A Bonfire Unlit

A New Quest

I walked away from the cabin and back onto the road. I was feeling slightly tired after all of this walking but still carried onwards. There wasn't much around me anymore as I went up and over the hill. I could finally the temple, but it was still a ways away.

As I reached the temple I noticed that it was a gargantuan size. It was huge and I wondered why it was so big. And because the temple was huge so were the doors. They stood at 20 feet and I wondered if I would be able to push through them. I set down the sleeping Fire Keeper before rubbing my gauntlets together and then tried to open the door.

It took some time and a lot of effort, but I was able to push through and I opened the doors. I went back to the Fire Keeper and picked her up again before walking inside.

There were 14 thrones and on each throne was a giant. Well, not exactly a giant but a very tall human. They sat at 15-20 feet tall. And like the houses before each throne was decorated to someone's specific style. So I'm guessing that each "god" here had their respective throne and house that they owned. I looked around at the gods and noticed that some gods gave off more power than others. Mainly 3 gods sat next to each other and gave of the most power. One was wearing some sort of suit that had clouds that were moving in it. Next to him was a lightning bolt that radiated the same power as a great lightning bolt. I started to look at him and noticed he had a gray beard that was neatly trimmed, with blue eyes and a very strict expression. Next to him was a man that was wearing a slightly ridiculous hat along with a button-up shirt and shorts. Leaning on his throne was a trident and a smaller throne next to it. Looking at him I noticed he had a black beard, black hair, tanned skin, and green eyes. He had a relaxed posture and expression and his head was currently resting on his hand. And the last god looked bored to death. His throne was made out of obsidian and skeletal hands were coming out of the throne and the ground around him. He reminded me a lot of Nito.

I looked around and saw the same silver lady from earlier glaring at me. I wondered why she was so mad but at the moment I didn't really care. I also saw the woman I talked to earlier, in the wood cabin, staring at me. The other gods matched the statues that were outside their respective houses. I saw the muscled guy, the lady who was holding the spear and shield, and all of the other gods. After looking at all the gods, I moved towards the center of the room, still cautious, and sat down putting the Fire Keeper on my lap leaning against me.

"What is your name mortal?" The man with the lightning bolt asked me not unkindly.

I raised my eyebrow at his tone of voice before hesitantly answering "I do not have one. And I am not a mortal."

He looked at me questioningly, "So you are a god?"

"No. I am an uncursed dead, tasked with linking the flame once more." I replied.

"What is an uncursed dead? What is linking the flame? Where are you from?" The lady with the spear asked me curiously. I looked to the side of the room, not wanting to answer all of the questions. "Tell me," She said agitatedly. I sighed at her attitude, what is it with these people and being rude to others?

"We are humans who have died but have been revived, reanimated. We can not die as we are always revived again, being made out of ash." The lady's eyes sparkled at the new information, she was about to ask another question but I raised my hand, "But each time we did our minds go madder. And then when we die enough times we go Hollow. They are nothing more than a mad best, they remember nothing from their lives. They're stuck in their body, their soul being a prisoner inside the body."

My face grew more sorrowful as I talked, "It's a mercy to be killed while you're hollow. I've had to put down so many friends who went mad." Tears started to form out of the corners of my eyes but I held them back. "That is my life and I can't do anything about it," I said bitterly. "All I can do is link the flame, to keep the age of fire going on, to make sure that the darkness does not consume us."

The entire counsel seemed shocked at what I had told them. They all had different expressions on their faces ranging from sorrow to indifference. I kept my head up as I eyed them making sure they weren't about to attack me.

"What is this world? What monsters live here? Is there a task that must be accomplished?" I asked the council. They looked at each other before sighing, they had seemed to come to an agreement together.

"This world is a world full of Greek Mythologies. The gods, the monsters, and even the heroes were true stories from the past. But we didn't die, no we lived on our flame moving to different locations. We stayed hidden, but they're a group of people known as demigods who know about our existence. They are kids born from our affairs with mortals. And since the Greek monsters still live on they live to save the world from them. Mortals can't see the monsters, they are hidden away by an illusion called the Mist. It hides the Greek world from them so that they will never know about what actually goes on behind the scenes you could say. That is our story." The lady from the wood cabin told me. Then they went turn by turn telling me what their name was and their "domains" or what they could control.

I nodded my head at the new information, "I have about 0 clues on what you said, but what I am getting is those old legends about your heroes and gods from long ago were true." I looked around and they nodded, "And that you still live on, your flame moving from one location to another...." I trailed off. I mentally slapped my head, their flame, their FLAME. I would have to link their flame for them! That was my task in this world, and then maybe I could go back to Lothric.

"And I'm guessing that your flame had become weak? And you need to link it once more so that your age can keep on going? But you do not know where the flame is?" I asked looking at them. They seemed shocked that I had come to that conclusion but nodded nevertheless. I pondered at the task for a moment.

"I will go and link your flame for you. But I will need some help, this world is new to me and I need to know more about it." I said to them. They thought about the request before agreeing to it.

"Before you go" The man with the trident, Poseidon, asked "There was a magic signature similar to your own. We sent our best demigods of this generation to defeat it but they have not come back yet. He looked slightly worried as he said this. "Can you please go and see if they are ok?" he pleaded.

I nodded at him before realizing that the Fire Keeper was still here. I looked back at the lady from the wood Cabin, Hestia, "Can you please keep her safe for me? She is all I have left in this world." I told her softly. She nodded and I planted a kiss on the FireKeepers forehead before she was teleported from my grasp.

"Do not fret hero she is safe in my house for now." She told me. I nodded my thanks at her before standing up and taking my Astora Great Sword out, with my Dragon Crest Shield.

He looked at me thankfully, "I will teleport you to the place where the signature came from. Please save them."

"Wait," the spear lady, Athena, yelled, "What's your name?" She asked as I started to teleport away.

"Call me... Call me Ash." I told her before vanishing from their sight.

I felt like I was being pulled apart before I landed in a forest in the middle of nowhere. In front of me was a bonfire. I quickly went towards it and put my hand over the coiled sword. The flame burst into life and the name of the place was given to me, again in white text.

Anchorage: The land beyond the Gods