Hello, before you start reading, I would like to answer a few questions.
Ace980: In fact Alden has already caught the attention of some sorcerers, in future chapters we will have the results of this. When I finish things in Liurnia.
Guest: As far as I know, there's no obvious thing that says, "You're a Tarnished!" But I believe it's the eyes, people can see the fading grace in the eyes of the Tarnished, or feel it somehow, in the case of the Tarnisheds who hide their eyes.
Unknow Man: I'm glad you're enjoying it, about the lore, well a lot is open to interpretation, but I'll admit I've made a few changes here and there.
About Radagon and Marika, I prefer to think that they were separate beings at some point, I already have some ideas on how to handle this situation.
That's it for now, good reading for you.
Chapter 17 — Exploring Liurnia Part 2
Alden's POV
"So Godwyn, what is this thing?" I asked, dodging a blow from the monster, the impact caused a tremor, cracking the earth and raising a cloud of dust.
The wooden thing looked like a tree stump with arms, legs, no head and carrying a large staff.
"This is an Erdtree Avatar, they emerged at the time of the shattering of the Elden Ring to defend the offspring of the Erdtree, also known as Lesser Erdtrees." Godwyn responded, watching the fight.
"Are you serious?! What was your mother thinking when she fragmented the Elden Ring? The more I roam the Lands Between, the more problems caused by her I encounter." I threw a Chaos Fireball at the Avatar.
The fireball crossed the clearing and hit the Avatar with an explosion of fire and lava on its body, a fire had started in the affected area. The thing let out a strange noise of pain and backed away, leaving a trail of embers in the air.
"I wonder the same."
A blue moon passed over me and hit the Avatar in the chest, creating an explosion of blue magic and stars, then Rennala fired a series of crystals at the Avatar, each one creating a sound like wood breaking and slamming into its body.
The Avatar let out a growl of rage and jumped towards us, upon seeing the large form falling, I jumped back, getting out of its reach, the resulting blow released a wave of holy energy as it hit the ground, with the Rosus Axe in my hand, I used the ash of war.
Raising the axe, three ghostly skeletons appeared around the Avatar and struck it with swords, leaving three large cuts on its body, upon rising, the Avatar raised its staff and slammed it against the ground, creating an explosion of holy energy.
Small golden dots appeared above the Avatar, these dots shot towards Rennala and me, we took a look at each other and with a nod we ran in opposite directions, circling the Avatar, Rennala went left and I took the right.
The dots, now similar to spears, tried to hit us as we fled, I could hear the sound of them hitting the ground right behind me.
Running, I pointed my flame at the Avatar and snapped my fingers, an orb of fire surged in front of it and spun.
BOOM!
The orb detonated in a great explosion of flames, simultaneously, Rennala left masses of crystals floating in her path, these masses exploded, sending a shower of sharp crystals towards the Avatar, piercing its body and shattering the wood.
Rennala and I found ourselves behind the Avatar, we readied our spells, magic gathered at the end of Rennala's staff, I ignited my flame, charging the next pyromancy, simultaneously, Rennala and I unleashed our attacks.
The Avatar was hit by a powerful bolt of magic and a spiral of fire, its body burning and shattering with both attacks, the Avatar disappeared into runes, leaving behind three crystal tears.
I kept the tears in my bag.
"HAHA! I haven't had this much fun in a while!" Rennala laughed, standing beside me.
"I didn't expect you to find fun in fights." I replied as we walked away from the smaller Erdtree.
"I'm not the type of queen to dress in fancy, gawky clothes, and become a helpless maiden at the first sign of danger, when you invaded my lands, I went to the front lines to face you." Rennala said, swinging her staff back and forth, leaving small trails of magic.
"I am really sorry about that." I replied, pretending to be who Rennala believed.
"Don't worry, if we hadn't fought we might never have met." Rennala smiled.
Damn it! I feel bad for Rennala. I wonder if there is any way to cure her.
"PPSSHH! Godwyn!" I called the ghost of the demigod.
"Yes?" The ghost answered.
"In your vast knowledge of the Lands Between, is there any equipment, item or magic capable of healing Rennala?"
