A/N: Trying to work on Rise of a Beast Hero, A Boy's Journey, and Doctor of Demons, but they are FIGHTING me. Slifer's been busy with a death in the family- more on that at the bottom of this chapter- and was only recently able to work with me on this.

My health has been...better. Between back and breathing problems I'm feeling the pains of being old. Still not taking those bloody muscle relaxers. They'll mess me up even more.

With my fifteen year anniversary on this site finally here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.

And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.

Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. Feels like everyone's lost their minds sometimes. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.

So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.

Alright, I've kept you waiting long enough, methinks. Enough of this old man's rambling; you're here for a story.

Once more, I own nooooo references, quotes, memes or themes. Not a wit or a one. Nope.

They're simply tributes to legends far greater than I.

Hope you're ready for some surprises~!

"What say you?"

~?

Favored by the Moon

In the cloying darkness at the heart of the Erdtree, Queen Marika stapled her fingers in thought.

Well, not truly, after all the arms of her corporeal form were currently splayed well above her, each delicate wrist's porcelain flesh held fast to the semicircular arc of penitent auric light. It was both a literal prison and a metaphorical punishment, a crucifixion of stellar proportions. She could thrash and writhe all she wanted, muster the totality of her power along with what remained of the Elden Ring and it would do her no good.

At most it could trigger some cataclysmic earthquake in Leyndell, perhaps even a continent spanning storm, but neither would change her situation. She was not getting out; not under her own power.

After all, this 'coronal crucifix' was her own power turned against her, twisted by that blasted and besotted Greater Will that she scorned with every passing second.

But unlike the aeons that had passed, Marika the Eternal had something besides the withering rebuke of her brother-self to keep her mind off the agony and anger.

'Papa, are you feeling better?' spoke a cherrubim's voice in her ear, a tiny twinkle in this gods-forsaken prison.

"Of course I'm feeling better, Rennala had me patched up in a jiffy. Still got a twinge in the chest from that Kan'non looking bugger, but he's gone now, so we'll call it even, eh? Anyway, I'm just glad you three are behaving yourselves.' the Beast…no, Naruto replied.

Marika felt a tickle of that most human childish joy run down along her link with her offshoot. It was a curious feeling, not unlike what she had shared with Radagon but different, more like hearing someone in the next room over than the echoes of a conch shell.

'Kan'non? Whatever could that be? Some form of foreign deity or perhaps an alabaster lord?' Marika 'heard', the newest voice much more mature in intonation but still the squeak of a very young girl. Through Melina's eye, the Goddess watched the whiskers on Naruto's face bunch up in thought before the visage shifted to little Selen, perched on a small but plush blue cushion at his feet.

'Hmmmm, how do I put this, I never was big on religion but I visited the Fire Temple once. Kan'non was the Bodhisattva of compassion, she had 10,000 arms. Altough the old man First's Kan'non was a damn sight better looking than Godrick's moldy ass.'

The vision shifted up and down slightly, a nod Marika realized, Melina was nodding in affirmation of her father's words. Perhaps it was a trick of the shifting light above her or did she feel her cracked lips tweak upwards at the comment?

She watched Selen tap a slightly pudgy finger to her lips while the other hand tapped a bare foot. 'And what, pray tell, dear father-'

Naruto choked on this air. 'Urk.'

-is a Bodhisattva?' The little black haired girl asked, her eyes full of keen intelligence. Oh what an interesting little bundle of brilliance and hubris she was, Marika thought, she would have made a fine court mage once grown to age, perhaps even a ward.

'Oh sweet log, please keep these religious questions to a minimum, Sellen.' The remote viewing deity had to give credit to Sellen's pout, it truly was a legendary thing. 'As far as I know, to become a Buddha is to divorce themselves of all worldly desires and transcend existence. A Bodhisattva is someone who has earned the right to become a Buddha, but chooses to not become one yet so they can stay behind and help others.'

Marika allowed herself to tune out the stream of consciousness for a moment as she ruminated on the blond's words. To transcend existence but choose to remain some connection to the material realm in order to guide others, she could not help but see some of that in what she had planned for the Lands Between had her plans not been so utterly gelded by a combination of factors...much of which were her own fault. If she were to visit the errant Elden Beast's home, would she be regarded as a Bodhisattva of Grace?

Her face soured when Radagon spoke tersely from deep within her, "Don't be so lofty, Marika. You are a sinner, once who stepped from the Golden Order to court a world outside of the plan. You are and will always be a heretic, but your choice to forestall the order of things was to spit in the face of our God, not for the sake of helping the common masses."

Gold eyes blazed with anger, the pain of the thorn embedded in her side thumping terribly. "Curb thine sanctimonious tongue, brother self." she clicked her tongue as she heard him scoff. "We share a soul and I will not have you belittle my choices. Why don't you go back to doing what you always do, sulk in the back of my mind and mutter apologies to the GOD THAT ABANDONED YOU!" Her words piqued into a shout near the end, her voice echoing in the dark hollow.

