Chapter Text
Her heart was racing, and her mind felt like it was on fire; slowly, her silver eyes opened, staring at an unfamiliar room's rotted and overgrown ceiling. Her eyes caught visions of what she believed would come from a dilapidated church, yet it wasn't one she was familiar with. Above her was a woman-like figure, arms folded under a cloak, kind eyes aimed down at the floor to their right. Standing up, the girl reached behind her to where she would usually find a compact scythe, yet all she felt was air; with a panicked noise, she began to rush around the room searching for her weapon but found the room lacking any. One point of interest was a body, a human form, lying near the front entrance of the room. She tried to see if they were okay, but all she succeeded at doing was accidentally snapping one of the digits from the hand, causing her to scream and scramble away as a flash entered her mind.
'A finger of corpse wax, so emaciated the bone is visible.
It is a relic of those who came before, left to help those who would come after.'
She stared at the item in shock for a few moments, then reached out and picked it up with her fingers shaking a little from the action. The finger felt cold, not unlike a stone picked up in the shade. Whatever spoke in her mind seemed to know what this was. Perhaps it was just her mind being rational, like what her sister said would come with time. It was supposed to help her, though it appears to be primarily useless... and super gross. After looking it over for a few moments, she rose to her feet, slipped it into one of her now empty ammo pouches, and began hoping she would never see another severed finger again. Then turned to the door and pushed. It was a cumbersome door, so it took a few seconds to get it open, but what was on the other side earned a gasp of pure amazement.
Massive sheer cliffs of darkened stone, resting atop those cliffs, was a castle out of a fairy tale; after walking for a short while, she noted that she had very nearly walked straight off into the dark depths. Taking quite a few steps back, she covered her heart and looked up at the glowing golden tree in the distance. To her, it was beautiful yet sickly; she had no way to describe how she felt towards it. The branches above seemed to easily block out the sky as if its glowing light somehow encompassed the lands beneath it. After a few moments of staring at the sight before her, she turned and noted more crumbling ruins leading across a rickety-looking rope bridge that seemed to be another chapel, one much more destroyed. Seeing as that appeared to be the only way forward, she began to walk, making her way towards it while concentrating on her soul.
Her aura seemed to be locked again, slightly worrying; whatever was preventing her from drawing it out as a protective shell was probably not something good. If she ran into anything less than friendly, she would be in a challenging situation; without her Semblance, the girl would be without her main form of escape, and with no weapon in her hands, she was just as defenseless. Walking her way through the arch, she came to a pause on the overgrown stone pathway leading through this chapel-like structure; it was a wide-open area with a giant statue on the other end where the path curves through to the next section, but the object that caught her eye was the statue. A woman with her arms raised above her head slightly, her head was hanging low as her long skirt rose behind her, forming three overlapping circles, her hair hanging down over her exposed chest, keeping the imagery safe for children. Walking towards the statue, she felt a chill run up the back of her neck.
The ground trembled as something fell from the sky, sending dirt and smoke clouding around the area; stumbling back but maintaining her footing. The girl quickly looked around for something she could use to defend herself as the beast came surging out from the cloud at her, and she froze up in fear. The monster was more monstrous than anything she had ever seen before, a creature made from grafted arms and legs, some limbs grasping wildly, others pushing the body along the ground. In one of its hands, it held a tremendous golden shield; as it stormed forward, one of its arms cocked back and swiftly rained stabs upon the girl. After suffering two of its strikes, she quickly recovered from her fear and dived away, rolling to her feet and quickly turned to face the monster only to receive a powerful strike from the shield, which sent her rolling into darkness.
(o)
It was dark, her blurred vision slowly coming back and fading a few times, her fingertips were cold, and she could feel sticky wetness to them; she was in water and underground, but her body refused to move, to rise from the cold and wet muck that was staining her black and red clothing. Still, her worries quickly turned as the feeling of hot breath on her fingers caused her to twitch a bit, but now she was just surprised as a voice broke the silence.
"Don't worry Torrent, fortune is on her side." the voice was quiet and kind; she could tell whoever this woman was they were foreign, or maybe she was in a far away place. Again trying to open her eyes, blurred vision greeted her, but now she recognized slight movements. "We found her here, after all," they spoke once more, attempting to raise her head and eyes higher all she could make out was a pair of dark leather boots, which lowered and became a mass of black-gray. "One of her kind is sure to seek the Elden Ring." what little vision she still held quickly began to fade as a high-pitched ringing drowned out the voice in her head, but a few final words did cut through, just barely enough to be heard "...Even if it does violate the Golden Order..."
