Chapter 61 Let the Warp Burn, Let Chaos Boil (Bonus)

The Dark Souls universe was defined by three distinct eras: the Age of Ancients, the Age of Fire, and the Age of Dark.

Back in the prehistoric Age of Ancients, the world was nothing but crags, towering archtrees, and everlasting dragons. These dragons, wielding primordial power, ruled unchecked over a chaotic gray landscape. That was until one day, fire spontaneously manifested in the world. With fire came disparity: heat and cold, life and death, light and dark. Four beings, born from the dark, were drawn to the flames. They were Gwyn the Lord of Sunlight, Nito the First of the Dead, the Witch of Izalith—who all claimed Lord Souls—and the forgotten Furtive Pygmy, who claimed the Dark Soul.

Armed with their newfound, god-like power, the four united and waged war against the dragons. With the help of Seath the Scaleless, a traitorous dragon, they wiped out the everlasting dragons and ushered in the Age of Fire. The First Flame brought light and heat, fostering a booming civilization. Mortals practically worshipped these dragon-slayers as gods.

But the First Flame wasn’t eternal.

As time marched on, the fire faded, and the gods lost their juice. The Witch of Izalith tried to recreate the First Flame, but it backfired spectacularly, twisting her into a monster that birthed chaos demons. Ultimately, Lord Gwyn sacrificed himself, throwing his own body into the First Flame just to keep the Age of Fire going. That desperate move, however, triggered a horrific side effect: the Undead Curse started spreading like wildfire across the world. The dead would resurrect at bonfires, but at the cost of their humanity, eventually hollowing out into mindless zombies.

Even the thickest kindling burns to ash eventually. The Age of Fire that Gwyn extended wasn’t meant to last forever, and it continued to dim. To keep the lights on, people started tossing anyone who possessed a Lord Soul into the First Flame as kindling, desperately trying to keep the world from ending.

By the time Vane dropped into this universe, the First Flame was practically embers, and the world was right on the edge of total collapse. His main quest? Beat the brakes off all the past Lords of Cinder, pull the plug on the Age of Gods once and for all, and kickstart the Age of Man.

Vane started his playthrough like any true gamer: punching trees. He set up an automated resource farm to grind EMC points, playing it ridiculously safe until he could finally craft the Spirit of Immortality set. This armor, straight out of a magic-based mod, came stacked with insane defense and damage mitigation. It even dealt true damage and had life-steal, converting a portion of the damage he dished out straight back into his own health pool. Plus, it was fully upgradeable, eventually evolving into the Divine or Abyssal armor sets.

Once he was decked out in god-tier gear, Vane went on a boss-hunting spree. He started knocking out the heavy hitters holding Lord Souls one by one—the Nameless King, Yhorm the Giant, the Abyss Watchers, and so on. The Dark Souls world wasn’t actually that massive, and since he could just drop portals to link up all the key zones, he speedran the entire progression.

As he kept bulldozing through these legendary bosses, the raw truth of the world started to click. Darkness bred chaos, chaos fueled fire, fire birthed the gods, and then civilization itself bred darkness, sending the whole cycle into a death spiral.

The root of the problem boiled down to the gods and the fundamentally broken mechanics of the Dark Souls universe. The natural progression was supposed to be simple: chaos sparks fire, fire creates the gods, and the gods act as guardians during the early days of civilization. Once civilization peaks, the fire fades, the gods step down in their twilight, and the Age of Man begins. But the gods didn’t get the memo, and they definitely weren’t keen on stepping aside. So, they started linking the fire. That unnatural life support completely shattered the world’s balance, unleashing the Undead Curse and dooming the dimension.

After sweeping up every being holding a Lord Soul and uncovering the full truth, Vane headed straight for the Kiln of the First Flame and curbstomped its final guardian: the Soul of Cinder.

