabitable place to all creatures aligned with fire including the Gods themselves and it was slowly expanding.

This resulted in new dark pyromancies, but the high lord slipped a lot more than he intended and started experiencing the fear of true darkness and clung onto the power of the Gods for the first time in his life.

Some ancient descriptions stated that Wolnir pleaded with the gods but that was a mistranslation. Wolnir wasn't the kind of man to plead. That was not in his character. He clung onto them merely because their divinity repels darkness. Not because he had faith.

It was the artifacts he seized from the slaughtered clerics that saved him. The three bracelets and the divine great sword allowed him to fight off being completely consumed by the Abyss.

Even after the high lord was no longer present, fighting in the Abyss, his wardens continued experimenting with the Abyss giving birth to even more dark pyromancies.

Spells that imparted the will of humanity to fire like Black Serpent, which would trace along the ground as if it has a life of its own.

It was precisely these events, these tinkering with the Abyss that drew the attention of the Abyss Watchers to the kingdom of Carthus. The Abyss watchers of Farron who would destroy the mighty empire of Carthus and from their swamps.

And due to the convergence of the lands with there being no lords on their thrones, the swamps of Farron came to be above the catacombs of Carthus and the mighty kingdom of sand finally disappeared in the river of time.

The Abyss watchers would lay waste to many kingdoms at the first sight of exposure and the Carthus was the last kingdom they laid waste to. The catacombs were also the first place for the Abyss to appear.

Wolnir, like the man he was, could stand being trampled upon. So, he dragged them into the Abyss alongside himself completely corrupting the Abyss Watchers. This might lord, who finally put an end to the Abyss watchers even while being corrupted by the Abyss was now in front of her.

Or rather she should say that she could see him. It appears he had been completely corrupted by the Abyss when the Ashen destroyed his artifacts. Now, he was no longer Wolnir for the high lord was truly gone.

He has become a natural disaster, a cosmic horror. An unstoppable force and right in front of her very eyes, black flames were streaming down from his mouth like oceans. She could barely see his body and only part of his skull due to the pale reflection of the moon.

He, no 'it' unhinged its jaw like a snake and devoured the moon. And with its mighty claws, it grabbed onto nothing only for space there to crack like glass. It grabbed space itself and was now crawling straight towards her.