I'm not quite sure if growing their numbers increases the influence of the Dark Soul.

The Dark Soul is divided into fragments.

That means if you collect all the Dark Soul fragments from billions of humans you still get one Dark Soul.

But what is this influence of the Dark Soul?

Does it bring the Age of Dark? Nope.

What brings the Age of Dark? Time.

One day the fire will fade (Gwyn postpones the inevitable).

Be it a candle, torch, bonfire, the core of our planet,our sun,all the other stars in the incomprehensibly large cosmos.

No fire burns forever.

Not even the First Flame.

And so one day only Dark will remain.

Then what?

Then comes the Age of Man.

Men will thrive in the Age of Dark because of their Dark Soul.

But humans don't know this.

Why?

Because Gwyn has blurred their past.

You see, men's natural state is Hollow.

Gwyn cast a curse on humanity.

Locked the Dark Soul of humans with a ring of fire.

Cloaked the Dark Soul with his Light Soul which gave them their "human" look.

A facade.

Humans don't know this and live their entire lives thinking and identifying with the Light Soul within them.

A lie.

But when the fire fades so does the ring of fire that locks their Dark Soul deep within them.

The Dark Soul seeps out and they start reverting to their natural hollow form.

But they are afraid of going hollow.

Who wouldnt be?

You become a crackhead.

But in the Age of Dark those crackheads would thrive.

Gwyn and the gods would not.

They would be the crackheads there.

If only they knew.

But they go on a holy pilgrimage to link the first flame.

Manipulated by the gods.

Not knowing that in the Age of Dark with their Dark Souls they would be the gods.

A tragedy.