Chapter Text
It was a rare sunny day in Liurnia, without a single cloud to block the Erdtree’s canopy. The Erdtree Avatar took full advantage, splaying out in the grass, its branches and sprouts hungrily outstretched to maximise light absorption.
If the Avatar was ever to complain about anything, it would be the unfortunate location of the Minor Erdtree in dreary Liurnia, which rained more often than not. Not to mention the abhorrent village just over the cliffside where the Frenzy Flame was concentrated. But then, it could be in Caelid, and what could be a worse fate than being corrupted by the Scarlet Rot?
Of course, the Erdtree Avatar voiced no such thoughts. It was perfectly content with the way things were. Its favourite pastime was watching the Minor Erdtree grow, and its second favourite activity was this, basking in light. The sun was shining, the Ancestral Followers were stomping ritualistically and even the shrill blaze of the Eye of Frenzy felt distant. Everything was perfect.
That was when a Tarnished strode into the clearing with a flamberge.
The Avatar heaved onto its feet, feeling rather like being caught without pants on. Its ancient wood groaned. Instead, it snatched up its staff and prayed for the strength of the Erdtree – but not even that could quench the fear that shook its roots.
Sauntering towards the Minor Erdtree, the Tarnished’s sword lit up with bloodflame. Most of the Ancestral Followers were too caught up in their dance to notice, but several drew their antler hammers. Cursing in annoyance, the Tarnished blocked a Follower’s attack with the flat of his blade, only for it to snag between the antler’s prongs. “Radagon’s tits!” He strained to free the flamberge when a shadow fell over him.
The Erdtree Avatar slammed the staff into the ground, splattering mud everywhere, but the Tarnished rolled right through as though he were a ghost. Meanwhile, the Ancestral Follower was thrown off its feet. As the Avatar struck at the Tarnished, it trampled the body, smearing the grass with gore.
Dodging the second swing, the Tarnished stabbed at the Avatar’s knee and quickly drew away. The gash was deep, but worse were the accursed flames that coated it. The Avatar’s flesh blackened and it staggered for a second.
It was not an elegant dance. However impactful the staff’s strikes or the Avatar’s leaps and stomps, the Tarnished avoided each attack with such swiftness that the Avatar felt ungainly and thick. He had more difficulty avoiding the corpses of the Ancestral Followers, none of whom he once raised his sword against.
That only fuelled the wrath – and fear – in the Erdtree Avatar. The end was drawing near, but it wouldn’t yield. It thumped the butt of its staff into the bed of dried leaves and casted an incantation that turned the air gold with the holy power of the Erdtree. What will you do now, Tarnished? it thought. With renewed strength, the Avatar slammed its staff at the Tarnished, while golden bolts of light pierced where he stood.
But when the light faded and the dust settled, the Tarnished merely limped backwards, took a sip from a crimson flask and it was as though he’d started fighting.
The Avatar was shocked that he’d survived, but that was merely undercurrent to the cold sense of dread. How could one stand against the might of the Erdtree itself? How could the light-giver allow such a thing to happen?
“You need not do this,” said the Erdtree Avatar, as it bled sap and its branches crackled with embers. “The children of the Erdtree do not stand against you in your quest.” But of course the Tarnished could not understand. Even if he did, the bloodlust in his eyes – in the eyes of all their kind – would’ve made him deaf to any plea.
They exchanged blows that were increasingly desperate on the Avatar’s part. Though the Tarnished missed a few dodges, the Erdtree Avatar was pushed ever deeper beneath the Minor Erdtree’s canopy. Then, its foot caught on a rock ledge in between the roots. There was a brief pain as some of its branches snapped off, but then…
It was the most peculiar feeling. The Avatar lurched as though the ground had turned on its axis. Indeed, the horizon was perpendicular to its vision, which was quite an existential sight for a creature that had neither neck nor eye sockets. Somehow, its leg had sunk through solid rock as if it were Carian illusions. It was quickly proven not, as the Avatar tried to pry itself free.
The Tarnished lowered his sword. “...need a push?”
The Erdtree Avatar rocked violently back and forth. Something dislodged and the ground slipped away and the world vanished.
For the stupid crystal tear, the Tarnished called Brant had to ride all the way from Consecrated Snowfields to wet, humid, mosquito-infested, lobster-riddled Liurnia of Lakes.
