Marika
Her hand gently squeezed against the laced palm of her lover. She felt at ease for the first time in longer than she cared to truly consider. She had a feeling of security again.
What troubled her, though, was what came next. Luna had stated her intent, but what other powers at play that had robbed her memories made the gilded queen grow heavy with worry. What had all this been building to?
She slowly rose from the silken sheets laid out across their bed as her body lightly glowed like gold sand against the candle light, tinted by the low and romantic lights of their last night. Her golden hair falling messily over down her back as a hand gently cupped the small bump that had grown in her formerly muscular stomach.
Her mind eased a little as she walked forward, idly massaging the bump. Her worries soothed as she remembered her talk with the Great Mother, and how her words had given her hope again. She felt her strength coming back as the glow of the Erdtree that cast its long arm even into their chambers by a door that led to the throne plateau. She quietly stared at the light as it encrouched on the edges of the room near the door, and for the first time felt only contempt at the glow. How foolish she had been to let it watch her even as she slumbered.
She knelt down, grasping the scarf. She rubbed the fabric between her fingers, before setting it down on the edge of the bed. They would surely return, and she didn't wish to risk it in any more violence for now when they were so close to the journey's end. She turned and grabbed her robes before slipping back into them.
They did not know who could be guarding the Erdtree, and they hadn't heard from Melina and Ranni for a while. Even Blaidd had seemingly vanished. It all left her quietly frustrated and worried further, but she held to the word of the Great Mother. They would find them again. They would make all of this right, this time.
She sighed slowly as a hand circled her stomach, gently rubbing her stomach as rough lips kisses against her shoulder. Black and blue locks brushed against her cheek of her knight, still slightly wet with the sweat of their night.
"It is close." She whispered against Marika's neck. "It will be guarded fiercely."
"We are ready." She whispered, turning in her lover's arm and giving a soft kiss to her.
...
Both slowly walked along the long marching steps leading up to the base of the Erdtree. Armed, prepared, and reflective. They were ready.
If only that was true.
Marika stepped a single foot onto the platform as her gaze cast onto the Erdtree. The seat of her power, once so long ago it felt like now. It had always been so comforting. If only she has realized it had been smothering earlier on.
Her heart throbbed suddenly, painful thumps rippling through her blood vessels as she gripped her head quietly. She felt it burn. She felt it sear. She let out a horrible scream as she felt Him be given favor. She felt her godhood being ripped out of her, yet still remaining. She felt all her power torn from her and placed in the same hands. Yet when she looked at her own hands, they were no longer hers. She spoke a single prayer of mercy, before she was robbed entirely of her autonomy.
She felt the hot, painful walls of the jar. She felt the walls sinking in. Then, she saw roots begin to grip at the edge of the jar, and it held bodies. Bodies she recognized. She wished then she could still scream.
...
She heard the scream just before the hammer cracked across her jaw, launching her across the massive circular plateau. A ring of mosaics long broken by battle with several ghostly thrones aimed at a singular grand throne that sat at the base of a gateway leading into the heart of the grand Erdtree itself. The knight landed right into that throne, shattering it instantly as she rolled quickly to her feet with a spit of blood.
She gazed to where her love has stood and only saw the red headed prick that threw her through a fucking tree. "You." She breathed the word like a violent growl as she felt the storm banging at the gate, along with another voice that seared with a red hot intensity. 'Wicked. Wicked. Bleed them dry.' She heard a voice almost like her own intone. A voice her soul said to trust, even as her heart said something wasn't right.
She knew her lover was suddenly missing, and twice this asshole had put her through wood. She was long passed thinking rationally as she drew out the pole that unwound into the dragon clawed Linebreaker. "Let us Dance!" As she charged across the arena at the massive redhaired man as he roared angrily. He raised his hammer as it glowed with the horrible golden light of the Erdtree, and burned the eyes to even look at for the knight.
