Roderika's POV

I had words of affirmation spoken to me once. Now, all that I can remember are the curses and vitriol uttered by the damned spirits of my fallen people. There were no memories that my mind could rest upon and ease itself on. Every thought that ran through my head was one that caused alarm. If not for the presence of one man, I would have fallen to my knees in defeat. Nathaniel was my constant shepherd. I do not understand why he keeps to me like a loyal canine guarding its master. He would have been better off tossing me down with the bodies that were thrown away by Godrick the Grafted.

It comforts me, feeling his arms hold me carefully being the only thing keeping me from falling apart. I felt his gentle hands soothe my aching shoulders and the look on his face displayed determination while also showing flickers of fear every now and then. Only Nathaniel. I almost wanted to giggle at his dogged persistence to keep going on through. If only I could muster the strength to do so.

I clutched the chrysalid of my long lost friends in my cold hands. My attunement to spirits has gotten stronger under Master Hewg. I hear their voices loud and clear. Nathaniel has told me that he eventually began to only hear gibberish from the chrysalid. I could decipher their voices perfectly. Their scolding cut deep and I wanted to do everything I could to try and shut them out. But I couldn't. No matter what, they are my friends, or at least were my friends. I could not ignore them despite every aspect of my mind telling me to do so.

"Where do you think Godrick is?" Nathaniel asked. "We've been wandering through this castle for hours and we still haven't seen him."

"Snakes are good at hiding," I told him. "Godrick is no different."

"You wanna know something funny about Godrick?" he said with a small, whimsical smile.

"Funny?"

"I heard from Kenneth that he apparently hid among the womenfolk to flee the capital. Can you imagine that? Godrick dressed as a woman?" He let out an amused chuckle.

It was kinda funny. To think the demigod plaguing my nightmares would do such a… cowardly thing. Soon enough, a laugh came out of my mouth.

"Ew, now that I'm picturing it, I regret everything," Nathaniel said.

"You are awful for presenting such an abhorrent idea to me," I teased.

"Yeah, I really am." During our time in Stormveil, we have come across our fair share of hardships and obstacles. Fields of enemies and battalions of viscous murderers lying in wait for both of us.

"Will you be glad to see Melina once again?" I asked him.

"I'll be glad to just get out of here," he said. "But it would be nice to see her face again."

"How did you come to meet your maiden?" It was always a question I had wanted to know the answer to. A Tarnished and maiden usually have some sort of special relationship as they are ironclad allies. Melina and Nathaniel seem tight-knit but Melina seems much more distant and aloof.

"Why do you want to know?"

"There's always an intriguing story," I said. "It's just the nature of being Tarnished and maiden."

Nathaniel looked pensive and then said, "I met her on my first day in the Lands Between. Actually, my first night. I had already been killed once and I was wandering around with no idea of where to go."

"Sounds a lot like my time here," I said.

"It's basically everyone's time here." He wasn't incorrect. "That night was the time we both formally met. She appeared like a specter out of blue light. It was magical."

"There is no denying that Melina has an unintentional, graceful flare. I believe it to be a part of her."

"Yeah, I dunno how she does it. I mean, I spend my entire life trying to look cool and it never works out but when she does some mundane action, she looks so dignified."

"And mysterious," I added.

"That's really true though," he said. "I don't actually know a whole lot about Melina. I don't know where she comes from, what her life experiences are, and what her goal is."

"Is not your maiden's wish to see you become Elden Lord."

"She has said that she wanted me to become Elden Lord as is her duty as a Finger Maiden. However, she will leave once I get to the base of the Erdtree."

"Leave?"
"So she says."

"It is not characteristic of a maiden to abandon their Tarnished," I told him. Melina leaving? But why? Nathaniel obviously appreciates her for helping him in the Lands Between. And from what Melina has told me, she seems to enjoy his company. So why? "Do you not find it strange?"

"Of course I find it weird," he said. A flash of sadness streaked across his eyes. "But if she has something else to do, she has something else to do."

"It is not that simple. A maiden does not simply leave her Tarnished."

"Then perhaps she has something greater in mind?"

"Greater than aiding an individual to become Elden Lord?"

"I don't know. She never talks about it."

"How do you feel about her leaving? Does it not sadden you and darken your mind at all? This is a big move on her part."

