Sellen was not a morning person.
Be it during her times within the halls of Raya Lucaria, personal expeditions and study that took her far out, or after her designation as a witch and being put on the run. Circumstances wildly varied but that remained one faucet of herself that nothing ever changed.
"Leave me, apprentice. It's too early for this." She groaned, waving off the pokes at her face.
Not even Onyx, unique as he was, could change that about her. She had no idea how he and the others were always up and about day after when the sun was barely over the horizon. Could they not use a few more hours of sleep? Or at the very least wait until there was some sunlight to contend with the chilly winds of Limgrave?
"That's the point. I want to get back early so I can put everything we gathered to use."
Get back? Right. They weren't back on that island but out in the mines built around that lake. Even knowing they'd be getting a head start hadn't prepared her to be woken so early.
More importantly, why did his voice come from under her?
Sellen cracked open an eye, yawning as she raised her head.
She came face to face with Onyx. Only he wasn't kneeling beside her. The oddly comforting warmth of her bed roll? Turned out that was him, Onyx laid out beneath her, a single brow raised. Her question about the odd sleeping arrangement died in her throat as the previous night's activities slammed into her, grogginess shattered.
Dammit. Sellen thought with an internal groan.
Even if all the playfulness and jabs had become their usual song and dance, she should've known better than to keep up all that teasing. Especially after that long imprisonment. She'd put off any alone time she might've been able to get in favor of studying the marionettes and all the other effects Onyx's imparted energy was having on her.
Whether it was her own libido taking command or something about the process that incited it, what she'd done charged right through the boundaries of harmless teasing she intended to maintain. She had very little interest in finding herself embroiled in the drama that came with stepping between lovers.
Speaking of his energy, however, now that her initial grogginess passed, the effects it was having were already prevalent. She felt stronger in every way possible. Reinvigorated, both physically and mentally. And distantly aware of the foreign energy that rested within.
It was quite odd. Whether it was due to none being wasted on breaking her bonds and restoring her youth, it felt like there was far more of it at her disposal. Learning how to actually manage her use of it was goal number one now that she'd taken the time to become somewhat acquainted with it.
But that was a thought for another time.
"My apologies, apprentice." Sellen said, pulling herself off of him and his sleeping bag. She'd liked to say they could keep this to themselves and pretend it didn't happen, but Melina was already silently standing near the chamber's entrance. If she wasn't privy to how they came to be in such an intimate position, she still wasn't dense enough to misunderstand what them sleeping together must've meant. "Shall we chalk it up to an effect of our experiment?"
A flimsy excuse. For all his energy was doing, it was far from invasive. Given that this was a bit of self experimentation, her observations were always going to be questionable to some degree, but she noted nothing about it that suggested any sort of mental alterations.
"If you say so." Onyx said while he rose up to stretch. "Either way, you won't catch me complaining if it happens again."
"I'm sure." Sellen said with a slight shake of her head. Whether that was just more casual teasing or he knew exactly how deep her interest in him went, he was quite the open flirt overall. Irina hadn't addressed it but given the current state of affairs? Sellen wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn leeway was given to any womanizing tendencies, intentional or not, Onyx had. Irina was already aware of Melina's feelings and they all stayed under the roof.
Sellen was tempted to ask about the woman about it directly.
But that was something to be worried about once they were back on the island.
They moved around the chamber, gathering up equipment and the collected materials.
She would admit, however, that after last night she was feeling significantly less wound up. It was good to know that as far as Onyx was concerned, she hadn't crossed any unspoken lines that'd cause issues.
Not that she intended on doing anything with that information.
XOXO
Another scream of pure agony carried out from the center of the Agheel Lake, climbing in volume with each passing second.
"This is a foolish idea." Sellen said, Onyx nodding along.
Most would turn on their heel and head in the opposite direction of a sound like that, especially in times like this. Better to mind's one business than end up in unnecessary trouble. If the screams alone weren't enough to ward them off, the sight would do the job.
Gathered upon a small mound of dirt that barely surfaced beyond the lake's waters was a small group. Dressed in ragged old clothing with thinning bodies that appeared ready to fail at a moment's notice, none of them appeared overtly threatening. The old daggers and shortswords at their hips meant little when those who wielded them might collapse under their own swings.
