Chapter Summaries

Zhao Si woke in the Chapel of Anticipation in the Lands Between, suspecting he had arrived before the Elden Ring shattered and fearing the disasters he knew were coming. Helena, a maiden who recognized him, led him away, leaving him uncertain about his identity and what awaited them.

• Zhao Si explored the pristine Chapel of Anticipation and confirmed that the pain and surroundings were real.
• Zhao Si saw the Erdtree and guessed that the Elden Ring had not yet shattered, then worried that he lacked the power to prevent the coming catastrophe.
• Helena appeared, recognized Zhao Si, and accused him of previously trying to lift her skirt.
• Helena attributed Zhao Si's strange behavior to being awakened as a Tarnished and took his hand to lead him onward.
• Zhao Si followed Helena toward the bridge to Stormhill, wondering whether she was truly blind and noting that the Grafted Scion had not appeared.

Zhao Si was brought to Stormveil Castle, where Godrick ordered the Tarnished to compete for a place at the Roundtable Hold. After Zhao Si asked to forfeit, Godrick chose him anyway and sent him to wait for transport to Leyndell.

• Helena led Zhao Si through Stormveil Castle and explained that she recognized him by the tiny flames she could see on him.
• Helena pushed Zhao Si forward when Godrick asked whether the Tarnished had arrived, and other Tarnished assembled beside him.
• Godrick announced that the Tarnished would fight for the chance to go to the Roundtable Hold, but Zhao Si asked to forfeit because he was unprepared.
• Godrick laughed at Zhao Si's weakness and selected him as a bonus envoy because he wanted to see him speak to the Two Fingers.
• A knight escorted Zhao Si to a carriage pulled by enslaved giants while Helena prayed that he would fulfill his mission.

Zhao Si unlocked an inventory system in the carriage and spoke with Blaidd? about becoming stronger and the fear of death. Blaidd? explained how Tarnished gained strength from Remembrances and reassured Zhao Si that the dead returned through the Erdtree.

• Zhao Si unlocked the Elden System and discovered that he had an unlimited inventory but no way to allocate stats.
• Blaidd? entered the carriage, and Zhao Si recognized him as the White Wolf War-Witch.
• Zhao Si asked Blaidd? how he had grown strong, and Blaidd? explained that Tarnished drew power from Remembrances of battles.
• Zhao Si admitted he feared dying, and Blaidd? told him that the dead would return to the Erdtree and await rebirth.
• Zhao Si concluded that the Erdtree stored souls and could make death difficult to escape.

Zhao Si arrived at Roundtable Hold with Blaidd? and hoped to learn combat from him, while a mysterious flame left a hand-shaped burn on his wrist. Gideon Ofnir led them to meet the Two Fingers, leaving Zhao Si afraid they would discover something abnormal about him.

• Zhao Si asked Blaidd? to teach him, and Blaidd? agreed to share combat techniques as a friend rather than take him as an apprentice.
• During the carriage ride, Zhao Si dreamed of a flame whose pale arm grabbed his wrist, and he woke to find a charred hand-shaped mark there.
• Zhao Si and Blaidd? reached Roundtable Hold, where Zhao Si saw the Erdtree and explored the hall with him.
• Zhao Si briefly met Fia, who directed newly arrived Tarnished to report to Sir Gideon Ofnir, and Blaidd? pulled him away before he could embarrass himself.
• Gideon Ofnir welcomed Zhao Si and Blaidd? and led them to meet the Two Fingers, making Zhao Si fear they would detect something wrong with him.

Zhao Si and Blaidd? joined the Two Fingers’ Roundtable Hold, where they were ordered to remain loyal, avoid fighting, and stay in the Hold unless necessary. With no duties assigned, Blaidd? began training Zhao Si, leaving their sparring underway.

• The Finger Reader welcomed Blaidd? and Zhao Si and explained that the Two Fingers were gathering Tarnished to form a force for future circumstances.
• The Finger Reader warned them not to fight in the Roundtable Hold or leave without need, and both Blaidd? and Zhao Si promised to help the Two Fingers.
• Gideon assigned Blaidd? and Zhao Si a place to stay and told them they had no duties until the Two Fingers gave orders.
• Blaidd? offered to teach Zhao Si to fight and led him to the armory to prepare for sparring.
• Blaidd? struck Zhao Si with a wooden sword, broke Zhao Si’s sword with a blow to his waist, and invited him to continue training.

