TotW 261: Dark Souls - SUBMISSION THREAD

[theSilentKiller]

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Dark Souls

Thanks to ChewieMuse for permitting us to use his winning picture of PotW 478!


Key Words:
Ember
Darkness
Cinder
Cathedral
Humanity

Rules - PLEASE READ

• The title and picture are there simply for inspiration, you do not have to use them if you don't want to - besides the keywords everything else is up to you!
• Each theme will have a number of keywords that have to be used in your submission. They can be used in any way, but please place these words in bold so they can easily be seen by the competition organiser(s).
• When using the keywords you may change singular nouns into plurals and vice versa; and you may change the tenses of verbs. No other changes are permitted.
• The submission must have a minimum of 200 but a maximum of 500 words INCLUDING all titles, footnotes etc..
• The submission must be placed in a spoiler.
• The submission period will last at least two weeks. If we have three entries after two weeks, voting will begin. The submission period may be extended at the discretion of the competition organiser(s).
• If you are a contestant you are honour bound to not read other contestants' writings until you have submitted yours.
• If your entry is found to be substantially similar to another entry your submission will be disqualified. This is at the discretion of the competition organiser(s).
• Contestants are not allowed to directly advertise their stories or ask for votes. If this is discovered you will be disqualified. Posting "Please vote for my entry in TotW" is NOT allowed. However, posting "Please vote for your favourite entry in TotW" is not only allowed, it is encouraged!
• This thread is for submissions only. If you have any comments or questions then please post them in the commentary thread.
• Please note that all rules including word count and key words will be strictly enforced. Rule breakers will be disqualified from the vote.
  

Awards

Each winning story will receive 1 Writers' Study Competition point. This point contribute to your total number of points won from other Writers' Study competitions and are accumulated towards the awarding of the Writers' Study Competition Medals.

• 6 points - bronze medal
• 12 points - silver medal
• 24 points - golden medal

[Commissar Caligula_]

244 words

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This had been an Age where the greatest minds of this beautiful world had worked together for the improvement of mankind’s position, and had brought humanity to new heights.
Now the worst minds of this terrible rock plotted and schemed to improve their own position, and cast each other down into squalid obscurity.

This had been an Age where the light of happiness had shone in the heart of every true man, and men had been content with their place upon this Earth.
Now darkness had swept the land and men sold their morals for the tiniest of morsels, whilst they clawed and scratched their path to the top of the midden heap.

This had been an Age where women were safe to walk the streets, and children played in harmony.
Now not even the sacrosanctity of the nunnery protected women from the ravages of evil men, and the children had long since abandoned their toys.

This had been an Age where idyllic communities raised humble churches to honour their gods.
Now men constructed great monoliths that stretched towards the skies, cathedrals in which high priests ordained over sacrifices to ego and hubris.

This Age had not ended in the dying embers of a ravaging fire, amidst the yells of victorious barbarians and the pleas of subjugated people.
It had ended in the burning cinders of a roaring furnace and the whistle of steam that scorched men’s souls and brought them to their knees.

[Alwyn]

487 words

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Under an apricot sky of a half-dawn, the last Knight of the Cathedral stood ready to face the approaching foes. The monks of the Abbey, which had been created by digging tunnels and chambers under the ruined Cathedral, used to tell stories of a great, lost human civilization. In the past, people could communicate with others on the far side of the world or summon any piece of human knowledge in an instant. As human societies struggled to adapt to rising seas, deeper floods, expanding deserts and stronger storms in the late 21^st century, humanity depended on its energy for fewer and fewer sources, until finally they relied only one: the Sun. Then darkness came.

The monks used to say that the invaders – the Embers - came from a giant city above the sky, a city which could move between worlds. The monks used to say that the Ember city was between the Sun and the Earth, leaving humanity’s birth-world with little light. The monks used to tell how the food-crops failed and how humanity’s modern devices lost power, one after another. Each human generation was smaller than the last; each generation lost more land to the encroaching Embers. The monks used to explain that humans had tried to use modern weapons against the Embers – and those humans were burned to cinders by some sort of advanced technology which the enemy possessed. That was why the Knights of the Cathedral had to rely on weapons from the pages of history books: bows, swords and pikes. Now, the monks said nothing.

