Ashen One

The Ashen One is an Unkindled Champion, Legendary Warrior, Lord of Cinder and current ruler of the Kingdom of Lorithia and known to the world as First Lord of Humanity.
== History ==
=== Prophecy of the Old Words ===
In the year 1368FY of the Fourth Age, King Gunther II Catarina, like many other Catarinian Kings had a prophecy. With an unknown meaning at the time, it discussed that one chosen to become the next Lord of Cinder will refused to do his duty and as such will set events in motion, that will lead to a a mass resurrection of previous Lords of Cinder to then link the flame. It also speaks of another 'Chosen' one called the 'Ash' or the 'Unkindled' who will be brought back to seek out the First Flame and link it. It was also remembered as a poem called the Old Words Prophecy:
'When the Lord has abandoned his Throne
When the Linking of Fire is threatened
The Unkindled will rise to be known
and as such is a force to be reckoned
Those that were dead shall be woken
The ones who were unfit for cinders
The crowns that are ‘theirs’ shall be broken
And the Ash, shall seeketh the embers'
In the year 1664FY, when the Prince Lothric, whom was named after its Kingdom, refused to become a Lord of Cinder, many previous Lords of Cinder were resurrected in the hopes that they could sacrifice themselves once more in order to link the First Flame. Yhorm the Giant, The Abyss Watchers, Aldrich of the Deep and Ludleth of Courland were all resurrected from the ashes, however all of them, apart from Ludleth, refused their thrones too, leaving the succession in peril. With one last ditch effort, in the year 1695FY the Firekeepers began to resurrect unkindled, those who had tried to link the flame and or perished to flame, to try once again. One of these people was The Ashen One, whos quest in turn was to become powerful enough to bring back the remains of those that refused their thrones.
=== He Who Defeats 'Him' ===
With the Ashen One waking up in the Cemetery of Ash, he journeyed through the ruins to discover an old opened ruin of a mausoleum and in the center, a Knight impaled on what appeared to be a coiled sword. As the Ashen One approached, the Knight then came to life and a battle ensued, the knight contorting and warping with a mass of abyssal liquid bursting from his body. The Ashen One however managed to fend off the Knight and slay him, with the coiled sword dropping from the Knights body with the Ashen One taking the sword for himself.
As the Ashen One progressed through the cemetery, he came to a large building towards the end of which he entered, before being greeted by the Firekeeper, announcing that this place was known as Firelink Shrine, the home to where the Lords of Cinder would come to link the First Flame. She notices that he wielded the Coiled Sword, stating that the Knight it was embedded in was Gundyr, a knight who had been there for hundreds of years and who had impaled themselves on their own sword upon the realisation that they had failed their quest. It was rumoured by the firekeepers that the one who woke Gundyr would be the one that would link the flame. The Firekeeper then instructed the Ashen One to embed the coiled sword into the fire pit to symbolise the Ashen Ones status and revealed her name to be Rhian.
=== Indeed....It Is Called Lothric ===
Firekeeper Rhian lists the task that the Ashen One must accomplish. He must journey into Lothric and slay those who were supposed to become Lords of Cinder but refused their Cindered Thrones and abandoned their duties. The Cinders that he was to collect was that of Aldrich of the Deep, Yhorm the Giant, the Abyss Watchers of Farron, The Younger Prince Lothric and finally Ludleth of Courland, who had already taken his throne and never abandoned his duty. His first task however was to venture through the High Wall of Lothric and discover a way out of Lothric Castle. Journeying through, he met Emma, the High Priestess of Lothric who granted him the Lothric Banner and told him to hoist it high above his head when entering the opposite room that she was in. There however the Ashen One discovered a twisted bestial knight by the name of Vordt of the Boreal Valley and did battle with him. The Ashen One slew Vordt and then held the banner high above his head on what appeared to be a cliff edge. There several beasts flew down and grabbed the Ashen One flying him outside of Lothric Castle and down into the undead settlement to continue his journey.
As he progressed he eventually came upon Anri, a fellow unkindled whose purpose was to kill her father, Aldrich of the Deep and as such accompany the Ashen One in the incoming fight. Because they knew they were a long way from this battle, they initially decided to stay and let the Ashen One carry onwards with their own journey. Venturing through the Undead Settlement, the Ashen One eventually made his way to Farron Keep and there he discovered the ever fighting Abyss Watchers and managed to slay them in combat, despite the odds stacked against him. He then claimed the cinders of the Abyss Watchers, ready to return them to their throne. Upon the defeat of the Abyss Watchers, a mysterious door opens up in the ground leading deeper towards the Catacombs of Carthus. The catacombs was an extremely dangerous area, as many undead skeletons roamed the area and as such had to battle his way throughout the area, eventually making his way to a throne room. There, a goblet stood in the center of the room, pouring with dark magic and upon closer inspection, the Ashen One was transported to a large room with a gaping hole to the Abyss and there stood High Lord Wolnir. The Ashen One managed to shatter the rings that supported Wolnir and he then succumbed to the Abyss. As Wolnir died, he was then transported back to the Throne Room, where a door opened up to a very long tunnel eventually leading to the outside world.