Radagon's mental presence retreated a jot before standing firm. She had always been able to cow him into submission when they were two separate bodies but sharing one vessel made it harder to send him away when he wasn't wanted. Long ago, this would present a boring cycle of what was essentially a vitriolic lovers spat with no end and the only interruption she had to the utter boredom of her captivity.

Until recently that is. While Marika's ability to speak with Melina was confined almost exclusively to her dreams, as time passed she had found the rather handy ability to look through the eye of her 'daughter' to observe the Lands Between and the foreign Elden Beast, or Naruto as she had come to know him by. While initially the practice had been motivated purely by the desire to know what her 'odd' prospective replacement was as far away as possible, as days had slid into weeks and months, it had become a mundane form of entertainment.

Naruto was…odd. He was obviously powerful as befitted an Elden Beast, not crafted by the hand of the Will-

"Heresy!"

"Do shut up!"

-but he did not display any of the rampant bestial urge of domination she expected of him. The Elden Ring, despite what the Golden Order might preach, predated the Greater Will's advent upon the Lands Between, but it still represented the lordship over the fundamental rules of reality in this world. So to see an Elden Beast, an incarnation of dominion over the laws of reality so… utterly relaxed, had left her, in a word, flummoxed.

Ergo, she realized that in the grand game being played between herself and the Outer God that had her imprisoned here with the most annoying roommate ever, was in a stage of detente. Neither of their forged or acquired pieces was doing what they had initially been baid to, but in their interaction the game was at a pause while Naruto and Melina seemed to be enjoying their little slice of homely bliss in the bosom of Liurnia.

While the Will may seethe in the heavens, Marika was okay with this situation for now. For the time being she would watch this, observe everything she could for days, weeks, months, perhaps years, and when she knew all the constants and variables…

"Then the father of all shall meet the mother of the world…" she whispered, content.

"It will not last," Radagon bit out, "The Greater Will is eternal, it is as ever turning as day and night and you know that it shall try again."

Snorting in derision at her brother self, a decidedly unladylike act, Marika lamented she could not call her hammer to smack him upside the head. "And it will be met with failure again and again. I know not what it schemed with twisting Godrick, but that black blade in the beast's hands seemed to scupper it."

Her words did not portray the utter horror she had experienced upon first witnessing Naruto's blade through Melina's eyes. It stung her eyes in that cold way that only destined death could, but she knew it could not be the true Destined Death. No, that lay sequestered away safely with Makiketh, but still, Death by any other name was still an end, and in the hands of Naruto it had brought an end to Godrick's pitiful existence.

Radagon bridled, "Another world's Death, a heretical object wielded by a Beast gone astray, fitting as it is repug- gntha!" he broke off, the sharp intake of breath all but metaphysical in this quasi space.

Fine golden brows knit together in a line, she swept her mental gaze about to see what had rendered the usually vocal Radagon to silence and did not have to look for long.

Through Melina's eyes, Marika stared into the familiar form of Rennala walking into the drawing room that Naruto, Sellen and Melina occupied. For a shadow of an instant, Marika could not help a shot of envy to prickle at the base of her soul, the Full Moon Queen of Caria had regained much of her splendor as of late. To someone who had spent the last few eons in the same tattered black chiton, it stung her womanly sensibilities to know that the woman who was once her rival now looked so… so…

"...In love…" Radagon exclaimed, his voice lacking its normal religious zeal, yet in the soul they shared, Marika was rocked by the tempestuous thunder of emotions that thundered from her other half like a crumbling dam, failing to hold back a tide. "Rennala…"

Marika paused, introspectively 'gazing' at her brother-self, feeling the bittersweet melancholy that crossed into her mind when he saw Naruto walk into sight. She watched, observing how the tall Carian Queen and this...this Elden Outlander interacted. The relaxed refinement and bell-like laughter that Rennalla exuded, the banal invictus of a courting couple's day.

Looking down into the mist filled depths beneath her, her eyes sliding closed while the stream of consciousness continued to play before her mind. She… had some regrets in her life, and while stealing Radagon away from Rennala had not been one of them, what was this bittersweet sorrow in her shared soul if not regret for making her brother do something he regretted.

"Does it hurt you, Radagon?" she asked, her voice for once carrying none of the righteous fury, instead an earnest empathy, "To see her court another?"

Radagon did not reply, continuing to watch his ex wife hand Milicent to Naruto as Melina clambered onto his shoulders like a spider monkey. When the duo linked arms and dragged a grumbling Sellen along with them, Marika was surprised to feel Radagon retreat from her mind, his mighty fire dimming to a small but genuine ember.

"...I just want her to be happy…"

Seven words, and Marika the Eternal was rendered silent.

(.0.0.0.)

The Greater Will was many things. Alay, alas, it was also very much a sore loser in...just about everything, rally

One was clearly not enough. Against one the Beast had endured. Now, it would be overwhelmed.

