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{Part One: Cindered Shadows} Chapter Five: Blood of the Four II

While You are in your room, Eli appears in the doorway.

Eli: Ernst thinks that he's figured out the truth behind the Chalice of Beginnings. We should head to the library to see what's going on and hear what he has found.

Eli leaves, and You follow him silently. Seraphine appears next to You.

Seraphine: If he's really found the truth behind how to work the Chalice of Beginnings, this could be a huge breakthrough! Maybe he knows what the symbols on the side of the cup mean... I get the feeling that they're important, but I'm not quite sure how yet...

Seraphine disappears as You arrive at the library. Everyone else is already inside, and Ernst is standing in front of the Chalice, which rests on top of a small table at the center of the circle made of your comrades.

Ernst: I believe that I have figured out the full extent of the Chalice's history.

Magnus: If you know it, then tell us already. There's no reason to hold back.

Ernst: The Chalice of Beginnings was involved with the Rite of Rising. However, this information doesn't help us until we figure out how to carry out the Rite of Rising.

Eli: If your words are to be believed, you've figured out how to execute the rite, yes?

Saias: I don't know if I should be frightened or happy that you managed to figure everything out.

Ernst: I did determine the proper way to execute the right, as a matter of fact. It involves these four symbols on the side, though I'll get to those in a moment.

Taiyin: So... How is it done?

Ernst: It involves the blood of four figures known as the Four Apostles. When they give their blood to the Chalice of Beginnings, it has the power to grant life to someone who has died. The original purpose of the Rite of Rising was to bring back the goddess, but the first attempt to resurrect her many centuries ago failed.

Grey: I see... What makes the Four Apostles so special though?

Gabriel: We already knew all of this when we first heard about the Rite of Rising before we set out to find the Chalice in the first place.

Ernst: They had Crests, and those four Crests are engraved into the sides of the Chalice. If you look closely, you can see them. I did as much research as I possibly could to figure out where the Crest came from, and I finally found an answer.

Quinn: Where do the Crests originate from then?

Ernst: The Crests were four special ones that were erased from history due to their influence in the Rite of Rising. Their names are the Crests of Runo, Camore, Xiamen, and Ethrend. Only one book in the library had their names. All of the others had the pages about these Crests ripped out, so there was a deliberate effort to cover up their existence, likely to conceal the truth about the Rite of Rising.

Tsubasa: If everyone found out about it, thieves would be lining up endlessly to try and take it for themselves. The power to bring back the dead is as unsettling as it is appealing.

Ernst: However, the Crests are needed in order to execute the right. Not all blood will work. These four are the only ones with the power to bring back the goddess. If the Chalice is filled with their blood near the body of the person that is meant to be resurrected, then the person who died should be brought back to the world of the living.

Ansel: What about these Crests though? Is there anything else we need to know about them?

Ernst: The symbols... I'm sure that a few of you will find them rather familiar. First, this one... This is the Crest of Ethrend. If some of you have been watching closely, you would know that this is the Crest that I have. It has activated a few times in battle.