บท 3: Chapter 3 - Godrick the Grafted
Let's review what happened. I got the crowns, defeated Nashandra and Aldia, escaped the cycle, was transported to a strange land, lost most of my equipment, defeated a spider made of human parts, fell off a cliff.
Was called maidenless, got a maiden, was put on another impossible mission, met a ghost witch, almost died in a fight with an old man with a giant cane.
Now I'm about to storm a castle simply because a golden ray guides me to that direction.
A good story, isn't it? All I want now is to see the sunrise in Majula, and maybe have a little chat with the pyromancer girl and the old wizard. But no! I'm here instead! In a place that I don't know! With people that I don't know! In search of something, I don't even know what it is! A pleasant situation no?
Well, there is no use in complain, I need to get into the castle, the gates are closed, but strangely, there's an open door to the left, only one place to go, I think.
"You there, can you come over here?" Someone called me as I walked through the door; it was a skinny, pale man with his left arm missing, a victim of Godrick, probably.
"You're tarnished, aren't you? I would advise against taking the main gate into the castle, hardened old hands heavily guard it. Try the opening right here. The guards don't know about it. You'll breach the castle undetected."
A safe passage is welcome, but better be careful; it can be a trap "Thank you for the advice! I'll use the passage."
"Yes, that's the spirit! You are exactly the type of Tarnished that I like, I pray for your success."
I entered the passage, and saw that the castle was in terrible condition, the castle wall was full of holes. Following the outside path and climbing the rocks, I came to an open area. I heard a noise, it was a huge bird coming towards me, with its claws aiming at my eyes, but they weren't claws, but blades.
BOOM!
The bird's burnt body fell to the ground after receiving a Great Combustion in its face. Annoying creature! Moving on, I found another site of grace, touching it, I kept going.
Climbing a wooden staircase, I heard a war horn. Suddenly, I attacked by two hooded men, carrying swords and shields. I threw a Dark Orb at each one, they dropped dead right after, they're too weak.
The man with the war horn tried to cut me with his sword; I dodged the blow and kicked him off the staircase, throwing him to his death. Very well, there are sentries around here, nothing a few rings and spells can't fix.
I equipped Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring, my leggings are enchanted to silence my footsteps, but there's no harm in precaution. The Ring of Whispers to hear nearby enemies, and Simpleton Ring, that makes me invisible when I roll on the ground.
I entered through a door, the Ring of Whispers made a noise; it meant that there were enemies ahead. Inside that room there were two men on the floor, they seemed to be sleeping, and there was a staircase on the other side of the room.
I rolled forward two times, the rings making me invisible and silencing the noise, I climbed the staircase and came to a room full of barrels. I smelled something familiar, gunpowder, abundant in the Brume Tower. A hooded man in an upper part of the room saw me and threw a torch in the barrels.
"SHIT!"
I cast Repel with my staff, and for a moment, I became invulnerable, long enough to survive the blast. I threw a Dark Orb at the man who threw the torch, and he dropped dead.
I climbed several flights of stairs until I reached a dark room, I used Cast Light, a small ball of light appeared on top of me, illuminating the area. However, when I entered the room, the door closed behind me, I tried to open it, but it didn't move.
In the room, the Ring of Whispers made noise, there is someone here. I heard heavy steps metal creaks, from the back of the room a fully armored knight shot towards me with a windblast.
I rolled to the right, becoming invisible; the knight looked confused for a few seconds, long enough to receive a Dark Orb on the side of the head. He staggered backward but managed to regain his balance and darted towards me again.
I dodged to the left, but this time the knight stomped the ground, creating a gale and knocking me back. I fell into a pile of boxes, and the knight tried to impale me with his sword.
I cast Fire Whip, a spiral of fire hit the knight, he screamed in pain, the metal of the armor melting over his body, wasting no time, I pulled out one of the ornate blades and drove it into his neck, the knight struggled for a while until finally, his body disappeared in souls and runes.
