Flynn

RL30 - 22 VIG - 12 MND - 16 END - 20 STR - 13 DEX - 9 INT - 10 FTH - 7 ARC

Resa

RL30 - 11 VIG - 13 MND - 10 END - 12 STR - 17 DEX - 9 INT - 28 FTH - 9 ARC

Flynn

I stood in front of the Evergaol once more…it was time. To win. I'd bound the claw seal to my left hand with rope, making it such that I could wield a weapon or shield at the same time. Without any further delay I walked forwards, into the central compass. The world went dark as I stared at the blue fissure just in front of me…retribution time. I drank my crystal flask and then rushed ahead, ready for war.

As the knight rose from the ground I raised my greataxe up, slamming it down with thunderous force on his back before he had a chance to retaliate. I took a second, faster swipe before backing up, slinging rocks on my retreat. The knight was now fully out of the portal - I couldn't fight so brazenly anymore. I swapped to my greatsword and shield, ready to fight.

As it charged for me I backed up - I'd seen this maneuver before, and now could fight against it even better. It slashed up as I backpedaled, rocks covering my retreat while its shield was down. The sword turned and slashed down, and I darted back forwards to block the blow with my shield. Now its sword and shield were out of position - better. I lunged forward, blade scraping against armor before retreating, a wave of blood protecting my withdrawal, followed by more rocks. I was peppering it with all manner of attacks, trying to whittle down its guard and resolve. I needed to conserve my own vigor for later, when it unleashed those wings - when I'd need to rely on that bulk to force my own openings.

The trades continued heavily in my favor. I waited for it to make an advance, sliced at it during its main swing, blocked its follow-up swing, and countered for a heavy blow. It was working much better than before - perhaps I could be relying on my shield even more, fight even safer. But a longer fight meant one more prone to error, and I didn't want to risk slipping up on my technique.

Soon, those wings unfurled themselves, the knight flying up into the air. Before, I'd been too shocked by the situation to even consider doing anything about it but now, now I knew…while that maneuverability could be a blessing, it could also be its downfall. The knight swooped low, sword thrust straight in front of it as it divebombed me once more, trying to take me out. I just grinned.

Just as the wings began to droop and it flew towards me I dropped both my shield and my greatsword, letting the weapons fall to the ground as I reached behind me, grabbing my greataxe. In one motion I unfurled it from my back and pivoted around, letting the blade be carried by gravity around my body. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the knight still flying towards me, perfectly on target to be struck. As the axe whipped around me I felt its sword pierce my chest, my vision flickering and my arms momentarily losing their strength but I held firm, determined to see this through.

My axe hit the knight squarely in the helmet, ripping a horrid gash into it. However, both weapon and foe were still in motion, the damage not stopping there. As the knight struggled to maintain its course and started falling to the ground my axe kept going, that gash traveling down to its shoulder, and then its arm before finally breaking free. I let the axe fly out of my hands, coming to rest in the grass as I picked up my shield and blade. I took a quick drink from my flask - the blow I'd taken had been a heavy one, but I could only imagine I traded the impact back threefold in return.

Now, the back half of the fight…one I had very little experience with. I played passively for a moment, learning just how it fought with that tail - and not liking my odds. It found ways to weave that tail into the end of its sword swings, covering most of the gaps I had to retaliate previously. That meant that I needed to fight aggressively and quickly, and not let this fight drag on any more than I had to - a passive fight wasn't going to go in my favor.

Settling on that I rushed forwards, not waiting on it to make the first move. Rocks paved my way forwards as little more than a distraction, deflecting off its shield as I came in for a low sweep, striking its shield while blocking an attack from its as well. As the knight's blade made a follow up I swung upwards, finding a gap in its guard to rake my sword along its chest, a wave of blood flying off of my weapon at the same time. Not done yet I pulled my weapon back, using my firm grip on the pommel to hook my foe's shield with it, pulling backwards as I forcibly moved its shield where I wanted it - out of the way.

As soon as I'd pulled it back enough I staggered as the knight's blade dug into my shoulder, but I was now in prime position to thrust forwards, hilting my greatsword into the knights chest, only made possible from the gash that I'd opened earlier. I was batted away by a swing from that damned tail, and I continued retreating with a spray of rocks, grabbing my longsword and healing myself once more. The knight tried to stop me but I blocked its attack, countering with my own.