“You don’t need it,” Cod had said. His watery blue eyes were always wide like he was startled by everything. “There’s other ways you can improve your damage. I’ll lend you some talismans. By the way, I had a few stones to spare and I noticed your blade had dulled, so I had Hewg upgrade it too...”
Sometimes Brant wished his friend and fellow Tarnished was not so annoyingly likeable and friendly. It would be so much easier to murder him. If you ignored the fact that Cod could probably kill him without breaking a sweat.
Luckily, the fight itself was a breeze compared to the journey. The Ancestral Followers got in the way, but the Erdtree Avatar helpfully got rid of them. Just when Brant was going to deal the finishing blow though, the Avatar did a funny jerk and sunk into the ground. At first, the Tarnished assumed it was some kind of attack, but the poor fellow was clawing the dirt to get back up. He vanished into the ground before anything could be done. Of course, that didn’t stop Brant from prying the crystal tear from the Minor Erdtree.
The less said of the trip back, the better.
“Fallen through the map, I presume,” said Cod, when Brant proudly showed his prize and told him what had happened.
“Ah yes, the map. Of course,” said Brant, who had no clue what the parchment they used for navigation had to do with the Avatar’s disappearance. But he could barely read the map anyway, so what would he know?
Cod held the tear to the light. “Is this all? That Erdtree Avatar is supposed to have two tears, if I recall correctly. In any case, this isn’t the right tear. The Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear is in Caelid. But it’s not for nothing! Holy is good against undead and… deathbirds and um… uh…”
Brant stood, pushed his chair out with a screech, and banged his head against the wall.
Erdtree Avatars never slept. While dormant, they could still sense the moisture in the air, the acidity of the soil, the footfall of intrepid Tarnished on a bed of leaves. So falling in the dark, our Erdtree Avatar was very much conscious and very, very horrified. There was absolutely nothing, not even the stars.
When it could see again, the Avatar had shed a coat of golden leaves in stress. But the oily light was no comfort. Without needing to look around, it knew that this place was not under the gaze of the Erdtree.
The Erdtree Avatar was atop of a tower in a large castle of black stone, surrounded by stacks of spears and crates of other weaponry and little humans running around in panic. It ignored them and raised its gaze up to a massive, twisted trunk loomed above the castellations, to the ethereal veils hanging from the expansive canopy. It couldn’t be real. At least, the Avatar wished it so, that this perversion of the Erdtree was an illusion, but its senses had returned and all signs pointed otherwise. As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, the massive tree was split open, bleeding golden sap into the horizon. The Avatar stared upon the corpse of a dying giant, unable to look away.
Meanwhile, the castle defenders had formed a line of defence surrounding the unexpected visitor, murmuring among themselves.
“Godfrey’s thighs! That’s an Erdtree Avatar!” someone said. “What’s one doing here?”
“Have the Veils been lifted?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
The news of the visitor spread like Messmer’s flames up the chain of command until it reached the captain of the Fire Knights. Sir Kood was always in a bad mood whenever his lord was unhappy. These days, that meant that the captain carried a permanent frown, but he nearly smiled when Salza, friend and fellow red-clad knight, told him that an Erdtree Avatar that had miraculously appeared in the Shadow Keep.
“Perhaps that hood of yours hasn’t entirely stifled your sense of humour after all,” said the captain.
Salza scoffed. “Believe me, I thought it was a joke too until I saw it for myself. The commander has ordered there be a perimeter around the Avatar for caution’s sake, but Black Knights are struggling to keep the men in line. They’re, well. You can imagine how they feel.”
Kood’s frown deepened. He glanced at the doors to the Dark Chambers and turned back. “Lead the way.”
Kood hadn’t seen an Erdtree Avatar since leaving Leyndell years and years ago, but there it was, sitting on one of the Shadow Keep’s towers. They stood on a balcony in the Storehouse, overlooking the Erdtree Avatar and the crowd that had gathered. The soldiers swarmed over the line of Black Knights, not to attack but to touch at the Avatar’s bark reverently, as if the grace of the Erdtree would rub onto them.
“What has he done so far?” Kood asked.
“After showing up? Nothing. I suspect he’s as confused as we are. Whatever mechanics he used to come here, it seems to have been out of his control.”
