Gundrik had seen many things in all of his time in the Lands Between and beyond. He had faced down creatures beyond imagination in the Badlands, was felled by a grafted monstrosity upon his return, and he had burned down the very object of his worship in what felt like a previous life. Despite all of that, he had never been in a situation that was so unabashedly awkward that he felt all of his prior experiences were nothing but droplets of water compared to a deep and vast ocean, with the intimidating name of 'family drama' as a sign on the shore.

Upon agreeing to hear her out, Gundrik led Marika and Malenia into the old Debate Parlor, where there were more chairs and less glintstone to clog up the place. He remembered speaking to Radagon there just a few hours prior, and back then the tension seemed like such a faraway thing, mostly centered around the library. With Rennala gone and Radagon taking a nap, the Debate Parlor suddenly felt like the most unwelcoming room within the entirety of Raya Lucaria.

At least Gundrik had enough tact to not mention that he had slain Radagon's pet within that very same room. The beast's corpse had long been taken, it seemed. By whom or what, Gundrik didn't know, nor did he really care. It had probably been one of the psychotic sorcerers with their stone helmets. Who knew what had been done with it?

Perhaps inadvisably, Gundrik sought out something that would be able to take the edge off. He had no idea what effect, if any, alcohol would have on demigods, or full gods, but it was worth a shot. Given a couple of minutes of rummaging around one of the many study halls, Gundrik found what he was looking for. One of the sorcerers must have had a taste for cheap wine, although the labels had long been removed. Taking them, he returned to the Debate Parlor to see Marika and Malenia staring at each other, and Gundrik half-expected to see a flickering of yellow light between them as they prepared for a duel.

"Alright, then," Gundrik sighed, shaking the bottles in his hands and gaining their attention. "You two are not sitting next to each other, so let me propose this."

While there were many chairs within the Debate Parlor, there were no tables, and most of said chairs consisted of benches. Wasting no time, Gundrik took three benches and placed them as the sides of a triangle within the middle of the Parlor, gesturing to it once he was finished.

"Fancy a seat?" Gundrik asked.

Marika looked at Gundrik with half-lidded eyes before she let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Thou continuest to prove thineself a strange man, Lord Gundrik. 'Tis better than being a boring man, certainly."

"This is agreeable," Malenia replied succinctly.

Gundrik placed the two bottles of wine he procured in the middle, as Marika and Malenia sat down on two sides, with Gundrik sitting upon the last. It wasn't until that moment that he spared to glance at the Debate Parlor itself. It had been a beautiful thing once, certainly, filled with sorcerers and scholars making their opinions known among their colleagues, and discussing magical theorems. But those days were long behind it. With the ruined balconies above, and the tattered standard that sat at the forefront of the room, the Parlor more resembled a funeral hall than one where conversation was once held.

Honestly, Gundrik thought, he could not have picked a better venue for their current discussion.

"Now," Gundrik said, "I assume that we're here only to talk about your wild plan to somehow purify Caelid, and nothing else. Correct?"

"If I am allowed to, and I would appreciate it if you would not call it 'wild', Lord Gundrik," Malenia replied, turning to face him with her eyeless face still concealed by her helmet. "The site of my greatest shame has been festering for too long, and even were it to take centuries, I would do it."

"And didst thou ask dear Miquella for this?" Marika asked, looking at Malenia from the bridge of her nose. "Or is this of thine own volition?"

Gundrik looked between Malenia and Marika, hoping that nothing they said would result in a fight. He stared at the bottles of wine he left in front of him and felt a strong urge to take a swig. If it didn't work on either of the two women, it did not mean he had to do without.

"Of my own volition, mother," Malenia replied quietly after a moment, her prosthetics ticking away with every motion she made with them. "Though I have long held myself as the Blade of Miquella, I… know, now, that such a title is no longer necessary. My brother no longer requires a sword, and thus I am left without purpose. I must make my own."

"And that purpose is to purify Caelid. We're right back where we started. Let's go with something else before we get back to that," Gundrik said, clapping his hands. "The Scarlet Rot. I know of your quest, Malenia. Did it work?"

Marika tilted her head forward. "Miquella's mastercraft. Hast he perfected it? Didst it work, finally ridding you of the infection?"

Slowly, Malenia raised her hands to her head, grasped her helmet, and pulled it off. Her scarlet hair flowed as always flowed behind her, and yet, looking at her scarred face, Gundrik saw differences. The scarring was not as fresh as it had been when he first met the cursed demigod; indeed, in certain places it looked to be peeling off, revealing new, unblemished skin. Though most of the scarring likely would remain with her for the rest of her life, Malenia herself seemed free of it.

