Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

The two walked to the campfire while talking.

The Firelink Shrine is the core of each Ash's world. Even if they have made an Ash Pact and can travel between their worlds, they cannot truly enter each other's Firelink Shrine.

This place is like a heart protected by layers of security; no one but yourself can intrude.

They took turns using the campfire.

Familiar flames rose in their field of vision, and they returned to a world that truly belonged only to themselves.

"Welcome back, Lord Ash."

"Ah, I'm back, Fire Keeper."

————————————————————————————————————————

Homura Akemi's Intelligence Compilation Manual

Information regarding the battle:

Bloodstains: After death, the bloodstains of the ashes record the last information of their lives, which often serves as a warning to future generations.

PS: Yunxi: 744486102 Today's update is a little late, not because I forgot while grinding the ship. (Serious face)

Chapter Eighteen: Escaping Death, Escaping Death

After enduring hardship and even risking your life to advance your progress in a dangerous world, you drag your weary body back to a completely safe place. Hearing a "Welcome back" from a beautiful and gentle older sister, the feeling of going from hell to heaven brings a warm smile to Xiao Yan's face.

However, as it turns out, there is no absolutely safe place in the world; even at sacrificial sites, there is a threat of death.

"ah----!"

For example, accidentally falling or something.

But Xiaoyan felt that the tragedy unfolding before her eyes had absolutely nothing to do with accidentally falling.

Because the petite girl who fell from the sky, in a fleeting glance, did not show fear of falling, but rather panic as she looked at the two people who had just returned from the campfire, letting out a shy scream as if she had been seen naked by a pervert while taking a bath, and fell from the sky with an expression of shame and indignation.

Then she really died.

It crashed to the ground face down, embracing the earth.

It looks very painful.

Xiaoyan's smile froze on her face. She came home to find someone had jumped off the building to commit suicide. Even Xiaoyan's heart, which had been tested by routines for a long time, was so shocked that it skipped a beat.

"Come, Lord Ash, have some elemental soup to calm your nerves."

The kind-hearted fire-prevention woman offered Xiao Yan a bowl of carefully prepared soup when she was feeling down.

Hmm, although it doesn't have much of a taste, it feels the same as drinking from an elemental bottle. It warms my body, as if all my pain has been healed.

Wait, where did this soup come from?

Xiao Yan, still savoring the taste of the thick soup, was startled and turned to look at the campfire. She noticed a jar hanging on the spiral sword hilt, and the material of the jar looked so familiar.

So this soup and the one in the element bottle are the same thing.

"How is it, Lord Ash? Does the soup suit your taste?"

Even knowing the truth, could you give any other answer when faced with a gentle and kind older sister?

Of course not.

"Mmm, this soup is delicious. Thank you, Fire Keeper Sister."

Xiaoyan could only force a smile again and hand the bowl back.

"As expected, Lord Ash is cuter when he smiles."

Cute? I feel like I've been described with that word twice in the last few weeks, and the other person who described themselves that way should be here too.

Sure enough, when Xiaoyan turned around, lost in thought, she saw a guy who had turned back into a phantom looking at the soup in Xiaoyan's hand with envy and jealousy.

Something feels off.

Xiao Yan looked at this guy and once again put on a dead fish eye.

After the two distracted her, Xiaoyan seemed to have completely forgotten the horrifying scene she had witnessed upon returning. Meanwhile, the petite girl who had been resurrected by the campfire took advantage of everyone's distraction and suddenly ran towards the top level of the sacrificial ground, where there was also an exit leading outside.

That petite figure, so indifferent, chilled one to the bone.

Watching the girl leave the sacrificial site, Zhi, who had been acting silly, and a certain wolf grandmother who had been AFK'd at the sacrificial site, both sighed softly.

"I was just about to ask, what's the deal with that girl?"

Looking around at the one person and two phantoms in the sacrificial site, Xiao Yan couldn't help but ask the question.

The fire-preserving woman smiled and shook her head, then silently stepped back to the side and stood quietly by.

Zhi and Granny Wolf stared at each other, and finally, under some kind of threatening gesture, Zhi backed down and had no choice but to take on the task of explaining.

"Alright, I'll take on the role of the villain who reveals the girl's secret."

She cleared her throat slightly and began to explain why the girl had committed suicide here.

"Little Firefly, the reason you arrived at the Lothric campfire so late is because you went to another world after you died, right?"

Xiaoyan nodded; the two girls she had met back then had left a deep impression on her.

But what does this have to do with that girl's matter? She was a little puzzled.

"That girl committed suicide here in order to go to other worlds. It's because once the Ashes have accumulated enough deaths, they will inevitably go to other worlds. Perhaps it's this world's pity for the Ashes. After all, it would be too cruel if they didn't even have a place to relax after constantly fighting against death."

Xiao Yan was somewhat surprised. No wonder she had a feeling that she might be able to go back when she left that world.