"Of course it makes me sad. She told me in the very beginning that she would not go with me all the way. But now that she's taken the role of my maiden, it hurts me more as time goes on. I want to grow close to her, I want to be her friend. But how can I do that knowing that eventually, she's going to leave?"

Melina.

"And what about you?" he asked. "You seem to be pretty buddy buddy with her yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"She seems to like talking with you a lot. Sometimes, I feel like she talks more with you than she does me."

"Melina has been a faithful friend but it is not comparable to what she has with you."

"Now it's my turn to ask what you mean."

"She is ever so dutiful she fulfills the role of a maiden well which is why I was so surprised when you told me she was going to depart from you." Even though she only has one eye, I can tell that the golden seas she has flowing in her iris hold much fondness for Nathaniel. "She's not one to hold a bright smile on her face but I believe it's because she doesn't have to. Even to me, it's obvious how much she cares for you."

"Those are her maiden responsibilities." Did he seriously believe that?

"You are too quick to overlook such a thing."

"And you know all of this how?"

"I just know," I responded. It was a petty reply but my intuition is not something that I could really explain thoroughly.

"All right, all right, Roderika the All-Knowing. I didn't know you were Gideon now. I'll just take your word for it," he said.

Much time passed with no trace of Godrick. I thought that maybe we might never find him, that he had maybe fled from his own castle; it would've been a befitting act for the coward. Part of me wished that we wouldn't find him so we wouldn't see his face. I noticed that whenever we walked in certain directions, the chyrsalid's voices became louder. I felt that it was hinting towards the Grafted's whereabouts.

I followed where the voices took me. The tortured screams of those who have been grafted were growing louder and more indistinguishable. It sounded like a monstrous entity writhing about in pain wanting to be put down.

Soon, we made it to a corridor but before I could see what lies beyond it, I heard him. The chrysalid was now shaking and the cacophony of all the spirits within it screeching was not unlike the cries of an infant.

"Are you okay?" asked Nathaniel beside me.

"I believe he lies beyond that passageway," I said.

"Oh." That was all he said. We looked at each other and he nodded at me and I at him. It's time for us to face a demigod.

We walked through and the other side was a large cemetery with haphazardly placed tombstones and unnamed grave sites.

Nathaniel whispered, "Is that what I think it is?" Both our mouths hung agape seeing the corpse of a dragon impaled on one of the pillars in the graveyard. It had a dark, decaying hide with wings that could block out the stars. Spines protrude from its back as branches grow from the trunk of a tree. The large maw of the beast lay open with lifeless eyes.

However, something even more terrifying lay at the base of the dragon.

Godrick.

I saw him with my own eyes. He was a heaving mass of rotting, gray flesh. His many legs were still struggling to hold up his bulk. The army of arms attached to his back twitched mechanically.

"Mighty dragon, thou'rt a trueborn heir," he said. Me and Nathaniel nervously drew our weapons. Godrick's hand reached up to tenderly caress the face of the dragon. "Lend me thy strength, o kindred. Deliver me unto greater heights." My eyes caught that he had six fingers instead of five on each hand.

Then he shifted his head to look at us. It felt like a predator focusing on its prey.

"Well…" he said. "Lowly Tarnished. Playing as lords." His deathly hands gripped his massive battleaxes and he slammed it on the ground creating a booming sound throughout the cemetery. "I command ye, kneel!" His voice rang through my head. Nathaniel stiffened, I could sense it. "I am the lord of all that is golden!"

"My goodness," Nathaniel uttered. "What did he do to himself?" I could do nothing but agree with the sentiment. His clothes of gold were tainted by his pale and grim visage. All the skin attached to him looked gray, almost black, and dead. The crown upon his head was too large and overcompensating.

Godrick took one heaving step towards us as he inched his way over. A maniacal smile was plastered on his foul countenance. I hate him. I despise everything that he is and everything that he represents. But seeing him face to face now was worse than I could have ever imagined. All the hands on his back twitched with minds of their own like a colony of fungus.

I- I couldn't do this.

Quickly, I turned back and ran.

"Roderika!" Nathaniel called. "Roderika!" His pleas almost pulled me back but the face of the grafted lord was too much to bear. His eyes and his mouth were that of a rabid dog. No, I could not face him.

"Coward," the chrysalid hissed, "return to us! You do to your new companion a great insidious act." I still couldn't. Not with Godrick's unbearable presence.

"AHH!" Nathaniel screamed. I looked back to see him being picked up by Godrick. He was thrashing around like a hooked fish.