=== Quest To The Boreal Valley ===
Upon exiting the tunnel, the Ashen One discovered a darkened landscape under an eternal moon and snow falling from the sky. It turned out that this was the Boreal Valley, but as the Ashen One attempted to cross the bridge he noticed that he could not progress any further as a barrier was blocking his entry. Feeling that his journey had been to no avail, he decided to venture back through the catacombs and all the way back to Firelink Shrine to tell Rhian of his progress. Rhian then informed him that to enter the Boreal Valley and the city of Irythyll, he requires a Deacons Doll, which she feared might be the case as it was rumoured that the Pontiff Sulyvahn had sealed of the city. As such, he was then instead directed towards the Cathedral of the Deep, saying that the Archdeacons would likely have one. As he journeyed onwards he met a man known as Siegward, a Sieg Knight of Catarina who was also an unkindled warrior. He stated that he perished years ago and was resurrected as he wanted to uphold a promise that he made to his dear friend Yhorm, that if he was ever resurrected, he would put his old friend out of his misery. He then ventured onwards ahead of the Ashen One, stating that they will make the way clear for them and stating that they will need rest for their journey. 
As the unkindled champion progressed onwards after Siegward, he eventually made it to the Cathedral of the Deep and upon entering the Cathedral after scaling its outside walls he discovers Siegward on an upper balcony. Siegward mentions that the inner church is guarded by a Troll who could be very dangerous but also mentions that the only way to get down would be to traverse a beam to the other side where a staircase was waiting for them. As the Ashen One started walking across however, Siegward pulls a switch, lowering the beam down to the ground before taking off his helmet and revealing himself as Patches and that he had stolen Siegwards armour so that he could kill unsuspecting victims and loot their corpses using the giant as a killing machine. The Ashen One however, now being very skilled in combat manages to dispatch of the Troll, before making his way back up to where Patches was, with Patches now begging for forgiveness, stating he only wishes to survive. The Ashen One, despite all his feelings decides to forgive Patches , but take Siegwards armour. He then also states that he tricked Siegward into peering into a well outside and saying that someone was stuck down there and that he wouldn't be able to climb down with his armour on. Of course this was a ruse and Patches then cut the rope as Siegward was at the bottom, taking the armour for himself. The Ashen One then travelled and helped Siegward out of the well and giving him his armour back, with Siegward thanking the champion of Ash and saying that he will help him with the slaying of the deacons.
The pair then go into the central chamber of the Cathedral where they find the remaining Deacons of the Deep, in which they do battle with them and slay them all. They both then claim several dolls, which the Ashen One states that he will give to Anri if they come upon them again which as him and Siegward do as they arrive at the Boreal Valley, where they discover Anri attempting to get in through the barrier, in which they hand her the doll and all three enter the city, becoming the first to do so in hundreds of years. The party of the Unkindled then make their way through Irithyll, battling the twisted foes that roam the city mindlessly before coming upon the main cathedral of which the Pontiff Sulyvahn is stood. The three battle the Pontiff, who posed a significant threat to the three, but still managed to defeat him together. It was then decided that the party would split up. Anri knew that ahead her father would be waiting, but going deeper into the city meant going further from Siegwards path and as such had to break off to venture underground towards the Profaned Capital. The Ashen One decided to go with Anri to slay her father who was housed within the ancient city of Anor Londo.
Using the spiral towers that take them up to Anor Londo, they enter the long abandoned Grand Cathedral, where they find Aldrich of the Deep. Since his return to form as a Lord of Cinder, he had been slowly devouring the God Gwyndolin, son of Gwyn and as such had began to take on his form, even adapting his fighting technique to that of the Darksun. Gwyndolin as a result was in a constant state of agony, being devoured whilst being completely awake as Aldrich began to slumber. With the entrance of the Ashen One and Anri however, they awoke Aldrich from his slumber and so a battle ensued. During the battle, Anri took a mortal blow from the sheer power of a Lord of Cinder blow, but the Ashen One managed to pierce the heart of Aldrich, slaying him for good and putting Gwyndolin out of his misery. As Anri lay dying, the Ashen One mentions how she achieved her goal and that she is now truly free from her fathers grasp, before she finally passed on.
