CHAPTER 1: INCINERATE THE LIARS

The cart was traveling along the road it was peaceful, like it was every time before when they went down the road. The driver looked back "we're almost there"; all he got was silence like every other time he talked to the figure.

The figure was wearing a drab tattered cloak over armour made out of some kind black metal with the helmet being torn open under the eye slits. The driver could just barely make out the majestic gold engravings on the armour needless to say the figure was completely covered in armour save for the leggings which were indelibly stained and tattered trousers with leather boots, the only thing keeping them together being rope and bandage.

"Not that it matters but why do you wanna go to the capital?" he couldn't see the figure but he could tell he was glaring at him "*sigh* never mind". A few minutes later the horse that was pulling the cart along started acting up and soon the ground started shaking and then a creature three times the size of the cart emerges from the ground "EARTH DRAGON!" hearing this the cloaked figure springs into action wielding a long sword and a blue shield with a great sword on his back. But upon exiting the cart the figure looked at what the driver called a dragon confused. What he saw was a creature more alike to a giant brown bug than any variants of dragons that the figure saw.

He then proceeded to approach it "ARE YOU CRAZY, IT'LL KILL YOU" regardless of what the man said the figure forged on as he put the long sword and shield away, and then pulled the great sword from his back and drew it from its sheath. He then charged forward still not uttering a word or letting out a sound and swung the sword cleaving the creature in two, sending it flying a full three meters away from the cart in the process. "h-how did you do that" the figure just looked at him the driver couldn't see his face but he knew that the figure was annoyed by all the questions and decided to stop. "Anyway we should probably get going we don't want to risk running into more of them" the figure nodded in agreement feeling that they may become a problem if there were too many.

After the cart arrived in the city the figure got off and said goodbye, before heading off. But after a couple of meters he noticed some posters lining the wall, he couldn't read what they said but judging by the pictures and the numbers underneath, he could tell they were wanted posters, from his days as a bounty hunter. But it didn't matter to him he was there to look for answers not for his fortune. Because after all he had no idea where he was he just knew he wasn't at Lothric, the shrine or the kiln. His last memory was watching the fire keeper remove the first flame from the bonfire in the kiln, then for some reason he had attacked her. He attempted to stop himself but something or someone else was in control, and then everything went black, and when he awoke he was in a forest and noticed a cart in the clearing and headed towards it. After getting to the cart the driver was considerably shaken by the figures sudden appearance. But after pointing at a place on the map, the driver figured he needed a ride, and took him on the journey.

He forged on observing the environment, while taking note of the lack of undead and hollows in the city. He soon noticed people heading into a building not too far from him. The building appeared to be somewhat important, so he decided to head over, to see if he could find out where he was. But upon entering the building he noticed that they were signing a type of contract he decided to wait in the que that was lined up for one of the booths, so he could find out what it was. When he finally got to the end he noticed that the way the so-called contract was set out, they seemed to be recruiting soldiers from the general populace he noticed that they kicked someone out, "so you would like to enlist would you?" That confirmed the figures suspicions. "Alright just fill out the form and bring it back to-" the figure put the paper back on the desk and left the building, leaving the man at the desk confused. But as he was leaving the building, he tripped on the doorway and rolled onto his back making him look at the sky. And for once in his life he could see a beautiful sky a sky that he hadn't seen since his journey began. Even from when he awoke from that stone coffin he never saw such a beautiful blue sky.

But, to his disappointment, the view was immediately blocked by a woman bending over to look at him. The woman had messy blond hair with the sides reaching down past her waist, while wearing trousers and a top which reminded him of the desert pyromancer he found and promptly killed in the dreg heap's poisonous swamp after she had sent him to a bonfire by burning him alive (Needless to say it was extremely painful). "Hellooo" he just looks up at her confused "whatcha doin' there little guy. You'll be alright big sis is here to cheer you up" the figure stands up and notices his helmet fell off when he tripped. As he was trying to locate the helmet, the woman could see what he looked like. He had short brown hair and his eyes were two different colours one black and one blue and he seemed to be 16 to 18 years old. "Looking for this" the figure looks at her and notices she was holding his helmet. The figure proceeded to take it off of her while looking annoyed "so let me guess you came from the country side seeking fame and fortune am I right" he glares at her clearly showing a distaste for the question "wait you're not? Then why are you here?" the figure looks at his helmet "I don't know." the woman becomes confused at what he said "what do you mean you don't know?" "For one I don't know where I am" said the figure 'I don't usually know why I end up where I do. But there is always a purpose as to why' "well I can answer your questions" the figure looks at her sceptical "really?" "Yep, you've just gotta treat me to lunch!"

