A/N - Alright, my triumphant return to this app, tho I kinda forgot about it for a while, but we're gonna ignore that fact. Anyways, for about the past month I've been completely obsessed with Elden Ring and actually just got platinum in it making it my first platinum game.
I really wanted to make a fanfic about this for a few reasons. One, I wanted to remember my first experience with the game, even though the MC is based off of my endgame build, so thats a large part of this whole story and two, Elden Ring is a harem game and I will stand by that statement and since I love so many of the female characters, we making this a harem story bois.
Now, I will admit not everything will be perfect, I am human, or at least I hope so. If you don't like the story then don't read it. I hate when I'm looking at comments and there are so many negative ones just bombing the story. I just wanna entertain so those that are here to be entertained are welcome to stay. Just wanted to get that out of the way because I feel negativity is a big reason so many good stories on this app get discontinued.
I should also add, and I'll make this as noticeable as possible since I know not every one reads the A/N, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS AHEAD!
Between the realms of life and death, a lone tarnished warrior is able to finally rest, though never peacefully. His dreams are full of bloodshed and loss of those he held close to him. Over and over those images played in his head, especially of her and that final smile she gave him. He never knew that it would be the last at the time.
Was this his own personal Hell? Maybe it was. After all, fate has a tendency to toy with those who it likes.
Out of the darkness of this purgatory, a light sliced through the darkness. It was small, but it was there all together. It wasn't part of the dream, nor an illusion. It was warm, comforting, it was real.
The Tarnished, Aria, awakened and opened his eyes, brushing his long black hair out of the way for a clearer view to the strangely familiar sight. He was in a cold stone room that was littered with books, papers, grass over growing through the stone floor, and the corpse of a woman with a note in her hands.
Aria got up slowly, getting used to the weight of his pure black steel armor and grabbed the colossal decaying great sword that was laid by his side. He walked over to the woman and took the note in his hand. It read, "Though the path be broken and uncertain, claim your place as Elden Lord." Aria couldn't help but smile slightly. He already knew that the path laid before him would be uneasy and death waited around every corner, but these maiden's words, though she was unfortunately embraced by the reaper, lit a fire within his soul. Afterall, there are people he needs to protect this time around. He won't let the same mistakes happen again.
He stood back up and turned towards a pair of heavy black metal doors. He placed a hand on each door and pushed his way through the gate into hell and took his first step into his journey.
Outside, Aria walked towards the edge of the cliff and stared out upon his first viewing of the outside world. In the distance he could see the outline of a large castle and even further he saw his goal, the Erdtree.
He turned left past overgrown tree roots and blood stains littered about the ground and descended a small decaying stair way. He then crossed a wooden bridge that didn't look as rotten as the stairs by some miracle yet it still creaked with each step that he took. He prayed that it wouldn't give out on him. The wind was strong, blowing his long black cape with it as he crossed. When he finally reached solid ground again he continued forward and entered what seemed to be a graveyard.
Swords and spears were thrusted into the ground, likely where other warriors met their demise. At the end of the graveyard stood a large statue of the goddess, Marika The Eternal.
Aria slowly and cautiously walked into the graveyard. Then without warning a Grafted Scion launched itself from an unknown location and landed right in front of the statue of Marika.
Aria gripped his sword with two hands and stood ready for a fight with his first enemy. The spider-like creature made of human limbs pulled out multiple swords and a large shield and started its charge. Aria raised his colossal sword in the air in a downward strike and managed to hit the abomination, but that wasn't enough. Using all of its weapons at its disposal, the Grafted Scion impaled Aria like a skewer and ripped the weapons out of him as blood flew everywhere.
Aria felt each burning sting of each individual blade. This pain was evidence to him that this wasn't part of his hellish nightmare anymore, he was alive. He smiled slightly as blood dripped from his mouth and all of his wounds and he blacked out shortly after.
Unfortunately for him... he died.
Yet, somehow once again maybe by some miracle he was alive.
Out of the darkness of the cold and damp cave, a woman hiding herself under a gray cloak, riding a steed of white appeared before the now passed out Aria, who was laying in a pool of water.
She spoke in a gentle, soothing way as she petted the steed's coat. "Don't worry, Torrent. Fortune is on his side. We found him here after all." The woman then hopped off Torrent.
Aria then began to regain his consciousness, although only slightly, as the woman walked to him and knelt down beside him.
"One of his kind is sure to seek the Elden Ring." Those were the only words Aria could hear before blacking out again.
The woman got up, but not before leaving some flasks with Aria and promptly left, vanishing into a blue light along with Torrent.
Aria awoke once again, this time having regained full awareness of his situation. He patted himself in the darkness, noticing that his wounds were gone. "I guess that was one hell of a wake up call." He joked to himself.
