Daring Do had just finished exploring an old castle, looking like it had dated back to before the Royal Sisters, inside she found many things, ancient crumbling statues of bipedal creatures, odd campfires with equally odd swords embedded into them, even a tall tower topped by what looked like an arena with a decrepit being that looked like a Golem, an old and rusted shield with what seemed to be a mirror nestled by it's side.

And now, she stood in the final room she had yet to explore, a large room at the end of a large chasm, a long stone path being the only way through to the room, before her stood a large stone shape, much like a kiln, across another chasm, this one much smaller than the last.

In the corners of the room stood many large stone Golems, sitting stationary but as she stepped closer to the large stone kiln, a loud grinding noise sounded, what seemed to be a pair of stone doors leading into the stone kiln were now opening.

The sound of stone grinding against stone caused the bipedal individual sitting upon the throne made of stone to stir. A sound long forgotten causing the True Monarch to rise and remember.

He sat inside the Kiln of the First Flame, he remembered now, after so long of simply sitting there, he had forgotten, but now it came back to him.

Defeating the four whom guarded the Souls of Lords. Finding the hollowed husk of King Vendrick. Journeying to the past to defeat the King of Giants and obtaining the Giant's Kinship. journeying forth to challenge the Throne Watcher and Defender, Benhart of Jugo and the reunited head and body of Vengarl by his side.

He shook his head, he could remember almost all of it, but what he could not remember, was his name, lost amongst his memory, he retrieved his helm from the floor in front of him, the grim visage of a skull at the front of it. Once it was firmly upon his head once more, he put his hood back over the top of it.

Standing for the first time in ages was easier than he thought it would be, he brushed the dust from his chest. A hard leather curiass and a pair of metal gauntlets adorned his torso and hands. The bottom of the tunic ended just short of his knees, a cape flapping with every movement.

Upon his feet sat a pair of heavily armored greaves, the overlapping plates not hindering movement in the slightest. He retrieved his Greatshield from beside him, it had stood against the throne for many a year, and dust had settled upon it too.

It was an intricately designed shield, which had been pried from the dead hands of one of the guardians of the Ancient Dragon. Beside it sat his reward for claiming the throne, the Scythe of Want, pried from Nashanrda's hands after he had slain her for trying to stop him from claiming his destiny.

And lastly, he retrieved his Sunset Staff and his Alonne Greatbow from the other side of the throne, firmly attaching them to his back beside one another. Upon his hip still sat his Idol Chime, claimed from the sinner, Licia of Lindelt, whom he brought to justice for scamming the gullible out of their souls and stealing a pair of miracles from Lindelt.

Once more fully armed, the True Monarch strode up to the now open doors of the Kiln and stepped outside his stone castle for the first time in millennia.

Daring Do looked on in wonder as while the stone doors opened, the stone Golems strode towards each other, coming up and huddling together, creating a bridge between the now fully open stone kiln, and the rest of the room.

From inside the kiln strode a frightening creature, it's face little more than bone and obscured by a dark hood attached to a long black cloak going down it's back, in it's hands were a frightening pair of tools.

One was a large intricate shield, easily three quarters the creature's height, in the other, was a large Scythe, seemingly made from the bones of the fallen. Daring could also make out what seemed to be a dark bell attached to it's hip and a long staff, pieces of dark wood orbiting a white crystal in the top, attached to it's back beside a giant bow and a quiver filled with what seemed to be small javelins.

The frightening creature, that almost seemed to be Death incarnate, slowly strode across the bridge of Golems, it's unblinking gaze never leaving her own astonished face, it came to a stop in front of Daring before kneeling down.

Now at eye level, Daring was horrified, this deathly creature was even more scary up close. It placed the large scythe upon the ground and moved it's hand to her face, gently making her move her head around as it examined her.

"What have we here?" came the raspy voice of the creature, it looked at Daring for a minute longer before standing once more, it's imposing height dwarfing Princess Celestia herself, it placed a hand upon it's chin in thought.

"Seems to be some sort of Equine species, interesting, I have dwelled down here long enough for horses to evolve into a seemingly different species, Lords! it even has wings! astounding!" rasped the creature once more, before it went into a thoughtful stance once more. "Oh dear, listen to my voice! gah! so long without hydration has veritably turned my throat into a desert!" it exclaimed before reaching into a pouch at it's side.

It retrieved a small phial of a dark red goop from inside before inspecting it.

"Rouge Water! ah, am I glad I kept at the very least one of these" once it had unstoppered the glass phial it grabbed it's face and pulled the grim visage off, Daring almost gasped once she saw the rotting face underneath.

Small bushes of what seemed to be brown hair sat upon the creature's chin, as if it had once had a beard, but had slowly fallen out as the flesh underneath rotted away. It raised the phial to it's rotting lips and drank the contents, it groaned in satisfaction is it felt hydration it it's throat once more.

"Much better" it said, it's voice no longer a grating rasp, now carrying a deep undertone. Daring still held her breath, as she did not want the creature to think her a threat. she watched as it replaced the phial in it's pouch before taking a small dark object out in it's stead, the object appeared to be an effigy of some sort.

Daring watched as the creature brought the effigy to it's left breast, bowing it's head as it crushed the small and fragile object in it's glove, a burst of energy came from the crushed effigy and coalesced into the creature. Daring looked on in astonishment as what seemed to be years of green, rotted flesh gave way to new, peach colored skin, the patches of hair once more joined by more of their brethren, creating a chin framing beard.

The True Monarch stretched in glee as the power of the Human Effigy took place, once more restoring his Humanity. His sight once more fell upon the curious creature, it simply stood there. Either it was frightened, astonished or downright stupid, he doubted the last one however, as it seemed to be wearing clothing, as well as having an oddly intricate brand upon each of it's flanks.