"All ye Tarnished are the same," Godrick laughed. "Trying to imitate the grace of gold but you're a forsaken people with no power over this land." However, instead of killing Nathaniel, Godrick began walking away with him in his clutches.

Shamefully, I still ran. The chrysalid was shaking at this point and Nathaniel's face was engraved into my mind. All I could hear was my heart beating and the distant winds of the storm that surrounded Stormveil. Eventually, I found a small cellar for me to hide in. I hurriedly shut the door behind me and sat up against the wall.

"By grace," I muttered. "I am in need of grace. Mercy. Mercy." The instance I sat down, the crushing feeling of guilt piled on top of me. What do I do? I couldn't fight? What was I thinking? And because of my naiveté, I let Nathaniel get captured. I let it happen to him. I wasn't there to help him; I distracted him. What will Godrick do to him? I ran like a craven, like dog with its tail between its legs. No, no, no. This could not be.

But it is.

How treacherous the act I committed is. Betrayal not of intention, but of faith. I thought I could help him on his journey. I thought I had the bravery to see the spider's face. I was so, so wrong. I ended up leaving him behind because of my own cowardice. Now the person who's been nothing but charitable and gentle has been given into the hands of darkness.

I didn't feel bad for myself. All I could feel was my body crying out to go back out and help Nathaniel. But I couldn't. Not when our opponent was… him. Goodness, I was a mess. A foolish, cowardly, inept, senseless, bumbling mess. I should have never come here and now Nathaniel might be… grafted. He wouldn't revive after that. He would be gone forever, lost to the void. I couldn't live with the thought of that. If Nathaniel was grafted, it would haunt my waking and sleeping hours like a never desisting ghost. A memory that would refuse to be lost to time. Where is grace to give me strength? How shall I go against my fears to save the one who's helped me through them?

In this dark and decrepit room, I heard steps coming toward me. Whether friend or foe, I did not really care.

"Well, this is quite the pitiful sight." I looked up to see another person. It was a tan skinned woman bearing two axes. All she wore was a loincloth made out of animal skin as well as a brassiere made of the same material. She also adorned a bucolic headpiece which covered her dark hair.

"Who are you?" I asked with not much strength. I couldn't even make a good introduction with my pathetic state.

"I am Nepheli Loux. Tarnished and warrior, like you." I am no warrior. "You're clearly not one of Godrick's lot."

"That, we can agree on."

"How utterly repellant all this is. This 'grafting' of Godrick's ill befits a lord. He's tainted the very winds."

"My heart resonates with your words, Nepheli," I said. "But my mind has acquiesced to such despicable acts."

"How come you're here in this cell? Taking a short rest?"
"Or an endless one," I said. "I never should have come here in the first place."

"Then leave."

"I can't do that either."

"For what reason?"

"My friend has been taken away by the very lord that you say has tainted the winds. I let him be taken." My stomach lurched. "I am a steadfast coward; I will be the very first to admit it. I would flee but I cannot find the courage to do that either."

"Most Tarnished-folk tend to lean towards on extreme. Either they're valiant and fight with the resolve of a warrior or they flee, forsaking their given purpose. You are stuck in the middle, indecisive." Her words struck me and it seemed as if they reached into my chest and wrapped around my heart and squeezed crushingly. "That is where Tarnished die."

"I understand," I said.

"Do you?" she asked. "Then you must realize how deadly it is to idle."

I stood up to face her and said, "I can't go back out there. Godrick is the incarnation of the fear that haunts my dreams."

"You won't go?"

"No."

"Not even for your friend?" I couldn't readily say no to her inquiry. "At best, he will be slain. At worst, he will be grafted to that monstrosity Stormveil calls a lord and reside within the mountainous flesh forever."

"Do not mention that," I said. "I do not want to think of such a horrid fate for him."

"Then you better pick up your sword and move for it may very well become a reality for him soon enough."

Could I really leave Nathaniel to fend for his own?

Never.

I hardened myself to come into this very castle. It wasn't the castle itself, it was what it represented that sickened me. I made up my mind to come here for a reason. I've made it this far and it is with dishonor that I ran. Godrick was scary like no other. Enormous and vile he was. His disgustingness was only matched by his depravity. He walked but it looked like a crawl like an arachnid on its hind legs. A swine wrapped in a gold robe. He was an unspeakable abomination with grotesque features and malformed limbs. He was undeniably appalling. I did not want to even be near him.