The Ashen One then proceeded back through Anor Londo and Irithyll to make it to the profaned capital. Coming to a great throne room, he sees Yhorm the Giant sitting there, but as he begins to approach the Giant, Siegward appeared from behind, expressing his sympathies for his old friend, before retelling his oath that he would slay him, if he were ever resurrected. Siegward as such had perished here years before, when the Pontiff Sulyvahn cast the Profaned Flame into the capital, incinerating all those that were left behind, including Siegward, which in turn was the reason as to why he could be reborn as an Unkindled warrior. The Storm Ruler sword that had been carried for generations by the Sieg Knights was lost in the Capital and had no way of reclaiming it and since it was adopted by the captain of the following generation of the Sieg Knights, this would be the first time in history this would not happen. Upon him entering the throne room however, Siegward had once again reclaimed the Storm Ruler, using its powerful ability to cleave Giants and as such battle side by side with the Ashen One. Both heroes fought valiantly against the great foe, with Yhorm posing one of the greatest challenges of the journey so far, but the side of the unkindled won the day. Siegward however also made a promise to himself, that if he managed to uphold his oath, he would then fall on his sword beside his old friend. He asked the Ashen One that if he succeeded in his quest, that he would have his body returned to Catarina and the sword be returned to the Sieg Knights. The Ashen One then made his own oath that day, promising to complete his quest and have Siegward's body returned. Siegward upon hearing this, instantly took to his stance and fell on his sword as promised, bidding farewell to the Ashen One and thanking him for his promise.
=== The Duel of the Nameless ===
On his way back through the Profaned Capital and in the Irithyll dungeon, he passed by what appeared to be stone statues sitting looking out towards a distant peak. There was a certain magical affinity beating out from these stone statues and willed the Ashen One to sit down beside them. There he relaxed and when he opened his eyes, revealed to be transported to that exact distant peak, as he turned around and saw Irithyll far in the distance. Upon his arrival, he immediately noticed that this location had several dragons flying around it, a place that they clearly call home. There was rumour that when the son of Gwyn was exiled for his affinity with dragons, that he journeyed out of Lordran and created a sanctuary for the dragons, safe from the hands of any human, but had constructed a secret passage that allowed him to traverse the distance. It appeared that this indeed was the aptly named Archdragon Peak and as such the haven for the dragons. The people that had attempted to use this passage had clearly been turned into stone, likely to deter invaders, so it seems that the Nameless King could control who uses the passage and likely let the Ashen One through, though the reasons for this are still unknown, but its likely because the Nameless King could feel the strength of the Unkindled Champion and allowed him to pass.
As the Ashen One made his way through the sanctuary, he came across several beasts who had been transformed into dragon hybrids, all of which were hostile towards the Ashen One, but the champion of ash managed to dispatch them with ease by this point, as was his strength now with the cinders of three of the Lords and the souls of many others. He eventually came to a great door with a lever, which led to a great platform. Upon the use of the lever, the door swung open, revealing a great raging storm on the platform, which its origin at the time seemed somewhat unknown, but the Ashen One continued forward. As he reached the center of the platform, a great dragon with a dragon rider swooped down and attacked the Ashen One, revealing to be the Nameless King, riding the King of the Storms, his loyal dragon who he befriended thousands of years ago. The battle between these three ended up becoming known as the Duel of the Nameless, with the Ashen One eventually coming out on top, though through a great effort of trying. With the death of the Nameless King, it effectively meant that all of Gwyns children were now deceased and the Nameless King's name was officially lost to time.
=== The Ashes of Ariandel ===
The Ashen Ones quest to become Lord of Cinder was nearly over, but some of his biggest fights were yet to come. Travelling all the way back to Lothric he knew that the Younger Prince Lothric was all that remained. On his way back however and as he passed back by the Cathedral of the Deep, he was approached by a hooded man by the name of Gael, who asked him if he could feel the magic in a scrap of cloth that he then produced for the Ashen One to touch. As he touched the fabric however, he instantly was transported into the fabric, revealing it to be a scrap of the Painted World. He witnessed the state of the Painted World, seeing that frost and snow had almost completely covered the entire landscape, which in turn was referred to as Rot. As he journeyed around the world, he discovered a race of humans that once sought refuge in the world known as the Corvians, which had now long distorted into mindless beings, similar to that of undead but have sprouted feathery wings and acting like feral beasts. 
