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01.
The Erdtree looked splendid.
Glorious and blinding to the eye, towering above the earth below as if nothing else in this world could ever match its glory, though its external brilliance could hardly conceal the ruin from within.
The flames burned bright.
Fiery and deranged, borne out of despair until one day, it melted and eroded all things of this world. Though occasionally, a few new buds could sprout from the remaining ashes.
Only the moon stood closest to eternity.
Throughout their journey filled with untold difficulties and dangers, the young lady’s ideals and freedom she pursued her whole life were reflected into the cold light of the dark moon.
But if the story repeated itself, over and over again, frozen in a perpetual cycle, would all of their purposes and sacrifices hold any meaning?
02.
As the moon peeked from behind the clouds, the Tarnished sat at the Stranded Graveyard’s Site of Grace.
The entire enclosed building was filled with a smell that was hard to describe, groups of smashed pottery and skeleton remains were scattered around. Against a wall made of bricks in a corner, a damaged skull lay on top of a mound where a small flower stuck out of its eye socket.
This was the place both closest and farthest away from the beginning of his story, yet the Tarnished had already been here for a very long time.
Under the dark sky, he hung his head down and the Grace’s radiance entered his lightless eyes, glowing like precious gems embedded in a destroyed statue.
The Tarnished once saw the Erdtree’s radiance, much brighter than this sight of Grace, but this too had been an event from a long time ago.
For a man whose story is set in stone and never to change, remembrance was never a good thing—weeds feeding on the madness of his heart and causing him only pain and suffering.
The light of Grace flickered and the Tarnished lifted his head. He saw shadows, pouring down the ground like waterfalls, gradually spreading over his legs, his chest… until they swallowed him whole.
In the dim light, the Tarnished could vaguely see a human figure deep into the water and float in front of him, calmly and resolutely staring at him.
“Melina?” the Tarnished whispered deliriously.
Before he could think, in an instant, the shadows changed and more silhouettes formed in the water.
Then the Tarnished saw Rogier pierced by thorns, the heroic Warrior Jar Alexander, Milicent who serenely succumbed to Rot amongst the flowers, and the fallen Morgott at the entrance of the Erdtree…
He saw—
The Tarnished saw each and every person he encountered throughout his long journey, some of whom were friends while some were not. They remained in their mangled form and all stopped over momentarily in front of him, silently staring at the once bearer of glory, now a mere down-and-out man who futilely tried to remain alone.
“...I already did everything I could.”
The uncontrollable flood of memories made the Tarnished’s throat tighten and his entire body began to tremble, then after a long time, when he regained his voice——it was with an exhausted, raspy voice that escaped his lips, each word heavily smashing against the ground: “Again, and again, and again, I became what you expected me to be, your long desired Lord, isn’t that enough?”
“I am tired——At this point, I want to die and to never wake, is even this considered a vain delusion?”
Yet, only silence replied to the Tarnished. Yet, what solely remained were those lingering shadows, now impossible to get rid of.
In the corner of the room, a clutter of junk noiselessly collapsed to the ground as the nameless flower was crushed into the cracks of the stone tiles, while the Tarnished remained oblivious to it all.
He moved faster than his mind——the Miséricorde’s blade flashed, a cruel and cold light, as it pierced his left temple, the tip coming out of his right one, turning it before pulling the blade out, droplets of red and white liquid splashing all around him.
The Tarnished’s body violently twitched a few times, before it collapsed directly beside the Site of Grace, breathless. Dead.
Had the Tarnished truly… died in such a way?
“Ah… Ahah……”
The sound of terrified wheezes rushed out of the Tarnished’s throat——ten seconds after plunging a dagger into his own brain, he miraculously came back to life, greedily gulping down the surrounding air.
After a few dozen more breaths, his head wound was already completely healed. He sat up, as if he had just woken up. At the same time, it looked as if he had never gone to sleep in the first place.
The Grace that had been bestowed upon him was still in effect; he could not die, he was still not permitted to die.
The Tarnished looked once again at the Site of Grace, finally feeling a bit more like he belonged to the real world——there were no waves of shadows, no vague human silhouettes, no dimming light. The trails of Grace that guided him were the only thing that existed here, only the Tarnished, only those remaining in the Lands Between, those scattered around, whether dead or alive.
As the story repeats itself, what once emotionally moved him was turned into numbness, before finally becoming a habit.
It was just another beginning… Again.
The Tarnished breathed out slowly, completely and thoroughly calm.
