The crone reached out a hand towards Twilight. "Come closer, strange one, and don't give me that offended look. Even for this dying world you qualify for the word. Come..." Twilight stepped closer and she began to examine the pony with wrinkled fingers. "I thought it might have been an illusion... What manner of undead would pursue such a quest without even a little fire to chase away the cold?"

Twilight withdrew from those questing fingers. "The fire, it seems... They heal you."

"In a matter of speaking," she agreed. "You are Undead. The bonfire is your home now."

"No!" Twilight spread her injured and broken wings. "My home is in Equestria, not... wherever this is."

"We are not far from Lothric, and yet a world away. Space decays with the rest of us." She peered at Twilight with knowing eyes. "You need fire if you've even a whisper of a chance, but I won't give it for free, no. That way lays madness. I will offer it for a fair price." She drew out a vial, much like the one Twilight had found, but it glowed a bright yellow instead of a blue. "Simply drink the fire within to make the suffering of battle diminish. You have enough souls, I feel. Surrender some and this is yours."

Twilight was quick to produce her own, and started. When last she left it, it had gone from glowing to dull as she drank it. At some point, it had refilled.

Her reaction filled the crone with almost mocking laughter. "You are surely doomed, you know so little..."

"Can you tell me?" She took a hesitant step forward. "What's going on?"

She waved the yellow vial in the air. "Buy this and I will give some knowledge as well. Or do not, and be on your way."

Twilight shook her head. "I don't even know how to give you what you want." Giving souls? How would one even start to do such a thing?

The crone did not seem bothered. "Come close, and say you want it."

Twilight felt a gravity there. Words held power, even in the dying land she found herself in. She did come closer and sat before the lady. "May I have that?" She pointed at the yellow vial.

The rush came, but it was a devouring one. Some of that energy left her with a palpable sense of diminishment. That power was hers no longer and swirled around the fingers of the crone, who smiled happily. "It is a deal. Here." She held out the vial toward Twilight. "And information beside, hmm... The flask holds true the essence of the flame." She swung a hand to gesture at the bonfire down the hallway. "When you rest your weary bones there, the heat fills you, and these flasks. Estus, the essence of that sacred flame, is what you drink greedily. So long as the fire remains, more will flow into the flask. See to it that does not change, would-be kindler."

Twilight held the two flasks close to one another. Besides the color of the glow, they seemed practically identical. When she pressed her hoof to each, the yellow one was warm, and the blue one chilled. "Body and mind."

"You have some wit in that furry head," mocked the crone. "Now, what else do you want? I have all manner of goods to ease the travels. Weapons? Armor perhaps? Hmm, can you make use of sorceries?"

That caught Twilight's attention. "Sorceries? Magic?" Her wings, which had folded, spread wide. "You have spells?!"

"A cantrip or two," demurred the crone. "See." She produced scrolls from within her robes, displaying them for Twilight to see. She couldn't see enough to try and read the spells entirely, but their headers were clear.

"Farron Dart? Soul Arrow?"

"A quick small attack, and a slower, heavier, one. Neither is the stuff of archmages, but you are hardly the stuff of legends, lost horse. Do you want them?"

A chance to learn new magic? At first Twilight thought the answer obvious, but she held herself back. "I want to see who's making that banging sound first, please. Thank you."

"Undead, be sure to bring more souls," she beckoned, but did not stop Twilight from moving on.

She trotted across a small bridge as a stout and thick man smashed an anvil with a heavy hammer, doing metalwork steadfastly. Twilight just watched him for a moment, eyes following the sparks when they weren't taking in the features of the short but powerful looking figure.

He looked up at her at least, pausing his hammering a moment. "Well, a newcomer I see. I am Andre, I serve in this shrine as a humble smith forging new weapons. You're in search of the Lords of Cinder, I trust? A toilsome journey, I wager. You'll require good arms. Let me smith y' weapons. I am a smith, such is my purpose." The words flowed naturally from him before he noticed something was off. "I'll be learning a whole new trick or two making armor that'll fit the like for you. Are ya cursed in some whole, new, unwholesome fashion?"

Twilight shook her head in reply. "I'm not cursed. This is how I was born, minus the wings. Pleased to meet you, Andre. I'm Twilight, Twilight Sparkle."

"Afraid that's where you're wrong, lass." He brought down his hammer on what he was working on. "You're cursed, that much is true, whether or not being an animal is part of it. Not the first talking animal, least so far as the tales go. Sharp-tongued cats are the things of legend, but you aren't one of those, either. That aside, cursed, yes. You're cursed."

