Of Moon and Silver
There was nothing.
Nokron had spent a lot of his life reflecting upon death. His views were tempered by a devoted understanding and an unnaturally long life. And the void was nothing like it.
It resembled what a child might imagine death as, if forced. He continued to be, even as there was nothing around him. Not even time as a concept made sense anymore.
Whether it had been mere seconds or more than a century in that void, Nokron did not know. He felt the cold first. And then his vision returned to him, like freezing water splashing on his face.
His head spun, and between the cold and his broken senses, there was little to tell him where he was. What was certain though, was the snow that pelted his face.
Soon, his vision began to make sense again, and Nokron put together what had happened. They were high above the base of the Erdtree, snow blown by strong winds obscuring it. The beast could now teleport them, from the bottom to the top of the world it seemed.
It was a relief to know that Ranni hadn't doomed him to be in the void as he had feared, but it was little comfort to be in the Forbidden Lands. Ranni only looked to the sky. Nokron walked beside her.
"This is the only place far enough from the Erdtree for snow to still fall," Ranni said as she gazed emptily ahead. "One can even see the stars clearly at night."
"I could always see the Dark Moon from here," Ranni chuckled dryly. "Is it fate that it refuses to show itself to me now?"
"Can you not summon it, like you did at the river?" Nokron asked.
"It's not the same," Ranni said looking sadly at the beast, who did not seem bothered in the slightest by the cold. "One cannot force fate to reveal itself to them." She looked down sadly. "And I doubt it has any fate to give. I cast away the one it set for me."
"So what will you do now, princess?" Nokron had no intention of simply allowing what happened to pass by, but he needed to accept it for now.
"We can wait here." Her words did not convince her either. "Until the Dark Moon shows itself. Perhaps it will reveal a way for us to feed the beast."
Nokron shook his head. The cold reminded him of the comfort of death. The simple pleasure of having pushed through an unforgiving world, before strife became meaningless. Nokron thought beyond the Stormhawks, beyond the Golden Order, beyond even the Rite of Death.
The Dark Moon had told him what he needed to do all along.
"We must return to the Siofra Settlement," Nokron declared.
It was Ranni who now shook her head. "It is fate that the Nox fall, remember?"
"That was before you denied fate its course, Ranni." Nokron made no effort to hide the bitterness at that. "You gave our world back to the Greater Will, so you could save your father. Now you wish to tell me that we cannot save my people?"
"Do not patronize me! How could I leave behind everything I have ever known? And even if we went to your people, the beast cannot withstand Godfrey's army. We do not know how much more it needs to feed before it becomes strong enough for that."
"Even so, I cannot leave my people behind."
Ranni didn't respond, at which Nokron continued. "We no longer have fate to guide us, Ranni. You yourself said that waiting around for the perfect circumstances was foolish. When the Golden Order finds nothing in Castle Morne, where do you think they will look for us next? And will Godfrey spare the Nox when they know nothing? You already saved what is dear to you, Ranni. Let me save what little I have left."
Ranni sighed as she adjusted her coat. "Even if we go there, I refuse to destroy my father's army with the beast."
"There is no need for that," Nokron said, a smile of hope returning to him. "There might be a way to strengthen the beast before the Golden Order can stop us."
Traveling through the beast's void a second time was not the least bit more comfortable, but it remained a necessity.
Though neither the beast nor Ranni had been inside the Settlement, they had landed exactly where Nokron had wanted; in the only remaining avenue in all the Settlement. He knew it would be full of supplicants on their knees waiting for a blessing from the Erdtree, but he couldn't help but be disgusted at the sight.
All looked up at Nokron and the beast, and outside of the few in its immediate vicinity, the rest had lost all fear of death to do anything more than stare.
Nokron had always avoided his people ever since their fall, seeing interactions with them an agonizing ordeal. Now, however, he had no choice.
Nokron recalled how the Storm Ruler had spoken to his people. "Those of you who remember the ways of the night know who I am. Those who no longer remember, soon will."
There was no sound as his people looked at him blankly with their knees on the cracked marble tiles. "There was a time when we practiced the magic of night and death. There was a time when we paid homage to the night's sanctity. When we studied the secrets of silver tears. When we were a people with identity and purpose."
Some had turned to listen, but it was not curiosity he wanted to inspire in them. "The Golden Order comes to slay us all for my actions against them." There were some gasps in the crowd, but the rest had become too used to a false death to truly care. "And I doubt they will share the curse of their tree with you easily if they do not get what they want. So you stand at a crossroads. Join me, so that our people may retake the night, or accept whatever fate the Golden Order gives you."
Still, his people looked at him as if he was nothing more than a madman, attempting to get some coin out of them.