He discovers a child known as the Painter, the one who created the painted world who reveals that the Painted World has its own form of cycle of Fire, in which when a world begins to Rot overtime, a fire consumes the rot and allows the Painting to be reborn anew. He points out that the task was taken over by the ruler of the Painted World: Father Ariandel, but he became under the influence of an Unkindled Ash who had once attempted to become a Lord of Cinder herself who went by the name of Sister Friede. It was said that her task was to conquer the Painted World and to allow the rot to spread and that she was to extinguish the Fire and so she bewitched Father Ariandel into thinking that the Fire must be extinguished using his blood and so he chained himself over the flame, constantly stopping the Fire over and over again from flickering. As such the Ashen One realised that to exit the painting, he was to slay Father Ariandel, but upon entering Ariandel's chamber, Sister Friede stopped him and so the Ashen One battled the two. Father Ariandel famously made a prophecy several hundred years previous which became known as the Ashes of Ariandel prophecy, that Two Ashen Warriors will enter the painting and the Clash of the Unkindled would take place. The battle resulted with the Ashen One prevailing over both foes and successfully letting the painting rot, allowing him to finally leave.
=== The Fire Fades ===
With the Ashen One escaping the Painted World, he finally made his way towards Lothric Castle, to kill the last of the Lords of Cinder: Prince Lothric, the one who started this chain of events. Upon entrance to the Castle however, it was clear that Emma, the high priestess of Lothric had been mortally wounded and only then was it revealed that the it was by the Dancer of the Boreal Valley: an outrider knight like that of Vordt, who had been twisted by the ring given to her by the Pontiff Sulyvahn and resembled nothing more than a dancing beast. The battle between the Dancer and the Ashen One lasted hours, but the champion of ash came out on top, allowing him to advance into the castle and on towards the throne room. Lothric castle was in a state of near ruin, destroyed by battle and disrepair, making it hard to traverse, but traverse it he did and made it to the throne room. There he battled the Lorian, The Elder Prince who at first fought to protect Lothric, but when Lorian appeared to be slain, Lothric took to the side of Lorian, reviving him and granting him life and as such it was now a two on one fight. The twin princes however were no match for the Unkindled Champion and so the last Lord of Cinder fell and their ashes collected.
With his task now complete, the Ashen One began to walk back through the castle, until he heard a wailing within the castle gardens. Upon his investigation of the area, he discovers a now blind and warped King Oceiros who in his studying of the Draconic art of everlasting life, had transformed into a human-dragon hybrid who then attacked the Ashen One, though the fight was very quick and he dispatched of the King with ease. The Kings death however meant that the House of Lothric was officially extinct. Curiously, an opening behind where Oceiros was, revealed a dark passage leading deep under Lothric Castle. Progressing further he found an abyssal doorway, only revealed to him at this exact moment in time and as he stepped through, he entered a darkened version of the Cemetery of Ash. As he wandered into the darkened land, he came across the Champion Gundyr, having just arrived in the darkened land himself and found that he had arrived too late. It seems that the portal is to an alternate future, in which the First Flame was not linked and Gundyr did not make it to the fire in time. Enraged, Gundyr attacks the Ashen One, with the latter slaying Gundyr, embedding him with his own sword, revealing it to be him that slew Gundyr and creating a paradoxical universe, causing Gundyr to be trapped between the two worlds. As he travelled into the Firelink Shrine, he finds the remains of a firekeeper, who had gouged out her own eyes at the sight of the darkened world. The Ashen One takes the eyes that saw the darkness, with the intention on showing it to Rhian, as it has long been believed that the Fire Fading would cause major problems for the world, but this proved that the world would still go on, with Humans finally in power.
As he made it back to the regular Firelink shrine he gifts the eyes to Rhian and tells her what he saw. Rhian was initially shocked with this news, wanting to forget that she saw this, but coming to the realisation that the linking of the fire had been a lie, in order to keep the gods in power. Rhian then pledges her support once again to the Ashen One, stating that she will continue with whatever the Ashen One wishes to do. But with the Cinders of the Lords now returned to their thrones, he finally has the chance to enter the Kiln of the First Flame. As he entered he was met with a foe unlike any other in history. He came across an amalgamation of every Lord of Cinder in history, which he called the Soul of Cinder. A long drawn out duel between the two took place, with the Soul of Cinder eventually taking on the form of Lord Gwyn himself, in a desperate attempt to stop the Ashen One from letting the flame fade, but the power of the Ashen One was too much to handle by this point and so the Soul of Cinder was slain. The time then came for the Ashen One to call Firekeeper Rhian to do her duty. There she took the remaining power from the First Flame and for the first time in history, the flame fully faded, darkening the world. As the world was fully cleansed with light, Rhian stated 'Ashen One, hearest thou my voice still?' in hope that they hadn't lost their minds from the lack of light, but the Ashen One comforted her in that moment, stating that he heard her and that they are finally free of undeath. With the fading of the First Flame, the prophecy of Aldricius I Catarina had come true, several thousand years after the prophecy was initially made.
=== The Ashen King of Lorithia ===
Category:Characters
Category:Monarch