sup ppl, the fic is not dead!
right, won't lie to u, we're doing a three day time skip. I've written thousands of words for days 1-3. Then I rewrote em, again and again and again. I absolutely hated it, and I couldn't get it to work. So I'm just skipping right to it. Sorry it took so long, but full disclosure the next one will probably take even longer.
Rennala came to awareness with a burning feeling on her right hand. She brought her arm and inspected, finding a Carian royal crest inked onto her hand in a blue that reminded her of the gem of her sceptre.
She hadn't remembered getting that tattooed there. She immediately went to dismiss it as something she had gotten in her youth, before stopping that thought cold.
She didn't get tattoos. Especially not ones that carried a foreign magic inside them. She was head of the Carian royal family for the erdtree's sake!
…A family that had been largely diminished. Ever since he left…
Rennala straightens up. No.
Ever since Radagon left her. It's high time she's faced the truth of it.
For reasons she doesn't fully understand her husband had left her, to return to Leyndell. When her daughter still visited her, before she fell into the state she had been in, she learned that he married the God queen. Even bore her twins, though Ranni had been quite pleased to inform her that the twins had been cursed.
Rennala wasn't so comforted. She didn't want children she had never met to suffer for her ex-husbands mistakes. She just wants this pain to stop. She just wants some closure to all this drama.
She knows she's unlikely to get it though. The world just too broken for that to ever be the case. Even more broken then her. As bad as her confinement and loneliness was she could still feel it when the Elden ring was shattered. There wasn't a person, creature, or even god in all the lands between who hadn't felt the ring shatter.
Which could only mean that her daughter was…
Rennala gave a bitter chuckle. Yet another truth she was running from. Her daughter was dead. She had been for a long time, and using her husbands final gift as a means to try and fill the whole of that loss would never work.
Not that she could anymore. She may have still had the egg but the rune was gone.
The grim art of rebirth was lost to her for now, She knew the incantation's but didn't have the catalyst. Without the rune the egg was just a fancy container. One she had been entirely too obsessed with. She set the egg aside on her bedside dresser.
Ah yes, her bed. Which had been made fresh and clean just like her, yet Rennala hadn't had the faculties to actually do these tasks. No, instead she has her…well she's not really sure what title applies to the man who broke into her library.
Savior? He had broken the effects of the magic effecting her, though in truth it was something she herself should have long since done. Now, because of her spinelessness, there is a new form of magic binding her. One she doesn't fully understand, though she's rapidly starting to suspect.
It all comes back to that man. Her savior. Although like she thought before, perhaps that is not the best word. He certainly hadn't looked like a savior when she had met him. Even through the haziness of the state she was in, she could see how monstrous he had looked. A weathered man cobbled together with parts from all manor of creature, from man to monster. Even her husband's former pet had found itself part of the collective.
Yet the monster hadn't come to hurt Rennala. No instead the monster had come to take care of her like she was infant child. He bathed her, changed her into clothes that hadn't stunk of filth, even cleaned out her former academy domicile.
Not once had he hurt her, despite how difficult she had been. Not once had he attempted to force himself upon her, and she could clearly now see how she had affected him. The thought made a fire pulse in her loins, and her breath catch in her throat.
Which brought her to what she suspected of the newfound magic now effecting her. Now, Rennala will be the first to admit, it's been some time since she's been… intimate. Yet the burning attraction she feels to her rescuer can't be entirely natural.
Oh, it had certainly seemed like it at first. When she pictured him in her mind she saw him as he now was. A strapping young handsome man. The image flittered about her mind. His face, with just enough similarities to her ex to be considered her type, but different enough to be new. She was imagining all the ways his pretty mouth would look pressed against her…
Well needless to say she had been a little too hot and bothered. Especially considering it was a man she hardly even knew! So she tried to imagine something less appealing to douse her arousal. Case in point, the cobbled fleshy amalgamation she knew that he had been prior to getting her great rune (and that must be why he wanted, in which case Rennala totally understands.)
Reminding herself off a sight like that was sure to change her mind right?
However, when she pictured him in the monstrous form he had previously, her arousal didn't change. She found the sight just as attractive, even more so considering she could remember what that form looked like now, under the influence of the rune. Those giant muscular arms powerful enough to break stone that held her oh so gently.
It sent a tingle down her spine, and she bit her lip at the remembrance.
