The day was eternal, no sun would move through the sky and no cloud will disappear, making the day as eternally grey as every day before it. The two warriors were used to it, maybe not to the point where they could call the place a home, but enough so that they could simply take it out of their minds while worrying on other more important things. So far they have made good time in reaching new places and getting a good idea of how bad the situation was the more they walked into the heart of Lordran. It wasn’t that much of a distance considering that both Madeleine and Sunset were walking inside an abandoned city, but its hallways and buildings were more like mini bunkers, always having an undead or a new danger waiting for them. It was slow and mentally exhausting, but finally, the time had come to go back to camp. They were so close to the first bell that they could finally take a breather, but the camp wasn’t alone.
The one thing they knew was that the church in which they walked into had a prodigious invention, one that brought them back into the place where their partnership started, much to their surprise since it seemed that it was direct link, one that had been rendered unusable, maybe to help people escape, or probably to make people less likely to step into an undead infested zone. Whatever the case, both were finally at the Firelink Shrine.
Even though the empty streets of the Undead Burg offered more protection and were relatively safe now that they had cleaned it of hollows, the sight of their initial camp brought a small smile to their tired faces. The stone path felt a little bit like home with its slightly eroded surface due to the wind and the weather. It was a fantastic place, one that could have been a relaxing and interesting place if it weren’t for the Darksign and the melancholy that permeated the world they lived in.
As they walked the steps going down, they were surprised of what were they able to find and the sight caused both warriors to freeze in their road to the bonfire. They weren’t alone in the Firelink Shrine. Sure, there was already the bizarre presence of the monk, but this time, instead of standing alone among the clay urns, he was quietly talking with another.
The voluminous armor made out of metal plaques, adding such girth to their bodies that it was impossible for Madeleine not to recognize the origins of such protection. A man with short dirty blonde hair and a man that had most of his face hidden underneath his helmet accompanied Petrus, all obviously protecting a woman on her knees, praying to gods that could hear no more the voices of mortals.
Sunset felt the eyes of the armored guards on her the moment they went down the stairs and she saw one of them, the one with short hair, put a hand over the morning star’s handle at his side, but his hand stopped after seeing the woman behind the redhead. She couldn’t see Madeleine from where she was, but she could feel the burning power of her glare. So far she has only seen the woman with a smile on her face, or at the very least she was very calm and composed.
Even without seeing the glare, Sunset felt the danger and the power rolling like waves, making her shiver and stop. Thankfully it stopped once the guard took his hand away from his weapon. The silence was suffocating and the air was filled with tension, with only a light wind picking up and the bonfire burning and crisping not too far away.
“I see that we are not the only ones resting at this place; I cannot believe there are people still living in these plains.” The short haired man obviously wanted to break the tension, which both Sunset and Madeleine were glad that no confrontation started among the two groups.
“The city may have been abandoned by their previous citizens, but it does not mean that there is no hope or knowledge in it.” Madeleine was obviously the correct one to continue the conversation; Sunset was still shocked at seeing more humans staying in the Firelink Shrine, not to mention how tired she was. For the first time since she had been a part of the world, she had been able to meet more people, but sadly she realized that this was the Way of White and for what Madeleine had explained, they were not exactly hollow protectors, or even undead friends.
“May it be. I recommend you to step aside so we could start our mission,” the man said as the one with the helmet slightly nodded. At his side, Petrus simply turned his face to the other side, watching the chasm in front of Firelink Shrine. It was nothing major, but the actions of the Thorolund priest made a little bell inside Sunset’s head go off. You could call it instinct, or maybe she had become used to the small clues of human beings when they were lying or there was something hidden.
“If you are in this place, then that means you are looking for the Rite of Kindling? So that will mean… oh, I see.” Madeleine suddenly looked at the woman kneeling, her eyes understanding, but in no moment she had pity in her eyes. The woman in white understood something about this, but instead of calling attention, she simply turned around and started walking. Sunset was about to follow her when a voice, clear and pristine as a crystal bell reached her eyes.
“Wait, you are undead, are you not? What is your purpose in Lordran?” The woman’s voice didn’t remind Sunset of anyone specific, but it was the way in which she spoke, that same elegant intonation that made Sunset remember days spent under the sun alongside her teacher. That seemed so long ago, when Sunset could still feel heat. She was sure that the coldness will never abandon her now.
“I came here to make a dead man’s wish come true. I have a mission to do in this place.” The woman slightly smiled and for a moment, Sunset was sure that the cold inside her soul had abandoned her, for at least a second.
“I see, then I suppose we are similar. We both have a mission that we must do, a purpose that keeps us binded to this unholy land; my name is Rhea of Thorolund, would you tell me yours?”
