Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, and all rights for characters, plots and settings belong to G.R.R. Martin and FromSoftware. I have no ownership
"Oh yes... Tarnished, are we? Come to the Lands Between for the Elden Ring, hmm? 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."
White Mask Varre
Lands Between,
Limgrave
Jon Snow/Aerion Sand
Without taking his eyes off the man, as he had already determined, for his figure clearly indicated that the stranger was male, he approached him, keeping his sword pointed downward but still able to immediately execute a downward slash if necessary.
He stopped about three metres from him, studying him carefully. The man wore white and grey robes, and his head and face were concealed by a white hood and mask.
"Oh yes... Tarnished, are we? Come to the Lands Between for the Elden Ring, hmm? Of course you have. No shame in it. Unfortunately for you, however, you are maidenless." The man spoke first.
"Without guidance, without the strength of runes, and without an invitation to the Roundtable Hold... You are fated, it seems, to die in obscurity." Though his words seemed to be spoken with regret and sorrow, Jon felt as if the man were mocking him, but he made a mental note of the place's name for future reference.
Moreover, those words about being maidenless, combined with the blood on the other man's gloves, reminded him of the dead woman who was probably his destined Maiden.
"Who are you?" Jon asked, tightening his grip on his sword hilt. He didn't care if he was being unpleasant. This guy gave him a dangerous premonition. Besides, after recent events and the betrayals he'd experienced, he wasn't exactly trusting.
Apparently, the man wasn't fazed, because he replied in the same tone, likely not considering Jon a threat in any way. "I am Varre." He introduced himself with a slight bow, and Jon, well-mannered, instinctively bowed back.
Having introduced himself, the man continued, "Luckily for you, however, there is one shining ray of hope for even the maidenless.
Me. Take care to listen."
"Then I am. Speak."
"Are you familiar with grace? The golden light that gives life to you, Tarnished. You may also behold its golden rays pointing in a particular direction at times. That is the guidance of grace. The path that a Tarnished must travel."
"I've noticed," Jon admitted, "but what if I don't follow her?"
"Mm, indeed. It's a question. But Grace's guidance holds the answers. It will lead you, Tarnished, to the path you are meant to follow. Even if it leads you to your grave. Although, looking at your fascinating eye, I see that the Greater Will is once again choosing favourites. I would advise caution."
Jon tried to sort through everything Varre had told him, but he still needed answers to the most important questions.
"Could you tell me more about the Land Between? What is this golden tree, Erdtre..." he asked, but the man interrupted him by waving his finger sideways.
"No, no, no. I don't have the time or inclination to explain to you how hopeless your situation is. I'll give you one piece of advice. Grace's guidance will reveal the path forward, too, to Castle Stormveil, over on the cliff. The home of the decrepit demigod, Godrick the Grafted."
'So that's the name of this castle,' Jon thought, though he was uneasy about the fact that it was inhabited by someone not only called a demigod, but also nicknamed Grafted. Grafted Scion immediately came to mind. The monster must have had some connection to this demigod.
"It's time you set off, I should think. To Castle Stormveil, on the cliff, where grace would guide you. If you seek the Elden Ring, maidenless as you are." His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of his interlocutor, clearly wanting to dismiss him.
Jon nodded resignedly and said, "I won't bother you any longer, but could you at least tell me where to find someone who can answer my questions?"
Varre studied him for a moment, then with a theatrical sigh replied, "Know my kindness. Go to the Church of Elleh on the plain behind me. There should be a merchant named Kale there. Perhaps he will give you answers for a fee… Now, begone."
Jon looked towards the temple he had seen earlier. It must have been this Church. Than he gave a man one last glance, and with a curt, "Thank you," he left, still watching him out of the corner of his eye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few minutes later.
Jon swore that the next time he encountered Varre, he would punch him. The arsehole hadn't bothered to tell him that the road leading to the Church of Ellah was patrolled by a knight the size of a giant on a horse the size of a mammoth, both clad in golden armour, armed with a golden halberd several metres long that probably weighed as much as Jon himself, and one blow would have resulted in his certain death.
So Jon ran as fast as he could, half-naked to boot, and the great knight was right behind him. The only reason he didn't run him over was that Jon had already run into one of the ruins. But even that didn't stop his opponent, who was simply smashing through the stone walls with one of his weapons or simply galloping through them.
Tormund would probably have laughed and thrown himself at his opponent and died, crushed or split in half. But Jon had seen what Wun Wun, for example, was capable of, and this knight seemed not only stronger but, above all, armoured and knew how to wield that halberd of his.
He intended to survive and reach those damned church ruins.
However, he couldn't go there, because before his eyes ha had the image of the golden knight destroying stone walls as if they were made of paper. Kill that merchant, and Jon would surely learn nothing of this world.