She couldn't tell how much time had passed before she began to regain her mind, her eyes opening and dilating, struggling to her hands and knees and gasping for air as her muscles roared in denial. Pushing up onto her knees, she felt her body groan and pop, shifting a bit; she planted one foot into the mud and pushed upward; she got to her feet and sucked in the damp air. The earthy and decaying smell surged into her senses as she stumbled forward a bit but stopped at a clinking sound. She found two golden flasks, one filled with a bubbling red liquid; reaching down and grabbing it, she felt a warmth surge across her arm and the voice surge in her mind again, but now it sounded familiar.
'A sacred flask modeled after a golden holy chalice that was once graced by a tear of life.
It is said that a Finger Maiden will bestow two such chalices upon the chosen Tarnished when they meet.'
Rubbing her finger over its surface, she felt a strange connection between it and her, as if she needed to keep it close to her; lowering it to her ammo belt, she hooked it around the spot where she used to keep her rounds and found that it fits comfortably. Her eyes returned to the ground where the second flask rested; it too appeared similar, if not the same, as the small red flask, though with a few distinct differences; firstly, it glowed blue and was much dimmer than its red counterpart. Picking it up, she felt a shiver shoot up her arm as her fingers closed around the cold exterior. Looking closely, she noted that the liquid within, when it sat still, would quickly freeze over, and with a quick shift, the ice vanished, and the liquid sloshed around. The exact words echoed in her mind as she hooked the flask next to the red one and began to take in her surroundings.
To her left was a dark and damp earthy wall, letting her eyes drift along with the freely carved structure to a flight of stairs that seemed to glow and draw her attention. At the foot of the stairs was short golden sprouting, and to the right, she found a chair aimed down towards a pit. Taking a few shaky steps towards the hole, she peered down the pit and felt her stomach churn at the far less inviting opening; taking a few steps away, she turned and began towards the steps. As she walked, she felt her boots grow wetter and wetter. Upon reaching the stairs, the girl came to a stop, then slowly stepped onto the first and looked down at her feet; her boots, once black and red, now had evident staining of mud, both black and brown coating their wet surface, up onto her knees her tights were torn up and also covered in muck. Her skirt faired a little better; her once beautiful and colorful combat outfit was now dirty and torn.
Slowly making her way up the steps she came to another door and pushed it open stepping into the room she took in the look of the room, the floor was dry yet still dirt, in the back left corner of the room was a flight of stairs marked by white candles, shaking off the fatigue she began to trudge towards said stairs feeling a shiver run up her spine at the sight of massive cobwebs, spiders always gave her the creeps, as she reached the top of the stairs she noted two things, firstly there was a transparent fog covering three archways, on the far left of that was a strange statue of two frog-like creatures one on top of the other, they were illuminated by a candle in the mouth on the one on the bottom, that was interesting but a flicker of light at the center of the room earned her attention it sat in the middle of the room flickering slightly and calling her attention walking over to it she could feel her exhaustion start to fade as she dropped down to the ground and let out a sigh she watched in amazement as the dirt on her boots and knees flashed gold and vanished, her tights mending themselves by the same golden light and her exhaustion seemed to follow the damage as it faded away.
Rising from the golden glow she walked over to the transparent fog wall and looked through, her eyes tracing what lies beyond, a small landing with a ladder leading down, it wasn't much and beyond that she couldn't tell what it was, turning away she walked over to the statue, and looked it over, there were two holes on both their foreheads, rectangular and dark, perhaps they are keyholes, or maybe traps, for now though the door seemed that it would remain locked until she could find either the key or activate the trap, it might work like a video game in that sense, again she turned away and took in the room, it seemed like she was in a crypt or a similar structure, the white-gray stones appeared to be very old and neglected, the large archway that leads through to a new round room at the center of which is an arch structure around another round section with a bump at the center, walking into the room she spun her red cape billowing past her due to an updraft, looking up she noted the elevated ceiling curved into an opening, slightly larger than the pattern at the center of the room, Out of curiosity she walked onto the platform she felt the bump on the center shift downward and rumble causing the platform to begin moving upward, dropping down on the platform she held onto it once the walls around her quickly enclosed the lift, after a few seconds it came rumbling to a stop sending some dust upward around her as it lurched to a halt, after a few seconds she let out a sigh and rose to her feet.