He swung down, crashing the light across the plateau with a thunderous bang. Cracks forming in perfect patterns of burning light like the runes of the Elden Ring itself, barely avoided by a leaping knight as she swiped at the throat of the large man.
He swung his hammer up in a violent arc as his muscles rippled angrily, catching the handle and flipping the knight before delivering a powerful kick that launched her back. Raising his free hand as he leaped into the air, bolts of pure gold light forming as he hurled them like spears at the knight before slamming down violently to quaking light scars across the arena of their battle.
The knight landed with a stab of their scythe, sliding across the ground briefly before throwing three pots where she suspected the titan to land. She watched the encroaching bolts, briefly tracking their arc by the way he threw them as she doubted she had the speed to dodge them otherwise without the Storm. She jumped back in a flipping motion, grunting in pain as one bolt tore across her hip before rolling away as the three bolts exploded in briefly domes of light. She threw herself off the ground by her hand as the second wave hit of runic light, just as the red titan roared violently.
He landed with his hammer stroke into a thick pool of rot, the last of the batch saved from Caelid. He thrashed about briefly before his body pulses and burned out it all in seconds. "Pathetic."
"Oh fuck you." The knight said as she chugged another swig of tears. The man slowly approached her, hammer already aglow with power again.
"Weak. Weak little knight. Not even worthy to be called Tarnished. Never even granted the grace of gold to be robbed of." He taunted as he started to gain speed.
"Good. Always hated the color. Just ask my MOTHER!" leaping over the initial horizontal swing and kicking the titan in the face to bounce off of him just as three daggers found their marks in his chest. A second later as he grabbed one, they exploded the mini pots attached and bathed him in searing flames that were far more dark red than most.
She had discovered odd flowers that could make pots that induced heavier bleeding burns. That was all she had gathered so far, but by the way he flailed and spat put a heavy amount of golden blood, he didn't seem quite as tolerant of that as the rot.
"So you do bleed." She taunted back, hefting her scythe onto her shoulder after landing with a brief stumble. Her hip was healed, but it still ached.
The titan snarled, dispelling the last of the flames as his skin struggled to seal. Burns dotting his arms and torso now, while his face sealed up the fastest. Hateful gold burned back at blue.
"Warriors bleed."
"Do not speak like you are some warrior. I have read about you. Caria was very informative."
"How dare you!"
"Body snatcher!"
A slow smirk spread across the man's face. "So you do know the truth."
"I had my assumptions when you THREW ME THROUGH A TREE." She spat angrily.
"So bitter over one fight."
"No, I am bitter about you cheating. Losing is part of war."
"You speak like one well versed in fighting."
"You have no idea."
"Then why continue this, hm? Why not simply become a soldier, nay, a champion to the golden order? Submit, and you could be greater than any of this as Elden Lord by her side." Extending a hand briefly, only for it to be smacked away by the side of her weapon.
"You truly think Marika would ever stoop so low again." She barked back.
"You are like a cancer to our world. It is time then I carved you from our perfect Order!"
"You may try."
The titan pulled back and swung violently as golden light shattered across the ground far more this time. He swung horizontally, yet still those arcs burned across the plateau reducing the already shattered mosaic to almost dust and broken timbers scattered against further crumbling stone. The knight jumped, but was caught by the shockwave of the swing and thrown forcibly into the air where the titan leapt and snatched her. His burning grip tearing into her neck as it began to scorch at the golden scarf around her neck, before slamming her like a meteor into the ground as the entire palace shook. Dust billowed by the impact for a few seconds.
"You do not deserve to wear this." The titan gripped to the scarf, the Knight shaking in his grasp as he lifted her up by it. "To bare the golden colors. A weak, pathetic knight like you deserves nothing of the sort."
Luna spat in his face as she dropped her scythe, hand gripped onto his wrist. "Don't you dare fucking touch her gift!" Her scythe landed into the shattered, near dirt like ground with a piercing shing.