Godwyn crossed his arms and looked up.
"HMMM! Nothing comes to mind, I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but I can't think of anything. And you? Is there anything in that infinite bag of yours that might help?"
"Perhaps, I have an idea, but the necessary conditions have not been met."
"Care to explain?"
"Let's say it's a powerful magic item, but as I said before, the necessary conditions haven't been met, moreover, if news of what this item does gets out, all of the Lands Between will come after us. I prefer to use it as a last resort."
"Well, the item is yours, so it's up to you, but this thing isn't going to blow up in our faces, is it?"
"I don't think so."
"That is not comforting."
"Tell me dear, where did you learn to use fire like that? If I remember correctly, you hated everything to do with fire giants." Rennala asked.
"Actually, this is called pyromancy, the art of manipulating flames through the self, it is said that pyromancy was created by the daughter of a goddess known as the old witch and the art was shared from pyromancer to pyromancer."
"I'm glad you're looking for new types of magic, before you always said golden order this, two fingers that. But how did you become a pyromancer?"
"Actually, I found a severed hand in a chest on a ship, when I touched the severed hand, the pyromantic flame passed to me and my hand caught fire."
"It must have been scary."
"A little bit, I almost set the ship on fire, accidentally casting pyromancy while trying to put out the flame."
"It reminds me of when I casted my first spell, once I fired my first shard of Glinstone, I thought I could take on anything that came my way."
"You did better than me, it took me a while to stop accidentally setting things on fire."
"Hey Alden, do you mind telling me more about the Old Witch later?" Godwyn asked.
"No, but only if you tell me more about Rosus."
"Why the sudden interest?"
"Rosus leading the dead through the catacombs reminds me of the Old Dead and the Undead Crypt in Drangleic."
"Now I'm interested, sounds like an exciting story."
"Of course… Of course it was… It was quite a journey." I said as I remembered the Shrine of Amana, Demon of Song and the number of times I was crushed by Velstadt's hammer.
With everything done here, I called Torrent and Rennala returned to her moon, and together we rode away.
TIMESKIP
"So this is the place Hewg spoke of." I stopped in front of the entrance to a mine.
"Yes, this tunnel is used for the academy's crystal mining." Rennala stopped beside me.
"What are we waiting for? Let's hunt for some treasure." Godwyn spoke, walking toward the tunnel.
We entered the tunnel and reached a wooden elevator, stepping on the pressure plate, the elevator went down, we went forward collecting materials along the way, and we walked through the mine until we reached an abyss with wooden platforms on the edges, I approached the edge of the abyss and I looked down.
"It is quite a fall." I walked across the platform with careful steps.
CRACK!
My right foot went through the old wooden floor, but luckily I didn't fall.
"It's not safe, but I think if we go slowly, one at a time, we can get across safely." I said to Rennala.
"Or we can try it my way." Rennala smiled as she held me in her arms and ran towards the abyss.
"Waith! What are you doing?"
Rennala jumped across the abyss towards the tunnel on the other side, it looked like we wouldn't cross it, until Rennala "stepped" in the air, propelling us up and we managed to cross the abyss.
Meanwhile, Godwyn simply walked on air, traversing the chasm as if it were ground.
"That… That was exciting." I said to Rennala as she put me down.
"I'm glad you liked it, now let's go find more stones for the forge." Rennala grabbed me by the arm, pulling me deeper into the tunnel.
"Look at that, you don't seem to mind having the Queen of the Full Moon holding you in her arms." The demigod spoke.
"Shut up Godwyn!"
"Did you say something dear?"
"No…"
We reached another elevator, I approached the edge of the elevator and looked down at the stone ledges that ran along the mine walls, I saw gleaming stones.
Rennala stopped beside me and looked down too.
"Leave it to me." Rennala grabbed me by the back of my armor and jumped from where we were standing.
But instead of a free fall, Rennala floated calmly towards the ground, we went from ledge to ledge collecting materials, we continued down until we reached the bottom of the mine, we entered a tunnel, facing a wall of golden fog.
We crossed through the fog and found ourselves in a circular cave with a strange crystal creature, holding a crystal ring in each hand.