"It did," Malenia stated. "You remember me, Lord Gundrik. We fought side by side within that crumbling ruin outside of time. We went our separate ways. You, to the arena where Maliketh sequestered himself. I, to a world beyond time itself."

"Farum Azula, the homeland of the dragonkin, and the last bastion of their almighty lord. Didst thou do it, dearest Malenia? Didst thou put the Dragonlord to the sword?" Marika asked, her expression falling as she leaned forward, her hands clasped together in front of her.

"The beast left me little choice. Were it capable of speech- but, perhaps its wounds rendered it unable to. It was little more than a crumbling stone body," Malenia stated, wiping at her scars as dead tissue peeled off and fell like snow. "Perhaps I had done it a favor."

"I had no idea there was even something called a 'Dragonlord'," Gundrik muttered to himself. "I wish I had gotten to meet it before you ruthlessly murdered it."

"As I said, Lord Gundrik, it left me little choice," Malenia said, her head turning to him with the remnants of a furrowed, annoyed brow on her marred face. "Were it up to me, I would have spared the beast. I had no need for whatever it had. All I needed was simply being there."

"And now, the Scarlet Rot hast been cast away, as easily as one would with any other ailment," Marika marveled, her eyes practically sparkling as she smiled. "Miquella remaineth a true prodigy, even in his sad state. My son, thou hast done well."

"As far as I understand, you were touched by an Outer God before you were even born," Gundrik said, grasping one of the wine bottles in front of him. "You were to be its 'god', a replacement for Marika, just as Miquella and Ranni were. If whatever that kid did worked on someone as attuned to it as you," Gundrik popped the cork off the bottle with his bare hand, throwing it away as he took a swig. "Is he still down there, resting?"

"Within the same cocoon the Lord of Blood stole him away in," Malenia spat out in the first true display of rage Gundrik had seen from her. "His body rots beneath the waters of his precious palace, but my brother still slumbers. I… communed with him, before we met in Farum Azula, Lord Gundrik. He is the reason I am here. He is the reason I am now able to right my past wrongs."

Carefully, Malenia moved her prosthetic arm to her side, and with a quick flick of her wrist, she unsheathed the needle Radagon had spoken of before he had gone. It was such a delicate thing, Gundrik realized as she held it up to them. Unalloyed gold was more durable than most would first assume, and yet he felt as if he could snap the needle in half with his bare hands were he given the chance and also suddenly lost all reason.

Marika raised a brow at the title 'Lord of Blood', but she either ignored it or discarded her question for later. "Caelid is the domain of the Rot, now, but without their bid for godhood with them, they shalt be scrambling for their only foothold on the surface. With Miquella's Needle in hand, and thine legendary will… perhaps 'tis not an impossible deed."

"Let me guess," Gundrik said, "you want us to take our army eastward, toward Caelid, fight through the Servants and Kindred of Rot who will no doubt try to stop us, and then probably move into the Swamp of Aeonia where you will perform some… ritual, and the fetid landscape that Caelid had become will, shall we say, recede?"

"Yes," Malenia replied.

Gundrik turned to Marika, who stared at him in turn. He handed her his bottle.

"Do you want a sip? I think we will be needing it," Gundrik asked.

Marika's lips twitched before she gently took the bottle. What happened next shocked Gundrik to his very core. Marika tipped the bottle over and began guzzling it. Gundrik watched her throat bob several times as the bottle became empty within several seconds. After a moment, and a few failed attempts to drink every last drop, Marika threw the bottle away, whereupon it shattered upon the stone floor.

"My thanks, Lord Gundrik," Marika said breathlessly. "It hast been too long since the sweetness of wine hast been on mine lips."

Gundrik quickly took the other bottle and handed it to Malenia, who took it wordlessly.

"That was likely the most horrific thing I have ever seen. Suddenly, Caelid does not seem like such a cesspit in comparison," Gundrik said, his voice breaking.

"Oh, do not practice hyperbole, Lord Gundrik. 'Tis not suitable for one of thine station," Marika said, waving a hand as she smiled. "Now, I find myself curious. Thine knowledge of Malenia, thine familiarity, how didst this come about? Already, I know that ye fought side by side in Farum Azula, but as to how such an accord was struck, I know not."

At that, Gundrik focused on something far away.

"I could tell you. It's not a particularly happy tale," Gundrik mumbled. "Besides, it's, erm…"

"If it is too painful a memory, thou needn't share it. I hast no desire to cause thee pain," Marika said, scooting over slightly.