"I wonder... is it intelligent? um, greetings, little winged horse. can, can you talk? or am I simply talking to myself once more?" he said, fumbling, he had never spoken to something he never thought would be able to talk, or, at the very least, been the one to talk first, shudders went up his spine as he remembered the Rat King.

"Wha-what are you?" came the stuttering reply from the little equine, the True Monarch stroked his chin once more.

"Interesting, sentient equines" he muttered to himself before addressing the equine. "Greetings! I am the True Monarch, I am an Undead, but I was once Human. now tell me, does the Sun hang in the air as it used to? does it cycle once more?" came his eccentric reply, gulping, the equine simply nodded, once it did, the True Monarch burst into happy laughter.

"Glorious! it cycles once more! praise the Sun!" he exclaimed before striking a pose, as if he was yawning or holding the sun in his hands, the equine looked surprised at the gesture before speaking once more.

"Hang on, what do you mean by 'True Monarch'? the Princesses have ruled Equestria for over a thousand years!" the equine exclaimed, taking a stance that seemed as if it was trying to be intimidating, the True Monarch laughed a jolly laugh.

"My little equine! I rose to the True Throne a long, long time ago. many kingdoms must have risen and fallen on the ruins of the kingdom I claimed, why, even Drangleic itself rose to glory on the ruins of Olaphis, Venn and Lordran" the True Monarch explained before striding towards the exit, he turned around when he noticed that the equine had not yet followed him.

"Well? are you coming or not? Personally I am bored to undeath with dark caverns! pun intended!" he called back, once he noticed the small equine turn to follow him he continued along his path, but stopped for a moment. he looked at the ground, he saw the remnants of summon signs beside the doors.

The True Monarch knelt at one, the fading scrawls reading the name of a friend of his, he closed his eyes in silent prayer before speaking.

"Rest in peace Benhart of Jugo, a fine ally and friend you made" he whispered before looking at the other fading sign, a small smile crossed his face as he read the name. "Rest Vengarl, I hope you found your peace once more, I thank you for your help at the end" the True Monarch said softly, he then retrieved two items from his pack.

One was a helm in the shape of a snarling lion, the other was a large greatsword, a bright blue metal made the blade shine brilliantly. he placed the helm upon Vengarl's sign and drove the sword into the stone beside Benhart's.

"who were they? Benhart and Vengarl?" came a voice from his side, the True Monarch turned and saw the equine, he sighed, remembering the two whom had given him their help at the end.

"Benhart was a warrior from Jugo, a desert city. That sword had been passed down in his family from generations, legends said that only a true warrior could wield it to it's full potential. He was outraged and saddened when he found that it was a fake when I inherited the original, forged from the soul of an ancient Dragon whom had betrayed his kind" the True Monarch lowered his head.

"After the final fight, in which he helped me become the True Monarch, he gave me his sword, saying that he did not wish to wield a lie any longer, in reply, I gave him the true blade and we left it there as I took the throne" he sighed once more as he looked at Vengarl's helm.

"Vengarl is a different story, he was a mercenary from the land of Forossa. long ago when the first king of Drangleic was on the throne, he fell in battle, his head removed from his body. however, he woke the next day, a head fallen by the wayside. over years, he grew to enjoy the silence of the forest his head rested in, however, he had visions of his body, it rampaged without him. Eventually I met his head, we spoke for a while and he let me take his helm, still sitting upon his head." the True Monarch sighed once more.

"I happened upon his body later on, rampaging through an empty room, I stopped it's rampage, and then I reunited Vengarl's head with his body, he thanked me and offered me his help if I ever needed it" a solemn look took over the Monarch's face as he looked away from the remnants of his two good friend's signs, he continued walking towards the rest of the castle in solemn silence.

That is, until he stopped again after realizing something.

"Oh hey! you never told me your name! usually people tell me their name when we start talking" he said, turning around to look at the equine, it put a hoof to it's face at the sheer idiocy shown by one whom called himself a monarch.

"My name is Daring Do, I'm an explorer and archaeologist, I found this place while exploring an ancient cave system in the Everfree Forest" Daring said, taking off the hat on his head, or at least, the True Monarch thought he was male, what with the masculine voice.

"Well then my good man! let us march onwards in Jolly Cooperation! hah ha!" the True Monarch exclaimed, pointing his finger in the direction out of the castle, Daring face-hooved once more with a sigh before grumbling out the words 'Mare, not Man', the True Monarch turned to her with a 'hm?'.

"You are female? at least, thats what mare meant last I checked, odd, you sound too masculine" he stated before continuing on his way, Daring grumbling all the way from behind him as he marched with glee, wishing to see the glorious sun once more.

Author's Note

Hello! another story by me!

Okay, for anyone wondering what is happening with other stories I have posted in the past.

First, Monster Hunter P is still on Hiatus, I'm trying to come up with a good enough chapter after mutilating Flash, blarg it is hard writing this kind of sadness when you live life as it comes and have never had anyone close to me die or hurt this bad

Secondly, I have deleted When life gives you Dragons, because Zeus never got back to me with my question of what needed to be changed to make it Canon.

Now that that is out of the way, here are links to the pieces of armor and gear the True Monarch uses, which are all exactly what I use in Dark Souls 2 NG+ (except the Aurous Gauntlets, those are hard to get in the visible version I make-do with the Drangleic ones instead) and yes, this is actually functional Fashion Souls stuff, I hate using armor pieces that don't match my gear in games.

Dark Mask
Llewellyn Chest
Visible Aurous Gauntlets (bottom of page)
Drangleic Leggings
Scythe of Want
Drakekeeper's Greatshield
Sunset Staff
Idol's Chime
Alonne Greatbow