"A crystalian." Rennala said upon seeing the creature.
"Do you know what this is?"
"Yes, inorganic but living beings. They hold fast to the ideals of the primeval current and as such are revered guests of sorcerers, unfortunately for him, I am not one of those sorcerers."
The crystalian threw its ring towards us, Rennala and I jumped out of the way, the ring returned to the crystalian's hand, it took a great leap and came down towards me as it spun its crystal ring.
I rolled out of the way and put my hand inside my bag, withdrew my Uchigatana and slashed at the crystalian neck, only for the sword to bounce off its body, with a sound like breaking glass, leaving cracks in its body and ripping out small crystal fragments.
The crystalian swung the second ring towards me, I deflected the blow downwards, another ring came from above, I spun the Uchigatana in my hand, turning its blade upwards and deflected the second blow, a crack of glass breaking and crystal shards being ripped off echoed through the bottom of the mine.
The crystalian arm was thrown upwards, I placed the blade of the Uchigatana in my palm and with a slash, I sent a blade of blood into the crystalian, it made him take a step back, but it didn't do much damage.
The crystalian placed its rings in front of it like a shield and pushed them towards me, I was faster and jumped back, dodging the blow, and then advancing, I pointed my flame to the face of the crystalian and casted Great Combustion, ripping chunks out of the crystalian face, chunks of crystal fell to the ground with a thud and then shattered.
The crystalian jumped back as it threw its rings towards me, I ran through the cave dodging the rings, both weapons sticking to the ground, when the crystalian landed, it stretched out its hands and the rings trapped in the ground shook and returned to its hands, the crystalian readied to fire them once more.
But before it could do so, a series of magical projectiles hit the crystalian in its back, it was Rennala with her staff outstretched and magic flowing from its tip.
Rennala's blow caused crystals to be ripped from our enemy's body, creating an opening in its armored body, I advanced towards the crystalian and stuck my sword in its chest, piercing him, the crystalian raised its rings one last time in sign of defiance until it exploded into several crystal shards, in its place was a small metallic ball.
"That must be the bell Hewg spoke of." I said holding the small object in front of me.
"Well, now there are only three more to go, this day has been productive, but the crystalian so close to the academy bothers me." Rennala smiled as she hugged me.
That was strange, out of the corner of my eye I saw Godwyn laughing.
With everything done here, we left the mine and returned to Liurnia, I think now we only have to find Renna and then return to the Round Table.
We rode until we came across a strange individual, a troll wearing a helmet, reading a book, and sitting in front of an anvil.
"Hello!" I waved at the troll without getting off Torrent.
"Well, look at that. We don't get many visitors. I assume you are a Tarnished. What brings you here? Oh, forgive me. It's hardly my place to ask. I'm Iji. A blacksmith who once served Carian royalty. An old man who refuses to retire his rusty hammer. So here I am, still silently plying my trade, in this spot. Perhaps you want a display? Those bones are old, but still capable."
"Hello Iji." Rennala stepped out of her moon and waved at the troll.
"Lady Rennala?!" Iji quickly stood up and bowed.
Rennala approached Iji, nervousness on her face and tried to calm the old troll down.
"That's not necessary, Iji, we've known each other for years, you've been serving my family diligently."
"Your words are kind, Lady Rennala. But if I may ask, what are you doing here, outside the academy? Last I heard, you were secluded in the library." Iji got up.
"That is true, but I was brought out of my melancholy thanks to my darling."
Rennala pulled me off Torrent and placed me in front of Iji as she hugged my arm.
"Cough! Cough! Darling?!" Iji exclaimed as he choked on his own saliva.
"Yes, we're spending some time together, taking a little trip around Liurnia, I don't like the things I've seen. Tell me Iji, what happened to Liurnia?"
Iji heaved a huge sigh "A lot has happened Lady Rennala, alliances, vows and oaths have been broken as if they meant nothing, the sorcerers controlling Raya Lucaria, the Cuckoo knights attacking the manor, and what little is left of Liurnia sinking into the lakes. I don't know if it would be possible to recover our home, even with your return."
