Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

Ultimately, the Ashes are just solitary wanderers.

They may possess unparalleled courage, or have performed extraordinary feats; even if they lay down their heinous crimes and wrote glorious poems; in the end, all that remains on the throne of the King of Cinder is a lonely pile of firewood.

However, what Ash cannot do, others can.

A gentle figure walked over, and she bent down gently to hold the weeping Xiao Yan in her arms.

"Lord Ash, don't worry. The campfire is right there. You can go whenever you want to embark on your mission."

"But now you're tired, so take a rest."

"The flames of the sacrificial site burn eternally. As long as you return here, I will stay by your side."

A melodious voice sang softly, like clear spring water flowing through the mountains, gently sprinkling into Xiao Yan's heart.

Perhaps the poor person who is so preoccupied with someone else needs a warm hug even more.

The entire sacrificial site fell silent, and everyone quietly watched this heartwarming scene.

Little Flame sobbed, burying her face in the Fire Keeper's arms, quietly licking her wounds in that warm embrace.

The campfire was burning.

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Homura Akemi's Intelligence Compilation Manual

Today, Lord Ash is not feeling well, and I happened to find this manual, so I'll take over this intelligence gathering task for Lord Ash. —by Fire Keeper

Information about the world itself:

Firelink Shrine: The stronghold of the Ash Lords, and the core of their world. Of course, every Ash Lord has a Fire Keeper like me as their attendant.

Ashes (Supplement): The Ashes are the remnants of their original world, but many secrets remain within these remnants, whether it's their remaining abilities, the opportunity to return to their original world, or even the Heartfire (crossed out!) World of the Flame itself (crossed out... let the Ashes explore this themselves—by the Fire Keeper)

Invasion: A method of entering other Ash Worlds without permission; of course, this cannot be done at the Firelink Shrine.

Blood-Red Eye Orb: A tool used by the Ash Lords to invade other worlds.

Fire Keeper's message: Lord Ash, get well soon. The campfire is still burning, and I will stay by your side.

Chapter Eleven: Too much hair weakens fire! Wait, it seems there's no hair...

Not long had passed, and Xiao Yan quickly calmed down. The powerful will she had accumulated through countless reincarnations came in handy. Even though she had gotten stuck in a rut for a while, the pressure she released during this opportunity allowed her tense nerves to relax slightly and demonstrate even greater resilience.

However, the Fire Keeper's warm embrace probably had more effect than one might imagine.

She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, left the Fire Keeper's embrace, adjusted her expression slightly, and resumed her usual indifferent face. She turned around and bowed slightly to the three phantoms surrounding her.

"I'm sorry to have shown you all such a useless side of me."

"Hey...hey! It's okay, everyone...everyone has this side...so..."

The petite girl was startled by Xiaoyan's solemn manners. She hurriedly waved her hands, trying to explain something, but what came out of her mouth could not form a complete sentence.

“Miss, I am very grateful for your advice just now. It has helped me to understand many things.”

"I...I already said...you don't need to thank me..."

Being thanked separately again made the petite girl even more flustered. She nervously twisted her fingers, her gaze wandering to the ground, her face flushed.

After taking one last deep look at the frail-looking girl, Xiaoyan turned to the remaining two.

"And to the two seniors as well, I apologize for the trouble you've caused. At the same time, I thank you for sharing the information."

"Well... it's good that you're alright. After all, we've been through this too. Learning to share information is a required course for Ashes."

Denise put on her signature smile again, while the wolf girl shrugged indifferently and sat back down on the steps.

"Well, now that everything's settled, I should get back to my own work. But... would you like to see the steps to return to my own world?"

Xiaoyan immediately raised her head and stared straight at Denise, her meaning very clear.

"Hehe, then come with me."

She turned and walked toward the only King of Cinder sitting on the throne, and Little Flame nodded slightly to the Fire Keeper before quickly following her—the Fire Keeper smiled and watched them leave.

Rudauth seemed completely unsurprised by their arrival. He remained in the same position, his hands resting on his throne, chin propped up, his gaze following them as they slowly turned toward him.

Teresa stopped in front of him, her lips on the phantom moving as if negotiating something, but Rudolph only glanced at her before turning his gaze to Little Flame.

"Oh, you're the new Ash, right?"

He spoke slowly and deliberately, completely ignoring Denise standing to the side.

Xiaoyan looked at the person in front of her, who was called the Lord of Cinder and sounded like a very great person, with a strange expression. He made such a rude gesture that was inconsistent with his status and couldn't help but want to ask him a question.

"Is it strange that I don't pay attention to this Ash? It's normal. She has another me in her world to deal with these things, while the me in front of you only deals with things that concern you."

"You've probably already heard about my situation from them, so I won't waste any more words. If you want to return to your own world, then bring me your powerful soul and the Soul Forge."

"I'll handle the rest, but I still have a piece of advice for you: don't rely too much on this method. If you want to solve the problem once and for all, then go and pass on the fire."

Rudolf bombarded her with a bunch of nonsensical words, but before she could think about them, Teresa seemed to have already communicated with another Rudolf. She waved to Little Flame, and then her phantom slowly faded away.

In her heart, she sent her blessings to Denise.

Next, she glanced at Rudolf, who was not going to say anything more, then left the throne and walked toward the campfire.

"Didn't see anything of value, did you?"

As she passed the wolf girl, this woman, who claimed to be an old lady but had a young voice, lazily struck up a conversation with her.

"That's how it is here. If you want to pursue something, after you've gathered enough information, you still have to try it yourself to discover the truth. Information is important, but it's mostly for reference."