Gundrik shook his head. "I haven't thought about it much. I have not thought about a lot of things since I became Elden Lord. If it is alright with Malenia, I wouldn't mind remembering someone dear to me, at least this one time."

"You do not need my permission, but you have it," Malenia replied, her prosthetic finger tapping against her helmet. "Say what you will."

Gundrik took a deep breath. "Alright, then. I take it you know of the Consecrated Snowfield?"

The wind whipped through the Consecrated Snowfield, the sky and surrounding landscape blocked by an impenetrable veil of frost and ice, bathing the world in white.

Gundrik was nearly completely blind even as he guided his companion alongside him, holding his hand out as if it would give him better sight through the endless snow, though no respite was offered no matter how far they both trudged. He heard rumbling sounds in the fine white mist, alongside the clanking of plate armor. If they didn't find a way out of the storm soon, they would be easy pickings.

Turning back to make sure she was still following, Gundrik only needed to see red hair, tied in a ponytail, whipping in the wind to know he was thankfully not alone. Her golden eyes were thinned as she held her prosthetic right arm up to shield them from the cold and snow.

Thankfully, despite his concerns, Gundrik saw their salvation: a faint trail of gold, the telltale sign of guiding grace, whispering through the air, and beyond that, a shard of wispy gold above gray ash. Gundrik beckoned forward as his companion trailed just behind him. Soon after, the storm began to clear, and a brilliantly snowy wasteland was what greeted them.

"I thought gathering the other piece of this medallion would be the hard part," Gundrik said breathlessly, taking the aforementioned medallion out of his pack and slapping a hand against it. "All of this, just to get to a tree at the edge of the world?"

"It was not a secret," his companion replied, walking beside him before sitting at the site of grace. "I do not think it was, at least. A gathering place for outcasts and castaways, there were many who would not mind seeing such a haven destroyed."

"If the downtrodden could even get to it," Gundrik spat, not bothering to take off his helmet as he sat down in front of her. "I only hope Malenia is worth it, Millicent. She is a demigod, and I know you're connected to her, but I… Alright, that sounded worse than I thought, let me try again-"

Millicent shook her head, a small smile gracing her lips. "You do not need to justify your frustrations to me, Gundrik. I understand them. I only hope this is the right path. Ever since I have set off on this journey, despite how right it feels, something has always felt off. As if I am being watched, tested. I am glad I have someone like you to travel with."

"It's good to be traveling with someone who doesn't disappear every other minute," Gundrik remarked. "Melina is quiet when it counts and quiet when it doesn't. She's probably listening right now and not saying anything because I have made her mad."

"Yes, well, she has my thanks regardless for keeping you company until now," Millicent laughed, before turning her head to the right. "It is just beyond this field. I know it is. Ordina, the Liturgical Town."

"I guess if you're connected to Malenia, you would have a better idea of it than I do," Gundrik shrugged, adjusting himself. "Let us wait for a while, though, before we go trudging through this damnable snow. Torrent can take us the rest of the way, now that we can actually see."

Millicent continued to stare to the right before turning her head to Gundrik again and nodding. "I understand."

Gundrik snorted. "You understand, do you? Well, good. I didn't want to explain to you how difficult it would be to drag my freezing carcass through the fields."

Gundrik swore as he took step after step up the stairway to the waygate, Millicent by his side with her sword out, watching to make sure nothing had followed them up. Passing by a frozen corpse on the way, they stopped at the once-sealed gate, and just beyond laid a circular structure, faintly thrumming, with light in its center.

Gundrik held on hand up before taking out his Flask and downing it, pulling out an arrow that had lodged itself in a weak point of his armor. Even as the bitterly cold wind whipped around them, the arrows stung worse.

"Do you need a moment?" Millicent asked, her voice laced with worry. "We do not need to go inside right now. We could rest first."

"No," Gundrik grunted, standing up straight. "We have a job to do. Let us do it."

Despite his insistence, Millicent did not move, instead opting to stare at Gundrik for a few moments. Gundrik turned to her, a slight screech of metal ringing through the chilly air as he turned to stare back from underneath his visor.

"I like you, Millicent, but I'm not looking for a relationship right now, if that's what you're thinking about," Gundrik said preemptively.

Millicent shook her head, her red hair lightly flowing with the wind. "I was not thinking of that, Gundrik. A thought has occurred to me."

"Give it a few moments. I am sure it will pass."

