The Cycle Broken

Chapter 1 - The End of Drangleic

 The Chosen Undead strode towards the fog gate, seeming to exude utter confidence that he would prevail over whatever trial faced him. As he approached, he checked his equipment, to make sure it was unbroken, and in decent condition. His King's shield and Dragonrider Twinblade were in peak condition, and his Mastodon Halberd and Dragonrider Bow were close to peak condition as well. He had a Pyromancy Flame on standby as well, in case he needed to use fire.

        The Chosen Undead reached the fog gate and slowly pushed his way inside, apprehensive of any potential threat that could leap out at him at any moment. When nothing happened, he took a few stops forward, and his gaze found the chamber he was to enter. It was a chamber, built like a semicircle, with the outsides of the floor either meeting the wall, or dropping away into a pit. There was a large circular building at the far side of the room - the Throne of Want -,with golems standing off to either side, inactive, awaiting the one with the giants’ kinship to activate them. As the Undead strode further into the room, a sound was heard behind him. He quickly spun around to see a large conglomeration of human bodies and bones forming what looked to be a tall woman within a dress.

        This being strode past the Undead, and stopped before the Throne. It then turned to the Undead and said, in a very recognisable voice, “Brave Undead, you have proven yourself to me.” Nashandra then swung her scythe to the side, while saying, “Now, be one with the Dark.”

        And thus, the battle was joined. Nashrandra lifted her left hand, and cast a spell which caused three cursed ones to appear around her, effectively cutting herself off with a curse.The Undead was not fazed by this in the least, and readied his Dragonrider Bow, firing three arrows in rapid succession at the cursed ones. When the arrows struck their mark, the cursed ones disappeared, and the Undead readied his greatsword once again, and charged. Nashandra, not one to be outdone, raised her left hand again, and fired a beam of dark energy at the Chosen Undead, which he neatly dodged, cutting a swath into the stone. When the Undead was near enough, she swung her scythe at him, and just barely missed decapitating him. He took this advantage to unleash a flurry of fast strikes onto Nashandra, cutting deeply.

        This process continued, with Nashandra firing beams of dark energy that would easily kill the Undead - his 9th journey through the land proving such -, summoning cursed beings to stave off the Chosen Undead’s advances for a small amount of time, and swinging her scythe at him whenever the opportunity presented itself. All of this, however, was not enough to dispose of the Undead, and he eventually started to overcome her, even switching to the Mastodon Halberd in order to get more damage from his attacks and to keep a little more distance from her body, so as to minimize the cursing effect she gave off.

        It was during this repetitive phase that, if one were to listen, they would hear noises, in the background, the crackling and popping of a fire, water dripping down from the ceiling, some of the golems even moving when they felt the presence of a being with the giants’ kinship nearby, eagerly awaiting the chance to do their duty. And if one were to listen even closer, they would hear something odd, something that sounded like… music. They would hear the rise and falls of the music, at times almost calming, telling the fighters to focus upon their battle, while at other times the sounds of the orchestral melody crashed upon the ears of those listening, speaking of epic battles taking place. The vocals were haunting, chanting in words long since unrecognizable to any known person.

All this accompanied the epic battle between two beings of great power, one the successor to the Abyss, and the other the successor to the Throne of Want. One lusted for the power of the Great Soul and the First Flame, and one sought to bring an end to the curse of undeath. These two forces clashed, again and again, until eventually, the final blow was struck against Nashandra. She had just swung her scythe for the last time, the Undead easily dodging the blow and impaling her upon his halberd.

As Nashandra slumped forward upon the halberd, she looked into the eyes of the Chosen Undead, and saw nothing but pure determination to break a terrible curse wrought upon humanity. She attempted to lift her hand for one last spell, but before she could do so her body turned into a red mist, depositing her soul for the Undead to claim.

As the Chosen Undead stood, recovering from his ordeal, he turned his head toward the Throne of Want. As his eyes scanned the room, he could see large swathes of lines where Nashandra’s power left it’s mark upon the rock. He approached the Throne of Want, and the golems activated. They began to come to life, and moved to form a bridge for the Undead to cross. And as he crossed, he heard Shanalotte say, “You, who link the fire, you, who bear the curse… Once the fire is linked, souls will flourish anew, and all of this will play out again. It is your choice, to embrace… or renounce this…” As the Undead came closer to the doorway, the doors of stone slowly opened. They let in the light for the Undead to see the Throne of Want, and he proceeded to walk up to it. Stopping a few feet short, he heard Shanalotte say, “Great Sovereign, take your throne.” And as the Undead sat down upon the throne, he made up a decision. When the next cycle started, he would be there, to assist the inhabitants in the fight against the curse. When he was resting upon the throne, he heard Shanalotte say one more line: “What lies ahead, only you can see.”

And with that line, the doors closed in front of the Chosen Undead, not to be reopened again until rediscovered.

*Tens of thousands of years later*

The Chosen Undead had felt the passing of time, but it seemed to pass extremely quickly from the Undead's perspective. When the doors to the Throne of Want opened again, either from the passage of time, or some other reason, he found himself in a very odd place. It was a cavern full of crystals, one that was smaller than the original area containing the throne of want.

Now this is interesting, he thought to himself. It appears that this area is not unlike Brightstone Cove Tseldora...

But then was not the time for reminiscing, for he heard distant noises and felt vibrations throughout the ground, on par with the Ancient Dragon's roars. The Chosen Undead quickly rushed forward, bow at the ready and halberd across his back. The twisting and turning tunnels of the cavern made it even more difficult to navigate out,but eventually he managed, and what he saw astonished him.

He saw a castle, considerably smaller than Drangleic Castle, but still sizable in its own right. He was exiting some form of gardens near the base of the castle, and the city that he could see was sprawling. But what truly caught his attention were the inhabitants. Some were various colored equines running in fear, while others were dark colored and an odd mix of insectoid and equine.

Some of the equines took notice of him. The colorful ones continued running, but some of the insectoids rushed him. As they approached, the Chosen Undead swung his Mastodon Halberd in a wide arc, killing many of the insectoids in the first swing, and finishing the others off shortly afterward. Since the Chosen Undead was not being bothered by the colorful equines, he left them be, and marched towards the castle. It was going to be a while, especially with all of the insectoids. While the Chosen Undead would not attack any being without provocation, he would certainly attack those who attacked him.