Stepping into the Kiln, Vane touched the dying embers of the First Flame and immediately unlocked the crafting recipe for the First Flame itself. All he had to do was use Dark Souls to craft Chaos Fuel, and once he mashed enough of that together, boom—the First Flame. The recipe was dead simple, but the material cost was astronomically absurd. If he didn’t have the Equivalent Exchange mod running, Vane could have grinded until his real-life body expired and still wouldn’t have had enough materials.

“What ending will you choose? To link the fire, or to extinguish it… you incredibly handsome, universe-conquering Ashen One?”

After Vane had folded every enemy and hoarded enough kindling, the Fire Keeper—rocking her black robes and white crown—approached to ask him the final question. As for why she used such a ridiculous title? Simple: Vane was super nice to her. Every time he stopped by, he’d spoil her with crazy good food. Cakes, cookies, chocolates, and stuff she couldn’t even name. To her, it was the best food she had ever tasted. On top of that, he tossed her a bunch of toys to kill time when she was bored, and he’d even spent his downtime building her an absolutely gorgeous palace, complete with beautiful flowers and plants.

“Why do I have to pick one of those?” Vane asked.

“Then… what do you wish to do?” The Fire Keeper looked curious, but quickly followed up with unshakeable loyalty. “Whatever you decide, I will support you unconditionally.”

“We’re going to forge a brand new era, little Fire Keeper.”

Hearing his answer, she just tilted her head in utter confusion.

Forge a new era? Can the Ashen One even do that?

But she quickly found out that Vane wasn’t bluffing. He casually crafted a brand new First Flame to patch up the shattered world, snuffing out the old, dying fire in the process. With the old flame gone, the creatures of the Dark Souls universe couldn’t siphon its power anymore, officially closing the curtain on the Age of Gods. Thanks to the new flame, the world didn’t plunge into darkness. Instead, it suppressed the Undead Curse, allowing regular people to finally return to normal.

Once all that was settled, Vane built a global portal network and set the central hub right inside the Fire Keeper’s palace, basically crowning her as the first Empress of the Dark Souls universe. Just like that, the Age of Gods ended, the Age of Man began, and Vane fully cleared his questline.

—

“Another new mod in the bag,” Vane muttered to himself. “Honestly, I could probably set up my own infinite survival dimension at some point. Just custom-build a bunch of brutally dangerous worlds, abduct a few unlucky bastards, and watch them struggle through hardcore survival runs for my own entertainment.”

“Do you want to know the meaning of life? Do you want to truly live? Yes / Yes.”

After fully digesting his memories of the Dark Souls playthrough, Vane added another crazy idea to his bucket list. One goal was to open a multiverse mega-mall selling goods from different dimensions. Now, he wanted to run his own death-game simulation. The future was definitely not going to be boring; he was going to have a blast.

While Vane was happily plotting his chaotic future, First Captain Agemman rushed into the conference room, looking completely flustered as he reported to Guilliman and Sanguinius.

“My lords, we have discovered an old man who bears a striking resemblance to Lion El’Jonson.”

Sitting off to the side, Vane paused in surprise.

Lion El’Jonson?

In the original lore, the guy was supposed to wake up in Imperium Nihilus. Why the hell was he on Macragge? Vane didn’t even have to guess. The Big E was definitely pulling strings behind the scenes.

Still, the Lion showing up gave Vane a brilliant idea. The Dark Souls mod he just unlocked included the First Flame, which had the power to end chaotic entropy. If the Lion accepted this power and became his subordinate god, not only would he regain his youth, but he’d also become one of the most ridiculously overpowered beings in the galaxy.

Besides, it was high time the Warp experienced an Age of Fire.

Big E, back in the day, your fire was just too weak, Vane thought. It wasn’t bright enough or hot enough to end the Warp’s chaotic era.

But my First Flame will use Chaos itself as fuel, ushering in an entirely new age for humanity.

“Let the Warp burn,” Vane murmured. “From Tzeentch’s impossible maze to Nurgle’s rotting garden… let the gods fall, and let Chaos boil.”

—

Next Bonus at only 1050 Powerstones!

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