A/N: Looking forward to your feedback!
Short chapter this time. I'm not pushing myself this week, lest I have another anxiety attack.
The spree begins. It was torture waiting this long. Seems I was right to pause and wait for the DLC after all. Now we can continue.
Just wanted to say, I appreciate you all! More feedback means faster updates! It's especially important, in these, trying times, with the main site notifications down. Every word counts and i appreciate you all! All these reviews really keep me inspired! Looking forward to hearing from you~!
Speaking of which, I finally bested the last boss on NG + 4 after many hours, I've beaten the DLC...and I am dead inside.
What. Was. THAT ENDING?! How am I to sleep after that! The DLC also forced me to change up a few story beats in several of my stories for Elden Ring, while, oddly enough, enhancing others. Runt of the Litter -Naruto reborn as Godrick- and Forget Me Not -Naruto reborn as Miquella- come to mind. To say nothing of the others. Slifer and I are preparing a story given Marika's official origins now, and it's going to be a doozy.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far greater than little 'ol me.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.
Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.
In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!
SPOILERS FOR SHADOWS OF THE ERDTREE AHEAD!
Warning; this chapter proves..emotional.
"...Even a goddess has a beginning."
~Marika, the Eternal Queen.
Salvation
"Speak."
Such a simple word, and yet it conveyed a cold, quiet clarity that most in this world lacked.
A boundless menace that promised pain if not answered properly.
Yet so too did that warped word also offer release. Freedom. Salvation.
And why wouldn't it? After all, that claim came from the lips of a goddess.
"Speak," Marika repeated the word slowly, dragging out the syllables, "And your end will be swift."
The Black Knife didn't budge. Shamed and shackled against the wall in this, the blackest of cells though she was, she nevertheless refused to speak. Down an eye and ear besides, her fingers smashed to a bloody ruin, her body stripped of all armor and her weapons, clad in nothing but her bloody smallclothes, she was in every way a wasted wretch.
Not enough. Not nearly enough. Nowhere near enough for all the pain her ilk had caused this night.
All these deaths were on their heads.
And still she did not speak!
Something ugly twisted in her chest. It felt foul. Marika yielded to it.
"Nothing to say?" The eternal queen tilted her head. "Very well. I find actions speak louder than words."
With an awful hum, her hammer descended, obliterating the joint of the assassin's knee. The woman crumpled with a keening whine, bowing inwards on herself as much as her shackles would allow. She was still gasping for air when said hammer struck her across the face, bloodying her nose. Even as she buckled that gavel swept up under her chin, forcing her head up, to look her in the eye.
"The pain stops when you speak."
The assassin sneered and spat a thick wad of viscuous blood in her face. Marika backhanded her, leaving her victim spitting teeth.
Naruto heaved a sigh beside her. "Is this really necessary? Just let me talk to her and we'll have our answers-
Marika didn't look at him. "Husband, I adore you, but for once in your life be silent."
He blew out a breathy sigh. She could feel his disappointment radiating outward in an irritated spiral and it stung. Naruto had never been one for torture. He was much too kind. Oh, he could fight and fuck with the best of them, but he lacked the cruelty to take a soul, hold it in your hand, and make it scream.
She did not. Compared to the horrors the Hornsent once inflicted upon her and hers, this was but a tender mercy. She could always cut her up and stuff her in a jar, see how she liked it...
"You are of Numen descent, are you not?" she glared down at her victim, idly noting the woman's pale features and blond hair, a faint resemblance between them. "I had not thought any of us were yet left after the horrid Hornsent abducted our village."
She could feel Naruto staring at her, but he did not question her further, not here, not in public, not before the prisoner.
...You forsook us." here at last, the woman spoke. "Abandoned us, when we needed you most."
Her pained pride prickled at the glaring insinuation. "I sought to change our fates!"
"And did you? Little Marika, seduced by Metyr. How fares your silent god now?"
Marika tensed. She knew. She wasn't sure how, but she did.
"I sought to make things better." she deflected quickly. "With the kindness of Gold-
"And the rigidity of Order." the woman interjected with a snarl at her. "You should've let them stuff you in that jar! Maybe THEN you wouldn't have lost-
The world went bloody red. "ENOUGH!"
Her hammer struck the assassin across the face, disfiguring her further. Once, twice, thrice now.
"Do not speak to me of what I have lost!" She struck her again and again and again, slamming her weapon down furiously, tears gleaming in her eyes. "I returned, but there was no one to save! You were all gone! And you blame me?! Decry me?! Never!"
