Lex awoke with a start. Again, he was in the darkened room where the titanic goddess Caffrey dwelt. This time, his mind was fully intact. Though he was still on the table with the dolls, a silken pillow the size of a building was beneath him. His mind raced.

"Goddess Caffrey!" he shouted, sliding down to the table.

He heard her gasp.

"You're asleep again! How wonderful! I have not had so many visits in so long!"

A distant white mass churned. The goddess had been sitting in bed, the covers pulled over her head. Even as she revealed herself, the sheets fell over the large object she had been hiding each time Lex saw her. The goddess sprang out of bed and practically bounced to the table where he was waiting.

"You seem distressed," she said, looking through him with her subtly-wrong eyes. "Is something the matter?"

"Goddess Caffrey," the cleric said, kneeling, "my lady Beryf will destroy the people of Izalith if I can find no way to stop her. Please, if you have any means of doing so, help me save them. It's my fault they've fallen under her eye."

The look on the goddess' face was grave. Her features seemed to grow longer, older as she thought.

"Emelon cannot be stopped, not even by Adar."

She must have noticed the slight grimace on Lex's face, because she quickly brightened again.

"Yet there may be a chance! Muinthelon taught me to watch carefully, and I have seen Emelon's weakness! She avoids Sîdh Arod like a shadow. He is not a kind man, but he may help you if you use my name."

"Sîdh Arod? Seath the Scaleless? Goddess Beryf did say to never trust the White Dragon."

"Yes. Sîdh Pentalagril, Arod Anorlond."

"Seath the Scaleless, Duke of Anor Londo. Got it!"

The cleric bowed low, but not quite as low as he had to Beryf.

"Now I just have to get through Sen's Fortress. Wait, actually… How do I wake up? Can I just hold my breath until I pass out?"

Caffrey tilted her head.

"Can you not dive through the Dark as your Lords do?"

"No, goddess. Even if someone possessed that ability, they would be put to death for it."

A look of horror spread over Caffrey's face.

"That cannot be! Is that not the design of the Ringed City? To serve as asylum for those whose Dark Souls are too powerful to be fully sealed? Who would-"

Her bones creaked as she grew even larger.

"By whose orders is this done? Who defies i Axan Balan?"

Lex tried not to meet her eyes now. They burned, red and blue alike.

"Go, Lestion, seek the wicked Duke. I must speak with your Lords."

The goddess took a nearby candle and held it before him. She blew on it, and the smoke wafted over his face. He blinked and coughed, but when his vision had cleared, he found himself back in the Parish.

He heard the hammering of the smith below, but there was no sign of any goddess. He wore his tattered red robes again rather than the white ones he's worn in Caffrey's presence. It was like he had been daydreaming and had only just snapped back to attention.

How long had he been dead? Quelaag had been confident in Izalith's defenses, but could the demons really hold out against the Queen of the Gods? As a matter of brute strength, he had little doubt. Only, why would anyone challenge them directly, least of all wise Berenike?

He had to reach Anor Londo and Duke Seath before Quelaag was assassinated. Monster or no, the White Dragon was his only option.

Lex took off across the bridge again. He practically flew up the stairs on the far side. Mere traps wouldn't get the best of him. The prophet opened his holy eye wide and called upon the memories of the blood staining the floor.

He screamed. Many human heroes had attempted the War God's challenge during his reign. Still they came after he was exiled, and still they came as the Curse of the Undead began to spread. True heroes one and all, those hopeful of earning a place in the halls of the gods.

Their numbers were too great. The prophet couldn't guide his vision; as soon as he escaped one set of memories, another would take its place. His mind died again and again until his heart stopped from the strain.

Lex woke with a start. He swallowed in spite of his dry mouth.

"Okay. Never doing that again," he whispered.

"Please, there must be something!" he heard Caffrey saying.

The cleric quietly climbed up to the edge of the pillow. He let his body sink into the feathers and out of sight. Fortunately, his robes seemed to be sewn of the same shimmering white silk, providing perfect camoflage for everything but his hollow face.

Over the edge of the pillow, he saw a creature speaking to the goddess. It took a moment for its shape to settle into his mind. That was a pygmy. A hollow stood before the child deity, fully grown, yet only as tall as she was.