I could see the knight moving slower now - its weapon slightly slower, its footsteps slightly shaky. My flask was running low, but I still had energy to spare - energy that I was about to make great use of.

I swung my blade several times, blasts of wind flying forwards to strike at key points, forcing the knight's reaction to specific locations - down low, left, then low again. After the third I rushed forward, swinging to the right where its shield wasn't, just narrowly clipping it in the arm while I continued charging past. Its tail slammed into my while I pushed past it, swinging around behind me and slashing against the exposed back of the knight, my feet quickly coming to a halt as I sprung back, following the one slash up with a second, more forceful one.

The knight was quick to retaliate with a shield bash to the stomach followed by a batting of its tail, my senses momentarily disoriented as I struggled to catch myself in time for a greatsword to come crushing down on my left arm. I retreated, needing a moment to catch myself…that hadn't gone quite in my favor as I would have liked, but it paved the way for closing out this duel. I healed myself, readying for the final confrontation. My flask was empty now…do or die.

I rushed forwards, doing the exact same thing as last time as jets of wind forced its shield away from its left flank. I slipped past that flank, feinting a strike to its back just like last time. It brought shield back in an effort to block the strike - which is exactly what I'd hoped it would do. As it spun around it left its chest wide open and I reached forward with my left hand, thrusting my hand forwards towards the deep gash in its armor I'd left previously, and let a spray of rocks fly free directly into the wound.

Its death was nigh instant, its innards lacerated by the spray of stones. Its sword arm fell limp as it came to rest against my arm harmlessly. I reached out for that sword but it faded away…when I looked down at the ground, only one thing remained.

Resa

I was starting to get worried…Flynn had been in there a while, much longer than last time. Perhaps that meant that he was doing better than before, but part of me also worried that he was falling into his comfort of passivity, and that we'd be far from over. The minutes passed on in silence, nothing to occupy me but the strange stone worms all gazing towards the jail.

Finally, he emerged…I let out a sigh of relief. He looked like he'd been through hell though, his armor mangled and ripped, blood coating nearly every wound he'd taken. I rushed forward, taking out my seal and healing some of his wounds. "You…did it?"

He nodded. "Yeah…barely. Put up a hell of a fight though. Also here…this was left behind by it. More incantations, I think." He held out a weathered scroll, the words on the parchment nearly faded away by time. I could make out some, and pieced together the rest.

"Aspect of the…I believe that word is 'Crucible'? It looks like it summons that tail you said the knight had." Though the incantation looked interesting, it was hardly one that I'd use. Large sweeping strikes had never been my preference…I was always more focused. "It's a rather advanced incantation…I think it may be out of your skill range for now, but it's not something I plan on using. Hold onto it for now…maybe you'll find you have a preference for them."

Flynn took the paper from me, carefully rolling it up before stowing it. "Alright, so it's south then? I have a request…wherever that grace points us towards, we avoid it."

I furrowed my brow. "Why's that?"

"Because I'm curious. If this really is all prophecy and fate, will we somehow find ourselves there anyways? I don't imagine so, but that's what I want to find out. Just humor me…I won't ask us to do this anywhere else, you have my word."

"I don't 'need your word', Flynn, you know I trust you. That's fine…I suppose I'm a little curious as well, if there's some external force at work here. Let's head to the other evergaol and go south from there, I think that's as good a starting point as any.

We traveled there, mounting up on Torrent as we headed south along the road. The first thing that we came to was a blockade, a large ballista stationed in the center of a bridge with barricades surrounding it. We dismounted and tore through it, finding another stonesword key amidst the rubble, as well as a grace on the far side. This one had guidance emanating from it, heading south. The only path forwards was south as well, so we continued on.

Ahead was a low valley, multiple creatures scavenging around while we simply rode past them, heading along up a slope that opened up into an empty field, a campfire ahead to the left. As we approached we found another merchant, as well as a grace. The merchant never bothered to introduce himself - the only merchandise of note he stocked was a Stonesword key, which we happily took off his hands.

The grace continued leading us south, though now more southwest at this point. We pressed forwards, unsure of what was ahead. At the end of the field was a towering wall, a massive crumbling hole in it just along the path.

As we crested the ridge of the field and passed through the wall, we saw exactly what that wall was for. Far in the distance was a massive, multi-tiered castle seemingly carved out of the rock itself. Though not nearly as elaborate as Stormveil it somehow looked more imposing, shrouded in fog and climbing up to the sky. There was no doubt in my mind that was where the grace was pointing us towards.

