The Fallen Hawks. In Gawain's memory, they were originally soldiers of Stormveil who had been taken prisoner after the Storm Lord's defeat. Later, they were reorganized into a single legion. The name was hauntingly fitting for their current state: noble eagles defeated and cast down from the heavens.
The Fallen Hawks had been dispatched by Queen Marika to explore the lost Eternal City of Nokron. However, on their return journey after completing their mission, they found themselves trapped within the city's walls, unable to leave. They eventually met a grizzly end, reduced to using the bones of their own fallen comrades to light their torches.
Though their mission ultimately failed, there was no doubt that the Fallen Hawks had explored deeply. They had likely come within reach of the Fingerslayer Blade. Silver Tears capable of mimicking the appearance of the Fallen Hawks appeared even before the gates of the Great Chair Sanctuary where the blade was kept, and the Night's Sacred Ground bore the scars of their past battles.
Looking at these soldiers—driven mad by torment and wandering aimlessly as husks—Gawain decided to grant them a swift end. Since he had inherited much of the Storm Lord's legacy, it was only right that he take care of these former prisoners. Though he had arrived far too late, he could at least offer them the peace of the grave.
The white-skinned hollows sensed the entry of a foreign lifeform and scrambled toward his position on all fours. Ultimately, they were reduced to piles of ash by a surge of pyromancy, finding their final release in the flames.
During the process of clearing out these ubiquitous hollows, Gawain found an unexpected prize. He discovered a hollow clutching a bag; even after losing its sanity, the creature seemingly refused to let go of the item. Unlike its kin, who were naked or clad in mere rags, this particular hollow bore the distinct characteristics of a high-ranking knight.
Curious as to what was inside, Gawain easily dispatched the creature and opened the bag to investigate.
The contents were indeed surprising. The Fallen Hawks had managed to uncover significant intelligence. Inside the bag was a journal written by the knight, which contained not only hand-drawn maps of the area but also a detailed account of the legion's journey—from their entry into the Eternal City to the internal strife that eventually led to their collapse.
Most importantly, these records confirmed some of Gawain's theories. These prisoner-soldiers were not the entirety of the force. They had been accompanied by two Gargoyles and two Crucible Knights. After being captured in battle, the legion had accepted Queen Marika's orders at the Royal Capital and traveled down from the Deeproot Depths to reach Nokron.
This vital information confirmed how the Fallen Hawks had entered. After all, the path to the Deeproot Depths lay directly behind the arena where the two Crucible Knights and the Valiant Gargoyles stood guard at the aqueduct.
Based on this, Gawain could infer why the legion had met such a fate.
When they were captured, the war to unify the Lands Between had already concluded. Godfrey and his Tarnished had been hounded from the Lands Between. Queen Marika must have already begun to harbor doubts regarding the Two Fingers, the Greater Will, and even the Golden Order itself. Thus, alongside her plan for the Tarnished, she had organized the Fallen Hawks as a contingency.
However, as the Fallen Hawks were dispatched to investigate the Eternal City, a massive upheaval occurred in the Royal Capital. The Night of the Black Knives and Queen Marika's subsequent shattering of the Elden Ring cut off the legion's route home.
Since they were merely low-value prisoners, and with Queen Marika herself having vanished, no one cared about their fate—let alone allowing these remnants of the Storm Lord to return to the Capital.
The closer one got to the boss chamber of the twin Gargoyles, the more legion soldiers appeared. The chamber itself was littered with skeletons. It was likely that the two Gargoyles, sensing the upheaval above, had blockaded the exit, preventing the soldiers from returning.
No matter how one looked at it, these soldiers were destined to be buried here alongside the Eternal City. The strongest combatants of the legion—who also served as their overseers—the two Crucible Knights, had likely chosen to let it happen.
And so, faced with cut-off supplies, unfamiliar terrain, and sporadic but deadly attacks from the few remaining Nox, the legion eventually fell to this state.
Gawain felt a pang of melancholy after reading the knight's record. Truly, prisoners of war never met a good end, no matter where they were. Commander O'Neil was trapped in Caelid awaiting a rot-filled fate, and Commander Niall at Castle Sol had to sacrifice a leg just to protect his subordinates.