The fact that they were all kneeling around a trio of shoddily built wooden posts that were lit aflame, hands clasped or raised in prayer while the hungry blazes consumed the screaming people tied at the top of them painted a picture that, threatening or not, most would avoid.
A sacrifice of some sort? If they were willing to talk, he was quite keen on getting an answer. If a dragon really hunted here, it wasn't much of a stretch to assume anything ritualistic in the area could have something to do with them. In his experience their giant forms and destructive power incited violence and worship in equal measure among any creature smaller than them.
"As long as you're aware." Sellen said with a shake of her head as Onyx set down the basket he was balancing as well as the one strapped to his back beside old crumbling walls. Before heading straight back to the island, he'd led them to some old burnt ruins he'd caught sight of from a distance in the lake. Aside from desperate animals lurking within, there hadn't been anything of note other than the scorched marks left on the stonework.
The burns could be evidence of a dragon, but he wouldn't be satisfied with that. He wanted to see it himself and if those people out there were making a sacrifice to it, they might be able to point him in the right direction.
Assuming they were capable and willing to talk.
"Feel free to stay here and keep an eye on our stuff." Onyx said.
"I think I'll do just that. If you need any support, I'll provide it from a distance." Sellen said, propping herself against the burnt walls beside the baskets. She'd been a little off balance after first awakening but quickly bounced back, no real change after her little lapse in self-control.
As he set off from the ruins, Melina dismounted Torrent, quietly joining him in crossing the waters. The distant look in her eye gave away just how far her mind was from the here and now despite the choice.
It was almost a shame Varre had, so far, heeded his warning, his bloody presence quite a ways from them and making no moves to draw any closer. Would Melina truly take killing him into her own hands or remain indecisive if there was an attempt to follow them?
The question settled to the back of his mind as their splashing steps brought them within ear shot of the ritualistic act.
Onyx's attention snapped upward, a distant presence meeting and soaring past the edge of his senses. Its giant form dipped beneath the cloudy skies, casting a darker shadow onto the lake. As it neared it shifted into an angled dive.
Onyx stabbed The Grafted blade deep into the watery dirt below, Melina stepping behind him.
Accompanied by a gout of flames, the presence crashed into the dirt mound. Screaming sacrifices and desperately praying alike were torn asunder. Some were crushed and left broken shells of themselves. Others were sent flying, crashing into waters and never to rise above them again. The least fortune managed to survive the initial impact only to be set aflame by a heat that brought the water around to a boil, their forms slowly eaten by the orange flames.
Skidding to a stop, driftwood crushed and the splashing water rippling with its every motion, the creature responsible made a slow lumbering turn to Onyx and Melina.
Skin that, while gray and decorated with bits of feathers around the neck, lacked the stony roughness he expected. One set of hind legs with the long front pair doubling as a pair of slightly feather wings. A maw decorated with sharp horns that protruded from the back of its angled skull with many other sharp protrusions along its chin and one pronounced horn forming its nose.
As it rose, yellowish eyes narrowed, its still smoking mouth parted.
"GROOOOOAH!" Its guttural roar reverberated through air and water both, the thing staring them down.
Damn. Onyx thought, holding back a sigh. The whole ancient dragon title the others used to reference the corpse back on the island implied their existence, but it looked like he was dealing with one of their off shoots or descendants. And a damn primitive one at that. Firm its presence might've been but the dragon before them was little more than a powerful animal.
It wouldn't be able to provide what he was looking for.
Embers of a dark orange glow joined the smoke leaving its maw.
That said, it was still attacking them, not made docile by his mana so maybe there was a chance.
Onyx took a step forward, the Grafted Blade left behind. That step turned into a sprint as the dragon dropped lower, smoking maw aimed straight ahead. A torrent of angry orange flames surged forth. Foot sinking deeper into the watery dirt below, he leaped.
Swinging his foot forward as he fell, a sharp mana powered roundhouse kick sent the creature's head reeling, its hot flames forced to burn away at driftwood and water before it ever reached the Grafted Blade and Melina. Torrent of flames put to a swift end, it turned back, one of its clawed wings making a swipe for him.
Onyx jumped over the attack again, shifting into an axe kick that sent its head slamming into the ground this time. Kicking off it, he landed in the waters a small distance away.