In front of that though, not far from where we were…was another map obelisk. I started to move towards it but Flynn held out his hand. "Something's up there…hold for a second.

As we stood, I heard something coming closer - fast. That 'something' made its presence known as an arrow - or perhaps a ballista bolt, given the size. It had to be thirty feet long, a ribbed tip on the arrow to make removal difficult - but right now, the only difficult thing was where it was coming from.

"Alright, we don't have to go inside the castle…but a map would be nice, and I can't draw with that firing at us. Can you deal with it?"

Flynn nodded, rushing ahead just as another arrow impacted the earth just a few feet from him. As he advanced the arrows too followed him, giving me the chance to sketch everything down.

The 'Weeping Peninsula', it was called. I sketched fast, not wanting to spend any more time here than necessary with those arrows still on the loose.

I saw a couple things of note. First, a mine, potentially accessible by curving eastward at the previous field. Second, rather obviously, was the castle…Castle Morne, it was known as. Third, something called 'Oridys's Rise', also not far from the previous field, but atop the rock cliff to the east. Finally, there was another smaller Erdtree here as well. I wasn't sure how I'd missed it on our way in…perhaps the omnipresent towering trees on the horizon had already dulled my senses to them.

Soon Flynn came back, actually looking rather healthy. "You remember the Iron Golem?"

I nodded, the towering creature that sat atop Sen's Fortress, blocking our way to Anor Londo. "Why?"

"Uh…think that, but with a bow and arrow. Its legs looked a little worn down though, some sort of orange core glowing pretty brightly there. Didn't take much to knock it to the ground, and at that point I had the advantage. So, what'd you find?"

"Couple things, but let's head back to the field. There's a couple locations of note near there, actually…might make a good base of operations while we're down here."

Flynn nodded and so we headed back, passing through the gaping hole in the wall to get back to the grace. I explained what I'd written down and what seemed to be of note, letting him pick our first destination. To no surprise, it was the mine…I called Torrent and we headed west, ready to explore.

As we rode, we came across an abandoned shack, little of note inside it. Several rats scurried around on the perimeter, their eyes glowing a strange, burning yellow. I simply had Torrent continue on, riding past them…I wasn't about to find out just what that was about. Not long after that we came across a steep ledge overlooking a massive drop downwards. I pulled out the map, examining our location.

"Hmm…I guess I should have thought about the mine being closer to the ground. We might have to circle around, come at it from the north."

"What about those tombstones? Think you can navigate us down?"

I looked at the cliff on the other side - massive tombstones were sticking out of the cliff at odd angles. Perhaps it could be used as a sort of staircase, albeit a precarious one. As I leaned forwards, I saw that similar stones were on this side of the cliff.

"What do you say, Torrent? Up for a little mountain climbing?" I ruffled the fur on the back of his neck, the beast letting out a content huff. Alright then. This is going to be much more about you than it is me."

I led Torrent out onto the first tombstone, just a few feet below the top of the ledge. Gingerly I spun him counterclockwise, facing the next stone, and then simply let Torrent do the jumping forwards. We landed on the next stone gracefully. One more to go. The next was a bit more precarious - rather than a jump, it was more of a fall, the stone almost perfectly below where we currently were. We made it, now standing just atop the ravine at the bottom.

It was at this point I noticed just what was happening in that ravine. What I'd previously written off as a heavy rain shower was instead incredibly, incredibly localized. Lightning pierced and cracked the sky almost every second, but every strike hit just in front of me. Amidst the grass were these strange plants, a crackling yellow flower on each one. The lightning seemed to be attracted to them in specific, striking the plants or just near them.

"This is…odd. Be careful, and maybe grab those plants? They definitely have some sort of effect on the weather here."

"Right. Dismiss Torrent…might be safer to go on foot from here." I did so, Flynn and I standing on the final tombstone. Without so much as a second thought I leaped forwards, descending into the ravine.

What I'd failed to notice, up until this point, were the bats. As I reached the ground several of them descended upon me, and in response I became a whirlwind of steel, cutting them apart whenever they dared get too close. Flynn fended some off as well but focused on the strange plants, plucking each of them in turn. With one as he picked it up a scroll came up with it, encircled around the roots of the plant underground. He furrowed his brow and brushed it off, trying to decipher the text, but ultimately shaking his head.