"Why don't we just give you over then?" One man on the ground said. "We've done nothing wrong."
"You lack the ability to even do that." Nokron was surprised at the new choice of words within himself. "You're nothing more than pathetic beggars. Come then. Who among you can capture me? Who among you can fashion a single silver tear mimic to subdue me?"
All looked confused at one another, when a woman with seemingly more soul than the others, chimed in, "But the Golden Order forbids the use of silver tears."
Nokron sighed as he looked at the crowd in front of him. Their unnatural life had not made them dim, just apathetic. He turned his head and nodded to Ranni.
"I urge you to remember a time before this," Nokron began as Ranni raised her hands towards the sky. "When the Erdtree didn't pollute the dark of night. When we mined silver tears and built our tools from it." He stretched out his arm. "When this Settlement was something worth being proud of."
Following his cue, Ranni brought her hands down slowly. A familiar darkness enveloped Nokron. Not the nothingness of the void. A cold and gentle dark. He could not see Ranni's Dark Moon, but he felt its glow on his back.
Nokron continued to speak, knowing his people would hear his voice coming from the direction of the moon. "We are the Nox! Servants of the night! Look upon the moon, the night's mirror! What fate does it dictate for us? We are not meant to drink the golden dew of the Erdtree or supplant ourselves on its roots. It is time the Nox followed their own fate again."
As Ranni's moon faded away, taking its darkness with it, Nokron felt his chest lighten when some of his people stood up. Now he had only to convince the Ancestral Followers.
The ground shook against the rhythmic march of the Golden Order. In front of the golden knights of Leyndell, stood Godfrey's Crucible knights, their bronze armor bedecked in animal accents. At their head stood Marika's Elden Lord. Godfrey.
The Storm Ruler had been but a simple warrior compared to the grace that Godfrey carried. The blue cape behind his loose but sturdy armor contrasted the uniform backdrop behind him. His eyes narrowed in focus and glowed with the golden Grace of the Greater Will, that Godfrey was well known for.
Nokron's attention was drawn to Serosh, the severed lion that rested on his shoulder. It was white as a ghost with a mane that made it look like an apparition.
Godfrey's pace was undeterred, even with Serosh gnawing into his shoulder.
"People of Nox!" his voice boomed throughout the ravine. "I, your Elden Lord, have come to fulfill my duty and do not intend to tarry. One among you hosts a terrible beast."
With his army behind him, the Elden Lord scanned the city. Nokron felt his eyes on him, saw the Grace that guided them but knew that Godfrey didn't see him. Nor any of his people.
"That beast has been declared an abomination by Queen Marika. As her subjects, you need not suffer for the actions of one heretic. Come out, reveal their location, and all will be spared."
The Elden Lord's voice stopped echoing. It was answered only by the running water of the Siofra River.
"Should you choose to aid the heretic, then you will become my enemies and will be met with the full might of the Golden Order. Your blessings will be curtailed and your freedoms denied."
Godfrey was mere paces away from Nokron. A few steps were all that was needed for the Elden Lord to swing his axe and slay him. But instead, all he saw before him was a cracked statue holding a candle.
"The scouts report that the Nox have been seen climbing upstream, my Lord," a warrior atop a scrawny horse reported to Godfrey. He was distinguished from the other soldiers with a golden helmet of a lion with flowing red hair behind him resembling Radagon's. "Should we order the troops to march?"
The light in Godfrey's eyes shifted to his side. "No need. I suspect our enemy hides right under our noses."
The Elden Lord grasped his axe, grunting as he swung it at a lamppost near him. Instead of a loud metallic pang, a glittering swish revealed one of the Nox choking on his blood as Godfrey's axe cut into his chest. Their deception had been discovered.
The red-haired knight shifted as his horse spooked. "But how-"
"I've seen this before," Godfrey remarked with a smirk on his face. "The Queen is more mischievous than you would think."
Serosh roared as Godfrey turned to the soldiers. "It's only toothless deception, nothing more. They want us to believe they have moved on. Everyone here is henceforth a heretic. Leave no stones unturned. Their magic could disguise them as lampposts, crates, walls, and anything they might see in their surroundings. If you find a man wearing a black hood, bring him to me."
The golden army advanced, readying their blades and spears. The Elden Lord also moved forward, now too close to the cracked statue Nokron was veiled as, and all too suspicious of it.
Though Godfrey's face was solemn, Serosh now roared wildly with eager eyes focused on the statue. But before his axe could fall on Nokron, the sounds of yelling soldiers drew the Elden Lord's attention.
A few of the Nox were strewn along the ground, but every now and then, when the soldiers attacked a statue, a blob of silver liquid emerged. Some would just let the blade harmlessly pass through them, while others directly assaulted the attackers.