I felt Rennala crushing my arm, a wind blew out of nowhere, looking down, I saw small crystals forming at Rennala's feet, her face was serious, with her forehead furrowed and lips together.
"Changing the subject, I'm after a woman named Renna, she seems to be further ahead. What can you tell me about the area?" I asked Iji, trying to avoid making the situation worse.
"Brave Tarnished. A word of warning. This territory belonged to Lady Rennala. Her mansion is not far beyond this point. When the Raya Lucaria Academy turned against the Carians, the Knights of the Cuckoo descended upon this stretch. After leveling it, they continued on to the mansion. The Carians were taken by surprise, but their strength was undiminished, and they repulsed the onslaught of the knights... Conjuring an enchanted trap that remains potent to this day. That's why I say, Tarnished. Do not approach the path. Unless you wish to lie with the corpses of the unwary Knights of the Cuckoo."
The wind got stronger and I felt like my arm would break in two, it's not helping Iji.
"Those traitors! Is this how they thank me after everything I've done for Raya Lucaria?! Let's go to the mansion now!" Rennala pulled me away.
With every step Rennala took, pieces of crystals came out of the ground.
"Rennala wait!" I managed to escape her grip.
"Honey, what's the matter?"
"There's something I'd like to talk to about with Iji. Are you the blacksmith Blaid mentioned?"
"Blaidd really did it, didn't he? A rather rare occurrence for such a reclusive soul. Maybe he sensed something unusual about you. Anyway, if you are friendly with Blaidd, then you are welcome to request my services."
"What kind of smiting do you specialize in?"
"The smiting with somber stones. If you wish, I have some for sale."
I think I own some somber stones, certain weapons I have cannot be upgraded normally.
"Could you improve these weapons, please?" I handed over the Ornate Blades, Golden Halberd and Godrick's Axe.
"Hm! Good quality weapons, all related to the golden order, since Lady Rennala appears to trust you, I won't question where you got it. But answer me one question, Tarnished."
"Ask."
"Are you and Lady Rennala courting each other?"
"According to her, yes."
"Hm! I see, welcome to the family, I just wonder how Ranni will react."
"I hope she has a heart attack and dies, and when my roots reach her, we'll have a long talk to make up for lost time." Godwyn muttered.
"Never mind, let me work."
While Iji improved my weapons, I touched a nearby Grace and sat there, next to Rennala.
Rennala sat with one hand hugging her knees as she held her staff in front of her face.
"Rennala, I'm not exactly good with this stuff, but do you want to talk about it?"
Rennala spoke without taking her eyes off her staff "When I was young, I was just an astrologer, while walking at night, watching the stars, I met the full moon."
"I don't understand. How do you "meet" the full moon? Was it not always in the sky?"
"That's what I thought, until the moon spoke to me and granted me unimaginable knowledge, with that, I managed to impress the sorcerers of Raya Lucaria and join the academy, quickly grew in power and influence, until I became leader of the institution, bringing changes that displeased some, but I never imagined it would get to this point."
"These changes must have been drastic to generate betrayal at the first opportunity."
"You could say so, I banished one of the main studies in the academy, the study of the Primeval Current."
"Never heard of it."
"It doesn't surprise me, despite the many sorcerers studying it, the Primeval Current is something vague and mysterious, all we know is that it is related to magic, glinstone and stars. The few who have caught a glimpse of the current gained unimaginable power in exchange of mutating, or for the more obsessed, ascending their bodies, but the experiments required to reach that point are abominable."
"You know, I once knew a scholar, he was looking for a cure for a curse, he succeeded at one point, becoming immortal and managing to escape the influence of the world, but to get to that point he performed several horrible experiments, many of the monsters that I faced were the fruits of these experiments, some of my most powerful sorceries were created by this scholar, but I can't hate him, after all, he helped me."
"I don't know what curse you're talking about, but this scholar seems like a controversial figure."
"It's a good word to describe him, neutral too, he watches people who interest him and gives a little nudge in the right direction, or maybe he just does it to see what happens. Who knows? He liked to speak in riddles and metaphors. But I'm getting off topic, continue your story."
