"Your Grace, the Chosen One," Archbishop Anthony's voice was gentle as he saw the ashen one silently staring at the badge, "If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Or you may choose to rest and ask them tomorrow."
The ashen one remained silent, head lowered, not responding.
Archbishop Anthony showed no impatience, waiting quietly by his side.
The ashen one, meanwhile, was lost in his memories.
Unquestionably, the moment he tried to search his memories, he found them chaotic and fragmented.
This was expected.
He remembered that he was an ashen one, an undead.
As an undead, repeated deaths and subsequent hollowing led to his gradual loss of memory.
This left his mind with very limited recollections now.
He remembered he was the ashen one and remembered the Fire Keeper, Patches, Crestfallen Warrior, Siegward, and the Onion Knight...
He also remembered his mission to find the Lords of Cinder to rekindle the First Flame and even recalled that he had once been a transmigrator.
But his memories from before the transmigration were now just vague fragments.
For instance, he remembered reading "Lord of the Mysteries," even reading it more than five times during book shortages.
Yet now, his memories of the book's plot were indistinct.
He retained some impressions of the main characters, enough to recall he had read "Lord of the Mysteries."
However, beyond that, he could only recall a few fragmented scenes.
And he couldn't be sure if these fragmented scenes were connected or had any chronological order.
If a person's memory was like a library, then his current state was—
He remembered most of the book titles in the library.
He even remembered some synopses and tables of contents, but the contents of almost all the books were blurred.
So, despite his efforts to search his mind, he couldn't link the present scene with his memories.
"I..."
The ashen one's voice was dry as he finally spoke, "Where am I now?"
"In the North District of Backlund, St. Samuel's Cathedral."
Archbishop Anthony made a clockwise motion over his chest four times and answered in a low voice.
"Where are the Lords of Cinder?"
The ashen one asked urgently.
To him, who had lost most of his memories, the Lords of Cinder were his only important matter.
"I don't know about any Lords of Cinder."
Archbishop Anthony shook his head, "But according to the Goddess's will, I can give you a clue: 'The Black Emperor.'"
"The Black Emperor?"
The ashen one muttered the term, frowning under his helmet.
It seemed familiar, but he couldn't recall the details.
Compared to this unknown Black Emperor, the mention of the Goddess of the Night seemed more tangible—
Since she was a deity, she could presumably be used as kindling, right? Although hunting a god would undoubtedly be challenging, it didn't matter; it wouldn't be his first time.
"Strange."
The ashen one suddenly felt puzzled and confused, "When did I ever kill a god? Were there actual deities in Dark Souls III?"
"Never mind, that's not important."
The ashen one, who had lost most of his memories, quickly ceased his pondering, knowing that thinking wouldn't yield any answers.
"In any case, I need to find this Black Emperor first. If I can't find him, I'll look for the Goddess of the Night. One of them should be good for kindling."
"And to find the Black Emperor..."
The ashen one looked up at the old man in front of him, knowing that if he was given this clue, there would be some assistance.
So, finding the Black Emperor should be relatively simple.
"Your Grace, the Chosen One."
Seeing the ashen one look at him, Archbishop Anthony spoke warmly, "Do you have any other questions?"
"No."
The ashen one shook his head. He didn't know what to ask, so he didn't know if he had any more questions.
He just wanted to end the conversation quickly and leave the church to explore outside.
"Then."
Anthony made a clockwise motion over his chest four times and said apologetically, "Your Grace, the Chosen One, please forgive me for pulling you into a dream without permission. Allow me to dissolve the dream for now."
As soon as he finished speaking, everything around him shattered like a mirror, as if revealing the true nature of the world.
However, when the surroundings broke, the ashen one was still in the same church.
The old man who called himself Anthony was still standing in front of him, and nothing seemed to have changed.
Until he saw the old man open his mouth.
"...*&&@￥￥@..."
The ashen one quietly watched as the old man spoke an incomprehensible language. The old man seemed to realize the ashen one couldn't understand but didn't try to pull him back into the dream. Instead, he handed him a brownish eyeball.
If not looked at closely, it might be mistaken for a black-brown gemstone.
The ashen one took the eyeball and glanced at it instinctively.
[Eye of Ignorance (3-0999)
A mystical item crafted by a former Sequence 9 Reader of the Church of Knowledge who was excommunicated for praying to the Hidden to understand all languages, at the cost of his life.
Allows ordinary people to understand common languages.
The bearer will continually hear the whispers of the Hidden. For safety, the bearer's intelligence must be at least 9.]
The ashen one's face twitched slightly under his mask, recalling the time when, with only 9 intelligence, he was ridiculed by his magic teacher in the Farron Keep.
"Your Grace, the Chosen One?"
Archbishop Anthony asked with concern, "Are you feeling unwell?"
The ashen one looked up.
This time, he understood what the other was saying, and a corresponding term appeared in his mind—
Loen language.
"No."
The ashen one listened silently for a moment, then shook his head.
He didn't hear the whispers mentioned in the item description, perhaps because his intelligence was very high—
At least more than 9!
"That's good."
Anthony nodded silently, then asked, "Would you like to rest, Your Grace, the Chosen One?"
"Where is the bonfire?"
The ashen one nodded slightly, politely inquiring.
Out of respect for the gift of the Eye of Wisdom, his attitude could be somewhat improved.
"I don't know about any bonfire."
Anthony seemed prepared for the ashen one's strange term, responding gently, "But I have prepared a room upstairs for you. You can rest there."
"No bonfire?"
The ashen one frowned but said nothing more, silently following Anthony upstairs.
He followed silently into the room and watched in silence as Anthony respectfully exited the room.
Silently, the ashen one stood in the room alone.
He looked at the bed but did not lie down to rest.
Without a bonfire, he couldn't rest.
So, he walked to the mirror hanging on the wall and slowly removed his knight's helmet.
Under the helmet was a face that felt familiar and comforting to him.
It was a normal human face, handsome and slightly youthful.
But the overall expression was stern and lifeless.
Nevertheless, he was not hollowed.
[Curse: 0]
The ashen one glanced at his status panel and found no accumulated curses.
This was expected.
To kindle the flame, he needed to cleanse the Dark Sigil before kindling.
Without the curse of the Dark Sigil, he was just an ashen one with the trait of undeath and wouldn't hollow.
Clearly, his memory loss wasn't due to the curse of hollowing.
It must have been because he was burned out during the kindling, leaving only residue.
But if that were the case, then he must have had memories before kindling.
If so, why did he choose to kindle the flame rather than extinguish it, usurp it, or claim it? The ashen one had no related memories.
But he was sure.
The version of him with memories would never choose to kindle the flame!
Yet he distinctly remembered his final choice was to kindle the flame.
So,
Why did the version of him with memories choose to kindle, willing to burn himself out?
Could it be that even before kindling, he had already lost his memories due to repeated deaths caused by the curse not being lifted?
P.S.: Kindling is akin to the ashen one's obsession. Even if they clearly realize they don't want to kindle, the obsession will ultimately drive them to do so.
It's similar to how you know staying up late or eating junk food is wrong but still succumb to it.
(End of Chapter)