"Stop!" Naruto wrested her back before she could deal the final blow. "You'll kill her!"
She struggled against him with a snarl. "It is no less than she deserves!"
"Marika!"
The Black Knife Assassin rasped a laugh as they struggled against one another, her words slurred through broken teeth. "You need not torture me. I'll tell you gladly. Your son is dead.
Marika froze. "Which son?"
A snaggle-toothed grin was her reward. "Lord Godwyn."
Liar. She was bonded to her children, one and all, even those Radagon had with Rennala. She would have sensed such a loss...she would have felt it...
.
..
...surely?
Unless these foul assassins had used some manner of malevolent magic to keep her from sensing such. They'd crept into Leyndell undetected and raised Gransax's corpse to fight; it was well within the realm of possibility.
"And one other," the wounded woman whined a laugh, coughing blood. "As was needed for our ritual. Did you even notice...?
Naruto's hold on her slackened; Marika took the chance to wriggle free and seize the assassin by the throat. "They were innocent of my crimes! Blameless!"
"There are no innocents." a mocking cackle was her reward. "Not anymore. Tell me, did you know that your Golden Son gave himself to us willingly?" she reveled in the gasp that followed. "Oh, yes. When we came to him he offered no resistance. None whatsoever.
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. "But why...
"To tear down the Golden Order and restore that which was once lost. Godwyn shall become Prince of the Dead. Long may he reign. In the shadows, we will rise-
It was too much; the fraying thread of her temper snapped; she seized her by the head and twisted, snapped her neck like a twig.
When she pivoted, she found Naruto staring at her with wide, wondering eyes.
"I suppose you have questions."
(.0.0.0.)
Ranni slumped over a cold corpse.
"Brother?! Rykard, no, please...you can't be...you mustn't...
Trying to rouse him accomplished nothing. He was gone, felled by the Knives. He'd died with a smile on his face. Peaceful in death, going out ever on his own terms, taking his attacker with him. She set a flask to his lips and struggled to make him drink, only for the crimson liquid to pour ineffectually over his lips. He would not- could not!- She couldn't feel his soul. His body remained but his soul...his soul was gone. For all her mastery of the magical arts, there was nothing she could do.
Why had he taken that attack?! It should have been her...
Why did those she love always go away?
Why was it always them...? Why...?
Radahn laid a hand on her shoulder, and Malenia alongside him.
It was too much. Something cracked in her shattered soul.
The very ground froze beneath her as she wept.
(.0.0.0.)
The children were abed, sound asleep with no nightmares, despite the horrors they'd seen.
Marika thanked her husband for that.
Him alone.
Not the absent Greater Will -a pox on it, the Elden Beast, and Metyr alike!- but her husband. He had settled the little ones, read to them until they were asleep and left them under heavy guard for good measure. Shadow clones were damnably useful in that regard -great for cuddling- but it was ultimately the man behind them who truly proved his worth.
Maybe they simply had faith in their father. Mayhap they believed that he would chase all their nightmares away. Would that she had such faith in herself.
Still, young Godrick had acquitted himself well. The boy was all they had left of Godwyn now. They would need to keep him close.
Melina and Reyna would delighted to have a friend like him in the dark days to come.
Ah, but she digressed. She could feel Naruto staring her. Time to face the music.
Steeling herself, Marika closed their bedroom door, locked it, and threw herself onto the bed. Rolling onto her right side, uncaring of her bloody dress, she draped an arm over her face and peeked at him beneath it. For once, he didn't approach. Perhaps that was for the best. Perhaps he knew something, perhaps he and inkling of what she was about to reveal to him. Perhaps he was simply smarter than she'd given him credit for.
What should you say when your world came crashing down? What would you do when there was treachery within your ranks? Who would you trust when faith itself had fallen to rust?
She stared at him for a long moment, mustering her nerve. And then:
"Do you know who I am?"
"What kind of question is that?" He frowned pensively at her. "Of course I do."
"No," she shook her head. "You do not. You know who I am now, who I am trying to be, not who I was, hence."
His brow furrowed and he tried for a smile. "Is this the part where you tell me you had a secret past or something?"
Marika tried to laugh and nearly burst into tears. There it was! He'd hit the nail right on the head once again; without even meaning to!
Naruto saw her grief and flung up his hands. "Whoa, hey! Calm down. It was a joke!"
"But I'm not joking." she rolled over, unable to bear the purity of his stare any longer. "I am a monster. And now my home has come to haunt me."
...how so?"
She gestured him closer.
