"With the Erdtree no more, the Elden Ring and Marika gone, the people need to learn to live in a world without its blessings. No god to guide them, no Elden Lord to rule them. It will be up to mortals like you to lead themselves."

Nepheli could still hear those words ring in her ears, punctuated by the crackling of the fire pit in front of her.

"Bloody 'ell, you eatin' or what? Meat's best eaten hot, or is the lady sick of vittles already?"

Nepheli blinked. "Pardon me. I was… thinking. Of Stormveil."

"Peh, it's been almost a week," Boggart spat, plucking a browned prawn out of the fire with a skewer. "Nah. It's something else eatin' ya. Is it the "Elden Lord no longer" business?"

Nepheli tentatively took a skewer for herself. Despite the seductive aroma, her appetite was shrinking by the moment. Maybe feeding her horse would kickstart her stomach. "I… Yes."

To his credit, Boggart simply pulled down the chin of his mask and jammed the prawn inside. She gave up long ago in convincing him to abandon it, for if the Elden Lord could pardon his crimes, then she would drop the matter as well.

"Tarnished, Elden Lord, Marika, grace, the Golden Order. All bunk."

Nepheli flinched. The vitriol in his last words told more than he said.

"The only thing I was wrong about all them's was how deep their crimes go." Boggart replenished his skewer with vegetables this time and warmed his hand as they cooked. "Leavn' her children to die, tellin' us to kill them and fix the world they fucked up… Marika and her Golden Order ain't worth it no more, and the faster you understand that, the better off you'll be, too."

"How can you…" Nepheli wasn't angry. She had enough time to digest everything that was relayed to her back in Stormveil, but to hear what should have been blasphemy so blatantly…

"'Cause I was never a part of it, remember?" He tapped his mask. "You were from outside the Land Between, lookin' and hearin' all about the splendor of the Golden Order. Me? I was at the bottom of the bottom, even when I could see grace."

Nepheli tried to distract herself by looking at the sky. The distinct lack of the Erdtree's glow that was once visible in all directions was still disorienting. It didn't help with the flood of new creatures in the Lands Between, ones composed of shadow that resembled the spirits of the Land of Shadows. She reached for her stallion's saddle bag and pulled out her map draft, jotting down noticeable landmarks and new vegetation they encountered.

"But that doesn't mean the Golden Order was for nothing," she murmured back. "We all got a second chance at life, and now we can make something new, better with it. We've got to."

He chuckled, not out of humor but agreement. "That's on you. Me, I'm just looking forward to my next meal."

"SKRWA!"

The two of them looked up and their horses whinnied in annoyance. A man-sized stormhawk descended on them like a bolt, clutching something in his right talon.

"Nimos," Nepheli exhaled. It's been two days since her bird companion left her to scout ahead. She knew his intelligence was better than the average man's, but she still worried when he wouldn't return the next morning.

He dropped what was in his talon and perched on a nearby stump. However, Nepheli first noticed several broken feathers on his left wing.

"What in the flame…" She slowly pushed his wing up to full length, her worry dissipating at the lack of blood. "An arrow… burn marks?"

Meanwhile, Boggart inspected what the hawk dropped. "A… paper box? Some kind of… packaging." A deep sniff. "Black powder… like bombs. And…" He pulled a long strand of hair sticking to the box. "Human hair. Straightened. There's a village or a town ahead."

Nepheli nodded. "Village, probably. A townsman wouldn't waste ammunition on hunting birds." She stroked Nimos's head as she gave her skewer to him, distracting him long enough to pluck a wayward feather.

"Hrm, I'll hang back for this. Me and civilization… don't get along."

"Just stick close enough, and keep your knives in easy reach."

xxx

It was sutset when they crossed a lake bridge leading to a destroyed gate. To her dismay, while the buildings were tall, there wasn't a single lantern alight, only a column of smoke from a single bonfire somewhere deeper within. After handing her notes to Boggart, Nepehli steeled herself and covered herself fully in her furs.

"Here." Boggart handed her a pouch of poisoned stones and a rope-bandolier of throwing knives. "Just come back alive. I can't return to Stormveil empty-handed, or your knights would lynch me."

Past the gate, almost every structure was either cracked or stained with blood. Kneeling over one such stain, she could tell it wasn't too old. A couple days at most. Its source, a middle-aged woman, lied ravaged against the rubble of a house.

She clenched her teeth. Just two days. Could she have prevented what happened here if they were just two days faster? Saved some of these people, anyone? She still remembered the sight of the albinauric's village. A massacre, orchestrated.

