Prologue: Cinder in the Dungeon.

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Dungeon- Kiln Of The First Flame

Fire.

There was only fire burning wildly in this desolated place.

But what else could one expect when the place was specifically called the Kiln of the First Flame.

Amidst the raging inferno of the first flame, there was a person in the center of the entire thing. The Soul of Cinder knelt on one knee in the flame and was ignoring the fire that licked his armored form with relative ease. It almost looked like like he was offering a silent prayer while being burn alive. His hand, donning a gauntlet that bear hideous burns and contortions, was wrapped tightly around the hilt of a sword embedded into the ground.

If one were to looked closely upon the sword, they would noticed that the blade that was imbedded in the ground was coiled in shape instead the straight blade of a traditional sword. The sword itself was glowing red, like any weapon would when it's placed in a furnace yet it's form remained the same, unchanging and unyielding to the fire where a normal blade would have melted into a pile of molten slag long ago.

If it were anyone else in the Lord's place, they would have gone mad from the pain. They will be burning constantly, their flesh melted away to show their bones only the flesh to regenerate to burn again. They will experience that never ending torture until their souls burn out, leaving a hollow husk behind to act as a defender of the Kiln until another Undead comes and kill them so they could either link the flame or usher in an age of dark.

But since this is the man's third time being burnt as fuel for the sake of the 'greater good'; his general reaction to the entire thing was 'meh'. It was rather hard to feel anything when he'd already gained complete immunity to fire no thanks to linking the fire the first time around. The only burning was his soul and after everything he did during his adventures, it's safe to say that it won't burn out at all. It's freaking enormous and after a millennium spent stuck in here, he could barely feel a trickle of his soul being burn away. Well, it may have something to do with the fact that he's not really linking the flame right now but who cares about the schematics.

He had lost count of the number of cycles he had lived through but only three of them was the most memorable for him. Those times were the one where he first awoken as an Undead with no memories, the one where he managed to complete a cycle whist completely naked and the one where he resolved to use the first flame to change the world completely and thus ending the need for another cycle. It'd also help that all those three times was the ones where he'd choose to link the fire instead of letting another poor sod to do it for him.

And to think it all this began when he'd first woken up as an Undead in a cell and freed by a Knight named Oscar. Great fighter that man was, so was his descendant Anri. Anyho, they both managed to beat the demon guarding the asylum they were in and set off to follow some vague prophecy left behind by his family. The Lord of Cinder followed only because he was bored out of his mind and wanted something to do. Fulfilling some suspicious prophecy sounded a whole lot better than playing with the strange doll in his cell.

Throughout their adventures, they did many fun and entertaining things like pushing each other off cliffs; making friends and enemies; finding out that Oscar's sister became a Firekeeper; praised the sun; recruiting a ton of people to join their merry band of misfits; making inappropriate jokes about the vaginal looking dragon; dragon tail hunting; meeting a naked lady with a spider for legs; mistaking a dude for a chick; hoarding weapons and armors because he like collecting and wasn't satisfied with an incomplete set; testing said weapons and armors on each other because of the wiggle room provided by their Undead status; kill Patches and a whole lot more.

But sadly, all good things come to an end... save of Patches. That guy never dies for good. Fucking bastard.

They reached the end of their adventure at an older version of the Kiln where he's currently in and fought with Lord Gwyn himself for the right to be the next guy to burn themselves. Actually, fight wasn't the right word to use here because they never really did that. They more or less just drag Gwyn's hollowed form out of the Kiln and pushed him off the cliff.

Sadly Gwyn didn't die without a fight because he grabbed the nearest person available to take down with him. That person just so happened to be Oscar. And of course, in his effort to prevent his death Oscar reached out and grabbed the nearest person, which just so happened to be the Soul of Cinder. That caused a chain reaction of people grabbing onto people and ended up with everyone falling to their deaths.

It would seem that Gwyn's reputation of being a God is rightfully earned. Even as hollowed and mindless as he was, he still managed to take down a group of at least six people in one go.

Then after everything was said and done, the group had a rock-paper-scissor match to decide who would be the one to link the flame. Needless to say, the Soul of Cinder won and had a tearful farewell with his mates before grabbing onto the coiled sword on the ground. Then fire slowly rises from his surroundings as he felt his soul being burn to keep the fire lit.

It hurt, like a lot. He was pretty sure he went insane there but got bored of it after a century or two. Thankfully, his body grew resistant to the fire after an amount of time had passed.

Anyho, centuries later he could feel his soul waning away and the fire began to fade again. He waited patiently for himself to became hollowed like Lord Gwyn but oddly enough, it never came.