Godfrey would have paid them no attention if it wasn't for what came next. Among the ranks, infighting began. Some Leyndell soldiers tried to pummel their comrades to death, while others handled their weapons crudely. Eventually, the fighting spread to the knights as well.
The Elden Lord had all but forgotten the cracked statue before him, and now made his way to his men. His commanders sought to smooth out this discord, and Nokron smirked to himself at his enemy's ignorance.
Like his soldiers, Godfrey also attacked the nearest of the blobs it saw. Before his axe could reach it, the reflective blob sank and formed a puddle on the ground.
While Godfrey staggered from the missed attack, something emerged from the puddle. Something coated in silver. The silver of a mimic tear.
With the last drop of the metallic fluid now on the emerging figure, the mimic tear sculpted its final form. Godfrey had only a moment to react, but he managed to block with his axe a weapon identical to his. Like all the mimic tears among the ranks of Leyndell, this tear now mimicked the one who had attacked it.
As the two fought, the mimic learned to copy the Elden Lord's prowess. For every swing of Godfrey's axe, the mimic had a parry, and for every same swing of the mimic's axe, Godfrey had the same defense. For every stomp, for every dodge, the Elden Lord was fighting a mirror. The soldiers would have turned to watch this unfathomable clash, were it not for the mimics trying to kill them.
Through Ranni's help the shapelings that were kept formless, lest they gain their own will and turn on their creators, now served the Nox, as if it was their fate. The Dark Moon could control the destiny of even artificial life it seemed.
The two Godfreys continued their battle, even as the chaos in the ranks had been quelled. They couldn't interfere. Even Nokron lost track of which was the true Elden Lord and which was the mimic. Nokron's hopes swelled. If the mimic won, the army would be without its leader. It was only wishful thinking, but at that moment it did not seem impossible.
And that hope would've continued to grow, were it not for the feral roar that came from Godfrey. Serosh hadn't moved, and the mimics couldn't speak, so as uncharacteristic as it was, it could only have belonged to the Elden Lord. He became more desperate than Nokron could have imagined.
Godfrey threw his axe at the mimic, a move that was easily dodged. However, that was what the Elden Lord was counting on. He charged at the mimic with arms outstretched, grappling it to the ground. The mimic thrashed under his hold trying frantically to escape, but Godfrey's hands were well fastened on his head. With a fearsome roar from Serosh, he pushed his thumbs into its eyes.
Silver blood sprayed from the mimic as its skull was crushed. The fight was won, but Godfrey's expression was just as bloodthirsty as before. He continued to smash the deforming shape of the silver tear into the ground, until Serosh roared once more and bit into Godfrey's flesh. Though he made no indication of the pain, it was enough to stop the Elden Lord's fervor. He stood up and assessed the field around him.
The mimic had failed to defeat Godfrey, but that had never been Nokron's plan. Even as he no longer served death, Nokron couldn't help but think as its servant. The Nox and their mimics were a mere distraction, meant to make the Golden Order believe the beast was hidden somewhere among them, deep in the Settlement. But they would find nothing. Even if all but one died, the Nox would live on. And Godfrey couldn't overturn every brick in the city before the beast emerged, fed with the strength to topple the Erdtree. Not without a battle in any case.
"What do you fear, warriors?" Godfrey called to his soldiers, his voice still feral. The ranks also seemed shaken, pushing back on each other, eyeing every stone as if it would spring up to attack them. "We have the power of the Erdtree in our conquest. Should we fall it will only be in glory. So fight!"
Despite their implicit immortality, the soldiers hesitated. Only the red-haired warrior advanced.
"Ah, General Radahn," Godfrey responded in a tone that brought pride to the man's face. "It is honorable of you to set a proper example."
"While I would gladly fight till my last breath, my Lord,-" Radahn said with no hesitation, "-might I offer a suggestion to your Lordship?" Despite his large size, the red-haired general's voice had a stark youth in it.
Godfrey did not object, so Radahn continued, "Our enemies face us dishonorably, employing tricks and illusions. For warriors like us, such cowardice is so unimaginable that we refuse to engage with it. But in my home in Caria, one is accustomed to it. Facing them with honor is more than what they deserve."
"And what is it you suggest, general?" Godfrey responded, no impatience in his voice, even though Serosh roared furiously.
A wide grin flashed on the general's face. "If they will hide like mice in their holes, we need not reach our hand inside to grab them. All we have to do is suffocate and crush them in their own hiding spot."
Author's Note: I said I'd give you two chapters, and I delivered two chapters. Unless you have something that you wish to linger here for, hurry to the next chapter. Find out what Radahn has planned.