"Leavn' her children to die, tellin' us to kill them and fix the world they fucked up…"

She brushed the thoughts from her mind and refocused on her five senses, capturing every detail around her. Beyond the initial buildings, she could hear the muttering of people. Laughing, cheering about something, and the occasional further destruction of property.

Her blood boiled. Bandits.

Her first instinct was to charge, but she knew better. There were far more of them than she knew, and she still had to return to Boggart and Stormveil.

Above all that, however, was the fact that these were coherent, rational people. A rarity in the Land Between.

As much as she hated the idea, negotiating even with the most ill-mannered was a skill Kenneth pushed on her as integral to a lord and leader. As the one maintaining the relationship between the knights and newly-integrated demihuman populace in Stormveil, he encouraged her to follow his example.

"After all, even Lord Godfrey had to lead with words, not might," he had said.

These men are not worth inviting home. But I can at least learn something…

She took one last note of where these bandits could sneak up on her before making way to them on the main road.

"Hark!"

Now that the majority of them were in clear view, she smirked at their panic. Despite seeing at least a dozen of them, only half of them had weapons on their person. By the bonfire, there was a small metal barrel.

Drunk, as well. That might dissuade them from fighting. Or at least, make them clumsier.

"Ey, beat it! Unless you wanna end up like these last guys, turn back 'round!" one of them shouted, brandishing a sword too big for him.

One next to him pulled his arm down. He sneered as her feminine frame came into the light, even with her body wrapped in wolfskin. "Now hang on, Shay, play nice. And what can we do ya for, miss? You lost?"

"In a way, yes," Nepheli said. "Are you responsible for what happened here?"

"Hey, we got here just a few hours ago! The Grimm did all this. We're just picking up the pieces." He frowned. "You a Huntress?"

She kept her face still as possible. Grimm? Is that what those shadowy monsters yesterday were? And Huntress? She didn't have any tools for hunting. "Apologies, my name is Nepheli. I'm looking for another settlement to move to. I lost my own village a month ago, and thought this would be it."

"Shit luck for both of us, then." He saw the axes on her side, his eyes twinkling. "Tell ya what: take a drink, and camp with us for the night. Those Grimm might still be around somewhere."

Some of the men took the cue to stand behind her, hands on their weapons.

She fought the urge to grab her own blades. "May I bring my companion along? He's resting an hour away from the border, and I assure you, he can cook better than most."

"Hey, look what I found!"

Everyone stared at the source of the voice: a bald man, tall enough to rival an Omen, clutching a squirming child in each of his arms. Their limbs and mouths were bound by moldy rope.

"We don't have time picking up strays, Logaun."

Nepheli blinked. A woman with long dark hair and a demonic white mask stepped between her and the tall one. Despite her shorter stature, her confidence and firm voice told her she held some rank among them. Or at least, some responsibility. Surprising, seeing as she looked to be even younger than some of them.

"How's I supposed to know?" Logaun grumbled. "So what, you wanna put 'em next to the rest of 'em?"

"Drop them. Now."

Their gaze returned to the stranger. She walked towards him, her voice hardened.

"If you will not care for their lives or the ones lost in this village, leave them here."

"Boss?" Logaun asked the long-haired woman.

Nepheli slowed her pace, keeping her eyes on the leader and her weapon: a large katana with a metal box for a sheath. Curious, but not her concern for now.

"Why do you care?" the leader asked. "They're stragglers, leftovers of a people too weak to defend themselves from a simple Grimm attack."

This time, Nepheli couldn't stop her hands from curling into fists. "You would leave them to die for that? Being not even old enough to fend themselves? For surviving out of sheer luck?"

"No." The leader gestured to Logaun, who clumsily dropped the children beside him. "They will work for us, and from there, learn to fight and survive. If you care for these kids so much, you're welcome to join got the strength needed to survive out here. Strength we'd be grateful for."

"No way!"

The girl, the orange-haired one, somehow managed to bite through her gag and screamed, tears leaking out from her jade eyes.

"You brought those Grimm here! You were staking us outside! Why would we-grk!"

A swift kick from Logaun silenced her. The leader approached the girl and pressed her foot on her back.

"Because you'll die otherwise. If you think you can get out of here alive, free to try. But a couple brats like you wouldn't last a day before the Grimm sniff you out."

Logaun chuckled, arms crossed. "Don't want to get on the boss's bad side already, now-!"

The leader blinked. She almost missed it, but it was so fast she wouldn't have seen it without the bonfire light reflecting off the blade.

A blade that now lodged itself in Logaun's eye.

She had her hand on her sword but Nepheli was quicker with her axe above her head, ready to swing down at her.

"I accept!"

Panicking, the leader leapt back, nearly slamming her back to a wall. "Get her!" she screamed, her sword now freed and aflame.

