"I haven't told you guys about Hollowing, have I?" Avelyn sounded worried. He gets to standing again by leaning on something, but he starts leaning to the right because of his arm. He looks down at it again, and the unreadable letters show a few of themselves now as: an A, an H, an O, and an N. "A, H, O, and N?" Avelyn is confused at first and then asks something before trailing off. "What does that... even . . ." He falls silent, and falls backwards. Right before he hits the ground he yelled out-

{"How predictable!" his instructor yells aloud. "Ain't ye got any new tricks up yer' gauntlets, laddie?" 

"I could say the same for you, Absolem!" He says as he parries Absolem's rapier for the third time this morning. It had been a long trek through the mountains of Irithyll, full of hollow warhounds and traveling Irithyllian patrols. He had gotten sick of it all. He just wanted to lay down and rest for a while before fighting every few hours. 

"Alright lads! Listen up!" He knew that voice. Everyone in his group did. It was Verdant, their commander. "We're about three days away from Farron, so you best be gettin' your swampland boots ready for the long haul! We march at dawn!" After the announcement from Commander Verdant, Absolem tapped his shoulder. "Oi, laddie. Wanna continue sparring? I knows a place a good wheys away from camp if yer' up for it." 

"Alright then, Absolem, lead the way!" They began a small hike upwards towards where Absolem said was a good area to spar when a group of Irithyllian guards pushed a few rocks down onto the both of them, sending them down. Absolem went face down, while he fell backwards. Right before he hit the ground, he yelled out one word:}

"Absolem!" He hit the ground, panting with fear.

Roskin darts out of the way afraid that the armoured knight would fall on him, "Oh No watch he don't go firing his crossbow again, that's what got us into this mess in the first place!" After the knight hits the ground he rushes over to him and tries to lift his head to put a bedroll under it "Hnnn" his little hands and arms struggling to lift the bigger mans head " A little help here Illy?"

Avelyn sits up, his right arm dragging on the ground beside him, and begins to profusely apologize to the both of them. "I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me! I know that I can be a real bother to you, but please forgive me! I can't believe I let this happen to myself. Gods, you're such a fool, Avelyn!" He seemed to suddenly change tones from apologetic to a self-deprecating tone.

"woah!" Roskin falls forwards as Avelyn sits up, "oh you are awake! Woulda been nice to know that i nearly pulled my elbows outta joint just trying to lifet yer head."

Avelyn, or what was HALF of him, said in his usual tone, "Why wouldn't I be awake, Roskin? An Accursed can never truly sleep. We can rest, but not sleep." It seems he's back to what he usually is, but something still feels off. He doesn't even notice the Coiled Sword Fragment glowing with the embers of a long-ended flame right next to him.

"Well forgive me for assuming that falling down is a sign of someone passing out, Grim." Roskin replies acting hurt, "How was I supposed to know you couldn't sleep you never said it till now and I aint never been around any acorned!" He sits down with a 'humph' and picks up his whittling again.

Illvar watches from the side with a sigh when Avelyn falls. Right before he's about to help Roskin, he sees Avelyn recover. He appraoches the two

"That" Illvar points to the fragment "Is it yours?"

Avelyn looks over at the fragment for a while, sitting quietly. He says, somehow within two tones at once, "Yeah, that's mine. How'd you know?" It was a line he'd never thought he'd say in a hundred years. He leans over and grabs it with his left hand as he tries to move his right again. "You know what happened to me?" He asked this plainly, truly wondering if this Aasimar knew much about him, or was just suffocated in his own thoughts.

Illvar is taken back at the bluntness of his question. His face turns a shade of pure red

"N-no. How would I?" He looks away "Your voice. Just now it spoke as if it was two entities"

The halfling doesn't look up from his carving, just settles in trying to ignore the other two.

(I'm off for the night)

[See ya then, pal.]

"Did it?" He said this blunt enough to sound impressed, but he's hears things like it before. "Wait a moment," he said, looking at his right hand, of which he can move his fingers again. A new letter changes on his hand: another N, right next to the A and H. He doesn't care for it anymore. "Hey, look at that! I can move my hand again," he says in the other tone. "Isn't that great, pal?" He raises the Coiled Fragment, its embers still flying into the wind. "I've got a question for you," he asks to no one, facing into the Fragment. "Why have you put me here? Why are you a part of me, and why can't I remember where you came from?" He, to anyone normally looking at him, seemed to be going mad.

(Gnight! I should probably do the same)

Illvar smiles at the re-found mobility of his companion's hand

"I should give them some privacy"

He sinks back into the shadows

Avelyn, who is now slowly becoming who he once was, who has already gone through a lot of pain, continues to speak to the Fragment. "You put me here to learn, didn't you? You put me here to understand how to relish the past, huh? I don't need to. You think you can change me? I laugh. It's funny, y'know? I used to be so interesting. You helped me learn, but the teachings apparently went to someone else." He was talking about the past, the 'other' him. He needed to know. He needed it. Maybe he had gone mad, and he's just talking to a broken sword. Maybe he's right, and he's talking to someone with the other piece. He didn't want to admit, but the memories hurt him more than healed him. His curse bore down on him more and more as he learned, his mind becoming a host for many a voice he didn't like, his voice being shared with the past and present. He didn't want it anymore. He just wanted to know what happened.

