Now, she had not been entirely sure about tall, dark and mysterious at first, but there had been one thing that sealed the deal. And no, it was not his long flowing red hair, not his chiseled abbs, nor the fact that he was always polite and sold the most wonderful haircare products and soap, to say nothing of the stew ~
She had to stop herself from drooling again, even as she moved through the shadowed lands. Truth be told, a part of it was the fact that he had introduced her to Ranni (sexy blue doll waifu get), and always had some interesting tidbits to offer, insights about the history wherever she found him. A part of her wanted to see if he would have done special insights in bed as well. And if Ranni would be up for a threesome.
Night and day, dark and bright, both so mysterious. Yeah, she had, in reflection, a type. Ah well, it wasn't important until after she becomes Elden Lord, with Ranni as the goddess of the new age. Which sent all sorts of ideas (very lewd for the greater part) through her head, perverse chuckles escaping her lips as she gutted some enemy. Not really paying much attention to the slaughter of fodder.
Not until she came to the very gates of divinity... and beheld an adorable little femboi... and the mountain that is Radhan. The no longer infected with scarlet rot mountain of muscle and might that seemed more... real for a lack of a better term than the surroundings. And in a different way than Mytheal, in the same way that a mountain and the wind were both real, but one was much easier to see unaided. And then something tickled her brain and she rung a simple bell.
Yes, it was a summoning bell, but not the normal spirit summoning one. No, it summoned... a horse. Not one with odd features that spoke of being something more like Torrent, but a simple looking war horse. And yet? Radhan started to speak, his tone rough, pained, each word scraped from his lips, as Miquella paused, looking back with an empty gaze before returning, vanishing past the gates. "Leonard?"
A giant hand reached out, the horse running up to it, neighing joyfully, a smile appearing on the giants face as something, something cracked. For a moment, the world stood still. And then the world was angry.
There was no better way to describe it, as all of reality twisted, shifting without moving to focus on the axis before her, to a presence so massive and heavy as to grind her bones to powder and reduce her organs to so much pulp merely by proximity. Reality breathed, in and out, waves coming and going from that central point before her, light bending and breaking in patterns as beautiful as they were terrifying. Because all of her instincts were screaming hazard, not attack. Environmental effects, not an effect done by some one or thing.
She was even fairly sure that she could see patches of fast and slowed time. Just due to the sheer gravity that was being released, shed from the demigod in front of her... who didn't seem hostile? Yay? "Tarnished." The voice was deep and controlled, restrained in ways that she could not easily speak of. "You had put Leonard and I out of our misery. How did you save my greatest friend?"
A part of her wanted to squee at the sight, of the tald of the bond between man and steed. "I'm not entirely sure? I just did as Mytheal asked..."
She was interrupted by laughter that boomed like the thunder of a summer storm. "Of course he would have something to do with this. Let me guess, he had something you needed on hand if you would just do him this small thing?"
There was a wary and knowing smirk on the lords lips, shaking his head as she nodded. "Ah, the more things change then. And yet I wonder..." There was something soft and speculative on the giants face. "It is of no matter. Not until one much more pressing matter is dealt with."
Not, despite the reasonable tone, the curiosity in it... the world was pissed. Gravity broke and bent, curved blades (really just distortions of gravity so intense as to be naked singularities) floating close to him. "Ah. You didn't..."
Her words were swallowed by the void of absolute gravity. Of gravity so intense that reality was flexible. That the laws imposed by the Elden Ring were taken as suggestions at best. "For some reason, and I blame a lack of discipline due to his childish curse, he took the phrase over my dead body as a." Time flexed and rippled with his anger, glimpses of alternate worlds, timelines appearing in the corner of her vision as he said a word. "Of acceptance."
The world heaved as he breathed in deeply. And okay, this would be an awesome fight... but she was wondering how. Because he was looking less like a challenge to overcome and more like a force of nature,an aspect of reality given form. Just how much had he been nerfed by the scarlet rot? "And so I would like to have... words with my brothers. One rather more polite than the other, but one of them had not arranged for the death of our half brother that he could trap and bind me in their corpse."
Which you know, even as a professional murder-vagrant (better known as an Adventurer) was something that she could merely nod and agree with. As that did seem to be a bit of a dick move all said and done. "More than understandable. May I ask about the half brother you will be having that polite conversation with?"
Because yes, a part of her wished to test herself against him, but the part that had started emerging after Melina bribed her into increasing intelligence with make out sessions noted that was probably a bad idea. At least while he was this obviously pissed. But, he grunted. "Mytheal."
Wait. The dreamy guy she was planning on luring in was related to Ranni? That just made her plans hotter truth be told, as she giggled and ignored a man tending to his tiny horse. Not distracted enough to miss the shouting, the childish whining... And the fact that a god was lifted into the air by his head, a metal plated boot larger than he was raising into the air as the child-god fell and the sight of him being punted so hard a rift appeared.
The last she heard from it? "Brother, you have returned! I have so much to show you, including my adorable daughter!"