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Chapter 4

Grey blanketed the sky above with darker patches strewn haphazardly about as a cold wind played with my hair as I watched the witch and Rudeus walk further away side by side, soon to be naught but dark spots the grey road as they traversed alongside the emerald sea, softly swaying in tune with the whistling wind. The area in which I found my new life bare a striking resemblance to Limgrave once home to the disgrace of the golden lineage, stretching grassland topped with hilltops where cattle may graze freely, a great forest to the north with a mountain chain acting as natural defences further beyond to the north, stretching east and further down to the south according to maps I have seen within my fathers study. A strong contrast to the memories of my other childhood within the capital city of Leyndell at the feet of our Lord Mother, Marika the Eternal.

Within these mountains to the north dragons may still roam, An exciting prospect as the dragons during my time were almost extinct if not for defence agreement between the Golden Order and the Council of the Farum Azula. Of course poaching still occurred as the zealots of Dragon Communion Church often had a hunger for dragon hearts, till they inevitably became what they ate and coincidentally the prey of their former comrades. It makes one wonder if there ever was an Outer God of Irony working behind the curtains, trapping people, letting their greed be their downfall. That being said, "-rumble" the thoughts of dragons has done wonders for my appetite as my inventory roared towards the heavens. I could still smell the food being carefully cooked within the house a hundred paces away as the preparations for the fifth anniversary of this life had begun. A novel experience to be sure as celebrations in my former life typically had to be with great achievements such stopping the stars in their orbit or putting the ancient Giants to the sword… nevertheless it's a welcome exchange as Zenith, my new mother, has proven to be a most excellent cook indeed.

As the celebrations in question traditionally would have to include a whole feast for the whole household, since their was to be seven of us…cough cough to tell the truth there is to be only six of us but my mother, blessed be her food, cooks for on extra person every day in case I feel extra peckish that particular day. I would have dear Miquella gift her Sainthood if he was here…..Ah I made myself sad again.

Thus I deduced that there was plenty of time left for the celebrations to start and more than enough time to raid my personal pantry within the forest just north of my position, as no poaching laws exist within that domain; all animals I procure are mine and mine alone.

The grass strewn ground buckling under my feet, leaving heavy imprints as I bolted onwards with my inner power channelling throughout my being. One leg pushing forward as if to leap while the other catches the body, momentum pushing myself forward, my hips rolling to bleed of any excess as one leg pushes myself further once more. Rudeus, the cretin, compared it to skipping… I do not skip as while I am indeed tall for my age, at least compared to Rudeus, my legs were still too short to be able to move with any sort of efficiency whilst moving with any sufficient power. Therefore with my highly sophisticated technique, what normally would be a two hour walk, I ought to be able to finish within ten minutes, less than five minutes if I deigned to push myself.

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"I am Godrick of the golden lineage, lay down thy arms and kneel before me"

"Aaargh my arm, curses upon thee Malenia"

"Thou art truly a wench rotten to the core"

"Haveth thou heard of destined death?"

"Unalloyed gold dear sister"

"I'm waiting oh spawn of mine Father, thy capabilities so far leaves much to be desired"

"General, this lowly servant will lay down their life for thine"

"Do as thy wish daughter, know that the golden order only holds room for one god"

Sigh I heavily exhaled the regrets of a past life abruptly flashed through behind my eyes, a forlorn feeling spreading outwards from the centre of my chest. An unanticipated numbness proliferated across my appendages like there was ice pouring through my veins. A step missed and my body shot forward, unheeded of control, digging up a shallow furrow across the firm ground naught but a couple hundred paces of the desired destination.

I laid there for a while staring upon darkening clouds above birds of unknown origins lazily circling underneath as something wet trailed down my cheek. As the numbness subsided, my sense of time distorted, my eyes now raw. As though offering a prayer I sat thud thud thud thud, two holes had appeared in front of me and my treasonous left hand had already found purchase within. Strange happenings indeed.

Grrr growl grrr My inventory seemingly agreed and the mission of this excursion came back into focus once more. Trembling, as though I had recently sparred for a couple hours my body erected upright. Slightly swaying as my left foot took action to maintain stability, I despaired over the state of my clothes and subsequent tirade I would have to endure from the wondrous coo- I mean mother. Tensing I tried to centre my mind crack crack, I stared at my white knuckled hands.

"Inhale"

"Exhale"

Find the centre

I kicked off a minor cloud of dust dispersing around my form as I shot through, dirtying my clothes even further.

As I closed in on the treeline, colours bleeding together in my peripherals, My senses spreading out around me as I closed my eyes to focus "Thou ought to hold more faith in thyself Malenia" a familiar voice now long gone, a whisper hauntingly in tune with the cold wind blowing against my face, offering me a semblance of warmth and comfort as I rapidly sped up through the densely grown trees, reddened eyes unseeing.