Millicent shook her head, more forcefully as she lightly glared at him. "Enough with your jests, just for this one moment. I want to know, Gundrik, why you're here with me."

Gundrik shrugged. "Because you asked me to be."

"There must be more to it than that."

"Why does there have to be? Can't I just want to help people?" Gundrik replied, turning away. "I used to think doing that was a waste of time, and now look at me."

"Then, what changed?" Millicent pressed, stepping toward him. "Why would a stranger give me this needle. To quell the Scarlet Rot? Why would we fight side by side several times, until we reached these frozen mountaintops? Why are you here?"

Gundrik sighed. "Maybe I'm running away from something?"

"What could you possibly fear? I have seen you face down gargoyles, magma wyrms, and I know you have killed several demigods. Why?" Millicent asked.

Gundrik let out a snarl. "Watching this land I once called home turn into a wartorn abomination of its former self, perhaps? Being barred entry into the Erdtree? Having to sacrifice an innocent in order to bring it all back!? The list goes on and on, Millicent, and I haven't the patience nor the time to entertain your curiosity."

Millicent was silent for a moment before she took a step back, her expression stony.

"You are jaded," Millicent finally said, quietly. "I had known you were old, but I did not know how far your history stretches back."

Gundrik held out his arms to his sides, a humorless laugh escaping his helmet. "I have been here for centuries! My mother and father were descended from immigrants from the Land of Reeds, you know; the need for bloodshed is in my veins. I fought against the enemies of the Golden Order, using the power of dragons against rogue fiefdoms and kingdoms, only to have it all taken away when our Lord Godfrey was made Tarnished, and us along with him. And we were cast out. My loyalty was repaid with banishment."

"Even now, you still love it. The Golden Order," Millicent said, and Gundrik's arms fell to his sides. "But you are tired of bloodshed, aren't you? Which is why you are here. You want to help me rather than sacrifice someone else to become Elden Lord. The needs of the few over the needs of the many."

Gundrik turned away. "You do not need to call me a coward. I know I am."

"Coward though you may be, the fear is not for yourself, but for others," Millicent continued. "Gundrik, I want you to promise me something."

Turning back silently, Gundrik waited.

"When this is over, no matter what happens," Millicent began, and Gundrik watched her throat bob as her lips thinned before she continued. "Please, do not forsake this world for the needs of the few. I realize my quest is selfish, but there is no one else who depends upon me, save one. And even if I do not see her restored, then I will be as I always have been. And that will be enough for me."

"Don't talk as if you're going to die in there," Gundrik said, "You're not. Not while I'm around."

"Then let us be away," Millicent said, turning away from Gundrik and toward the waygate. "My destiny awaits."

The Haligtree proved to be straight out of one of Gundrik's nightmares; giant ants crawled around the rotting branches, crumbling away under the strain of the fungi that grows around places being consumed by the Scarlet Rot. Their silence save for the sound of their exoskeleton crinkling and their six-legged footsteps unnerved Gundrik on a deep, primal level. He had seen piles of corpses in their nests, deep below the earth, and he had no intention of joining them.

Of course, with Millicent at his side, they were able to make it to one of the first stops down into the depths of the Haligtree: a simple village, crawling with Misbegotten. Gundrik held little anger towards the misshapen creatures - or perhaps it was wrong to call them misshapen, when the blacksmith that had forged the spear at his side was one of them? No simpleton could craft such a fine weapon into something finer still.

Statues to Malenia and Miquella dotted the village as they moved forward, fighting their way through until they made it to a large courtyard that was looped around the trunk of the Haligtree.

"We are not alone," Millicent said as they entered, twirling her blade in her hand as Gundrik heard the sound of hooves against the wooden, root-like ground.

"What in Marika's name could have clued you into that?" Gundrik grunted, bringing the Bolt of Gransax out, its twisted golden frame glinting in the sun as he readied a bolt of red lightning. "Let us be done with it quickly, then."

"Wait," Millicent said quickly, placing a hand against his chest and pushing him back slightly as whatever was at the other end of the courtyard strode into view. "Let us try to talk, at least. These people - perhaps they are still capable of speech."

"If that were an option… but, fine. Do what you will," Gundrik muttered. "If we die, I will glare judgingly at you when we return at the site of grace."

"Your confidence in me is noted," Millicent replied dryly, as Gundrik beheld their adversary.

