Secret: The undead do not die in the fire

Go through the corridor.

What appeared in the ember's vision was a prayer hall with a towering dome.

The slightly thin sunlight penetrated the clouds, casting some spots of light in the prayer hall.

But this church is just a replica after all. He only reproduced the building, not the people.

For example, the giant judge in the prayer hall who was almost as tall as the dome, and the church spear who was summoned and sworn to protect the princess.

Perhaps the scene reminded him of a sentimental thing, Yu Jin stopped and took out an ornament covered with green rust from his arms.

【Gun of the Church】

[Decorated with young shoots with green rust.]

The young shoots are the pattern of Princess Felianor.

After equipping it, you will become a sworn member of the 'Gun of the Church'.

The Church Spear is the guardian who protects the princess's sleep.
When criminals invaded the church, there were people who responded to the judge's call.
The mission of transforming into an oath spirit and going hunting.

(When this item is equipped, it will be automatically summoned)

The oath-taking spirit who is the spear of the church will be granted protection. 】

Possessing the oath certificate of the 'Gun of the Church', it means that he also fought for the princess.

Not to protect, but to liberate.

Bring liberation to the princess who is sealed in the Ringed Castle and can only be freed at the end of the world.

No need for Arianna to lead the way.

Ember looked at the archway on the left at the end of the prayer hall and walked straight through it.

At the back was a spiral staircase leading upwards, and on the platform at the end of the stairs was an extinguished bonfire.

Wow!
A weak flame slowly rose from the ashes, restoring some of the temperature of the long-cooled campfire.

Yu Jin calmly withdrew his hand and looked to the right side of the platform——

At the end of the corridor, there is an elevator room that leads directly to Felianol's bedroom.

Boom!

Step on the round stone slab in the middle of the disc, with a roaring friction sound.

The elevator room was started and the disc slowly rose.

When the disc reached the top floor, the spire frozen in the dusk also appeared in the sight of the embers.

Without any hesitation, Yu Jin climbed the stairs to the top of the tower and came to the tightly closed door.

Rumble!
With a heavy thumping sound, the door was slowly pushed open, leaving a gap just big enough for one person to pass through.

Through the gap, Ember saw a princess.

The princess, wearing a flawless white dress and holding a giant egg with a broken shell, fell into an eternal sleep.

"Felianol."

Yu Jin murmured softly, looking at the girl's beautiful face in a daze.

Although he knew that this was just an oil painting and not the real Felianol, he still couldn't avoid falling into memories.

Long ago, the world was still undifferentiated and shrouded in fog. Everywhere were gray rocks, towering trees, and immortal ancient dragons.

Then, one day, the First Fire was ignited. As the fire rose, the world began to look different.

Heat and cold, life and death, light and dark.

Then, several species born from darkness were attracted to the fire and found the king's soul around it: the first of the dead, Nit, the Witch of Izalith, Gwyn, the Lord of Sunshine, and his knights.

After they gained the power of the king, they challenged the ancient dragons. Gwyn's thunder penetrated the rock-like scales, the witch's fire formed a storm, and Nito raised a miasma of death. With the betrayal of the scaleless white dragon Seath, the ancient dragons were finally defeated, and the Age of Fire began.

In Lordran, this is a well-known legend and history.

But that’s not all history.

Because the ones who found the King's Soul in the darkness were also the tiny humans who were "unknown to everyone".

And these tiny humans who were "unknown to everyone" also participated in the dragon hunting war that was remembered by history!
As the victors of the dragon hunting war, the gods lived in Anor Londo and ruled the world.

The witches obtained Izalith and became supreme.

Nito controls the life and death of the entire natural world and even beyond the natural world. He lives in the deepest and darkest place of the Giant Cemetery. No one dares to set foot in his plane, not even God.

Even the traitor of the ancient dragons, the white dragon Seath, became the relative of the Sun King Gwyn as a duke, and got a share of Gwyn's great soul. He even openly conducted inhumane research in the Great Library as a duke in the hope of gaining immortality.

They both got everything they wanted, except humanity.

It is obvious that humans are also the victors of the dragon hunting war and have made indelible contributions to this war, but they are still "unknown".

