No shame in it.

[blessedwithlove]

Its omnipresence was still daunting.

Even as its grip slackened, the Greater Will still dominated the land. The golden light of the Erdtree illuminated Limgrave day and night. Turn your back to it, and you would see its children, mere seedlings that towered over all but their progenitor. Cast your eyes down, and you would see a Tree Sentinel patrolling astride his horse. Twice the size of a lowborn knight, clad all in gilt finery.

There was scarcely a tree in the Lands Between without a golden cast to its leaves. Blessed with Grace-given life, said the Golden Order. Autumnal, said others. The end of a millennial season.

It was little wonder that the Tarnished were still captivated. Without a more intimate knowledge of the Lands Between, they saw only the Erdtree's radiance, not the bare and dying branches. They flocked toward it like moths.

What fools they were. Intelligent, some of them, but fools all the same. Generations of hatred and scorn upheld by the Two Fingers, and now they answered the call to service? How could one be so delusional as to think the Golden Order would truly welcome them home with love?

No. They were being used, and he felt no shame in doing the same. Those who stayed loyal were fitting sacrifice, providing the materials he needed to guide the doubting toward truth.

And then there were the particularly hapless. That last girl and her companions, good heavens. He'd almost wanted to follow them, just to spectate. But he had his calling to attend to. Tarnished sailing from the west found the beaches of Limgrave the only place to row ashore, and they all passed by the statue-topped monument of the Fringefolk Hero's Grave. He had his pick of them all here, and sent them off toward the brooding walls of Stormveil Castle. Lords, vassals, rich and wretched alike. They came to take the measure of the hills beyond, and to rest at its Site of Grace.

The pallid little thing swirled and danced, leaving uncomfortably moving afterimages on the eyes if one stared too long. But it was warm enough at night to almost render a fire superfluous, and it warded off the beasts that stalked and soared over the lowlands to the south. Even the Tree Guardian kept a respectful distance, the brainlessly devout pillock.

After years of bloody toil in war, sleeping in the dirt beside a symbol of everything he rejected wasn't that much of a hardship. Though on nights when rain blew up from the Weeping Lands or the sea air took on a particular chill, he was forced to retreat into the entrance to the grave itself. There were the occasional noises deep below, the senile mutterings of deathless nobility trapped in the subterranean graveyard. None of them had yet figured out how to operate the lift, and he doubted any of them would.

He couldn't decide if they were the unlucky ones, or if that honor went to the desiccated starveling pinned to a martyr's bough outside on the hill. It barely ever lifted its head, and fortunately, it hadn't voiced an opinion about anything in days. He was no longer a merciful and compassionate war surgeon, but if that thing interrupted his speech to a Tarnished again, he'd find that old mercy within himself and tear it to pieces. Perhaps he'd do it anyway, save him the trouble later.

Ah, no. That would have to wait. He could hear something coming.

Comments

[orokid]

At first, she couldn't help the suspicious narrow of her eyes. Nothing he'd said really made sense to her but the last part and that was what caught her off-guard. She couldn't remember the last time someone had given any sort of consideration for her wellbeing besides Margulis. And that ended... poorly.

"I don't know what either of those are. Grace or an Elden Ring." It came out as more of a grumble. She wasn't sure what she expected after being stabbed but it wasn't anything like this. And definitely not with seemingly helpful people.

"Who're you?"

[blessedwithlove]

Well. That was novel. Even the husks that had staggered down from Leyndell still remembered that much.

"Me? Your only hope, I should think." Or at least a fascinated observer. These fools kept finding new ways to outdo each other in the most pitiful ways.

"There are few in these lands who would help the Tarnished now,"

He leaned in a little, yellow eyes studying shining gold. How very interesting.

"Even one with eyes like yours." Oh, it would be a tragedy to see blood like that wasted.

"I'll tell you more, of course. But first--the Grace, if you please. Go on. Sit. It will mend you, once you touch it."

[orokid]

Only hope? It took a lot to resist a scoff but she couldn't hide the skepticism. Her back ached though and he seemed to know enough to get her on her feet in this place. All she could do, for now, was play nice.

"Tarnished is a new one. Betrayer, lizard, void demon- better than those at least." Still not flattering though.

He didn't seem a threat, just a bit strange, and she wanted to know more, so she stepped over to the and eyed it. The Void usually mended her wounds but it was slow now. More damage than usual, probably, so some help couldn't hurt.

The hand without her amp went forward to touch the light, expecting nothing, but appreciating the warmth it gave off and the ease of pain on her back. It was impossible not to give sound to her relief. The scar probably remained, the Void tended to do that regardless, but at least she could breathe easier now.