But when I thought of the fate of Nathaniel, I thought things that I wish I never did. I saw his face with large black spots which were bruises with his crimson flow trickling down his forehead. I saw his arms and legs twisted in ways that they shouldn't be twisted and eventually torn off. I could see him dying on the cold hard floor while Godrick forcefully jams one of Nathaniel's arms onto himself. The primal feeling of the mixture between fear and nausea arose in myself causing my heart to beat just a little bit faster.

Nathaniel suffering that fate was a much scarier outcome than facing Godrick ever could be.

"Nepheli," I said, "please, go with me to face Godrick."

"Made your decision?" she asked. I nodded. "Then you can count upon my word that I will aid you in your clash against him. What name will I be fighting together with this day?"

"Roderika."

"Roderika, may the fire of battle burn for you

Nepheli predicted that Godrick would take Nathaniel to one of his various grafting chambers. We searched thoroughly and I felt like we covered the entire castle at that point. It was so frustrating not being able to find such a big monster like Godrick. How could he evade us for so long? The chrysalid refused to give any hints. The voices went quiet like they were focused on something.

"This dastard hides away," Nepheli said. "But we will find him. I can almost smell his putrid odor. He's close."

Soon, I heard faint, heavy footsteps.

"Do you hear that too?" I asked. Nepheli nodded.

She said, "That must be him." We entered into a sort of derelict hospital. In each ward, we could see bloodied tools and husks of corpses. A place meant for preserving life perverted beyond all compare into a place for taking lives and combining them into one entity. Truly repugnant. Forgive me, Nathaniel, for leaving you in the hands of that monster.

In the desolate halls, I could hear the faint muttering of a voice which belonged to someone so familiar. I knew it was him. Me and Nepheli creeped our way closer to the room we were hearing Godrick from. It was so quiet so every sound made me flinch and grit my teeth. The shadows lacing the walls loomed over us and the horrifying architecture did not help to soothe my nerves.

Shink. The sound of metal digging into flesh rang through my skull followed by a gruesome scream. That was not the voice I hard earlier. Nathaniel. I prepared myself to barge in but Nepheli clenched my arm.

"That would be ill-advised," she whispered. "You can't just go in. Godrick would then take the both of us. We must wait for a more advantageous position."

"We could take him by surprise right now," I argued. "And Nathaniel is in there with that monster. We need to move now–"

"No," she bit back. "Not now. Do you wanna join Nathaniel in being grafted?"

"He will not be grafted," I said. "I will not allow it."

"Just be patient. Our time to strike is not now. It will only be a little till that fool opens himself up for an ambush."

"We cannot see him through the door. How will we know?"

"We don't need to see him. We need only listen carefully. I can pick up the sound of his lumbering form, the position of his feet, and where he is on the inside."

I followed what Nepheli was doing and tried my best to discern what was happening on the inside. My combat senses were not as refined and sharp as her's so I was having some trouble trying to decipher what the sounds meant and where Godrick was in the room.

"Wait for the perfect time," she said. "Then kill him like a lamb for slaughter."

The sounds of torture and Nathaniel's shaking voice made my fingers itch. I could hear the sound of dripping blood and the heavy breaths of Godrick as he ambled about inside the large operation room. Why was the chrysalid so silent now?

"You won't feel a thing during the grafting process," I heard Godrick say. "That is if you die before I begin. If you live, I will make sure you feel everything."

"Roderika," I heard Nathaniel murmer from inside. My ears perked up in anticipation but hearing his hoarse and dry voice was like having the burden of hot coals being placed upon my head. "Why?"

"So, that's the name of the pretty little thing that accompanied you into my domain? Like a coward, she ran."

I heard Nathaniel groan before he said, "She's less of a c-coward than you." His words were like the sound of the cooling wind. I was overjoyed to hear him say such things after what I did.

"You would be remiss to say that, Tarnished." Another shink was heard followed by another scream.

Nepheli tapped my arm and said, "NOW!" She broke down the door and pounced on Godrick, ripping away at his tissue with only her hands. I quickly dashed to where Nathaniel was restrained. He was suspened in the air with metals chains holding each of his extremeties. Blood was oozing down his face and over his half-lidded eyes. I cut his chains and as he fell I caught him.