The two of us navigated towards the northern edge of the ravine, seeing another steep drop off just beyond it. With lightning still striking behind us we leaped down, the ground rapidly approaching. The impact at the bottom knocked the breath out of my lungs, my vision momentarily hazy until I finally found the strength to stand back up, Flynn offering me a helping hand as I did. We noticed that our descent put us directly in front of the minehead. Seeking shelter from the rain we headed inside, descending the elevator just in front before finding a site of grace. We took a break - after that nasty fall, we both could use one.

"So…what did you find?"

"I'm guessing another incantation. Can you read it?"

I delicately took the paper from his hands, inspecting it. My eyes lit up at the words that I was reading. "Lightning Strike…so they do exist."

I could see Flynn's expression brighten as well at the mere mention of the word. Though my appreciation for lightning was nothing in comparison to what Flynn felt for fire, lightning had carried me through our journeys. I remembered back to Lordran, feeling lost and helpless as little more than someone that took care of Flynn…that all changed when I'd joined the Warriors of Sunlight, and gained the power of the Lighting Spear. I'd come far since then, finding strength in my own blades as well as my miracles and incantations, but I could never forget the confidence those bolts of lightning first gave to me.

This incantation seemed a little different than those - rather than throwing the lightning, the text said that it fanned out across the ground. The idea seemed strange at first, lightning and ground usually not cooperating too well…but I was fooling myself if I thought I wouldn't give it a try. The mine seemed like a perfect place for just that. The last one hadn't given us too many problems, and a thorough removal of the enemies would let us gather those much-needed stones all the easier.

And as we found out, this was similar. Rather than soldiers watching over the miners it was this group of strange mammalian creatures - slightly reminiscent of Margit and Hewg, although a bit smaller overall. At the very end of the tunnel once again was the mineboss, a much larger and hardier specimen of the strange race. We dispatched it without much difficulty.

The whole time, I was simply fascinated with Lightning Strike. The incantation sent a wave of crackling ground out in front of me, lightning raining down from above a second later to strike the ground I'd created. The delay at first was frustrating, some of the more intelligent enemies maneuvering out of the way, but quickly I learned how to use that delay to my advantage. Intentionally spread the ground a bit to the right, and then rush in on the left? They either backed up into where I wanted them to be, or stayed put and faced a flurry of blades in response. Flynn too learned to make use of it, some of his wind Ashes capable of pushing unsuspecting enemies into the line of fire.

Once the mineboss was down we returned back to the entrance, transporting ourselves back to the open field. We decided our next destination would be the Rise…once we figured out just how to get there. On the map it was to the east but that was barred by a large cliff, at least currently. We found the way around by heading back to the north, eventually reaching a point where the cliff face dropped enough that Torrent could get up.

Just up on the cliff we saw a strange sight - pock-marked ground that glowed and emanated purple-tinted magic, as well as several hooded figures around the perimeter. Some stood almost reverentially, arms outstretched as they remained unmoving, somewhat reminding me of the stone eyes we'd seen before. I steered Torrent around the site - whatever was happening there, I didn't want to disturb it. A grace was just beyond, and from there we could actually see the Rise itself.

It was a tall tower, perhaps three or four stories in height, and rather slender, like a single parapet on the castle. Its construction was of jagged angular lines, the only curves on the entire building being for windows and the door. That door was currently locked by the looks of things, sealed with a snowy-blue light and a strange seal on it. Several wolves seemed to be guarding the front - between the wolves and the snowy barrier, it made me wonder if Renna was involved. Though she'd shown no signs of magic besides her teleporting away, she undeniably looked like she might know some magic…if we ever meet again, perhaps I'd ask.

Once we approached the door, I saw a familiar imp statue just outside. Rather than having slots in their heads for Stonesword keys though, they held a stone book. A single phrase was written upon it, that I spoke aloud.

"Seek three wise beasts, and enter."

"Seek three…is it a riddle, of some sort?"

"I don't know…I would guess so. This looks like a mage's tower of some sort. Probably something to keep out the common riffraff back when it was in use."

"Well…if it is a riddle, I think I've found the answer. Turn around."

I did so - just in front of us was a large turtle, a spectral blue in color much like the door. I was sure that it hadn't been there before. I walked up, placing my hand upon it. It faded away without a sound. "So I take it there's now two more somewhere. Let's split up, cover more ground. I imagine they won't all be so easy to find."