Naruto strode to the bed and sat beside her; Marika knew he did; because she felt it creak. He kissed her forehead, and in that moment, she wanted nothing more than to bury her head into his shoulder. But she couldn't. She was unworthy of him. "My boy," she mumbled uner her breath. "My perfect golden boy...did he hate me so much that he killed himself? I didn't want to believe that wretched woman...but I can't sense him anywhere in the Lands Between. He really did it, didn't he? He slew his own flesh. He yielded to the knives. He let them kill him...why?"
"I don't know."
Her lips trembled and she dared to look up at him. "How am I to tell Morgott and Mohg of this? How do I tell them what their brother did?
"I don't know." he said.
"Then what do you know?!" She slapped at his arm, only to regret it a moment later when he winced; the sight of his pain broke the dam in her heart. "Nothing!" she railed at him, fists flailing against his chest, to no avail, he didn't budge, and that only made her feel all the worse. That's what you know! Nothing at all! About me, about the Lands Between, about anything! You think you love me, but you don't! You shouldn't! You don't even know about Messmer!"
His head tilted. "Who?"
Words alone were not enough. She sat up and summoned her hammer to her hand.
"Let me show you." She swung it at the air. "Behold my folly."
Reality shuddered violently.
Cracked, now.
Shattered.
.0.0.0.
It was easy to enter the Land of Shadows; effortless, even.
Of course it was. She was a Goddess and she had been the one to separate it from the Lands Between in the first place; she could access it any given time, provided enough efforts, runes, and mana. Even now, after all this time, she was still deeply, spiritually connected to this place and thusly able to return it for brief periods of time.
This was where she had born, where she had lived, and one day where she would die.
This was where "Marika" had perished and a Goddess was born.
This was where she would find her son.
But first...
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto found himself standing in a field of flowers.
Had that been all, he could've dismissed the sudden change of scenery as inconsequential; but it wasn't, far from it. In hindsight he knew Marika had dragged him somewhere; the shattering of reality had certainly proven that much -and he definitely didn't miss that giant black tree weeping golden sap standing in the background-
A homely little village, empty stone buildings utterly devoid of life,
And there, at the center of it all, glowing gold...
...a tiny little Erdtree, untouched by time.
Wait, wait, wait. But that meant...!
Kurama whistled. "Oh, dear."
Naruto agreed. Several thoughts flitted through his head at once. Not all of them were entirely pleasant.
"My dear consort eternal," Marika stood before the tree -her tree!- and spread her arms wide with a small, sad smile. "Allow me to tell you my story...
It was not to be.
Reality shuddered behind her anew as Melina and Reyna came tumbling through the rift with a yelp to land at their feet.
Naruto blinked, taken aback. Marika balked, terribly starteld by the arrival of their youngest children.
A moment passed. Another. Yet another. Another still, now...
.
..
...and then:
Melina righted herself with an indignant sputter. "Sister! I told you not to touch the portal!"
Reyna ignored her and grinned gormlessly at the tiny Erdtree. "Oooh, pretty tree!"
Naruto clapped a hand to his forehead. "Damnit, girls...
A/N: ...of course the little ones were lurking and got sucked in with them!
You all know what's coming next, and it's gonna be wild.
Well? Should this remain a story? Yay or nay? Do let me know!
Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this particular story, and others. If folks don't enjoy it, the story will remain, but it won't be continued. And there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write. Just wanted to thank everyone for sticking with me.
I'm weary from work these days, but coming home after a long one to read feedback really make it worthwhile~!
So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas....Review...Would You Kindly? And have some previews~!
I'm deliberately being coy with them this time around.
Some are far off. Others are closer than you think.
Once again, SPOILERS AHOY!
Seriously, ye be warned~!
Mostly the same here.
(Previews)
"Hello...Mother."
Marika approached tentatively. "Messmer...who is that with you?"
Oh. So that's why you've been so emotional. You...you're pregnant, aren't you?"
"Surprise?"
"Oi! Is that all you have to say?"
Marika granted him a small, watery smile. "I wanted to keep it a secret...
"A challenger at our gates? How quaint."
"He says he's a messenger...for someone called the Gloam-Eyed Queen."
Marika smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. "Finally got too big for her britches, did she? Perhaps I should send Maliketh after her...
Malenia came crashing through the door. "I know who the traitors are!"
All eyes turned towards her.
"Oh. I'm late, aren't I?"
EDIT: Hey, you made it! Thanks for reading! Hope you have great luck and a great day~!
Looking forward to chatting with you all when I get back from work~!
R&R~!