"The experiments involved merging several corpses together, in the end they would become a mass of mages and stone, barely able to perceive the world around them, there must still be a few of them roaming around. Many didn't like my changes, the knights of Cuckoo are not loyal to me, but to Raya Lucaria, apparently they kept silent, just waiting for the right moment to attack."
"Hm! The concept of loyalty is strange to me, I knew a man named Captain Drummond, his grandfather and father served a king named Vendrick for generations, even in the face of death in the fight against a giant, he maintained his loyalty to the king and kingdom, he could have fled but decided to fight, if I recall correctly his final words were 'My blade may break, my arrows may fall, but my will, will never be broken. Those who live by the sword will die by it, and I, Drummond, will not go down without drawing mine!'"
"He must have been a wonderful man."
"It certainly is a pity that our meeting was brief. I met those who gave up, those who fought until the end and those who keep fighting. I wish I had asked these people what made them fight in the first place."
"Don't worry darling, someday you'll get your answer."
"I hope, in your case, as Iji said, there are still knights loyal to you, when we enter the mansion maybe you can gather them and from there decide what to do with Liurnia."
"Do they still consider me a capable leader?"
"They fought to defend the manor even though they were outnumbered, if they didn't believe you, they would have abandoned this place a long time ago."
"Oh! You always know what to say to make me feel better. Come here, give me a hug." Rennala held her arms out to me.
"Your weapons are ready." Iji spoke, interrupting Rennala.
Rennala gave Iji an irritated look, the troll looked away in fright.
We got up and approached the blacksmith; I put the weapons in my bag and called Torrent.
"Anything else I should know Iji?"
"I explained the danger. From the enchanted trap that remains in the Carian Royal Manor. Whatever you do Tarnished , stay away from this deadly trap. But I see that won't stop you, so please protect Lady Rennala."
"I can take care of myself Iji, but still, thank you. Until we meet again."
"Farewell Lady Rennala, may the stars protect you."
So Rennala and I rode towards the mansion.
After a few minutes, we saw the great stone wall ahead.
"What kind of trap do you think the knights set?" Godwyn asked, floating beside me.
"I don't know, I hope they're not poison-spitting statues." I shuddered at the memory of those damn pieces of stone.
I heard something approaching, suddenly, great projectiles of magic fell from the sky, knocking down trees, destroying rocks and opening holes in the ground, I pulled Torrent's reins to the left, Rennala in her moon following me.
"We just found out what the trap is!" I pulled Torrent to the right, dodging another wave of spells.
We continued approaching the mansion, another rain of spells fell in front of us, I pulled Torrent's reins so that he stopped before we were hit.
"HÁ!" With a flick of the reins, Torrent shot forward again.
"Don't you have anything that can help us?" Godwyn asked.
I thought for a minute "Actually I do!" I removed my bell from my belt and casted Profound Still, a circle of abyssal darkness formed around me, this circle expanded and took effect, accompanying me as I rode.
The trap had activated again, when the spells cut through the air, falling towards me, they dissipated as they approached, I shook Torrent's reins to make him go faster, the mansion was closer, more spells fell towards us, but thanks to my hexe, they dissipated into blue particles.
Eventually we reached the mansion gate, just in time for the hexe to wear off, I touched the grace at the mansion entrance and Rennala emerged from her moon.
"So that was the trap. Large projectiles of magic that fall repeatedly and quickly towards the enemy, catching them by surprise, except if the enemy is mounted, or is prepared for a violent magical attack, he has no chance of surviving. I must admit, I am proud of my knights." Rennala spoke as she watched the manor's entrance.
"I'm more used to fireballs falling from the sky."
"Why would fireballs fall from the sky?" Godwyn asked.
"To hit the giants walking on the walls." I answered the demigod and the three of us entered the mansion.
The interior of the mansion was composed of a large garden with a light mist covering the place, statues adorned the gray tiled path, and on both sides there were large gray stone constructions that formed arches above us.
"Where is everyone? I expected an army of knights to come after us when they realized we'd made it in." I asked as I walked down the tiled path.
