The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 77

"It is time to wake up.", she said as she woke them up. They did and looked around disgruntled only to get up in an instant on their guard.

"Thou hath nothing to fear here."

"What happened?", asked Rocket.

"Oh nothing! All of you fainted because of that thing except ME.", answered Quill from the cockpit. He was really rubbing it in their faces.

"Look here, mortal. You were just lucky, and I promise that it will never happen again. You just enjoy these moments because it will never happen again. You are just a thief."

"A thief? Like you?", questioned Gamora. Unlike most others here, she was there when Loki groveled before the foot of Thanos.

"You are lucky, girl that your father is a powerful man."

"Oh... like your father?"

He was just about the retort when she interrupted them.

"Enough with thy 'daddy issues'." Another word she learnt from Earth.

"Besides, Gamora, thieves are not simple weak scum.", she said as she looked at Quill.

"Hey, what's that got to do with me?", asked Quill back from the cockpit.

"I once know a man by the name of Patches the unbreakable. A thief who has survived from the time of the first champion to the end of the world itself."

"I have no idea what you are talking about.", said Rocket.

"Oh, thou hast yet to learn my story."

"I am Groot?", said Groot who was playing games on his own. She almost forgot the fact that he existed. The doctor was taking care of the little plant. A very strange bond indeed.

"Yes, my dear Groot. Everyone has stories of their own. Even me."

"So, what's your story?", asked Drax.

"I love stories.", joined Mantis.

"Well, here is my story then.", she told them a rough version of what she said to the Avengers.

"Man, that is seriously messed up."

"It's a shit-bun of a world."

Despite their words of consolation, she only sense empathy and sadness but no pity. Not even a tiniest bit of pity was expressed. She liked it. She has had enough of getting pitied for what was a peaceful life back in Lordran.

"How'd that thief even survive to the end of the world?", asked Quill. He seemed very interested in the story of Patches the Unbreakable.

"Doth thou really wish to know the story of Patches the Unbreakable?"

"Yes, please."

"Very well then, Patches; the hyena, the spider, the trustworthy, the unbreakable, was one of the few to make it to the end of the world never truly becoming a hollow.

I have come across countless undead who lost their humanity in pursuit of a purpose yet long after they were gone, Patches remained.

Patches was a man in love with tricking people for profit and treasure. A petty thief. Even the Ashen One, my champion has been a victim of his schemes many times. He has tricked almost every champion in Lordran.

He is a man who claimed to be devoid of all worldly wants.

'Every age it seems is tainted by the greed of men. Rubbish to one such as I, devoid of all worldly wants.'

These were his exact words. For a man like that, is this what profit what truly drives his endless task? I believe it to be a facade for his true personality.

Across all the men he came across, there is only one-man Patches considered a friend. It was with another thief by the name Greirat.

Greirat was a noble thief who would steal from the rich to give it to the poor. A martyr for the poor. He did Patches a favor by freeing him when he was caught in the Lothric dungeon for his deeds.

It was Greirat's concern for others that he climbed the great wall to Lothric where he freed Patches from the dungeon before being locked away in a cell of his own.

He made multiple efforts to hide his affection for this man though his actions betray that he cares. He dressed in the armor of Siegward, the onion knight to save Greirat once more.

Greirat was a man who acts without concern for himself. Both petty thieves but one without greed. It earned the respect of Patches.

Yet, Patches outlived him. The curse of life is the curse of want after all and if greed was the reason hollows fade, it makes sense that Patches would be truly suited to resist the curse by resisting want and greed entirely by thriving upon punishing others for their greed.

So, with no wants and a desire to punish others for their wants and to trick and trap them, he made it to the end of the world.

But slowly, the world is ending, and soon, no one is left to lure into his traps. There is no one else to trick with their own greed and even Patches starts to waver in his duties for at world's end even he loses himself.

He could no longer remember who he was, or what he lived for. Not even his own blessed name. He tried to play it off, but it is obvious to me that he hasn't a clue of his past.

He went in search of the Purging monument, an artifact that purges the curse of the undead and restore humanity. Everything will return to him. Who he was. What he lived for. What is name was and what terrible grudges he held.

He eventually forgot what he was searching for. He kept muttering about how he was unbreakable. It was clear he took great pride in the nickname given upon him. Unbreakable.

It was the Ashen One who helped him in his quest to restore his humanity. Surely, the Ashen One was a great man, wasn't he?

He remembered exactly who he was and as gratitude, he tricked the Ashen One for a final time. Or that's what I thought, until I found out that it allowed the Ashen One to move forward.

He helped the Ashen One by helping him weaken a Lord's grip on a city we called the Ring City. He has always despised clerics. Charlatans, he called them.

It is only fitting that Patches would take part in undoing the greatest lie of all by helping the Ashen One. Undoing the greed of gods that is rooted in faith and in fire.

They both stood at the end of the world, undead, unbroken yet the two could not be more different. Patches fought for no cause other than to scoff the greed of men.

But for the Ashen One, he has seen his kind time and time again and again. Yet, he outlived them all.

Those who lost everything and grasped for the faintest glimmer of hope.

Kind-hearted fools doomed by the very light that guides them.

Those who threw away their lives in search of the truth, for an undead life is meaningless.

He had it all figured out. Why search for truth when greater men had tried and gone mad as a result?

Even with truth grasped, there is no fate for them other than the loss of self for even if they were selfless, they couldn't save everyone.

No matter how hard they try, in the end, they would not be able to save a single soul.

The more they try to help, the more they fight against evil, the more they will lose for everyone is doomed to lose someone closest to them, Family, friends and more. Some may even turn against them.

For even with their boundless compassion, no one can foretell the consequences of their good intentions.

All of that is just want and greed shaped in one way or another. A desire to look back at something that made their life worthwhile.

Whether it be a thirst of knowledge, a desperate faith, some petty revenge. It has taken some crestfallen men eons to find something worth fighting for and even then, they are fated to lose it all.

For even the gods are in despair. The Lords shy from their duty and the last fire is fading."