Zhao Si developed combat instincts while sparring with Blaidd? and learned how feints could punish predictable reactions. The next morning, he set out to find Gideon for information but first followed Fia to borrow her mirror.

• Zhao Si gradually adapted to Blaidd?'s fighting rhythm and managed to parry one strike before Blaidd? knocked him down.
• Blaidd? demonstrated how feints and changing attacks could catch Zhao Si after he dodged on instinct, then told him that courage mattered in combat.
• Zhao Si rested at the Roundtable Hold and planned to visit Gideon's room to learn more about the world.
• The next morning, Zhao Si greeted Fia and asked to use the mirror in her room, and Fia invited him to follow her.

Zhao Si shared a hug and a private conversation with Fia, learning about her role as a Deathbed Companion and her devotion to restoring life to the dead. He left her room burdened by the need to understand how he might protect Godwyn and change Fia and D’s fates.

• Zhao Si examined his reflection in Fia’s room before she asked him to embrace her, and he eagerly accepted.
• During their hug, Zhao Si confessed that he came from another world and felt weak and lost, while Fia reassured him and said she sensed blazing heat in him.
• After Zhao Si’s wrist mark erased the weakness he felt following the embrace, Fia explained how Deathbed Companions gathered vitality from the living to restore life to certain dead people.
• Fia told Zhao Si that Grace had driven her from her homeland and that she willingly continued her people’s work, while Zhao Si questioned her role in death and rebirth.
• Zhao Si considered ways to change Godwyn’s fate and save Fia and D, then left knowing he would have to investigate further without speaking openly to Gideon.

Zhao Si questioned Gideon about why the Two Fingers were gathering the Tarnished and suggested that a threat involving true death might be aimed at the Demigods. After Gideon agreed to investigate, Zhao Si searched the library and found a troubling gap in the accounts of how Radagon became Elden Lord.

• Zhao Si asked Gideon whether the Two Fingers had gathered the Tarnished in response to a threat, and Gideon said he had found no evidence of trouble.
• Zhao Si raised the possibility of conflicts among the Demigods, then asked Gideon why Fia, a Deathbed Companion, had joined Roundtable Hold.
• Zhao Si suggested that someone might use true death against the Demigods; Gideon rejected the idea as impossible but agreed it could be worth investigating.
• Gideon allowed Zhao Si to read the books in his library, and Zhao Si spent the rest of the morning studying them.
• Zhao Si noticed that the books did not explain why Radagon succeeded Godfrey as Elden Lord instead of Godwyn, and wondered why no one questioned the succession.

Zhao Si sparred with Blaidd? and landed his first hit, but Alberich interrupted them by attacking him with sorcery, prompting Blaidd? to fight her until Gideon stopped the confrontation. Afterward, Zhao Si sought out Goldmask to learn more about the Golden Order.

• Zhao Si chose a thrusting sword and parrying dagger for sparring with Blaidd? and gradually improved, finally grazing him after they broke three wooden swords.
• Alberich entered with Goldmask, mocked Zhao Si, and fired Glintstone Icecrag at him.
• Blaidd? shielded Zhao Si, then attacked Alberich with his twinblade as she countered with Freezing Mist.
• Gideon Ofnir ordered them to stop fighting because combat was forbidden in the Roundtable Hold.
• Gideon left to consult the Two Fingers, while Zhao Si approached Goldmask to ask about the Golden Order.

Zhao Si questioned Goldmask about the laws governing lords and gods, while Alberich interrupted their conversation and threatened him. Gideon confronted the Two Fingers with evidence of the Godskins, leaving their assurances about the demigods’ safety in doubt.

• Zhao Si asked Goldmask whether the Law required a particular person to become lord and suggested that a god and lord could be multiple people or the same person.
• Alberich dragged Zhao Si out of the library, pressed him against a wall, and asked him for Runes before leaving when he refused.
• Gideon asked the Two Fingers whether anything could threaten the Erdtree and the demigods, and Finger Reader Enia claimed nothing could.
• Gideon showed the Two Fingers a Godskin Prayerbook he had found in their library, and Finger Reader Enia called it heresy.

Finger Reader Enia told Gideon how Shabriri’s prophecy led him to betray the Nomads and awaken the Three Fingers, whose frenzied flame was later sealed away by Morgott and the Two Fingers. Enia warned that other threats, including the Queen of the Full Moon Eyes and the Godskin, could still be hidden, while Shabriri continued seeking a Lord of Frenzied Flame.