"OUR. GIFT." He angrily spat down at her as she struggled. "You claim to understand, yet you clearly do not. I am her. She is I. We are One. She is Mine. You... Are but a passing dream. Its time she woke up." He raised his hammer slowly as it pulses with a heavy power.
"Friend!!!" They both heard the roar as a massive blade crashed into the shoulder of the titan from behind, digging a heavy cleave as far as 3 inches into the muscle and forcing him to release the knight as he turned and swung at his assailant.
Blaidd raised an arm to shield himself and softened some of the blow as he was thrown back just before Radagan felt the painful bite of the dragon blade scythe tear into hos ankle, bringing him to one knee. Blaidd charged back in, swinging his great sword with a howl as the titan caught it in his palm as it bled, the knight swinging behind him neck and catching the scythe mere inches from his throat with the hilt of his hammer.
"You... Fool... You would.. kill... Us... Both...!"
"Don't bullshit me. I know that isn't how godhood works." She bit back, struggling as the two applied growing pressure.
Radagon screamed out, surging back to his feet as both combatants were hurled back. "INSOLENCE THEN!" turning as throwing his hammer at Blaidd who tried to raise his sword, only for the hammer to shatter and crack onto his rib cage with a painful doggie yelp as it smashed him into a tree root wall. He struggled for a few moments, finally managing to push the hammer off just as the titan stomped a foot into his already cracked ribcage. He barked, but did not relent as clawed hands dig and sink into his foot.
"Still, you bark and struggle. You, the hound of my most disrespectful daughter!" Stomping viciously. "You are nothing more than a stain! A smear of black shadow! Unworthy of even -"
Whatever insult was to come was cut off by the slashing arch that tore muscle and bone down his back as the Knight swiped a hateful strike. Her voice was roaring, and her strength seemed to have been magified as the titan saw those blue eyes turn glowing and glacial. Before he could take a moment to register it, though, the blade caught him around the waist, and hurled him across the arena with a sickening slice scarring across his chest as he crashed into the dirt.
"Don't you fucking dare." The knight barked violently, gripping her scythe as she slowly began to march towards the titan as he righted himself. A hand touched his still bleeding chest, and a feeling of dread began to wash over his mind. Why wasn't it closing?
"I figured out how it stitches you up. Most close like flesh and bone, but you heal like a tree." She ran her hand along the bloody edge. "Like sap from a tree trunk." Watching the way the golden fluid dripped, the titan felt a twinge of fear creep in.
"What good does that do you to know?"
"Means I can wound you now." As Blaidd handed her a corked bottle. He stood up shakily behind her, hand on his chest as Luna passed him her own flask. He took two hefty swigs and breathed in relief as he handed it back.
"Tastes too much like blood for me mate, thanks though."
Taking a swig herself before smashing the bottle he handed her onto the blade of her scythe that was slightly tucked beneath her stump arm. The moment the strange white fluid reacted with the golden blood, it sizzled and popped. It smelled horrendous and seared at the nostrils.
"What is that horrible substance?"
"Something special from home. Took a while to gather the right ingredients, but Blaidd managed to find them for me." A smirk painted her face as a small spell infused the strange substance into the blade. A basic art Marika had taught her due to her favoring of alchemics.
"Ever seen what happens when you dose a flower in bleach?"
"Bleach...?"
"You'll find out. Lets turn that red hair back to gold!"
Blaidd charged with her, before both diverted to each side as the titan smashed his hammer down to thunderous cracks while the sky crackled angrily with growing clouds. They could all feel that even the forces of this world were coalescing to take sides in this.
Both charged on a flank, with Blaidd aiming a heavy swing at the titan's arm while Luna's scythe adjusted and swung its not vertical pointer blade to tear into his right hip.
The titan swung down instead and rumbled the ground as both combatants aim was disrupted, blade and scythe clanking against each other in the off-angled swings before turning up and smashing his hammer toward the knight's jaw. Strangely, his swing was missing by such fractions of millimeters that it almost seemed too precise to be natural. Her eyes seemed to constantly vibrate as well. What was this gift of hers?