Looking around the room she found that it was a much smaller room than before but mimicked the lower floor with having the lift surrounded by a open archway on all sides, though this room did have a tall flight of stairs leading to yet another door, at this point thoughts were running through her mind, mostly wondering if she ever get out of this tomb, and wondering what that creature was, it's malformed body looked nothing like any creature of Grimm she had ever seen, but those thoughts could be saved for later, for now she needed to press on, eventually reaching the top of the flight of stairs she was greeted by another door, this one was made from a brown rusted metal and had no handle she could see, pushing on it yelled nothing so she began to search around its frame, and felt a rush of embarrassment as she found a long handle along the bottom, crouching low she placed both hands on it's handle and in one swift motion stood dragging the rusted door with her and hoisting it above her head.
She was greeted by a beautiful sight upon opening the tomb she was once trapped within, a rush of fresh cold air brushed past her sweeping both her cape and hair up as she took a few trepidatious steps onto the green field before her, but the girls eyes were fixed solely on the great tree before her, similarly to the small sproutling below it was covered in a white glow, the massive leaves that sat atop impossibly large branches that shone down golden rays of light, to get a sense of just how mammoth like the tree was she could see a massive stone tower with a crumbling great-bridge leading across from a gigantic brown and gray castle that almost dominated the skyline if that tree wasn't present, gulping down a bit of nausea at the thought of just how massive that thing was she turned her gaze much closer to herself, not too far away on the grassy field she was standing on was a strange stick, it was tall and had an arch resting atop it, it would have been more interesting if she didn't notice the body hanging from the arc, below that grizzly scene was one of those 'spots of glow' and standing before that glow was a man wearing a white mask that covered his features completely, his hands folded and staring directly at her.
Reaching the golden glow, she looked down at it for a few moments, then turned her attention to the man, who spoke as he noticed her stare. "Oh, yes... Tarnished, are we?" he asked as he raised his hands and cupped them together; his tone was friendly and kind, two things she was thankful for, given her previous interactions with others, mostly that weird spider thing. "Come to the Lands Between for the Elden Ring, hmm?" he continued in his kind tone, but his words made her feel that he might be making fun of her. Standing up, she moved closer to try and gauge his words more carefully. "Of course you have—no shame in it. Unfortunately for you, however, you are maidenless. Without guidance, without the strength of runes, and without an invitation to the Roundtable Hold... you are fated, it seems, to die in obscurity." he spoke now in such a way that wrapped her attention; it seemed that he was giving her genuine information, though she didn't understand most if not all of it, what guidance, what strength of runes, and what was the Roundtable Hold, looking down at her feet awkwardly she took a small step back and was about to speak when he continued.
“Luckily for you, however, there is one shining ray of hope for even the maidenless.” he paused, for dramatic effect “Me. Varré. Take care to listen.” he finished in a matter of fact tone that caused the girls shoulders to droop as she stared blankly at him as he began to once more rub his hands together and let out a quick chuckle before speaking in a slightly more serious tone “Are you familiar with grace? The golden light that gives life to you Tarnished.” he said causing the girl to freeze, pause almost completely, but she quickly recomposed herself, it was probably just his religious believe that the grace was keeping her alive, but as of right now she had far more questions than answers, she watched as the man gestured towards the grace behind her as he spoke again “You may also behold its golden rays pointing in a particular direction at times.” as he spoke that he guided his hand behind him which she followed noting that the golden glow coming from the grace was in fact pointing in that direction “That is the guidance of grace. The path a Tarnished must travel.” he explained causing the girl to finally smile briefly, something she can actually claim to know, her other questions were still swimming through her mind and just as she was about to voice them once more he continued “Mm, indeed, graces guidance holds the answers.” he said in a tone that shifted from kind and helpful to once again condescending and veiled rudeness “It will lead you Tarnished on the path you were meant to follow. Even if it leads you to your grave.” he finished causing the girls smile to fade into a frown, it was determined now, she didn't want to talk to this man ever again. as she turned to walk away he spoke once more in his condescending tone “Grace's guidance will reveal the path forward, most certainty. To Castle Stormvail, over on the cliff. The home of the decrepit demigod, Godrick the Grafted.” he finished she turned and glared at him for a few seconds then walked off, turning down to the left of the grace and began down the path, only to be stopped by what she could only describe as an intimidating knight, he and his mount both adorned in full gold plate great-shield in one hand and a large spear in the other, she felt her breath hitch at the sight as he came barreling towards her and in one foul swoop cut straight through her, and before she could let out a scream she found herself sitting at the grace, a light chuckling come from behind her.