He recognized her almost immediately - the armor, at least. When last he had seen it, it was worn by a phantom within Caria Manor. It had been a simple thing, then. It was a knight on horseback, wearing silvery, shining armor and a war sickle. The horse they rode upon was a bestial thing, not too dissimilar to the ones the Tree Sentinels of Night's Cavalry used. Gundrik readied himself as the knight showed signs of charging, but whatever they were about to do was interrupted as their visored gaze landed on Millicent, standing before them.

"Another one, is it?" the knight asked, the distinct lilt indicating they were a woman, though it was hard to tell; Gundrik wasn't exactly looking very hard at the armor she wore, and whether or not it indicated a feminine figure was lost on him. "What business do you have here, trespassers? Answer incorrectly, and it will be the last mistake you shall make."

Red lightning sparked from Gundrik briefly, causing the knightess to do the same, blue sorcery indicative of glintstone sorcery flowed around her, ready to tear him and Millicent apart. Luckily, Millicent was faster than whatever hostilities were brewing.

"My name is Millicent," she declared, "and I have come seeking Malenia."

The knight froze at that, her war sickle lowering. Gundrik did the same to his own weapon, allowing the lightning to discharge without hitting anything. He let out something between a laugh and a snort, realizing that Millicent was right.

"You are one of them, are you not? An offshoot, just like those that have come before," the knightess asked, her steed stomping its hoof against the ground.

Millicent's brows furrowed at that. "What do you mean? There are… more of me?"

"Not the same, but very similar. I allowed them passage - the connection is unmistakable," the knightess said. "Whatever their objective is, it has nothing to do with me. I am here on behalf of the Albinaurics and of the soldiers stationed here, nothing more."

"They could be a cult dedicated to eradicating all life in the Lands Between, and you let them through? You are about to let us through, as well?" Gundrik said incredulously, putting away the Bolt of Gransax as he crossed his arms. "A true hero if ever I saw one."

Gundrik couldn't see the knightess' face, but he could tell she was bristling underneath her armor, and was straining not to turn her weapon upon him for the slight. Millicent turned to glare at him, whereupon he shrugged.

"The Kindred have her surrounded near the very base of the Haligtree. You will need to fight through Elphael if you wish to reach her," the knight said, sounding as if it was through gritted teeth. "Know this, however: I will brook you no quarter should you disturb this place. Though Lady Malenia is not my lord, I am bound to protect this place, no matter the cost. Should it come to it, I will hunt you down if you disturb its structure."

"Charming girl, aren't you?" Gundrik said, to which Millicent's glare looked as if it could bore a hole straight through his armor.

"I thank you, my lady. Before we go, might we know your name?" Millicent asked.

Gundrik scoffed at that, but the knightess' horse snorted as she pulled on the reins to move out of the duo's way.

"My name is Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree. I pray that we do not meet again," she said.

Millicent nodded as she moved forward, a polite yet strained smile on her face as Gundrik trailed behind her.

"You could stand to be less confrontational," Millicent mumbled.

Gundrik let out a small laugh. "Everything within these lands has been nothing but confrontational since I returned. Why should I be any different?"

"Because the people here have barely raised a sword against us," Millicent replied loudly. "Have you not noticed since we reached Elphael that not a soul has attacked us?"

It was true. They were within the Haligtree itself by that point, lakes of bubbling rot formed within the desecrated wood of the Haligtree. Besides the Cleanrot Knights, very few on the outside were showing signs of infection, but that changed the further they went. Kindred of Rot, horrific creatures that resembled some sort of human morphed into the shape of a shrimp, were becoming increasingly common, and their attacks ever more potent. Even then, their bodies littered the structures they inhabited.

Gundrik acquiesced. There was some truth to her words. He only hoped Malenia was close by. A small part of him would relish the opportunity to speak with a demigod without them attacking him moments later- well, that had already happened, but he had thoroughly burned that bridge, and so Malenia may well have been his last chance.

As they moved forward, trying to not become infected with Scarlet Rot, Millicent's gaze drew away from the obvious exit from the Kindred-infested lakes of rot, towards a small outcropping a small distance away.

Gundrik looked to her, his footsteps crackling beneath him nearly making him wince. "Something wrong?"

"I do not know, I…" Millicent whispered, turning to him. "Can we go there, for just a moment? I feel as if something is calling to me, something I have not felt in a long, long time."

Gundrik shrugged. "This is your quest. You go where you want. I have no reason to deny you."

Millicent nodded. "Perhaps you are not as uncordial as I had thought."

"Do you want me to be? I can be rude if I wish. Just ask Loretta, Knight of the Half-Tree."

Millicent laughed. "I would ask you to never change, but even if you lost your wit, you would simply be rude, and that is far less entertaining!"