“Will he be a danger to us?”
“Only if we threaten whatever he’s protecting.”
“Well, short of the young sapling in the guardhouse growing its protector, I don’t imagine this accursed land has much an Erdtree Avatar would protect. The Commander has ordered that no one is to harm him, correct?”
“You’ll have more difficulty commanding them to harm him, captain. There’s talk that Marika will finally end the crusade.” Salza tugged on his massive cowl as he often did when lost in thought. “I wonder if he will even retaliate if we attack. They’re very single minded creatures.”
“Let’s not find out. I recall that they dislike flame. We should avoid using our incantations, of course. What about the torches and braziers?”
“If they attacked any open source of flame, sir, the Capital would’ve been laid waste long ago.”
“Then I shall speak with the commander and try to establish communication.” Kood strided away, then stopped to add: “And do not inform Lord Messmer.”
After many hours in which the Fire Knights tried to talk, then shout in various tongues at their “guest”, the Erdtree Avatar still didn’t respond. Kood was not pleased, but he yielded on the consideration that the Avatar seemed uninterested in doing at all, much less attack, and the mood in the keep was visibly improved.
Knights and soldiers alike swore that the veils were more translucent, the Scadutree less crooked, and there was much discourse over the likeness of Queen Marika that appeared on a turnip. Unfortunately, as days became weeks, the only practical change brought by Erdtree Avatar’s appearance was that an important juncture was blocked. To get around the problem, the carpenters hacked together a bridge to bypass the tower. Even so, it was a pain to transport supplies from the storage to the rest of the fortress, and there was a horrible congestion every morning, culminating one morning when one of the planks broke and left a Black Knight dangling from his feet. Something had to be done and not even Kood could justify hiding the matter from Sir Messmer.
But in those weeks, the lord of the Shadow Keep was blissfully unaware – as blissful as Messmer could be – of what was happening outside his Dark Chamber. Much of that time was spent brooding on his throne, impaling Tarnished (not that kind of impaling), and wrapping himself up in a cocoon of blankets, much to the protests of his snakes.
And, of course, lighting the candles. It was a duty that the Impaler took very seriously. There’d been an influx of intruders lately, resulting in large swathes of candles on the walls and floor burning out. Seated now on the tiles with a crate of candles, Messmer lit a candle with a flame upon his fingertip, the wax dripping until it formed thick rivulets. Once it appeared appropriately gothic and stylish, he blew out the flame, planted the candle into the ground and shuffled to the next spot. But when he held out his hand for a candle, his serpent shook its head. “Sluggard. Fine. What about thee?”
The other snake gave him a sour look. It latched its jaws onto the crate and dragged it towards him. Messmer peered into the empty container and groaned.
Captain Kood sighed as he stood before the entrance to the Dark Chamber. The demigod’s last order to Kood was not to be disturbed. Lord Messmer wasn’t unreasonable, never one to fall into fits of rage, but it hadn’t been long since Andreas’ rebellion, which had wounded the lord’s heart, and Huw’s betrayal, which had broken it. If anyone deserved peace to mourn, Kood reckoned it was Lord Messmer.
“Following orders or acting out of guilt, Kood?” Salza had said, after they’d buried Hilde and their fallen allies. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Kood hadn’t answered him then and he still couldn’t, but the Erdtree Avatar’s appearance caused problems that only Messmer could address… according to Salza. By Marika’s grace, if Salza was spouting nonsense, Kood was going to rain fire upon him. It’d be a mercy, really, to burn that stupid hat.
Just as Kood raised his fist to knock, the heavy door opened. Messmer poked his head out, followed by his snakes, all three appearing paler than in Kood’s memory. The demigod had dark bags under his eyes and looked almost nervous in the sunlight. Was he eating enough? Kood would have to remind the kitchen staff that Messmer preferred his meat cooked towards the raw side, and perhaps ingredients for Gelmir fudge could be arranged...
“Ah, Kood!” said Messmer, snapping the knight back to present. “‘Tis fortunate that thou’rt here. I am in dire need of candles, my captain. The servants shouldeth leave them here regularly.”
Kood chided himself for forgetting, in all the chaos. “I’m afraid I must seek your aid in this matter. My lord, forgive me for asking but is it true that you can speak to trees?”