In the room, I got a rusty key, and in the corner, there was a chest. I hit it, but nothing happened. Opening the chest, I got some kind of talisman with the design of a curved sword. With the key, I unlocked a door that was in the path that I came from, opening the door; I climbed a wooden ladder.
Going left I heard a noise, the Ring of Whispers, someone was hiding up ahead. I approached slowly, and a man jumped from the left corner with a knife pointed at my neck.
I grabbed his arm and threw the man off the platform where we were, towards the lower floors, I heard his body colliding with the ground. I reached an area outside the castle. And guess what? More stairs.
Going up the stairs, I came to a room with a hole in the center and next to that hole, another knight, this time with a halberd. I wasted no time; I grabbed my Chime of Want and used Wrath of the Gods.
The shock wave knocked the knight down into the hole. Going up, I arrived to another site of grace; I touched the grace and kept going up. Finally, I am inside the castle. I was in one of the towers.
A hooded man tried to blow a horn, I launched a Dark Orb at him and he fell dead. I don't need the whole castle to know I'm here. Arriving at the edge of the tower, I realized that I had come the wrong way! There was a path right bellow! RIGHT DOWN THE STAIRS!
-XXXXXX-
I finally got to the place I wanted! This time the right one!
More of those birds with blades in place of their legs tried to attack me, nothing that some Dark Orbs couldn't fix. Out of nowhere a bird carrying a powder keg flew towards me, I threw a fireball into the barrel, and the bird exploded in the air.
Now that I had some time to think, I decided to look at the castle, gray clouds covered the sky, and a strong wind blew all over the place, strong enough to be seen pushing against the tall towers that seemed to touch the skies.
Remnants of fortifications and weapons were scattered on the ground, it seems that this place was under siege, vegetation covered the walls. Strangely, if I were to describe this place with few words that would be grey, depressing and lifeless.
I went down a ladder and reached the roof of a building, I passed inside a bell tower, it seemed that this place was a church, further ahead I went down another wooden ladder.
To my right there was a patrol of soldiers, so let's go left. I entered the church, and near the altar, there was a man, a sorcerer judging by his hat, he was wearing yellow and green clothes, a person that doesn't suit this place.
"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you. Rogier is my name, a sorcerer, as you may have guessed; I'm looking for a little something here in the castle. When I'm not running from the troops, I mean."
Looking for something in the castle? Well, I'm not the only one interested in this place.
"A pleasure to meet you, Rogier, my name is Alden, a sorcerer too." I said while bowing, I'm happy to find a brother sorcerer here.
"But enough about me, what are you doing in Stormveil castle? This place is full of tarnished hunters, you know? They sacrifice our people to make grafts. Not exactly the place I would wander around without a purpose in mind..."
"I'm here to defeat Godrick, I think… I'm not sure; I just followed the grace to this place."
"You can see it, am I correct? Grace's guidance. Well, enjoy it while you can. I'm a tarnished, like you. However, unlike you, I don't see that guidance for a long time. Still, I won't forget how I felt when I arrived here in the Lands Between. I own some magical battle arts. Would you mind learning one? As a fellow tarnished, once guided by grace, I would love to help you, please."
Let's see what he has for sale.
"I'll want the Spinning Weapon; I don't have many runes at the moment." With the purchase made, it's time to proceed.
"See you later Rogier."
"Be careful out there Alden."
Now, where to go? There is only one path, the place where the guards are patrolling, let's do this carefully. There were two hooded men and one knight, they had their backs turned to me, so I crouched down and approached one of the hooded ones.
I quickly put my hand over his mouth preventing him from screaming, so I cut his throat with the ornate blade and threw the body out of the wall. I did the same process with the second hooded men.
Now only the knight remains, I removed the golden halberd from my bag and stabbed him in the back, the knight was impaled on the halberd, and I turned it away from the wall, letting the knight's body slide out.