"I am not a man of many talents, but I am very much able and willing to tear those down who need it. Speaking of, is there not some horrifically rotted outcropping we need to be going to?" Gundrik said, gesturing to the area Millicent had been fixated on.

Wordlessly, Millicent nodded, and they were on their way. The only way to reach the outcropping was through a series of roots that jutted out into the air. They were just sturdy enough to hold them, but Gundrik did not like the sound that they made. He would always be revived at a site of grace, but Scarlet Rot was not something one could simply revive themselves from. It was much an infection of the soul as it was of the body, after all.

It didn't take long for them to arrive, although it wasn't immediately apparent to Gundrik what was so important about the area. Another pool of rot laid before them, with several heightened ridges surrounding it. He expected to hear a rumbling beneath them as something horrible burst out of the pool, but nothing of such significance happened. He looked to Millicent to see that even she seemed confused; her gaze was moving back and forth across the small landmass, as if expecting what was calling her there to suddenly pop up out of nowhere, or otherwise reveal itself.

They stood there for a full minute before Gundrik finally said something.

"Well," he said, popping his lips as he placed his hands on his hips. "Does that 'feeling' of yours tell us where to go from here? Is there even anywhere else to go?"

"I do not understand. It has never led me astray before. Has something-?"

She suddenly jumped back, a halo of light slicing against the ground where she had stood. Gundrik moved without thinking, a bolt of yellow lightning forming in his hand before he sent it forward. Rushing through the air, it struck the thing that had attacked them, and Gundrik could barely believe his eyes in the brief moment before the thing was sent backward from the blow.

A woman, almost the spitting image of Millicent, stood upon one of the small cliffs that lined the pool of rot. Once the bolt of lightning struck her, she was sent backward and disappeared from sight.

"What the-!?" Gundrik began, before barely moving out of the way of a spear lodging itself where he once stood. The attacker again looked like Millicent; not exactly the same, but clearly related in some way. More gathered as Gundrik bared his teeth behind his helmet, snarling as Millicent mumbled behind him.

"This is… so that is what it wanted me to do…" she whispered, unsheathing her shamshir as she pressed her back against Gundrik's.

"No time! They attacked us first, swing back!" Gundrik shouted.

What happened next, Gundrik barely remembered. The only thing that was clear was the smell of rotten blood in the air and several bodies on the ground.

Gundrik stabbed the Bolt of Gransax through the last one's chest, straight through the heart and ceasing her struggling immediately. Her body went limp, only held in place by the spear running through her chest. Gundrik took in gulps of breath, sweat dripping down his brow. Roughly, he took his spear out of her and looked around.

Three bodies surrounded him, all with the same scarlet red hair, every single one with a different weapon. One clearly wielded a type of branched spear, another a pair of curved swords, and the one he had just ended carrying a unique blade he had only seen Melina use once. All of them lay dead, a pool of noxious blood surrounding them.

Gundrik let out a breath, feeling the adrenaline leaving his body as he looked further, trying to find Millicent.

"Millicent?" he called, somewhat quietly at first before raising his voice. "Millicent? Millicent, where are you?"

There was no response. Faintly, he could hear raspy breathing but nothing else.

"Look, if this is about how I have been acting, then I well and truly apologize, but this is not the time for payback," Gundrik said sternly, cresting a hill and looking down. "Millicent, I-!"

Gundrik found her, the last of the enemies that attacked them with her head deep in the pool of rot, and a scythe at her side. Millicent was bleeding profusely through a wound in her side. Something such as that could be healed by Crimson Tears, but there was something wrong. Wordlessly, Gundrik stumbled down the hill until he was just by her side.

"S-stay back," Millicent got out. "Do not come a step closer."

If Gundrik didn't know any better, he would have heard it as a threat, but coming from her, it sounded more like a warning, not unlike the one he heard when he found her in that church long before, slowly being eaten away by the Scarlet Rot.

"What have you done? Millicent, why're you-?" Gundrik said, moving closer before stopping in his tracks. He saw it, the needle he had retrieved from the rotten blighter at the Heart of Aeonia, laying in the dead grass at Millicent's side. "You… removed it? Why?"

"I realized it," Millicent stated, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. "My purpose, my destiny - they wanted a replacement. They took me and my sisters, we were to herald Malenia's return, bloom as she did, and spread the Rot, make it more powerful. I will not allow it. That is the reason for my existence, Gundrik. I know it."

"Your sisters? Those were your sisters?" Gundrik said, turning to the corpse half-swallowed by the lake of rot. "I'm… sorry."