The pygmy stood ramrod straight and proud in spite of his size. As a hollow, his face looked wretchedly aged and wizened, but his features were noble. Even though he had the same sinister hooked nose and curled lips of Carim, his brow showed compassion and his jaw, a sturdy resolve.

His head was utterly bereft of hair, but the low-set crown of aged bronze he wore made him look like a tonsured monk. He wore robes of emerald green, with golden threads forming patterns of vines and suns across its surface. A simple red mantle protected the robes, dripping blue-black Dark ooze.

"Mine apologies, Lady. It is our duty to protect you… Even from the truth, should it beeth required."

"By whose order?"

"Lady, it hath been the wish of every King of Anor Londo that you lie undisturbed."

"My comfort is of no concern! People are dying! Who is this Allfather Lloyd? What has become of Hanar?"

The pygmy grimaced.

"That man… hath been exiled, his name erased."

"By whose orders? Muinthelon would never do that!"

The goddess' pale skin was flushed red with anger as she huffed and puffed to no avail.

"Forgive me. I cannot say. The King's Decree outweigheth any order you give, Lady. Keeping you safe is our first and last duty."

"I Axan Balan? The King's Decree? It is already broken! We are meant to shepherd the humans! Not lead them to slaughter! Where is Muinthelon? She would never stand for this!"

"Please, calm yourself!" the pygmy said desperately, kneeling. "If I could tell you, I would. Yet, the truth would do you great harm. I know not how you came upon knowledge of the waking world, but you must forget it, for your own sake."

The goddess puffed herself up. Only, she kept growing as golden motes flowed around her.

"No!" the pygmy yelled, reaching for her but abruptly stopping himself. "You mustn't remember! I will do all I can! I would use up this life in your service, but you must forget!"

"Forget what, Lord Ludleth?" Caffrey said with a voice too large for her body.

"Please, Your Highness, calm. I can answer no questions which would cause you remember your pain. I am not without mine own furies. You know not of Lloyd because he is a fraud. A necessary deception, it is said. It is not a matter one such as I can influence."

"I see," the goddess said, deflating. "You are over-kind in your hint, Lord Ludleth. You risk much in telling me so plainly. If a Pygmy Lord may not influence the affairs of Man, then a god of no little power stands in your way. Anor Londo has betrayed the humans and misinterprets i Axan Balan to its own gain."

There was a deeply sober look in Caffrey's eyes. She took a deep breath.

"Lestion. Can you hear my voice?"

Lex froze. After a moment, he realized there wasn't much point to hiding. He turned about and slid down the side of the pillow. He took one knee before the goddess.

"Hail, Goddess Caffrey."

"I am surprised to see you again so soon, Lestion. I would be pleased… but has no one told you that eavesdropping is terribly rude?"

"My apologies, goddess. I didn't want to interrupt."

"An undead… impossible," the Pygmy Lord muttered.

"He came from outside, Lord Ludleth."

"From the Depths of Humanity? What manner of creature beeth this undead?"

"Lestion, please, introduce yourself."

"I am Lexion of Carim, former Deacon of the Cathedral of the Deep, now Prophet of Her Highness Beryf."

"Of the Queen-Dowager?" the pygmy said thoughtfully. "Small wonder. Yet things must be direr than we thought. I scarcely can believe the crow would appeareth 'fore the Age of Fire was-" He stopped suddenly before awkwardly continuing, "Well, it is a secret. No matter. I am Ludleth of Courland, Pygmy Lord by grace of Great Lord Gwyn."

Ludleth made a formal bow, which Lex awkwardly returned.

"Lord Ludleth," Caffrey said, "I do not know who has done these wicked things, and it seems that you cannot tell me. Then I command you by the name Lían Merilîg Ariamîdh Araniel to defy this usurper as you are able. Lestion does not serve me, but he is a churchman. He can act in my place, and Emelon's authority will take him far. Awaken and prepare what you can to help him."

"As you will, Araniel."

The Pygmy Lord bowed, then stepped back. The space around him rippled like heat haze. That familiar blue-purple ooze seeped from the very air. The pygmy fell over backward with a disgusting splash and vanished.

Caffrey turned to Lex and said, "I do not wish to sound uninviting, but why are you here so soon?"

Lex looked at the table beneath him.

"I overused my power, and it killed me, I guess."

The goddess frowned.

"Killed? Do be careful. I will send you back at once, but you must be cautious. The Anor Londor you hope for may already be gone. Do not dally on your journey to seek the duke. I pray he holds to the old oaths and does not follow this false Allfather."