The Abbey had been created as a hiding-place for human survivors and a repository for human knowledge. The Knights of the Cathedral guarded the Abbey’s hidden entrances, kept watch for Embers and showed refugees the way to the Abbey and other human sanctuaries. When the Abbey fell, the Knights had been horrified to see who was attacking them: not Embers, but a mob of frenzied humans. Some humans were so desperate to survive that they now fought as auxiliaries for the Embers. The monks of the Abbey had joined the Knights, giving their lives to buy time for others living in the Abbey to escape. The Knights and monks and fought bravely until all of them were dead – except one survivor. Now, the last group of people who had fled the Abbey were crossing open ground. The darkness of night had hidden them; now, the half-dawn would betray their location to the frenzied mob. Would they reach the relative safety of the line of trees before being seen by the mob? No – frenzied attackers burst from one of the Abbey’s hidden entrances and charged towards the fleeing civilians. The last Knight realised that there were only a few attackers left; they wore no armour and they were wounded, while she was fresh. If I am very lucky, she thought, I might survive this.

[Mhaedros]

306 words.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Across the sea there was once a city so mighty they said even the gods feared it. Its denizens were skilled craftsmen and wealthy merchants, and its sons were mighty warriors, clad in thick leather and armed with sharp axes and vicious gunpowder.

At first the gods were amused at this colony of men, a colony having ideas above its place in the world. The citizens of the City still offered prayers and sacrifices at the temples, and the gods were pleased knowing their power was growing. Then, the people started forgetting about their deities. The temples were abandoned, the sacrifices were stopped. A great Cathedral was built, not to honour the gods, but to praise the city itself. The gods were worried, and sent many prophets to the world, to defend their rightful place as rulers of the earth. A claim the city rejected.

The gods were furious, and afraid. If one city could defy them, then so could all of humanity. They sent angelic hordes, which were shattered against the walls of the city. A legion of demons was destroyed fighting in the streets. A torrent of horror and darkness was burnt on the steps of the great Cathedral, as the few remaining combatants fell on both sides. The last of the fire gods threw himself though the doors of the giant structure, and exploded in a flurry of flames and embers.

When the cindershad dimmed the survivors rose from the ashes, and left their ruined homes. The Cathedral was destroyed, their might diminished. But the gods themselves paid a terrible price, and none returned from the ruinous host.

Time went on, and the names of the gods and the City were all forgotten. But the memory of mankind’s greatest achievement lived on, and when the Cathedral burned, a new god was born.

[Owlparrot3]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"Oh great lord,why did you plunge us into the darkness,the ember of '71' has become the cinder of '19'" the lone German cried as hordes and hordes of poles rushed besides him.For years he had served mother Prussia and now this .The east his home,was gone.As the Britishers and poles shouted in loud tones distributing the rations,the old man walked away from them .He went to the cathedral,oh how magnificient it had seemed back in '64' .How proud he had felt when he had on that day first marched past his family and friends in his uniform and taken vows to defend mother Prussia forever .Slowly he continued walking,past the cathedral crossing the grass behind to the graveyard .He went to a singular grave 'Von Bernhardt' .His elder brother picked out by French troops in Alsace back in 1871 .Then 'Sophie Bernhardt' his mother .Oh how she had smiled on seeing her son's body .She smiled not because she had gone mad,but because she knew that her son had gone down for Prussia ,for Germany .The old man clutched his cheeks with his nails and looked up at the sky ."Oh why god,why did our kaiser and nation fail?" he cried.But all these graves were nothing compared to Verdun,or Somme or Gallipolli.Humanity had plunged itself in the darkness."Why did we destroy our nation over two dead Austrians" speaking of Austrians,he remembered how in '68' they had been routed in Bohemia.He had first seen war on that day and man was it horrendous,but again it was nothing compared to the great war.He would now have to leave Bydgoszcz for Berlin .He did not want to,he was sad,it was his home .He was going now ,but by god,he vowed,one strong leader ,just one strong disciplined order,just one strong will for german might and he would one day return .

[Darkan]

219!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Dark Souls

Sometimes, all I need is a cigarette behind the ear and a bit of brown sugar in my pocket. Life is like that you see... something sweet and something bitter. Humanity leaves me cold in those moments, it’s just not important. I’m not sure humanity itself is important. Is it important because we give it said importance, out of fear of our own ignorance (perceived or real), out of our own fear of inadequacy and nothingness, or is it important because it IS, indeed, important? See, there’s no answer! In the end, we all just stumble in the darkness, like all creatures that can see but find there’s nothing there to see. We stumble and fall, some (too few) get up, and the search for an ember of hope continues: “maybe the next corner will reveal something better”, “next time I’ll be ready”, “now I know what to do”, all examples of missed opportunity, all cinders of what was once our mighty future.

Worry not, dear reader, for as soon as this reality dawns on you, the purest and most terrible freedom awaits. Once you tear down the cathedral walls of your perception you will see, all is for nothing, but oh, how sweet that nothing is, as only nothing has the REAL ability to become something.