Puffing heavily, he ran into the trees, the knight behind him, knocking down trees like wooden stakes. Jon saw two soldiers in front of him, dressed practically identically to Rick, the Soldier of God. However, when they spotted him and the rider rushing after him, they immediately began to flee in the opposite direction.
Seeing his chance for salvation, Jon accelerated with his last remaining strength to catch up. The fact that they were armoured and he was nearly naked certainly worked to his advantage.
The soldiers burst onto the path leading through the forest, and Jon caught up with them. They only looked fearfully at the knight behind him. Jon grabbed one of them by the arm as he ran and yanked him off balance. The man fell to the ground, only to turn to mush a moment later when a large halberd fell on him.
Jon, taking advantage of the knight's momentary focus on the other man, dashed left into the trees and ran as fast as he could. In the background, he could hear only the sound of a rampaging horseman, likely attacking the other soldier.
Maybe a minute later, Jon burst out of the forest and only then allowed himself to slow down a bit. But when he spotted the Church of Elleh a few hundred metres southwest, where he had been heading, he set off immediately.
Reaching it, he saw two things: the Site of Grace and a man sitting by a fire, with a mount standing beside him that was neither horse nor donkey, but something in between.
He rushed to the Grace gleaming above the ground. Familiar words greeted him, but to his surprise, that wasn't the end. More followed.
LOST GRACE DISCOVERED
He immediately looked at his status.
Name: Aerion Sand
Level: 1
Runes: 30220
Runes required to level up: 336
(…)
Focus Points: 221/221
Attributes:
Vigor: 9
Mind: 18
Endurance: 10
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 16
Faith: 26(+10 from Eye of the Grace)
Arcane: 14
Resistance:
Poison - 9%
Scarlet Rot- 9%
Madness - 26%
Sleep - 26%
Blood Loss - 10%
Frostbite - 60% (+50 from Song of Ice & Fire)
Death Blight - 14%
Damage negation:
Holy - 26%
Fire - 59%(+50% from Song of Ice & Fire)
Lightning - 26%
Magic - 16%
Rising, he headed towards the man, who must have been the merchant Kale. He had been watching Jon since he'd entered the ruins of the church.
Jon extended his hands in a peace sign. "Excuse me, but aren't you a merchant named Kale?" he asked, to which the man laughed slightly, though he didn't sound like he did that often.
"What, you wanted to buy a clothes?" the man asked, and Jon blushed slightly, remembering that he was indeed only wearing a loincloth, but thanks to his high resistance to the cold, he didn't feel it at all.
"If you have any, I'd be happy to," he replied, also examining the merchant himself, who wore rather distinctive clothing. Leather boots and yellow trousers complemented by a red tunic, cloak, and pointed hat trimmed with white fur. In his hands he held a strange object, which, he realised after a moment, was some kind of instrument.
"You are a Tarnished; I can see it. And I can also see... that you're not after my throat. Then why not buy a little something? Not just clothes. And yes, I am indeed Kale, Purveyor of Fine Goods. And you?"
He glanced at Jon, who had sat down by the fire. "I am J..." But here he paused for a moment. He was in a new place, an entirely different world, as far as he could tell.
Besides, Jon wasn't his real name but the name of Eddard Stark's bastard son. Wouldn't it be appropriate to use the name his mother had given him? The same mother who had given her life to bring him into the world.
"Aerion," he introduced himself. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kale. You're by far the kindest soul I've met here."
"My pleasure. For 100 runes each, I can offer you a simple tunic," Kale said, pulling them out of the bag one by one. A moment later, however, he showed Jon a well-made chainmail shirt and matching leggings and boots. "Here, however, I have something better. However, it will cost you much more. 3,000 runes in total."
It was tenth of what he currently owned, and Jon wasn't sure it was a wise purchase.
"Of course, I could offer them to you for free in exchange for a favour. And all the other items at half price," the merchant continued. "We both win."
Jon looked at him suspiciously. No one would part with such good chainmail for free, certainly not any merchant. "What kind of favour would that be?" he asked.
Kale cleared his throat and replied, "I assume, from the way you ran in here gasping for breath, that you encountered a Tree Sentinel."
"You mean that huge knight in golden armour? Who is he anyway? He attacked me without hesitation."
"One of the Tree Sentinels. It's an order of knights, dedicated to the protection of the Erdtree. They are the living rampart of the Erdtree; the Tree Sentinels are the standard to which all knights and soldiers of Leyndell aspire."
"Leyndell? Is this some land here, a kingdom?" Jon asked. "No, wait a moment. We'll come back to that in a moment. But tell me what this deal is."
"You see. I'm a nomadic person. Selling wares as I travel. The land has been tainted by madness since the shattering of the Elden Ring. It's only the Tarnished who keep things from drying up entirely. But here's the problem: because of this Tree Sentinel, I can't go any further, and I'm stuck here, so..."