Placing a hand over her heart, she could feel it beating at a slow and calm pace, the grace in front of her pulsing in the same pattern that caused her to start to feel sick again; whatever this grace was saved her, yes, but was it truly right? She had just been cut in half; she could remember all of it, the pain, her body split, and she couldn't feel her feet for the few instances it lasted. Still, it was gone, just like the breeze that lifted her cape once more and vanished just as quickly. She sat for what felt like hours, just staring at the grace as it pulsed before her eyes, slowly rising to her feet, then turned and stared back up at Castle Stormvail; it was an imposing and massive structure that's shadow gave the whole thing an air of oppressive force. That's where her destiny lies and where she should travel, but this land, the Lands Between, as pretty as it looks, was filled with horrific danger.
Numbly she rose to her feet and looked around; the path that rider was patrolling led to a crumbled church. Arched crucifixes on either side of the way; most had occupants, others didn't. Her eyes followed the massive rider as he turned and began to pace back towards the building, she felt sickness rise through her at the sight of his weapon, while she would typically gush over the beautiful weapon and it's design all she could see was it stained with blood... her blood, that thought alone was enough to make her feel sick, walking a short distance she looked out at the sea across the grassy field she could see a clear path leading down towards the beach and to the right of that she could see a way leading towards the church that didn't lead along the path of that golden knight, with a small gulp she suppressed her desire to go nowhere near that knight and dropped down and began to run her heart pounding the whole run, stone and dirt blurred as she ran, closing in on the structure, diving over one of the many crumbling walls she rolled to a stop and strained her ears listening closely she heard the mounts hooves draw closer and closer before stopping then began to fade away as it walked away, letting out a shaky sigh she took in the area, the greenery had yet to take in the building at the center of the crumbling ruin was a grace which she quickly made a beeline for and dropped down near it letting the feeling of rest wash over her before standing and looking over the rest of the room, there was an anvil near the back of the building and next to that was a man in red and white rags, his arms were shaking a bit as he stoked the flame in front of him his packed mule standing a short distance away from him watching as he worked.
"Um... excuse me," she called, raising a hand and waving that caused him to jump a bit as he turned to face her. His eyes were weary and suspicious for a few moments before relaxing a little "You are a Tarnished, I can see it. And I can also see... That you're not after my throat. Then why not purchase a little something? I am Kalé, Purveyor of fine goods," he responded with a small smile behind his mask. The girl walked over and plopped across from him, happy to find someone genuine with her, unlike Varré, who she was sure laughed at her death. That thought alone was going to take some getting accustomed to. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kalé; I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. It's nice to meet someone who isn't trying to kill me... or being creepy. So... what can you tell me about yourself?" she said, feeling the urge to speak, considering she had kept her mouth shut for most of this traumatizing situation. "I am of a nomadic people. Selling wares as I travel. The land has been tainted by madness since the shattering of the Elden Ring. It's only Tarnished like yourself who keep things from drying up entirely. Let's say you're a very welcome customer." he said, earning a nod from Ruby as she looked down at herself and frowned. She had no idea what he meant by that; she still didn't know what a 'Tarnished' is
"What does it mean to be a Tarnished?" Ruby asked, shifting around a bit to study Kalé closer; he was fragile-looking, his arms shook a bit and were extremely thin, his gray hair was long and knotted, and on his face was a mask that covered most of his features, but his eyes were fogged a bit
"Tarnished, but you don't know why..." he let out a light laugh causing the girl to frown a bit, she had met two people thus far and both of them have laughed at her in less than an hour, but he stopped laughing just as quickly "It is said that your kind once served Queen Marika but eventually lost the grace of the Erdtree, all were exiled from the Lands Between, but now it seems more and more keep showing up, not that I would complain." he explained with another laugh which Ruby joined in on feeling it would be rude otherwise "One other question, do you know how to reach Stormvail Castle?" she then asked earning a much more thoughtful look from the merchant "Once you reach the road follow it through the gate leading north, from there you just keep following the road, but beware Godricks' soldiers have two camps that you must get through to reach the castle, and while I may be happy to see you Tarnished Godricks' men will not be as kind, but should you gain any runes from your fallen enemies, I will be here, willing to trade." he finished pointing one of his bony fingers over her shoulder and towards a slight stretch of trees where she could see flickering orange flames, with a frown she looked down at her hands.