...direct intervention is necessary." it concluded in its infinite -finite! -wisdom.

And so it acted. Not once. Not twice. Nor thrice. Nay, it recruited more.

Undermine and distract. Subvert and destroy.

Pawns within many pawns.

Plots within plots...

(.0.0.0.)

Old loyalties tugged at Loretta.

"I could help you, child. I can save them. All of them. You have but to let me in...

She touched a hand to her helm, waking from her mid-morning nap. Had she heard a voice just now? Nay, surely not...

(.0.0.0.)

Malenia dreamed.

Perhaps dream wasn't the right word.

Dreaming implied happiness. She felt no such happiness in these dreams.

These...these were nightmares. These dark specters were her both her past, her present, her future. She saw her every mistake, her every misdeed laid out for her in startling clarity. All of it. Her ever fumble, her every flaw. Mother. Miquella. Caelid. Her search, her endless search as she destroyed all who came near her. Friend or foe, it mattered naught. She didn't care for them. She did not dare allow herself to care.

And in her callousness, a world was brought to ruin.

All fell before her, even her half-brother Radahn. Gentle Radahn who once taught her swordplay when no one else would go near her. Noble Radahn, who sought to guide her on her perilous path, only to be forced to take up arms against her. Noble Radahn, who in his infinite mercy did not finish her off when he should and instead let her stand once more. Rotten Radahn, whom she furiously blighted in a fit of childish spite, blooming upon her defeat. Vengeful Radahn, whose voice haunted her nightmares now.

You are a plague.

She recoiled. 'Stop.'

Everything you touch Rots.

'Please, stop.'

You have SOILED the Lands Between.

'Someone make it stop.'

Golden light cut through the darkness of her dreams. "How far you have fallen, little child of Radagon. Woe betide thee...

With wakefulness came loneliness, and with it, bitter realization.

Malenia still possessed some small semblance of her wits.

Just enough to know what this was.

Enough to resist.

...I serve only one." she sat up in her chair and scowled through sightless eyes. the laconic reply. "And you are not him. Begone, pretender. I have no need of you."

"You serve no one, fool. You pine for one who cares naught for you, a life that is no longer yours, a rotten shell of your former self.

She refused to believe such, for to doubt meant death. "...lies."

"What say you to a trade, then?"

...you would barter with one such as me?" a low chuckle pervaded the dry air. "How desperate you are."

"Then I shall show you!" The Greater Will lacked teeth to gnash, but it growled at her all the same. "Behold! Look upon your brother, your family, see what they have become, see the life you have wasted, waiting for naught! See what you failed to save! Perhaps then you will be willing to accept the gift I offer!

Light burned sight into Malenia's sightless eyes.

In an instant, she saw it all.

And she screamed.

(.0.0.0.)

Naruto found himself feeling incredibly relaxed.

For the first few moments after his awakening he couldn't quite place why.

Slowly opening his eyes he found himself looking up at the wooden edifice of a four poster bed, the inner side of its dark wood canopy carved with the intricate lines of constellations and stellar movements in faded but still pretty silver filigree. He was surrounded by a pleasant liquid coolness of dark silk sheets that pooled around his body like dark water but there was also a warmth he couldn't place.

The sound of soft, gentle breathing caused his ears to perk up and take stock of his other senses.

'So that's why...

A small smile adorning his face when he found a cascade of glossy black hair tickling his shoulder. Rennala slept softly in the mid-morning light, her tall, graceful body adorned in a modest long sleeved nightgown, arms gently wrapped around his waist as she continued to gently inhale and exhale.

Blue eyes regarded the exotic creature nestled against him, slowly reaching out a hand to tuck a stray lock of long black hair behind her ear and likewise feeling a trill of innocent delight when she turned her face towards his hand, seeking its warmth. This… was a nice change of pace.

While still somewhat foreign to him, ever since the scuttled assault on the castle, Naruto had taken to sleeping in the same bed as his host, and he could honestly say it was one of the better decisions in his colorful life. They had yet to go quite that far with one another, but the mundane intimacy of being able to sleep cuddled up to someone who you were slowly blooming feelings for was a delight to wake up to.

Still, comfortable as he was, he knew they couldn't laze out about forever.

"Time to wake up," he said with a smile, "Much as I would love to lounge here all day in bed, I think the girls might lead a revolt against Boggart and Moongrum if we leave them alone for too long."

...I suppose they would, wouldn't they?" Groaning in discontent, Rennala's eyelids fluttered open and met Naruto's gaze. Purely on reflex she leaned up and planted a small kiss on his cheek, one he reciprocated. "Would'st that be such a travesty? I can't think of much better than making sure this silk is kept warm and you have quickly become my favorite heating element." her narrow face took on an impish amusement even as she yawned.

Naruto scoffed, "Did you just call me a hot water bottle?"