Then out of nowhere, the next guy came around to link the fire like he had did before. What was his name again? He was pretty sure it started with a 'V'. Venny? Vandick? Vendetta? Bah, too troublesome to remember. So, once Vendick arrived to the Kiln, seeking the First Flame for reasons unknown, he was expecting a fight from the Soul of Cinder. However, instead of a fight, the Soul of Cinder surprised Vendick by telling him that he can have it because he's going on an overdue vacation and there was nothing anyone can do to stop him and promptly left, leaving behind the confused lad.

What he did with the first flame was a mystery for the Soul of Cinder but he couldn't care enough to find out. He'd been bored out of his mind for centuries because he couldn't move from his post until the fire fades.

With his duty shamelessly pushed onto another person, the Soul of Cinder went back to adventuring to see how much the world has changed. How long had he been doing so was something he didn't know because he wasn't keeping track. Somehow, after years of traveling he ended up in Majula and met up with Anastacia, Oscar's sister.

She'd been reincarnated and goes by the name Shanalotte by then though and he's pretty sure she doesn't remember him. Oh well, it didn't matter much to him and after hearing from her on how utterly fucked the world is because of Venny abandoning his duty, the Soul of Cinder decided that maybe he should do it again for old times sake and proceeds to steamroll through everything that stood in his path to reach the Kiln once more.

Being ridiculously overpowered from the first cycle sure has it's perks.

Things were so easy that he stripped to his underwear just so it would be more challenging for him. It was not, if anyone was wondering, but he did enjoy watching Shanalotte blush whenever she saw him in his undies. Heh, good times.

Anyway, to sum up the adventure in this cycle here's a list of things he did: He made plenty of new friends though some tried to kill him because of reasons; found plenty of new weapons and armors that he hoarded like a greedy bastard that he is; kill Patches again, or rather Pate as he calls himself now; help scorpion dude get though his wife's period; leave while they were busy with make up sex; found Vandick hiding from his wife in a tomb; dragged Vandick out so he could face her like a man; hunt dragons for their tails only to be disappointed that they can't be turn into weapons anymore; praised the sun; ignoring people's request for him to cover himself; rode a dragon like he always wanted to; managing to crush said dragon due to lack of pilot training and other stuffs.

It didn't really take long for him and the gang to reach the Kiln and faced off with Vandick's wife. And of course, he beat her with ease while singing the curb-stomp song. Oh, and Vanny's brother showed up for no reason when they were done with Vanny's wife.

And so, the cycle continued when Cinder linked the flame again and centuries later, he once again pushed his job to another guy and went off the radar to do whatever he wants. Countless cycles continued to come and go. Some linked the flame while others left it to fade and he had witnessed it all while remaining hidden from the world, not really doing anything to stand out.

It took a while for him to realized that the world is stagnated, unable to move forward from the never ending cycle of light and dark. He was feeling rather bored because of the similarities of each cycle and since he wanted to see something new, he decided to do something about it himself.

And so, when the fire was about to fade once more, he seek out the Firelink Shrine instead of directing others towards it so they could link the fire themselves and found a very pleasant surprise waiting for him there.

It was none other than Anastacia/Shanalotte. And this time, she remembers him from both her incarnation. He couldn't be even happier to reunite with someone from his olden days.

She has no name during that cycle he took it upon himself to gave her one. All he had to do was combine the names of her previous incarnations together. Annalotte. Genius if he do say so himself. And best of all, she took a liking to the name.

Oh, Andre was there too. Him and his magnificent looking beard never fails to remind him of the good old times of his first cycle. Andre was still mad at him for setting his beard on fire by accident back then but eventually forgave him as time passed when he repeatedly apologized via prostrating himself whenever they met. He thinks that Andre only forgave him because he was being annoying and it was the only way to get him to stop.

And so, another adventure began and meeting old friends' descendant was always fun. He even pushed Anri off cliffs for old times sake but her boyfriend wasn't really that happy with him for doing so. At least she was fine from the fall, only prolem was that she was surrounded by giant crabs and a giant ballista was repeating firing at her.

The same thing happened like the last two times he tried to link the flame so there's not much to say; he collected even more weapons and armors; felt sad that there were only two true dragon left and one was already taken by Gwyn's son who turned out to be Andre; tried stealing his dragon; dragged other Lord of Cinders to their throne alive kicking and screaming; found the old giant that so kindly made weapons for him during the first cycle alive and well; tried to push him into Firelink shrine and failed; build up smithy for him outside shrine with help of Andre; met up with the Quel sisters at the ruins of Izalith and move them to the Shrine; kill Patches; praised the sun; met a slave knight who told him he had a daughter that's being held hostage in a painting; accidentally ended up at where Worlds' end converge; met his merry band of misfits from the first cycle; had another wild adventure; kill Patches….again; had another tearful farewell with friends; met another version of himself due to convoluted timeline and eventually, reaching the Kiln again.