Moving on, I arrived in a room, and it was as if I was in Aldia's Keep again. Severed arms and legs were hanging from the ceiling. Leaving the room, I saw some kind of giant hanging upside down without a leg and an arm. Below the body, a pile of limbs being eaten by dogs.
I came to some sort of library, a knight with a halberd was in there too, but he didn't notice me yet. I stabbed him in the back, an ornate blade in the heart and another in the neck.
In that room there was a chest, I hit it, and seeing that it wasn't a mimic, I took its contents, a veil. Passing through a door on the right, I arrived at a kitchen, and there I found another spider made of human limbs, just like the one on the island.
The spider hadn't seen me yet, so I hid behind one of the wooden pillars in the kitchen, lit my pyromantic flame, and threw a Chaos Fireball on top of the spider.
The same thing that happened on the island happened here, the spider's cloak caught fire and the lava melted its body. I didn't stop there, I fired a second Chaos Fireball at the thing, the spider struggled on the ground until it finally dropped dead, runes and souls flew into my body right after.
In the kitchen there was a giant painting on the wall, it was a tall man wearing armor, he carried a great ax and had a lion coming out of his back. I approached the painting and saw a name in the frame 'Godfrey, First Elden Lord'.
Elden Lord… Isn't that what the tarnished want to become? Therefore, Godfrey was the first. One more thing I need to find out. I'll ask Melina later. I took an ax that was in front of the painting.
In a door at the back of the kitchen, I found an elevator, stepping on the pressure plate the elevator rise and I arrived in the room with the hole in the center.
Great! A shortcut to the site of grace, I rested in it, healed my wounds and restored my spells. Therefore, I went down the elevator and went back to the kitchen. I entered the area where the giant creature was hanging upside down.
When I entered the area, I noticed that there were no limbs piled on the floor but whole bodies wrapped in cloths, and two dogs were eating the corpses, I launched a Dark Orb at each one.
I saw something glowing in the pile of bodies, approaching it, it was a brooch wrapped in red cloths, little spirits floated on top of it, this seems to be what Roderika wanted me to find. So this is the fate of those captured by Godrick, even more reason for me to finish him off.
I walked out of the kitchen, towards the castle courtyard, and when I stepped outside, I was faced with something that made my eyes widen, wooden fortifications, staked barriers, ballistae, hooded men equipped with crossbows, carrying swords and shields.
I'm glad that I didn't entered by the castle's front door, I'm beside these defenses, I wasn't noticed yet, so I cast Chameleon, turning into a barrel and slowly crossed the courtyard around the corners.
I hid near some trees and entered a wooden building, I walked along the stairs and passed behind a hooded man carrying a torch, he turned and looked at me, seeing that it was just a barrel, he returned to his previous position.
I walked a little more, the hooded man turned around again, I stopped walking, and he stared at me for a while before looking away. Without wasting time, I walked to an entrance further on the side. I broke the spell and entered a room with a shining painting.
Touching the painting carefully, it lost its shine, but something entered my mind. It was the place of the painting, for some reason, this place was etched in my memories, I couldn't forget it, and I needed to find it later.
Leaving the room, I hid behind a tree, blocking my way there was a fat creature carrying a giant blade and a dog; let's see what I can do. I took an Alluring Skull out of my bag and threw it to the other side of the courtyard, the creature and the dog stood up and stared at the skull.
Taking advantage of the distraction I crouched down and climbed the stairs, I found a site of grace inside a room, I touched it, and pulled a lever in the room to call an elevator, with that done, and I kept going up the staircase.
Two birds with blades in their legs tried to attack me, one received a Great Fireball, and fell burnt to the ground, the other tried to cut me in the chest, I rolled to the right becoming invisible, the bird got confused, and that was his mistake.
When I reappeared, I launched a Great Combustion at its face, with everything here finished; I entered a door on the right, walking down the stairs. I found a woman.
It was a dark-skinned woman, with visible muscles. She was wearing a barbarian outfit. As I approached, I heard her say something.