"If I had a weapon, I'd be far more confident in leaving this place..." she mumbled but quickly returned to reality when she heard a dull thud. Her eyes caught a glint of sunlight; quickly grabbing the item, she took in what it was. A short sword, the blade was just a bit longer than a dagger but still small looking over to Kalé, and she was surprised to see him holding a sheath in one hand. "I-- I can't take this!" she quickly said, holding it back to him. He shook his head. "Consider it an investment, many of your kind prefer to use weapons, and many of them prove lucrative. Consider this... an investment," he explained, holding the sheath out to the young girl, which earned a small smile from her as she took it and hooked it on her belt, it wasn't a scythe, but it was far better than nothing.
'A short straight sword with a short blade. In addition to its reliable standard damage, this weapon also boasts powerful piercing attacks.
Lightweight amongst straight swords, this weapon is easy to wield, requiring only humble attributes.'
Rising from the campfire, she looked towards the forest, the sea of green awaiting her and housing many dangers that wished to rip her apart. Taking a few steps towards said danger, she paused and turned back towards Kalé. "One more thing, um... what are runes?" she questioned, sighing from the merchant as he shifted position a bit to face her. "Runes are the remnants of the Elden Ring after the Shattering, just go out and kill some of Godricks' men; you'll notice them," he explained, earning a frown from Ruby. She wasn't one to kill; if anything, she was massively against it, but she needed to protect herself. She would try to convince the soldiers of her harmlessness but should the need to defend herself arise. Then she will do what she has not to experience that feeling of emptiness ever again.
Walking from the church, she could feel a chill run up her legs and rest uncomfortably in her stomach. The thought of killing another human being had never crossed her mind; looking to her left, she watched as a small troop of deer-like creatures strolled around but quickly noticed her and turned, running away. One of the creatures curled into a ball and started to roll, which caused the girl to pause and watch as it moved to a stop and then galloped away after its kin; staring down at the path, she smiled, happy to know that there are some peaceful creatures in this place... gentle, silly creatures.
Upon reaching the forest she waited, watching as a man wearing a green and red tabard with a golden trim walked just beyond the foliage and began to look around, his arms and legs were covered in what she assumed were bronze plate mail, in one hand was a torch and on his belt rested a sword, atop his head was a metallic helm with leather strips covering the back and sides, while chain mail covered his neck, as he turned and faced her she gave him a none threatening wave which was swiftly greeted with him drawling his blade and rushing her, to both her shock and horror he was set upon killing her, quickly taking the short-sword from her belt she ducked under his slow slash and stabbed at his stomach out of pure reflex and found that his armor mainly was leather on his body, and metal on his limbs, the man stumbled back and quickly pushed her away while swinging his torch at her which caused her cape to catch flame, gritting her teeth she attempted to pat out the fire as he seemed to recover enough to rush her once more, as he moved he cocked his arm back and swiftly lunged forward attempting to stab her, but Ruby was much faster, barely avoiding the stab she grabbed the blade still lodged in his gut and ripped it free causing him to fall to the ground with a dull thump, looking down at the body she felt her stomach clench and her body go cold, she couldn't believe how easy that was, looking down at her hands she stared at the blood, his blood, her eyes then drifted back to the body that quickly vanished into white moats of energy and faded away leaving a pair of gauntlets on the ground, crouching low she grabbed the gauntles and looked them over.
'Gauntlets worn by soldiers loyal to Godrick the Grafted.
Rust-worn and stained through unending conflict.'