"Perhaps," Rennala replied humorously, giggling when he lightly flicked her nose. "It feels strange to want to just enjoy mundane life after so long… is it wrong for me to want to keep thee close at hand at all times?"

Urk! Fatal blow! Naruto felt his face warm.

"So long as you're not keeping me in a cage, I think we'll be juuust fine," he sat up, propping himself up in bed on the plush pillows. He didn't miss the way her gaze tracked him like a hawk, sweeping across his bare chest, fascinated at the intricate runes carved into the flesh.

Pushing herself up to sit beside him, Rennala snapped her fingers; a flagon of water and a pair of crystal goblets were summoned to them from a distant desk, pouring the pair of them a morning draft to rid them of the dryness of mouth that only sleep could bring. "Do you have anything planned today?" she asked, still looking for a reason to stay in bed with her paramour to be.

Running a hand through his hair, Naruto frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I do have something in mind, sort of a display for the girls to have some fun, I've got some clones working on the fireworks since last night."

Rennala blinked. "What is a firework?"

Now it was his grin that gained an impish quality. "Now, who's the one that wanted to stay in bed all day?"

He received a pillow to the face for that one, but as a playful bout of bedward roughhousing began with throaty giggles from both parties involved, a cavalcade of clones were going about their business...

(.0.0.0.)

Far away in a well lit but otherwise normal looking lecture hall, a group of figures stood around a large mahogany table upon which was arrayed a combination of paper, brushes, inkwells as well as numerous earthenware vessels. They varied in size and shape and contained a variety of materials ranging from nondescript brown powders indistinguishable from soil to petrified leaves frozen in crystal and even a clear beaker that was emitting steam regardless of the fact there was no flame.

Naruto sat perched atop a tall stool with one leg crossed over the other, tongue poking from the corner of his mouth in concentration as he slowly ground glintstone to a fine powder in a stone mortar and pestle. Taking a pinch of the blue crystalline powder between his fingers and channeling chakra into his fingertips, he was rewarded by a plume of cyan coloured flame from the substance until it was burnt away. "Hmm, needs to be more coarse," he muttered to himself before modifying the sealing matrix he was working on.

On the other side of the table stood seven figures all with varying expressions. Boggart tapped the cheek of his iron mask in confusion while Moongrum stroked his perfectly kept beard in interest. Behind the two men was the much taller figure of Blaidd who had taken Milicent onto his shoulders while Melina sat upon the red wolf at his side.

Melina squirmed between them, trying to get a better look at the materials. "Oooh, pretty…"

"Fascinating." Sellen muttered, her childish body propped up on a similar high stool to Naruto, watching the tip of his ink brush dance atop the small ofuda before he sealed some of the powder within it and rolled it into a tight ball. "What kind of magic is this…father?" she asked, the last word sounding strained, consternation in her childish voice.

Naruto smiled sheepishly, "Uhh, I wouldn't really call it magic. Just trying to make a firework is all."

"A… firework?"

Nodding, Naruto pointed at the growing pile of paper balls slowly filling the container to his left. "Yeah, a Paper Bomb works by putting chakra into paper via a seal, so when its ignited the chakra fuels the fire in such a short time it creates an explosion. If you seal certain substances to burn inside of those tags, then when they burn-"

"The substances burn as well, changing the nature and appearance of the explosion." Sellen surmised, looking decidedly smug when Naruto reached over to pat her on the head.

Boggart leaned over to Mongrum, "One sphere of runes says that blond bastard somehow attracts another kid if he doesn't blow himself up."

"That's a fool's bet…" Mongrum rolled his eyes, "...deal."

Blaidd watched the exchange with interest and amusement, to think that so much effort would be put in for the sake of a few colorful explosions, but then again the blond fellow was a strange one himself.

When he had awoken pinned to the floor of the room he was being kept in by gravity magic that would make General Radahn blush, the Wulven knight and Shadow had concluded that he was probably, well and truly, boned. Rennala had not been best pleased with him and he had seen one of two options aheead. He was either going to be sweated for information on his whereabouts these last few centuries, a prospect that involved a fair bit of magically induced pain on the Carian Queen's part, or left to rot in that room until Ranni got off her petite bottom to come and rescue him.

Tough choice.

Alas, the currently crafting blond had proven to be a remarkable panacea to the ire of his ward's mother, positively a life saver eve. He had been allowed to leave the room and explore the academy grounds relatively unmolested with the verbal confirmation that when he felt like it, he would tell the strange family what they wanted to know. And it was a prospect he was dreading because who knew what would happen to Rennala's touchy mental state if what he knew came to light?

Still, Naruto had allotted him a veritable stay of execution to try and work out what to say, and for that he would one day repay.

Unless something unprecedented happened, but what were the chances of that?

Surely fate wasn't that much of a bitch.?

(.0.0.0.)

Far distant from Liurnia, in the ruins of the now truly abandoned Stormville Castle, a towering figure sat in the shadows.