Jon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I think I know where this is going... You want me to deal with that giant knight? Have you seen him? He would have split me in half," he replied, his voice, though calm, unable to fully contain his irritation. This merchant clearly wanted him dead.
"You'll be reborn anyway," Kale replied, as if not understanding the problem.
"Wait a minute," he replied, holding up an open hand. "What do you mean, reborn?"
"You're guided by Grace, aren't you? So when you die, you're reborn at the Site of Grace, like the rest of the Tarnished. Until they lost it, of course. You are a rarity in the Lands Between."
Jon suddenly understood all the previous events. So he really couldn't have died?
"How is that even possible?" he asked.
Kale shook his head. "Don't ask me. I'm just a simple merchant. And as for Tree Sentinel, no one's asking you to defeat him in direct combat... Use your head, set a trap."
Jon/Aerion pondered the other's words. Indeed, nothing compelled him to fight this giant in close combat. At that very moment, the seeds of a plan began to form in his mind. However, Kale's calm voice interrupted his further thoughts.
"You know, if you can spare the runes, you should buy yourself a crafting kit. A crafting kit allows you to make basic items on your own. Essential, really, if you intend to survive out here for any duration. The kit costs a bundle, and I admit, I do take my cut. But the important thing is that you survive. Every customer counts, after all," the merchant said, holding out a leather bag filled with various tools.
Jon took it and began to examine the contents. "A lot," he muttered, then, looking at Kale, asked, "I see herbal tools here, but I don't know anything about them."
"I don't really know anything about herbs, but I do have a few useful notebooks with recipes... Hmh. They might interest you. I'll sell you the Crafting Kit now for half price - 150 runes - but the rest will have to wait until you defeat Tree Sentinel... Sorry, but the Lands Between doesn't encourage trust."
"I'll take the crafting kit, the tunic, and the trousers. That'll be 350 runes in total, right? How should I pay you?" Jon agreed.
Kale extended his right hand. "Shake my hand and think about the number of runes you want to give me." So he did, and suddenly his rune count dropped to 29,870, and the three purchased items were added to his inventory.
You obtained Simple tunic x1
You obtained Simple trousers x1
You obtained Crafting Kit
Crafting Kit
Leather bag containing a pestle and mortar, small blade, and various other tools.
Enables item crafting.
Provides both means to fight and means to survive.
"You seem like a noble soul, but it's usually those who suffer misfortune. Like this eye of yours," Kale said, his tone truly carrying a sad note.
"What do you mean?"
"This is a clear sign that Greater Will has plans for you. It means that the other powers will also be watching you closely and interfering. Tragedy is destined for you, for sooner or later the gods discard their old toys to choose new ones... These lands have seen this before."
Jon didn't show it, but the merchant's words dampened his spirits slightly, as they only confirmed his own thoughts.
"Can you tell me more about this land and what happened to it? "What is Elden Ring, and why was it shattered?" he asked after a moment, and the merchant, though hesitant, finally replied.
"Fine. I rarely have the opportunity to talk to anyone these days. I won't go into detail, but I will tell you a little about the Lands Between.
The most important thing you must realise is that powerful forces are at work here, gods from beyond this world, and we are merely pawns in their game. I won't name them, as I don't want to attract their attention, but if you spend a little more time here, you'll learn more about them than you might like.
"I understand that Greater Will is one of them?" Jon interrupted, and Kale nodded. "Indeed."
"But what about the Erdtree and the Elden Ring?"
"I don't know everything, just what most people know. The Erdtree is connected to the Elden Ring, which represents and establishes the fundamental laws of this world. Queen Marika, ruling in the name of Greater Will and leading the Golden Order, has exterminated all opposition and factions that might threaten her magnificent tree."
"But the Elden Ring was shattered, wasn't it?" Jon asked.
Kale sighed, "This is going to take a bit longer than I thought. Sit back, help yourself to some meat, and listen."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He observed the Tree Sentinel from the top of a ruined building. At that moment, he was glad he'd decided to buy a telescope before leaving the church.
He'd spent a good dozen minutes in this position, observing his opponent, all the while digesting the knowledge he'd gained about this world from Kale.
True, it wasn't very extensive, and as the merchant himself had stated, he might be wrong about many things, but at least now he had a clear picture of what was going on in this world.
To put it mildly, the apocalypse had already occurred here. Elden Ring was shattered, demigods were fighting each other over the Great Runes, fragments of Elden Ring, and the once-peaceful lands were filled with madness and despair.
This world was shattered and needed to be remade. And that was to be his task, or that of others like him, the Tarnished. To reclaim the Great Runes from the demigods and remake Elden Ring, restoring order.
Jon knew he was screwed. He couldn't defeat the damned Huge Knight, and he was supposed to be fighting demigods. General Radahn, despite being driven mad by Scarlet Rot, still held the stars together with his gravity magic and iron will. He would probably have killed him by accident.