Without even bothering to fully rise, it suddenly lunged forward with steps quicker than its size suggested, its line of razor sharp teeth prepared to reduce him into mincemeat. If nothing else, a dragon was still a dragon, those mana powered blows not quite shrugged off but unable to put it down quickly.
Onyx shifted, side stepping as its powerful jaw snapped close. He didn't let it pull back, however, one hand seizing the horn growing out its nose and the other placed beneath the jagged chin. All his body weight put behind it, something he was actively increasing with his mana, he pushed forward and down. The dragon tried to resist, but the sudden lunge had left it unbalanced, Onyx easily forcing one half of its angry visage into the lake.
"You're not really what I was hoping for and I don't really like killing dragons, so how about we go our separate ways?" Onyx said. He doubted the thing understood, the rumbling growls and muffled roars holding nothing more than a primal aggression but he might as well try. "You shot fire at me, I kicked you around a bit. I'd say we're even."
The olive branch of peach was met with struggle, the dragon attempting to yank itself away. That struggle soon ended.
With a flap of its wings, all around them sent flying, the dragon lifted them both into a hover. Giving up his hold, Onyx used the jagged horns to fling himself onto the dragon's head fully, legs settling around its thick neck.
"Rraaaaauughhh!" The act riled it up further, a mighty roar leaving it as it began to thrash about, each beat of its wings taking them a little higher up while sending out gale forces of wind that uprooted what little was left from the Lake below.
"Thine's attempts at peace art wasted on this lowly creature." Marika said, forming and gradually rising alongside them. "Violence and savagery art rooted in the blood of all dragons. They respond only to similar forces. Their lesser kin more so than any other. Kill it or make it bend to thy will. Its nature leaves room for little else."
"I figured." Onyx said, grabbing a tight hold on its horns as he raised himself to a low crouch. Despite them agreeing, their implications couldn't be further apart.
With a harsh kick that forced its flight to buckle, Onyx sent himself far above before quickly rocketing back down, both feet stretched downwards and arms raised as wind surged past his body. The dragon barely began to turn its attention upwards before he hit his mark, both feet slipping past its horn slamming into the roof of its nose.
The result was instantaneous, the both of them careening back down into the lake, the dragons head digging into the dirt as it skidded across the ground.
They came to a slow stop, the waves stepping to gentle ripples.
The dragon was limp, growls ceased and glare shut closed. As the water around them fully settled, faint ripples came only from the area around its head, the thing very much still alive even after a hit like that.
Onyx jumped off, landing on a cracked rock poking out from the lake in front of the fallen dragon and dropping to sit. Melina, having long since given up on reaching them from the ground, reformed beside the dragon's neck, dagger drawn.
"Leave it be." Onyx said, Melina turning to look up at him. "I'm planning on letting it fly away once it wakes."
"If the lowly creature attacks once more?" Marika questioned, floating down beside Melina.
"…If it attempts to attack?" Melina questioned, moments later.
"I'll knock it out again." Onyx said with a shrug. "Bend it to my will, like you said."
"Tsk." Marika voiced her dissatisfaction with a scoff. Say what she will, this was technically a good old fashioned battle of wills if you asked him, just without the glorified enslavement she had in mind. Either he'd get tired of waiting around on it and actually kill it or the dragon would accept the defeat and leave.
Either way, he wasn't going to leave it lying around for someone else to take advantage and kill.
Melina glanced back to the dragon before stepping back, her dagger put away as she jumped up to him.
He leaned back with a sigh, admiring the gloomy skies. He didn't get the battle he was after and lock himself into something of an unorthodox detour.
Heading up to Stormveil for that shard of the Elden Ring was looking more and more like the only possible immediate solution on hand before their cobbled souls ending up merging further.
The hairs on his neck rose, his and Marika's attention drawn to a darkened figure soaring just above the clouds towards them.
That illusive presence from before when he'd been helping Kalé get to the Mistwoods.
Maybe he'd spoken too soon.
XOXO
(A/N: So far the things he's gone up against haven't shown just how much his restrained access to mana's capabilities have pushed him but, naturally, dragons are a good thing to put that into perspective. Bro's on Kratos timing.)