Indeed, they weren't. I searched around for quite a while, finding nothing. It wasn't until I walked back to the entrance that I noticed a faint blue shimmer inside a thick patch of bushes that I located one, pushing inside the bushes to dispel it. Flynn's was even more tricky - invisible but sitting in the middle of a large puddle, the occasional ripple in the water the only thing that gave away its position. As soon as all three were removed we returned to the door, finding the barrier gone.

Inside was a simple room, some equipment scattered around the corners of an otherwise dimly lit room, two statues on the back walls. There wasn't enough light to tell whom the statues were for - I presumed they weren't Marika, but I knew little else. A ladder was in the back of the chamber that we both climbed up, heading towards the top of the tower.

At the top of the ladder was another small chamber brimming with books and equipment, as well as leading outside to a spiral staircase that wrapped around the outside of the tower. At the top of that was the highest floor of the Rise. As expected, more books and equipment littered the room, as well as a table and chair on the back - presumably where Oridys would have been, if they were here.

At first, I noticed nothing of value in the chamber - but then I saw a familiar blue stone sitting on the table, partially tucked away under some scrolls. I picked it up - a Memory stone. The scrolls themselves looked to be only partially completed, arcane scribblings that I couldn't hope to decipher.

"Another one, eh? You said they were rare and valuable - probably best if we took it on our journeys then."

I nodded. "Agreed. Whomever this Oridys was doesn't look to be around anymore. There's dust over everything here…might have been taken in the Shattering. Let's head out from here, now. There's that Erdtree over in the center of the Peninsula, given where it's located we might be able to get a good view of anything else around of note."

Settled on the plan, we headed out once more. Torrent took us back towards the field, and I followed the path we'd taken to get to the mine earlier. I remembered seeing a bridge at the very far end of the canyon, one that would hopefully let us cross to the Erdtree rather easily. We stayed along the cliff face like before, not dropping down the tombstones but instead riding along the edge, eventually reaching the bridge. A slumbering beast was just out front, but we rode past it, continuing on.

On the other side of the bridge, we rode past a collection of strange beings - it looked as if they themselves were part tree, a large root growing out of their neck. They held spears, but we never got to see how good they were with them, Torrent easily able to outrun and outmaneuver. The Erdtree was up a small cliff to the side so we rode around, finding a point where we could circle back and climb up. Soon we level off, and the base of the Erdtree was clearly in sight.

Two things stuck out to me. First the pots - they were the size of shacks, some intact, some in pieces. I had not clue just what one would need for pots that large…or why you'd let them shatter. Second, was the guardian of the tree - whereas the previous Erdtree we visited was surrounded by strange insects, this had a large tree-like figure in front of it, its back currently turned to us. I could see it holding a large crozier-like staff in one hand.

"Should we…fight it? The Erdtrees seem sacred in this land…I'm not sure I want to oppose whatever force is guarding them."

"Well…I'm not sure I have a problem with it. Choosing who is allowed a safe passage through death and who has to haunt the living world? Hardly seems like a being worth my respect."

"Flynn, I'm being serious. There's a lot of higher powers at work here. We have to remember we're not as strong as we once were…we can't just fight everything that comes at us."

"Resa, I'm serious too. We've already ignored guidance, and I don't see any grand repercussions to that as of yet. You and I both don't trust what's happening here…we need to do something, we can't just keep falling back on the thought of not interfering. We're the only people in the Lands Between that know what it's like to see a broken and flawed world through to the very, bitter end. We didn't do anything to change what was happening in Lordran, because we cared about those around us. But here…I know you see the similarities. We can't just ignore what we know. I want to challenge the status quo. Maybe that puts us in a bad spot, maybe it doesn't. We don't know how many other people think like that. We won't know until we make our stand."

As far as rousing speeches went…it was pretty good. I drew my katana and seal. "Okay, Flynn. I won't commit to following this path if it turns into trouble…but for now, we'll see where it takes us. Together."

The two of us strode forwards, ready to take on this foe. It turned around to face us, and I saw that it had no head, simply a split in the wood where one would be.

Compared to many of the other foes we'd faced thus far, the guardian was slow - slow, but deadly. That staff had an incredible amount of reach to it and it indeed used that reach to its advantage. I tried to stay more on its periphery by sending down arcs of lightning whenever it was focused on Flynn. The guardian's large size made it such that a large number of lightning bolts hit it all at once. I came in for quick interference whenever Flynn needed a reprieve, swapping to my dagger in my offhand and easily managing to dart around the guardian's slow attacks.