The moon was now hidden behind countless shadows and all illusions and absurdities came to an end.
…Time to set off and begin his journey.
To seek the Elden Ring, to ascend, to fulfil the expectations others set for him and become the long-awaited Elden Lord, to fight and struggle until the very end.
Even if it was destined to fail.
03.
The wind and sun were warm as the grass softly swayed.
The camp was as austere as ever and the loud clangs of armour colliding against each other reverberated across the ruins up to the gates ahead.
The Tarnished stood in front of a Site of Grace, absent-mindedly dodging the pikes thrust towards him by Godrick’s soldiers.
Ah, what pitiful dogs.
The Tarnished sighed to himself: those soldiers were as boring as ever.
They were not strong or hard to deal with, they were just a flock of house dogs whose tongues had been cut out, told to defend day after day Stormweil’s Gatefront and kill the enemy, or get killed by them.
This was here that the Tarnished and Melina first met.
He only had to sit by that Site of Grace, and this gentle and beautiful woman would appear and approach him at night.
She will come to the Tarnished offering a trade, one with more benefits than disadvantages——she will take on the role of maiden and provide guidance to the Tarnished, helping him by turning runes into strength in exchange for leading her to the foot of the Erdtree where Leyndell, the Royal Capital still stood to this day.
In the following journey, the destined Tarnished and the fiery woman would grow close, up until she set herself ablaze for him and her soul flew away, or he embraced the Frenzied Flame, attempting to consume the world till he meets the young woman’s sharp blade.
Or perhaps, it was not a blade but rather, the woman’s trust and love that overpowered hate.
The Tarnished looked at his palm and remembered how the woman seemed to wish to touch him, but in the end, stretched her hand towards the sky instead.
He had wanted to repay this trust.
He had also looked forward to that illusory throne, and the woman would be here, all of his friends and mentors would be there to congratulate him for getting what he wanted while walking onwards, all together, toward a new Age free of gloom.
Even if it was just once.
Even if it was just a very small, one-time unexpected event.
What once had been his determination, nudging him forward all throughout his journey, was now only a meaningless burden. Perhaps he should have never expected anything from the very beginning…?
This was what the Tarnished thought about as he sat at the Site of Grace, quietly waiting for his fate to be decided.
04.
At first, there were only fluttering sparks, similar to the floating embers from the burning Erdtree.
They spun and danced under Limgrave’s night, drawing their last shine and heat.
Immediately after, the air lit up in bursts of majestic flames and one would not be able to differentiate nighttime from daylight.
The Tarnished’s eyes widened.
Even when the heat seemed to brush against his eyeballs and tears threatened to fall, the Tarnished never looked away.
He stared intently at the silhouette that appeared amongst the flames and while the light dimmed, the flames remained.
It was then that the Tarnished realized it was not just the flames that burnt bright, but the visitor’s red hair as well.
——This was not Melina.
His visitor who emerged from the flames was obviously a man: he was tall and slender, wearing a red cape as well as a scale-like armour. A scarlet snake was curled around his slim leg and met the Tarnished’s stare with a displeased hiss.
The Tarnished glanced at the visitor’s odd spear that was tightly clutched in his right hand — it looked quite similar to the Lord of Blood’s spear — his eyes lingered on it for a bit before they settled on the man's handsome face.
Thin lips, a golden eye while the other one was burnt, he looked almost exactly like Melina.
But he was not Melina.
From what the Tarnished could see, everything about this mysterious stranger looked confusing——with so many heretic symbols worn on his person, the stranger’s whole body exuded a cold detached aura as if he did not belong in Limgrave or anywhere in the Lands Between.
Even when standing here, in front of a Tarnished.
“......Thee, devoid of light, tasked to become Elden Lord.”
The silent air around rippled.
The man took two steps, nodding slightly and engulfing the Tarnished’s whole body in his shadow.
“I come to thee with an accord.”
He mouthed words almost exactly like Melina, with grace and an arrogant tone which made it almost sound like a request but in fact, was undoubtedly a command. But the Tarnished had no time to take into account those minor details.
He only thought……this was ridiculous, he felt like he was still in a dream.
But that was not the case. Otherwise, how could he explain that at this precise moment, his heart madly beat at such speed he had never felt before, as if it was set on fire by a blazing inferno?
——No.
The Tarnished told himself this: he was convinced the shadows of the past could not have caught up with him already, thus, this was reality and he was in the Lands Between.
And the only thing that was ignited by that raging fire… were his unrealistic expectations.
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