[blessedwithlove]

Not a single memory of any of it. Extraordinary.

He clasped his hands as he waited, each little fidget sending a gentle stab of pain through a finger. He'd have to get more of this one's measure before he made a decision.

"There." A Tarnished whether she thought so or not--The Greater Will didn't extend its blessings to those it couldn't use. "I am Varré. I give guidance to you Tarnished, though it seems you're more in need of it than most. As you know nothing of the Lands Between... where to start?"

Well. He supposed he should sit down. "This is the realm of the Erdtree. Seat of the God-Queen Marika, chief servant of the Greater Will, and her chosen Elden Lord. Or was, long ago." He lowers himself to the ground, with what poise one can muster while kneeling in the dirt.

"The Elden Ring, symbol and source of their divine order, now lies shattered. No true lord reigns there now. Marika's bloodline has failed entirely." Only one true divinity remained. But he couldn't speak on that. Limgrave was blighted with close-minded souls. What might a guileless new arrival say to them, should she find them?

"And that is why you are here. Once banished, the Tarnished have been called to return. For the Greater Will desires now for a new Lord to reforge the Elden Ring."

He tilts his head slightly, studying the Tarnished. "But you seem to be unburdened with such purpose. Does it appeal to you all the same?"

[orokid]

Varré. Not a familiar name but she wasn't expecting anyone familiar yet. Didn't sound like any naming convention she was accustomed to, either.

"Name's Ayatan." Manners still mattered a bit, even here. And he was being polie so she should be too.

Despite being out of school so long, she was still a good student, and she listened intently to his explanation. God-Queens and Elden Lords, it reminded her more of the Orokin than the ethereal golden light around them.

"So this Greater Will wants us to... take power?" If that was what she wanted, the Tenno could have done that after rebelling against the Orokin.

"If it got me home, I'd do it, but leading... ruling, not our style."

[blessedwithlove]

Is that all? What a lackluster light to steer by. Still. She didn't have any great affinity for the Golden Order. That was a glimmer of promise. "You'll find no ships in any port, nor sailors sane enough to crew them. I'm afraid that you're quite trapped, for now."

It would be so easy to slip back into routine. "But not everyone seeks the Elden Ring for such lofty purpose. Perhaps your path still intersects with the rest." Just send her on her way. But...

"You, I'm afraid, are maidenless." To think he had to explain this too! Everyone should know these things. Or at least, think themselves knowledgeable. "The Two Fingers send their consecrated maidens to journey with each Tarnished, to channel the strength of runes, and grant them invitation to the Roundtable Hold. The grand meeting hall of the Tarnished, watched over by the Two Fingers themselves."

He sighs. "But Lacking either, your chances are slim. A shame." There were secret ways to forge an invitation, as it were. The Two Fingers were so senile that none would notice the difference. But should he? No. Not for one so untested.

"I find it curious that you remember your home, when all else is so very blank. What were you there, I wonder?"

[orokid]

She'd been trapped before but that didn't make this any more bearable. Fingers touch her amp thoughtfully. With guidance and her own skills, she could probably manage. Maybe even find her warframe along the way. Wherever this was, her warframe had fallen into it as well when Ballas stabbed her.

Or it should have.

"I was a soldier. Tenno, we're called. We served an empire until it's fall, then we dedicated ourselves protecting others."

[blessedwithlove]

"Oh, how noble." In every sense of the term. A common soldier wouldn't have such finery. Though they would have a better blade.

"Are you from the Land of Reeds? The name sounds quite their style." Perhaps she'd know of the old man. He'd had quite the following of his own, before their Lord had shown him a better way.

[orokid]

"Land of Reeds?" If it wasn't clear that she wasn't familiar, she shook her head slowly. "Maybe, we took a lot of our teachings from old Earth cultures and whatever else the Dax chose to teach us. Swords, firearms, honor."

Some honor, anyway. Slaughtering your emperor and the rest of your empire couldn't really be called honorable. He didn't need to know that though.

"Usually you don't see a Tenno like this. We're usually in armor that looks more human than what... some of those corpses inside were wearing."

[blessedwithlove]

There's no 'maybe' to such a thing. Truly, this Ayatan was an oddity. He might admit, the lands beyond the fog were utterly foreign to him. But he saw more dregs wash up in Limgrave than any other, and he'd never seen the like of this one.

Nor had she seen the common fate of the faithful here. "Princes from beneath the golden boughs," his tone took on a hint of acid. "Searching for salvation, just as unfulfilled as the Golden Order. Death would be a mercy for them now." And oh, he longed to extend such mercy to the Order.