"Be proud, you are a good warrior, your only mistake was in choosing a master. Let the winds take you."
She wasn't talking to me but to the dead knight on the ground. As I approached, she finally, noticed me.
"Well what do we have here? A tarnished? Not from Godrick's group, I'm Nepheli Loux, tarnished and warrior, just like you."
When will they stop calling me tarnished?
"Nice to meet you Nepheli, my name is Alden, undead, and sorcerer." I said while doing a duel bow.
Nepheli stared at me for a few seconds; she crossed her arms and looked me up and down. She must be another person who never heard of an undead or she doubts my strength.
"I am here by my father's decree, how horrible, these grafts are not fit for a Lord, and Godrick has corrupted even the winds. If you intend to challenge him, I beg you to call me; the winds are impure with his deeds. I'm sure my father would allow me to help you in the fight."
All help is welcome, there is no shame in accepting it "Very well! Nepheli, when I get to Godrick I will call you, until we see each other again." I waved to Nepheli.
However, as I went upstairs, I heard Nepheli say, "Until we meet again undead sorcerer, a good fight for you."
I gave a small smile to her, now I need to get to Godrick.
Climbing stairs with statues on both sides I reached a gate, entering it, I went through a corridor, on the right; I found a site of grace, so I rested in it. On the left, I found a beetle rolling a ball of dung, killing the beetle I got another ash of war.
Following the corridor I stopped in front of a golden fog gate, it seemed that Godrick was on the other side, something in the corner of the corridor caught my attention, a golden summon sign. I touched it and Nepheli appeared, she gave me a nod and I nodded back, together we walked through the fog.
We entered an open area full of tombstones, in the center of this area was a dragon impaled on a statue, next to this dragon was a man, if he can be called that.
"Mighty Dragon, thou'rt a trueborn heir. Lend me thy strength, o kindred. Deliver me unto greater heights."
We approached the man; I cast Affinity and lit my flame on the way.
"...Well" Godrick grabbed two axes with his left arms, the cloak on his back fell away revealing six grafted arms on his back.
"A lowly Tarnished, playing as a Lord" Godrick slammed his golden ax on the ground "I command thee, kneel! I am the Lord of all that is Golden!"
"YOU! I REMEMBER YOU!" Godrick exclaimed, pointing at me.
"Have we met before?" I asked confuse.
"DON'T BE A FOOL! YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID! INTERFERING INTO MY DUEL WITH MALENIA THAT WHORE! AND BURNING MY FACE!" Godrick ran his hand down the left side of his face, and looking closer, the left side of his face was severely burned.
His left eye was unusable, and his cheek and mouth were burned to the point where I could see exposed muscle and bone.
"YOU MAY HAVE DISAPPEARED AFTER THE DUEL, BUT NOW AFTER SO MANY YEARS, I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE AGAINST THE ONE WHO DARED TO HURT ME! THE FLAME IN YOUR RIGHT HAND! I WILL RIP IT OFF YOUR CORPSE AND GRAFT IT INTO MY BODY! AND WITH THAT POWER I'LL FINISH THAT RED-HAIRED ROTTEN WHORE!"
I have no idea what he's talking about, but I don't have time for it. Godrick swung his ax, and windblasts flew towards me, he was completely ignoring Nepheli.
"Nepheli! Godrick is focused on killing me; while I distract him you approach him from the sides."
Nepheli nodded, drew two axes and walked around the courtyard, hiding behind tombstones scattered around the site.
The windblasts approached, I rolled to the right, dodging it, and I launched Black Orbs toward Godrick right after. The orbs hit his body, and Godrick screamed in pain.
"I REMEMBER THIS SORCERY; THIS CURSED THING IS AN OFFENSE TO MY GOLDEN LINEAGE!" Godrick ran towards me, his golden ax dragging on the ground.
The Affinities above me shot toward Godrick, and his massive body ended up becoming an easy target.
"AH!" Godrick screamed again.