Right, where was she!? Oh yes, the magic effecting her likely influenced her attraction to her rescuer, in addition to the healing effects it had shown on her mind. The researcher in her was just brimming with curiosity as to how ink in the skin could produce such effects, but the queen in her is quite worried.
Even at the height of their power, Radagon didn't have this level of control over her thoughts.
She stops cold as the last five millennia flash before her eyes.
Alright, so maybe he actually did. And maybe Rennala didn't mind the new effects on her mind so much if it meant getting over that. She couldn't say for certain.
She'd have to find out after feeling what the sex was like. Just a little quickie to determine a few, ahhh, variables.
Just a couple of hours should do it. Or maybe a few days. Once she's ridden her rescuer through this bedframe she's on now she'll pry up all the necessary details and come to a decision.
Yeah, she was done for, and she knew it. 'Was that really such a bad thing though?' She thought with a saucy grin.
Of course, that was when she heard screaming. More specifically, his screaming.
She was out of the bed and running out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her
I was standing in the middle of the courtyard when it happened. I could tell it happened almost immediately. There was this unexplained tugging sort of feeling in my gut, and I'd almost equate it to the way Percy Jackson describes the use of his powers.
Then the pain started.
Like lighting shooting throughout my veins and zapping everything around it as it went. A shock thrill running through my body that left me near paralyzed.
I collapsed, like a puppet with its strings cut, and began to writhe on the ground in agony. There was nothing else I could do.
It was like I was being burned alive without a fire.
My hands scratched at the stone floor, leaving bloody trails from my fingertips. Compared to the agony I was experiencing in my body I couldn't feel the pain from my hands at all.
Then an errant and devastating thought hit me. 'Holy shit. Am I going to die from this?'
That thought set me in a panic, which did nothing to help my current situation. I might very well be dying, and I didn't know the cause.
The pain flared to even greater heights, and my scream pitched with it. There was a roaring noise like the crack of devastating thunder, and a scream like lighting along with it.
I guess my ears had popped under the pressure.
And then it stopped. Just as quickly as the sudden pain started, it had ended.
I was left to twitch on the ground, staring up at a darkened, cloudy sky in bewilderment as a soothing feeling started to flow through me. When I went to sit up from the ground I was even feeling stronger than ever. What the fuck was going on?
Before I had time to ponder this further, I was treated to a sight I would never thought I'd see. Rennala came running out of the library, a panicked expression on her face. When she caught sight of me she gasped, before hurrying over and falling on her knees before me.
"Are thou alright!? I heard screaming! What happened?!" Her melodious voice was even more panicked than her face had been.
I responded in between heavy breaths of air "I'm ok. I'm ok." I told her, before my brain registered what I was seeing and hearing. "Rennala!?" I asked in bafflement.
The full moon queen blushed, blushed! "Ahh yes. I believe I have thee to thank for… my recovery?" She asked, a cute expression on her face. I blinked again.
Rennala was speaking in sentences that didn't involve rebirth or eggs. She was coherent
I stared in bewilderment before a genuine smile broke out across my face, "Hahaha! Yes! It worked! It worked!" I let out another laugh as I surged upwards. I grabbed Rennala and lifted her into the air, the tall woman's feet just lifting off the ground as I stared spinning her around in joy.
She let out a noise of shock but quickly came to be laughing along with me. I slowed to a stop along with my laughter, but my smile didn't abate, and neither did hers. I set her down gently so we were back at eye level.
She reached out and cupped my cheek, my eyes widening at the action. "Are thou certain that thou are alright? What happened, and what is thou wearing?" She asked, concern plain in her tone, which twisted to confusion at the last question. Her eyes were soft yet serious, and there was a slant to her eyebrows as she looked me over.
I felt my face warm under her touch, and my hands reached up to intertwine with her and pull it away slowly. "I'm fine, I'm not entirely sure what just happened, but what do you mean what am I wearing-" I stopped talking as I looked down at myself. I blinked.
What the fuck?
I was wearing armor fashioned of a faded gold, matched by a set of gold-bracers wrapped around my hands. Each piece was ornate, the armor in particular seemed to be that of a lord's. I had a waist cloth reminiscent of a spartan forged from dragonscale, and it glittered a particularly rich blue. The whole ensemble was wrapped in weathered scarves, like those of the banished knights, to protect from the fierce winds they faced.