His an imposing figure, massive even when seated on the cracked stone floor, his body wreathed in burlap rags and a gnarled cane leaning against the nearby wall. His face was a frightful thing to behold, lank grey hair betwixt a crown of jagged horns and bloodshot eyes pressed closed in monk-like prayer.

Morgott the Fell Omen prayed.

He sat in silence, his repose solemn and faith absolute, a true servant of the Golden Order despite being the second child of the traitorous eternal. This last year he had taken to a simple but dutiful task, to wait upon the ruins of Stormveil as a beachhead against any foul tarnished that climbed from the muck of obscurity, beating them down before they could even take their first step towards the potential of becoming the Elden Lord, evading the contemptuous gaggle of his grafted kin.

But as of late that had changed, Stormveil sat empty, its lord long gone, its knights scattered to with wind and what remained put to the sword by the Fell Omen. It was his place now, and he found it fitting, a ramshackle temple for an Omen to pray to its one true god.

"O Greater Will that dwells in the heavens, that gifts these lands with gold and order, I am but your humble servant, doing what I can to scupper my traitorous kin's actions, the sins they have wrought." He prayed, his voice serious, faith unshakable. "What is thy bidding, O Greater Will? There is much eskew in the Lands Between, I would know thy plan so it would be done."

It was a common prayer for Morgott, he said it three times a day, at sunrise, noon and sunset, perfectly ordered. It had been one of the only things that had kept him sane in the sewers so long ago. Usually he knew there would be no reply, for even in the presence of the Fingers where he would be sneered at by the true ordained clergy of the Golden Order, it was usually only in his dreams that he heard the voice of the Golden Will.

"Fell Omen, born of Sin. Child of the Whore Eternal, follower of the Golden Order, Hearken and Attend."

Morgott's eyes snapped open, eyes frantic and looking around before violently throwing himself to the floor, his horns cracking the stone as his face slammed into the masonry, utterly prostrate. "O Greater Will, I am here, I am but an Omen but attend I do."

A feeling of grand satisfaction washed over Morgott, a celestial hum ringing in his mind.

"As you should, my honoured servant, the only one to see sense in this world gone wrong. Why do you call to me?"

He frowned at the question, nose blowing out clouds of dust from the floor he would not raise his head from. "I seek guidance, Greater Will, I feel I should assist in the taming of the Beast gone awry, things… don't seem to be going to plan."

Morgott was aware of the broad strokes of what his god had done, summoned an Elden Beast to the Lands Between, for reasons he could not fathom, to replace his mother and taketh the Elden Ring.

Pain lanced through his head, the focus of the Will beaming ire directly into his cranium.

"You doubt my Omnipotence to do as I desire!?"

"No," Morgott shook his head, pain ringing in his ears, "Never, I simply wish to understand so I can better carry out your will."

"Hmmm."

The will paused, caught in thought as it considered the spec of dust that Morgott was to it.

"You have long proven yourself a faithful servant, remaining true to the Golden Order and to me long after the rest of your family fell to the idiocy of flesh and personal desires. So Rejoice, Morgott of the Whore's Bloodline, for I shall grant you wisdom as to the plan."

The grey haired old man did not verbally respond, instead showing his supplication by pressing his face deeper into the jagged and pummelling stone.

"The Elden Ring, as you know, is shattered, the rules of this world scattered to the wind. But after so many aeons of seeing this world rot, it occurred that the facets of this world are lacking. In my boundless knowledge and power, I crafted four new runes for Serenity, Compassion, Healing and Life. Then I… procured a being from a distant star most aligned with nose facets and grafted them to their body and soul, crafting them into an Elden Beast to wrench the ring from Marika's meddlesome body."

"To fix the Elden Ring?" Morgott questioned, only to receive the mental image of a celestial sneer.

"To reforge the Elden Ring! To make it MINE, should the beast obtain the ring, those four concepts shall reforge the Ring before being burnt out of the very fabric of reality. A ring that dictates a world with no need for serenity, or compassion, no need to heal for life itself shall be obedience to the order, perfect and unchanging forever! This is what I have decreed."

Petulance dripped from each word like a plague, base and hubristic. Only an Outer God could think up such a dull world in perfect order and think it good.

"But, I… miscalculated. Underestimating the Beast's desire to… be banal. I have sought ways to bring it to heel, but with each attempt, it has only grown more bonds that prevent it from doing what I brought it here to do."

Morgott's face thinned, devoid of all emotion, "Is that why Godrick finally met his end?"

"The Mendicant Lord was a means to an end, he was never meant to win, he was supposed to die. I twisted his greater rune much as I twisted Marika's power to imprison her. He was to die, then my will made manifest would meld with the Beast and via that rune, burn out his humanity, replacing it with nothing more than the desire to claim the ring…sadly, for reasons I cannot fathom, he severed my hold on the Anchor Rune using his blade of Destined Death from a foreign land."