“I am Sunset of Equestria.”
“Sunset, I see… your name is truly fitting for the world we live in. I would like to say that I wish we could meet again some other day, but alas, I’m sure that will not be.” Rhea gave her one last sad smile before going back to her praying, leaving Sunset Shimmer standing in the middle of Firelink Shrine, close to the flames of the bonfire, but frozen entirely, as if a fire had been extinguished.
“Poor girl, having to be sacrificed in that way, just because she is an undead.” It took a time for Sunset to fight the coldness, even after sitting down close to the bonfire still ignited.
“What do you mean by that? I saw how you were looking at her. You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?”
“Yes, indeed. She is the one that has been chosen to recover the relic known as Rite of Kindling. Sadly, I fear that it’s impossible for her. The Way of White does not allow undead among their members, but instead of simply killing them or banishing them, they do something even worse. They throw them into the catacombs. They are close from here, you just have to follow the stairs that way.” Madeline pointed somewhere in the distance. “But I advise against going there. It is a death trap, one you are in no way prepared for, a place to make sure that whatever undead falls into it will never return. It is cruel, to send a woman as unprepared as her to a place like that.”
“Do you know her?”
“Personally, no, but even though I have been far from home, I still get some information, believe it or not. She is the daughter of the main Thorolund family, a woman that gave her full life to the guild, and this is how she’s rewarded. The gods truly have a twisted sense of humor.” Madeleine closed her eyes, obviously angry at the topic. “Enough with that, we still have a bell to find and ring. Meanwhile, why don’t you show me the ring we got from Havel? Maybe we can find its usage.” Sunset shrugged, knowing that if she continued thinking about Rhea she will only get depressed.
The redhead put a hand inside one of the many pockets her robes had, but instead of closing her hand around the metal ring, her hand found something different, an object in the shape of a vase. Taking it from inside her robes, Sunset stood staring at the flask that had been given to her some time ago. Her robes had more padding than it looked, probably the reason why Sunset had forgotten about it.
“Where did you get that thing Sunset?”
“This? It was… well, it was a farewell gift from Oscar.” That, alongside his shield, were the only two things in which she could remember of the man that helped her escape the asylum in which she had been thrown in and forgotten. It was warm on her hands, as if it had a flame inside. Although, considering the place she was living in, it was probably the reason why it was warm.
“Well, seems that the knight was prepared, or maybe not considering what happened to him. That my dear is an estus flask. It holds flame from the bonfire and from what I have heard, it helps undead recover from injuries. There has been talk that they are linked to the same power that maintain the bonfires, but no one is sure where they come from.”
“Is there anyone that could tell us anything about them?” An object that could help her recover? Maybe it was not a cure, but anything that could help her in her constant death and rebirth cycle could surely be good. Madeline once more closed her eyes, obviously pained due to something and Sunset knew she had done something wrong, or at least something she will not like.
“There… is one person, but she is in no condition to tell us about it. I suppose you have a right to know Sunset Shimmer.” She stood up and it was clear she wanted the redhead to follow her, down stairs that Sunset had never taken and into another place that the Firelink had almost hidden.
In front of her, behind bars and with her face almost completely hidden by rags, Sunset understood what Madeleine was talking about. The redhead turned to look at the other warrior, but she simply shrugged.
“Don’t look at me, I had no hand in her situation. This was done by people that are probably dead. Or not, there is no way to know,” she said, clearly not giving Sunset a direct answer. Meanwhile, the redhead stood close to the bars that confined the girl to a cell that was no more than a hole in the mountain and began to tug at them with all of her strength. “You are wasting your time Sunset Shimmer. You won’t get her out of there, not that she herself wants to.” At these words, Sunset took a look at the girl trapped inside the cell, but instead of a hopeful look, the girl was terrified, huddling inside the cell, almost as if she was afraid of Sunset.
“Why? Wouldn’t she want to get out?”
“Of course. That’s the reason why she’s trapped in her cell, although I don’t see how she could escape, considering that they took her feet.” At those words Sunset fought against the desire to look closer at the woman trapped, but knew that the warrior was telling the truth. “The first time they took her tongue, the second her feet, the third she was trapped inside. She is a fire Keeper, being bound to the bonfire upstairs. You see now Sunset? Why I don’t pray? People think that the fire and its warmth will keep us safe.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“No I don’t. After all, they have already abandoned us, and imprisoning women like her just to keep a flame alive? No, the gods left, but we are still here and we are in charge of setting all their screw ups right, so if ringing the bells can help us right some wrong in this world, you can count on me Sunset of Equestria.”