It was an armor I had unfortunately recognized, and it led to a sinking feeling in my stomach. There was a weight upon my brow that didn't belong to the crown I had previously worn upon it, and I knew in my heart that it was merely another, fashioned in a much sharper shape.
When I turned slightly, I caught sight of a sword spear buried in the ground a few feet away, it's blade halfway into the stone work. It was a sword spear I also definitely recognized.
"What the fuck?" I breathed in shock. "How?" I asked myself.
Rennala's eyes had widened at my words, and as she opened her mouth to perhaps ask what I meant, her eyes went up to look at something above my head. I looked up to see what she was looking at and had my mouth drop open in shock.
As if the universe had been waiting for me to ask, a smart phone appeared from a tiny portal right above my head, from which it promptly bounced off of my face then clattered to the floor. I let out a noise of pained surprise as it did. Fucking thing had bonked me on the nose.
Rennala let out a noise of shock and moved in to inspect my face. "Are thou alright?!" She asked in surprise, her tone jumping up. She moved in closer to inspect me.
I was waving her off and dropping down to grab the smart device a second later, latching onto it. I turned it over and tapped the screen, turning it on and swiping to get in as there was no lock on it.
I'm brought to the parody of an iPhone's homes screen. Right away my eyes spot the company app, which is literally labeled as such.
I open it up, giddy to spend some points on a way out of this hellhole. I probably couldn't get full multiversal travel for what Rennala was worth, but there are plenty of ways to skin a cat. I could grab the powers of someone who could open dimensional portals, or I could just roll the dice on that single use portal I remember being in the catalog. It's been a minutes since I've checked options or prices, but the sky is the limit with what I have right now.
I opened up the app and saw that my balance was listed as…0 points? No. No no no!
What the hell is this?! There's no way I didn't get any points for capturing Rennala! I open up my build to see what the hell is happening, a sinking suspicion in my chest. My fears are confirmed when I lay eyes on what I've 'purchased'.
You as Godrick The Grafted (Substitute) of T7 [undefined]
Binding & Lure
Bindings:
[ Company Stamp ]
Lures:
[ Sticky Fingers ]
Other Controls:
No Other Controls
Heritage ( Your tier - T7 )
[ Death Mask, Your Soul Is Mine, Book of the Dead]
Talents & Perks
Ride:
No Ride
Home:
[ Pocket Space ]
Talents:
[ Body Tune-Up, Everlasting, Soul, Template Stacking I (You as Godrick The Grafted has Nameless King (Soulsborne)) , Template Stacking II{ You as Godrick The Grafted [Nameless King (Soulsborne)]} ]
Defenses:
[ Body, Destiny, Soul, Stress ]
Misc:
[ Time-Savers, Appearance Change, Sexual Calibration, Fertility Calibration I, Exit Stage Left ]
I…what the fuck was this?! All my points had already been spent! On some shit I didn't even need!
A full template stacking one and two for Nameless king! Why the fuck would I need that?! I already had access to everything he could do in this world! Dragons and lighting weren't all that special here, I already had control of the stormwinds! What the fuck was the point of wasting a third of my budget like that?!
That line of thought is what immediately has me calling bullshit on my build. I had template stacking one and two. Which was 40 points altogether. Rennala was a tier 8 capture, worth 120 points. That left 80 total to spend.
So how did I have death mask, which was worth 100 on its own? Let alone the next two perks in the psychopomp heritage.
The fucking pyschopomp heritage, that was the one saving grace in all of this. Certainly hadn't been what I would have expected either.
This situation I was in kept getting weirder and weirder. Why give me a stamp, if they were just going to take it away? Furthermore, I was still rewarded with more than I should be given for the capture, but given no choice in how those points were spent?
What the hell kinda game was I stuck in?
I jerk in surprise when I feel something grab me, and I look up to see Rennala, looking at me in concern, hands on my arms.
"Are thou alright?" She asked me again softly.
Immediately, my heart starts to melt. I pocket the phone, or at least I put in it a… pouch…thing? Whatever the dark souls equivalent of a pocket it is.
"Yes" I tell Rennala, "I'm just fine." I tell her as my hands come up to entwine with hers. I'm speaking the truth too.
Sure, it's quite an upsetting situation I have on my hands, but it's not like I'm in a worse position than I was before. Even if it's not the selections I wanted, I still had gotten a whole bunch of power. It's not the options I would have picked, but since when did that matter? People don't know what they want until you give it to 'em, I was no expection. I'd make this work.
