"Grandpa, my head is so dizzy," Rya whispered. "Rya wants to sleep."
The old servant took the nightcap off Rya's head, dipped it in a basin of water, and placed it back on her. As thick smoke drifted through the cracks in the door, he pulled the brim of the cap down firmly until it covered her nose.
"Little Rya, cough, you must not fall asleep," the old man said between coughs.
Rya clutched a cloth doll—a replica of the Blue Dancer—and huddled as tightly as she could inside the water basin. The water temperature was rising steadily; soon, it would no longer provide any relief from the heat.
Blue Dancer Husk A cloth doll made in the image of the Blue Dancer. A very ancient item, passed down through generations.
The lighter the equipment load, the higher the attack power.
It is said that the Blue Dancer was a fairy. The fairy bestowed a flowing sword upon a blind swordsman, and with it, the swordsman was able to seal away an ancient god—the sealing of the Rot.
Uncomfortably, she extended her small tail from the basin and flicked it. The tail slapped against the floor, and she recoiled from the heat with a violent shudder. Her tail went rigid, nearly oversetting the basin.
"Just hold on a little longer. Lord Rykard and Lady Tanith will come for us very soon," the old servant said.
"They never care about Rya," she pouted, then added in a small voice, "Why are those bad people starting fires?"
The old servant was already becoming delirious. It took him a long moment to answer. "Because they are bad people. They will be punished."
He looked toward the kitchen door, which was blocked by debris. When the guests had broken in, he had led Rya here, toppling a cabinet to barricade the entrance. He hadn't expected those guests to set the manor ablaze. By the time he realized it, the world outside was already an inferno.
He tried to shift the cabinet, but he lacked the strength to move it. Moreover, the fire outside was so intense that even if he managed to open the door, there was no hope of escaping the flames.
As he drifted toward unconsciousness, the old man felt a sudden chill on his head, clearing his mind slightly.
"This is for you, Grandpa." Rya placed her wet nightcap on the old man's head. "Rya has the Dancer; that's enough for me."
She dipped the Blue Dancer doll into the water and held it against her nose. "If the Blue Dancer were here, she would surely use her flowing sword techniques to teach those bad people a lesson."
"Yes, she would," the old servant agreed vaguely.
"The sword is like flowing water, washing away all rot..." Rya mimicked sword movements with her hands, but soon lay back down, exhausted by the lack of oxygen. "Grandpa, you mustn't sleep either. Can you tell me the story of the Blue Dancer again?"
"The Blue Dancer..." The old servant shook his head to stay awake. "She was the Fairy Queen who lived in the Ainsel River. Where did I leave off... Ah, right. The Goddess of Rot polluted the waters, and the Scarlet Rot began to spread everywhere..."
"A blind girl set out on a journey alone to find her missing parents. The Claymen along the way told her that her parents had been taken to the Lake of Rot by the Kindred of Rot. She followed the Ainsel River, walking and walking, until she slipped and fell into the water, and the current carried her to the secluded Fairy Garden.
"She woke up in the garden, her head resting on lush Dewkissed Herba, the air thick with the scent of flowers. The Blue Dancer flew through the air, looking down at the girl with curiosity..."
The old servant's voice grew lower and lower until his head finally slumped forward.
Rya shook him anxiously, but she couldn't wake him. She climbed out of the basin, treading on her tiptoes across the scorching floorboards, and picked up the basin to slowly pour the water over the old man's head.
The servant mumbled incoherently but did not wake.
Splash.
Rya tilted the basin, dumping the rest of the water over his head. The water hissed as it hit the burning floor, sending up a great cloud of steam that mingled with the thick smoke near the ceiling.
"Cough, cough." The old servant finally woke up, wiping his face. When he saw what Rya was doing, he cried out, "Rya! Why did you pour out all the water!"
"I didn't pour it all out, there's still a little left," Rya whispered, shaking the basin to show a tiny handful of water at the bottom. She drank half of it, poured the other half over her own head, and flicked out her forked tongue to lick the warm droplets from the bottom of the basin.
The old servant sighed, but said nothing.
"Grandpa, are we going to die?"
"Of course not. Little Rya will just take a nap, and when you wake up, you'll find yourself in the Fairy Garden," the old man said.
"Some people say that lives like Rya's, which blaspheme the Law, have no souls. That we aren't allowed to return to the Erdtree after we die."
"Who—who said that!" the old man said angrily, before breaking into a coughing fit. "Who told you such nonsense?"
"Nurse Emma did. I haven't seen her for months. I asked everyone, but no one knows where she went."
"Emma?" The old man's voice softened. "She... she retired and went back to her hometown."
"Rya wanted to write her a letter." Rya lowered her head in disappointment. "Even though she often said strange things, she was actually very kind to Rya. By the way, is it true that Rya really can't return to the Erdtree?"
"If the Erdtree refuses a child as sweet as Rya, then it's the tree's loss," the old servant said. "Besides, we Gelmir folk don't care much for returning to the tree. We have our own home..."
The floor grew hotter and hotter. Rya could only flip the empty basin upside down and huddle on top of it. She stopped speaking, drifting into a stupor amidst the sweltering heat. Her blood felt as though it were beginning to boil.
The empty basin beneath her seemed to turn into a smooth river stone. She opened her eyes to find green grass covering the rough floorboards, the blades of grass hung with shimmering dew. The thick, drifting smoke shifted and changed, revealing a kaleidoscope of colors like morning mist and dawn light.
From a distance came the sound of something snapping and crackling. It was the fairies running and playing in the garden, stepping on fallen branches. They were running toward her, their voices filled with laughter.
Boom!
The garden door burst open, and a Blue Fairy rushed in. She was slender, her indigo robes stained with a bit of black ash. An icy mist swirled around her, cold and refreshing like a mountain stream of melted snow, casting a hazy veil over her beautiful face.
Rya blinked dizzily and reached out a hand, wanting to touch her.
"Over here!" Raven shouted. With one hand, he tore the remaining half of the wooden door from its warped frame and tossed it aside. He slammed his staff onto the ground with his left hand.
With the tip of the staff as the epicenter, an icy fog exploded outward. Wherever it touched, the flames were instantly snuffed out, and the floorboards let out sharp, rhythmic cracks as they contracted from the sudden cold.
Taking in the scene in the kitchen, Raven couldn't help but pause. "A man-serpent?"
A small man-serpent was huddled atop an inverted basin, her head swaying as she looked at him, one small hand extended.
"Are you Rykard's daughter?" Raven leaned down and took the small serpent-child's hand, pulling her up from the basin. He noticed that even standing upright, she was barely over a meter tall.
"Rya is just Rya." Rya took two unsteady steps and leaned into Raven, beginning to rub her head against his leg. "Fairy Sister, your clothes are so cold... Rya likes it."
Suddenly remembering something, she pulled back and shook Raven's hand anxiously. "Sister, please look! See how Rya's Grandpa is!"
"I am not a 'Fairy Sister,'" Raven said, feeling a headache coming on.
Tickled by the small serpent's rubbing, Raven cast a Flame Protect on her. He scooped her up around the waist and looked toward the old man, who sat with his head slumped in a deep sleep.
"Ah, it's you."
Raven recognized him as the old servant he had chatted with before. The man had simply passed out from a temporary lack of oxygen. After Raven cast a Quick Recovery on him, he soon woke up.
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Elden Ring: The Unborn One's Journey Through Elden Ring(161 Chapter - Ongoing)
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