The woman and the figure were at the inn and she was on her third tankard of ale "man never too early in the for some hooch amiright*burp*" the figure was annoyed as to how much money she leeched "are you going to answer my questions? Or are you just going to keep drinking Ale?" The figure just wanted answers and didn't want to waste time that he could have been spending, finding said answers. "Sure I will you've just gotta answer one of mine" "well what is it?" the figure looked at her impatiently "Where did you get that money?" "I acquired them from someone I helped out a little while ago" this doesn't surprise her, as the figure didn't want the conversation to last longer "my turn what is this place" "simple it's the imperial capital didn't you know that." The figure thinks back to his hunting days "I've travelled around a lot and I've never heard of an imperial capital" this seemed to confuse the woman, but before she could ask another question "can you assist me in finding the answers I'm looking for" "sure I can help ya there I actually know someone who's very knowledgeable about the area he might be able to help you with that." The figure feels a bit of relief "But first your gonna need some money" the figure nods "nothings free there's always a cost regardless of what it is" "okay so how much ya got" the figure produces a small sack of gold coins "woo what do we have here" "money that someone gave me for protecting them from what they called an earth dragon" her eyes closed a bit "a big guy huh? With skills like that you could get far here" "depends on if I have to increase my status to get what I need" the woman gets up from her chair taking the coins with her "I'll bet our little encounters been more educational than you know kid. Anyways I'm gonna go talk with him you wait here ok" "don't be too long".

It's been a few hours since the woman left so the figure decided to rest so he could pass the time even though he had no need for it. A few more hours pass when the figure wakes up "why's she taking so long?" he wondered "hey buddy I'd like to go home sometime tonight you know" the figure looks back "sorry but I'm waiting for someone." "Yeah sorry to tell ya this son but she took your money and ran" he then proceeded to stand up considerably annoyed at the amount of time he wasted "well that's unfortunate" he headed out the door and to his right he noticed the bag that used to have his money in it "at least I still have the bag" he then proceeded to put it in the box on his belt to save time

He then started wandering around with nothing really to do, and after a while he decided to rest to pass the time. But after a minute a carriage pulls by with what looked like soldiers driving it. And a young girl, with blonde hair and a blue dress stepped out and headed over to him. "Excuse me?" the figure looks at her and notices that she's writhing with souls "um… if you need a place to rest your head for the night your welcome to come home with me" the figure, as suspicious as he was when he brought Yoel of Londor to Firelink, said "sorry but I have no money" "hehe well if you did you wouldn't be here now would you" the two who were driving walked over to the figure and the girl "Lady Arya has a bit of a weakness for helping those with nowhere to go" "you really should accept her offer" the figure notices the soldiers also had some soul residue on them which made him more suspicious as the figure didn't have much trust since his encounter with the blonde woman from earlier "pretty please" the figure still needed to know where he was so he decided to take her up on the offer "fine" 'this'll be a pain' "great! Then let's go home."

They travelled to a mansion surrounded by trees. As the figure wonders how rich they were, and why they put their mansion in such a terrible strategic location. When they go inside Arya tells him to follow her to the dining room, there he meets what he assumes to be her parents "oh looks like Arya brought home another guest" the father radiates less souls than the guards but radiates them nonetheless "oh my so it would seem, how many does this make" "Mother!" the figure notices that the mother radiates the same amount of souls as Arya. "Thanks for having me here" 'this place is writhing with souls, why is there so many?' "why don't we bring out some tea for our guest" her father says "do you have any peanut butter cookies to go with them." the figure's favourite delicacy is peanut butter cookies hence why he asked "yes of course" after a minute or so the tea and cookies were on the table "so I assume you want to make a name for yourself in the imperial capital am I correct?" "No I'm not here for that" this doesn't seem to faze the man "Then why are you here?" the figure takes a sip of his tea "my curiosity. I wanted to see what this place was like." "I see did you come here alone" the figure tries to remember "I came alone" 'the soul of cinder doesn't count' "well I know someone in the military who could help satiate your curiosity by giving you a tour" "that would be appreciated thank you."

The couple told the figure that he can use one of their spare rooms for the night 'I've been a bit unlucky recently but it's finally panning out a little bit, but why do they have so much soul residue it's nearly impossible for a normal person to consume souls let alone radiate them. Somethings going on here, it's probably for the best that I'm alert at all times.' He notices that his weapons are a bit blunt and dinted 'But it wouldn't hurt to go over my equipment. And learning the written language could definitely help increase my understanding of this kingdom.' he proceeds to take all of his equipment out of his box and lay them on the bed and proceeds to examine each piece applying repair powder on each weapon except for one. After he finishes with the maintenance of his equipment he then places his equipment back in to the box before pulling a book from one of the shelves and examining it. After two hours he decided to call it a night and hops into the bed 'I hope tomorrows not as taxing as it was today.'