Hell, I'd get so good with these new powers I'd start to question why I was even upset in the first place. It would all work out, as exit stage left would serve my purposes given enough time, even if it's not quite what I was hoping for.
Was it upsetting? Sure, I had already admitted that. Was it world ending? No. This was something that slightly inconvenienced me at most.
I spoke my next though aloud, "Most importantly, you seem to be feeling much better" I told Rennala, drawing another blush from the woman.
I was once again speaking the truth too. Most importantly of all was the stamp fixing Rennala. With her back in shape a lot of my immediate problems could be taken care of. Learning magic, taking control of the academy, and dealing with any potential threats would be so much easier with her back in the saddle.
"Yes, mine mind has been healed, and I'm feeling quite like myself again." The woman replied, voice slightly downcast, likely from thinking about the state she was in before. Did she remember everything between then and now? Probably not a good question to start with.
"Good, Im quite glad. I was worried that I'd be competing for your attention with an egg for the rest of eternity." I joked to her. Perhaps that wasn't the best response because the woman almost seemed to stumble at that.
Yeah, maybe don't remind her of the past like that, huh dumbass?
"Ahh nay. Thou have my undivided attention" she told me, gaze intent.
Whoo boy, she was definitely pissed off at that. Right, I should make with the explanation before she makes with the magic blades.
"So, we should probably talk." I offered, and said nothing else, like a dumbass.
Seriously, I had been thinking about this for days. I was the combined life of an average guy who lived a pretty decent life as well as a fuckmothering demigod. I should not still be getting clammed up talking to a pretty girl, even if she's a 7ft tall milf who's extremely powerful and dangerous.
Yeah, needless to say I was screwed.
"Yes. We should… talk." she said after a moment, and that pause did nothing to help my blood pressure. "We can talk more comfortably up in the room. Why don't thou come inside?" She asked. I shivered at the tone, which promised pain if I didn't answer all of her questions.
"Of course" I answered her, hoping I didn't look as sweaty as I suddenly felt. "Let's go talk inside."
Then I picked my right foot up and took a step to the door. Then my left. Then my right again. One foot in front of the other, step after step.
I marched to what felt like my execution under the full moon queen's gaze.
"He's in Liurnia" Sir Gideon Ofnnir spoke, his tone curling just slightly, hinting at his annoyance.
"You're certain Father?" Nepheli Loux asks from her place against the wall on the other side of the room near the door, a mirror of the skeletal guardian on the other side.
"It's the only logical explanation. The only thing that could get a demigod to move is a great rune, especially that old bastard. Godrick's too much of a coward to head east, so north is his only option. He'll likely be searching for a way into the academy" he responded.
Aeyla couldn't help but notice that he didn't actually answer his daughter's question. Nonetheless, Nepheli accepted her father's logic as gospel. She nodded her acceptance, no doubt already planning the best route to take to get to the land of the lakes.
Aeyla wasn't so convinced.
Three months ago she had been woken by the call of lost grace.
Three weeks ago she'd met Nepheli fighting through stormveil castle.
Three days ago she'd been 'accepted' into the round table. Nepheli's words to her father about Aeyla's skill in clearing out the stormveil apparently serving in place of a great rune.
Throughout her journey from that stranded grave, to castle morne, all the way to stormveil castle she'd heard tale of Godrick the grafted. Not a word of which had been very flattering.
And now here she was, sitting before Gideon, listening to another explanation about the desires and motivations of a man she has yet to meet.
For a fool, Godrick seemed awfully adept at outmaneuvering the so called all knowing.
She stood up, and made her way for the door, the action causing the other two occupants of the room.
"Going somewhere girl?" Comes Offnir's grating voice.
"Liurnia" was what she went with as she said as she made her way to the exit. "You need more intel, and I intend to get it."
She heard his hum of approval, sounding almost like a grunt. She smiled beneath her helm. It was so easy to appease men like Gideon.
She gave a nod to her friend Nepheli and left through the door.
She wasn't sure if she'd come back here again. Gideon was a good fuck, but his pillow talk left much to be desired, especially for someone who dubbed himself all knowing.
ah well, if nothing else his daughter was good people, and he might prove useful to her yet.