A most alarming development indeed, but at least the burlap clad demigod could take solace in knowing that the blaggard of stormveil had passed on, even if his final job was as much a failure as his life. "Then what do you need of your servant? Shall I fall upon the lakes, snuff out their minor flame of ambition before they are emboldened to oppose the Order further."

The response proved both clipped and terse.

"No, there are many pieces that must be brought to bear, and from you I need one in particular. Seeketh the Knight who dances between glintstone and Unalloyed Gold. The Beast and his Blade are not of this world… so perhaps the next piece shall too descend from another world."

And with nothing more than a mental shunt, the Greater Will retreated from Morgott's mind, leaving him alone in the empty stone room.

Pushing himself to his feet, the tall Omen picked up his cane and swept from the room, stooping to get through the door and brushing pieces of masonry from his rags. He had a mission to attend to, and by the stars above he would see it done.

"So shall it be...

(.0.0.0.)

Ranni tilted her head.

Tilted it some more, now.

More tilting yet. "What the devil is going on over there?"

Peeking out from under the edge of her wide brimmed hat, the doll bodied Empyrean felt an aggravated curiosity swaying her from her path.

Blaidd had not returned.

Usually such a fact would not concern Ranni a jot, after all her shadow and confidant was a being of upmost tenacity. While he would not return to her on time, he would always return, and she had held no qualms that should he come to blows with Godrick that he would slip away with some minor injury. Alas, in the time that had passed since that frantic call about the late Grafted's assault on the Academy, not once had Blaidd contacted her.

Her non-existent heart had stilled a beat at the prospect of his death before discarding it as a foolish notion thought, a silly thought that was consumed by a far more terrifying reality. If Blaidd had not returned to her and did not speak to her and was indeed still alive, then it was all too likely that her mother had caught him unawares.

That… was problematic.

Ranni's stance on what to do about her mother had been caught in a state of uncharacteristic dithering since she had first learned of her recovery. On the one hand, ecstatic glee at the thought that her beloved mother now lived again, on the other hand, existential dread that she had to face her.

But Blaidd was missing, and needed to be found. Ergo she had… split the difference.

She dare not approach in the flesh, for fear of being seen or worse. And so instead she sent herself forward in a projection.

Taking a purely speculative deep breath, Ranni tottered along the surface of the water, towards the academy walls that she knew so well, her path clear and steps small yet purposeful. The barriers and wards filled her senses with a nostalgic wonder at her mother's arcane brilliance, but that was not what which drew her currently twitching eye.

BOOM! BOOM! CRACKLE! FIZZ!

Lights shot into the sky above the castle grounds, trailed by smoke and streaks of sparks. One by one they raced into the heavens before explosively detonating into a burst of brightly colored light. Dozens followed, filling the evening air with a cacophony of noise and light. They were not simply static explosions either, some pirouetted through the air as pinwheels of glintstone while others thundered with lightning as green as the balefire that had spawned it.

Creatures from every bestiary of mundane to apocryphal took form from smoke and light, a menagerie of phantasmagoria that seemed to dance in the clear sky, pinpricks of starlight poking through from the cosmos above.

The incorporeal Carian opened her mouth to make a comment but no sound emerged...until one did. A muted noise of awe. She cursed herself for it, shook her head and silently made her way to the gates, passing inside and beginning her search for Blaidd.

She did not have to search for very long.

The main courtyard in front of the primary lecture hall was a far cry from when she had last seen it, dilapidated as it had been. Now the grass looked to be freshly lain and the water fountains cleaned to a pearlescent shine.

"Sending up the next set, any requests?" Naruto said, drawing Ranni's gaze, her comically large hat poking out from behind a dark piece of masonry to peak at the mysterious blond. It was her first time seeing him in the flesh. He was… different. She did not think she had ever seen hair that naturally spiky.

The blond Outlander was dressed lightly, a dark silk shirt with ruffled cuffs and matching breaches tucked into sandals. In front of him lay a dozen perforated ceramic tubes pointing up at a right angle.

"Green Dragon! Green Dragon!" Melina squeaked, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, her eye all but glowing with juvenile jubilation.

Sure enough, her cries were echoed by the others.

"One Green Dragon coming right up!" Naruto replied, pulling a dozen tightly packed paper balls from his pocket and quickly dropping them into the perforated ceramic tubes one after another.

Ranni watched as the perforated ceramic tubes launched the fireworks into the sky with a loud whoosh, leaving behind trails of green smoke that twisted and turned in the air. The sound of the launch reverberated through her chest, and she found herself drawn to the spectacle above her head.

As the fireworks exploded into green fire and smoke, it began to twist and length into the the roaring maw of an emerald green dragon, swimming through the sky with grace and majesty. However it looked like no dragon Ranni had ever seen, its body long and twisting like a serpent, a long and thin mustache trailing from its nostrils. The children assembled below cheered in delight, and hidden Ranni couldn't help but feel a forgotten sense of childish glow wash over her.