Turning them over and over in her hands she turned her attention to her shoulder which was now exposed from the flames, her shoulder was also burned the pale skin was now charred black and had some cracks, the pounding sensation that was currently working it's way away from the location earning a noise of discomfort, reaching over she let her fingers run over the darkened and burned skin, it was rough and still a little hot, going down to her belt she grabbed the red flask and lifted it to her arm as she uncorked it, she then poured the liquid over the limb, causing her arm to seize up and she dropped to her knees as the burning sensation rushed across her body, the burn had somehow freshened itself, the charred skin fell away leaving the fresh burn open to the cool air, clenching her teeth she glared at the bottle and studied the liquid, that clearly didn't help, unless she wasn't suppose to pour it on the wound, taking the object to her nose she took a slight smell of it, it didn't smell like anything so she took a sip, the liquid didn't have a taste but it was hot, looking down at the wound she felt the waves of pain fade as the newly freshened wound knitted itself shut leaving exposed pale skin.
With a sigh she rose to her feet and slid the gauntlets onto her hands which shifted to fit snugly on her hands providing them with protection they didn't have before, but it also kept the wet blood on her skin, she gagged at that but was determined to press onward, whatever this 'Elden Ring' thing was seemed to hold quite a bit of reverence to these people so if she could get her hands on it she might be able to convince some of the more intelligent people of this world to help her, returning her attention to the forest she let out a shuttered sigh and began to walk into the deep green foliage, if there were more soldiers in there she would have to kill them too, and it appeared that they served this Godrick she kept hearing about, it was worrying to think that Godrick would have his people kill Tarnished on sight, maybe they had killed hundreds of Tarnished, or even thousands, but at this point she just felt that she was attempting to justify her despicable actions, as her eyes scanned the forest she noted more movement so she quickly dived into a nearby bush and shifted around to make herself less visible and quickly peered out, after a few moments the steps became the sounds of marching after a few minutes the greave and boots of more of Godricks' soldiers a few dozen made their way past her and towards the edge of a forest, staying within the bush she felt her legs go cold, she was too scared to move but if she stayed she would be found and killed, forcing her feet to move she stood from the bush and began to move away from this place, if they saw the bloodstains showing their allies death they would start searching the forest, in other words she needed to leave, and fast.
Reaching the other end of the forest she let out a sigh but quickly ducked barely dodging another crossbow bolt and quickly dived behind a tree and looked down at her forearm where the pounding pain of the first bolt was, just above her gauntlet and staining her gauntlet red the footsteps of the soldier growing closer, taking a deep breath she used her left arm to draw her blade and quickly moved out in the direction of the movement, the soldier seemed to notice her move a few seconds in advance and was already bringing his blade down on her, leaping back she avoided the slash and leapt forward as the edge found dirt, slashing at his throat the chain mail guarding this throat seemed to push the blow away but still cut a bit, shoving her away he raised his weapon and swung at her mid-section then quickly followed up with another slash, rolling back she suffered the next gash to the side of her face, while his was still reeling back to a defensive stance from his attacks Ruby quickly swung her blade at him earning sparks shining across his shield which surprised her, quickly taking advantage of that surprise he stomped forward and raised his blade over head and brought it down, thinking as quickly as she could she diving behind him as he brought the weapon down she stood and plunged her weapon into the back of his neck causing him to immediately fall limp and forward to the ground dragging her down with him, as he vanished into more moats of white energy, taking a few deep breaths she dropped back onto the dirt and took a few more breaths attempting to slow her heart rate.
Closing her eyes she shuttered then quickly stood she had to keep moving looking about the newly plain she had found herself on she could see for miles, a massive tree off in the distance with golden leaves stood over a darkened forest, searching around beyond and before that were three towers one much closer to her than the tree and the other two seemed farther away, one so far was almost entirely obscured by a thick white fog, much closer to her was a crumbling ruin within which she could see groups of guards dressed in a similar manner as the ones she had just... defeated, looking to the right of that camp was a shining golden flash one she recognized as a Grace, to the left of the base she noted a colossal gate, a whole section of the cliff face that was towering over the landscape she could see had been eroded away by hand to form a massive gate-front, that must be where Kalé was telling her to go, avoiding the checkpoint she circled around towards the gate, getting closer to the entrance she could see a small site of grace sitting on the other side of the path, quickly crossing and reaching the grace she dropped down next to it and let out a sigh, leaning back she lied down and stared at the sky above, the stars were unfamiliar and the branches of the massive golden tree covered some of the stars, something that was interesting was that the moon hanging overhead, it's enormous size drowned out just about everything else around it, even the stars paled in comparison to the gigantic satellites.