"My knights must be waiting for the right moment, after all they were outnumbered during the attack. Fighting in the conventional way would be suicide."
"Something is wrong, this place is quiet and I feel like I'm being watched." Godwyn spoke as he surveyed the place.
As I looked around, I saw something moving in the stone arches through the mist, then something fell in front of us raising a cloud of dust.
When the cloud dissipated, I saw something that would take place in Aldia's Keep, the thing looked like a large spider made of gigantic fingers. The thing crawled towards us, its fingers moving frantically.
"What is this thing?" I jumped out of the creature's grasp.
"A finger creeper, beings created via an ancient act of blasphemy!" Godwyn exclaimed.
"I don't know, but they have no place in my mansion!" Rennala snapped as she fired spells at the spider.
"Alden, use your flame, these things are weak to fire!" Godwyn screamed.
I lit my flame and threw a Chaos Fireball at the spider, the thing thrashed and rolled across the floor trying to put out the flames, as its flesh burned, Rennala sent crystals towards the spider, each one of them piercing the flesh with a squirt of blood.
The spider, in the midst of its panic, shot a purple orb from the ring on its finger, the orb stopped in front of us, I had enough experience to know that I should get away, I grabbed Rennala by the arm and pulled her away from the attack.
The orb exploded releasing a shock wave.
Rennala pointed her staff at the spider and conjured a shower of crystals, each one ripping chunks of flesh off the spider, severing its fingers and turning it into a bloody mess on the floor, then the spider disappeared in runes.
Rennala was breathing heavily.
"Are you well?" I asked the queen.
"It's the first time I've encountered these things and I already hate them."
"The feeling is mutual."
Our struggle drew the attention of other spiders in the garden, as an army of these things descended the small hill where the mansion stood.
"I think I better summon some spirits." I rang my bell and summoned the spirits of the Soldiers of Godrick. One soldier was shooting the spiders with a crossbow while another smashed the spiders with blows from his hammer.
"Equally." Rennala knelt down and a circle of magic surged beneath her, then three large spirit wolves appeared and charged towards the spiders, biting their fingers with ferocity.
"I'll just stand here and watch… I can't do much… other than moral support." Godwyn spoke sadly.
I casted Flame Weapon and covered my Uchigatana with flames, with my sword in my left hand and a lit flame in my right hand, I advanced towards the spiders with Rennala at my side.
A smaller spider crawled quickly and jumped towards me with its fingers extended, with a horizontal slash, I cut the spider in two, two flaming halves writhing on the ground, two more smaller spiders jumped at me, but these spiders were stopped by the soldier's crossbow dart and a crystal conjured by Rennala.
A bigger spider tried to wrap Rennala and me in its fingers, I pointed my flame at the spider and casted fire whip, a spiral of scalding fire came out of my hand and enveloped the spider, covering its body in flames, the soldier with the hammer advanced and hit the spider repeatedly, I could hear the sound of bones breaking with each blow.
Another smaller spider tried to fight, but the wolves summoned by Rennala leapt at the spider with ferocity, amid snarling, the wolves pinned the spider in place, each bite ripping off a piece of flesh, Rennala pointed her staff at the spider and advanced.
From Rennala's staff, a great rapier made of magic rose and pierced the spider, the spider struggled, trying to free itself from its attackers, but it was in vain.
We continued up the hill, using the ash of war, I sent a blade of blood into a group of smaller spiders, the cut generated a spray of blood as it hit each spider.
Rennala conjured masses of crystal that exploded, turning more spiders into pieces of flesh struggling on the ground, our spirits also helped, the soldiers worked together, the hammer smashed the spiders with powerful blows, bones were broken with ease, simultaneously the soldier with the crossbow supported his ally, shooting at the spiders that arrived through the blind spot.
The wolves raced among the spiders, delivering bites to get their attention, and besting the spider with their speed and teamwork.
With a little delay, we managed to reach the top of the garden, our spirits dissipated and we entered the interior of the mansion.
There we climbed a set of wooden stairs and arrived at a type of church, I touched the Grace and we advanced over a long stone bridge.