"Maybe I should calm down. People will think I've gone mad." He started to lower his hand, but he dropped the Fragment onto the ground, saying, "Don't calm down. To let go is to truly lose the battle. This Fragment is making me forget, and I will not have it anymore." He stomps on it with his boot heel, and starts off towards the edge of the camp.

When he gets there, he leaves the encampment and his bag, and walks off to find a suitable place to think about what's happening to him. He'll be back in the morning. He's sure of it.

[This takes place away from the camp, where only two characters reside: Avelyn and Ashen. Ashen is the past of Avelyn before the curse of the Circle of Flame truly set in, spoken like This. Avelyn is the one you will see in the rest of the playthrough, unless otherwise stated. He will, if possible, speak like This.]

He paced for a while, back and forth around the pond he found far away from the encampment, every now and again stopping to look within, only to begin pacing again. The armor of his right arm had been taken off, and placed down to the side of the pond. His arm was complete black up to the shoulder, where it continued as veins under the chest piece. The words on his right hand were now fading, but he knew what they said now. 'ASHEN ONE,' they said. He knew exactly what that meant. The story he told, of the Ashen One traversing to slay Champion Gundyr, was true, for he was the one to see that come to fruition. The form of his past self, Ashen, formed from the embers of his own body, grew tired of his pacing. "When are you going to give into the curse? I Really want to become me once more. It's been so long!" 

"Quiet, you. You caused this mess. YOU got me here, and don't even get me started on wanting to link the First Flame again." He had heard the same sob story from Ashen many times over now. He knew exactly what he was going to say.

"But You Always Say That! You Have Since I Was Me, I KNOW ALREADY!" He shouted this at Ashen, who was taken aback by him. "I wanted to End this Reign of Fire! Why do you think I headed to the Dark Firelink? I went there because someone told me that I could end the Flame by giving the Firekeeper her eyes, And Now Look Where Both Of Us Are! Stuck on this Forsaked Realm with Nothing but our Armour, a Sunlight Medallion, a dumb feather, and that Coiled Shard!" He was clearly angry at Ashen, but didn't know how to explain without feeling that way.

"All I Wanted Was A Normal Life As A Soldier!" Ashen yelled back, the embers on his shoulders and wrists flaring with sparks. "All I Wanted Was To End This Stupid King's Reign, but NO! You Had To Get Us Trapped In The Past, Hundreds, If Not Thousands Of Years Before Gwyn Is Even Conceived! You Don't Even Realize The Severity Of What You've Done, Do You?" "You Didn't Even HAVE A Life To Go Back To! You're ME! I'm YOU! We're The SAME PERSON!" "I KNOW THAT ALREADY!"

The two calm down after a long period of screaming at each other about the past, or in this case, the future. Avelyn, though immediately unsure of himself, walks over to Ashen with an open right hand, ready for a handshake. "Look, Ashen," he starts. "We have a lot of differences, you and I. You're still like the knight I know still lives in the past, and you can't deny it. I've changed, and I've lost myself in trying to see what lies ahead in the future. So, basically, what I'm trying to say is..." Ashen says for him, "That you want to both live in the present, huh?" "...Yeah. That. So, what do you say, brother?" Ashen looks up at Avelyn, shakes his hand, and says, "Very well, brother." The now-twins accept their mistakes and move on as one, known not as Avelyn the Accursed nor as Ashen the Knight, but as Avelyn/Ashen the Gravewalker.

["Avelash," for no better judgement, Speaks like this, or this, depending on the situation. The Curse still bears a great mark as, not sinfully on their arm, but a proud reminder that they are beyond death. The words on the mark are gone, the only remaining symbol of its existence two simple words: "Twin Cinders."]

"I believe we are done, correct?" Avelash asks himself. "Yes, we are." "Very well then. We'll be heading back then." They grab the armour off the ground, place it on their arm, and begin to walk back to the Encampment.

When they arrive, they pick up the Coiled Fragment, put it away, and sit back down next to Roskin to watch the stars, deserving of a [Long Rest].

Roskin, who had nodded off out of shear exhaustion, stirs at the movement next to him, “Oh, hey Grim. Watched your stuff for you. Hope you got everything sorted out with the Ashless one and the Cinderblock? Bet the cap’n will wanna talk with us soon enough.”

Roskin pulls his cloak around himself and stirs up the fire. “Illy was worried about ya but I think he’ll be glad to see you back.” 

Avelyn, who didn't expect Roskin to wake that easily, was slightly startled by his sudden words. "I guess you could say that, Roskin," he said, still stargazing.

“That’s good, hope things smooth out for you now. If we gonna be battling berserk murder pots or a couple army corps we’re gonna need you focused or at least not shooting random sentries.  Hehe.”

Roskin looks up to the sky starting to fidget a little. 

"Something on your mind, little one?" He asks this in a caring tone. "Have the stars encapsulated your eyes to stare?"

“Eh? Nah, been looking at them for many a year. All this waiting is making me restless.” Roskin pulls his coin out “I might just go explore the camps some more” he says flipping the coin over in his hand. 

"Very well, dear friend. Go look around, if you'd like." He sounded, now more than ever, accepting of what Rosking wanted. He turned back to the stars, either asking questions or just for sheer beauty.