Here, the Fallen Hawks had been used as expendable fodder. It was foreseeable that even if they had successfully retrieved the Fingerslayer Blade, they would likely have been "silenced" by Marika for security reasons.
The twin Gargoyles and the Crucible Knights were likely a safety measure she had established in advance. Thus, even if the path from Nokron to the Deeproot Depths was functional in the game, the legion was never meant to escape their fate of being entombed alive.
Having understood the history of the Fallen Hawks, Gawain stopped wandering aimlessly. He followed the map left by the knight, pressing forward with purpose.
Nokron was a ruin of crumbling walls and broken bridges due to ages of neglect. Gawain was wary of making too much noise while clearing the path, fearing a chain reaction of collapses. If he accidentally crushed the Nox survivors hiding here into meat paste, his plan to recruit them would go up in smoke.
Lillian followed closely behind him, observing the surrounding architecture. Although the Sellians had done their best to preserve the heritage and style of the Nox, some things were inevitably lost. Her task now was to observe and record everything diligently.
As they entered a building whose interior decorations resembled a hall for religious rituals, she discovered a wall at the far end engraved with a strange mural.
"My Lord, you should come and see this."
"Hmm? This thing is..."
"There is no mistake. These are scenes depicted by the ancestors. It seems to describe the disaster that occurred long ago."
Gawain frowned as he scanned the mural. He had never seen anything like this in the Eternal City during his time playing the game.
The mural consisted of three parts. The first depicted a group of Nox worshipping a giant biological entity. Creatures with countless fingers appeared all around them.
He recognized the things crawling on the ground—they were likely Fingercreepers. But what was that thing in the center with its myriad finger-like limbs? It didn't look like the Two Fingers. Was it some kind of ultimate form of a Fingercreeper?
He soon gave up on the thought. He couldn't imagine what the Lands Between looked like in the ancient era when the Nox were at their peak. Perhaps it was a particularly unique-looking Outer God.
The second part of the mural was instantly recognizable. Below was a magnificent city; in the sky above, several massive black holes had appeared. Countless bizarre creatures were crawling out of the voids, crashing into the ground alongside meteorites.
This was surely the scene of the "Naturalborn of the Void" destroying the Eternal City. It was just as he thought; these creatures from the stars, capable of opening black holes for teleportation, didn't need to fall from the sky like normal meteors. They could teleport directly into the underworld to bring destruction.
He even suspected that the initial teleportation technology of the Lands Between was inspired by these star-born creatures discovered by ancient stargazers. After all, in this world, the closer a sorcerer was to the "Primeval Current," the more powerful they became.
The third panel left him dazed. It depicted a knight standing amidst ruins and piles of shattered corpses, facing the calamity from the stars. Behind the knight, a Black Witch in clerical robes seemed to be cowering.
The story told by the mural was simple: a powerful knight standing up to face monsters during the destruction of the Eternal City. The only problem was the weapon in the knight's hand. It was spiral-shaped.
"Is that the Godslayer's Greatsword used by the Godskin Apostles? No, it doesn't look right," Gawain muttered.
Ranni, sitting on his shoulder, shook her head as well. She had cooperated with the Godskin factions herself and knew exactly what kind of weapons the remnants of the Gloam-Eyed Queen used.
"At least that weapon is different from the one in my memory. Of course, the motif of the spiral is quite common in the Lands Between. I cannot say for certain what kind of power that knight wielded, but it seems he would have had a hard time surviving the battle that followed."
Gawain nodded. From the scene on the mural, the enemies he faced could be described as an overwhelming tide. He wondered who had witnessed such a legendary scene and survived to carve it onto the wall.
A spiral-shaped weapon, eh? It was indeed common. Beyond the spiral of the Godslayer's Greatsword, even the flames that erupted from the Forge of the Giants bore spiral patterns within the column of fire.
Beside him, Lillian suddenly shuddered. she looked up in confusion, feeling as though something was watching her from the shadows.
Though she found no physical evidence, she didn't think it was an illusion. Her assassin's instincts, honed over years, were warning her that there were other living beings monitoring these two "invaders."
Naturally, she didn't alert the observers. The terrain here was far too complex. Rather than actively searching, it was better to wait for them to show themselves. That would be far easier.
As she expected, in the deepest part of Nokron—inside the Great Chair Sanctuary of the Night's Sacred Ground—several figures dressed in Nox attire were gathered, discussing how to deal with the two uninvited guests.