My immediate words were, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry–"

Nathaniel's eyes clearly showed that he was tired and angry but he let out a heavy sigh and gave me a swift, gentle pat on my shoulder to tell me that apologies should be saved for another time. Meanwhile, Godrick was thrashing his arms and bumbling about in the room. Nepheli was savagely ripping away at his back, tearing loose grafted skin off and chopping with her axes.

Nathaniel stepped over to a table where all his gear was and he slowly slid on his helmet. Then he grabbed his sword.

I grabbed his arm and said, "You are in no condition to fight, much less walk."

He shrugged and said, "Do you want me to just sit around?" Before I knew it, he sprung into battle, beginning it with an awkward slice.

The arms on Godrick's back swatted at Nepheli and she fell off of him onto the ground. She leaped back up and said, "Your friend still has some fight in him."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Oh, you cowardly Tarnished! Too afraid of me to face me alone." Godrick took up his axes and swung them around with great momentum. The force with which he swung generated heavy winds. "Cower!"

In that moment, I wanted to do as he said and cower. However, to repeat the same mistake of feebleness as I've done before would be to throw away my soul and place it into the hands of Godrick. An end that shall not come to pass. I saw that Godrick was prepared to charge like a bull.

I saw that Nathaniel was his target so I said, "Going after the most weakened member is a rather cowardly strategy."

That seemed to have struck a nerve as his eyes zeroed in on me. The hulking mass that was Godrick sprinted towards me with a fiery anger and vengeance. I stabbed my sword into his gut but he did not flinch. Instead, he grabbed me with his legion of arms and crashed through the walls of the hospital. I felt each impact and it was as if I couldn't breathe. It was the most amount of physical pain I've felt in a long time or maybe ever. We were now outside and he threw me onto the stone ground. The winds around Stormveil were raging faster than ever before like they were angry and wanted all of us to destroy each other.

"You best not incur my wrath, craven! I don't need your cries! I just need you dead!" Godrick had no rhythm that I could exploit. He was twitchy and erratic and all his limbs seemed to move independently from thought. His demigod strength allowed him to hurl volleys of stone at me. I cut at his meaty flesh watching the hunks of dead skin fall of him.

Godrick said, "It seems you and I have some history." I made the mistake of pausing and he hit me. "The writhing mass of flesh I command calls out your name. Roderika, is that right?"

"Who's told you of our history?"

"Your fallen comrades of course. They're with me in the flesh. I can feel their essence within my veins as they aid me in killing you."

"Do not speak of them so irreverantly," I said.

He laughed. "Who are you to speak to me? I am lord here. The winds bow at my feet and all who dare approach cower at my majesty of gold."

"There's nothing lordly about you. All you are is a scared, cruel old man who's used nefarious tactics to gain control over Limgrave. Hardly befitting of gold isn't it?"

I heard a flick of a string and saw an arrow lodge itself into Godrick's back. We both looked at the direction it came in and saw Nathaniel on his knees taking potshots. He seemed amused at Godrick's reaction which was that of a belligerent child as he cried out in frustration and stormed toward Nathaniel. While he was charging, Nepheli jumped in from the side and climbed on top of him and began mercilessly shredding him up like parchment.

I felt a keen sense of awareness at that moment like I was connected with life itself or remembrance of life. I didn't know what it was but it felt as if I was spirit tuning. It was like clarity, for once, was seeping into my body.

Nathaniel and Nepheli were an effective duo. Both covered each other's weaknesses; Nathaniel was too injured to fight so Nepheli took care of that while Nathaniel launched arrows at a distance. I could see that Godrick was growing irritated by the frown on his face and his more desperate attacks.

Again, another feeling of clarity ran through my mind. I was trying to decipher what this sensation was.

However, I would not just stand back and do nothing. I went in to aid Nepheli by drawing Godrick's attention onto myself.

"Ignorant Tarnished, dost thou think you can defeat a lord?" he asked waveringly. "This has been drawn out long enough! What makes you think you will succeed where so many have failed!? You're just like your companions; too out of your mind to see your foolishness."

I cut his arm for saying such things. His face twisted as his cool, crimson blood dripped down over his deformed and mutated arm. I sliced again, maneuvering around his slow but heavy hits. He was about to open his mouth to speak but Nepheli lashed the back of his neck if you could even call it that, with her axe. Nathaniel shot another volley of arrows and they hit Godrick's feet making him stumble over onto his knees.