After a while the guardian seemed frustrated with the ease with which I was avoiding it, spinning its staff around and thrusting it into the ground. An eruption of holy light burst forth from the ground as it did - but far more worrying were the pinpricks of holy light coming to shape in the air around it. I backed up, waiting to see just what was going to happen.

As soon as one of those pinpricks sent a ray of energy in my direction, I furiously started darting around in a strafing motion, more and more of those pinpricks firing off rays of holy light in my direction. The guardian stood for a moment as it watched me dart around it, and then slammed that staff down exactly where I would be - and I was too focused on the shower of light to avoid it. I felt my knees buckle from the impact as I was sent flying backwards, eventually coming to rest as I slammed into one of those massive pots.

I wiped the blood from my brow and downed most of my flask, coming back to my senses. Flynn had rushed in to keep the guardian distracted, weaving a dangerous mix of swings with his greatsword as well as rocks from his seal. I stood back up, approaching. Lightning rained down from above as I sent swathes of crackling ground out before me, striking at the guardian in order to give Flynn a chance to retreat if he needed it.

From there, the fight went much better. It tried to pull the same trick on me again, but this time I was watching. As soon as it raised its staff to slam down on me I darted in the opposite direction before lunging forwards, the opening letting me get several slashes in with my katana before I needed to retreat.

Eventually it fell, though it wasn't without its hardships. As the large Erdtree guardian faded away I noticed the glint of an orbs falling through the air. I rushed forward and grabbed them before it could get lost in the grass. One was smooth, polished. Its inside was filled with bubbly pocks, but otherwise had no distinguishable features. The other was a similar pinkish-red to the one our flasks had in them from the beginning, though this one gave off a faint glowing light. I held them out to Flynn. "You didn't seem too happy last time with your choice. Want to try again and push your luck, or let me take the guess."

"No chance I can get unlucky twice in a row. I'll take…the red one." Flynn pulled out his crystal flask and dropped the orb in - three this time. He frowned, watching the liquid in the flask as it turned a murky brown. Curiously, he took it to his lips, taking just a small sip. That frown only got worse as he struggled to put it down, inspecting the flask. "I…think that however this liquid reacts to the orbs, it doesn't like having three in there. I think two might be our limit, let me see." He turned the flask over, the three orbs spilling out. He kept the original red one separate as he placed the other two back in. This time, the silvery wisps of color from the cracked orb came back, mingling with a more vibrant pink from before, almost giving the flask a gentle glow to it. Tentatively he took it to his lips, drinking the contents - and this time, finishing it.

Slowly, ever-so-slowly, the wounds on Flynn's body began to heal. It did nothing for the tears in his armor, but the flesh beneath it began to stitch itself back together. Compared to the miracles I cast, the process was painfully slow…but if what was happening was true, it meant that Flynn could slowly tend to his own wounds if I was ever too preoccupied to do that for him - or if he ran out of his flask.

"Neat. Now what's yous do?"

Good point…I hadn't tried yet. I too took out the red orb that had been in mind, placing the bubbly one in its place. The green of the one orb mixed with a translucence of this new one, and I downed the flask.

I felt…nothing new. The energy and stamina was still there, but nothing else. "Hmm…maybe it's like the cracked one you got. I'm not feeling anything new."

"That's because you're in a bubble, sister. Look." Flynn walked towards me, holding his hand out. Soon though, that hand stopped, as if placed on a barrier. I knew my brother - many things he was, but a mime was not among them. "Can you not see it? It's all around you."

"No…strange. You can't reach through it?"

"I feel like if I put enough force behind it I could, but not with this. Can you?"

I held my arm out, curious. Sure enough, my arm and blade passed through the invisible barrier without any problem, my hand able to wrap around Flynn's wrist with ease.

"Strange. I guess it's protective in nature then…but to what extent?"

Flynn pulled his hand back, reaching towards his scabbard. "Want to find out? I won't swing hard…honest."

I sighed…was I really about to let my brother attack me, just to learn? I suppose it was safer than learning on the fly what this shell did. "Okay, Flynn. Just once, to start."