"Hey we should go to that shop next" "hnng… please wait milady". The figure looks at the pile of items Arya bought. "I see that Arya buys more than she needs. The last time I saw this many items was when my sister acquired her first allowance" he remembers how much she was scolded for buying so many items "well that shows that all women behave like this" "well I saw a similar pile when a noble came into the village with no idea on how to spend their money but yeah seems so." The soldier seems to ponder that for a second before going onto another topic "Oh and just so you know you see that castle over there… that is the centre of the entire empire. It's where everything happens" "I see so that's where the emperor makes the decisions for the country" the soldier scans the surroundings as if he was making sure no one was listening "well… not exactly" the soldier leans into the figures ear "there is an emperor but he's only a child. Our land is plagued by corruption… It's the minister who controls the emperor from the shadows" "minister" the soldier places a hand over his mouth "do not let your self be heard those who oppose are beheaded" 'that doesn't sound fun but that explains the residue of some of the areas' "the entire capital knows. And on top of that we're dealing with this scum" the soldier points to the same posters the figure saw when he arrived in the city. But this time he could read them "Night Raid?" "A band of assassins terrorising the area, as the name implies they tend to attack at night, high ranking officials and the upper class make up most of their targets. It's only wise to be very cautious" this attracts the figures attention "understood" 'judging from what he said this family may be next on their list' "but for now let's do something about that." he gestures to the giant box the two other soldiers are carrying "*sigh* this is going to be a long day."

When they arrive back at Arya's home the figure returns to his room to prepare himself in case they were attacked by Night Raid. In another part of the house Arya's mother was walking down the hall talking to herself "well well, it appears I can add another entry to my diary, what an addicting little hobby this is" in less than a second she was cleaved in two with the last thing she sees being her legs, with scissor blades above them, before falling to the ground. The one responsible for killing her is someone whose clothes look like they came from the east with purple hair and glasses, "I'm sorry."

"Wha…" the figure felt a few souls traveling towards him one appearing to have the same aura as Arya's mother 'seems like they came, but they were quicker than I expected I need to hurry' the figure ran out of the door grabbing two weapons and his helmet and ran down the hallway as fast as he could and noticed something outside of one of the windows "I was correct. It's them" outside the window five figures were in the air, suspended by wires with the only one he recognised being the one in the centre her name Akame.

The figure noticed one of the other figures talking to Akame and then she drops to the ground with another figure covered in armour. "I doubt there here for the money otherwise they'd try to ignore the guards! Not bring attention to them." 'I wonder how they fight it's best to know in case I have to defend myself' the first ran towards her eager or fearful of battle. But regardless she dispatched him faster than the figure thought. The second was quickly impaled with a spear by the armoured figure. And the third ran away as he was a coward. But, like the others, was dispatched with efficiency "that didn't last long" 'they're stronger than I thought. I need to find Arya and fast.'

"Hurry milady this way!" a soldier was running in the forest with Arya in tow "what's happening" "just get to the shed for now you'll be safe there" they were closing in on the shed and were almost at the door "there you are" they turn to see the figure in full armour and two katana's on his belt. "Great you made it. I'll hide the young lady and wait for the guards, see what you can do to stall the enemy until then got it" "wait what" a sound of someone landing is heard behind the figure. He turns to see Akame standing up he grabs the sheath of one of the katana and grabs the frayed hilt of the blade. She proceeds to run at him but before he could pull the blade from its sheathe, she says "you're not a target" "a target" she then jumps over him stepping on his head in the process causing him to drop the sword as it wasn't fastened properly. The last guard pulls a weapon over his shoulder the same type as the one that killed the third guard and started to fire shots at her, missing all of them as she dodged with such grace that the figure could only dream of, before promptly dispatching the guard slicing him in two.

Arya starts to back away scared of what would happen to her, Akame proceeds to walk towards Arya and raises her sword "you deserve this" but before her blade could come into contact with Arya the figure rush's forward and swings the second blade at her but she dodged away with the blade making partial contact with her face, scratching her cheek. The figure quickly places the blade back in its sheath "I told you, you were not a target, you don't have to die" "sorry but I can't let you kill an innocent girl without good reason" she nods her head "so you won't step aside" "well if I do I'll be abandoning my code so no I won't step aside." 'After all my code is all I have left.' "Then you've made your choice" the figure raises his sword still in its sheath and crosses his left arm over his right in a salute "yes I have" 'her skill is astounding and her agility out classes mine. And her sword has an ability similar to curse like the chaos blade but more fatal, I'll need to be careful around her I think it's best to play defensive to figure out how she attacks'

Akame rushes forward making a strike at his torso but bounces off of the armour that was covered by the cloak, the figure then makes a slash at her neck missing her as she steps back and jumps into the air and as she comes down kicks him in the back of the head knocking his helmet off in the process revealing his face with two red eyes staring at her focused with a held back bloodlust. She notices that he's trying to hold his bloodlust back as he takes a stance placing the blade into its sheath, and as he places it back into the sheath she notices that one of his eyes turned blue when he sheathed the blade.

