Finger Reader Enia kept shaking her head. "O revered Fingers, revered Fingers, look at this. Such is humanity's thirst for knowledge."
Gideon remained unmoved, still holding up the Godskin Prayerbook. He needed to know the truth, or he could not lead the Roundtable Hold.
"All-Knowing, it does not matter what exactly you have guessed. You need only know that the Roundtable Hold was established to prevent disaster before it strikes," Finger Reader Enia said.
"I know it was to prevent disaster. There is no need to repeat yourself. What I need to know is who, exactly, we are guarding against." Gideon refused to yield.
The Two Fingers trembled slightly. Finger Reader Enia said, "A great event once took place in secret, something even you knew nothing about-the frenzied flame."
Gideon listened quietly.
It was a civil war between the Two Fingers and the Three Fingers. And the cause of it all was, astonishingly, a man named Shabriri.
First, one thing had to be established: the Elden World possessed powers born of the mind. Some supernatural powers came into existence without any rhyme or reason.
That made Shabriri easy enough to explain-he was a prophet.
And a Tarnished, too.
He set out on a journey with his Finger Maiden, spreading faith in the Erdtree throughout the Lands Between.
Peaceful days, kind people, unwavering faith in his heart, and a soulmate by his side.
Everything was so beautiful. Shabriri considered himself a happy man, with a lover and a peaceful life-yeah, right.
Because one day, he saw a flicker of flame in a prophecy.
What did that mean? The destruction of the Erdtree.
Perhaps that connection made little sense, since the flame in the great forge atop the snowy mountains was sealed away and guarded by the last Fire Giant.
Under layer upon layer of strict surveillance, no one could get their hands on so much as an ember.
The prophets who had once foreseen the giants' flame burning the Erdtree had long since been exiled.
That truly frightened Shabriri. Any prophecy concerning the Erdtree had to be reported; he could not hide it. The Two Fingers would know.
To Shabriri, the Two Fingers were all-powerful, the envoys of the Greater Will. Reading his mind would be child's play for them.
Distraught, Shabriri could only confess the truth to his Finger Maiden, the person he trusted most, his lover.
"Let's run away. Leave the Lands Between. Anywhere will do." Shabriri clutched the Finger Maiden's arm anxiously.
The maiden, named Hyetta, took his hand. "All right. Wherever you go, I will go. I am your maiden. I will never leave you."
An elopement that forsook their mission was bound to bring the Two Fingers' assassins down on them!
The Roundtable Hold had not yet been formally organized back then, but with the Two Fingers' abilities, how hard could it be to hoodwink a bunch of Tarnished?
Shabriri fled with Hyetta, evading the Two Fingers' still-inexperienced assassins. In the end, they really did escape the Lands Between and encounter the Nomads.
These hospitable people primarily lived by trade, traveling through all manner of lands with their immense Great Caravan.
They had no blessing from the Erdtree, nor did they need it. Even if the Erdtree's blessing made no distinction between high and low, that did not mean everyone wanted it.
It was the first time Shabriri and Hyetta had encountered such "heretics." With nowhere else to go, they could hardly afford to be picky. They could only travel with the Great Caravan.
With so many people around, they no longer feared the Two Fingers' assassins.
The nomadic merchants were skilled at playing a certain stringed instrument. Its melodies were lilting and lovely, though tinged with sorrow.
After spending enough time with them, Shabriri noticed a yellow light in the nomadic merchants' eyes.
It was not the gold of the Erdtree's blessing, but pure yellow.
When Shabriri asked about it, a nomadic merchant answered frankly, "We believe in the three of chaos."
"The three of chaos?" Shabriri's expression turned strange. He had never heard of such a thing.
"The Three Fingers." The nomadic merchant had no idea how deeply those words shocked Shabriri.
Everyone knew about the Two Fingers. Why were there Three Fingers as well?
Wait, he remembered a few clues: three fingers were considered ill-omened, while four were considered lucky. That was why some people collected four-toed fowl feet and carried them around.
Could it be because of these three of chaos?
A bold idea emerged in Shabriri's mind, especially after he witnessed a nomadic merchant spewing yellow flames from his eyes.