The knight retaliated swiftly from the loss of balance, bringing her scythe down as it audibly clicked its blade down back to the typical angle right as it met his shoulder with a sickening bite. Its tip slicing into his bone and flesh cleaning until it ripped right through the shoulder and wrenched away his arm woth a sickening rip. The muscles tried to shut, but the hot searing burn of the blade made it feel like the very flesh of his body was being unwound. Burned yet shredded simultaneously.
He tried to retaliate, only got the pain to be too great as his hand was sliced right off by Blaidd's sword, tearing it off at the elbow and disarming the powerful stone hammer just as the Knight's boot smashed into the back of his knee as the titan was forced down. Bleeding, limbs searing where they had been severed as the strange subtance bit and burned at him. He felt the knight place that damned edge around his throat, and the rage inside him became so bright and painful that he resorted to desperation.
He roared to the gathering clouds as great beams of light instantly shattered the air around him, forcing back the knight and the wolfman as he was surrounded by the greater will's power. He felt his limbs grow strong as new fingers gripped tight to the handle of his hammer. His chest began to shut, and his eyes fixated onto the wolfman. The one who had interfered.
He took one step forward as the two gathered themselves again, suddenly appearing before the wolfman in a flash of golden light. Blaidd was visibly startled for a brief moment before the hammer came down with a crash of light and thunder, exploding like a crashing asteroid as the Knight was pushed back by the sheer shockwave. When the dust settles, Blaidd lay there silently. Unmoving among the dust.
"BLAIDD!" The knight screamed on fury as the titan turned and flashed again in front of her.
"You challenged the true God of these lands. You dared. Step out of line. Were this a different time, I would simply shatter you under me, but I am going to take my time pulling you apart limb from limb." The titan said as his hand gripped onto the Knight's scarf again, hefting her back up with a spiteful glare.
The knight tried to swing only for the hammer to smack away her scythe as it landed nearby with a loud clatter. "No more games. Now. I get to have my fun with you. Just as she did." A sadistic smirk began to paint his face just as the knight began to laugh. "What could possibly be so funny to you?"
"Think I only had two vials?" She grinned maliciously as Blaidd smashed the final hefty pot of the substance against the titan's head. A far more concentrated batch that instantly bathed the titan in the strange white fluid as it instantly began to burn at his flesh. He screamed and flailed, smacking the badly injured wolfman back a few paces as his weakened form crumpled to the ground, but could not contain its joyous laughter. Injured, but not broken, he rolled lightly even as the ache of shattered ribs and a powderized shoulder burned at him.
The titan screamed harder as the substance burned into his every inch. So much burning fluid that blinded him, made his every skin cell sear in agony.
"Now." As the knight slowly pulled out a pair of small wrapped cigars from a pouch in her armor. She breathed shakily, offering Blaidd the last swig of the tears as she placed one of the cigars, smelling like the foul end of a skunk, to her lips. He took it and sighed in relief from a swig as some of his bones began to mend. Enough that he was out of the danger of early death.
"When...I ... Stop this...!" He angrily roared before horrified eyes saw the seal on the ground. His own swings used to slowly gorm a circle in the shape of a star, blocked partially by the crescent moon.
"Won't be a when." As she lit her cigar with a match, before flicking the match into the circle as Blaidd grinned. The instant the flames landed, a great glow of far different golden light formed around Radagon. Deep, impure gold that closer resembled thick honey pulsed and radiated as he roared in pain. Seal, after seal, after seal laid over as his body broke and cracked under the repeated bands of golden roots.
"NO! I won't go back! I won't -" as the last root speared through his torso, dragging him under the dirt as his screams bathed the pair of glowing light.
When at last the dust settled, both breathed a very long sigh of relief as Marika lay in the cratered center. Sleeping, and looking rather dirty, but unharmed. The knight knew that spell would only cage a godly aspect for a while, but time was on their side now. The Fool wouldn't be an issue for a very long time.
That was the hope she had, at least.