Melina's arms were as slender as reeds, yet the muscles beneath her skin stood out as she forcefully pushed open the stone door, which was several feet thick and weighed several tons.
The Frenzied Flame had seeped into every pore of the stone. Like scorching magma, its heat and the violent agitation of molecules had altered the rock's physical properties, turning it a terrifying yellowish-red. It resembled a slab of raw, infected flesh oozing pus.
The air was saturated with the grief, resentment, and despair that everyone in the universe experienced during their darkest moments. This power did not belong exclusively to those who had lost all hope. It belonged to everyone, to every person life had ever beaten bloody.
Precisely because the Frenzied Flame was an extreme power dwelling within every mind, it possessed the ability to annihilate all living things once unleashed.
Melina tried her best not to listen, but the whispers around her, intoxicating enough to drive a person mad with ecstasy, continued worming their way into her ears.
"Who the hell gets through life without going insane? We're all just barely holding it together! Who the hell gets through life without going insane? We're all just barely holding it together! Who the hell gets through life without going insane? We're all just barely holding it together!"
"Fuck this! I can't take it anymore! I'm gonna punch the Lands Between into oblivion!"
"Madness! Madness! Madness! Frenzied Burst! Unendurable Frenzy! Inescapable Frenzy!"
Rumble!
The enormous door swung open.
Melina's gaze pierced the darkness, or perhaps it was the eerie yellow light within that illuminated her eyes.
The Three Fingers were waiting inside.
Their fingers twitched and spasmed like the limbs of a stroke victim before slowly spreading apart, resembling a net opening to catch a bird.
Melina walked toward them, one step at a time.
The three withered fingers gradually closed around her, clasping her pale, delicate body in their grasp like a skinned fish.
Yellow flames blazed furiously.
In an instant, the overwhelming pain transformed into a sweet, dizzying sensation.
The Three Fingers transferred the primordial Frenzied Flame into Melina before crumbling into ashes themselves. Melina had now become the source of the Frenzied Flame, its first and final kindling.
When she regained consciousness, her formerly flawless body bore enormous burn scars stretching across her chest and back. Her flesh was charred and mangled, giving off an acrid stench of burning meat.
Anyone who has undergone surgery knows that the worst pain comes when the anesthesia wears off.
At first, the pain gradually intensifies until it reaches a certain level and remains there for a while. Then, as the brain releases dopamine, the suffering eases slightly.
But soon afterward, the pain returns, growing stronger and stronger, like needles being driven into the marrow of one's bones.
Melina knelt on the ground and sobbed.
She touched her ruined body. The portions of her skin that had escaped the flames remained soft and smooth, but her burned chest had become hideous and rough, covered in numerous patches of scaly charcoal.
It felt like crocodile hide, and the slightest touch caused excruciating pain.
Gradually, her tears subsided.
Her expression had remained indifferent throughout, as though it were merely her flesh that had been crying, not her soul.
Light streamed through the doorway, casting a bright patch across the floor. Against the surrounding burn marks, the unscathed skin on Melina's back appeared almost blindingly white.
The maddening whispers in the air had disappeared.
Instead, they had entered her mind.
She heard hushed voices coming from outside the door.
Two exceedingly familiar voices were having a conversation.
"Millie, what are you doing here? This place is pitch-black, and it stinks. Who's that hideous, burned-up freak in there?"
"That's Melina. I came to watch her throw her life away. She's about to die. Just watch. Once she releases the divine power of Death sealed inside her and destroys herself, the Frenzied Flame will disappear along with her."
"Oh, I see."
The man's voice broke into laughter. He sounded like someone mocking a terrible performance while watching a movie.
"She's a fucking idiot! Why not let someone bigger and stronger handle something like this? It's not like the world's about to end right this second. What's the point of acting so noble? Who's even going to remember her sacrifice? What a joke! She's throwing her life away for absolutely nothing. If it were me, I'd wait until someone unleashed the Frenzied Flame and plunged the whole world into chaos. Then I'd swoop in at the last minute and save everyone. Now that's how you make sure your name goes down in history!"
