Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 2 If You Are God, That Would Be Good

"Your Excellency."

Archbishop Anthony, seeing Ember staring at the badge in silence, said gently, "If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Perhaps you can rest for a while and ask tomorrow."

"..."

Yu Jin lowered his head in silence, offering no reply.

Archbishop Anthony showed no impatience and simply waited quietly to the side.

Meanwhile, Ember was lost in memories.

Without a doubt, when Ember tried to search his memories, he found them to be unusually chaotic and fragmented.

That's for sure.

He remembered that he was the embers, that he was an undead.

As an immortal being, he gradually becomes a zombie through repeated deaths, which leads to his gradual amnesia.

This has resulted in him having very limited memories now.

He remembered that he was Ember, and he remembered Fire Keeper, Patches, Grimheart, Sog, Onion Knight...

He still remembered his mission to find the Lord of Cinder to continue the First Flame, and even remembered that he was once a time traveler.

But regarding his memories before the time travel, only some vague fragments remain.

It was as if he remembered reading "Lord of Mysteries," even reading it no less than five times when he was in a reading slump.

But now his memory of the book's plot is hazy.

Even if he still has some impression of the main characters, he can recall that he has watched Lord of Mysteries.

Apart from that, he could only recall a few fragmented plot points.

But he didn't know whether these plot fragments were coherent or connected in time.

If we compare human memory to a library, then his current state is—

He still remembers the titles of most of the books in the library.

A few might still remember the introduction and table of contents, but the contents of almost all the books are now blurry and unclear.

So despite his efforts to search his memory, he was unable to connect the scene before him with his memories.

"I……"

Ember opened his mouth, his throat dry, and asked, "Where am I now?"

"North of Backlund, St. Samuel's Church."

Archbishop Anthony tapped his chest four times clockwise and whispered.

Where is the King of Cinder?

Yu Jin pressed for an answer.

For him, who has lost most of his memories, the Lord of Cinder is the only thing that matters.

"I don't know anything about the King of Cinder."

Archbishop Anthony shook his head. "But according to the will of the goddess, I can give you a hint: [Black Emperor]."

"The Black Emperor?"

Ember muttered the word under his breath, his brows furrowed beneath his helmet.

He seemed to have heard of it somewhere before, but he couldn't recall the specific details.

Compared to this unknown Black Emperor, he felt that the "Goddess of the Night" the other party spoke of was perhaps more definite—

Since it's a god, surely it can be burned as firewood, right?

Although hunting down gods is obviously not easy, it doesn't matter, since it's not like he hasn't killed them before.

"strangeness."

Ember suddenly felt a sense of astonishment and confusion. "When did I ever kill a god? Are there any true gods in Dark Souls 3?"

"Never mind, none of that matters."

Having lost most of his memories, Ember quickly stopped thinking, because he knew that thinking would be pointless.

"In short, first find a way to find the Black Emperor. If you can't find him, try to find the Goddess of Night. At least one of them can be used as firewood."

"And to find the Black Emperor..."

Yu Jin looked up at the old man in front of him. Since the old man had given a hint, it meant that he would provide some help in this matter.

Therefore, finding the Black Emperor should be relatively simple at present.

"Your Excellency."

Seeing Yu Jin looking at him, Archbishop Anthony spoke gently, "Do you have any further questions?"

"no."

Yu Jin shook his head. He didn't even know what to ask, so how could he know what else to ask?

In short, end the conversation quickly, leave the church, and go outside to explore the map first.

"So."

Anthony tapped his chest four times clockwise and said apologetically, "Your Excellency, please forgive my rudeness in pulling you into this dream without permission. Please allow me to temporarily dispel the dream."

As soon as he finished speaking, everything around him suddenly shattered like a mirror, as if to reveal the truth of the world.

However, even after the surrounding space shattered, the embers remained inside the same church.

The old man who called himself Anthony was still standing in front of him, and everything seemed unchanged.

Until he saw the old man in front of him speak.

"...*&&@￥￥@..."

"..."

Ember quietly watched the old man speaking in some incomprehensible language. The old man seemed to realize that Ember couldn't understand, but he didn't try to pull Ember into the dream again. Instead, he handed him a brown eyeball.

If you don't look closely, you might mistake it for a dark brown gemstone.

Yu Jin took the eyeball and glanced at it subconsciously.

【The Eyes of the Mentally Handicapped (3-0999)】

A Sequence Nine reader, excommunicated from the Church of Knowledge, prayed to a hidden being for the ability to read various languages, and in return, paid the ultimate price to create a wondrous artifact.

It allows ordinary people to understand the common language

The holder will be continuously subjected to cryptic whispers; for safety, the holder's intelligence must not be lower than 9.

"..."

Ember's expression twitched slightly beneath his mask, reminding him of the time he encountered his magic teacher in the Forest of Fran when his intelligence was only 9, and was mocked by him.

"Your Excellency?"

Archbishop Anthony looked at Ember with concern. "Are you feeling unwell?"

Yu Jin raised his head.

This time he understood what the other person was saying, and the corresponding terms came to mind—

Rune language.

"no."

Ember listened in silence for a while, then shook his head.

He didn't hear the delirious ramblings mentioned in the equipment description, perhaps because of his exceptionally high intelligence—

At least more than 9!

"That's good."

Anthony nodded silently, then said, "Would Your Excellency like to rest for a while?"

Where's the campfire?

Yu Jin nodded slightly and asked politely.

Considering the other party gave him the Eye of Wisdom, his attitude could be slightly better.

"I don't know what a campfire is."

Anthony seemed prepared for the strange 'term' that Ember used, and simply said in a gentle voice, "However, I have already prepared a room for you upstairs, so you may go and rest."

"No campfire?"

Yu Jin frowned, but didn't say anything, simply following Anthony upstairs in silence.

She silently followed him into the room and silently watched him respectfully leave.

Silently, he stared into the empty room, lost in thought.

Yu Jin looked at the bed, but did not lie down to rest.

He cannot rest without a campfire.

So he walked to the mirror hanging on the wall and slowly took off his knight's helmet.

Beneath the helmet was a face that felt familiar and dear to him.

It was a normal human face, handsome and dashing, even somewhat youthful.

However, the overall expression gives people a serious and lifeless feeling.

But in any case, he did not become a zombie.

[Curse: 0]

Ember glanced at his panel and found that he had not accumulated any curses.

That's for sure.

Because he must have the Fire Keeper remove the mark of darkness before he can link the fire.

Without the curse of the Dark Mark, he was just an ember with immortal properties, and naturally would no longer turn into a zombie.

Clearly, his amnesia was not due to the curse of becoming a zombie.

That means it could only have been burned to ashes after the fire was kindled.

But if that's the case, then he must have had memories before the flame was passed on.

If that's the case, then why would he choose to pass on the fire instead of extinguishing it, seizing it, or usurping it?

Ember has no related memories.

But he was certain.

Having the memories, I would never choose to rekindle the fire, no matter what I choose!

But he also clearly remembered that his final choice was to pass on the fire.

So.

Why would someone with memories of their own kind rekindle the fire, willingly allowing themselves to be burned to ashes?

Could it be that he had already lost his memory due to the series of deaths caused by the unresolved curse before the fire was even lit?

PS: Linking the fire is like the obsession of the embers. Even if they are clearly aware that they do not want to link the fire, their obsession will eventually drive them to do so.

It's like you can clearly realize that staying up late is wrong and catheters are wrong, but you still succumb to staying up late and catheters.

(End of this chapter)