After he took the stance Akame rushes him but before she could make a strike at his neck, it was parried knocking the blade away from its target. But she quickly redirects her attack going for the neck before being pulled back by someone the figure immediately recognised "what are you doing" Akame looks back at the one stopped her it was the woman who stole the figures money "we've got some time left, and I kind of owe this guy a favour I'm pretty sure he'd like to cap it in now" the figure looks at her in annoyance "you stole my money" "uh… yeah anyway earlier you assumed we were here to kill innocent people right? I think you might see things differently if you find out what's behind this door" she then kicks the door sending it flying it inwards.

"That was unnecessary" "here it is, welcome to the capital kid" what he saw confirmed all of his suspicions but the reasons were worse than what he had imagined, what he saw were corpses, multiple of them. "What is this?" "we learned that they fancied pickin' up newcomers from out of town and torture them to death for their own sick twisted entertainment, that's the reality of this 'happy' little family" 'Why did they do this, and why did they kill innocent people… *sigh* at least I found out why there was so much soul residue on the family' the figure then notices an old friend hanging from the roof.

"Karla." "Do you know that girl?" as Arya started to sneak away the woman grabbed her head "oopsie, you didn't really think we were through with you yet, did you sweetie pie" "did these people actually do this" the woman looks at him "yes they did and their guards are just as guilty for keeping it hidden" the figure was still trying to keep his emotions down to prevent an outburst.

"SHE'S LYING, I HAD NO IDEA ANYTHING LIKE THAT WAS GOING ON. WHO WOULD YOU BELIEVE THESE-THESE MURDERERS or me the one who saved you?" "A-Ashen, one?" 'That voice is that?' "Cornyx!" the figure feels surprised by the fact that two of his friends were in the same world "don't believe her ashen one, she's the one who killed Karla" the figure's suspicions were completely confirmed as soon as Cornyx told him.

"FINE, FINE SO I DID IT OK" the figure felt a flame burning his hand "THESE TRASH ARE NOTHING BUT WORTHLESS FILTH THEY'RE NOTHING BUT-BUT LIVE STOCK FOR ME TO USE AS I SEE FIT" for once in a very long time he was feeling anger "GARBAGE LIKE HER DOESN'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUCH BEAUTY, I'M ALWAYS HAVING TROUBLE TRYING TO LOOK LIKE THAT, SO I TREATED HER EXTRA SPECIAL, SHE SHOULD BE HONOURED THAT I GAVE HER SO MUCH ATTENTION UNGRATEFUL PIIIIIG!" "Sorry honey I don't mean to interrupt your little tantrum here but you are kind of disturbing" "I'll-" the figure sprints to Arya with his hand consumed by fire and grabs her face before Akame could finish her sentence "you shouldn't have called her a pig" and in one brief moment a sphere of fire appeared around them completely lighting up the area and incinerating the nearby flora.

And then when it stopped the figure was holding nothing but ash after he claps his hands to remove the dust the figure heads over to Cornyx "Thank you ashen one, it was necessary for me to see that." Cornyx starts to cough out blood "Cornyx!" the Figure pulls the bars of the cage apart with a surprising amount of strength "stay with me Cornyx" he says while looking calm 'what's happening to you' Akame tells the figure "it's the Lubulla virus. The mother enjoyed poisoning people with different medicines, she even kept a diary of each victims reactions… it's too late for him" "I see" the figure looks at Cornyx knowing his time was up but felt happy that his friend could finally die "don't be sorry Ashen one you expected this to happen to one of us sooner or later… you were a good pupil" "And you a good teacher" as Cornyx dies the figure tells him "may the flames guide thee" before collapsing, falling backwards, exhausted from the energy he spent Incinerating Arya with sacred flame.

Akame turns to leave "Let's go" "hey don't you think we should bring him with us" Akame turns back to face the woman "hm" the woman picks up the figure hoisting him over her shoulder "we could use some extra pairs of hands plus he seems to have some sort of imperial arms as well as a little luck on his side". They headed back to the building to re-join with the others "You're late what took you so long and who the hells that guy" "oh he's just a new recruit" the girl who spoke looked at him suspicious "then why's he out cold?" "Oh he just incinerated someone" the girl seems surprised at that remark "well that explains the light we saw" "anyway Bulat he's all yours" she hands the unconscious figure to the person she called Bulat and then they took off into the night.

END OF CHAPTER 1: INCINERATE THE LIARS