"No one is born knowing how to wield a weapon, and not everyone can become a warrior, at least that girl wasn't. She had absolutely no courage to face this cruel world, so she chose to escape, going to other worlds through constant death, where perhaps she could find some small happiness."

As Zhi finished speaking, her tone became somewhat wistful. Only she herself knew that if she hadn't met Xiao Yan at the first campfire, there would probably be a third person idly loitering around the sacrificial site... No, she herself would probably have become a crazed, invading dark spirit.

Come to think of it, when I arrived at the sacrificial site, that girl had already been in this world for a long time. And based on her occasional disappearances, and the scenes I occasionally witnessed her jumping off the sacrificial site when no one was around, I could imagine how many times she had attempted suicide.

It's true, they'd rather keep ending their own lives than pick up a weapon and end other people's lives.

Xiaoyan listened quietly as Zhi finished speaking, then suddenly ran towards the upper exit of the sacrificial site.

"I need to go and talk to her."

"Huh? Huh!"

Zhi, who had been lost in her own thoughts, didn't have time to react before she saw Xiao Yan's figure disappear around the corner of the stone steps.

"This is the first time I've seen Xiaoyan care so much about other people's affairs. Isn't she always only concerned about her own wishes?"

"Kid, you weren't here before, so you didn't know that your little girlfriend once had a breakdown because she was thinking about time travel. Back then, Asahina helped her out, and I guess she wants to repay that favor now."

"Hey, hey, she's not some little girlfriend, Granny Wolf, don't gossip like that, but..."

Zhi gave a somewhat helpless explanation of her relationship with Xiaoyan, then became serious and made her request.

"...I'm still very concerned about how Xiaoyan fell into a breakdown. Please tell me, Grandma."

"Hehe, you still say she's not your little girlfriend, then why are you so concerned about her?"

"This is just a knight's basic sense of responsibility to the princess he swore to protect."

"You'd be a fool to believe that."

————————————————————————————————————————

Arriving at the exit of the upper level of the sacrificial site, Xiaoyan had just stepped out of the stone archway when a desolate and expansive view came into view.

The sea of ​​clouds flowed slowly beneath the solitary peak at the sacrificial site, seemingly both real and ethereal, making the distant mountains appear like small boats adrift on the waves. Its distance and width were indistinguishable; only at the horizon could one see the sea of ​​clouds merging seamlessly with the grey sky, indistinguishable from one another.

Xiao Yan paused for a moment in front of the scenery, but she quickly remembered the purpose of her trip and immediately began searching on a small cliff beside the sea of ​​clouds.

Here stands a giant tree, its bare branches covering this small cliff.

It was really small. Standing next to the big tree, Little Flame looked around and quickly took in everything.

However, the petite girl was not seen.

Somewhat puzzled, she walked over to a ladder that seemed to connect to the roof of the sacrificial site, stretched out her hand, and confirmed that they were too short to reach it.

That's strange. The girl should have run this way, right? Could it be...?

She returned to the tree, carefully holding onto the trunk, and looked down the cliff.

A thick sea of ​​clouds churned and flowed below, occasionally parting to obscure what secrets lay hidden beneath.

Xiao Yan suddenly snapped out of her daze; she had just had a sudden urge to jump down and find out what was going on.

She quickly moved two steps away from the cliff, clutching her chest with a slight tremor in her heart.

"What were those feelings that girl had that made her dare to jump?"

She muttered to herself, truly unable to judge whether the girl who dared to jump into the completely unknown abyss was brave or cowardly.

Maybe she really didn't jump?

She walked to the other side of the cliff. The drop between here and the next cliff level wasn't significant, but Xiaoyan, who had carefully explored this area before, remembered that behind the cluster of tombstones below, there was a skeleton dog. Now, she hadn't heard the dog barking, which meant that no one had gone over to disturb it.

"Wait! I should already be outside the sacrificial site!"

I remember Zhi once said that only near the Firelink Shrine and the campfire can one see the phantoms of other ashes without signing an oath or being summoned by a rune.

So, the girl should still be here?

She suddenly felt an urge to speak out loud here, to say what she had been thinking when the girl comforted her, regardless of whether the girl could hear her or not. But as long as she was here, there was a chance that the girl could hear her heartfelt words.

She opened her mouth, wanting to confide some words hidden in her heart to that unseen girl who shared the same experiences but led a different life.

However, a pool of blood that suddenly appeared interrupted her words.

She walked over in silence and activated the remaining death information on the bloodstain.

A blood-red phantom of a young girl appeared. She stood with her hands behind her back, silently looking down at the tree, a complex smile on her lips.

Her head moved slowly, finally settling on Xiaoyan's direction. She waved to her, then, still with that smile on her face, fell into the abyss.

Before she was swallowed by the clouds, Xiao Yan saw that complex smile transform into a sense of relief at returning home.

————————————————————————————————————————

Homura Akemi's Intelligence Compilation Manual

Information about other worlds: