The Godless Age ARC IV: CHAPTER 2, an elden ring fanfic

ARC IV

CHAPTER 2:

ACROSS THE WASTES

LIMGRAVE, THE EASTERN BORDER

"What the fuck?"

The sight of the border's current state was a confusing sight, Lordan was not expecting any battle to take place. He covers his mouth as a foul smell polluted the air, similar to that of rotten corpses that had been left for days.

"Ugh... The hells is that smell?"

Lordan then checked on himself to ensure he was ready to move, looking to Melina to check on her once again before they proceeded. And with her approval, Lordan urges Torrent forward at a comfortable pace to approach the army stationed there that was currently doing the cleanup.

They rode for a little while and spots a pair of guards dumping rotten bodies into another pile that was in flames, both wearing what appeared to be protective cloaks and gloves with a plague mask that allows one to be safe from disease.

"Dammit... These corpses won't let up. Every week they march a horde here..."

"Honestly, we got it lucky. Heard the Redmanes are dealing with this daily. With those large dog-like monsters coming along."

"Fuck... That sounds rough..."

"You tell me. Dealing with one is bad enough. I Heard Onlson's brother got torn to pieces by a stray last week, poor kid died screaming."

A conversation between the two guards was ongoing as Lordan and Melina approached them on horseback. Their attention soon turned to them as Torrent's walk can be heard near their position. "Oi! You can't be her- My lord?"

The guard drop a body they were currently holding and saluted Lordan in respect. Lordan quickly orders them to ease, he wasn't used to the addressing of his lordship yet. "At ease. What happened here?"

The guards look at eac other as both were unsure how to report this situation. One of the guards soon steps forward as he finishes thinking of the response. "It's the rot, my Lord. It's starting to try and spread into our borders. We have been fighting those things for the whole duration of our deployment here."

"And these bodies. Are they our men? Refugees from Caelid?"

"No my Lord. These are the corpses we have been fighting for the past months."

Lordan then dismounts Torrent and moves over to the cart of bodies that contains the rotten corpses. Inspecting the pile of bodies in the cart, Lordan observed that the bodies were severely decomposing, like years of decay were present on bodies that were freshly killed.

Ugh... That's nasty... How the hells were these things still alive?

"Where is the leader of this defense? Nepheli Loux? Our Warmaster?"

The guards look at one another as if both were not aware of that information. "You may need to check with our commander, commander Stefan, my lord. He is currently handling the crisis in her stead." They pointed in the direction for Lordan to go, passing several more piles of bodies that were in the midst of burning.

With their advice, Lordan remounts Torrent with Melina still on it and turns to leave. "Carry on. You are doing great jobs." The guards offer small bows as Lordan rode away to his next destination, careful to avoid the several obstacles that were used in the cleanup.

"Melina? You good?"

"Yes, Lordan. Do not worry about me. I have seen these kinds of things before."

"That's what I'm worried about..." His tone turns somber at the thought of Melina witnessing such horrors before he met her. He sighs as an idea came to his mind, the idea that Melina may have knowledge of the current situation since she had seen it before. "Do you... Know anything about what's coming from Caelid?"

His question has no response as Melina thinks of an answer that he could understand. "The Rot is a disease that is growing within Caelid, the creation of an outer god. It was through Malenia did the rot took root within the region, her final fight with her half-brother unleashed a breakout of the plague that she had sealed away within herself."

He tries to understand her words and vaguely makes out his own understanding as a little resentment builds within him from the story.

Another place ruined by the work of gods. They just don't know how to leave others alone, do they?

"I see... Thanks for the tip, Melina." His thoughts then shifted to her safety as they would be traveling through a potentially dangerous region for the next Great Rune. "Melina... Caelid might be a little hectic for us to travel together. I think maybe you should... Let me go in alone. I don't want to put you at risk."

"What kind of risk?"

"Vyke. I still don't know if he will appear again."

The mention of his name causes Melina to grip Lordan a little harder, making him comfort her by holding her hand. She takes a moment to compose herself, reverting back to her normal state of calm. "I... Appreciate your concern, and will do what you ask of me. But I... Don't want to be afraid anymore."

He listened to her with surprise, noting her change in opinion in terms of facing Vyke. Lordan would protect Melina against that madman with everything he had but knows that he can never erase the trauma and hurt that Vyke brought upon her, even if he doesn't truly know what he did. And it bothers him, the hold that Vyke had over Melina's fears. "I understand that, and I want to travel with you at any time we have. So here's a deal for you, we can travel together, physically when I clear and secure a region or when I call for you. Alright?"

His offer makes Melina smile his concern, and making Melina happy was something he enjoyed doing. Her response was to hold Lordan tighter as they rode on Torrent's back, it was a hug from his back as Melina leans her head on it as well.

"Lordan... Thank you. For caring about me."

He returned the gesture by holding her hand once again, both stayed this way for a while as they rode forward. They eventually break off the embrace as Torrent was reaching their destination, where tents and more piles of burning bodies were seen with soldiers by the dozen working on the cleanup. The main tent was eventually spotted due to its larger size and Lordan rode Torrent to its direction.

Both Lordan and Melina dismounted Torrent upon reaching the tent's entrance, making Torrent back into the blue mist. The guards of the tent stand to attention as they recognised Lordan and allowed them to pass through without delay. Lordan enters the tent with Melina behind to see a group gathered around a table with a map of Limgrave's border, a group comprising of senior soldiers that were deep in thought as they listened to the current commander of the border's defense.

"And we will station looks out at this hill, facing east to the upper border. We will also need to-" The commander's words stop as Lordan's presence was finally noticed, prompting the group to greet him with bows of respect. "My lord! We were not expecting you here."

"At ease, everyone." They soon cleared a path and allowed Lordan and Melina to step forward to the table. "Alright, Commander Stefan was it? Give me the overall report."

The group looks around, some eyes nervously looking at the commander. "My lord... Commander Stefan... He died a few hours ago from the Rot plague. I am his replacement, his second in command."

"What? Seriously?!" The group could only nod as an answer to Lordan's question. Damn. The border guards are dropping like flies. I need to send a raven to Kenneth. He focused on the table in front of him as he looks at the group's planned strategy, a work in progress that showed little promise. "Fine... Just give me the bad news first. Then the good."

The commander moves to Lordan's side while taking a few pieces of miniature figures to use. "I'm afraid there is no good news, my lord. We are being pushed by these foul creatures on a weekly basis. And every time with lose more men, a few dozen at least in each encounter. And we are currently spread too thin to properly man the border."

"How many men do we exactly have now? At this very moment on the border?"

"207 in total, my lord. This is about... A quarter of our original strength."

"Damn... That's not a good number..." Lordan looks at the map of the border's layout, a map that seemed to be drawn over many times due to changes in plans. It contains drawings of all the current positions and defenses, with miniatures used to represent the types of units.

"May I?" He sticks his hand out to the commander and was passed the miniature pieces that were taken earlier. Lordan considered the current layout and made the appropriate changes to the plans, taking into account the lack of manpower.

He considered the role of each type of soldier they had, assigning the position of higher ground to archers and lower ground to infantry with spears. He also took notice of the fortified positions that were still available, ensuring that his plan would make full use of their siege equipment that were still available.

Here. And here... And... Maybe this side? Hmmm... One man needs to take the place of ten...

The men around him watch in silence as he starts drafting their strategy, all watching Lordan's work in silence as it slowly comes together. He draws upon the map and shifted the figures to their new positions. His adjustments take a while as he slowly made minor alterations to each of his decisions.

Lordan eventually completed his layout after half an hour, his plans detailed in writing and drawings to the tiniest of detail. "There. This should be a plan we could use. What do you think?"

"My lord... What kind of plan is this?"

"Well... From where I come from, this is called 'Guerrilla warfare'. "

The commander and some of the men in the tent close in on the table to inspect the drawn-out plans, with most of them giving a sound of surprise and approval as none of them thought of such ideas. For it was a plan that Lordan formulated through his years of experiences with Vargram, where he was taught to use lesser numbers and any means as an advantage. And the current lean Manning of the border was suited for that.

"Yes... Yes, this is exactly what we need! This is brilliant, my lord! Truly!"

The entire group erupted in agreement as they had just received the solution to their troubled situation. A small celebration breaks out in the tent as Lordan looks to Melina, offering him a small smile and nod for a job well done.

Ok. I gonna marry her...

"Alright. Let's get to making those plans a reality. We will start with finding Nep-"

Lordan's attempt to instruct his orders was interrupted as a horn was blown from outside the tent. Everyone went silent and rushes out of the tent as all were aware of what that sound meant.

"Lordan, is that?"

"Yes. We are under attack."

The group of men and the commander leaves first with Lordan and Melina following behind. All of them ran into the next battle against the incoming Rot creatures.

Soldiers from all over the border take up their positions, with archers up high and infantry going to the front with their spears. Lordan with Melina soon spots the wooden watch tower where the horn was blown from and made their way to its base.

"Man! What do you see?!"

"Rider coming from the east! A horde of Dogs! Right behind them!"

Dogs? The watchman's words made no sense to Lordan, prompting him to climb up the tower himself for a better view. Once at the top Lordan retrieved his telescope to see the rider coming to them from a distance.

Through his telescope's lens he spots the identity of the rider. It was Nepheli. And he soon see the dogs the Watchmen were talking about, giant Rotting Dogs thrice the size of a man all in pursuit of her.

Shit! Nepheli! The sight of her being chased made his mind kick into alert. He rushes down the watchtower without a thought as he starts running in the direction of Caelid. "Archers! Take positions behind the barricades! Flame arrows only! Single volley on my signal at my position!" He shouts an order to the superiors of the soldiers Manning the wall, all of them confused by the instruction to fire at him on a signal.

"Your position?! My lord, our arrows, might hit you!"

"Just do it! I can manage!"

"But what's the signal?!"

"You will see!" Without a delay, he blows on his whistle ring and Torrent appears swiftly for him to mount. Lordan urges Torrent forward and crosses the border at full speed without hesitation. He prepares his weapons while upon Torrent's back. choosing his staff, a circular great shield, greataxe from Godrick, a straight sword, and the new repeating crossbow.

As Lordan rides blue mist appears behind him to reveal Melina who sits behind him and was currently riding on Torrent with him to battle. "Melina?! It's not safe!"

"And either are you. Which is why we are going to fight, together."

He tries to talk her down but pauses as he remembers their previous talk about her not wanting to be in fear anymore, and this might be the first step towards that. "Just keep close, ok?"

"Of course."

And they picked up speed as Lordan urges Torrent faster. The distance between them and Nepheil was closing as she finally notices the duo riding towards her, causing her to wave and shout words at Lordan that he could not hear due to her still bing too far.

Nepheli's actions distracted her as one of the giant dogs manages to bite onto her horse's leg, forcefully throwing her forward as her horse was pulled back and torn to pieces by several other dogs in the chase.

"Melina! Take the reins! And clear off then come back!" Melina followed Lordan's instructions and took over Torrent's control. He then jumps off Torrent and rushes the Nepheil's side, drawing out his shield and staff in the process.

The Rotting Pack

"Lordan?!"

"Hang tight, Loux!" He raises his shield and points his staff to the sky, firing off a Glintstone attack that works as the signal he wanted. "Hold on!" Using the great shield to cover both of them, Lordan prepares for a rain of flame arrows as the pack of giant dogs inched ever closer to them in their unrelentless charge.

A charge that was halted as arrows with fire rained down on the radius, hitting the giant dogs while Lordan and Nepheil remain unharmed from cover. The arrows do damage to the giant dogs, killing some in the process but was not enough to fully eliminate them.

"Hello, Wolf! It's been a while!"

"Not the time, Nepheli! I'm getting you back to the border!"

"Are you kidding? Nothing to rush the blood more than the midst of the battle! I'm staying to gut those mutts!"

Definitely a warrior... "Fine! Wait for the volley to end, then we charge!" Both of them nod in agreement at Lordan's intent while he scans around to see where Melina had ridden off to. His focus soon shifted to the Giant dogs again as the volley of arrows end. "NOW!"

By his signal, Lordan keeps his shield swiftly and both of them charged the disoriented pack with their weapons, Nepheli with her axes and Lordan with his Greataxe.

Both them engaged the first dog and swiftly kills it Nepheil taking off its jaw with a single swing and Lordan followed up with an upwards strike. The second Dog charges them with its jaws open as both of them dodged out of the way for it to slam into a wall.

Nepheli goes for the kill and buries her axes into the second dog's head to put it down. Their third encounter was more difficult as a trio of Giant dogs attacked them at once, forcing them both to dodge between their attacks.

"Fall to me! Fucking pups!" A taunt came from Nepheli and one of the dogs attacked her head-on. She used the attack to her advantage and slashes the legs of the charging dog. It fails to stop the charge from the injury to its legs and rams into another giant dog, forcing both to the ground.

Lordan sees the opportunity to strike and pushes off the current dog attacking him to finish off the other two. He runs to the duo of dogs and performs a jump attack aim at their head. It strikes true and caves in the heads of two Giant dogs in the process with his Greataxe.

Three down. At least seven to-

His thoughts got interrupted as another Giant Dog joins the fray, using its head to knock him down hard. Nepheli sees it and attempts to help him but was deterred as two more came to block her way.

The Giant dog pins Lordan down to the ground, forcing him to use his Greataxe to hold back its jaws. He switches his grip to one hand and hold off the jaws while trying to take out his staff.

"Come on! Come on!"

He feels his strength failing him as the Giant dog pushes down further. It was soon attacked as a ray of gold hits its neck. The distraction allows Lordan to retrieve his staff and he immediately casts Glintstones at point blank, tearing through the body of the Giant dog above him.

The dog falls to the side and he sees the source of the attack that saved him, revealing herself to be Melina upon Torrent's back with a dagger drawn. She nods to Lordan for his approval to assist, which he gives almost immediately and she charges off with Torrent to Nepheli's direction, with Lordan following behind as he draws his other weapons.

They joined the fight and Melina delivers a combination of gold rays from her Dagger to stun one of the dogs. Torrent then charges into one of them and rams it head-on, knocking it down instantly and Nepheil uses that window to kill it.

5- no 4 more to go. He changes his count as another Dog was killed by Melina who drives her Dagger into its head.

Then casts his Glintstone spell to the air again and signals another volley of arrows, intending to end the fight as quickly as possible. He shouts to both of his companions as the second wave of arrows were coming.

"Melina! Nepheil! Get to cover or clear out NOW!"

His warning was heard as both women look to the sky and saw the arrow rain incoming. They scattered in different directions and tried to avoid it but they were interrupted as the last pack of Giant Dogs give chase.

Damn! Lordan sees the rain of arrows coming and knew that avoidance for all of them was impossible so a different measure would have to work. He thinks of a way for them to resist the damage from the incoming arrows. A thought came to his mind as he look at his staff, a spell that he learned earlier from a discarded scroll. Alright, Thops. Let's try that spell of yours.

With his staff and sword in hand, Lordan dashed to the direction of where his friends were currently. He reaches one of the attacking Dogs and slashes it on the legs to temporarily cripple it and he casts the spell on Melina and Torrent first as they were the closest.

His attention then turns to Nepheli who was dodging in between multiple attackers. He runs to them and pulls out his Repeating Crossbow, firing off bolts at the Dogs to attract their attention. It worked as they redirected their attention to Lordan and charges him with their jaws opened.

With his plan working, Lordan casts the spell at Nepheli and casted it on himself as well, but the spell failed on himself as he runs out of focus to cast it. He looks back at the sky and sees the arrows on the verge of reaching the area and he is still unprotected.

Ah! Screw it! Time to improvise! He runs to the charging Dogs as the first of the arrows land behind him. The first of the Dogs bites at him which he manages to avoid by sliding in between its legs. Another Dog attacks but Lordan Dodges and it hits the first Dog he slides below earlier.

The arrows come and hit the Dogs behind Lordan as it reaches the radius around him. He looks to his companions as the barrier spell protects them while he gets hit by a few arrows himself, it causes minor damage to him as his armor provided some protection.

The Dogs around Lordan then all tried attacking him at once while the arrow rain hits them. Lordan then moves to avoid the arrows and dodges in between their attacks, sometimes using their body as cover to avoid the arrows.

He then shifted his focus to one of the dogs that were severely weakened as thrusts his sword into its head, killing it instantly as the attack pierced its mind.

3 to go.

Another Dog attacks and Lordan Dodges with focus. It opens its mouth to bite but Lordan uses it as a window to rapidly fire bolts into its throat with his crossbow. The chokes on its blood while Lordan moves on to the next two, slowly dying as the arrows from above finishes it off.

2 to go.

The last pair of Dogs attack together, forcing Lordan to dodge between them while avoiding the continued arrow rain. The arrows soon starts to stop as it finishes its volley, allowing Lordan to execute his own attacks.

With a final Dodge, Lordan points his crossbow at one of the Dogs and fires while towards it. The attack distracted it and Lordan performs a charging thrust with his sword, stabbing it square in the throat. He then pulls the sword out by slashing it sideways, opening up it's throat as blood gushes out of the dog's throat to kill it.

And 1 to g-

Lordan's thoughts could not finish as the last Giant Dog bites his arms and throws him aside to hit a nearby rock. The attack leaves Lordan stunned as the dog charges him for a killing blow.

"Lordan!"

Both women shouted at him to snap him out of his stun and he dodge sideways to avoid the charge, causing the dog to crash into the rock. And Lordan reaches into his enchanted bag and pulls out Godrick's Greataxe again, dual wielding it and swinging his arms to the side for a final blow as the dog gets up to face him again.

With a war cry, Lordan swings the Greataxe with all his might, using the blunt side to make it a Warhammer instead. The attack smashes into the dog's head and breaks its entire skull upon impact. The dog twitches for a moment as it begins to die from the attack. It finally collapses and leaves Lordan victorious as the last of the pack dies.

ENEMIES FELLED

"Down boy..." He ends off with a witty remark to the now-dead Giant dog, looking around to see that the pack of Giant dogs were now completely wiped out. The lack of enemies allowed Lordan to rest, taking a knee down as his adrenaline was coming down from its high, pain and faitgue crashing into him all at once. Runes from the remains of the pack were soon absorbed into him in the process

He takes out his flasks and sips on both of them to recover his health and focus. He looks to Melina and Nepheli as both of them ran toward him with concern for his welfare.

"Lordan. Are you alright?"

"Lordan! You good?"

Both woman look at each other due to them speaking at the same time as they reached him. They quickly help Lordan to his feet as his healing items take effect to recover him.

"Yeah... I'm good, thanks."

Both Melina and Nepheli held on to one of his arms as they looked at each other. Both of them were on friendly terms yet at that one moment, both were aware of what the other was.

Competition.

"Uhhhhhh... You guys can let me go now." Lordan speaks as he was now standing, confused by them still holding his arms.

Both looked at Lordan as they snapped out of their stare, letting him go at the same time. Lordan then looks between them as he was not aware of what just happened.

Okay... What's with them?

"Well... It's been a while, Lordan. Don't suppose you came to visit the border? Inspecting the defense? Last I heard, you were in Liurnia."

"It's a long story, Nepheli." He looks around as they conversed, making sure nothing was going to interrupt them. "I think we should head back to the border first, just in case." He then realized that he had not seen Melina and Nepheli meet yet. "Oh, and this is Melina. She's my-"

"We have met."

Both of them answered at the same time once again, and both felt a little annoyed at one another.

"Ok... You two know each other?" Silence was observed between them for a while before Melina speaks out first.

"Yes. Nepheli knows that I am your maiden and that we travel together a lot."

"And Melina knows that I am your Warmaster and that we fight alongside each other, a lot."

Her response made Melina pout while Nepheli smirked, satisfied by her reaction.

Am I in the middle of something here? Are they... Fighting? He observed their responses and noticed a fair bit of passive aggressiveness between them, with unspoken tension between the two. But why would they be-

The girl likes you. It doesn't help the fact that you are the prettiest boy she's ever seen, and one that can fight as well as her.

Oh. Gideon's words ring in his head as he understands the tension between both women. He didn't want it to last and decides to break it by suggesting to move on. "Well... Let's get moving... Don't want a... Dog to swoop down on us or something... Swooping is really bad..."

"Lead the way, Lordan."

"Lead on, wolf."

Ok... This is going to be a long walk... Lordan then walks towards the west, with both of his companions following behind him. He looks to Torrent and signals it away, knowing that he would have trouble choosing who to ride with him on Torrent.

And the trio started to make their way back to the border's defenses, with an awkward tension in the air. Lordan sighs quietly as he sees the distance in front of him, estimating it to be at least a good fifteen minutes to walk.

Yup... A very long walk...

Silence was observed throughout the tent as Nepheli was reading the letter that Lordan had just passed to her, a letter containing the new instructions from her father.

Lordan leans on the tent's pillar as he silently reads Nepheli's expressions while she was reading her letter. He could tell that she was troubled by its contents. Clearly whatever Gideon has tasked her to do was heinous enough to shake her of all people.

"Trouble? Let me guess, he is disappointed in you for something and he put it in writing?" He attempts to humor Nepheli with a little jest, earning him no response as Nepheli was simply too fixated on the letter from Gideon. "Ok... Do you need me to... Wait outside?"

"No. I'm done, Lordan." She finishes reading her letter and faced down to look at her feet, barely hiding her facial expression from Lordan as he could see minor signs of distress that she was hiding.

"Nepheli... What did the letter say?"

He asked her about it's contents but her only response was to tear the letter in half and then to pieces, following up with a loud grunt of frustration. He remained silent for Nepheli to calm herself down, something in that letter had clearly angered her.

Nepheli starts to calm herself down with some breathing exercises and returned to her original demeanor. "It's nothing... Just... I need to leave, Lordan. Father requires me elsewhere." A request was made by her as she looks away from Lordan, unable to face him as she was asking to abandon her duties as his Warmaster. "I... I'm sorry. But my duties to father come first, as I said before."

"No. No need be explain anything to me, Nepheli. Go. Do what you need to do. I will take care of things... I hope." He lets her go without asking for a further explanation, even as Nepheli was prepared to give one. "The border will hold, Loux. I already asked them to send ravens to Kenneth, reinforcements are on their way."

Nepheli opened her mouth to speak but no word came out from her mouth. No words could express her thanks to Lordan for letting her leave, even if she didn't want to as she had a responsibility in his service. But Nepheli had no choice, her service to her father was always a priority to her, and Gideon made that clear within the letter he wrote her.

So instead of speaking Nepheli offers her hand, which Lordan takes by the forearm to shake. "Thank you for this, Lordan, and the rescue today. I will return when my father's tasks have been completed. I am your Warmaster and I will maintain that status quo."

"Of course, I trust you completely. Now go, time's a wasting."

"Spending time with you Lordan is no waste at all."

"Ehhh... Some would disagree with you."

"Those who do are fools, wolf. And I am no fool."

Lordan lets out a small laugh at her remark and bids her farewell. Nepheli turns to leave the tent but soon remembers something that needed to hand over. "Oh. And this letter is for you. From the Redmanes."

"Radahn's army?" Lordan takes the letter in hand and sees the signature crest of the Redmanes to confirm its authenticity. "You went into Caelid to get this? That was risky."

"But worth it. Now we have confirmation that we and the Redmanes are not going to be enemies and that they are fighting the Rot as well on their front."

"True... But we will see. How did you get it anyway?"

"Fought through the region with a small scouting force of my own men. They didn't make it though." The loss of men in battle was a constant occurrence in her line of work so Nepheli was unfazed by such an event. "Well, off I go. Try not to die without me, Lordan. The lands between will become boring in your absence."

"Tsk. No promises. Good luck, Loux." Lordan watches on as Nepheli gives a bow and turned to leave. With himself alone, Lordan begins to open the letter, carefully breaking the seal and unfolding the paper to inspect the message.

To the Lord of Limgrave,

I am the Castellan for the castle Redmane and all its lands, and I am writing on behalf of the Redmane's remaining forces as all other superiors to me have been deceased.

It is my best hope that this letter reaches you as the situation in Caelid has now become urgent.

A festival dedicated to General Radahn is to be held in the coming weeks, to allow the Tarnished and his own forces to do battle against the general as his last wish before the rot destroyed his mind.

However, there has been an increase in attacks from the rotting monstrosities that come from the heart of Caelid's swamps, where the general and his half-sister fought to a standstill.

And with both of our regions defenses stretching thin, there is a chance that the festival cannot continue, as the castle's focus is on its defense which is being tested on a daily basis.

There have been efforts made to find the source of the increasing attacks, with the most recent attempt made by Commander O'Neil with a sizeable force into the swamp. But that has failed as the commander has not returned from his expected timeframe, and a recovery force send to find them has also been lost, so we can only assume the worst.

The commander had plans to find the source and quell it with a magical object, a needle to be precise. He was reported to be last seen in the Church of the Plague before setting off, east of the region.

Curbing the spread of the rot is now a priority over the festival itself. But the Redmanes do not have the resources nor the manpower to organize another search in the heart of the swamp.

Can you help?

Regards,

Castellan Jerren

Lordan processes the contents of the message, understanding that the forces in Caelid were also in a midst of their struggles that mimic theirs. He thinks of his options on what type of support Limgrave could provide, noting that his own forces were currently strained as well.

How many men can I spare? What is required to host an expedition?

Rough numbers came to his head, ideas of how to muster the strength required for this task. All his ideas were not ideal as he wasn't willing to risk losing more men as too many had already been lost from the border's defense.

Dammit... None of those options are ideal... Unless...

Lordan was still under the effects of grace and he was in less amount of risk being killed as he will simply resurrect from the time loop. So the best option to minimize the risk of losing more soldiers was to find the rotting source alone, even if it was dangerous.

Well... Guess I'm going alone. At least everyone else will be safe.

"Lordan?" A female voice came from the tent's entrance, revealing herself to be Melina who had waited outside for Lordan and Nepheli to have a private discussion. "I saw Nepheli leave, and she seemed... Distressed. Did something happen?"

"It's fine. Just Gideon writing his nonsense on paper to her. She's got a job from him to do, so I gave her a leave of absence."

His response made her sigh in relief as nothing had gone wrong. "And what of you, Lordan? Are you well? The last battle seemed to take much out of you." She mentioned his tired state, considering that Lordan had spent the majority of the battle moving vigorously. The sight of Grace made him immune to a permanent death but it does not make him invincible.

"It's nothing, just a little peachy I guess." Lordan moves to the tent's table and inspected the map of Caelid in its entirety, spotting the church that was mentioned in the letter. He takes out his own map and marks out the location to visit, looking back to Melina after he was done.

"And... It seems I gonna be going alone for this one. There's something in Caelid's swamps that need my attention. And I'm going alone." He waits for a response as he looks at Melina, trying to find the minor hints of disappointment. "I'm sorry. It's a little hypocritical for me to promise us to travel together and me immediately ask you to-"

"I respect your wishes, Lordan. I will await your call, if you need me." Lordan opens his mouth and tried to speak but was stopped as Melina put her hand over it. "You cannot focus and worry for me at the same time. I know you want to make it up to me, but the time for that is later. The Elden Ring comes first, Lordan. I must not be your priority."

He tries to come out with a reason to counter her point, but his mind couldn't as Melina was right he was getting too distracted by the idea of spending time with her. The slaying of Radahn was his true task now with the Carians breathing down his neck.

He sighs loudly in defeat, agreeing with Melina their promise, agreeing that it will have to wait. "Alright... Then I'm setting off soon. I will... Check on the border for a while more before I move on. Maybe... Wait at the Roundtable Hold? It's the safest place in the lands."

"Very well. Call upon me Lordan, and I shall answer anytime."

"I know you will." As Melina starts disappearing into a blue mist, Lordan starts to think of a final word to say to her, noting that it may be a while before they meet each other again. "Melina... I-"

He looks up in her direction and sees her fading completely, seeing her faint smile as the blue mist disappears with Melina.

"Now you see her... Now you don't..." Her disappearance makes him sigh and with no other purpose here Lordan leaves the tent.

He started moving east of the border and passes by all the forces that were currently in the midst of preparing the new positions, each one greeting him as he walked by. He reaches the end point of the border to Caelid and was greeted by the commander earlier.

"My lord. The border is being secured as per your plans. We will be ready by the dawn."

"Good. Just stay put. I'm going to fix this." He continued on forward a little without a word, blowing his whistle and summoning Torrent in front of him. Lordan mounts up and checks on his equipment again before moving off, ensuring that he was set to explore Caelid with all the required preparations.

"You have the border, commander. Stand fast. All of you."

With his final words, Lordan urges Torrent forward and rides off to Caelid. The border's stood at attention while he rides off. And soon he fades into the horizon, disappearing into the distance of the new region.

CAELID, CHURCH OF THE PLAGUE

a week passed as Lordan was riding through the region. His journey through Caelid was nothing but trouble thus far. With the main roads completely ruined by the presence of rotten creatures or the growth of strange floral that made it difficult to travel.

And majority of the Region seems to be dead. With Lordan passing by abandoned settlements and villages with no signs of life anywhere but the rotting creatures that seem to infest every corner of the lands here. He had met a few merchants along the way to get supplies unique to the region, with the majority of them sticking to the hidden paths to avoid attracting attention. All of these Merchants made their way to Redman Castle for the festival, where the Tarnished legions would be gathered for the upcoming festival, making their trip a potential business.

"Alright... stop a moment, Torrent. let's take a breather." Torrent stops dead in its track by his command. He dismounts and allows Torrent to rest, moving to the cliff's edge of the hill they were currently stopped at. He observes the overlook that showed the swamp below, its vile and putrid state as clear as day. And the weather had also been an anomaly for the region, the lack of sun rays seemed to be caused by the reddish sky that Lordan had never seen before.

His curiosity kicks in as he looked down the area of the overlook, prompting him to retrieve his telescope for a better view. His choice to view the swamp clearer was soon a mistake, as he manages to view more horror that was lurking in the rotting swamps. What the fuck is wrong with this place?

" Ahhh... Caelid. The shithole of the lands between... " The phantom of Godwyn appears beside him, an invisible companion to Lordan during his travel in the region. " Even after a thousand years of attempted restoration, it still remains an absolute excuse for a wasteland. "

"Was it always this bad?"

" Yes and no. There was a time when the region seemed livable during Radahn's rule. But of course, the rot that exists currently was here first. So, much of the effort was used to contain it rather then be rid of it."

"Yeah... Worked out pretty well did it..." It was clear that whatever effort was used to clear Caelid of any of the rot that currently existed had failed miserably as the current state of the swamps was beyond repair. "Any... Enlightening advice that you can provide? Or are you just going to be a bother again?"

" Actually, I do have advice. Which one are you picking? "

"What?"

" Your Maiden or Warmaster? Which one are you picking? "

"What the hells does that have to do with anything i just said?"

His response makes Godwyn eyes roll harder than ever before, clearly, he was not seeing the picture he was trying to show. " Lordan... You just may be the dumbest luckiest man I have ever met. You have not two, but six. Six different women throwing themselves at you, and you chose to try and chase only one. Why? "

"oh, I dunno... Maybe it's because I'm a decent person that doesn't sleep around just because I can. And it's also becau- You know What? Why are we even talking about this?! My love life and who I chase is none of your business!"

" It is if I'm going to be in that empty head of yours. And if I were you, I would pick the warrior or the witch Sellen. "

"Oh fuck off, Godwyn. Not everybody a horny bastard like you..." Lordan turns to leave as the church he looking for was nearby. He stops and looks back as he was reminded of something to do with Godwyn. "And you know what, I almost forgot. That whole taking over my body thing you did last time at the academy? Not gonna happen again. you hear me?"

" I saved you from an endless loop of defeat if I remember correctly. So I promise nothing. And last I checked, I only managed to take control when you let me remember? "

Godwyn's mention of that condition made him pause as he recalls how Godwyn's possession took place. It was only when Lordan allowed him to take control did Godwyn managed to use his body. And his control was somehow forced out as the fight ended.

I told him at the time to take over and defeat Radagon and Rennala. Does that mean I get to decide how much he takes control of my body?

But of course, the main concern wasn't Godwyn controlling his body, it was that lack of awareness for Lordan when that control happens. For Lordan was blacked out during the duration. Of Godwyn's fight, only waking up to the end of the battle.

"It doesn't matter. No taking control of my body fully... Unless I allow it. Understand?"

" Fine... You always find a way to depress me sometimes... "

"That's more of your problem... Didn't ask you to get stuck in my head anyway." He ignored Godwyn as the Demi-god slowly fades back into his mind. With nothing else to do, Lordan resummons Torrent to mount again as he continued to move to the marked church.

"Almost there bud. Just a little more." His assurances to Torrent were a common quirk for Lordan, even if the steer could not reply by voice. It was something that he did to ease the loneliness of this journey.

With a final gesture of feeding Torrent a berry, Lordan urges them forward and rides off once again. Their journey takes a short while before the church finally comes into view.

Lordan finds the entrance of the destroyed church and dismounts to go on foot. He sends Torrent away and draws his weapons in the case of enemies nearby, equipping a shortsword and seal for incantations.

His eyes dart around the interior upon entering, his hand gripping his weapons hard as he focused his senses to detect all possible threats within this church as the last interiors he visited in the region often had enemies lurking about for sneak attacks.

Where are you things? Come on.

A noise from the far side attracts his attention and Lordan immediately goes into his battle stance. His guard was let down, however, as the source of the noise reveals itself to be a woman in an injured state, laying against the wall as she had just performed aid upon her right arm that was currently missing.

"Nggh... Who's there?"

Lordan's presence was soon realized by the woman and she weakly raises her sword with her other arm. Her effort soon fails as she grunts in pain and drops her weapon, griping her right arm's stump as it overwhelmed her.

"Sta... Sta-stay back..." She tries to speak out a warning to no effect as she was too weak to defend herself or speak. The loss of her arm was weakening her and so was the disease that plagued her. "I... I will..."

Lordan looks upon her injuries from a distance and determines her to not be in a fighting condition and therefore not a threat. He sheaths his weapons and raises his hand at her to show that he was no threat, slowly walking to her while still keeping his hands up. "Easy. Easy. I'm not here to hurt you, ok? Just passing by."

He observed the woman as she slowly let her guard down. He studied her face and observed her pale skin and golden eyes as well as her unique deep red hair, a rare color for anyone to have even outside the lands. He reaches her side and takes a knee, carefully lowering his hands as he offers to inspect her wound. "Can I take a look at that? I am not here to hurt you."

"I... You shouldn't..."

"Don't talk. Just relax." He moves closer but the woman tries to protest. No words come from her mouth as the pain overwhelmed her again. Lordan sees her distress and takes out his yellow flask to offer her aid. "Drink this. For the pain, it could help."

The woman looks a the flask and tries grabbing it. She takes the flask but drops it immediately, prompting Lordan to take it up to feed her its contents. "Here, drink."

The woman swallows the healing solution and receives some relief for her pain, allowing her to regain some senses. "Better?"

"Yes... Thank... Thank you..." She manages to speak louder as some of her pain subsided. "But If you are wise, you will leave, immediately. I don't want to hurt you."

"Pretty sure you can't. Not in your current state." Lordan replied with a sarcastic answer and it earns him an annoyed look from the woman who clearly was not in the mood for such humor. "Sorry. Bad time."

"It's alright... I appreciate the attempt. But my flesh writhes with scarlet rot. It is a curse. Not to be meddled with by man." She reluctantly allows Lordan to inspect her wound as she carefully looks at where Lordan would be touching. "Please, for your safety. Do not touch me. I wouldn't want such a thing to bring you harm."

"Don't worry about it. I'm wearing gloves, see?" Lordan shows his hands to her as assurance before he continued. He sees her handiwork at self-aid and determines that it was not effective enough to sustain her wound. The only way to ensure her survival from blood loss was to redo it, a risky but required move. "Alright. Uhhhhh... What do I call you?"

"Milli- Millicent..."

"Ok, Millicent. I'm going to have to redo the improvised bandage. It can't stop the blood loss fully. But-"

"But?"

"It's going to hurt, badly. But if we don't do this you might die."

His words created a little panic in Millicent but were quickly dashed away as she steeled herself. Knowing that she doesn't have many choices left, Millicent moves herself to give Lordan a better angle. "Do it... I... I refuse to die here without trying..."

Lordan nods in approval and reaches into his enchanted bag for the required items, retrieving some cloth, rope, a dagger with fire greese on the side, and some bandages as well as his seal to cast healing incantations when the job is done. He takes stock of everything he needed for the first aid.

He then takes out a leather strip from his pouch and passes it to Millicent, who looks confused as she did not understand its usage. "For you to... Bite down. It will hurt a lot, probably too much for you to handle."

She looks at the strip and opens her mouth for Lordan to place. He looks at Millicent once more before he begins, ensuring that she was ready to proceed before the painful proceed begins.

"Are you ready?" He does not get a response as Millicent's mind blanks from fear which results in her breaths becoming more rapid. Clearly, she did not expect to do this now and was not actually prepared for it. "Hey. Do you trust me?"

Lordan understands her fears and he decides to try and ease her first. He starts by removing his helmet to show her what he looks like. She looks at him in surprise, not expecting Lordan to look like the the way he is. "Millicent. I'm Lordan. And I need to know if I can start before I do anything. So you need to trust me. Can you do that?"

Millicent's breaths slowed down as she observed Lordan's appearance, he was pretty to most girls after all. She noticed herself staring for too long and looks away in embarrassment. After a few moments, Millicent calms herself successfully and takes a few more breaths to ease herself to prepare for what comes next.

"Alright... Alright... I trust you... Lordan. Please... Help me."

With her approval given, Lordan gets to work. He first takes the ropes and ties them on her shoulder to suppress the bleeding, making the knot as tight as possible while Millicent grunts into the pain by biting now the leather.

He looks at his knot and starts the next step, the risky part. Lordan takes a cloth in one hand and has the other on the makeshift aid, ready to remove it with one swift pull. He looks at Millicent once again, hinting to her that the next part is when the real pain will begin.

This is gonna suck...

"Ok, here we go." He waits for her nod and proceeds with the step.

Lordan pulls on the aid made from her sleeve and her wound reopened instantly, causing Millicent to scream into the leather she was biting. Lordan presses his cloth against the arm sump and pulls on the rope knot to slow down the bleeding.

"Hold this and don't let go! Put pressure on it!" Millicent followed his instructions and he quickly takes the dagger and coats it in fire greese. With the blade heated up, Lordan prepares to cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding entirely.

"Ok... Now... Remove the cloth on my count. Ready?" Millicent weakly nods through the pain and bites onto the leather harder upon seeing the heated dagger.

"One. Two... Three."

She removes the cloth from her sump and Lordan presses the dagger on her wound. Muffled screams came from her as the heat seals her wound rapidly at the cost of experiencing a high amount of pain.

Lordan takes away the dagger when it was done and tosses it aside as it was no longer needed. He takes the bandages next and begins wrapping her arm stump to cover the wound, applying the final step in the process to treat it.

After a few more inspections, Lordan determined that the aid was successful and the bleeding had stopped. He looks at Millicent's face and kicks himself mentally as he had forgotten that she was in great pain from the treatment. "Shit. Sorry. Drink this."

He offered Millicent his yellow flask once again and she manages to take the flask on her own this time, sipping on it in desperation.

She finished the flask and returned it to Lordan as it was empty. Millicent takes a moment as her pain slowly subsides, taking deep breaths to slowly regain herself.

"Millicent? You okay?"

She finally managed to look back at Lordan with focus as her mind was finally cleared from the overwhelming amounts of pain.

"I... I think... I am. You... You saved me."

"I hope so. You lost a lot of blood. Good thing I came in time."

"Yes... A very good thing." Millicent musters the strength to sit up straight. "Lordan. Thank you. Truly. I am your debt. You have saved my life."

"I was on the way. It's fine."

"You are wrong. No one else has ever done that for me before." Millicent uses the wall to try and support herself as she prepared to stand, managing to stand while leaning back. "The pain is almost gone. But...why do I feel so..."

Without warning, Millicent falls forward, prompting Lordan to catch her in his arms. "What the?! Millicent?!" He lays her down once again as Millicent loses all strength to stand.

Shit! Was she hit somewhere else? He begins frantically search her for the signs of a second fatal wound. Lordan's search produced no results as nothing was found on Millicent, and no second wound exist except for the missing arm that he just treated. What the hells is wrong with her?

He then looks at her neck and something catches his eye. Lordan takes a closer look and see the sights of rotting skin. He then rolls up the sleeve of her other hand to finally see the reason for her fainted state. Something that Millicent was currently infected with.

The Scarlet Rot.

Damm... No wonder she didn't want me around her. She's got the rot plague. Lordan's priorities changed upon discovering the sickness in Millicent and he check his enchanted bag for the item he needed. Ok. The preserving boluses potion I brought. That should help.

"I'm afraid that may not work young man."

The voice of another speaks out behind Lordan and he draws his sword out of instinct to prepare for a fight. He turns to see an old man in red sage robes walking toward him and Millicent, a man that seemed quite harmless in fact. "Stay back. If you aren't a threat then this is too dangerous for you sir."

"Ah. I appreciate your concern. But don't worry about that." He stops near them and takes a knee near Millicent, sighing loudly as he witnesses Millicent's current state. "Oh... Poor girl. Your sisters went too rough on you, did they?"

"You know her?"

"Do you find it peculiar? That I would show such concern for the girl? Well, I'm the one who found her. A mere babe, in the swamp of Aeonia. She is one of my dear daughters."

"Your daughter?" He was surprised by the answer. It was currently rare in the lands between for families to exist due to all the conflicts around. "What happened to her?"

"She was attacked, by her sisters. It has been some time since we last met and the rotting sickness erodes one's memory. I doubt that she remembers anything about me." The man offers Lordan a hand to shake as he introduced himself. "I am Gowry. A great sage, in my day anyway. I'd hoped to ask favor, when one of your ilk came along."

"Lordan. I was just passing through." He shakes Gowry's hand but feels it to be off like he was shaking the hand of a body without the proper bones. "How do I help her? Is there a cure for this plague?"

"Cure? I'm afraid, not young man. But there is a solution. If you are willing to assist."

Lordan weighs his options and decides almost immediately. Saving Millicent would be the time that he was willing to waste, even if the Redmanes couldn't wait. "Alright, I'm in. What do we do?"

"First, you must find an unalloyed gold needle. It's hidden somewhere deep in the scarlet swamp of Aeonia."

"The needle? From Commander O'Neil?" His assumption was correct as Gowry nods. "What does this needle actually do?"

"It will forestall the rotting sickness, as intended by its maker. Bring it to me, and I will prepare it to administer onto Millicent. Then her sickness should stop its progression."

To Lordan, finding the needle was something that he was going to do in the first place, so in a way, he was on the right track. "In the swamp, huh? Anything that I should know about that place?"

"Rotten beings and creatures lurk in the swamps, all of them angered by the defilement of their god. The needle that currently hides within the swamp has angered the Rot itself. And thus, cause the increase in attacks from all rotten creatures from the swamp."

So if I retrieve the needle to save Millicent, I can also possibly stop the attacks at both Limgrave's Border and Redmane Castle. Two birds with one stone.

Lordan carefully sets Millicent down on the wall again, making sure she was comfortable in her docile state, even giving her one of his cloaks as a blanket. He looks to the nearby site of grace that just appeared and reached out to it to recover for the trip ahead.

His attention focused back on Gowry who would stay here with Millicent but he wasn't so sure that Gowry would be enough to defend her in case of an attack. "I will get that needle. Are you sure you are ok with her alone? Those things might come to this place to attack."

"Of that, I am sure. Don't worry young man, I intend to protect my daughter at any cost. No harm will come to us."

A part of Lordan was worried about leaving two defenseless people alone in the church, especially after his failure with Irina. He decides to take a leap of faith again and allow them to stay here.

Lordan walks to the exit of the church while looking back to bid Gowry farewell, also looking back at Millicent who was still out cold. He summons Torrent once again and mounts it to ride, turning in the direction that will lead to the swamp.

"Alright, boy. Really sorry. But we can't take a break yet. We need to save someone and a lot of others." He pets Torrent by it's mane as he apologizes for pushing his steed more without an actual break. "We going to need to hold on for a while, you with me?"

Torrent answers with a head motion that almost resembled a nod. Such gestures always made Lordan happy as Torrent seemed to be the only animal that was capable of indirect speech. "Good boy." He feeds Torrent one last berry and urges the steed forward, riding into the heart of Caelid's swamp.

And now another troubling quest rings in Lordan's mind.

How was he going to find a literal needle in a haystack that is the size of a swampland?

Fuck... This might take a while...

CAELID, THE SWAMPS OF AEONIA

"Oh, for fucks sake." Lordan cursed as Torrent once again steps into a deeper portion of the swamp, causing the steed to become stuck again for the fifth time today. It was a common occurrence in the past few days as the swamps often have uneven groud, resulting in more time spent moving around areas rather than going through it.

He dismounts carefully to a solid part of the swamp and works to free Torrent's leg from the deep soil. He finally managed to do so after some time by lifting Torrent up slightly with great effort.

Looking at the current area around him, Lordan assessed that horseback travel was not practical at all. The last thing he needed was to put Torrent in distress or danger.

So Lordan blows on his whistle ring and sends Torrent away, allowing his teed to disappear into blue mist as he carries on alone. "Agrhhhhh... Where's that damned needle?"

He treks on the more solid part of the swamp, following a trail that seemed to indicate the presence of Redmane forces traveling though here. He spent the past four days chasing this trail from the entrance of the swamp itself, a lucky find as Lordan would have been running in the swamps for circles if he did not find the trail at all.

Lordan then reaches a point in the swamp that was far deeper than he expected, estimating the swamp's water level will reach his knees if he continues. He looks down at the polluted waters of the swamp that made the water colored in a putrid dull red, color that matches the vibe of the rot.

Damn. Too deep with land to avoid. Lordan takes a knee down and inspects the waters in front of him. He had stepped into the waters of the swamp a few times and felt the effects of the scarlet rot plaguing him upon doing so. The effects of the rot were akin to a burn, slowly spreading throughout the body like it was on fire.

Lordan decides to test the depth of the path ahead and steps into the water. The depth goes up to his knee and he feels the burning effects of the rot as it penetrated his grieves. He withdraw his leg quickly as the build-up of the rot's effects was starting to hurt.

Ok... Can't step into that too much. Otherwise, I will go back all the way to the church's grace when I die.

Knowing that walking through the rotten waters was not a viable option for long, Lordan takes some time to try and find a path that was more shallow and would have a lesser impact on the build. His search gathers no luck as the path ahead was full of deep waters, meaning that the only way forward was to step into the rotten waters.

Damn it... No dice. He then spots an abandoned wagon nearby that was accessible on land, making him form an idea as Lordan sees the wagon's roof is made from canvas. Hmmmmmm... Maybe...

With a plan in mind, Lordan makes his way over to the wagon and inspected the roof covers. He becomes satisfied at what he finds as the canvas covers were of a thick material that would repel most water. Using his knife, Lordan cuts into the roofing of the wagon to strip the leather material for use, carefully cutting the required sizes for the idea he had.

He gets to work with enough pieces gathered with a bunch of rope. Using the materials Lordan makes an improvised protective cover for both his legs, covering them with layers of canvas that would allow him to walk in the rot-polluted waters without suffering from its negative effect. He ties the ropes tight and covers every tiny hole with another layer, ensuring no water would even touch his legs as much as possible

There. That should do. I hope.

He finished his improvised leg covers and moves over to the water to test it. Lordan takes a deep breath as he starts moving one leg over the water. Here goes...

He stepped into the swamp and soon fully stands on his knees deep in the polluted waters. After a moment of staying still to test the effectiveness of the cover, Lordan moves forward in the water to ensure that movement was also viable.

He sighs in relief as the leg covers do their job. Not a single feeling of burns from the rot-filled waters hurt him as it was unable to penetrate the canvas material. There we go.

He was now able to move with protection from the rot in the water. And Lordan begins to trek forth to follow the trail deeper into the swamps.

He walks for a time with his weapons at the ready, opting for a bow with fire arrows as his movements to fight were hindered by the depth of the waters. His eyes dart around every corner, every sound that emits from any side was observed, and every little movement from any direction was aimed at while he moves. For unknown danger roam all around him.

Come on... Come on... Find that needle and go...

He eventually comes across higher land from the trail and reaches a sight of grace that was within the swamp. He touches the light and recovers some of his vigor. Lordan takes a seat near the grace and inspected the leg covers for new holes from the trek just now.

"Alright... It held on. Good." The trail of the Redmane forces continues on land and Lordan gets up to follow. He takes a long sword in hand and a touch to use the fire against rot creatures, something they seemed to fear and were weak against.

Following the trail eventually leads him to a small clearing with overgrowth that comprises of fungi and plants originating from the rot. The clearing also had the bodies of Redmane soldiers that had fungus growing out of them, a disturbing sight as their bodies were reused by the rot to further grow.

Ew. That's nasty.

Lordan then takes sight of a single body that leaned against the far side of the clearing that had rot grown all over it. The armor of that body indicates the man to be of a higher rank than the rest and Lordan suspected that that was the remains of Commander O'Neil from the messages. He moves over quickly and reaches the body to start searching for the needle if it was there.

Please be here. Please be here. Lordan searches frantically while clearing off the growth with his sword to access more pockets and sleeves. He almost gives up but then touches something that felt like a small rod-like object in the body's pouch.

Lordan reaches in and takes the item out. He breathes out loudly in relief as it was in fact the needle he was looking for, unique in its golden shine and other worldly material for a metal alloy that Lordan had not seen before.

"Finally..."

" You found one of Miquella's needles? " Godwyn makes an appearance almost immediately beside him as Lordan finds the needle. The sudden appearance makes Lordan shout out in surprise.

"Don't! Do that!"

" The needle. I haven't seen one since... Since my siblings left the capital. How did it end up here? "

"You know this thing? What the hells is it supposed to do anyway?"

Godwyn attempts to answer the question the best he can, thinking of an explanation that he could give to best describe what the needle is and could do. " It is a... Material not of this world. My brother had worked day and night endlessly when rot was discovered to be growing within his twin sister. And after months of work, he emerged from his chambers with the one of needles in hand, citing it as the solution to Malenia's curse. "

"But it didn't work, right? I mean, that's why Caelid is the way it is now. Because Malenia unleashed the rot inside of her."

" The needle was never meant to be a cure. It will only suppress the rot, not be rid of it. "

"I see..." His curiosity takes hold and Lordan examines the needle in hand. He thinks of the material it would be made from based on its appearance and texture. Nothing came to mind as the needle was made from alloy that was not of this world, as if it was completely made up. "I don't recognize this type of material. What's it made of? And how did he make it in the first place?"

" I... Do not know. "

"You don't know?"

" Truly. I don't. It was like he simply created the needles out of nothing. " It was the best explanation Godwyn could give to Lordan as the true origin of Miquella's unalloyed needles was a mystery.

Lordan keeps the needle within his enchanted bag and decided to move on as quickly as possible. He was worried that Millicent would have waited too long and that the rot had consumed her, his time to exit the swamps would need to be cut in half if he is going to save her life. "We wasted too much time. We gonna move. FAST."

" I agree. But don't you find it odd, Lordan? "

"Odd?"

" That man. Gowry. He seems a little... off. " It was something that Lordan noticed as well, considering that Gowry's appearance had seemed a bit too convenient. " He only appears after you aided the girl. Something that he, as her adoptive father, should have done in the first place if he already knew about her injured state. "

"Hmmm... There is also the fact that he seemed to know a little bit too much about the needle."

" And how the needle works for her curse. "

"So this is a trap?" Lordan looks around the clearing, one of his hands reaches into his weapon bags and draws his sword and staff. He observes the area and found no one coming to attack him. "If it is, it's a pretty shit one."

" Maybe we are just being too paranoid. But keep your arm ready. Everything here in the swamps is trying to kill you. "

"Of course it is." Godwyn fades back into his mind as Lordan moves carefully to clear off from the area. He treks back in the direction he came from and was soon back to the swamp, where he will need to cross the waters on foot again.

He stops just at the waterline and steps into the waters with one leg first, testing his leg covers once again. Their effectiveness was still active as Lordan felt no burning sensations from the waters.

So he continues on through the rotten waters, moving faster to make it to the other side.

Hold on Millicent. Just a little longer.

He feels the fatigue of movement as the deep muddy waters reduce his mobility and double his efforts to move. Lordan gets into a comfortable pace and moves at a slightly moderate speed and sees the other side of the swamp in view.

Almost there. Just need to-

He stops to a halt as Lordan felt something pulling his leg from under the waters.

Really?! Now?!

He grunts in frustration as he moves to free himself. He assumes his leg is caught on a root of a tree but could not see it clearly due to the murky rotting waters.

Come! On! Just let me get the fuck out of here!

Lordan then tries to release himself by preparing for one hard tug. With all his might, Lordan kicks forward and the grip on his leg was released from under the waters.

Thank fuck... Now enough of this bull-

He felt his leg being pulled again, on the other leg this time.

What the fuck?!

Lordan tries to free himself with the same method but could not move his leg at all, it was like something was gripping him on purpose.

He then sees something slowly rising from the waters below him, forming the visage of a man who was griping his leg.

And based on the appearance of the melted armor, Lordan knew exactly who it was.

"You- YOU?!"

"HELLO. THERE."

Festering Fingerprint Vyke

Vyke begins the fight with his grip still on Lordan to throw his entire body down, forcing Lordan down to the water. He pins Lordan and pushes him down towards the water.

"Get off!"

"DRINK! DRINK!"

Vyke shoves Lordan's head down straight into the water. He struggles while being submerged as he was drowning and feeling the effects of the rot at the same time, the foul liquids burning his throat and lungs as the water force its way in.

"TASTE LIKE SHIT DOESN'T IT?! DOESN'T IT?!"

Lordan pushes up with all his might and performs a reversal, delivering a hit to Vyke's face to stun him. He swings another fist to Vyke's chin to uppercut him, sending his opponent tumbling backward. The short period of respite allows Lordan to recover himself and puke out the water he just swallowed.

"GAHHHHHHH! FUCCCCCCKKKK!" The foul taste of the rot stains his tongue and nose as they were let out. He quickly sips on the preserving potion he brought earlier to nullify the harmful effects of the rot.

The rotting waters he dispelled finally ends and Lordan refocused his attention on Vyke, who has now drawn his signature spear and was charging Lordan at full speed without being hindered by the deep water.

Lordan quickly sidesteps the thrusting attack from Vyke and blocks the next attack with his sword. A clash between them happens in the waters with Lordan deflecting while Vyke attacks with furious speed.

"Get the fuck out of my way!" Lordan deflects the attack once more and pushes Vyke with a strong shove using his body weight. He manages to pin Vyke down and begins to assault him with his fists, his frustration from Vyke's interruption was giving him a burst of strength. "I don't have time for you! SO FUCK OFF!"

Vyke then manages to get his fists and locks Lordan into a grapple. His eyes glow yellow as he prepares a burst of flames from his eyes. His attempt was spotted by Lordan who rolls to the side as Vyke releases a messy stream of yellow flames from his eyes to cover the radius around him.

The flames forces Lordan back to a distance, prompting him to dodge away to avoid getting burned. Lordan gets to a safe distance and takes a breather while Vyke tries to control his flames, crying out maddening screams as he spews out an almost endless stream of frenzy.

Lordan then feels the sensation of burns all over his body and sees his entire body soiled with the rotting waters of the swamp. His dodges and rolls just now had cost him as Lordan's armor was soaked with the rotting waters, and the effects of the rot plague were now building up in him.

Shit! I can't fight here! He quickly takes out his healing items to recover, sipping on his flasks a few time as well as consuming the preserving solution to slow down the rot build-up in him.

Vykes eventually stops his flames and manages to calm himself. He takes hold of his spear again and observes Lordan in his current state, a state that makes him burst out in laughter as he was well aware of Lordan's limitation here. "OH... LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE IN QUITE A HOLE. IT BURNS, DOESN'T IT? THE ROT? THE FLAMES... IT ALREADY BURNED ME... SO THE ROT WON'T."

Shit. He's immune to the scarlet rot. Lordan was now at a great disadvantage as Vyke would have no issues fighting within the rotting waters of the swamp unlike him. They circle around each other as each one was ready for the other to attack.

"DO YOU HAVE... ANY IDEA... HOW LONG I WAITED?"

Lordan thinks of a plan while Vyke starts his mad rant. Escape was clearly not possible as his movement speed would be too slow to outrun Vyke.

"HOW LONG I WAITED... FOR YOU TO FINALLY APPEAR?"

It was clear, Vyke needed to die for Lordan to continue. And he was on a strict time limit with Millicent in distress.

"AND WHEN YOU... FINALLY DID... I WAS SO... DISAPPOINTED."

"Learn to cope." He issues a taunt and baiting Vyke to come over. For Lordan was about to use his ace in the hole. Get ready, Godwyn.

"OH YES... I CAN COPE... CAN YOU?!"

With a frenzied scream, Vyke leaps into the air and slams his spear into the ground to unleash yellow flames from its tip, sending a wave of yellow flames toward Lordan while kicking up the rotting waters of the swamp.

Fuck it! It's time!

Lordan runs straight toward the flames and ignores its potential danger. His eyes closed and his browns frow as he taps into the Great Rune's power. And sure enough, he gains its benefits just in time to meet the flames.

ᚷᛟᛞᚹᛁᚾ

ᚷᛟᛚᛞᛖᚾ

ᚺᚨᛚᚢᛖᛞ

ᚱᚢᚾᛖ

The power of Godwyn's Great Rune allows Lordan to run through the flames with lesser damage as it offered him increased resistance for all damages, including the rot polluted water that splashed on him in the flames's wake.

He dashes through the flames and charges a surprised Vyke, ramming into his waist as Lordan pushes forward to carry him to a running charge.

"WHAT THE?! A GREAT RUNE? NOW WE GOT A FIGHT!"

Lordan ignores all the damage from Vyke and the rotting waters, simply running with Vyke in his grip as he slams him against all debris in their path. Vyke resists in his grip by punching Lordan in any part while in charge.

They eventually toward a fallen tree and Lordan slams Vyke straight into its trunk. He then starts an assault on Vyke with his bare hands, delivering blows at a rapid pace, his movements no longer hindered by the depth of the waters.

"Don't have time for you!"

" Don't have time for you! "

He continued the flurry of blows before Vyke delivers a headbutt to stagger him back, and Vyke follows up with a forward stab with his spear that finds its mark on Lordan's shoulder. Lordan shouts out in pain as the spear impaled his shoulder, and Vyke pushes forward while Lordan grips it to attempt a removal of it.

Lordan successfully removes the spear from his shoulder and both fighters re-engaged their fight, sword, and spear clashing as both of them deflect one another at near-equal speeds.

Lordan manages to get the upper hand and strikes Vyke a few times in between their exchange. He then follows up with his staff, using it as a spinning weapon with an ash of war. He then casted Glintstones straight at Vyke's chest, following up the attack with a strong forward kick that sends Vyke flying back a few meters.

His last attack gives him a breather as Vyke was actually hurt from the assault. It was a window that Lordan needed as he feels himself being out of breath and tired even with the Great Rune active.

He then felt blood coming out of his nose, tasting it as it leaks down to his mouth.

What the hells?

"IS THAT... IS THAT THE BEST... YOU CAN DO?" Vyke raises again from his fallen state and the flames around him burned brighter. "THAT GREAT RUNE... IT'S NOT ENOUGH... SHOW ME THE OTHER ONE!" Vyke resumes his attacks and swings his spear to create waves of flames toward Lordan.

Lordan dodges while moving forward to avoid each of the waves, closing the distance between them. He quickly uses his Repeating Crossbow to fire at Vyke while running toward him. His charge to Vyke created the momentum for a jump attack with his sword but was blocked by Vyke who uses his spear to defend.

With Lordan's Great Rune and Vyke's empowerment by the Frenzied Flame, both fighters were currently matched evenly. Both clash their weapons and exchange their parries and deflect in a flurry of attacks, both working to overwhelm the other.

Both of them soon lock their weapons in hold, both pushing against the other. And Lordan feels his strength fading, somehow the Great Rune was failing him.

What the fuck is going on?!

"WHAT'S THE MATTER? GETTING TIRED?!"

"FUCK OFF!"

" FUCK OFF! "

Lordan musters some strength and pushes Vyke out of the hold and unleashed a combination of attacks with his sword. His attacks strike true and Vyke was left stunned after a strong downward slash hits his shoulder.

Using the opportunity, Lordan lifts Vyke up and throws him down hard. He grips Vyke by his legs and swings him with all his might. With the increased strength granted by the Great Rune, Lordan throws Vyke towards a collection of rotting trees, a throw so hard Vyke's body was sent flying to break apart a few trees upon impact.

Lordan falls to a knee after the throw, taking a breather as Vyke was possibly hurt after that attack. He tries to return to his feet and falls down again as a crippling sensation erupts throughout his body.

What the hells is wrong with me?!

He slowly feels the effects of the Great Rune fading away and was replaced by the feeling of weakness. It was like he was only at half-strength.

He coughs violently as more blood leaks from his nose and ears, even coughing out some in the process. His equipment felt more heavy than usual and his senses become off.

For Lordan had used the Great Rune for too long, a problem he did not encounter previously as those fights ended fast. It was his weakness, one that he had unknowingly reawakened upon absorption of the first Great Rune.

It was his curse as an Empyrean.

Mortality.

CURSED

ᚨ ᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚ ᛒᛟᛞᛁ ᚲᚨᚾᚾᛟᛏ ᚲᚺᚨᚾᚾᛖᛚ ᛁᛗᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚ ᛈᛟᚹᛖᚱ

ᚨᛚᛚ ᚨᛏᛏᚱᛁᛒᚢᛏᛖᛊ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚱᛖᛞᚢᚲᛖᛞ ᛏᛟ ᚺᚨᛚᚠ

ᛊᛖᛖᚲ ᚷᚱᚨᚲᛖ ᛟᚱ ᛞᛖᚨᛏᚺ ᛏᛟ ᚱᛖᚲᛟᚢᛖᚱ

Lordan coughs as he feels the effect of his new state. His fatigue from the battle was crushing and the effects of the rot from the polluted waters were now back to their previous painful state.

"Wha-what? What's... Happening to me?"

His attention was redirected forward as Vyke once again manages to return from the attack. He was more injured than before but still in the fight, unlike Lordan who was practically too weakened to fight. Vyke bursts into another insane laugh as Lordan was now in a state where could not stand properly to fight.

"AHA HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA! ARE YOUR FUCKING KIDDING ME?! THAT'S ALL?! THAT'S THE BEST YOU COULD DO?!"

He approaches Lordan slowly like a predator stalking a prey dead to rights. He prepares his spear for a final attack, knowing that Lordan's current state would not be able to withstand the continued battle. "A FEW THOUSAND YEARS... THE FUCKING LANDS WAITED FOR YOUR ARRIVAL... A FEW THOUSAND YEARS... FOR THIS?!"

Vyke thrusts his spear forward and Lordan manages to grip it by the tip before it stabs him. Vyke then pushes forward and Lordan was forced down to his back, almost submerged in the swamp's rotting waters.

"I SEE NOW... WHAT I MUST DO. A PERMANENT DEATH IS TOO BORING FOR YOU... SO HERE'S WHAT HAVE PLANNED."

Vyke pushes down once more and begins driving his spear closer to Lordan's chest. Lordan feels his strength failing as the spear was moving closer to his chest, his grip sliding as the spear's tip cuts his hand.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU... AGAIN. AND AGAIN. AND AGAIN. AS LONG AS YOU LIVE... I WILL GIVE YOU NO PEACE..."

"AND SOON... YOU WILL BEG ME TO STOP... YOU WILL GIVE ME MELINA... WILLINGLY..."

Vyke's speech gets into Lordan's head as Melina was mentioned, angering him greatly as vile thoughts of what Vyke would do to her filled his mind.

"AND WHEN I BURN HER... WHEN I REDUCE HER TO ASHES..."

His teeth clenched hard as Vyke's words were angering him once again.

"YOU WILL GET THE FULL VIEW O-"

"I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Lordan releases the grip and allowed the spear to stab him in a non-lethal area. He manages to get Vyke close enough for an attack and punches his throat, choking Vyke temporarily as he backs off and releases his grip on his spear.

Lordan takes the time to remove the spear from his body and uses it himself, holding it with two hands as his reduced strength required him to do so. He shouts out in anger and charges towards Vyke with the spear, thrusting it fully into his stomach.

Vyke then grabs Lordan by the neck and lifted him to throw him back. He grunts in annoyance and breaks the top part of his spear to remove it from his body, discarding it and continuing the fight barehanded. "STILL FIGHTING BACK?! THAT'S HILARIOUS! COME ON THEN!" He leaves himself open for Lordan to start attacking, knowing full well that he was in no condition to win.

Lordan sips on the last of his flasks as well as the yellow flask to reinforce his fighting condition. He charges Vyke with all his weakened might at a slightly slower pace. He begins swinging his fists upon reaching Vyke, attacking to the best of his ability.

His attacks seemed useless as Vyke dodged the majority of them with ease due to his slowed downed speed, hits that land also managed to do almost nothing as Vyke barely flinches from them. "THAT'S ALL?! SHOW ME YOUR TRUE POWER! SHOW ME THE RAGING RUNE!"

"SHUT! UP!" Lordan strikes a hit on Vyke's head that was ineffective and Vyke finally retaliates with his own attacks. He exchanges fists with Lordan and gets in a large number of hits to Lordan who could not block them in time.

He gets the upper hand and pins Lordan down once again and starts a beatdown on him. Lordan gets attacked in the face constantly with Vyke's fists, hits that were denting his helmet as a majority of the punches were on his head.

"SHOW ME! SHOW ME! SHOW ME!"

The attacks stops and Vyke begins to strangle Lordan, grabbing his throat and forcing his head under the waters to drown him. Lordan struggles in the attempt, trying to get himself out of the rotten waters as much as possible to breathe, a difficult thing to do due to multiple disadvantages.

"SHOW ME! SHOW ME! SHOW ME THE DREAD WOLF! LET ME SEE IT AGAIN!"

He begins to panic in Vyke's stranglehold, his hands frantically trying all means to get himself free as he feels the rot building up and himself losing air. His vision starts to get more blurry as Vyke was almost done with him. In seconds he may die again and all his efforts may be wasted.

"SHOW ME! SHOWWWWWWW MEEEEEEEE!"

Lordan feels around the waters and grabs a stray object. He raises it up to reveal a small tree branch and stabs it straight into one of Vyke's eyes. Vyke screams in pain and backs off Lordan, allowing him to recover from the drowning attempt.

Lordan gets to his senses and musters all his remaining strength to get up, he needed to end the fight now or lose his progess from finding the needle.

And so he charges one more time, going low to ram Vyke in his stomach, pushing them both to the ground. Lordan then grabs Vyke into a chokehold from behind, using his arms to strangle Vyke in return for the two attempts earlier. Lordan then turns to lie on his back to prevent Vyke from getting any leverage, soaking himself in the rotten water in the process.

Vyke struggles in his grip as the branch in his eye severely hindered him. He tries to break free from Lordan's grip but lacks the leverage to use his strength.

"YOU... YOU! FUC... FUC... FUCKING...!"

Lordan screams as he tightens his hold, using his remaining strength to hold on. Vyke slowly slows down his movements as his life was fading from the lack of air.

"I... WILL... NEVER... LET YOU... GO..."

"DIE! DIE! FUCKING...! DIE...!"

Vyke tries one last time to free himself but fails. Slowly but surely, Vyke begins to lost himself to the lack of air, and his death was soon to follow.

"I WILL... FIND... YOU... HUNT... YOU...!"

"JUST DIEEEEEEEE!"

Vyke finally was on the verge of death and ceases his movement, uttering a final word before his third death at Lordan's hands.

"RA... RAR... RARGON..."

INVADER VANQUISHED

Lordan tosses aside Vyke's body as it slowly fades into red mist, signaling his defeat once again. He attempted to return to his feet but could not do so, for the aftermath of overusing the Great Rune crippled his body.

Shit... Shit... Fuck...

He feels the effect of the rot fully build up from in the water for too long, its burning sensation stronger than before. With no flasks and preserving solutions left Lordan was sure to die, and he could not afford to waste this life when he just found the needle and beat Vyke for the third time.

He looks around frantically for something to help him and he spots the trail of grace leading him back to the last site in the swamp. And Lordan begins to crawl for his life, not wanting to reset his progress.

"Come on... Come on... Fuck..."

He crawls as fast as he could, not caring for the fact that he was still laying in the rotting waters and suffering it's effects more than usual. Both the rot and curse hinder him at the same time, causing endless amounts of pain to his body.

"Fuck... This fucking hurts... Fuck..."

His crawl to the grace gradually slows down as he feels himself fading. He was near death at this point and needed to touch grace to recover.

And so he does nothing but crawl.

What is happening to him?

And crawl.

What is he like this?

And crawl, and the site of grace gets closer.

Is this my fault?

And crawl, and the site of grace gets even closer.

Why him? Why is it always him?

And crawl, he stops for a moment as the pain overwhelmed his body.

Why must he always suffer for something he didn't do?

And crawl, reaching the land that the grace was rested on.

Why? Why?

And crawl, his life on the edge as he reaches out to grace.

"Come...! On...!"

His hand reaches out and touches the grace, feeling its healing effects. And rot and curse clear from his body. Lordan breathes out from relief as his wounds heal, laying on his back from exhaustion.

And his vision fades as he loses consciousness, both mental and physical fatigue taking over his body.

"Ah... Fuck..."

Empyreans are often born with curses. From outer gods or within themselves.

But an immortal cursed as a mortal? That's almost unheard of.

" Lordan! Lordan! Wake up! Lordan! "

He opens his eyes and sees Godwyn beside him, appearing after the battle as Lordan used his Great Rune. His eyes were panicked, it was the first time Lordan had seen Godwyn in such a state.

" Lordan! Come on! Wake up! "

Lordan slowly gets to his senses as the grace had fully healed him. All traces of the previous effects of the rot and curse were completely gone, and the pain from them were completely subsided.

"Arghhhh... Shit."

He slowly gets to his feet and Godwyn finally sighs in relief, for he had been by Lordan's side for hours and his phantom form could do nothing but helplessly watch.

" Oh thank the gods... You are fine... "

"What... What happened?"

" The fight with that madman. You won, barely. You almost died before you reached grace. "

"Yeah... I noticed..." Lordan takes a moment to examine himself and sees his armor and equipment were badly damaged and worn out. The fight with Vyke had taken place over rotten waters that were mildly corrosive to any material. "Fuck... Gonna get these fixed up."

" That's not the only thing. " Godwyn's tone was more serious than before considering he too was affected by the incident. " Lordan... Just now when you used the Great Rune... It felt like I was torn from you halfway into the fight. That's... That's not supposed to happen. "

"You felt it too? And you don't know what it was?"

" No. I don't. " Lordan observed Godwyn's face for the signs of a lie but found nothing to be amiss, meaning that his confusion was in fact genuine. "Whatever happened just now... Hurt. So we need to be careful of what comes next when you use any of the Great Runes. "

"Same. It hurt for me too. Especially with the rot being aro-" The mention of the rot suddenly triggered his original purpose, to bring the needle to Millicent who was currently waiting for aid back at the church. "Shit! I gonna move! We will talk about this later!"

He ignores Godwyn as he fades back into his mind and moves to leave in the direction that leads out of the swamp, making haste to make up for the delay in fighting Vyke. He runs at the fastest speed he could towards the exit to reach higher land.

Upon getting to more stable ground, Lordan summoned Torrent almost immediately to mount up. "As fast as you can, boy! Hiya!" Torrent understands with urgency and dashes off to leave the swamp.

"Faster! Torrent! Faster!"

They speed off through the remaining swamplands, rushing to return to the church. A journey that would be taking days would be reduced to one based on the speed Torrent traveled at.

CAELID, CHURCH OF THE PLAGUE

Lordan rode non-stop without pause, making his way back to the church at the best speed. He took no rest and has been riding for almost a single day. Fatigue was felt in his body from the long travel but Lordan ignored it completely, he was too focused on saving a life at this point.

Come on! Almost there!

The church comes into view and Lordan jumps off Torrent to swiftly dismount. Torrent into a blue mist promptly and he runs into the church without looking around for danger, not caring for his own safety.

"Gowry! I have the-"

He pauses as he sees Gowry by Millicent's side, unmoving and almost lifeless with signs of the rot around her neck and face. The old man simply looks back at Lordan with no concern, he had been expecting him after all.

"Is... Is she?" His words shuttered as Lordan feared the worst. Was his failure about to repeat?

"No. She is alright. For now." Lordan breathes out a huge sigh of relief upon hearing his confirmation that Millicent was still alive, further confirmed by the fact that Lordan just her breathing. "You have the needle I presume?"

Lordan reaches into his enchanted bag and thinks of the needle he wanted, grabbing it upon feeling its unique texture. "Yeah, it's right... here?"

He looks upon the needle that he retrieved and found it to be broken in half. Damage was sustained to it during his fight with Vyke, possibly due to Vyke's weapon striking his enchanted bag or during one of their many struggles in the water.

"No... FUCK! Shit!" Despair grips Lordan once again as he fails to deliver the needle intact. The loss of Irina because of his carelessness was about to happen again to Millicent, this time when he was so close to completing his task.

"Calm down, young man. All is not lost. Now, let me have a look at the needle so that I may fix it."

Gowry's words gets through to Lordan as he hands over the broken needle to the sage. "Hmmm... It does not look so bad. Give me a moment with the needle, Lordan. It should be rather easy to repair."

"Please... You have to. Please."

"Do not worry. Millicent is in safe hands. Please, stay by her side while I work on the needle."

He agrees eagerly to his request and takes a knee beside Millicent while Gowry moves to the side to work. He hears her swallow and rugged breaths as she was fighting an internal battle within herself.

Lordan places the back of his hand on her head and feels a fever breaking out of her body. He retrieves his yellow flask to help her drink some of the healing solutions, hoping that it will ease some of her illness.

"When was she infected?" His question to Gowry had no response as the Sage worked on repairing the needle. Lordan's suspicions about Gowry only grew as he observed the man not showing a little concern for Millicent who he claims to be his daughter. "When did she get sick?"

Gowry takes notice of Lordan's tone that was sterner in the second question and finally answers. "The rot within has been there since her birth. Like her sisters, Millicent was born cursed, all coming from the same mold."

"Her sisters are like this too?"

"Yes, all six of them."

"Six?" The number of siblings Millicent had was a rare instance, for not many families had allowed themselves to birth a number of children that large. "Then where are they? Are they... Dead?"

"No. I allowed them to go off on their own journeys. They are no longer children, so I send them away."

"Then why did they attack her? As you said just now." Lordan finally asks a sensitive question to try and get a reaction out of Gowry. It does not work as the sage simply kept silent and continued his work. What is he hiding? Is he even her adoptive father?

His hand was at the ready to draw a weapon at any time should Gowry reveal his true intentions. But it never came as the old sage simply ignored the question and continued working on the needle. He then responds with an indirect answer. "I understand your concerns. But you must trust me. I have no intention to harm Millicent, only intend for her to grow. So I ask that you please help me."

It was hard to refuse Gowry's request despite the signs of something suspicious about the man. But Lordan decides to take a chance and allow him the benefit of the doubt, he did take care of Millicent in Lordan's absence after all. "Fine. But no tricks, old man."

"Thank you." Gowry was now concentrating on the final part of mending the needle, carefully working without haste to ensure it was perfect. "In truth, Millicent is special compared to her sisters. She is the only one of the batch that displays her true potential."

"True potential?"

"Yes. She displays her mother's grace, elegance, and tenacity, and her father's might, prowess, and intellect. The perfect combination of the lands strongest beings, even if she is not the original."

"What do you mean not the original?"

Gowry does not answer as he finishes mending the needle. "Ah. And there it is. The needle is repaired. Now, I require your aid, Lordan." The request from Gowry manages to stop Lordan from pushing him for questions, as Millicent's recovery was more important to Lordan for now.

Lordan inspects the needle in hand, surprised by its state that almost seemed new. Whatever Gowry did to it had made it needle look like it was in mint condition, all signs of damage completely missing. "Ok... What do we do?"

"The needle must pierce the source of the rot in her body. And that source is located in her heart."

"Her... Heart?" It was a part of the body that was vital to anyone that wishes to live. "You want me to... Stab the needle... In her heart?"

"Yes. It may seem dangerous. But it is the only way. The rot within her must be subdued at its source." He sees Lordan's hesitation as he was aware that his idea may seem dangerous to anyone. "You must trust me, Lordan. I have no ill intentions for her. Please."

The plea from Gowry was mostly ignored by Lordan who only cares about the welfare of Millicent at this time. Seeing that no other option was now on the table, Lordan decides to try the needle anyway, remembering the trouble that was encountered to retrieve it in the swamps.

He allows Millicent sit up and prepared her to be pierced by the needle. He aims the tip of the needle around her chest, trying to find the right spot to stab it into her heart but found it difficult to do so due to her clothes being in the way. "Uhhhhh... I uhhhh... Need to..." Permission was given by Gowry to slightly undress Millicent for a clearer view.

His face reddens as he begins undoing Millicent's front clothing. He eventually undresses her top's middle to expose her cleavage and he could not help but stare for a moment.

Fuck... I'm being a damn fool.

Lordan shakes his head and snaps out of his folly. Carefully, Lordan positions her to lie down to get the best angle for him to stab her heart with the needle. He aims the needle's tip on side of her chest where the heart would be, his hand shaking a little as he was still unsure of the plan to use the needle on Millicent's heart.