As we walked, a group of spirits stood in our way, they were a stronger shade of blue.
"Knights of Raya Lucaria." Rennala spoke as she watched the spirits.
"So that's what happened to the knights who attacked the manor. They were turned into spirits to defend the place."
"A deserved fate for these traitors." Rennala replied.
We advanced across the bridge, dispatching the spirits, one of them tried to cut me vertically, I took a step to the left, letting the blow pass and I cut the spirit in its neck, then it's back, I shot a chaos fireball at a spirit that approached, even with his body covered in lava, he continued advancing until he could no longer withstand the damage.
Rennala hurled her staff forward, the staff swung across the bridge, throwing the spirits into a deadly fall, when the staff came back, Rennala casted that rapier spell again and impaled two spirits on the sword.
"I don't remember you using that spell before."
"I decided to try something new." Rennala smiled.
"Mind teaching me later?"
"I would love it."
We continued fighting until we approached a long staircase, a group of spirits approached, I hit my flame on the ground and conjured fire snake, the ground shook and opened as a line of flaming pillars emerged and advanced towards the spirits, incinerating them.
With everything done, we went up the stairs and entered a room with a wooden elevator, stepping on the pressure plate, the elevator went up, when we left the elevator, we found ourselves in a messy room, books and broken furniture scattered around, torn decorations and destroyed, all in ruins in the end.
Rennala walked across the room and let out a big sigh as she looked around.
"What happened to our home?" Rennala grabbed a book from a shelf and flipped through it, tossing the book aside, crystals burst from its pages until the book exploded into pieces of paper, Rennala didn't seem to notice.
"How… How did it get to this point?" Rennala ran her hand across the table, but the pressure applied by her finger was such that the table cracked.
"Ranni, Radhan and Rykard. Where are they? They are safe? Did they manage to protect themselves from the traitors?"
The unnatural wind returned, with each step Rennala took, crystals flew from the ground.
I grabbed Rennala's arm "It's not your fault, a lot has happened due to the shattering, with the chaos, many took the opportunity to pursue their goals, whether they were good or bad is another story, but if you want to change the current state of Liurnia, we need to keep moving forward."
"Thank you." Rennala nodded.
Further ahead we reached another part of the garden, we passed through this place until we reached another staircase, and waiting for us on the other side, there was a wounded troll, wearing a knight's helmet, blue robes similar to those of the Carian knights and holding a large sword.
Seeing us, the troll advanced towards us with a hurried step, suddenly Rennala jumped in front of me and held out her hand.
"Stop!"
Seeing who was in front of him, the troll stopped abruptly, his feet skidding across the floor, leaving marks on the stairs. The troll stopped in front of Rennala and stared at her for a few seconds before kneeling in front of her.
"Look at you. You're the last one here, aren't you?" Rennala put her hand on the troll's wrist.
The troll nodded.
"You've done a good job, but I need you to do something for me. You can do it?"
The troll waved again.
"I need you to spread a message across Liurnia that Rennala of the Full Moon has returned and that all knights and sorcerers still in the Carian family must assemble here at the manor. Can you do this for me, brave knight?"
The troll waved and got up, with heavy steps he waved to me and went down the stairs to complete his mission.
"He thinks you're a Carian knight." Rennala spoke as she watched the troll walk away, a sad look on her face.
"And is that a good thing?"
"He was happy to see one of his friends."
"Hm! Allies by oath and friends. Why do I feel like I'm missing something?"
With our way clear, we go up the stairs and through a gate until we reach a kind of pool or lake with chairs around it.
The gate behind us closed and something appeared in the center of the pool, it was the spirit of a person riding a horse, this person wore silver armor, a kite shield and a scythe.
"Loretta? No, just a spirit, you are not the real one." Rennala pointed her staff at the spirit.
"Do you know her?"
"A knight who swore allegiance to my family, but that's not her spirit, I can feel it, the real Loretta still lives."
"If she is not your knight, then I won't have to hold back." Taking advantage of Loretta being surrounded by water, I raised my chime and casted Great Lightning Spear, lightning accumulated in my chime until it formed a spear.