I thrust my blade into his sternum watching his mouth let out another shriek and his chest gush blood. The slick feeling of his viscous blood covered my hands.

"You run your mouth and you say such things but look at you. Fallen like a crumbling tower. Everyone has spurned you and for good reason. You speak like a lord but act like a vagrant. No amount of deaths at your hand will change who you are: a mongrel who doesn't deserve the life he's been given. Wretch!" This enraged him greatly and he flailed his axes around causing me to step back. The sharp edge of the axes barely missed my face being only centimeters away from it.

"I will show you who the wretch is," Godrick said, running away from us. I gave Nathaniel and Nepheli a look and they both nodded. I ran after him and Nepheli followed me. Nathaniel tried but he stumbled and fell over. His legs must've been weak. I stopped but he waved his hand at me, gesturing for me to go after Godrick. Before I left, I could see Nathaniel crawling with all his might.

Nepheli and I ran after Godrick. I had a bad feeling about what he was doing. He led us back to the graveyard we found him in. We found him trying to cut his arm off.

"ARGHHHHH!" Godrick cried while brutally severing his appendage off of himself.

"What's he doing?!" I asked. I would get my answer soon enough. Godrick let out one final shout before fully slicing off his left arm. Blood spewed out of the wound like a fountain and Godrick's burdened gasps for air reminded me of a diseased creature struggling to hang onto life.

"Ahh, truest of dragons," he said, turning to look at the dragon corpse, "lend me thy strength." I then watched in horror as he sunk his cut-off hand into the neck of the dragon. "NNNNGH!" Was this the power of his grafting?! I heard him strain to move his arm but eventually, he forcibly ripped off the head of the dragon making it replace his old arm. Nepheli and I stood in shock at what we just witnessed but Godrick only sneered. The dragon arm began moving and it actually roared like it was alive! "Forefathers, one and all," Godrick shouted, raising the dragon into the air, "BEAR WITNESS!" The dragon head expelled a heap of smoke and flames. The eyes of the dead dragon were lifeless but seemed to reanimate in an almost zombie-like manner. Vacant eyes.

"Never in my life as a warrior have I seen something such as that," Nepheli said. "He now has the power of a dragon on his side." Before I could say anything, a wave of fire came hurling towards me as Godrick maniacally laughed as he threw flames at us. I rolled under the firestorm. How were we going to beat him now? The great, regal monster was now submitting to Godrick's will and no matter how weak Godrick was, the dragon would always make up for that.

I saw as hellfire rained from the sky and burned the graves of those laid to rest here. All at the hands of a monster. This grafting had to stop, it had to end with him!

The feeling of clarity returned and I felt it in my stomach; it was warm and I tried focusing on that feeling. It felt like distant phantoms of life were grabbing onto my hand. It was comforting in a strange way.

"Now you have seen true glory!" Godrick taunted. "I bear the image of the storm as well as the beast that flies in it! I am worthy! I am the lineage of the great Godfrey! You Tarnished have sullied blood. Know the hierarchy. The dragon conquers the swine!"

"Roderika, back away!" Nepheli shouted. The dragon belched flame at me but I narrowly evaded the embers and got closer to Godrick. The feeling was greater than ever now. My eyes widened as I heard the thoughts and anguish of dozens of spirits coming from Godrick. All of them were crying out for mercy and help only to be beaten down by Godrick. My heart ached for each of them. I wished to care for each of them, all of whom were given a fate worse than death.

I thought back to what Master Hewg said to me. "You have a talent, kid," he said. Back then, I laughed. Talent? All I had was my weakness and cowardice with me as my only guide and he meant to tell me that I could actually make something of my life. But the more time I spent with Master Hewg, he kept saying that I had a knack for spirit tuning and interaction. I thought back to Nathaniel as he once told me that I needed to do scary things if I wanted to overcome this world.

I extended my arm out towards Godrick's core. He looked confused but was about to grab me with his dragon arm. I wouldn't let him. The sins of his past would soon come back to haunt him soon enough. Then I pulled my arm back as if I was lugging out a chain.

Godrick stopped in his tracks. A spectral hand burst forth from his stomach like a man risen from the grave. Then another. Soon, the spirit of a man crawled out of Godrick's form.

"I-I-I'm free?!" the spirit said. "I thought I would never escape."

"H-How?!" Godrick shouted, bewildered. "No spirit should be able to escape after grafting!"