"Are you... Sure?"

"Yes, Lordan. The needle will work. I promise you."

A deep breath was taken and Lordan raises the needle. He drives it straight into Millicent's heart in one swift motion. Lordan watches as the needle seemed to work itself into her chest, slowly burying itself within Millicent until it was no longer seen.

His use of the needle triggers a response as Millicent grasps loudly for air, her eyes opening in shock and slowly falling back into slumber again.

Lordan checks on her as the needle takes effect. He observes her skin and veins underneath slowly becoming normal again as the rot within her recedes into her heart, no longer spreading to harm her.

Holy fuck... It worked. all traces of the Rot on Millicent soon disappears, leaving her completely free of the plague that almost claimed her life. Her recovery lets Lordan sigh in relief as another failure on his part was once again avoided. "Gowry... I think it-"

He turns to see no one around him, for Gowry had completely disappeared without a trace.

"Worked?"

Lordan looks around him once more and sees no one around but him and Millicent. It was like Gowry was a ghost that just faded from view, leaving no trace of the man.

Yeah... Definitely suspicious...

"Nghhh... Hnnn... Huh...?"

The sound of Millicent's voice makes him turn back to her as she finally shows signs of life, a far cry from the death-like state moments ago. "Millicent? Millicent, can you hear me?"

She responded with only weak groans as she was still too weak from the earlier state she suffered in. Lordan touches her forehead and feels that she was still running a fever, the effects of the rot had still not faded away yet. Better get her out of here. Redmane castle then.

Seeing that she was not going to wake up anytime soon, Lordan picks her up carefully. He decides to bring Millicent along for his journey and carries her to leave the church, with the next destination of the Redmanes fortress in mind. Hopefully, the removal of the needle in the swamps is enough to lower the rot invasions.

With Millicent in hand, Lordan summons Torrent and places Millicent on its back, adjusting her to sit in its staddle properly. He then mounts up and takes the reins as the rider, doing one final check to ensure Millicent would not be at risk to fall off during the ride. "Millicent. Hold on tight. I'm going to get you better, ok?"

His answer was once again in the form of groans from the woman behind him, with a short sound from her that almost sounded like a thank you.

With nothing left to check, Lordan urges on and Torrent runs forth to the east. Where the Redmane Castle awaited them to claim the next Great rune.

"Come on... How much further?"

Lordan's journey had taken three days now. For travelling east was much more challenging than expected. His efforts to safeguard the still weakened Millicent that was behind his back made him take detours and alternative paths to stay away from the rotting creatures that roam the region.

"Damn it all... Why does the castle have to be so far away..."

He trots Torrent at a comfortable speed to ensure that his steed had some respite during their ride, knowing that transporting him and Millicent at the same time was a difficulty.

"Nghhh... Uhhh... Huuuuu..." Millicent stirs behind him as she was still too weak to move or talk. So for the past few days, Lordan carried her, fed her, and protected her all alone. He was not able to understand some of the noises she made like she was trying to say something but did not have the strength to do so. "Nnnnnnnn... Ahhhhh..."

Lordan takes her hand and holds it to comfort her, hoping that she was able to understand or feel it. "Almost there. We are almost there."

He waited for a response but expected nothing to come, only to be surprised as Millicent managed to move her fingers to light close her palm to hold his hand. She also even managed to talk, if not a little slow. "Th... Than... Yo..."

"It's okay. We are almost there."

A small drop of water can be felt on Lordan's helmet, followed by another and another that was slowly increasing in number. Lordan holds his hand up and confirmed that it was indeed raindrops from the sky. And his worst fears were confirmed as one of the raindrops touches his skin, and that burning sensation was felt again.

It was rotten rain.

"Shit!" He makes Millicent hold on to him tighter and reins Torrent at full speed as the amount of rain around them was increasing rapidly. Lordan looks around in a panic while riding as he tries to spot for shelter.

The rain gets heavy and was showing signs of it being a downpour, with Lordan and Millicent being right in the middle of the rain cloud.

"Damn it all to hells!" The rainwater starts soaking his clothes and armor and Lordan feels the build-up of the rot within him. He looks behind and sees Millicent's cloth getting wet as well, meaning that she too was in danger of the rot's effects. "Fuck! Fuck! Where is it?!"

Lordan's observations around him bear fruit as an entrance to a cave was seen at a distance, prompting him to reign Torrent straight towards the opening at first speed without restraint. He reaches the entrance and dismounts by jumping, swiftly carrying Millicent off Torrent to bring her into the cave, allowing his steed to disappear into a blue mist to escape the rotting rain itself.

He settles Millicent down in the cave as soon as they entered it to a safe spot where no rain would touch them. Lordan hears the rain outside and lets out a breath of relief as he had just managed to escape the heaviest downpour of rotten rain that has escalated outside the cave. He sees himself wet from the rain and still building up the rot in his body.

Can't wear these for now. Lordan then started to remove his armor, taking off the armored parts of his outfit. He removes all protective gear and was dressed down to the regular leather clothes he wears under his armor. His top shirt was still soaked fully so Lordan takes it off completely to be half naked with only his trousers and boots.

He retrieves some firewood from his enchanted bag and creates a campfire in the cave, hoping to use it for warming up himself and Millicent in the cold that the rain outside was producing. His seal in hand, Lordan casts a flame incantation to lit up a strong flame, holding his hand over it to dry himself as well as placing his soaked equipment near the fire.

Yeah... That's good stuff. With his testing of the campfire heat up to his satisfaction, Lordan moves over to where Millicent lies and was going to lay her closer to the campfire. Upon touching Millicent to carry her, Lordan realized that her clothes were soaked as well, much worse than his as Millicent did not wear armor to repel some of the raindrops.

"Arghhhhhh... Huuuuuu..." She shivered from the cold as the campfire was not enough to relieve her with her clothes being too wet. Lordan carries her closer to the campfire in an effort to improve her comfort, to no avail as Millicent remained shivering.

He looks at her clothes that are soaked fully, his eyes avoiding her chest as her feminine features were visible due to the cold. He knows that the main problem that was making her cold was the fact that she was still wearing clothes that were soaked.

And the only way to remedy that was to remove her clothes entirely.

Lordan prepares to undress her and his hands shake from nervousness as he was completely embarrassed to be doing such a thing without her permission. His face reddens with a blush as he looks at her current wet attire, the way it sticks to her body indicates that Millicent was not wearing any underclothes. Meaning that Lordan would effectively be striping her naked.

Uhhhh... Fuck... I can't... But I have to? What do I do?

He gives himself a facepalm to focus. Millicent was sick and he was acting like a fool. So Lordan begins to undress her slowly, starting with her top and moving down.

Once she was fully undressed, Lordan tosses her cloth to his pile of wet equipment to dry it as well near the fire. He looks back and was stuck upon seeing her body. And without thinking Lordan's eyes begin to linger.

He observed her beautiful face and looks down at her chest, gazing at her firm breasts that compliment her athletic build. His sight moves down more to between her legs, her slits were on display and were pink like her nip-

Lordan slaps himself, hard. Snapping out of his moment of weakness. He feels stiff and breathes hard to calm himself down.

What the fuck am I doing?! She's freezing! Lordan shakes his head to clear his mind. He reaches into his enchanted bag and takes out his fur cloak that was used in winter, tossing it over Millicent to cover her fully with the warm furs.

Lordan sighs and settles himself to the other side of the fire, his eyes averting from Millicent as he was embarrassed by his earlier actions. He looks to the cave entrance that was raining outside, hearing the sound of millions of reddish raindrops hitting the ground every second.

Lordan goes into an alert mode as a distant foreign sound from outside screams out, hinting that another creature of rot was nearby. This prompted Lordan to reach into his enchanted bag to draw a weapon, picking up his repeating crossbow and a shortsword to compensate for the cave's tight interior.

He fully trains his eyes on the entrance, hearing every sound outside that may be an incoming threat. His attention was caught again by Millicent who starts whispering in her slumber, signs point to her being in distress from a nightmare.

"No... No... St-stop... Stop..."

Lordan moves over to her side, touching her forehead to feel her temperature being cold. He shakes her gently as she seems to be awake. "Millicent? Millicent? You alright?"

"Stop... Stop... Please... Stop..."

"Millicent... It's just me, Lordan."

"Stop... Stop hurting me... Please... St-stop..."

Hurting her? Her words make Lordan remember something Gowry had said earlier, something about Millicent's sisters being the cause of her injuries. He couldn't understand why her own kin would attack her to this state, completely severing her arm and leaving her near death. No one's family should do that to their own.

It angered him, how they had treated Millicent. Even Gowry was not innocent of this as the sage seemed to show very little concern for Millicent's welfare in his brief appearance.

"Millicent. It's all right... You are all right..."

Millicent shivers more from both the cold and fear of her nightmare. Stray tears leak from her eyes as Millicent's nightmare caused her great distress, even if she was too weak to show it. "Stop... No more... No more..."

Lordan then decides to ease her distress by providing Millicent with more warmth, and the only way to do that was with his own body heat. He carries Millicent carefully to set her down in his arms and tucks her close to him, discarding the cloak to ensure Millicent had full coverage of his warmth.

Lordan's plan works as Millicent started to become calmer near him. She eases herself closer to his chest out of instinct, her body fully pressing against his to receive Lordan's warmth. Lordan feels her heart beating from their closeness, no indecent thoughts on their intimate position come to his mind as he was too upset by Millicent's situation to even think that way.

"No... No more... No... More..."

Lordan hugs her tightly as she silently cries into his chest. He hears her sobs as her nightmare continues, something Lordan didn't know how to solve. So the best he could do was just hold her close, mimicking the embrace of a family that hurt her.

"Ma... Mama... Papa... Please... Help... Me..."

Her mention of parents depresses Lordan a little more. They were probably killed or had abandoned her. Orphans were a common sight in the world outside where Millicent was just another one of those unfortunate children that grew up.

Just like Lordan.

"It's ok... You are safe... You are safe..."

More noises of more creatures can be heard outside the cave with the rain. His hand grips his sword that was retrieved earlier and his crossbow was placed to the side for easy access.

And Lordan begins his watch with Millicent near him. Waiting for something out there to try and attack them, waiting for the rain to stop its unrelenting pour, waiting for Millicent to wake.

And he waits, and waits, and waits.

Come on... Come on...

FARUM AZULA, THE BLACK WASTES

1994 YEARS BEFORE THE SHATTERING

Come on... Come on...

Rags sits by himself and awaited anything that comes his way. He was sitting watch at the cave's entrance while an ash storm blows outside, ash from the region's endless wastes of black sands and volcanic smoke. The inner lands of Farum were mostly lifeless with only a few creatures that were adapted to the region's dry and heated environment.

Rags eyes continue to fix upon the cave's entrance, looking for the slightest of movements from the murky storm that covers the view outside. His ears constantly listened to the outside while hearing the breaths of Qilins the were slumbering to rest in a larger part of the cave.

His vision fades a little from time to time. Rags had effectively gained immortality from death due to him taking the Dread Wolf within himself, but that did not mean he was invincible. He still experiences hunger and fatigue from his hectic lifestyle.

Fuck... Got to stay awake... Giving himself a slap on his neck's back, Rags moves a little to retrieve his greatsword placed on the side where he sat. His ways of passing the time included inspecting his weapons, eating his rations, taking short naps, and even drawing which Renna had introduced to him as a way to train his usage of his new arm.

He looks upon the Godslayer he held, examining the divine weapon that many feared to be on the end of. The greatsword was unique in its material and build, it was the strongest weapon Rags had used thus far, strong enough to secure his victory against Seriph in their second fight. The sword was also enchanted with a charm that only allows the chosen users to physically wield it, rendering it useless for anyone else but Rags to wield as it will feel too heavy for them.

Its a fine weapon. But not really my style. Rags's preference for weapons were greatswords but those that were not magic-infused like his current one. It was only a weapon that Rags was using to give him an edge over his stronger enemies that seem to match the description of gods in some cases.

But even with the Godslayer and his newfound immortal status in hand, Rags was still highly disadvantaged as his enemies wielded weapons and magics far greater than him so far. And he could only brute force his way through so much.

He sighs and places the sword away. Without much thought, Rags retrieves the journal that Renna had given him. She had thought it a useful way for him to write down his thoughts and drawings as practice. So he follows her advice as boredom was currently the thing that was killing his mood.

He flips to an empty page in the book and scribbled a random shape while holding his lead styli in the false arm, controlling his grip strength as a form of training for the arm. His efforts were wasted as he accidentally snaps the styli in half while sketching.

For fucks sake... He throws the broken styli aside and refocused on watching the cave's entrance, once again pulling the Godslayer close to preparing for a fight. He was currently on the third day of his watch and the ash storm had shown no signs of calming down at all, making it a possibility that they would need to wait for two more days as ash storms in the region usually last for five days as Renna told him.

Come on... Just move on already...

The sounds of lighting outside spooks the two mounts awake when it strikes near the entrance of the cave. Rags get to his feet and moves to calm them down, knowing that the Qilins are the only steeds that can survive the harsh environment that Farum Azula so he needed them to survive the journey.