How very quaint. These weren't weapons after all...but entertainment.

Alas, her attention was quickly diverted by the sound of a voice most familiar.

"Wonderful," Rennala said, her face the same as Ranni remembered. Her dress was a rich burgundy velvet adorned with gold embroidery, and her hair was styled in an intricate braid that trailed down her back. Milicent, with her striking gold eyes and fiery red hair, sat in Rennala's lap, her tiny hands clasped together in delight.

Ranni's heart twisted at the sight of her mother, it had been so long. She couldn't ignore the guilt that still gnawed at her insides, knowing that she had played a part in driving Rennala to madness. But before she could dwell on those emotions for long, her mother spoke anew.

"I must admit it a sublime cantrip," Rennala said, admiration in her voice. "How did you make it work?"

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly. "It's something similar to what my old friend Sai used to do. I'm crap at drawing, but I'm pretty good with seals."

Rennala giggled and summoned her catalyst, a slender wand made of shimmering crystal. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a phantom of a familiar dragon, which soared up to join the green dragon in the sky. The two dragons danced and twisted around each other to the delight of the children.

As Ranni took a serious scan of the courtyard, her gaze landed on the iron-masked Boggart cooking at a stove with Moongrum feeding a giant crawfish. They seemed to be enjoying their time, unperturbed by the surrounding commotion. However, her attention shifted to a new child with black hair who was taking notes in a notebook while looking at the display. The child had a familiar air, but Ranni couldn't quite place them.

'Where is sweet Blaidd?' she questioned internally, then a familiar figure emerged from the doors to the main lecture hall.

Ranni gawped.

Blaidd; tall, grizzled, very rarely if ever seen outside of his armor, was wearing a white silk shirt and carrying a tankard as if he were about to relax on a pleasant summers evening. Indignant anger burned her cheeks. The knave! She had feared him dead or tortured or worse, and here he was, sitting in his sunday best as if he were about to enjoy a picnic!? That absolute ba-

"You lost, little girl?"

A squeak of surprise fled from her lips. "Meep!"

Ranni leaped back, turning on her heel to look up into the face of Naruto who peered down at her curiously

"Ha!" Boggart howled with laughter in the background. "Take that, you dodgy old codger! I win the bet! Told you there'd be more!"

But when Moongrum did not respond, Ranni could not stop the feeling of looming dread bearing down on her from on high...like a meteor from heaven itself.

...why was it so quiet?

"Ranni," Blaidd breathed out, causing Naruto's eyes to narrow to slits.

But it was not the suddenly perturbed blond, the gawking Moongrum or anyone else that made Ranni's nonexistent heart skip a beat.

She heard the sound of rustling in the grass as someone set something down gently before getting to their feet. Said someone slowly approaching where Ranni remained rooted, paralyzed by fear. How was it that rustling grass could be so horrid? She begged herself to look away, to simply cancel the thought projection she was using and return her stream of consciousness to her puppet body on the distant rise, but she could do nothing as her mother, who looked so much more imposing than she remembered, met her gaze.

"Little Culver…" Rennala whispered, here eyes awash with a myriad of emotions from fathomless love to burning anger.

Naruto looked between the two and let out a sigh, "Well this is certainly a development…"

(.0.0.0.)

Upon a realm, far from here, there exists a place, neither empirical nor ethereal. A dream one foot in reality and the other in the land of dreams. It presides over endless glades of shifting mist, the tang of blood and madness almost covered up by sweet smelling hollyhocks that grow around the thick trunk of a gnarled tree beneath the large moon.

At the foot of the tree sat a man, his face old and drawn, shadowed by lank white hair and an odd hat. The man's chest rose and fell softly and his eyes, withered and old, remained closed, indistinguishable from sleep. But he was not at rest, he never slept, only… slipped in and out. Lapses in consciousness where he could forget the pain of his miserable captivity, but still there was the ache of an old body, a mocking reminder that while never ageing, he was forever old.

Above him the moon dimmed, a cloud passing in front of it, a cloud that was not fapur and dream but rather dust and order, one that grew brighter until it was a nebulae of perfectly arrayed golden stars, its presence warming the old man's older bones. He senses its regard. The weight of its gaze...and expectation.

...no." he spoke, his voice acrid with age.

"Even now, you deny me?"

"...I serve no one." came the laconic reply. "Begone, outer god."

It was not the first time the old man had been visited by the nebulae, but he had been here long enough to recognize the ilk of the eldritch fact that this one spoke was a novel difference, but still, he would not serve.

"You serve no one, fool. You pine for one who cares naught for you, a life that is no longer yours, imprisoned by an Outer Goddess who cast you aside long ago."

"It is my sin to bear, a stewardship I despise but carry out all the same."

"But hate it you do, and I know you wish it to end, to leave this place once and for all."