Because the reward they received was the Ring Seal City! It was the end of the world!
It is a place of exile created by the gods for the dwarves! It is a walled isolated city!
In order to completely eliminate the influence of the dwarves, exile alone is far from enough.

The dwarves' achievements, contributions in the dragon hunting war, and even the traces of their existence were completely wiped out the moment they entered the Ringed City, and they have become "unknown" ever since!
But even so, the gods still set up many seals for the dwarves who entered the Ringed City!
Not only the dwarves themselves, but their weapons, their armor, everything they knew was sealed with fire!
The reason for all this is just as Cass said:

King Gwyn was deeply afraid of darkness. He was worried that the fire would go out, and he was afraid of those who belonged to the darkness. He was also worried that humans might give birth to a dark king, and he was afraid of the cycle of justice. So he kept passing on the fire, ordering his children to lead and restrain people, so that you humans would forget everything and live in confusion, to avoid the birth of a dark king!

Cass was undoubtedly a liar, but he was a very good liar.

He will not deceive you with pure lies, but will guide the immortal with the truth and lead him to the path he wants.

Gwyn was indeed deeply afraid of darkness, so he exiled the dwarves to the Ringed City and sealed all the dwarven things with fire, making humans forget the dwarven kings they once knew and that their ancestors had once participated in the dragon hunting war!
As described in the Dragon Head Shield:
In the past, the Ringed Knights were asked by the gods to

Join the dragon hunting team,
But their achievements will never be praised.

When the dwarves were exiled to the Ringed City, when everything they had was sealed with fire and all traces of their stay in Lordran were wiped out, perhaps the only person who could bring them comfort was the Sun King's youngest daughter, Princess Felienor.

The Ringed City is the end of the world, a place of exile created by the gods for the dwarves, but the dwarves are unaware of this. They naively believe that the Ringed City is a paradise like Izalith, a reward from the gods for their achievements.

Perhaps in order to confuse the dwarves, the Sun King Gwyn gave the dwarves the "Ringed City" and also gave them his youngest daughter.

[Special Envoy Small Ring Flag]

[A small ringed banner used by the ancient envoys of King Gwyn.]

Hold this up against the ring of rock and the porters will come.

It is said that the king will build the Ring Seal City where the end of the world will be,
He gave his beloved youngest daughter to the dwarf who had obtained the dark soul.

This is proof that I will go to meet her one day. 】

Perhaps Felianor knew the truth, so the Sun King promised to meet her one day.

But it's just a lie after all.

Until the end of the world, the gods failed to fulfill their promise.

And Gwyn, the Sun King, may never have thought about fulfilling his promise.

Gwyn was a king, but not a hero. Perhaps he had anticipated Felienor's fate the moment he gave his youngest daughter to the dwarves.

The dwarves, who learned the truth, were furious and brutally killed the youngest daughter of the Sun King.

However, this did not happen.

The dwarves who learned the truth were angry and perhaps filled with resentment.

That is why the Knights of the Ring took off their helmets and put on black cloth stained with the abyss, and covered their eyes with more cloth. This was their weak resistance to the gods in order to prevent the seal of fire from completely destroying all invisible things.

But even so, they still love and support Princess Felianor from the bottom of their hearts.

Until the end of the world, until the slave knight Gael slaughtered all the dwarf kings and had their legs cut off, the dwarf kings who survived the slaughter still struggled to crawl towards Felianor's bedroom, trying to seek redemption from the princess.

And what about Felianol?

Maybe she has resentment towards her father who abandoned her?

But she still fulfilled her duties and fulfilled her agreement with the gods.

She paid the price of her life to seal the darkness that Gwyn feared, and fell into a deep sleep ever since.

As a descendant of the immortal ancient dragon, Midir always guarded her faithfully, devouring the overflowing darkness until he himself was devoured by the darkness and suffered torture.

Even if she was betrayed and abandoned, even if the gods had long since disappeared, she still fulfilled her mission.

She has already done her best for the gods.

All that remains is redemption.

With a hint of nostalgia in his eyes, Yu Jin gently reached out his hand and touched the giant egg in the girl's arms.

Click! Click~!