• Finger Reader Enia explained that Shabriri fled the Lands Between with Hyetta after prophesying that flame would destroy the Erdtree.
• Shabriri discovered that the Nomadic merchants worshipped the Three Fingers and persuaded Hyetta to report their frenzied flame to the Two Fingers.
• The Two Fingers imprisoned the Great Caravan, whose curses brought the Three Fingers’ frenzied flame upon the Nomads and Shabriri.
• Vyke and Morgott defeated and sealed the Three Fingers in the catacombs beneath the Forsaken Cathedral of the Omen, while Mohg guarded the hidden door.
• Finger Reader Enia warned Gideon that other dangers could be concealed in the Godskin Prayerbook, and Shabriri later served the Three Fingers by seeking a Lord of Frenzied Flame and sending Hyetta to deceive Tarnished.

Unable to sleep at the Roundtable Hold, Zhao Si pondered the Erdtree and questioned the mysterious mark on his wrist before Helena arrived. After Zhao Si confided that Ranni planned to kill Godwyn, Helena helped him consider the details, leaving him to realize his Destined Death mission might bring him into conflict with the Night of the Black Knives.

• Zhao Si left the dormitory and sat outside beneath the Erdtree, wondering about its power and the burn mark on his wrist.
• Helena startled Zhao Si, embraced him, and told him she was his maiden and knew Destined Death was his mission.
• Zhao Si asked Helena whether he could trust her, and she assured him that she was his maiden.
• Zhao Si told Helena that Ranni planned to steal Destined Death, kill Godwyn, shatter the Elden Ring, and escape her fate.
• Helena asked Zhao Si where Godwyn and Ranni were and how Ranni would kill him, prompting Zhao Si to consider how his mission might oppose the Night of the Black Knives.

Zhao Si recounted the Night of the Black Knives to Helena, who challenged his assumption that Ranni had acted alone and suggested Marika might have aided the assassins. Helena urged Zhao Si to leave hiding, protect Godwyn, and investigate the plot, promising to help him get out.

• Zhao Si explained Godwyn’s death, the shattering of the Elden Ring, and the roles he believed Ranni and Rykard had played.
• Helena questioned how Ranni could have obtained destined death from Maliketh and concluded that someone else had helped her.
• Zhao Si reasoned that Godwyn’s place in the succession threatened Radagon’s children and that the conflict might have been avoided if Radagon had abdicated.
• Helena speculated that Marika might have helped the Black Knife Assassins, and Zhao Si rejected the theory as far-fetched.
• Helena advised Zhao Si to find an assassin, disrupt the plot, and protect Godwyn, then offered to help him leave.
• The Two Fingers trembled in Roundtable Hold, and Finger Reader Enia woke and asked whether they were serious.

Zhao Si joined Blaidd?, Alberich, and Helena on a mission to investigate Frenzied Flame Sickness on the Weeping Peninsula and kill Shabriri. After traveling through the rain, the group reached Castle Morne to meet its lord, Edgar, and learn more about the outbreak.

• Gideon introduced Helena and assigned the group to investigate the sickness, meet Edgar at Castle Morne, and kill Shabriri.
• Zhao Si packed supplies, struggled to mount his horse, and began learning to ride as the group left Leyndell.
• Alberich tried to teach Zhao Si Glintstone Pebble, but he could not learn the spell.
• Helena explained that the frenzied flame caused an infectious eye disease that could eventually drive its victims mad.
• The group crossed into the Weeping Peninsula and arrived at Castle Morne, where Edgar came out to greet them.

Blaidd? and the Two Fingers’ envoys arrived at Castle Morne to investigate the plague village, where Shabriri and the infected were believed to be the source of the danger. After learning that Milos had gone ahead, the group set out for the village, leaving Edgar and Irina behind.

• Edgar welcomed Blaidd? and the envoys to Castle Morne, where Zhao Si noticed the enslaved Misbegotten and warned that they could pose a security risk.
• Edgar introduced his blind daughter Irina and explained that an unnamed knight had already gone to the plague village.
• Blaidd? pressed Edgar for the mission details and map, while Zhao Si learned that the knight was Milos, whom Alberich described as dangerous and likely to kill the patients.
• Edgar explained that his soldiers had sealed off the plague village but could not approach the powerful yellow flame there.
• Blaidd? left for the plague village, and Zhao Si, Helena, and Alberich followed him.