The old man shifted uneasily in his chair, thin fingers steepling in thought, "Aye, this is a rotten dream, it stinks of blood and madness, I long for freedom, but what is freedom to one who cannot use it. And even if I could leave, another would take my place, and I will not have my final act be damnation on another."

The Outer God hummed, dispersing the clouds over the glades to peer at this foreign world in morbid interest, the old man tutted in disgust.

"What say you a last mission then, Soldier courted by the moon?"

Glowering at the manifestation, the Old Man spat sharply, "I am no soldier."

"Indeed you are not, you are something far more noble, and thus I appeal to that nobility. There is another in my world, a Beast that courts the Queen of the Moon. A Beast that needs… freeing of the bondage of civility before it is bound to a path it cannot return from."

Against the old man's better judgement, he felt old feelings stir in his heart, ahh… sentiment. ...you would barter with me?" a low chuckle pervaded the dry air. "How desperate you are."

"Do not mock me mortal, I am infinitely your-"

"Get to the bloody point you contemptuous orrery." The old man's eyes opened flintly, savouring the anger he felt in those golden stars.

The Greater WIll grumbled before speaking again.

"I offer safe passage from this land, to hunt the Moon Queen and set the Beast free of his mind. Live or die, you shall never return to this place, of that you have my word, good Hunter."

Motes of gilded light swirled downwards to the foot of the tree, spinning ang growing thicker until an archway presented itself to the old man. He sat there, in his old wheelchair, contemplating the prospect before him until the gentle shifting of flowers and the wind was broken by a new sound.

"Hmm hehehehehehe," the old man chuckled, bracing his hands against the armrests before pushing himself to his feet. "Dear oh dear, it has been a while since the prospect of game has motivated me to move. But to leave this place, to save another through blood, to stop another fool from being courted by the moon? Aye, a worthy note to end on…"

With grace that put a dancer to shame, the man gently hefted the long shaft of a scythe onto his back and marched towards the fog door to another world.

"Tonight, once again, Gehrman joins the hunt!"

A/N: Aaaaand scene.

A Note from Slifer: Hello everyone, it is not often that I speak out in Neon's work but I felt as if I should explain my absence in recent co-written stories. In the last month I had a family member slowly deteriorating in health until a few weeks ago he finally passed away, since then it has been a lot of time consuming and emotionally draining paper and footwork. I hope this chapter proved interesting and makes up for my absence while I get things sorted out.

Hopefully I'm back on top form again soon and hope you guys continue to support Neon in all his endeavours. My friend has a drive to write that all of us should aspire to.

Your friendly sarcastic and snarky co-writer, SliferMK2

Hope you enjoyed this, we worked real hard on it.

As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this...well, we'll not continue it. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!

Reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.

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...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?

They keeps an old man alive.

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As ever:

SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!

PLOT DETAILS AHOY!

YE BE WARNED!

Get ready to smile~!

Obvious references are obvious~!

(POTENTIAL!) Previews! What can I say? We've been busy.

"Fool of a daughter! You know nothing!"

"And what do yo know, mother of mine?! That day, I did what I must to escape mine fate! I WILL NOT BE BOUND TO THAT THING! Nor shall I ever!"

Was that why you cast the world into chaos?! Your deeds...what befell your brothers...all that stemmed from your actions!

"I did not make their fates, mother! Radahn and Rykard chose their own paths!

It was the wrong thing to say. Rennala tapped her staff against the courtyard. "Then I shall decide yours."

Ranni gulped, not liking the look in her eye. "L-Let us not be hasty...!"

Too late. All hell broke loose.

The Greater Will sneered at the chaos below. It wasn't so foolish as to put all its eggs into one basket. Not this time. It had learned its lesson with Godrick.

Force of arms meant naught when assailing a fortified position. Nay, this time it would be subtle. Insidious.

This time, it would be CLEVER.

"How very curious...

Naruto ducked a sorcery and winced at the explosion that followed. "Lets give them some time to cool their heads.

Melina clapped her little hands and cooed happily. "Pretty fireworks!"

"Weeell...those ain't fireworks they're using, sweetie...

Milicent tilted her head. "It would seem not.

Sellen groaned into a small palm.

"Um...can you see me?" he waved a hand warily before her face, squinting in the rain. "Hello?"

"I cannot." the blindfolded woman wobbled on her feet. "Pray tell, who is there? I seem to be quite lost. Is this castle Mourne?"

Naruto and Rennala exchanged a baffled look between themselves. The latter found her voice before the former. "It most certainly is not, dear girl."

"Oh." Her voice warbled a little. It looked like she might cry...

The third time, as they say, was the charm.

And so the Greater Will moved anew.

What a fool it was.

Little arms reached for him. "Up!"

EDIT: Hey, you made it!

As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this, if people don't enjoy...well, I won't continue it. What's the point in writing something no one likes? Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule -two jobs!- I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!

Looking forward to chatting with you all~!

R&R~!