"You and I freed them," Millicent rasped, "even if they did not realize it. But my time has run out. The Rot writhes within me once again. I ask you, take the needle. Gift it to Malenia. Tell her of your travels. Tell her of her honor, her brother, her code. I-!"

Millicent coughed, and Gundrik could see something writhing beneath her skin. The flower-like patterns along her skin had grown in intensity. Her prosthetic trembled as she picked up the needle and handed it to him.

"Take it. Please. Do what I could not, what I will not."

Gundrik was silent, looking at Millicent's outstretched hand. After a small eternity, he finally reached his hand out, and took it from her.

"I will do it," Gundrik said, his voice garbled. "I will. I promise."

Millicent closed her eyes and allowed her body to relax. "Then all is well. Gundrik, I have seen wondrous things in these lands. Even though my purpose was not noble, I am glad to have seen it, to have become my own person, and not a pawn in someone else's game. I would rather rot into nothingness as I am than become something I am not. I thank you for this, Gundrik. Now, please, leave me in peace. I would rather you not see me rot away into a pile of flesh."

"I'm not leaving."

Millicent opened her eyes. "Gundrik-!"

"I'll not let you die alone. Not after all of this," Gundrik said, his voice cracking as he moved forward and sat beside her. "I do not care if I catch the Rot. You are not alone."

Millicent went silent after that, and Gundrik simply sat beside her, as breath after raspy breath left her. After a while, she spoke one final time.

"This world can be beautiful, Gundrik," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Do not let it die. When this is all over, become Elden Lord. Go back to your quest. You can be a crass man at times… but I have seen your care for others… do not leave them to die, Gundrik. Do not let their sacrifice be in vain, like mine is not…"

"I…" Gundrik murmured, shaking his head before taking off his helmet. Millicent turned to him and smiled. "Alright. I will. I-I'll make sure of it."

"Thank… you…" Millicent whispered, before her head slumped forward, and her chest stilled.

A fire lit up in Gundrik's heart at the sight. He wiped away at his eyes, though he did not know why. A rage unlike any other bubbled up in his chest, but he did not scream or shout. He stood up and looked down at the needle in his hand. A thing of unalloyed gold, it sparkled in the low light. He clasped his hand around it.

"Fine, then," Gundrik growled. "You win, Melina. We're going to the Forge. But before that, there is someone I need to stab."

The Kindred of Rot made it abundantly clear that they did not want Gundrik to make it to their object of worship. Unfortunately for them, Gundrik moved forward anyway with more than a few prawn-shaped bodies in his wake, twitching from the lightning that had fried them moments earlier.

Elphael, the Brace of the Haligtree, was an illustrious fiefdom once, no doubt. Even the village in the treetops was adorned with statues and unalloyed gold. But it was clear that, like Leyndell, the Shattering had hit it hard. With the disappearance of its creator, the Haligtree was left to rot away, unfinished.

Gundrik didn't care about that, though, and as he made his way through the last hurdle in his quest to find Malenia, the singed and electrified bodies of Kindred of Rot slowly twitching behind him, he held the needle in his hand far harder. He hoped it would be enough.

Before him stood the final gateway into the very heart of the Haligtree. Even though he had not entered, and could not see Malenia inside anywhere, he spotted a small pond in the middle, with wilting flowers all around. What looked like a figure made from the very wood and roots of the Haligtree itself stood at the very far end of the room, a gaping hole within its stomach.

Gundrik's footsteps echoed in his ears as he looked around curiously, before finally seeing his quarry. Malenia sat upon a chair, just to the side of the massive carved figure. Even from his distance, he could see the rot upon her body; the scarring covered where her eyes had been, and at least three of her limbs had become nothing more than unalloyed golden prosthetics. In front of her laid her prosthetic right arm and her helmet.

For a moment, Gundrik believed her to be dead, and all of his searching for naught. Millicent's final wish would not be fulfilled. However, just as he was about to turn around and leave the Haligtree forever, he heard the sound of Malenia's prosthetics gently clinking with movement. When he turned, he saw her slowly stand up.

"I dreamt for so long," she began, moving forward and grasping her prosthetic arm. Gundrik remained silent as she roughly shoved it into place. "My flesh was dull gold, and my blood, rotted."

Gundrik did not wish to fight her, but he prepared himself nonetheless.

"Corpse after corpse, left in my wake," she continued, grasping her helmet. "As I awaited his return."

She placed her winged, golden helmet upon her head, hiding the worst of the scarring from view. Gundrik took in a deep breath.