The cave was dark, the only light coming from a small golden tree. He headed towards the tree and thus towards a pair of wooden doors and opened them to reveal a crypt being lit only by a few candles. He walked up a small set of stairs that were set to his left and saw something glowing. It was a Site of Grace, the last bit of light governing this land of darkness and what allowed this second life.
Aria walked closer and touched it. The Grace felt warm and comforting, just like that feeling from before he was resurrected.
He continued on, passing a wall of white fog, a gargoyle statue, and more stone coffins until he reached an elevator. He activated it and it brought him up to another small staircase, but this time with a black door at the top.
He lifted it up and was met with a beautiful sight, the land of Limgrave.
All the trees were a beautiful gold as a castle laid off in the distance. Ruins littered the landscape and could only make one wonder what this place looked like before the collapse.
Aria spotted another Site of Grace nearby with a man standing not far away either.
After touching the Grace, Aria went to talk to the man.
He wore white clothing with faded blood stains, a dagger was strapped to his right hip and a white mask covered his face. It was like he was waiting for Aria to approach him first. There was an offsetting aura around him that Aria didn't like.
"Ah greetings, Tarnished. Have you come to the Lands Between to seek the Elden Ring, hmm? Of course you have. There is no shame in it. However, unfortunately for you, you are maidenless. Without guidance, without strength, without an invitation to the roundtable, I'm afraid you will die in obscurity, with no acknowledgement to your name." The masked man said with a bit of venom on his tongue.
"So what if I am maidenless or have no guidance nor strength?" Aria spit back at him.
"Please, I did not mean to insult you, nor do I wish to cause conflict. I am merely trying to help out a fellow traveler. My name is Varré and if you may choose to listen, I may be able to give you some advice to help you survive." Aria simply remained silent towards the white masked Varré as he continued. "To see Grace, you must have been chosen. That in itself is a great honor that the Erdtree bestows upon those it thinks is worthy. If you follow the Grace it will lead you to your destination, however, with each step the road grows more dangerous, but with each step away from your last Grace, you are one step closer to the next. Now it is time you go off to Stormveil Castle and seek the Elden Ring, though maidenless as you are."
Behind the mask, Aria could feel Varré's stare as he walked away. There was venom behind his words, that much was obvious, however, it was difficult to conclude if Varré was telling the truth or if he was lying. Something didn't sit right with Aria about him.
Aria continued down the hill away from the white masked man, concluding the farther the better.
Down the road there stood a golden plated Tree-Sentinel patrolling the dirt road leading from the tomb. Aria happened to find a church and his second site of grace. Moving north up the road, soldiers were patrolling a wooded area. Unlike the Tree Sentinel or the Grafted Scion, these were just normal soldiers and with a sword as large as the one Aria carried, he could make easy work of them.
Aria didn't bother hiding his presence and approached one of the soldiers who was watching over the mouth of the forest. The soldier drew his sword and Aria did the same, taking the same stance as he did during his fight, though it was more of a one sided slaughter, with the Grafted Scion. The soldier charged, but Aria delivered a quick yet heavy strike to the soldier's side, effectively cutting him in half. There wasn't even a scream, just a gasp as the soldier took his final breath. He then just stepped over the body, now pooling blood, and made his way through the forest trail.
On the other side there stood the ruins of what looked like an old temple and to the left embedded within the cliffside, a large castle gate stood. Aria could also see the faint glow of Grace nearby the gate. The ruins were swarming with soldiers and it looked like they had wolves with them as well.
'I could go past them, but it seems that they're guarding that gate. It's probably best to fight them now rather than later.' Aria concluded after observing for a moment.
Aria charged into the ruins, in the middle of the ruins he was faced against two soldiers and two wolves. Both wolves charged at him, but he managed to strike them both down before they even had a chance to attack. The two soldiers moved in next, one had his sword raised and the other was dragging his sword behind preparing for an upward strike. Aria parried the overhead strike of the first soldier sending him stumbling back a few steps, but enough room to breath. He swung the large black sword over his shoulder and down towards the ground killing the second soldier and quickly swung to his right, slaughtering the first soldier.
A third soldier heard the commotion caused by the last battle, but Aria saw him coming and was able to quickly hide behind a wall. As soon as the soldier was in view, Aria brought down the heavy slab of steel upon his skull.
As he walked out of his cover, Aria felt a strong kick to his back which sent him flying into a nearby tent. He was dazed for a moment after the sudden attack, but quickly regained his senses. Standing before him was a large knight dawning golden armor, a large shield, and a long spear.