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Malenia sped through the thickets of the forest, a red blur to the untrained eye. Head eerily still on her shoulders, eyes closed as her senses mapped out the surroundings, waiting for any kind of movement of her unknown quarry. Her passing was not quiet through the greenery, branches snapping, her heavy stomps echoing through the tranquil forest as small dust clouds followed, the very antithesis of the experienced hunter but Malenia was not a hunter. She was a sword, rending all opposition asunder as she made her way forward till her target was found.

A large shape made itself known on her senses, large in stature, three hundred paces to her immediate right. So with a shift in posture and a violent twist with her right ankle, her course now changed, feet rapidly pounding against the ground, a final leap letting her clear the bushes, eyelids parting revealing her clear blues once more.

Her quarry now revealed a lonesome boar. Its head begins to turn against her, ragged brown fur speckled with age. Thick brown legs tensing with strength for the incoming battle against the unknown invader on its territory. Its trout twitching with large ivory tusks speckled with the brown dirt of its surroundings rearing for battle, a cry upon its lips for the upcoming slaughter.

Thud

Malenia let the head of the boar fall to the side, leaving it for the predators of the wooden realm as she hefted the body up on her shoulder, the sudden weight temporarily disrupting her equilibrium.

Tap

Tap tap

Tap tap tap

Raindrops had begun to fall, hitting her exposed forehead with an increasing intensity as she turned her head towards the sky. Malenia begun to move further north, realising that cooking the boar in the increasing downpour would be a lesson in futility and recalling a cave not far from her position in one of her earlier outings she set of.

Malenia was drenched to the bone when she arrived at the mouth of the cave, a downpour no longer behind her rather a sky opened as the grieving gods of this realm shed their tears. The dark cave was thankfully dry although a strange scent assaulted her senses immediately upon setting foot within its interior. A smell not felt since her travels with her once gone teacher and the aftermath, a sickening sweet odour, Rot. A shiver ran through her as she dropped her former prey, mind focused, senses spreading.

"Haveth thou followed me this far?" Malenia thought as a premonition of dread welled up from her stomach swallowing her once lust for food, Her mind drifted upon the third blossoming, her last bloom, her acceptance of the outer god and subsequent death at the hands of the tarnished. A complicated mess of thankfulness and hate sprang up at the thought of the accursed tarnished, in part thankful for not letting her spread Rot throughout the realms and hate for forcing her to bloom for a third time. "Rot must not take root" Her mind set, Malenia moved further into the cave, Wooden sword held forward as tremors lightly shook it.

Her senses betraying nothing she scoured forth, a step at a time, mind focused forward as she investigated. The cave itself seemingly never ending, as she progressed down a downward slope, the tunnel progressing at least a couple hundred paces down. Was it not for her young age, it would not have been possible to traverse this tunnel standing upright, her head touching the roof of the tunnel at times, her sword set forth to stab as the tunnel was too narrow to even think about swinging it.

A chamber was soon revealed by her senses just a short hundred paces to shortly to her right as the mostly downwards slope she had been following began to turn slightly, the destination was clear. Her pace now slower as she began to draw near, mapping out the chamber as she stealthily moved forwards, wooden blade aloft. Her senses were not fully making sense of what was ahead, as though they were blurred from exertion, like she had stared into the sun for too long. Some kind of heap, a massive collection of boulders and a curious stone sculpture is what she could make out so far, senses straining to gain more information as the sickly sweet odour intensified tenfold. Sharpened blue eyes now wide open.

The chamber itself was bathed in a mellow blue light, The light seemed to emanate from the crystals growing out of walls and ceiling of the chamber. Their forms and sizes differ and yet they all held that tranquil blue glow.

To Malenia's immediate left was the heap, the source of the stench of Rot. A staggering amount of corpses, all collected recently going by their state decay. Human, Demon, beasts, all killed and left to Rot. Another tunnel just behind it, its path leading upward from what her senses could make out. Right in front of her was a chasm leading down to the abyss below and just before on its precipice a stone tablet upon a small altar. Written in the old tongue of Caelid she realised she drew near it.

"Seek the realms seven of five wings ascended"

"In the beckoned night of conversion, a red star shall appear"

"On a butterfly's blooddrenched wing, will a lotus blossom thrice"

"The forsworn mouth of man shall give heed"

"Thus upon the silent whisper of Twilight, Rot shall claim its due"

RUUUUUMBLEE

Twas not simply large boulders she had sensed earlier, Malenia realised staring upon the parietal eyes of the now unearthed earth dragon only thirty paces away. Its size small, thus a youngling and yet the only way she could succinctly describe the situation was

"Mother's Tits".

Authors note:

Thoughts?