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Ash rained down on the Lands Between, just as it did every moment since the day the Lord of the Frenzied Flame took hold of the world. Days and nights existed no more and the world stood stagnant in an ever-burning state, overlooked by the Yellow Eye that burned over the Erdtree.
The Lord of Frenzied Flame walked along the mountains of ash, the fiery orb that had replaced their head spouting rays of fire at random, the flames landing on the ashen ground and burning without fuel. Where ash hadn’t managed to cover land or buildings, yellow flames burned on them everlasting. Even the sky seemed to be on fire, painted with ripples of red and yellow emanating from the Eye.
They didn’t hear her running behind them. They didn’t hear her leap into the air, nor the Black Flames forming around her once golden knife as it charged to hit them.
Only at the last moment they felt her presence. The intensity of her hatred almost materialised for a moment before her strike and the Lord turned to face her.
Melina’s blackened blade pierced their chest with force, stopping only millimetres away from their heart. Black Fire blazed around the handle and rose up her arm, as if the small blade couldn’t contain all its wrath. Her once closed eye was now open, looking at the Lord with rage behind messy, unkempt hair.
Despite the Black Flame eating away at their life-force, they tried to retaliate on instinct, pulling their sword and swinging with the flat of the blade at her side. Melina moved like the wind, dashing to the left and before the Lord managed to follow her movement, her knee found their back, throwing them face-first on the ash. Her blade pierced its way through their back, carving their body with metal and flame.
“W- Wait-” They pleaded. Their voice echoed as if coming from inside a cave.
With her free hand, Melina took hold of the fire orb that served as the Lord’s head and slammed it to the ground, momentarily extinguishing part of it. If her palm burned inside the yellow flames, her strength didn’t falter for it.
“Speak,” she commanded through gritted teeth. When once her voice was calm and gentle, it was now roughened and hoarse, with barely contained fury.
“I had to- I had to do it!”
“Why? For power?”
“For you! I did it to save you!”
The pressure on their back vanished. The knife retracted from their flesh and they struggled to stand, turning to face the maiden with hope.
Melina stared at them, stoned faced.
“Save me..?” she asked, quietly.
The Lord lifted a hand to her, trying to reach her.
“I-”
Their palm was cut in half with a swift swing of her blade. The Lord looked in shock as she charged at them with renewed ferocity.
“SAVE ME?! SAVE ME?!?!? HOW DID YOU THINK I NEEDED SAVING?!? THAT I WANTED SAVING?!” Her every word was accompanied by frantic slashes of her blade, forcing the Lord to fall back, desperately trying to cover up.
“BURNING WAS MY PURPOSE!” One last cut threw the Lord on the ground again, trying to lift their cut hands in a miserable attempt at defending themself. Melina stood tall over them, her grey eye glowing with fury. “I was born to be kindling. Burning the Erdtree was the reason for remaining a spirit after my body perished. I spent years deciding if I would sacrifice myself. Years of looking for alternatives, years of wandering and observing the world, deciding that it was worth dying for. Years of waiting for someone worthy to attempt to repair the Elden Ring. All our journey I spent coming to terms with my death, looking at every plant and animal for the last time. I was ready to give my life, for the chance to give them a better world.”
“But- I-”
“But it seems that Torrent chose wrong,” Melina continued talking over them. Torrent’s charred whistle was on her finger, useless now, his spirit long gone and burned. “It seems I was wrong not to contest his choice. Wrong to put my trust in you, old companion.”
“I did it cause I loved-”
Before their sentence was finished, once more her blade pierced their chest with sudden force, this time going through their heart. Black Flames engulfed the Lord, burning over the yellow fire of their madness.
Despite the scorching heat, Melina moved close to the orb, where their head should be. She talked quietly but clearly, with barely contained rage.
“You don’t know love. If you did, you’d had let me burn. You’d had moved on without me, to mend the Elden Ring and guide the Lands Between to prosperity.”
The Lord moved, as if trying to answer, but all their strength was needed to resist the Black Flame burning them.
"Your actions weren’t driven by love. Narcissism and possessiveness were your guides. Dying or not was my choice to make. A choice I had made. And you took it from me. Not only that, you proceeded to burn everything I ever cared for. You took everything, burned everything. Claiming that it was for my benefit? My life?!"
Melina pulled the knife out of their chest. The Black Fires remained, slowly overwhelming the Lord.
“You are a monster.”
She drove the knife at the centre of the yellow orb. An explosion of black and yellow flames erupted from it and the Lord of Frenzied Flame howled in agony. The yellow flames faded around them, vanishing in the air. But the Black Fire remained, consuming their body and soul.
“And I should had understood you sooner.”