Twilight tapped a hoof on the ground lightly. "Is it more complicated than being stuck here?"

"Oh, I suppose that could be taken as a curse of its own, but no, more than that." He pointed his hammer at Twilight. "You, lass, are dead. Dead, but too stubborn, or caught up in the decay, to stay dead. You want to avoid misery? Find a hole and throw yourself into it." Twilight's face became one of shock and anger. "Don't look like that, lass. I'm not trying to talk ill of ya." He slammed the metal he was working on. "Few listen to that advice. You'll find more dead than not in this world."

"You're not the first to mention that, but how can you all be so sure? I'm right here." She patted her own chest. "I'm breathing, thinking, hurting..."

"All of those things, and cursed." He set down his hammer a moment and drew out a mirror from one of his pouches. "It's on your back, the sign, clear as day, or night." Twilight lifted the mirror from Andre's grip and brought it over herself to see a strange circle of flames right between her wings.

Worried for what else might have changed, she twisted on herself and saw the circle had spread. Her cutie mark was ringed with a circle of fire, and its sight made her tremble. The cutie mark of a pony was their purpose and destiny. To have it changed was a foul thing. The only other time she had experienced it was under Starlight's control, and that was terrible as well, though this seemed far more insidious than that simple reduction. Her purpose had been changed, not just suppressed

"I trust from the look in your eyes that the marks on your flanks were not natural, as natural as any of you is." He brought down his hammer on the metal. His work could be paused, but not stopped. "Sorry to be the bearer of ill tidings."He straightened his stance, pausing his work. "Look, I'm on your side, much as anyone can be. You are after the Lords of Cinder, right?"

Twilight gave a numb nod. "I... think I am." She rose to her hooves. "I don't see what else I can do. Can you help me?"

"An honest question, and I'll give an honest answer." He resumed his banging. "I saw the Shrine Handmaiden handin' you an estus flask, important thing that is. Do you know what it does?" Twilight nodded. "Good. While you're out there, keep your eyes open for shards of the same clay. I can use them to reinforce the flasks y'got and make them stronger, hold more estus at a time." He smiled as he worked. "They're one of your only reliable friends, so treat 'em right."

Twilight gave an uncertain nod. "Right... Do you know what that means?" She pointed to her cutie mark, where the flames seemed to dance and flicker in clear defiance of a cutie mark's usual static nature.

"I'm no scholar, lass. Just a smith." He produced a great shower of sparks with his next hit. "Speakin' o' that, you want a weapon improved on, that I can do. Just bring titanite. If you see a gem layin' around, I can use those too, but it works different. I'll spare the details 'till you bring one here. Now, about some armor." He glanced up at her. "Your pelt's a pretty shade, but that'll change fast when your enemies go paintin' it red with your own blood. Even some leather's better than nothing. Robes, if you're that type, but anything. This ain't a matter of modesty."

Twilight lifted her club into view, hovering it in Andre's field of view. "I found this."

"Fit for a doorstop or to keep papers still in a breeze, not much more." He slammed his hammer down. "I'd suggest ya take whatever you can find. I have some weapons here, if you want a look. I take souls, just like the maiden there. Most people you find willing to trade are the same. We all want 'em."

"Why?" Twilight leaned forward as she pulled her club back. "Isn't it... kind of..." She rolled a hoof in the air. "I mean, really..."

"You're a precious one," he noted between strikes. "You're blushing like a virgin." Her color worsened. "Oh, are ya one? I'm not going to pry into a horse's business. Either way, it's the world's business. Souls are power. Don't feel bad for 'em. They died at your hands, their souls are yours, simple as that. Use 'em without guilt."

Twilight shook her head violently. "Right... So..."

"So you aren't giving them back. Use them, lose them, nothing else is really possible." He hammered at the metal busily. "I suggest using. You need much to have a chance. The road you're on is long and will try to break you countless times. Me? I have it easy. I'm just a smith."

Twilight smiled at that. "You're more than a smith." He glanced up at her. "You're my friend, I hope. Thank you."

"Oh, aye. A pleasure to have met you, Miss Sparkle. First horse I met that wanted more than to kick me in the teeth for looking at her funny." He laughed at his joke. Though it seemed to have more warmth than the others, the bitterness of the world laced between the sounds, giving it an edge. "Good luck. If you want to buy something, you just let me know." Next Chapter: 5 - Be a Sovereign Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 13 Minutes