I didn't stop there. I smiled before reaching forward and pulling out another spirit. With my deep connection to the spirits, I could feel their presence.

"Ugh! Stop this, cretin!" Godrick's little pet dragon head snapped at me but I evaded the chomps and tagged Godrick's arm allowing another spirit to crawl out. I looked back at Nepheli and her eyes were filled with amazement, probably the same look that was on my face. "NO!" Godrick screamed. "STOP THIS AT ONCE!"

"Then maybe you should stop being so pathetic!" Nepheli yelled.

It was like an avalanche of spirits that poured out of Godrick.

"No! This was never supposed to happen! How have you released the spirits from their grafting?! That is impossible!"

"You cannot keep their spirits trapped, Godrick," I said. "You are not God no matter how much you try to delude yourself into thinking so. Their spirits were crying out for freedom. Even with the odds stacked against them, they can make it. I was only the facilitator of their deliverance!"

A bright stream of spirits flowed out of Godrick like a downhill river. It was like a whole army rose up and gathered to face the abomination. The spirits all summoned their unique weapons and armor they must have had when they were alive. Tarnished of different kinds. Warriors to vagabonds. Sorcerers to prophets. They all dawned the garments that represented them in life and took up the weapons that guided them the most.

"Heh, it seems I wasn't needed," I heard someone say. I turned to look behind me and next to Nepehli, I saw Nathaniel.

"Took you long enough," Nepheli said while Nathaniel only scoffed, blood dripping down his face.

"It doesn't matter how many men you raise against me!" Godrick said. I looked deep into the eyes of my enemy and he looked into mine. He would not face the scared girl he once did. That person has been cut off and cast away. When I looked at him, I had no fear. My friends were behind me and Master Hewg's tutelage managed to get me to reverse the grafting effects.

"Oh, Godrick," Nathaniel said, "they're gonna tear you apart."

I called for all the spirits to assail the lord of Stormveil.

What happened next was like a large pack of wolves leaping upon a single mouse. He was being eaten up by the mass of Tarnished who he used to gain power. I knew, at that point, he wouldn't last very long. Even the dragon was struggling to handle all the Tarnished. If it even attempted to spew flame, a spirit would stab through the bottom of its jaw.

Godrick, the origin of all my grief, may you begone from this plane of existence and leave me to my peace. I was not made to be Elden Lord but I now feel that I was surely made to usher in the new one. I eyed Nathaniel as all of this was happening and I could see that he had a tired look on his face. Godrick killed all my friends but justice has been executed.

"I am the lord of all that is golden," Godrick rasped out with his dying breath. "And one day, we'll return together to our home, bathed in rays of gold." His body transformed into ash as we all watched in silence. The particles that were left were picked up by the winds and brought into the sky.

There was no cheering or applause like one would expect at a theater. However, each spirit Tarnished collectively nodded to each other as they all helped each other achieve a common goal of ridding Limgrave of one of its deepest evils. One by one, they too began fading into the wind.

Then there were faces I recognized. My old friends were all looking at me. They didn't say anything as I stepped forward. They all waved goodbye with somber smiles and disappeared, finally being put to rest.

I felt Nathaniel's hand on my shoulder. A great burden has been lifted off of my shoulders. I made it out alive.

"Hey," Nepheli called. "My task is now finished here. I will report back to the Roundtable Hold. I hope to see you two there."

"You certainly will," Nathaniel said. She smirked and left us to ourselves.

It felt a little awkward for me because I thought that nothing in the world could make up for what I did to Nathaniel. Abandoning him.

"Please," I could barely muster out. "Please f-forgive–" I couldn't get it out without tearing up but thankfully he understood and gave me a hug.

"I understand," he said. "Don't say anything." Thank you.

Nathaniel was curious so he progressed toward Godrick's throne room. A room Godrick did not deserve. Fittingly, there was a catacomb underneath the room. It was a dungeon filled with graves and skulls and cobwebs. But we saw stairs that led out of the room.

Wanting to get out as soon as possible, we went up the flight of stairs. It led outside of Stormveil to a dirt road with lush trees to the side. I gasped when I saw the sight.

We were high above Liurnia of the Lakes and it was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. A gentle fog shrouded the dense swamps of the lake. The azure and golden trees popped out like splotches on an ornate painting. Nathaniel and I just took in the view. We breathed in the crisp air and listened to the birds chirp their melodies.

Maybe there was some beauty to the Lands Between after all.