He approaches the Qilins calmly while they panic, raising his hand to show himself a non-threat. "Easy... Easy... Be calm." He manages to place his real hand on one of them to ease it first, followed by the second Qilin that was more prone to scares. Rags slowly ease it's panic with a series of calming whistles and pats.

"It's okay... You are safe. Both of you are safe." His methods work as the Qilin begins to calm down slowly. It was still jumpy but calm enough to remain still. "Good. Good boys."

"They are girls."

Rags look over the cave's interior and sees Renna who came out to check on him. She was alone in the cave due to his insistence to keep guard while she stayed in the deeper part of the cave, and the long wait for the storm to clear with nowhere to go was creating a sense of boredom. "Are you all right?"

"Fine. Just bored." He sits back down to his spot to continue his watch, slightly ignoring Renna as he wasn't in the mood for conversation. "The storm might not clear for a while. Maybe two more days."

"Ah. As I suspected." Renna moves over to the Qilins and pets them while checking their condition having heard the lighting fr within the cave. She looks over as Rags focused his sights on the cave's entrance, wondering what he was thinking as Rags was an enigma to most people he met.

In truth, things between them were awkward at best. Rags had been focused on reaching the center of Farum Azula and had ignored everything else while doing so, including Renna who had been alongside him to guide him through the region. And that awkwardness between the two traveling companions had become a little too obvious, obvious enough for Renna to act. "Rags. I believe it's been too long since you rested. It's time for you to take some respite."

"Someone has to keep watch." His first answer to Renna when she advised him to rest had always been rejection much to her annoyance. His stubbornness was attributed to the fact that Rags wanted to be alone.

But Renna was persistent. Knowing that Rags was not in a good state of mind and needed a break from whatever dark thoughts clouded his mind. "There is nothing that will harm us here. The ash storm toxicity is too potent for anything to survive, and I have masked our location to any that looks this way. We are safe, Rags."

Her reassurances did not do anything as Rags remains seated, still holding his sword without even moving his position from her advice. His inaction made Renna roll her eyes as his stubbornness was on full display again.

"I need to make sure. So I'm watching nonetheless." He speaks without even moving his sight from the entrance, a gesture that Renna finds to be rude. "I will be fine. Just leave me be."

He does not notice Renna moving to his side and taking a seat just right beside him, watching the entrance the same way he did. "What? What are you doing?"

"Keeping watch. Just like you."

It was a tactic to force Rags's hand. He wanted to be alone so Renna would not have it. She worries about his mental state and wanted Rags to try and be better, even if she has to force it.

"Renna... I need to be alone..."

"No. I will not leave you to wallow in misery. You need to rest, Rags. And I am here to ensure that."

"By annoying me with a pointless conversation?"

"By making you understand that you cannot be rid of me unless you move." She makes her point across by not moving as well, mimicking a situation with two immovable objects where nothing happens. "If you want me to leave, you may have to resort to extreme measures. Otherwise, you have two options. Come inside with me for some respite, or allow me to stay and watch as well."

It was a choice that had no real difference, Renna would be with him nonetheless. The only difference is staying out here would turn things nasty between them as his stubbornness to stay on watch was something that was driving them into conflict.

And Rags wasn't willing to make Renna an enemy. For she had shown him nothing by kindness and assistance since they first met. In truth, he owes her too much to treat her like everyone else.

And her company reminds him of his time with Marika.

With a grunt of frustration, Rags stands and moves to the cave's inner section, earning him a small and relieved smile from Renna as he passes by. "An hour. That's all I need." Renna nods at his decision and he moves on, with Renna following behind to leave the entrance together.

They settle down in front of a campfire made by Renna to provide warmth and light, with Rags and Renna sitting at a distance from one another. He sits by the fire and aimlessly stares at its embers, not intending to sleep at all despite Renna asking him to moments ago.

His intention was caught on by Renna who was feeling a mix of annoyance and worry for him. She gets to her feet and moves to sit closer to Rags, making him shift uncomfortably as she settles down uncomfortably.

"Are you not going to rest?"

"I..." Rags sighs loudly as Renna was not about to leave him alone unless he speaks the truth, not sleeping was something that he was doing on purpose. "I can't sleep."

"Ah. Nightmares I presume."

"Yes..."

They sit in uncomfortable silence for a moment before Renna makes the first conversation. "Then perhaps we should speak instead. To pass the time. But first, allow me to convert your runes into strength." she offers her hand for him to hold, a familiar sight that Marika used to perform him. "Let my rest upon yours, for but a moment"

He feels the runes within him that were a large amount as Rags had not been using them lately. He takes her hand and feels the surge of power as his runes were ready to be imbued. Rags then thinks of the aspects he wanted to-

BEGONE. WITCH.

Renna recoils her hand quickly as Rags heard the voice of the Dread Wolf within, repelling Renna's attempt to convert his runes as it wanted them for itself. Rags filled up with worry as Renna clutches her hand and silently groans in pain. "Shit... Sorry."

"It's fine. It just caught me off guard." She attempted to wave off his worries but Rags takes her hand to inspect it, seeing the pattern of bruises that resembles a bite mark. "It will heal, quickly. Do not worry so much."

What the fuck was that?

THE RUNES ARE MINE.

DO NOT TEMPER WITH THEM.

The beast speaks briefly to Rags in his mind and slowly faded back into his mind. Rags comes out of the brief trauce and finds himself still holding Renna's hand, prompting him to let go quickly as he didn't want to overstep his bounds. "Sorry. Again."

"Stop apologizing for things beyond your control. It is not your fault." They sit in an uncomfortable silence again as neither of them was sure of what to say to the other. And Renna sighs as she takes the initiative to start the talk again. "But enough of that. It seems to me that we know very little of one another. So please, tell me of yourself, Rags."

"Tell what?"

"Anything. Anything that allows me to understand you. Anything that you feel comfortable saying."

He considers Renna's words but didn't actually know what to say. Most of the details of his life he had kept close to himself, only revealing minor details to Marika as she helps him open up as a form of therapy to his misery. And now Renna seeks to do the same.

But was he going to allow it?

"There's not much to tell..." Carefully, Rags begins to speak. Choosing the words that will reveal enough to satisfy Renna. "I work as a sellsword since I could lift a weapon. I travel. A lot before this whole mess. And I... I don't even know anymore..." He sighs as he runs out of ideas on things to say.

For Rags was a person who didn't have much to talk about when it comes to himself. He didn't think any part of his past was something that people wanted to hear due to its unpleasant nature.

"I'm just... No one. I guess."

Renna reaches out to his shoulder and places her hand on it to comfort him. "No one is no one, Rags. Your actions define who you are. Not many would risk it all to try and save a single person, especially with the current circumstances."

"I just... I'm not a good person I guess."

"Good? Evil? Who is to be the judge of that? As far as I am concerned, Rags. Everyone is good from their point of view, and possibly evil from another's. It is our curse as sentient beings to think as such, we cannot help it."

She lets go of him and allows him a brief moment to process her words. Satisfied as Rags shows signs of understanding the meaning behind it. "It is your turn then. Ask me something about myself. Within reason, of course."

Rags thinks of a number of questions but didn't want to pry, so he decides on a more practical question. "The sword you borrowed me, where did it come from?" His question earns him a silent response as Renna looked over to the campfire for a moment, contemplating her answer to Rags on the Godslayer's origin.

"May I?" Renna gestures to Rags for the greatsword, which Rags passes over to her. She holds the sword almost effortlessly as the Godslayer recognizes its master. "It was bestowed upon me. By Gwyn's firstborn. Gwyn the Second." Renna strokes the blade's length with affection as if it was a precious heirloom to her.

"Gwyn?" The name was vaguely familiar to Rags as old legends of the time before the current world references a lord with the same name.

"Yes. Gwyn the Second. Last surviving child to Gwyn the First. He granted me this blade many ages ago, as I proved myself worthy to wield it. The sword was created as a deterrent for the ages to come."

"What was it used to deter?"

"Gods. The sword was created as a means to strip away a God's immortality, allowing death to be inflicted upon them." The greatsword constantly emits heat from its blade despite the enchantment within it being removed for Rags. It was a relic that took great cost for Renna to earn. "It was his belief that the new gods after his age must be kept in check by hanging the threat of death above them. Thus, he forged it from the last remnants of the first flame before the fire faded to end the last world, as the last undead intended."

"So the sword can kill gods? What for?"

"Gods are in all intended purposes invincible and that kind of power can create hubris. And with hubris, comes chaos to the realm. And only those beneath gods suffer for their mistakes."

She returns the greatsword to Rags and started looking into the flames of the bonfire to remember parts of her past. It was Rags's turn to feel uncomfortable as he may have triggered bad memories for Renna. He clears his throat and attempts to change a subject. "It's pretty useful. Managed to crave a hole in Seriph using it."

"I had hoped it would be. I paid a high price to gain such a weapon." Renna's tone becomes a little uncomfortable with the mention of her sacrifice. "But enough of that, let us speak of the past for a moment."

"I was once an Empyrean, hailing from the lands of Ercadia in Numen. Like Marika, I was chosen to be a candidate for godhood in a new age. But that was a long time ago when I was a young Numen back then."

"Oh?" The confession surprised Rags. It was ironic that he was traveling with someone just like Marika again, be it for a different purpose altogether. "So you completed your journey to Leyndell?"

"No. I abandoned that notion entirely." Renna sighs as she felt she had revealed too much, much more than she herself expected. "I... Was blinded by greed, and allowed myself to do horrible deeds for the sake of winning. Deeds I have come to regret, especially after I found out... What exactly I was fighting for."

"So you regret it?"

"Yes. But-"

"That's good enough for me." Rags's response to Renna's regrets was immediate and casual. For he doesn't care about a person's past, only a person's current state.

"You don't understand, Rags... I'm... I'm a monster."

Her words make Rags scoff as he relates to himself the remark. "Renna. I used to kill people for money. Fighting against anyone when I'm paid to. I didn't care about who I was fighting, what their story was, who their kids or parents were, and how old they were. I just... Find a direction to swing my sword against any enemy."

"So in all intended purposes... I'm a monster too."

"But of a different kind. Yes?"

"It's the same. All monsters frighten people. And I don't think anyone is gonna be frightened of you, Renna."

"Truly?" Renna shifts a little closer to Rags, wanting to test his words. "And what would one like you think of me? If not a monster?"

"I..." Rags feels the cold breath of Renna upon his cheek, her face close to his. He observes Renna's face, something that he did not do during their journey together until now.

Her gloaming dark blue eyes were cold, yet held a sense of warmth behind them. Her pale skin was flawless and smooth. And her otherworldly hair color with locks of dark blue.

Renna was beautiful.

She was like the full moon upon a peaceful night that lits the sky with cold. A stark contrast to Marika who was the sun, shining in the sky to lit the day with warmth.

Her appearance makes him at a loss for words. It was exactly like the first time he saw Marika. "I... I think I'm lucky to have you by my side. I would be dead by now if not for you."

His answer had no response as Rags could see a little disappointment in Renna's eyes, clearly, she was expecting a different answer altogether. They remain close and Renna shifts closer, their eyes remain locked in a gaze.

I should move. An instinct in Rags kicks in and he wanted to leave. Renna was coming closer, too close for his comfort. A part of him knows exactly where this is going, considering that they were alone in this cave.

I need to move.

But he doesn't. Rags does not move a single inch and allows Renna to come close.

I... Should move?

"And I am lucky as well to have met you. You have given me... New insight into myself and the known world. And I... Am grateful for the time we spent, despite the purpose of it. I truly enjoy our journey together."

I... What?

"I... Enjoy it as well." That response earns him a small grateful smile from Renna. He feels his real hand cold as Renna takes it in her palm, both of them continuing to stare deeply into their eyes.

I should go.

"You have not answered my question. What do you think of me?"

What was Renna to him? A friend? An ally? A means to an end? Or something he didn't consider?

What was Renna to him now? Now that she had effectivity influenced his life? Saving it many times with nothing asked in return.

What was the answer he needed? Who was she to him?

Compared to Marika?

She's... She's...

"I... You..."

Nothing? She can't be nothing...

"I... I'm not good with words Renna..."

Renna moves even closer and her face was too close to his now.

"Then... Do what you can."

I should move?

Rags does not think and without a single hesitation, he kisses Renna.

What?

What am I doing?

Their lips pressed against each others, and their hands move to caress the other. They lock themselves in the embrace, both holding one another close without a hint of letting go.

I... Should stop...

They break apart and breathed on each other as their foreheads touched. Both looked into their own eyes again and both felt something towards one another in their embrace.

Lust.

I... can't... I can't do this...

Rags begins to work on the small straps on Renna's robes, trying to undo them to undress her. Renna follows suit and starts removing his armor as well, taking off his fur cape to lay an improvised mat.

I... Need to stop...

They kiss in between the removal of their clothes. Their kisses increase in intensity, with Rags accidentally ripping parts of Renna's clothes without control.

Marika... It should be Marika...

They continued their undressing and eventually strip themselves of their clothes. And the sight of Renna's naked form awakened a deep desire in Rags, sending his blood down to his manhood.

I... I...

I want this?

I... Want this...

Explicit Version is only available on AO3.

FIN.