The woman laughed as well.
"She's always been that stupid. Maybe she's putting on this whole performance just to make you feel sorry for her. Melina, come on out. I won't fight you for him anymore. Come on, get out here!"
"She's not coming out. Looks like she's really determined to get herself killed."
"Then let her! Once she's dead, there won't be anyone left to compete with me for you. You'll forget about her, right?"
"Already have. Melina? Who the hell is that? Barely know her!"
The two of them burst into uproarious laughter.
Melina raised her hand toward her left eye, where the divine power of Death remained sealed.
Her fingers trembled faintly from the pain. Her breathing grew ragged, and the tears that had finally stopped began flowing once more.
Then another woman's voice sounded outside the door.
It was gentle yet detached, like a queen delivering a divine proclamation from above the clouds.
"Melina, remember that the fate of the Lands Between rests in your hands. You are my final hope. No matter where your journey takes you, never forget that you are Marika's daughter. You are my child."
"To kindle the flame, you must offer up your body. When the Blade of Calling is placed in your hands, set out on your journey. Torrent will lead you to someone suitable. Your duty is to guide that person and, at the final moment, become the kindling that sets the Erdtree ablaze and illuminates the path ahead."
"Never fall in love with anyone. Love will cause you to fail. Your life must contain nothing beyond your mission. Your life represents the future of countless lives throughout the Lands Between. Do not allow your love for one person to interfere with your love for all."
Melina pressed her palm against her left eye.
The black seal shaped like a beast's claw began to disintegrate. Her eyelid trembled slightly as the divine power of Death surged toward its release.
The Frenzied Flame within her mind seemed to recognize its impending fate, growing increasingly restless and violent.
An overwhelming torrent of hallucinations flashed through her thoughts like thunder and lightning.
She could barely distinguish the boundary between reality and imagination, and the rational resolve that had sustained her determination to take her own life was steadily weakening.
Those voices continued echoing through her mind.
They mocked her, commanded her, begged her, and condescended to her.
Everyone projected their own desires onto Melina, while she herself was nothing more than a puppet made of human skin, an empty vessel carrying their voices.
To devote oneself entirely to the greater good, leaving nothing for oneself, only someone with such absolute determination could end their own life for the sake of the entire world without a moment's hesitation.
Melina looked back upon her own life from the cold, detached perspective of an observer.
It was empty.
There was nothing there.
She had been nothing more than a tool, existing solely to fulfill a purpose.
But since she had already sacrificed so much for the sake of the world, why not take the final step?
Otherwise, wouldn't everything she had given up until now have been for nothing?
She lowered her hand.
The seal over her left eye had vanished.
When she suddenly opened it, the eye revealed beneath was entirely different from her pale golden right eye.
Her left eye was a deep bluish violet, darker and more profound than the heavens themselves.
Legend spoke of an Empyrean who wielded the power of Destined Death in the Lands Between before the Age of the Erdtree.
She was a woman with gloam-colored eyes.
The Godskin cult under her command specialized in hunting gods with flames imbued with the power of Death. They would flay the deities they killed and fashion clothing from their skin.
The power sealed within Melina's eye was none other than the power of Destined Death.
Black tears streamed from her gloam-colored eye.
As they dripped from her chin, they transformed into black flames, falling onto the Blade of Calling in her hand and setting its edge ablaze.
Melina raised the dagger.
Holding its hilt with both hands, she reversed the blade and pressed its point against her chest.
Then she drove it inward with all her strength.
Squelch!
The blade of Death pierced her heart.
Melina's hands fell limply to her sides.
Her body went slack and collapsed backward, her face bathed in the light streaming through the doorway.
The frail young girl had finally reached the end of her life's journey.
At last, she stepped into the quiet eternity of death.
And the entire world bid her farewell in silence.
A life devoted entirely to others, with nothing left for herself.
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