When they arrived in Majula, and reappeared around the bonfire, Edric stated that he was going to fix up his weapon at Lenigrast's shop before he bothered seeing what else he could empower with all the souls he had collected so far. Rarity, upon hearing that, considered speaking with the Emerald Herald first and getting her level up out of the way, but instead of doing that she asked her companion for the ring they had discovered. Edric didn't even have to ask why she was asking for the ring, as they had already agreed on asking Shalquoir what the properties of it were, to which he reached into his pouch, pulled out the ring in question, and handed it over to Rarity. Once that was done he headed to the smith's shop and started speaking with the large man, who had been preparing his forge for something he was working on, to which Rarity walked over towards the large hole in the ground and entered Shalquoir's shop.
The moment she walked into the shop she found that Shalquoir was sitting at her desk, no doubt making notes about what she's sold and when her next shipment was coming in, if that sort of thing happened in this world, before she noticed that she had company. That was followed by the cat putting away her writing materials, where Rarity didn't bother asking how a cat could use them to begin with since she had a headache when she first attempted to figure out why Pinkie was so weird, before she hopped onto the table and stared at Rarity.
"It is good to see you again Rarity," Shalquoir said, though at the same time she seemed to sense something different in the air, which was likely what she had done when Rarity and Edric had returned after defeating the Last Giant, "I see that you have helped someone defeat the Dragonrider, yet you and your lovely companion fell victim to the Old Dragonslayer... and that you have some questions for me."
"Yes, Edric and I found this ring while we were exploring Heide's Tower of Flame," Rarity replied, knowing that there wasn't any point in asking how the cat even knew the names of the powerful creatures they had faced, or how she knew that they fell to the Old Dragonslayer, or the fact that they helped someone defeat one of those two creatures, to which she pulled the ring out and set it in front of Shalquoir, "Edric determined, just by looking at this ring, that it is a Ring of Binding... though neither of us have any idea what it actually does."
"That's understandable, as not many Undead have the brain to consider asking someone what a ring does," Shalquoir commented, indirectly indicating that she had likely helped other Undead in the past, or in the other worlds, and that she got pretty lonely because no one stopped to talk with her, which might be why she was so fond of Rarity, "Allow me to explain something that the elderly Fire Keepers might have neglected to tell you; when you die, and hollow a bit more inside, you tend to lose a bit of your health, making it easier for your enemies to kill you and weaken you even further. Normally that effect stops when you reach the halfway mark, but with this Ring of Binding you'd halt that effect much sooner, saving the life of whoever was wearing it... if you ran into some enemies that were constantly killing you anyway."
"How interesting," Rarity said, as she had not been aware that dying multiple times in a row, which hadn't happened to her or Edric yet, would severely hurt their chances at survival in such a way, which made her glad that they had found this ring now, "Edric will be very happy when he hears what this ring does, after I explain what the Fire Keepers neglected to tell us anyway."
"You know, I have to stand by my decision that you are one of the strangest Undead I have ever seen," Shalquoir stated, causing Rarity to look at her once more, to which the cat actually got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the edge of the table, before placing a paw on where the Old Dragonslayer had pierced Rarity's lung, "Almost all of the Undead don't feel pain after they die the first time, making them into seemingly heartless warriors that take the pain and continue with their quest. You, on the other hand, were in a great deal of pain when that greatsword pierced your body... and that pain returned when a spear struck you not too long ago. From what I have heard, and from what I have seen, there is one thing you must learn to improve your chances of surviving in this harsh world; how to dodge attacks."
Rarity stared at Shalquoir for a moment, wondering why the cat would even think that she needed such a skill, but when she remembered that the cat was touching one of the areas that she had been hurt in, however, she knew that dodging was a necessary skill in this world. Maybe she could have beaten the Old Dragonslayer if she had been quicker and actually dodged the attacks instead of simply taking them, but for now it was best to shelve that thought entirely and focus on what she had been told. She knew that Edric would be more than willing to share his knowledge with her, and she could practice the skill if they were summoned to help other Undead in their quest, to which she nodded her head and watched as a faint smile appeared on Shalquoir's face.