And of course, instead of linking the flame or letting it fade, he did something unexpected, much to the surprise of everyone present to witness it. He uses the flame to recreate the world from scratch. What no one knew about the First Flame is that it's the core of the very world they live in. The moment someone linked it, they have a brief window to activate a function that would allow them to modify the world in their image before of being used as fuel. He only found out about it during his second try since the first time around he was busy screaming as his body imploded from the inside only to be regenerated for it to implode again. He didn't managed to activate said function during the second try because he was too shocked by it's discovery and missed his chance.

The first thing he did while creating a new world was erase every trace of the old one. Every single bit, no matter how small, how minuscule. So, every spell, miracle, pryomancy was gone with a poof, even the very land people stood on. For a brief nanosecond, everything was completely white and people were standing on empty space before the land and sky around them reappeared with nothing of the old world in them. The world was reborn in a clean slate, free for any influence of the previous Gods.

The people were left alone but had their memories wiped clean. Every tale, myth and legend was gone. Then he forced the dark and light to co-exist like a displeased mother scolding her children for misbehaving and being mean to each other and thus, effectively ending the cycle of light and dark and breaking the Undead curse caused by Gwyn.

The third thing he did was to hide the Kiln deep within the earth, like so deep that it wasn't even funny and build an entire dungeon above it. Then he made the dungeon semi-sapient and gave it the ability to create monsters with only one goal in mind: Keep those damn kids away from the Kiln. From the very top of the dungeon were the weakest enemies, to scare away cowards and weaklings without killing them and the mobs would only grow in strength the more floors they descend. But he wasn't that cruel as he had left safezones at some areas so they could rest safely as a reward for reaching that far.

He made the dungeon to keep people out of his hair while he works but he had no idea the dungeon would be used for profit by the people of the new world.

The forth and final thing he did somewhat disgusted him but it was somewhat necessary. He made Gods and Goddesses to look over the people that inhabit the world to make sure they don't go extinct from doing something stupid. No, he did not gave birth to them in any way. He just willed them to exist and poof, they there are. They had no idea who made them nor do they care and it suited him just fine as long as they would keep watch over the people and help them in their time of need.

With everything said and done, what's left was to use his soul to keep the world from falling apart while it slowly stabilized and thus, leading to his millennium years of kneeling in the mist of blazing flame. Still, he could tell that it's almost over because the fire around him was starting to fade, which is a good sign for him because his legs were ridiculously stiff from all the kneeling he did.

He can't wait to venture out into the new world he had built and see for himself just how different it would be from the usual.

-0-

The Soul of Cinder blinked beneath his charred helm. He looked around him to confirm what he was seeing is real. It took a full minute before he registered that his eyes were not deceiving him in the slightest. The fire has faded from the Kiln completely yet there was no sign of the dark approaching. The usual feeling one would get when the age of dark blankets the world was absent.

Naturally, he shot up from his kneeling position and cheered with his arms shot up in the air.

"It worked!" The Soul of Cinder cried out in glee. His voice was distorted by his helmet, causing it to sound malicious and distorted with a bit of echo in it even though the person was anything but. "It actually worked! Finally I'm free! Free from the dull cycle of light and dark!" He laughed happily before he suddenly fell back and collapse to the ground. "Argh fuck! My legs! They're so stiff! I forgot how bad it could be after kneeling for so long." Even though he was feeling very uncomfortable because of his dead legs, he couldn't help but keep grinning under his helmet.

Finally, after so long...he's free. He wondered if this world would actually be peaceful for once but he highly doubted it since he didn't do anything to change human nature. He's pretty sure there's going to be racism and wars but hey, at least the dead doesn't come back to live and start killing everyone anymore so that's always a plus.

After laying on the ground for a while, he could feel his legs awaking up again and he quickly stood back up. He did a few stretches to work out the kinks in his body and promptly head towards the giant doors that lead out the Kiln, eager to see just what's on the surface of his dungeon. He really hoped that the Gods and Goddess that he'd made were doing their job and keeping the monsters of his dungeon from crawling out and massacring everyone.

He'll admit that it was a design flaw but at least the monsters from the lowerest floors would come out for no good reason.

He opened the doors only to be greeted by the guardian of said doors that just so happened to be the most powerful thing that the dungeon could create. He'd say hello to it but it tried to kill him the moment it lain it's eyes on him after some slight hesitation. He could only stare in amusement as the guardian tried to kill him with it's massive sword and he realised that when he set the dungeon's objective to keep people out, he had forgotten to put himself in the V.I.P list. Naturally, everything would attack him too.

There is intelligence in the guardian's eyes, telling him that the creature before him is so much more than a mindless brute. It also seem to have recognized him but ultimately decided to attack him anyway even though it pains it to do so. The Soul of Cinder wondered if the creature before him was just following the purpose that's programmed into it's very core when it attacked him.