I fired towards Loretta, but the knight jumped out of the way, even though, Loretta was electrocuted, as upon hitting the water, my spear sent waves of lightning across the surface of the water.
Loretta rode towards me, her scythe raised and swinging it sideways, I rolled out of the way of the first strike, the scythe slicing through the water and creating small ripples in the pool, the second strike, I blocked with my Uchigatana, my feet skimming the water a little but I stood firm.
The third blow never arrived, a large shard of glinstone hit Loretta in the chest, forcing her back, with the opportunity, I casted Electrify Armament, covering my Uchigatana with lightning, I charged towards Loretta, slashing her on the right side on her hip, I circled around behind her and slashed her in the back and advanced to her left.
Loretta swung the scythe over her head and tried to cut me, I threw myself to the ground, letting the blow go over my head, with a squeal, Loretta's horse reared up on its hind legs and tried to trample me with its front legs, I rolled out of the way, some water getting into my helm.
Before Loretta could continue her attack, Rennala's staff came flying down and hit Loretta in the side of her helm, with a clang like a bell, the staff returned to Rennala's hand, the Queen of the Full Moon created another great rapier of magic and advanced towards Loretta.
Loretta jumped out of the way, but Rennala didn't stop her attack, swinging the staff in her hands, Rennala conjured a sword of magic at the end of her staff and delivered several swift slashes across Loretta's body.
But Loretta kept an eye out, blocking some of the blows with her shield and scythe, she managed to mitigate some of the damage. In an opening, Loretta leapt away and swung her scythe above her head, magic covered the scythe, then five magic swords appeared above Loretta, these swords darted towards Rennala.
As the swords closed in, Rennala swung her staff, dispelling the spell, then conjuring three swords and hurling them toward Loretta.
Loretta was taken by surprise, being hit by all the swords. With that, Loretta did a series of backward leaps away from us, then Loretta raised her shield, a magical sigil appearing in the air.
Loretta jumped, a magical bow forming in her hand, then a great arrow, simultaneously Rennala accumulated magic at the end of her staff.
I rushed forward to Rennala as I casted a miracle, lightning in abundance gathered around my chime, electricity rushed through the water as the mighty miracle formed.
When Loretta's spell and my miracle were ready in sync, we launched our attacks, Loretta's great magic arrow collided with my Sunlight Spear, with an explosion of magic and lightning that shook the area, a jet of water and smoke was created, on the other side of that jet of water, I saw Loretta raising her shield.
A powerful beam of magic passed over me and hit Loretta, she tried to resist with her shield, but she didn't have the same level of wrath as the Pursuer, so she was being overcome by the spell.
I casted an incantation this time, raised my bell and a bolt of lightning shot upwards, this bolt returned hitting Loretta on top of her helmet, this caused Loretta to lower her shield, exposing her to Rennala's spell, with no energy to continue, the spirit disappeared into runes.
In the place where Loretta was, there were two things, a spell and a ash of war, on the spell sheet was the drawing of a magic bow and the ash was in the shape of Loretta jumping with her scythe, I kept both in my bag.
"Looks like its over." I approached Rennala.
"Yes, but I wonder where the real Loretta is."
"Well, that was a beautiful show." Godwyn appeared at my side.
"Where the hell have you been?" I asked the demigod.
"I was watching the romance and drama between you and the queen."
"You say it as if I planned to have some kind of romance with her."
"I know you're not the type of person to take advantage of others' vulnerability, but it's still fun to tease you." Godwyn smiled.
I ignored the ghost beside me and approached Rennala.
"Do you need healing or something?"
"No, but I appreciate your concern. How about we move on, you need to find this Renna girl, don't you?"
"You're right, so let's move on."
We left the mansion and walked along a hill, until we heard a flapping of wings and a large shadow appeared above us.
Please no!
A dragon landed in front of us and let out a great roar.
With a great sigh I casted a Sunlight Spear, looking to the side I saw Rennala casting a spell, Godwyn was rooting for us, not being able to do much at the moment.
I looked back at the dragon and saw it gathering fire in its mouth.
I can't have a minute's peace, can I?
END OF THE CHAPTER