Lex nodded.

"Wait. Who do gods pray to?"

Caffrey smiled faintly as she took up a candle and walked to Lex's table.

"There are powers in this world beyond even us. Luck is one such power. Emelon taught me its secret name. She may one day tell you. Maybe I will do so in her stead. For now, do not worry. Trust in your luck. Goodnight."

The goddess blew on the candle, and the smoke swept Lex away again. Just as before, he stood next to the bonfire. More than a little anxious over the time lost to two deaths, Lex sprinted across the bridge and back to the gates of Sen's Fortress. This time, he merely looked through the stone and shadows.

There were amphorae which had once stored grain along the walls, and the ceiling was upheld with square pillars. At the base of the pillars was some long-worn seal with four branches, which uncomfortably reminded Lex of his lady's four wings. Just after the gate was a pressure plate which would trigger a repeating ballista hidden beneath the stairs just ahead.

"Lloyd's sword! A ballista? For human targets? The God of War doesn't play around."

He looked ahead and saw an ambush lying in wait. While a traveler might be distracted by the paired statues of Lord Gwyn's Silver Knights standing on either side of the passage ahead, a guard waited in the shadows next to each.

The guards were hulking brutes who wore only tattered trousers and countless bronze medallions depicting eyes about their broad necks. More hideously, the necks kept going, arcing steadily upward to end with the head of a viper. As if their fearsome, scale-covered bodies weren't enough, they carried wooden bucklers and great cleavers of rusted iron. Each would be more than a match for a man who tried to push through with brute force alone.

Lex wondered faintly how Oscar and Solaire had fared, and the answer simply came to him. He saw their spectral echoes enter the chamber. The outlines of the guards moved from their hiding places and attacked both knights at once. The Astorans quickly realized they were outmatched and retreated.

As the snakemen followed, Oscar deliberately stepped on the pressure plate, killing one of the pursuers with the ballista. With only one enemy between the two of them, the second guard fell easily to the knights' flanking attacks.

"That's one way of doing it," Lex said, covering his mouth thoughtfully. "The weapons of the War God, hm?"

He had an idea of how large the fortress was from the churning memories just below the surface. There was a bonfire somewhere near the roof, but three attack miracles wasn't getting him anywhere close. He needed to learn how to use a weapon or to learn a miracle which wasn't so draining. He considered using the basic Force miracle to push the creatures to their deaths on the narrow walkways which he saw further ahead, but that was very risky for someone as poorly coordinated as he was.

At last, Lex settled on a plan and took a deep breath. Without warning, he burst into a sprint. The snakemen hissed and moved to attack, but instead of waiting, the cleric barrelled through. He ducked under a cleaver the size of a fattened calf and charged up a staircase. Before the guard could pull the oversized blade free of the wall, Lex had already slid around the corner and toward the main path.

The next room was an enormous chamber which occupied the bulk of the Fortress. It spanned a vast number of storeys. Above all was an enormous clockwork of bladed pendulums and hanging cages; below was a pit filled with tar and more of those mancatcher golems or "titanite demons." The walls were coated in blades, all of them rusted and some broken or covered in the tattered remains of a previous victim.

"How in the seven hells of Izalith did Solaire get such a good opinion of the God of War?"

Lex ran down the main path, just left of the room's center. It was a narrow walkway, slick with mildew. To make matters worse, several of the pendulums swung over it, just barely missing the stone. Each such blade was longer than a peasant's hovel. Again, the sheer amount of iron the gods could waste made Lex's merchant blood boil.

He skidded to a stop between two sets of timed pendulums, catching his breath. His pursuers had paused to pass carefully through the pendulums, but he could advance no further. Another snakeman waited beyond the next set. Its shield was raised, and it took a broad stance to block his passage through the swinging blades.

So the Fortress wasn't just mechanical traps. Little wonder it crippled even the Goddess' elite forces.

The first snakeman passed the last pendulum and began to raise its sword. Lex quickly snapped his lash across its broad snout. It recoiled, and the cleric kicked its sturdy abdomen. The creature was unhurt and had barely retreated a step from such a weak attack, but that one step was all Lex needed.

The pendulum swung back, and a blade the size of a demon's horn splattered the deacon in gore. He had needed it before, but now he really needed to bathe. If only Lautrec hadn't interrupted Domhnall about that waterfall.