Aria stood to his feet and brushed himself off as a trail of blood started to stream down from his head. He and the knight squared off against each other, circling as they refused to break eye contact. Aria took the offensive and charged at the knight and swung his sword a total of about three times, each time the sword made contact with the shield sparks flew igniting the twilight turning sky. On the fourth strike, the shield was ripped from the knight's hand and flew a few feet away with a large clank and the knight lost his footing falling on his back with his spear laying next to him. The knight tried to reach for his spear, but Aria stomped on his arm, not allowing any movement. He then raised his sword with both hands planted firmly on the handle and thrusted it down, impaling the knight.
Aria breathed a sigh of relief now that the battle was over and he looked upon his work just like an artist looking over their painting. Some may argue that made him a monster, a beast clad in black, but to be a monster you must enjoy the killing, you must willingly kill for enjoyment. He never enjoyed killing, but he knew that he had to do it, but there was a rush whenever he was in battle. He felt alive.
This was a cruel world and the smallest mistake, the smallest miss step could cause one's death. If you hesitated you died. He knew that if he was to become Elden Lord and save those who he dreamed of, he would have to soak his hands in the blood of others. If that meant he could achieve his goal, then he would do it with no hesitation.
As the night began to creep across the sky, Aria made his way towards the Grace and sat down to rest for the night.
Out of the darkness, a ghostly blue glow illuminated the surroundings as a woman, the same woman from before, appeared before Aria.
"Greetings, Traveler from beyond the fog. I am Melina and I've come to offer you an accord." She said as she removed the hood covering her face, revealing short shoulder length dark crimson hair and a scar over her left eye. Beside being dressed in a dark gray almost black cloak, she was also dressed in a grayish traveler's dress.
Aria couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her. A surge of emotions started to well up, happiness, nervousness, sadness, and another feeling he couldn't quite pinpoint.
As he stared up at the maiden, he could feel tears start to flow from his eyes.
"Ah, traveler, are you alright? Why are you crying?" Melina asked as she knelt down beside him.
She was concerned. Did she somehow do something to upset him? That had to be impossible, she only just revealed herself to him. Worry started to fill her heart as she looked into his blue eyes, glossy from the tears. For some reason as she looked in his eyes, she felt a sense of nostalgia, but from what? This was the first time they've actually met.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just you reminded me of someone that I used to know." Aria admitted as he looked away from her to dry his tears.
For some reason Melina found herself smiling slightly. She found his reaction cute and honestly just wanted to hold him, but there was business to be discussed first.
"So what is this accord?" Aria asked.
"Ah yes." Melina cleared her throat before she continued. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Finger Maidens?"
"No, I can't say that I have. Then again I've only been awake for today so all of this is quite new. All I know is that I must become Elden Lord."
"I see, then maybe this proposition is perfect for you. The Finger Maidens serve the two fingers and offer guidance to the Tarnished who seek the Elden Ring, much like you, however, you are maidenless. I can serve as your maiden, turn your runes into strength, to aid you in your journey. I only ask that you take me with you and take me to the base of the great Erdtree."
"So essentially this whole thing becomes a win-win situation? I see, then I approve of your accord."
"Wonderful, then it's settled. You may summon me by grace and I may turn your runes into strength. Ah and before I forget, take this."
Melina then reached into a pouch that was attached to her belt on her dress and revealed a ring like whistle.
"Use this to summon the spectral steed, Torrent. Use him to traverse great distances, but please, do respect him. He has chosen you after all."
Aria took the whistle from Melina's hand. "Thank you, Melina."
Melina flashed Aria a small smile that was filled with gratitude before standing. "Then I must be off. I do hope we speak again soon."
As she turned and began to take a step away a feeling overcame Aria. It was scratching at his heart, he didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay with him, to travel with him, to just be near him. Whether it was because of this feeling or just pure instinct, Aria jumped up from his spot on the cold grass and gripped Melina's hand in his own.
"T-Tarnished one? Is there something the matter?" She asked slightly startled as she didn't expect a reaction.
"Melina, wait. I know I already accepted the contract, but there is something I want to ask of you." A slight blush crossed both of their cheeks. Melina remained quiet as she awaited this new condition. Aria took a deep breath before continuing. "I want you to stay with me. That is if you want?"
"S-stay with you? As in you want me as a traveling companion?" She said with her eye wide and her blush becoming even deeper. "I suppose that I can. I don't see why not."
Aria became less tense and smiled at her. "Thank you."
"Please, there is no need to thank me, Tarnished one. After all, as you said this is a win-win situation and the more help you get the better, correct."
"You're right. One thing though, you don't need to keep calling me, Tarnished one, call me Aria. We are companions after all."
"Sure, Aria. Now let's get some rest. The journey will be long and difficult." She said as she looked to the night sky.
As Aria admired her staring into the sky, he unconsciously whispered under his breath. "Not with you here."
"Did you say something?"
"No, never mind. I was just talking to myself."