Oh well, nothing he could do about that for now so why bother.

With a flick of his wrist, the guardian that was busy trying to cleave him in half was nothing more than splatter of blood and guts on the wall. The Soul of Cinder just stared at his bloodied hand in disappointment. He had forgotten how boring it was to be overwhelming powerful. He was, without a doubt, tired of all the fighting and with great power comes great idiots who think they could beat you.

This life is going to be a pain if things continued to be like this. If only there was a way to change that….

Then he got the bright idea to seal all that power away and turn back towards the Kiln's bonfire. He gripped onto the coiled sword in the center and willed all of his strength into the sword. Easily enough, everything that made him powerful was sipped away from his body and sealed away into the sword, rendering him nothing more than an average human like how he first started.

And of course, being an average human now, the equipment he was wearing was a tad bit too heavy to him and he was promptly dragged down by the weight and slammed onto the ground face first.

It took great effort to escape from the confine of his armor but he managed it.

"Urgh, should've thought of that before." The man shook his head but froze as he realised something crucial when he spoke without his helm distorting his voice. A hand reached out to his throat before he spoke again. "Ah- ah- Testing, testing. One two three. By Gwyndolin's confused boner inducing looks! I sounded so young!" The man's- or rather, teen's eyes were widen to a considerable degree as he quickly took out a neat and clean shield from his bottomless box by the bonfire so he could examined his body carefully on the reflection.

Sure enough, he had turn back into a puny looking teenager instead of the muscular looking middle aged man that his body was stuck in for eons. His short hair was still the same shade of white while his eyes were amber with a faint lick of flames in them. You'd hardly notice it unless you really focus on them while leaning in real close.

"Well, I didn't know that would happen when you transfer your all strength away." He mumbled with a tilt of his head before shrugging nonchalantly. "Meh, too troublesome to fix. Not like I'll miss anything other than my height." The Soul of Cinder then proceeds to find something suitable to wear from the box because he didn't want his first impression to the inhabitants of the land for him to be an exhibitionist.

He ruffled though the box, feeling nostalgic as his eyes look over the countless amount of weapons, armors, dresses that he would never admit to have worn and tools. He was searching a while before he finally found something suitable to wear.

The wanderer set. Clothes that's light and easy to move in while providing decent protection from the elements. Best of all, it was plain enough that he could remain inconspicuous while wearing it. He's a weakling now so attracting attention is a big no no. Sure he have eons of combat experience and the reflex to get him out of tough situation but he's not stupid enough to risk it. It even has a hoodie on for him to cover his face with. Hoodies are cool.

Fortunately, due to one of Vinheim Dragon School's lost Sorceries that he still couldn't unravel, everything that went into the box was enchanted with the ability to fit all sizes. Not the weapons though, still can't figure out why.

With his new clothes on and a simple straight sword by his hip, he set off towards the door only to quickly turn back when he remembered it would be suicide for him to do so now. "Right, no longer the almighty god of crubstomp. Need to remember that." The teen muttered to himself before scratching his head in thought. "How the fuck am I going to get out of here now?" Needless to say, the Soul of Cinder was not very good at planning ahead.

"Oh right!" He slammed a fist in an open palm with a plop as he remembered something important when he was constructing the dungeon. "The shortcut to the surface!" He grinned as his head snapped towards the teleportation circle he had hidden away. All the years adventuring had thought him to appreciate shortcuts that was somehow only accessible at the end of the place he was exploring. Who and why designed things to be like that eludes him but hey at least he didn't have to backtrack all the way just so he could replenish his supplies.

And so, the white haired teen strode straight towards the shortcut and to be whisked away by magic. In a blink of an eye he would be transported straight to the very first floor and in a small safe zone. Then it would be all about avoiding a few monsters and reaching the surface. Easy.

Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd forgotten something very important as he felt himself being transported away. Oh well, if he'd forgotten about it then it couldn't be all that important.

More importantly, a new world awaits so he should focus on what he's going to find when he reached the surface instead. Oh ho, this is going to be fun, he just knows it! But he's not going to do anything that involves fighting though, he's totally done with that. Maybe he could find some jobs to do, one that would allow him to met interesting people without having to pick up arms.

A bartender maybe?

While he can't make awesome drinks like Siegward, he could at least make something decent. He didn't spent all those years fighting after all. Meh, too much to think about. Explore first, decide later.

With that in mind, the Soul of Cinder vanished from sight.

-0-

A few moments after the Soul of Cinder was teleported from the area, a soft, feminine voice spoke up from the edges of the Kiln. She sounded drowsy and confused, like she had just awoken from a long slumber.

"...M'lo...rd? Where has thou gone off to?"