The second snakeman halted immediately. Instead of risking the pendulum, it did as the the one on the opposite side had, moving to block Lex's path back.

"What, you think you can just starve me out? Because undead don't-"

He gave a stuttering yelp as lightning struck him from behind. Slightly twitching, he turned to see another variety of snakeman standing on an upper path. It was one of those hooded snakes of the eastern deserts – a cobra. This monster was smaller than the other two, only the size of an ordinary man. Yet it had four arms, three of which were armed with long, wavy blades which would easily peel skin from bone. In its free hand, electricity crackled.

"Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?! Humans have to use relics of the gods to focus miracles! And Lord Gwyn's lightning was lost to everyone except the War God's crazy cult! How the topless spider-devil can snake monsters shoot lightning out of their bare hands? This is heresy even I won't stand for!"

The monster responded by shooting him again. Frankly, there was nowhere for Lex to go. The viper-men were blocking his paths through the pendulums, so the cobra could leisurely pick him off. He grit his teeth.

"Suicide's a sin, right? It's fine."

He jumped off the path. Someone stronger might have survived the fall into the tar pit. Of course, they would have been forced to contend with the golems, so it hardly mattered. Lex awakened once more in Caffrey's dimly-lit chamber.

"Lestion? Again? Please, do not tell me your journey is so fraught with peril."

Lex sighed and slipped from the pillow to the table. Caffrey joined him without hesitation.

"There's nothing I could have done. I just had back luck."

"Impossible."

"No, it was just-"

"You do not understand."

The goddess frowned.

"Lestion- No. Lec- Lecks- Lexion. Lexion."

She knit her fingers worriedly, pausing for a moment.

"I have played a trick upon you. I granted you my blessing though you had refused to serve. Since we spoke that time, you have borne the full weight of fate. Have you not noticed peculiar circumstances to your benefit?"

The slapstick occurrences Lex had experienced in the Valley of Drakes suddenly made sense. Well, they didn't, but they did have an explanation now.

"All of that? The wyverns and the ring and everything? That was you?"

"I do not know. I merely ask the humanity to show its favor. However it may do so is beyond my knowledge."

"You… ask?"

Lex wasn't able to process this new information. Certainly, the humanity sprites seemed to possess a will of their own, but speaking to one seemed – well, childish. And what manner of god merely asked their domain for power? Lord Gwyn didn't exactly speak to the thunderclouds.

"Of course! I do not control luck. No one can steer the fate of the world. No, I cannot even touch it. The Dark is poison to my people. Yet the humanity listen. They are gentle and want to help."

"Really?"

He thought back on the humanity sprites he had devoured and offered to the Flame. His hair stood on end. Surely, this was just the imagination of a child deity.

"We have spoken long enough. I deeply enjoy having someone to talk to, but you must hurry. I will send you back now. Try to stay alive, Lexion. Nothing is without cost, and I have a bad feeling about undead dying."

"I'll be careful, Goddess Caffrey. But what about my luck? How does your blessing work?"

"Luck is luck. It is not all-powerful. It is the world's call to action. The earth, the plants and animals, they bend easily. Well-made machines are often too reliable to be influenced, though. People make their own destiny, of course."

"Right, so it's not much help in a fortress full of traps."

"I apologize that I can do no more. Yet give your luck opportunity, and it may take flight. Goodnight, Lexion."

"Goodnight, Goddess Caffrey."

Caffrey blew over another candle, and the smoke swept Lex back to the Parish. He sat at the bonfire and mulled over his options. After a few minutes' thought, he performed the short rituals to exchange his miracles and hurried back to the Fortress.

This time, he did as Oscar had done and baited one of the guards into the ballista fire. He ducked under the second guard's cleaver and hurried back to the main chamber. He pretended to hesitate at the first sequence of pendulums, and as the guard neared, he finished his chant.

Hear the gods' drums of war for the battle
That Havel marches toward
Stones raised as sacred ward
Crush the dragons for the Lord

A colorless shockwave burst from the talisman, blasting the snakeman off the walkway. In spite of its fearsome hymn, Force didn't harm those it struck. For that reason, it was taught to young clerics as a nonlethal means of protection. Still, it was powerful enough to knock an unsuspecting warrior off their feet. Over a fatal fall "nonlethal" was a blatant lie.