"You'll find many like them. As the Greater Will abandoned the gods, it abandoned all else." The waspish little moment left him. "The land and its people are unloved." More than anything, he longed for that to change.

"Take some heart, then, that none of your fellow Tenno are here. I would know of your people already, if there were. But, perhaps more will wash up soon enough. How did you find your way here?"

[orokid]

That acid in his tone was almost contagious. Abandoning gods, she could mostly go along with, but abandoning all else? She couldn't stomach the idea. Reminded her too much of how the Orokin abandoned everyone on the Zariman.

"Not entirely sure. I was trying to save someone and an old enemy used that chance to try to kill me."

You cannot kill the devil, Tenno... but you can send it back to Hell.

"I should have fallen into the Void. I would have healed faster if I had." Or died entirely, but the Void was where the Tenno came from, in a sense.

[blessedwithlove]

So there were at least two, then, but whether they survived the encounter and made it ashore was unclear as of yet.

In fact, everything about that statement was unclear.

"I've no notion of what you mean."

[orokid]

And Ayatan couldn't give any insight on the Lotus' survival either. Whether she wanted the womans survival or not was still a mystery to her as well, she just couldn't leave Ballas to kill her.

"Not sure how to describe the Void. It's a realm of extradimensional space where we Tenno were, technically, born. I have no Void scarring to give an example but my amp lets me channel my Void abilities."

To keep things fair, since he was being so generous with filling her in on this place, she rised her amp up to aim at the building behind them, firing off several pulses of void energy.

[blessedwithlove]

What a tale. Whether truth or figment, he had no way to tell. There were many gods and powers at work in the world. Perhaps this Void was one of them. The demonstration was certainly surprising, and put quite the dent in the old stone. He heard a little shard of it ping off his mask.

And yet, it still had a glint of familiarity to it. Her incantation was in the wan gold of the Fundamentalists, but lacking their stiff angularity of movement.

"Take care who sees such things," he advised. "The uneducated will imagine that to be an incantation of the Golden Order, but their ardent defenders might see heresy. Especially from a Tarnished."

It was a true statement. He would have lied if necessary to steer her from the Two Fingers, of course. But happily, the truth of the world aligned with the needs of the moment. "They may have called you here, but they are quick to find any fault they can imagine."

[orokid]

Take care? She didn't pout but there was a slight grimace at the thought. Aside from the knife she found inside, she only had her amp for defense. Everything else was with her warframe. Except, probably, her paracesis.

"Aside from slipping into the Void, it's all I really have. Without my warframe, my combat skills are limited."

The more she heard about the Golden Order and their followers, the less she cared for them. Either they didn't care how their followers made them look or they liked the chaos the conflicting views caused. From the looks of this place though, she could believe the latter.

"Good thing I'm used to people finding faults in me."

[blessedwithlove]

Goodness, something had made her quite bitter. To be expected, perhaps, for a noble scion of some fallen empire. "Indeed, what a cruel world we find ourselves in." Oh, but that would change.

But at the moment, there were more immediate concerns. "And now you're without armor, and barely armed."

What to do with this one? She was a unique specimen, to be sure. And she claimed to be a warrior. But maidenless as she was, she could never become a knight.

It would be so easy to send her off to Godrick.

"You'll need more than that to survive."

Hmm. He'd rather not send this one away. But his own supplies were quite limited, and quite specialized.

"You'll have some runes from the denizens of the grave, I should think? There's a merchant camped in the Church of Elleh, just over there." He stood, gesturing to the north.

"He'll trade for runes. If you cannot bind their strength to yourself, then at least exchange them for something tangible. If you can avoid the sentinel."

Obligingly, the massive knight and charger trotted into view. Perhaps he'd seen the lights of Ayatan's incantation. "Regardless of the Golden Order's plans for you, he will kill all that cross his path. His oath's to the Erdtree, and its guardians deem none worthy of approach."

[orokid]

"These?" She had found some runes but she'd had no idea what they were good for. Now that she did, she was glad to have held onto the things. Then her eyes slipped over to the sentinel, considering.

With her amp, she still wasn't sure she could handle it. A warframe could, she was fast in her 'frame, and even if getting hit still hurt, the technocyte was sturdier than flesh. Slipping into the void though-

"I can sneak past him." The void still existed here, even if it wasn't called the same. At least she thought it a safe assumption that her amp and her abilities wouldn't work without the void's continued existence.