As the bandits rushed towards Nepheli, trying to corner her, a loud whistle pierced their ears. One of them, focusing his crossbow, found himself getting mauled and pecked by Nimos the Stormhawk.

"Fuck! It's the bird! It's her's!"

Meanwhile, Nepheli grabbed a clump of poisoned stones from her satchel and threw it around her, making sure it was far enough from the children. They exploded on impact, spreading a dull green powder around. Immediately, the closest bandits fell to the ground, coughing and screaming in pain as they covered their faces from further irritation, while the rest of them hesitated between rescuing their friends, keeping away from the powder, or helping their leader.

But Raven took that moment to strike. A slash from below, and she smirked at the blood splashing out of the barbarian's left leg.

But Nepheli didn't pause. She freed her second axe and pounced again, only for Raven to sidestep away, leaving the blade lodged in the wall behind her.

Raven readied Omen for the attack that would pierce her heart. "Now die!"

Her teeth bared, the barbarian let go of her axe and raised her good right leg into the air. With a roar, she stomped the ground as hard as she could, not only cracking the pavestone but releasing a gale that blew her back and scattering the bonfire.

What in Remnant-?! A shockwave like that from just a stomp?

Even as she returned to a proper stance, her hand over her katana trembled for a moment. This woman was stronger than she could have expected, and thanks to those poison bombs, at least a third of her men were on the ground puking their guts out. Above, the hawk circled them all, drawing fire from the clumsy shooters. Worst of all, those children were nowhere in sight.

She should have brought more people for this party. No, that was an excuse.

"I have heard enough." Nepheli struck her axes together, and the blades were showered in golden sparks. "Leave while you're still able, and do not come back."

"Making demands?" the leader snarled. She was still fighting fit, and the rest of her crew had their weapons. "You think you're leaving here alive?"

"Will you and your men?"

Her head snapped up. Atop one of the tallest pile of rubble, a cloaked man wearing what looked like a metal bucket pointed a wicked crossbow down at her crew.

"I suggest you leave quietly like proper thieves, and pillage another day." His voice was just audible to everyone, but the deep timbre of his voice reverberating off his mask got everyone's attention. "Or will you die just to sate her naive sense of justice?"

Many of the bandits looked to their leader. If given the word, they would fight to the last, but the return of the giant hawk that harassed their camp, and the introduction of a masked freak left them hesitant. Not to mention the ones still on the ground were still alive. Their lives could be spared if they got proper medicine in time. Would their boss truly continue engaging with such an unpredictable pair?

She flicked her wrist, and Omen's flame was extinguished.

"All of you that can still walk, pick up the ones that can't! We're leaving."

xxx

Under both her and the barbarian's watch, the bandits quietly packed up their belongings and left out the back end of the village border.

When the last of the party out of sight, Raven sheathed her sword, glaring at the barbarian. "So that's it? You're not coming after us?"

"You said one needs to be strong to survive. None of us are looking for death."

"Says the one who made the first move," she sneered. Her lieutenant's body was left in the village, a pile of rubble in place of a coffin.

"The life you would have those children live would be little better than as beasts. At best, they live under your chains. Worst, spread greater cruelty."

Raven fought back a groan. It wasn't the first time hearing platitudes, but this reminded her of her brother and teachers too much.

"Ahem," the masked one muttered. "If you're willin' to ditch those dafters, why not come with us? Strength in numbers an' all that-gahk!"

A swift knuckle to his mask silenced him.

"We are not associating with banditry."

Raven hid her snigger by walking behind her crew's trail and distracted her mind with how to report. Father wasn't going to like this.

"What is your name, bandit?"

She readjusted her mask and glared back at the barbarian's faintly gold-brown eyes. Even now, neither of them let their guard down.

"Why do you want to know?"

"So the next we meet like this, I may kill you properly."

That was a first. Such a shame. They could have worked well together. Give the clan some backbone.

"Branwen. Clan Branwen"

"Nepheli Loux."

With that, the two of them made their way back into the village. Boggart never let down his crossbow, even when the bandits left the horizon.

"Freaky woman, eh?" he whispered. He lit a torch as they walked back to the square. "Be honest, think you could have taken her?"

Nepheli chewed on a strip of cured octopus. Her leg stopped bleeding by now, but with the adrenaline gone, it was more painful than ever. "I… don't know. In a straight fight, most likely, but she couldn't risk an extended fight, not with her compatriots in greater risk. Thank you for those bombs and knives, by the way."

Boggart nodded. "Cripple your enemies, not kill. Make 'em less wanna get mixed with ya."