He swung at me, striking with the flat of the blade so as to not cause too much pain - but I was surprised by just how little I felt. It was as if he hadn't hit me at all. "What…I thought you could do better than that?"

"Yeah well, it cracked that bubble. Looks like it only protects you from one blow…but that was a hard swing, thank you very much. I think it just protects from all of that blow."

"Well..I'll keep that in mind, then." I pulled out the map, looking at what else was around. "Let's see…there's an Evergaol to the west, as well as two churches, one to the north, and another to the west. Past that, I'm not seeing much else out on the Peninsula. Let's take a stroll on Torrent and just see what's around."

Our first stop was the church to the north, a quick ride from the Erdtree up a small hill. Inside was a grace - but rather than a statue to Marika, it was of someone else. The position they were in was very similar with outstretched arms, though this figure looked male and stood more tall and proud - the depictions we'd seen of Marika often had her leaning forward slightly. Rather than the swirling cloth behind her it was a rigid latticework, and from the base of the statue looked to be carvings of roots coming up from the ground, perhaps symbolizing a connection to the Erdtree - or perhaps, symbolizing an attack from the Erdtree. It could go either way.

"Must be another one of those gods…Radagon or Godfrey, if I had to guess. Perhaps they'd make depictions of their children, but I doubt they would be placed in a church. Strange."

Flynn nodded. "Whatever the case, not much else here besides the statue. Let's keep on."

From the church we headed southwest, running into some ruins. After a quick exploration all we found was the cache in the basement, a large and unwieldy scythe that we decided to leave behind.

As we continued heading southwest I heard the tolling off a bell, coming from straight ahead. I'd seen a large structure earlier but hadn't paid it much mind…now, after that bell, I did. The structure was moving…no, walking was a more apt description. Four massive stone legs held aloof a two story building, a bell the size of a shack dangling from beneath the rocky landmass supporting the building. The entire sight was just…bizarre. I decided to give it a wide berth as we steered west, towards the Evergaol.

Upon approaching the Evergaol I noticed an imp statue out front of it, and the compass in the center was not glowing the same blue as the two previous ones. I dismissed Torrent, approaching. "We only have one key…do we use it now, or save it?" I looked to Flynn for an answer.

"Well, the last key we found got us a cute little turtle charm…so I can't say our barrier to entry is terribly high." he gave me a playful jab.

"I like that charm, thank you very much."

"Oh believe me, I'm sure you do. Still…we only have one, and you and I both know we need to go to Stormveil soon, deal with that 'spider' the woman was talking about. I have to imagine a castle like that is going to have a couple of things they want to keep stowed away, not to mention that we still haven't gone back to inspect the first one. I vote for holding onto it…and if we don't find a use for them in Stormveil, maybe we come back."

"I like that plan, let's stick to it. The church is just up that hill, let's see what's there."

We rode up, finding yet another church to Marika. As I looked, I noticed the similarities between two figures. The same pose…to some extent even the same hair. Marika had one long braid down the side of her head while the previous had a long braid as well. The face even seemed to share some similarities, though I attributed that to the stonemason more than anything else. Still, there were enough odd similarities between the two that I didn't write it off as merely coincidence.

We took a seat at the grace near the church, and I looked at Flynn. "So…Stormveil, then? Do you think we're finally able to challenge Margit?"

"I don't think we have much of a choice…I'm sure there are other locations we could go, but at the end of the day everything we've been doing, we've been doing to go back there. Do you feel ready?"

I looked at my equipment…just what had changed since we'd first fought? I had a scimitar, and a katana…both blades felt comfortable and familiar in my hands. I'd learned to harness the power of lightning once again - Margit may be nimble enough to avoid it, but it was a notable tool nonetheless. We had the crystalline flasks, which had aided us a fair bit thus far. "I think the only way I'll know is by trying and either succeeding or failing. What about you? Greataxe, your seal, some Ashes of War…do you think it's enough to give you the edge?"

"I think so. If not, we keep looking, keep growing stronger. There's Caelid from what D said, though he didn't make it sound like a particularly favorable place to be. There's Liurnia as well, although we don't really know where that is. I'm with you…I think we try again and see where we get. We've grown much stronger in a pretty short amount of time though, so I think we stand a fair chance.

"Alright then…to Stormveil." Flynn and I transported ourselves there, at the grace just outside of where we fought Margit. I craned my neck around. Margit was still standing there, watching. Waiting.

I only hoped we were ready.

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