Hearing about gods was one thing, but learning that there were people with powers almost divine was downright shocking, turning his perception of everything upside down. On the other hand, a flame of ambition began to grow within him.
He had gained the opportunity to grow stronger; he couldn't die completely, for he had the blessing of Grace. Wouldn't repairing the Elden Ring and becoming an Elden Lord be everything he had always dreamed of as a child?
A name of his own, not a bastard's. No one here knew anything about Jon Snow or even Aerion Sand, but they could meet Aerion, the new Elden Lord and ruler of the Lands Between.
He pushed these nascent thoughts down deep within himself, but they lingered in the back of his mind, and the flame within him grew.
He raised the telescope to his eye again. Tree Sentinel was coming closer and closer, but he knew the rider would soon turn back, for the path he was patrolling ended there.
Time to follow his plan. He hurriedly fled the ruined building, careful not to accidentally kill himself before the fight. Then he began shouting. "Hey, you. Catch me if you can!"
Sentinel, though almost a kilometre away, clearly had the hearing of a cat, for he turned his head momentarily in his direction, then spurred his horse and began galloping toward Jon.
He charged in the opposite direction, towards the cliff, or rather, the place where more ruins rose from it, so badly cracked and broken that they could collapse at any moment. He had calculated that the knight's sheer weight would breach the structure and plunge almost two hundred metres to the beach below.
With each passing moment, the Tree Sentinel closed the distance between them, and Jon had the impression that the gold-armoured knight recognised him; he seemed unusually furious.
In a minute, however, he reached the edge of the cliff, positioning himself with his back to the precipice, just a few steps from the breached structure.
His every muscle was tense, his mind focused. The knight was now only 100 metres away, then fifty, thirty, twenty... and suddenly he stopped. The horse squealed, its hooves digging into the ground. And its rider, face obscured by a golden helmet, stared at Jon with a fervent passion.
Jon felt a chill run down his spine. He should have known he wasn't dealing with some mindless beast but an intelligent man, albeit a very large one.
Jon sighed deeply inwardly. He underestimated his opponent as if he were still a fourteen name day green boy. They stared at the knight for a long moment, neither moving. Even the knight's massive steed stood still, though it seemed to him that its gaze was no less hateful than that of its rider.
He felt his palms sweating, so he tightened his grip on his sword hilt, fearing it would slip from his grasp. The Tree Sentinel forced his horse to take a few more steps, stopping at the very edge of the collapsed building. Then he swung his golden halberd and slammed it into the ground. The impact was so powerful that the structure shook, and several stones from the walls flew into the abyss.
Jon suddenly had a terrible feeling. Sentinel struck again, and then a section of the building jutting out from the cliff began to crack and crumble. Panicked, he lunged forward, straight under the halberd's descending blade, but at the last moment, falling forward, he rolled, narrowly avoiding the blow.
However, he suffered injuries. The impact shattered stone, and fragments flew in all directions. Several struck him in the face, slicing his skin and causing bleeding.
His forward roll also placed him directly under the horse's feet, a beast with hooves the size of dinner plates. With sheer desperation, he rolled on his back across the ground, avoiding blows that would have easily shattered his skull and bones. But he also realised one thing. A larger opponent also became a larger target, exposing areas that were usually difficult to hit. And that target was the horse's underbelly.
As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, he gripped the Ornamental Straight Sword in both hands, one on the hilt, the other gripping the blade, and thrust deep into the horse's belly. It sank unimpeded, halfway through, and a terrified, pain-filled neigh escaped the horse's mouth. The animal surged forward, blinded by pain, ripping the sword from his grasp and, in the process, striking him hard with its hind legs. His ribs felt like they were cracking, and his right arm was likely broken.
The stallion began to thrash around, and, blinded by pain, he ran into the collapsing ruins of the building, his mass accelerating the process. But before both mount and rider could plunge into the abyss, Tree Sentinel, more agile than Jon would have expected from someone his size, dismounted and landed on the edge of the cliff, peering over the horse as it plunged into the beach below. He also lost his shield in the fall.
Jon resigned himself to the fact that he had no chance of defeating the knight in combat. The knight was more than twice his height, several times his weight, fully armoured and armed. And His only weapon was desperation. And with it, he threw himself at the knight's armoured ankles, taking advantage of the fact that the knight still wasn't looking at him. And that was enough. The knight staggered slightly, unprepared and stunned by the little man's suicidal move. Then they both plummeted down.
For him, only a moment had passed when they hit the ground. First the rider, then he. His body was shattered, his limbs twisted at every angle, but for a moment he still lived, long enough to recognise the familiar golden letters that formed the words.
ENEMY FELLED
Tree Sentinel
You receive 32000 runes.
You receive Golden Halberd x1
YOU DIED