She couldn't help but frown. Such tactics reminded her of the diminutive Militiamen. "Did you see where those children ran off?"

He gestured to a still-intact house. Its door ajar, Nepheli heard objects being rummaged and rapid whispers.

"Are you safe in there?"

The noises stopped. She took the torch and waved it inside. In what looked like a kitchen area, the boy was pointing a knife, while the girl behind him twitched like a mouse, looking for a place to escape.

When none of them made a move, Nepheli sighed. They were terrified of their lives, but she didn't know what to do, how to comfort them. She knew once order was reestablished, new life would flourish, but never thought of the concrete ramifications of that: children.

She only remembered the bad parts of her own childhood: losing her parents, crawling out of the wreckage of her home to find nothing but bodies, burying them, killing mad Tarnished for shelter and food.

That all changed after she was found by Gideon, of course.

She shivered at the stray thought: who would have been the worse parent: him or that bandit?

Slowly, she passed the torch back to Boggart and took his rucksack, emptying it in front of her.

"That's the last of 'em, you know," Boggart snipped.

"We can hunt and craft more."

She knelt down and unwrapped the bundles. Simple medicines, poultices, crumpled bandages, and most importantly, rations. Finally, she untied her headband, laying it beside her and freeing her unkempt hair.

"I am sorry I was too late."

It was all she could say.

The boy kept the knife pointed at her. "Are they gone? No more bandits? No Grimm?"

She lowered her head. The identities of these Grimm can come later. "No more bandits. You will never see them again, but we-"

The knife clattered on the pavestone. In a blink, she was tackled on either side, their faces buried in her sides. Their small bodies trembled, any noise muffled by her wolfskin.

She shivered at their touch. She never imagined getting into such a situation like this. The rational part of her knew they had to get moving and treat any injuries they knowing any better, she would have gotten up if Boggart tapped her shoulder.

"I'll stand watch."

So Nepheli could do nothing but pull the children tighter. Yet, as foreign as the situation was, everything about it told her it was the right thing.

Xxx

With everyone's wounds cleaned and the last bite of food finished off, the three of them exited the house, and after a quick burial for anyone the children recognized, the village.

"You're a Huntress, right?" The black-haired one, Ren, asked as the horses came to view. "You… don't look like you trained at an academy."

She shook her head. "I was raised in the wilderness. A clan of nomads… not very different from those bandits, I suppose."

"That's not-" the orange-haired one, Nora, stammered, but her voice faltered at Nepheli's gaze.

"We were a different people," she said. "Where I'm from, you fought every day for survival. We did not have the luxury of making enemies."

"Petty greed drove those bandits, not survival," Boggart added, untying his horse from a tree. "You've any family left, kid? Or we can take ya to another village if you know the way."

Nepheli smirked. A rare display of generosity? "I thought you'd rather stay cooped in the castle?"

The boy hesitated. "We, we don't have anyone left. If-"

"You live in a castle?!"

Nepheli fought back a blush. It was the first time she had seen a child smile, and pride stirred in her. "Yes. Stormveil. A week away, but it's far more secure than any village."

But Ren was still ambivalent, even as he accepted Boggart's hand to pull in up into the saddle with him. "What will happen when we get there?"

"Fresh food and sleepin' in beds, for starters," Boggart said. "If the soldiers there didn't mutiny already."

"I trust Kenneth's governance. He managed a fort by himself before this, did he not?" Nepheli asked, pulling Nora up in turn. "I… am not sure what will happen. The last few weeks have been… disorienting. Some of the knights will be dispatched and make an outpost out of the village here. If you decide to stay, you will probably be set to work."

"That's fine! I mean, if you'll have us." she said eagerly. "So, what it like?"

Nepheli smiled. A topic she was confident in. "Stormveil's a grand castle atop a cliffside, surrounded by constant turbulence, hence the name. The local wildlife, while sparse, is more dangerous than those bandits, but because of them, few Grimm dare approach the castle. Ones that do, are shot on sight by the soldiers on guard."

"Just don't wander off by yourselves, here or there," Boggart said. "Don't wanna peel your corpses off the rafters."

Ren shivered, but Nora giggled. Anything to distract them from their tragedy, Nepheli supposed.

Xxx

Wolfpelt Coat

An overcoat composed of multiple wolfskins. Deemed a shoddy work by its Demihuman tailor, it is compensated by its comfort and warmth.

The Lady of Limgrave adopted more formal wear when she came into her new position, following Godfrey's example.

AN

Had a mind nugget of how the NPCs of Elden Ring would fare in Remnant, and this is the first piece.

This is not a single story. The next chapter will feature other characters from Elden Ring and RWBY.