Just to be sure though, she slipped into the void for a moment and held herself there, testing her limit before slipping back into reality.

[blessedwithlove]

And out of the corner of his eye, she simply vanishes. "Oh!" He exclaims, watching her reappear on the spot. Like a Bloody Finger returning from the hunt, but instantaneous. "Heavens. How useful that would be." And something to study further. Did she still make sound when she disappeared like that? Did such energies leave behind a scent, or sense of power there? How did one manage such a feat?

Enough speculation for now. He'd have the chance to observe more. "That will certainly protect you on your way to the church." And from there? Hmm. He'd have to consider his own next moves as well.

"Buy something from the merchant, and I'm sure he'll be willing to share his fire." This could give him time to reach the others, mark her as his target, though the more enthusiastic among their ranks might not be deterred.

"His people have no love for the Golden Order, but they sell information as freely as anything else. Do be careful what you tell him."

[orokid]

Sometimes, and Teshin would give her a lecture if he could see her, it felt good to show off a bit. There was no honor in it, blah blah. At least she knew that it worked though, she'd be ale to get to the church with little to no trouble.

"I appreciate it." There's a brief, polite, bow. "Maybe if I'm lucky, he'll have seen my warframe." Then she could start seeing about dealing with the more difficult issues and enemies she'd find in this world.

And just resting by a fire for a bit didn't seem like too bad an idea. She never slept much anymore, not after waking up on Lua, but she did still need some proper rest.

[blessedwithlove]

How well-mannered. He bowed his head--though the slouch he'd settled into made it less dramatic than hers.

"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with warframes as well." Perhaps it was that armor she'd mentioned before, but he couldn't be sure. The term brought to mind something like those ghastly puppets the Carians were so fond of.

"But if it's value is so great, then Godrick's soldiers might seek to present it to their lord. And you, I fear, are not strong enough to challenge a demigod. Even one so debased as he." That was more truth than he'd told most in quite a long time. Godrick was the weakest of the Shardbearers, and all knew it. But so very many overestimated their chances, and he was largely content to leave them deluded.

"The merchant may know more. But I have my own sources as well. Perhaps I'll quit my vigil here, for a while. If you set off while I'm gone, do tell the merchant that we're acquainted? If I find anything of note, I'll follow." He was still uncertain of whether this was worth his time. But when had a Tarnished last shown any promise at all? This strange Ayatan was something different, in a land crumbling without renewal. That in itself was special.

[orokid]

The thought of someone using her warframe as some kind of prize almost made her see red but she forced herself to take a breath. There was no guarantee that was the case. There was still a chance it could be recovered and she could transfer back into it as long as it wasn't irreparably damaged.

"It would be a showpiece, if anything, for anyone who isn't a Tenno." She wasn't keen on explaining how the warframes were, technically, a living body and armor in one.

If only she had something to draw with besides a stick and dirt. At least then she'd be able to give him an idea of what to watch for. Maybe the merchant would be able to help there.

"I'll owe you one if you can help me find it."

[blessedwithlove]

Oh? How very protective that reaction was. Yet another thing to file away for later.

He brushed off the declaration. "It is my calling to guide you Tarnished. Those who seek to enact the Golden Order's designs are set on their path, where grace would guide them. But I have a fondness for those that come to these lands for their own reasons."

[orokid]

Protective indeed. The few times she'd been separated from her warframe had been enough. And it only added insult to injury to think of it being dragged around like so much refuse.

"You see a lot of people like that, I guess?"

Part of her wanted to say something about people trying to take advantage of someone so generous but something in her gut told her he knew. And could handle himself regardless of how he appeared. Then again, if everyone came out as bedraggled as she had been, it wouldn't be hard.

[blessedwithlove]

"Oh, some. They still come to these shores. But I'm afraid most are quite hopeless. I do what I can for them of course, but I am a surgeon by training. Some sorry cases are simply beyond the skill of man, or care of the gods. They must simply be sent on their way, to whatever fate awaits them." The devoted do seem to appreciate the chance to die upon lands stuck through with Erdtree roots.

"A young Tarnished and her entourage passed just the other day, in fact. You may meet them on the path, but they're some days gone now." He imagines they're quite gone to pieces now.

[orokid]

"A surgeon?" Unconsciously, she scratched lightly at her somatics. It was the last time she'd had any sort of major medical intervention, thanks to the void. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that any time in the future. Between the Stalker and Ballas, she was tired of fatal and potentially fatal wounds.

"I'll try not to add any extra work for you. Wouldn't want the void to react and maim you or something." She didn't want to leave people with one less helpful soul in this world.