"Its good to see that you agree with me," Shalquoir said, to which she lifted her paw from Rarity's chest and returned to where she had been sitting the entire time, which was followed by her pushing the Ring of Binding back towards Rarity, who collected the ring and returned it to her pouch, "Now then, is there anything else I can help you with at the moment?"
"No, though I expect that I'll be back at some point in the future." Rarity replied, knowing that her statement had to be true, because she always came to Shalquoir when she and Edric needed help in figuring something out, be it the next destination or the properties of a new ring.
"I look forward to your next visit." Shalquoir said, because even though Rarity didn't buy anything when she visited she found it refreshing to give an Undead the knowledge they needed to move on with their quest, especially since she didn't have the chance to do so with all of the other Undead that had come before her and Edric.
Rarity nodded and headed back to where the bonfire was resting, where she discovered that Edric was already waiting for her return, though before doing anything else she made sure to use the majority of the souls that she still possessed at the moment. It took her a few seconds to empower herself further, though when she was done she made sure to turn to Edric and explained the situation with the Ring of Binding, telling him everything that Shalquoir told her. Edric seemed surprised that they discovered such a ring so soon, as he expected to discover it later on in their quest, though while he was a little annoyed with the Fire Keepers he knew that they didn't tell them everything to make them learn everything on their own... or get help from someone like Shalquoir.
Once they were done in Majula, and they had next to no souls left anymore, the two of them gathered around the bonfire and vanished from the area they were in, though not a few moments later they reappeared around the bonfire that they had discovered in Heide's Tower of Flame. They spent a few moments making sure nothing happening to them, not that they expected anything to happen when they used a bonfire, before they moved out and began the journey towards the ruined building that served as the fork in the road between where the Old Dragonslayer and the Dragonrider happened to be waiting for them. Fortunately the first two enemies that they fought, who happened to prefer to fight separately, were easy to take care of thanks to the fact that they had defeated them multiple times earlier that day... either in their own world or the worlds of the other Undead.
Sure enough Rarity and Edric were able to take out the first two ancient knights without too much difficulty, which was thanks to all their experience fighting these guys, before they moved onto the other ancient knight that was standing by the first switch they had flipped earlier. When they reached the ruined building they had chosen to go to, however, they repeated the process they had used earlier and lured out the first ancient knight, where Edric commanded their enemy's attention while Rarity circled around to his back and fired spells at him. Together they brought down the ancient knight before they moved onto the other two enemies that were waiting for them, to which they separated from each other and made sure their chosen opponents stayed far apart from each other.
The moment those two opponents were taken care of the duo stood there for a moment and considered the options that were in front of them, though in the end they decided that they might as well take out the Dragonrider first, because he was the easier fight than the Old Dragonslayer. They followed the path that was in front of them and made sure to take out the ancient knight that was standing in front of the Dragonrider's domain, but once their enemy was defeated, however, Rarity spotted a chest nearby and carefully walked over the small walkway that was in front of her. When she opened the chest she was surprised to find that the 'treasure' was a trio of green colored blossoms, but instead of wondering what they did she returned to Edric and they entered the fog door... where they spotted the Dragonrider waiting for their arrival.
Edric, as per their normal strategy, charged at their opponent and dodged the heavy attack that was coming his way, which involved rolling under the large weapon and appearing near his side. Rarity, waiting until the knight turned towards her companion, moved towards his back and started firing spells into his back, though without a third person to aid them the knight actually turned on her a few seconds later. As the knight swung at her, however, Rarity remembered what Shalquoir had told her and let her desire to life drive her forward, to which she rolled to the side as the head of the weapon collided with the ground where she had been standing a few seconds ago. When she got onto her hooves again Rarity turned around and blasted the Dragonrider in the face, causing the knight to stagger for a moment... which Edric used to his advantage as he cut into the side of their opponent's armor.
