"Soon... I will be consumed...
by them, by the Dark"
"Thou art strong human,
surely thine kind are more than pure Dark"
Even in his last moments, Artorias thought so.
"I beg of thee, the spread of the Abyss...
i-it..
must be stopped"
The Furtive Pygmy was the first human, it claimed the Dark Soul and waited for the fire to subside.
For while the other souls grew weaker, the Dark Soul grew stronger.
The Lord Souls of Light and Dark seem to be in counter balance to one another.
While Gwyn fathered the Age of Fire and set up his kingdom, the Pygmy shattered the Dark Soul and fathered Humanity.
This mysterious black sprite was the powerful life force of humans.
Driving them to love, hate, create and destroy.
The most pure hearted humans were able to create more Humanity within themselves.
The Dark Soul is unique, in that it can grow and spread through humans.
By the time the Furtive Pygmy was killed. It was already too late.
The Dark Soul had already been split.
And it continue to split and grow like disease.
And as the Darkness grew, the Flames did fade.
And Gwyn's kingdom began to fall.
With the fading Flame came the rising Dark and those who would see it grow stronger.
The dragons and the giants were not the only things in the Age of Ancients.
From the stone dragons came drakes, hydras and primordial serpents.
You have to wonder at how much influence the serpents have had.
Because all throughout the ages, the serpents have always achieved their desires at the expense of others.
We know of one serpent, Kaathe who hides in the shadows to see the shadows grow.
It was the manipulations of such a serpent, that let to an upturned grave
and the doom of Oolacile.
"Believe it or not…Oolacile has brought the Abyss upon itself.
Fooled by that toothy serpent.
They upturned the grave of primeval man,
and incited his ornery wrath.
What could they have been thinking?"
Manus, the Father of the Abyss, primeval human, and once the Furtive Pygmy
unleashed the wrath of the Dark upon Oolacile,
corrupting and transforming its denizens into monsters.
"Knight Artorias came to stop this,
but such a hero has nary a murmur of Dark.
Without doubt he will be swallowed by the Abyss,
overcome by its utter blackness...
Indeed, the Abyss may be unstoppable..."
And Artorias was slain.
But a hero from a time distant yet near killed the primeval human in his name.
And ended its rampage.
But Kaathe simply moved on to his next target.
Gwyn split his own soul and handed it to the four kings who ruled over the New Londo.
It was the reward for their foresight.
But the kings only wanted more power.
"Long ago, the Four Kings were powerful men.
Only, their hearts were weak.
When an evil serpent dangled the art of Lifedrain before them
they were unable to resist,
and became pawns of evil."
Gwyn had already seen what happened in Oolacile.
The spread of the Abyss had to be contained wherever it was found.
He flooded New Londo in an attempt to seal the Darkness and the kings.
It was around this time that the other gods started to panic.
The goddesses Fina and Velka had already been forcibly exiled by Seath.
And Gwyn's own daughter Gwynevere was to follow.
She fled with the Flame god Flann and abandoned her father.
Meanwhile, the Witch of Izalith was working on a plan.
She was attempting to duplicate the First Flame using her own magic and her Lord Soul.
Perhaps this could fight off the gathering Dark.
But this plan did not work.
In fact it backfired engulfing the Witch, her sisters and the city of Izalith.
Her Soul of Life became twisted,
creating malformed demonic chaotic life.
And the world showed first demons.
The silver knights of Gwyn still remain from the war against the dragons,
and they were ordered to fight against the chaos demons.
Despite the bravery of the knights, they were repelled by the Bed of Chaos.
The silver knights retreated to Gwyn with armor blackened and charred from their journey to Izalith.
They had failed.
Gwyn's downfall is absolute.
He has lost his kingdom, his knights, his wife, children and friends.
For the stronger the Light, the thicker the shadows fall.
There are no happy endings in Lordran.
Even if you do no wrong, tragedy finds you.
Maybe you are searching for the light in a dark place.
Maybe you are fighting to keep your sister alive.
Whether you adventuring for the sake of adventure.
Or risking your life for your Lord.
It will do no good.
But despite futility we do these things anyway.
By fighting against the inevitable we carve meaning from meaninglessness.
Gwyn travels to the Kiln with his remaining knights
and sacrifices himself as fuel for the First Flame,
just so it can burn a little longer for the living.
The Dark will eventually overcome the fading Flame.
But not without a fight.