Memories of Disparity: Pursuer of the Dark

The gloaming of the Ages of Fire and Ash were a summoning for the Dark of the Abyss.
Yet the damning vow its shadow once held proved itself an untruth... the Ashes were gone,
And so too did the Curse of Undeath come to falter in its crushing handle upon Life.

A benumbing chill swept across the land, extinguishing all vestiges of the First Flame,
Leaving all we who yet survived free to plumb the depths of our lore to reforge the succor of its warmth.
New Arts were born to embrace the Dark that immured us, and we endured.

Dark Souls OST - Great Grey Wolf Sif

This is the last of four (most likely) tributes to the world of Dark Souls, each to be accompanied by an excerpt of a tale told by a long forgotten elder, half-Hollowed on the peak of some forgotten mountain, awaiting the next hero to come seeking the secrets of the ancient past.
(In other words, I'm really just retelling the premise of Dark Souls in the words of someone who is only barely clinging to their sanity)

Where there is warmth and light, there is surely cold and dark. On the other side of time, a warrior caught between the ways of old and new uncovers an ancient blade, learning from its storied metal the magics of old gods long lost. The canopy of ancient trees essentially burned away, the world is exposed to the bitter cold of the black sky. Where embers once fell, now flakes of permafrost drift toward the barren earth.

Memories of Disparity: Part One - Daughter of the Flame
Memory of Disparity: Part Two - An Era of Legends
Memory of Disparity: Part Three - Shadows of Ruin
Memories of Disparity: Part Four - Pursuer of the Dark

Garry's Mod, Photoshop

Original, Un-Edited Image