What slightly annoyed Rarity this time was that the Dragonrider insisted on chasing her down so he could end her life first, though at the same time she was thankful for the change to test her ability to dodge and avoid taking damage. Edric seemed to wonder what she was doing, especially since she avoided casting spells until she was actually behind their opponent, though when he realized what she was doing he smiled and nodded his encouragement. Since the only attack the knight had was swinging his large weapon around, and doing absolutely nothing with his shield, the duo was able to actually avoid taking any damage while they avoided his attacks and delivered their own blows to him in return... until one final blast from Rarity sent the Dragonrider to the ground, where he succumbed to his wounds and died.
with the Dragonrider slain, and the way forward opened, Rarity and Edric carefully walked through the new opening, ascended the staircase that was to the right of where they were standing, and walked up to the upper level of where they were standing. There they discovered that there was a bonfire waiting for them, allowing them a somewhat easier access to the Old Dragonslayer if they decided to fight him again in the future... and they also found a lady, in what appeared to be robes of some kind, sitting down and staring out at the water in front of them. Edric activated the bonfire before they approached the lady, because he suspected that this person was a merchant that would move to Majula after they talked with her.
"Are you from these parts?" the lady asked, to which both Rarity and Edric shook their heads, indicating that they were not from this area, which seemed to sadden the lady for a few seconds before she smiled at them, "My name is Licia. I have come to spread the art of miracles, a practice of which I am a disciple. I can see that you are well suited to comprehend their wondrous power. But the cost of it? That's for your heart to decide."
Rarity knew that Licia was talking to her, since she was the one that was using miracles and spells while she and Edric were in battle, though she eagerly asked the lady what type of spells she had for sale, as she needed something to spend the souls that the Dragonrider had given her. She found a trio of spells that she liked, the Medium Heal, Force, and Lightning Spear spells to be exact, to which she gladly exchanged some of her hard earned souls for the spells that would allow her and Edric to survive more fights in the future. Once she was done purchasing spells, however, she inquired what Licia was even doing here, especially since the area she was in was right above the chamber that a powerful creature had been resting in for an unknown amount of time.
"I'd heard awful rumours about this place, and I'm afraid they were all true." Licia replied, not even shocked by the nature of Rarity's question, to which she offered her a truthful answer, "The king, gone. The earth, ravaged. The burden on the people weighs heavy. I fear that by now, they may have scarce room in their hearts for miracles..."
"But you must have a reason for coming all the way out here." Edric commented, as he was slightly curious as to why the lady was sitting here to begin with, especially since she could have gone to Majula or another major city.
"Why did I come here? Well…" Licia said, looking like she wanted to avoid answering the question altogether, to which she let out a sigh and stared at them once more, "Do I need any other reason, than to spread the gospel of miracles? My preceptor always said this art should be shared with the world. And such is my only wish... though sometimes I fight the urge to pack up and go back home. It is, well… I must do this. And being out here all alone only makes this a more fitting test of my fortitude."
"Then why did you pick Heide's Tower of Flame?" Rarity asked, as while she could see the reason behind some of what the lady had told them, she knew that choosing this particular area was exceptionally dangerous considering that there were two powerful creatures that called this place home.
"I expected this cathedral to be bustling, but there's hardly a soul to be found here." Licia answered, to which she offered the duo a shrug, something that told them that she really didn't have a better reason for picking this place for her destination, "Without any goings-on, I'll have to move soon. To a place I could gull the… Sorry, help the gullible by teaching the good word."
Rarity sighed as she and Edric returned to the bonfire and sat down around it, because they had a choice to make; either they continue forward and see what the building in front of them contained, or they head back to the Old Dragonslayer and put that fight behind them. Rarity was eager to show the knight that had killed them what she had learned since they last fought each other, to which she smiled as she imagined throwing a Lightning Spear into their enemy's face as payback. At the same time she would follow Edric's lead, but personally she wanted to get back at that knight and the Pursuer at some point in the future... as she felt uneasy about leaving certain enemies behind.