Lex sprinted through the first line of pendulums, paused, then ran through the second before the guard on the far side could cut him off. As the abridged form of a much longer miracle, Force could not only be recited quickly but activated quickly as well. The snakeman was in open air before it realized the intruder was a cleric.

"Goddess give me-!"

Lex screamed in terror and forced his legs to go faster than they'd ever gone before. He'd run at the snakeman too quickly and risked the last set of pendulums. Yet in spite of the extra burst of speed, he wasn't going to make it. Suddenly, his foot slipped on the slimy stones. His body wrenched out from under him, falling just below the last pendulum's pointed end. He slid to safety with only a fraction of a second standing between him and a bloody demise.

"…luck? Holy… luck."

The cleric laughed uneasily, lying among a pile of Silver Knight statues in a narrow hallway. Had the Fortress not been finished, or had the Fort's challengers moved the statues for some purpose? Frankly, he was too tired to care.

After a few minutes, he finally got up and rounded the stairs to the next level. Another narrow path, another battery of bladed pendulums, another snakeman in the way. Now, Lex was not exactly exactly good at planning ahead, but he did possess the keen judgment Berenike had favored. Sometimes. The real trap was expecting this path to be like the last. Ahead was the lightning-wielding cobra, and it would certainly shoot to stun him while he tried to run past the pendulums.

Lex crouched in the hallway. There were a number of "windows" looking out over the chamber. Quietly, he loaded his crossbow, crooked it in a window, and shot the snakeman. The shoddy wooden bolt just barely pierced the monster's scales, but it still drew blood. The cobra hissed impotently and ripped the bolt free. As if to make a point, it shot the window with lightning even though Lex was perfectly safe behind the stone wall.

The human cleric crept under another window and shot again. Once more, the monster snarled and attacked the offending window. Lex went back to the first window and shot. The cobra attacked that window, then quickly turned to the second window. Lex shot from the first window again.

The snakeman stamped its foot in rage but still didn't move. Its slitted eyes went from one window to the other, its head bobbing in time. While it was looking away, Lex tore around the corner and made a dead sprint through the first row of pendulums. There were only two rows this time, but the cobra stood directly in the doorway to the passage beyond. As it turned to face him, Lex shot again to distract it. The pendulums crossed over the bridge, and Lex rushed ahead, straight toward the snakeman's blades.

"Can't stop the Rock!"

A Force wave knocked the cobra into the chamber behind. As it stumbled backward, it stepped on a pressure plate. Just as before, three man-slaying bolts fired from the wall behind. The snakeman fell onto Lex, who nearly stumbled back into the pendulums. He made a face of disgust and threw the body to the floor.

He was in a storage room, it seemed. More of the Silver Knight statues stood around pointlessly or had been knocked to the floor. Beneath the slit for the ballista was a chest. Lex almost felt giddy, finding his first treasure on his grand adventure. Only, it was merely a couple of unrefined ore fragments. He sighed and tucked them away in a pouch.

The next room held a bridge which crossed over a lower path. Fortunately, the viper guard had fallen asleep. Lex quietly made his way past, arriving at a fog wall on the far side. He wondered what sort of powerful soul had blocked the way. Still, he couldn't afford to waste time and pushed through.

A viper ran past as he emerged. It scented him immediately and whipped around to face him. It hissed a warning, but as Lex stepped back, a boulder ran over it. Apparently, it had been fleeing the speeding rock but had been distracted by the intruder. It looked like the guards weren't too intelligent. Still, they were durable, and this one was actually getting up despite having been crushed.

Lex spared a glance the way it had come. He didn't see anything, but he heard a dull rumbling. Looking around, both the flat landing the viper was on and the stairs in either direction had a deep groove. The rolling boulders were a frequent event. As if on cue, there was a loud slam, and Lex saw another one appear at the top of the stairs. He lashed the viper on the nose to stun it and retreated back into the safety of the doorway. He raised his shield defensively, but there was no need. The guard had scarcely recovered before the rock slammed into it.

The second boulder finished off the monster, so Lex took the opportunity to look around with his second sight. There, beneath him. That must have been the warrior producing the soul fog. Mighty indeed, the man sat idly, dangling his legs over the side of the Fortress while the corpses of more vipers lay nearby. The prophet grinned and waited for a third boulder to pass. This hero was his ticket to Anor Londo.