"Okay, I understand. Thank you, senior."

"Of course, from our perspective, we hope you can relax a bit and not let your own desires overwhelm you. Alright, you should head to the next location now; you can teleport there from the campfire."

Little Flame bowed to her again, and under the Fire Keeper's watchful eye, walked toward the campfire.

A spark rose slightly, seemingly excited for Little Flame's return. She reached for the hilt of the spiral sword, but then suddenly stopped.

The petite girl looked up in surprise, puzzled as to why Xiaoyan, who was about to leave, had walked up to her again.

A hand reached out, and Xiao Yan slowly opened her mouth.

"Want to come along? We can explore this world together."

The girl's eyes lit up for a moment, but then dimmed again.

"I'm sorry, I don't plan to explore this world anytime soon, and... don't let my appearance fool you, I've been here for quite a while now!"

She forced a smile and waved her little fist, as if trying to make her words more convincing.

"Is that so... Well, what if you change your mind later..."

"Okay, I'll leave you a message!"

In the end, Xiaoyan stood alone in front of the campfire and began her next journey.

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The flames in her field of vision dissipated, and she found herself in a room.

After surveying the altar-like building, she pushed open the wooden door directly in front of her, and in an instant, a magnificent view came into view.

Looking out, she saw two enormous castles connected by a stone bridge in the distance, and beneath her feet, beside the dilapidated tower, a magnificent city wall stretched out, connecting with the massive castle at the edge of her vision.

"No wonder this place is called the Roswick Walls."

After briefly observing the surrounding terrain, she descended the stone steps from the tower to a platform on the city wall.

There was a campfire there, seemingly used to teleport back to the sacrificial site. She was about to walk over and light it when she suddenly heard a hysterical scream coming from the other side of the city wall.

She paused in her action of lighting the campfire, then ran to the gap in the platform to check what had happened.

There was a wooden plank across the gap, just enough to stand on and look out at the tower on the other side of the city wall. But even though she stood on tiptoe and peered out, she could only see a dark mass wriggling in the distance.

She decided to go and take a look first.

Turning around to find the stairs to leave the platform, she discovered that behind the gap, a soldier lay with a wound on his body, cut open by a sharp blade. The crossbow bolt that had made Xiao Yan's shoulder ache involuntarily was thrown aside, still burning with flames.

Xiao Yan concluded that he looked like he had only recently died.

So that means someone was attacked on the opposite tower?

Xiao Yan hurriedly jumped off the wooden plank. Judging from the shrillness of the scream just now, even if it wasn't made by the person who killed the soldier, that wriggling black thing gave her an ominous feeling—that guy must be in trouble.

As she raced along the city wall, she discovered more and more corpses.

There were two grey-white skeleton hounds whose bones seemed to have turned to wood; a tall, bald soldier with a heavy axe lying beside him, the axe head deeply embedded in the stone bricks; finally, she ran to the tower on this side of the city wall, pushed aside the last soldier's corpse lying on the steps, kicked aside the halberd blocking her way, and finally reached the tower.

The scene was chaotic—beside the strange, withered branch with a human-shaped top hanging askew, debris was scattered all over the ground; several emaciated, pale wandering souls lay around, some even in a praying posture; the culprit that caused all this was writhing in the center of the platform—a familiar, dark snake head and huge, wooden-like bone claws, but this time it was not carrying a heavily armored judge, but a miserable wandering soul.

The wandering spirit let out a mournful cry as it slowly moved forward, chasing after the figure tumbling on the platform, letting the strange snake head and bone claws launch fierce attacks on the figure.

Xiao Yan didn't have time to think, so she drew her longsword and rushed over.

The wandering soul, corrupted by the pus of humanity, was surprised to see another enemy suddenly appear. He stared blankly at the enemy, while Xiao Yan had already rushed forward. She ducked and rolled to dodge the slashing bone claws, and as she stood up, she slashed at the wandering soul's legs with her sword.

The pale, withered leg bones could not withstand the sharp blade's cuts. As Xiao Yan rolled over once more, the wandering spirit with the broken leg fell heavily to the ground.

"careful!"

A somewhat familiar, clear, and hoarse voice came from behind. As soon as Xiao Yan looked up, she saw a snake head made of pus. It was not greatly affected by the fall of the wandering soul. At this moment, it stretched its neck, opened its mouth, and was biting at her.

With no way to avoid it, Xiao Yan raised her longsword with both hands, intending to exchange blows head-on.

But the person who spoke up did not remain inactive. As Xiao Yan concentrated all her strength and thrust her longsword upwards, a round, flaming object suddenly smashed into the snake's head.

The black pus, like viscous crude oil that had been scalded, twisted and stopped in mid-air.

Xiao Yan wouldn't let this opportunity slip by. She used her longsword to flick the snake's head aside, then took two more steps forward and severed the wandering soul's frail body with a single strike. Before the severed body fell, she reversed her grip on the longsword and slammed his head into the floor tile.

The pus in the human body twisted in resentment, but in the end, it could only helplessly be burned to ashes by the flames.

As the dust settled, Xiao Yan drew her longsword, tossed her long hair aside, and turned to look at the figure who had thrown the fire pot.

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Homura Akemi's Intelligence Compilation Manual

Information regarding the Firelink Shrine (supplementary):

Lord of Cinder? Ludows the Exile: A man given the title of king for reasons unknown. He is the key to the Ashes returning to their own world, and from his few words, it can be seen that he seems to exist in all the worlds of the Ashes at the same time, unlike the Fire Keeper, who is "a Fire Keeper serving one Ash."