"Those slave legions were troublesome enough. We finally managed to trap them here, and now two new invaders arrive? I knew that meteorite crashing down wasn't going to be good news. Didn't you say the ambushes we set should be effective?"
The Nox Swordstress being questioned was clearly at a loss. Her ambushes were designed for ordinary people; what was she supposed to do against enemies of this caliber?
"This time is a bit difficult. That man seems to possess some extraordinary abilities. The Silver Tears we deployed on the perimeter couldn't even pose a threat."
"I don't know if it's my imagination, but I feel as though he is very familiar with this city. Perhaps the descendant of the Eternal City beside him is providing intelligence."
"No, we cannot let them proceed. The losses caused by the previous slave legion's assault were massive and have yet to be recovered. We are already low on Larval Tears for cultivating Silver Tears."
"The treasure here is our last hope. There can be no mistakes."
"This is going to be difficult. You all saw the power of those strange flames, didn't you? I certainly can't cast magic of that level. Ordinary means likely won't work."
The Nox survivors discussed for a while but couldn't come up with an effective solution. The number of Nox remaining in Nokron was simply too small.
When the Fallen Hawks had broken in, even if their individual combat strength wasn't staggering, they had overwhelmed the Nox through sheer numbers. The battle had been incredibly fierce; at one point, a troll had even broken through the defensive lines to reach the gates of the Sanctuary.
In the end, they had relied on their stockpile of Larval Tears to stop the assault. However, the cost was a massive loss of their own fighting force, leaving them unable to counter-attack.
They could only rely on their race's naturally long lifespan to outlast the invaders until the entire legion went mad. The problem was that the two Crucible Knights were also "survival kings." Both sides had been in a stalemate ever since, neither able to overcome the other.
Originally, backed by the power of the Great Cup, they could have slowly rebuilt their strength. But the meteorite that had fallen recently had shattered their long-standing peace.
These two newcomers looked as though they were heading straight for the treasure. This time, it was truly a crisis. Seeing that no consensus could be reached, the Nox turned their eyes toward the leader seated upon the throne—a Black Witch who had led the remnants since the distant past.
However, the face beneath the Black Witch's veil lacked its usual composure. Instead, she seemed dazed—a look she hadn't even worn when the Fallen Hawks reached her doorstep.
She stared at the two invaders through a monitoring glintstone, her lips moving as if she were whispering something. Finally, she snapped back to reality and looked at her few remaining kin to issue her command.
"No matter what, we cannot lose such a vital treasure. We must test their intentions. I can feel it... the primary threat is that man."
She raised her hand and pointed at the Nox Swordstress nearest to her.
"You. You go deal with the two invaders."
"Huh? Me?"
The chosen Swordstress was clearly stunned. Was her flowing sword supposed to block a fire skill that could turn a dozen hollows into dust in an instant?
The Black Witch saw the expression on her subordinate's face and calmly instructed:
"Do not be afraid. I authorize you to use a portion of the Great Cup's power. Take that child with you to battle. Defeating one's self is no simple task. I believe that should be enough."
The Swordstress hesitated upon hearing the command.
"Are we truly going to use the power of the Cradle? But you said... that is something reserved only for the Tears worthy of becoming the Lord of Night."
"Precisely. And there is no more appropriate moment than now."
Though the Swordstress didn't understand the Witch's intent, she wouldn't question her decision. Knowing she could use the power of the Cradle, her trepidation was replaced by excitement and a touch of awe. This was indeed a last resort. Regardless, they had to protect their hope of revenge.
She slowly left the chamber and entered a heavily guarded room sealed by a Gargoyle. From within, she retrieved a sleeping Mimic Tear. This was the most powerful and capable mimic in their current possession.
Unfortunately, even a Mimic Tear this close to perfection had not evolved its own consciousness. It was merely a hollow shell of a masterpiece.
However, its combat prowess was beyond doubt. With the accumulated power of the "Cradle" from over the years, it would surely defeat these invaders.
Watching the Swordstress walk away, the Black Witch on the throne lowered her head and closed her eyes. Ancient memories, long forgotten, surfaced in her mind once more.
"Is it truly you... have you returned?"
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Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash (201 chapter - Ongoing)
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