The eggshell shattered into pieces the moment it was touched, and eventually collapsed like a building, shattering into pieces on the girl's long skirt, revealing the deep darkness inside the white eggshell that was the exact opposite of it.

A holy light then bloomed, completely illuminating the entire room and enveloping Ember's body.

Arianna was standing just outside the door.

The light was one step in front of her, but it couldn't leave the room.

She watched all this happen calmly. Everything was the same as last time, and nothing seemed to have changed.

"My king, please accept everything from me."

The girl's gentle call sounded beside Yu Jin's ears, and Yu Jin slowly raised his head.

The blind princess was smiling as she stretched out her hand towards his head, and warm flames flowed from her palm into the body of the ember like water. That was the king's soul, one of the nine parts of the king's soul.

It was a parting gift given to her by the Ashes themselves, and now it is just being returned to its original owner.

Arianna stood quietly at the door.

When the light faded, she returned to the room.

The layout of the house remained the same, with a huge painting of a girl of unparalleled beauty. In her arms, she held a giant egg that was a little broken but mostly intact.

The embers that had just entered the room had disappeared.

Everything seemed to have returned to its original state, with no changes.

Arianna grabbed the edge of the door and seemed to want to close it and leave.

But at this moment, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a faint smile on the corner of the girl's mouth in the painting.

Arianna's expression shifted slightly, because this time it seemed different.

But she still did nothing.

Just close the door calmly and let everything return to calm.

She retraced her steps, went down the stairs, and took the elevator back to the lower level.

Passing through a corridor guarded by a statue of a knight, she saw an extinguished bonfire at the end of the stairs.

The burning just now seemed to be just a fleeting illusion.

The bonfire was still cold, without any warmth at all.

Arianna tapped her chest four times clockwise and whispered:

"May the goddess bless you, Your Excellency."

She immediately walked down the stairs and left the church.

The sun had already set, and the crimson moon had just appeared, looking a little dim under the cover of dark clouds and mist.

But suddenly, the crimson moonlight on the snow-covered ground outside the church suddenly became deeper and thicker!

Arianna looked up and found that the dark clouds and mist in the sky had dissipated, and the red moon, which was slightly larger than a half circle, was clearly revealed. Its outline quickly became fuller, and after just one or two seconds, it became a full moon, a full moon as red as blood!
"Blood moon?"

Arianna's lips moved slightly, and she muttered to herself in slight surprise.

The goddess' honorific name includes 'Lord of Crimson'.

But Arianna knew that there were other beings competing with the goddess for control of the 'Scarlet Moon'. Just like the blood moon that appeared from time to time, it was not entirely controlled by the goddess.

Your Excellency has come to the Church of Night almost every day in the past few months, but why did a blood moon appear today?
Arianna was puzzled, but suddenly she looked down the mountain as if she had realized something.

There, a figure in tattered armor was climbing up the mountain step by step, and coming to the church step by step in the snow and wind.

The quiet church is particularly beautiful under the night sky, complementing the red moon hanging high in the sky, shining coldly on the earth.

But He was not in the mood to appreciate the beautiful scenery. He just glanced at the cemetery next to the church. There was a sarcophagus in the cemetery, but the lid had been opened, revealing an empty interior. He turned his eyes away from the bonfire in the cemetery that was still burning quietly even in the snow, and looked calmly at the church in front of him.

At the entrance of the Quiet Church, a figure had appeared in His sight at some point.

She was a lady with ordinary features and dark eyes. She was wearing a simple robe and a bark belt. She had long black hair hanging down and was barefoot.

Abbess of the Night Monastery, Chief of the Ascetics, Servant of Secrets, Angel on Earth, Arianna.

"Good evening, Your Excellency."

Arianna looked up at the tall figure in front of her and greeted him quietly.

He said nothing, but just calmly stared at the lady in front of him. After a while, he slowly spoke:

“Take me to the world of painting.”

"it is good,"

Arianna nodded gently and said, "Sir, please follow me."

He quietly followed Arianna, passed through the Quiet Church, and entered the familiar yet unfamiliar building.

We entered the prayer hall, greeted by half-kneeling stone statues of knights.