(o)
Slowly reopening her eyes, she found that it was much later. She sat up without idea how long she had been lying there. She rolled her neck, listening to the pops, then stretched her arms, taking a deep breath; she closed her eye, enjoying a moment of peace. "Greetings. Traveler from beyond the fog." a voice came from her right, causing Ruby to jump and yelp in horror. Quickly twisting around, her eyes met a cloaked woman, her large black hood concealing her face as she crouched down and drew it back. She meant not to seem threatening. "I Am Melina. I offer you an accord." she finished. Her brown-pink hair was short and almost framed her face; her right eye scanned over Ruby's face. Its brown coloration seemed to glow a bit unnaturally. Her other eye was held shut, and a tattoo of what looked to be a bird's foot was printed over it. Ruby was somewhat surprised that she was talking; most people just attacked.
"Have you heard of the finger maidens?" she questioned, looking up towards the great golden tree above. "They serve the Two Fingers, offering guidance, and aid, to the Tarnished." her eye then drifted back to Ruby, who turned to face her at this point, much more willing to listen than before, primarily due to her willingness to speak "But you, I am afraid, are maidenless. I can play the role of a maiden. Turning rune fragments into strength to aid you in your search for the Elden Ring. You need only take me with you. To the foot of the Erdtree." she explained farther in a calm and neutral tone earning a frown from Ruby as she began to think on her predicament.
"There's so much about this place I don't understand; even the moon is unfamiliar to me. I'd be pretty dumb not to take help when offered." Ruby answered, noting no visible reaction from Melina until she spoke again. "Then it's settled," she said with a quiet nod, a slight smile now gracing her lips. "Summon me by grace to turn runes into strength." she offered, pulling a hand into her cloak. "Ahh, another matter. I bequeath you this ring." shifting to her knees, Ruby reached out and took the small object. It was an almost complete circle of gold with two small holes on either side of the slight opening.
'A delicate goldwork ring. Can be used as a finger whistle.
Sound the whistle to summon and ride Torrent, the spectral steed. (Dismounts steed when used while on horseback.)
Upon his death, the spectral steed can be summoned again, but doing so drains the Flask of Crimson Tears.'
"Use it to traverse great distances. It will summon a spectral steed named Torrent," she explained, her hands resting on her knees as Ruby slipped the ring on her index finger, hoping that someone wasn't going to find her finger at some point with that ring on it. "Torrent has chosen you. Treat him with respect." she added, earning a smile from the girl; she had never heard of such a thing before; it was almost like magic. Looking back towards Melina, who she found was holding her hand out, Ruby quickly scrambled forward and took the hand with a smile.
"Sorry about that! I didn't introduce myself, Ruby Rose." she greeted but quickly panicked when Melina faded away into blue motes of energy; with a yelp, she leaped to her feet and looked around, trying to find her. "Oh geez, did I do that?! I--"
"You need not worry; I am here. Within." Melinas' voice echoed through her mind settling the girls' mind if only briefly as she suddenly felt more questions and disbelief. "Wait, what?! How... but-- are you okay?" Ruby quickly asked, attempting to understand this woman... ghost... thing. "As I said, you need not worry; I will teach you of the Lands Between, should you desire it. The purpose of a maiden is to support and aide their lord." her voice echoed once more as the girl sat back down at the grace and looked off towards the checkpoint where Godricks' soldiers paced and patrolled, and she had no idea who Godrick was, nor why she was destined to face him.
"Alright, there's a lot I have to learn, thank you Melina." the girl thanked, rising to her feet just as the sun began to crest the horizon, quickly bathing the area in rays of gold, looking down at the short sword she let out a sigh, she could generally use a sword. Still, a scythe or something similar would be better. "Oh, and one other thing, is there magic here? Because I've... killed some people, and they poof away."
"Indeed, there are many who study Incantations; I am versed in holy magic, but I am no teacher. Then there are Sorceries; magics obtained by study and knowledge, one I hold no true understanding of." Melina explained, causing Ruby vast amounts of interest, magic, something from fairy tales, storybooks, video games, and all that. She was excited to learn about that... shaking that from her mind, she frowned and watched a few soldiers walk into one of the ruins; she would have to keep killing them. Her excitement immediately crumbled into the cold feeling of disgust, her eyes then turning towards the plain beyond the checkpoint, if she was going to get the help she needed to explore.