Ash, endless ash falls over the twisted and shattered ruins of this shattered and rotten world.

I stand in front of the last embers of the First Flame, withered and flickering.

I am tired, I have watched age after age, kingdom after kingdom rise and fall, but now it's all gone, and nothing but the ash and wind remain, along with me.

I stare at the withered and degraded blade that stands in the ash before me, the blade the Red Hood used in our final battle, and as I stare at it I wonder, what is the point of all this?

The gods are gone or dead, all that remains is the rotting carcass of this world, and if I cast myself into this flame what good would it do? To extend this age of fire? To prolong this endless suffering in the name of a dead god?

But if not the flame then what? What else is left? The deep dark? An age yet to come that may never pass, an age that would just be supplanted by the First Flame once again.

I heft the large blade and let it rest on my back as I walk to the bonfire that sits at the end of the world. I could smother the fire? But it will return, just as it has done before, again and again, as it always will.

But if not the dark or the light, then what? I reach into a small box on a necklace and use my horn to pull out something darker than the night itself. This, the Dark Soul of Humanity, gathered over an unimaginable time by a warrior who was a slave only to his promise in the end.

This is a darkness that will never die or fade, something that even the gods and the First Flame could only chain, but never destroy. But chains go both ways and just as the fire may chain the darkness in us all, the darkness may chain this flame that refuses to die.

But to chain such things you need a vessel to hold them, something that will not break or wither or degrade with the endless marching of time, and I know of only one thing that can do such a thing, me.

I remember waking among the first of Humanity so long ago, I remember all others dying while I alone endured. Now I stand alone among the ash, and I know that this cycle must end. No more fire, no more dark, for I will chain them both, me.

The world will be aimless, but it will break this cycle and finally, something truly new can begin. I reach my armored hoof into the Fist Flame while allowing the Dark Soul to settle in my body. These two things that both refuse to die shall share a hollow grave with me.

A moment later I collapse, and I scream. The fire burns, it burns worse than anything else I have felt, but I've burned in this fire before and it will not stop me.

I feel the First Flame rage and fight against me, while the Dark Soul does the same. Neither of them wants this, but I don't care if this will end now or it will never end at all.

The flame burns me from the inside out as the darkness pulls at the last parts of my will, but I have fought these things time and time again. I refuse to be broken by a withered flame and a damned shadow! I refuse to let this continue!

Even as I scream, even as my very being burns away I REFUSE! Time blends as the world around me grows empty of all things, and as I sink deeper and deeper into myself I pull the flames and shadows with me. If they are bound to me and each other then they may come with me into death.

I feel the pain fade somewhat as the last of my will seals these two endless things within me. There is nothing now, no light, no dark, only a void and myself, as I drift into a sleep that may never end. Finally, some rest.

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Time stretches on with no meaning or purpose as I simply stop remembering. How long have I been here? Does it matter? We will stay here until... Until what? The fire fades? Will it even fade here?

Even if it doesn't that simply means I must never leave, an endless guard watching over the very chains that now bind them.

So I let time wash over me as it loses all meaning. It ebbs and flows and I never even notice. I lose myself in a dreamless sleep without meaning, for I have nothing left to dream of.

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I feel it now, after however long the First Flame and Dark Soul have only bonded closer together. I never let the chains slip for a moment, and each time they weaken I only tighten them more, slowly crushing them together.

And endless duty or an endless hell, it matters not for it will be done.

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I don't know what it is now, but the pain has stopped, the First Flame and the Dark Soul are gone now. They became so crushed together that they fused and mixed, and now I hold something new altogether.

But that is not what woke me, for those things happened so long ago. I feel something, far off and small it is but it pulls me from rest with a panicked will. I ignore it, this prison should remain forgotten and me with it, but I do listen to that call.

At first, it is nothing but magic and will desperately grabbing at anything it can find, and then it is panicked as it runs from something unseen. It is weak yet holds great strength, and it reminds me of things long gone.

I turn away and decide to go back to my rest, but I stop when I hear it. A faint cry, the cry of the young and scared, the cry of a desperate life so short. I listen before turning back to the magic, nothing should cry like that least of all something so young.

For a moment memories of all the smiles I have seen and all the faces I've helped flash in my mind. I had a duty once, and though I have thrown away all of what it once meant, I will not let something cry so. I reach out to the magic, and pull.

Author's Note

I had an idea!

This story will be updated much MUCH less often then my other story as that's my priority.