"Isn't that fire?" Shabriri was thrilled.
Perhaps this was a way for him to return.
That night, he shared his discovery with Hyetta. "I know how we can go home! If we report that we've discovered a new flame, won't that explain my prophecy?"
"Isn't that wrong? They took us in, after all." Hyetta was worried. She felt it would be a betrayal.
"Nothing will happen to them," Shabriri said confidently. "They have no fixed home. By the time we get back, who knows where they'll have gone?"
Hyetta could not dissuade him and could only go along with his wishes.
One record specifically stated that Shabriri's eyes were crushed by the people for his slander. The frenzied flame took root in his empty sockets, making him the source of the sickness of frenzy and the most hated man in history.
The innocent Great Caravan was imprisoned in the catacombs hidden beneath the Forsaken Cathedral of the Omen. Originally prepared for the Omen Children, those catacombs also became the Great Caravan's final resting place.
O merciless goddess and merciless king, erasing "potential threats" through brutality was bound to invite calamity.
In despair, the nomadic merchants uttered the most vicious curses. Their devout hearts reached the Fingers, and the Three Fingers answered them.
A curse upon Shabriri, a curse upon the Erdtree! May the Lord of Frenzied Flame descend and burn everything!
But the Three Fingers' grand ambition went unfulfilled. Though they were all Fingers, the Two Fingers could not tolerate the Three Fingers.
They dispatched Vyke, the "Dragon Spear," to trap the Three Fingers in the catacombs.
Red ancient dragon lightning wreathed Vyke's body, and his weapon, too, held the power of ancient dragon lightning. With extraordinary speed and ferocity, he fought his way through the sewers of the Forsaken Cathedral of the Omen and into the catacombs.
The creatures infected by the frenzied flame were no match for him.
But Vyke alone could not subdue the Three Fingers. With no other choice, they brought Morgott into action.
Taking the alias Margit, the "Omen Ogre," Morgott was temporarily freed from his shackles. With a single Golden Hammer, he sent the Three Fingers flying.
Deep within the catacombs was a "private room," perfectly suited to serving as a sealed chamber for the Three Fingers. It was actually an individual tomb prepared for an Omen Child of noble status.
Now the Three Fingers had it all to themselves.
Unwilling to be sealed away, the Three Fingers gripped one side of the doorway with their three fingers. The frenzied flame blazing over them burned finger marks into the stone.
Yet Morgott still hammered them inside, sealed the door, and even added an Erdtree Seal.
Even that was not secure enough. Morgott's younger brother, Mohg, was also put to work, standing guard before the hidden door in the Forsaken Cathedral of the Omen.
Later, Shabriri's eyes were crushed, and his whereabouts became unknown. An illness called the "sickness of frenzy" began to appear. Without exception, its victims' eyes began to rot and ooze pus, becoming like grapes, with the frenzied flame dwelling inside.
After hearing the story of how the frenzied flame was sealed away, Gideon fell silent. Shabriri was unquestionably a lurking threat.
Yet the Two Fingers could not find him.
"Do you understand now, All-Knowing? There will be others in this world as terrifying as Shabriri." Finger Reader Enia sighed. "The human heart can give birth to many things. There may well be other threats to the revered Fingers lurking in the shadows."
"For instance, the queen recorded in that book you hold."
Gideon looked at the book in his hands. It recorded the Queen of the Full Moon Eyes and the Godskin, names that sounded chilling enough on their own.
As for Shabriri's story, it was not over yet.
During his time living with the frenzied flame, Shabriri finally went mad. He fully embraced the Three Fingers' beliefs and became their loyal hound, walking the world on their behalf, seeking a Lord of Frenzied Flame who would return all things to "One."
After the Shattering, he finally seized his chance.
First, he had Hyetta become a "Frenzied Flame Maiden," so she could go and deceive maidenless Tarnished.
Thanks to the Erdtree's idiotic reincarnation system and the failure of Order, Shabriri and Hyetta discovered "corpse possession," allowing them to inhabit the bodies of the dead.
"O Lord of Frenzied Flame, please burn everything!"
It was nothing more than a fanatic's humble prayer.