"Heed my words," Malenia said, "I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella."

She swung her sword, clearing away stray flower petals flowing through the air.

"And I have never known defeat."

Gundrik blinked. "Far be it for me to be the first to teach it to you, then." Gundrik stabbed the Bolt of Gransax in the ground and held up a hand. "I am not here to fight you, Lady Malenia. I am here to help you, as a last request from a good friend of mine."

"You are Tarnished. You seek the Great Runes. Do I look a fool to you?"

"You do not want me to answer that question," Gundrik replied, "I have it, the needle your brother made for you, to quell the Scarlet Rot."

Gundrik opened his hand, and in the low glow of the heart of the Haligtree, the needle shined. A moment later, however, Gundrik realized that Malenia's eyes were gone, and she would not be able to see the needle in the palm of his hand, and he had to resist the urge to slap himself in the face. The needle would likely just lodge itself in his eye if he did it at that moment, anyway.

Malenia went silent at that, her unseeing gaze upon him as if she were a statue. Then, slowly, almost as if testing him, she moved forward. Gundrik expected her to dash at a breakneck pace, her cape billowing behind her, but no such attempt came. Instead, before long, she stood before him, her katana at her side as she looked down at Gundrik.

"You have it. How?" Malenia asked. "How could a Tarnished come across it?"

"By combing the swamp you created with a fine-toothed comb," Gundrik said dryly. "Take it and do whatever you want."

"Why have you done this?" Malenia queried.

Gundrik shrugged. "Because a friend of mine asked. She died on the way here, before she could give it to you. Something about restoring the pride and will it took for you to keep the Rot at bay. Whatever you do with it in your flesh is none of my business. Oh, but before I leave…"

Gundrik watched as Malenia lifted her last limb made of flesh and lightly picked up the needle in his palm. Gundrik turned away as he heard Malenia stab it into herself, taking another deep breath as he did so.

"Speak, then, brave Tarnished," Malenia said, taking a step back.

Pressing his lips into a thin line, Gundrik spoke again.

"Do you know what happened to your brother?"

When Gundrik was finished with his tale, he slumped his shoulder forward and wiped at his sweating brow.

Marika had somehow moved closer, and when Gundrik was finished, she turned to Malenia, her eyes narrowed. "Didst thou take a consort, dearest Malenia? I had an inkling toward thine predilections, and I am taken aback."

"It was only me," Malenia replied, "this Millicent Lord Gundrik speaks of was one of my daughters, though the nature of which will likely elude me to the end of my days. And with the Scarlet Rot purged from my body, I doubt something like this will happen again."

Gundrik shrugged. "Well, either way, that's the story, Marika. I trust it was entertaining?"

He shivered as he felt her hand against his shoulder, and then against his back, rubbing circles into it. "Thy sacrifices were not in vain. Look, now, she stands before us still, and a stalwart ally she shalt make."

"There is one thing that must be done," Malenia said, placing the wine bottle she had been handed on her bench. "You know what I ask for in turn."

"The purification of Caelid," Gundrik said, nodding. "Nepheli won't like it, and I don't blame her, but gaining an entire fiefdom back would do wonders for the foundation of this new Order, right?"

"No doubt," Marika concurred, keeping her hand on Gundrik's back. "Although, there remaineth an issue: our army is strong, but small still. They wilt need to be bolstered to assault an entire fiefdom. The allies of the Rot wilt not be slain without struggle."

Gundrik remembered how easily Nepheli's army had cut through the remnants of Liurnia's army, and the wholesale slaughter of the sorcerers within Raya Lucaria. Marika spoke true; while the enemy they had just defeated was formidable at one point, the Kindred and Servants of Rot to the southeast would be more organized, and united in a common goal. Luckily, though, Gundrik remembered a certain festival, hosted by a certain demigod's long-suffering army.

"I have an idea for that," Gundrik said.

Longest Chapter of this fic so far, and it's because it's a giant-ass flashback lol.

Anyway, yeah, I was tempted to put Millicent in the character tags but she only shows up here, despite her importance to Gundrik's characters, so consider this a surprise!

So next time we're going to the closest thing to hell on earth, fun fun fun. Only got a one major arc after that so stay tuned for a completed fic within the next 3-4 months if I continue to write at the pace that I am lol.

Here's a link to our Discord Server. Come and chat: discord .gg/9XG3U7a

Thanks to GrandPaladinTyrux and Stormtide_Leviathan for being my betas! Go and check their stuff out, they deserve it!

See you guys next time!