As for Aeyla? She had a score to settle.
three fucking months she'd been fighting to get that rune. Nearly a whole month just to clear out the castle, only to find that her prize wasn't even there. All she'd found was the butchered corpse of a mutilated and rotting dragon. She even squeezed that bastard Gostoc, supposedly Godrick's right hand man, and he'd hadn't known a damn thing about the grafted lords sudden disappearance. All he could tell her was what had been done with the parts of the dragon.
Gideon had given it to her particularly rough that night, and she was glad to provide him with the frustration. She'd have to remember to send back intel that was correct, but just piecemeal enough to make him grind his teeth. Well, if she ever thought about heading back to the round table.
It wasn't a bad place to kick it, but her new friend Sellen had a plan to get a crib that was a bit more… magical in nature. And if she happened to find a great rune or two along the way?
Aeyla grinned, and gave a macabre whistle as she concentrated on the sight of grace just past the grafting grounds, before disappearing from the hold.
—
Ranni the witch paced the top floor of her tower relentlessly, uncaring that the body she resided in was I'll suited for movement such as this.
The trap she had laid upon the egg her mother held had been triggered. If that was the case then…
No. No!
Ranni could not afford to think like that. Not when there was still work to be done. She ceased her pacing and moved back to her chair. Sitting down, she did her best to regain her composure before flaring her magic.
There was a rush of air and arcane energies as the shades of her followers manifested, allowing communication between her and her slalwart companions.
"Lady Ranni, has something happened" Iji is the first to speak, care and concern plain as day.
"Blaidd, Iji" she barley manages to keep the tremble from her voice. Her friends still hear it, Blaidd in particular can feel her mood.
"What's wrong Ranni?" He asks, near begging.
"The trap I had lain upon my mothers egg has been activated" she tells them, voice near breaking.
Immediately they understand. Iji is first, "but that would mean…" he trails off, before taking in a shaky rattling breath, his fists clenching and unclenching.
"Mother…" Blaidd whined. He moved forward, as if to try and find comfort with Ranni but stopped, remembering that it was merely through illusion with which he spoke with her.
"I have no way of knowing if she is dead or… worse." Ranni speaks, coming to terms with what might very well be the worst pain she's ever felt. Even greater than losing her brothers. Even greater than the pain she felt on that fateful night. "I go now to determine the truth. Thy both shall join me, as shall Selivus, though you are not to tell him the why."
"Ranni it's too dangerous, let me-" Blaidd, ever the faithful protector, tries to council caution, even if he himself feels the same grief she does. Regrettably, that grief is the reason she has to go, and the reason she is firm in her reply.
"This is not a matter that is up for debate. I will head to the Academy and determine what has happened, and thou shall both join me with all due haste. Am I understood?" she demands of them.
Blaidd's ears drop, and though Ranni feels guilt she knew that he doesn't hold it against her.
"Of course Ranni, I'll be there within a day" he tells her, despite knowing that it is at least a week back to Liurnia, even knowing the routes and shortcuts that they do.
Which means Blaidd will likely find a horse and ride it into the ground, before doing the same with his own body. Ranni knows better than to try and stop him, and right now she is glad for her shadows devotion. she wishes he were here right now, so she could cry into his shoulder.
Instead she squares hers and gathers her magic.
She's heading to Raya Lucaria to either save or avenge her mother.
Woe to any that might stand in her way.
and scene! So wasn't sure whether to include those two perspectives or not. That's what survived of the stuff I mentioned earlier. Originally they would have been after day one, and then day two would have had maybe a different perspective but I cut it all cuz like I said I hated it. Anyway, more importantly you have the build, and I doubt it's what you expected. Sorry to everyone who was hoping I'd pick something smart like sukuna or bonesaw, but I had this exact build planned out for a while, though I will admit I changed the nameless king up. Originally the template stack was Godwyn, because that's lowkey the best choice in elden ring(for my taste) hands down. Lighting, dragons, and godhood. what's not to love? But then I big brained the nameless king, because choosing an elden ring template stack in an elden ring set story is… well it's not the wrong play, but it's a little too convenient, ya know? Nameless king is all of that in a less Op package. He's only a T6, he's from souls which is thematic as fuck, and finally:
Its nameless king. This is the dude I fanboy over and cosplay as in Ds3. So yeah, that's the build.
(That psychopomp boutta go even crazier, I been plotting that for a HOT minute. I'm sure there will be plenty of suggestions but, I know who our MC is Shang tsunging first and it's NOT who you think.)