Zhao Si and Blaidd? reached the Carl Baptismal Church, where frenzied flame had possessed dead soldiers and giant rats. After the flame nearly drove Zhao Si mad, a voice and the burn mark on his wrist brought him back to his senses, though the mark had worsened.

• Zhao Si sensed Milos-the Dung Eater's evil presence give way to madness as the group approached the diseased village.
• Blaidd? and Zhao Si scouted the church and found the Morne Army soldiers dead beneath a mass of frenzied flame.
• The dead soldiers rose and attacked, and Blaidd? fought them while Zhao Si defended himself against giant rats.
• A giant rat knocked Zhao Si down, but he killed it with his parrying dagger and escaped the frenzied flame splashing into his eyes.
• The frenzied flame orb paralyzed Zhao Si until a lovely voice and the burn mark on his wrist snapped him back to his senses.
• Blaidd? called to Zhao Si from behind the barricade, and Zhao Si confirmed he was fine as the burn mark worsened.

Zhao Si discovered that the frenzied flame could be weakened by killing its afflicted worshippers, then fought Milos when he emerged from the church. Milos overwhelmed Zhao Si with a howl and a powerful strike, leaving Zhao Si wounded and thrown among the corpses.

• Zhao Si wondered which god had marked him and told Blaidd? that he would handle the frenzied flame fireball alone.
• Zhao Si charged into the church clearing and killed the frenzied villagers, causing the fireball above the church to begin fading.
• Milos burst through the church doors, attacked Zhao Si, and revealed that the frenzied flame had taken control of him.
• Zhao Si switched to a hand axe and wooden club, stunned Milos with a blow to his helmet, then was immobilized by Milos's howl.
• Zhao Si crushed Baldachin's Blessing to survive Milos's greatsword strike, but the blade cut through his club and wounded his shoulder, sending him flying into the corpses.

Milos succumbed to the Frenzied Flame and attacked Zhao Si, who fought back with improvised weapons before using the cold fire linked to his wrist mark to stop him. Zhao Si entered the church to confront the infection’s source, where Shabriri attacked him with Inescapable Frenzy, but the mark’s owner began burning the Frenzied Flame away.

• Milos’s rampage in the Weeping Peninsula drew the Frenzied Flame into him, and Shabriri judged him unworthy of becoming its lord before locking him in a church.
• Zhao Si fought Milos with an oil pot, a fire pot, and a short sword, then used the cold fire from his wrist mark to make Milos stop resisting.
• Helena treated Zhao Si while Blaidd? and the others fought the infected villagers and dogs, and Zhao Si rushed into the church to find the infection’s source.
• Shabriri seized Zhao Si and used Inescapable Frenzy to pour the Frenzied Flame into his eyes while the others remained outside.
• The woman connected to Zhao Si’s burn mark spoke dismissively of the Frenzied Flame, and ice-blue fire began consuming it and spreading toward Shabriri.

Zhao Si and his companions killed Shabriri’s body and burned the infected villagers, but Shabriri’s Frenzied Flame escaped to possess another corpse. As they rode back toward Castle Morne, a strange birdcall and a foul wind signaled a new threat in the woods.

• Shabriri’s body burned in Zhao Si’s Cold Flame, and Zhao Si killed him, but the Frenzied Flame escaped from his eyes.
• Zhao Si told Helena, Blaidd?, and Alberich that Shabriri could return by possessing another corpse.
• Zhao Si and the others burned the infected villagers and buried their remains, while Milos was left unconscious beside the road.
• Zhao Si noticed the surviving villagers watching them with hostility and wondered why he could see the moon but not the sun.
• Zhao Si and his companions rode toward Castle Morne, then stopped when an eerie birdcall silenced the forest and a foul wind blew toward them.

Zhao Si and his companions fought and killed a Death Rite Bird, but he passed out after claiming its Sacrificial Axe. In a vision, he saw a gloam-eyed queen command the Godskin emissaries to bring her destined death.

• Blaidd?, Zhao Si, Alberich, and Helena encountered a Death Rite Bird that attacked them in the woods.
• Blaidd? and Alberich distracted the creature while Zhao Si attacked it, and Helena used Litany of Proper Law to protect the group from vengeful spirits.
• Alberich restrained the Death Rite Bird with Briars of Sin, and Blaidd? and Zhao Si struck its head until it died.
• Zhao Si picked up the Sacrificial Axe left behind by the Death Rite Bird, then collapsed from a sudden pain in his head.
• Zhao Si saw a vision of a gloam-eyed queen, who ordered Godskin emissaries to bring her destined death.