This is weird, Godrick is the second person my abyss magic does more damage than usual, another thing to investigate later.
Godrick swung his axes at me, slashing horizontally; I rolled away of the attack, the Simpleton Ring making me invisible. I am reached Godrick's right side, I cast Dark Hail at direct range, and the shards of darkness ripped off pieces of Godrick's flesh and buried themselves in his body.
Godrick tried to crush me with his left arm, I jumped back, dodging it and launched a Chaos Fireball towards him, Godrick swung his ax, and a tornado formed around him stopping my fireball.
Godrick stomped the ground and a strong gale threw me back, the wind was so strong that managed to cut me. Godrick didn't stop there; he rolled on the ground and threw himself up, coming down with the ax aimed at my neck.
I rolled out of the way, barely dodging it.
"THIS FLAME, THE FLAME THAT HUMILIATED ME, I WILL TAKE THAT FLAME AND DESTROY THOSE WHO DARE TO CHALLENGE ME!"
I noticed Nepheli on top of the statue where the dragon was impaled; she was getting ready to leap.
"Tell me, Godrick. You seem to know me, but I don't know you. My undead mind is unreliable, could you refresh my memory?" This seemed to irritate Godrick even more.
"HOW DARE YOU! DOING LITTLE OF OUR BATTLE! I AM SO INSIGNIFICANT TO YOU, THAT I AM NOT WORTHY OF BEING REMEMBERED?!?"
Nepheli took leap and landed on Godrick's back, with one of her axes thrust into Godrick's back, Nepheli used the other to cut the hands grafted onto the spider's back.
"AH!" Godrick screamed in again as three of his six arms were cut off.
He rolled on the ground knocking Nepheli off, but taking the chance, I threw Chaos Fireball, this time Godrick didn't have time to summon the wind and was hit full-on by chaos flames. Nepheli came running to my side right after.
Godrick fell on the ground. With an enraged scream, he summoned the winds again, snuffing out the flames on his body, and then he did something that confused me.
He raised his ax and cut his left arm with all his strength, Godrick screamed as he put more strength into the blow, then Godrick slammed his left arm on the ground cutting off part of it, the severed part flew into the middle of the courtyard.
"Ahh, truest of dragons. Lend me thy strength…" Godrick stabbed the stump of his severed arm into the dead dragon's neck, he ripped off the dragon's head, which was now connected to his body, and the head moved.
"FOREFATHERS, ONE AND ALL…!"
"BEAR WITNESS!"
Godrick lifted the dragon's head and it breathed fire into the heavens.
"HAHAHAHA!" Godrick's laughter echoed through the castle as he shot waves of fire towards us.
I used Flash Sweat on myself, lessening the fire damage. Nepheli and I dodged the wave of fire right after, and I used my chime to conjure Great Lightning Spear.
"Nepheli go! I distract him." Nepheli ran toward Godrick, and I threw the miracle, the spear flew through the air, hitting Godrick in his dragon hand.
I kept firing spear after spear while Nepheli managed to get close enough to attack Godrick with her axes. Blow after blow Godrick's blood flew through the air.
Godrick tried to bite Nepheli with the dragon's head, but one of my spears stopped him, and the slaughter Nepheli was doing continued.
Godrick swung his ax again, summoning another tornado, and using the dragon's hand he added fire to those winds, Nepheli flew back. Godrick stomped on the ground, wounding Nepheli even more with the flaming winds, and then he rolled on the ground and jumped.
Toward me!
"Shit!"
Godrick tried to hit me with his ax; I rolled out of the way and became invisible.
"NOT THIS TIME!" Godrick slammed his ax into the ground, creating a shock wave, and knocking me backward, a second blow came, the earth was ripped apart. I flew upwards and fell on the ground.
Godrick approached me with his ax raised "Last words?"
Giving me time was your biggest mistake Godrick "Yes. Two actually, Lingering Flame!" A small fireball floated in front of Godrick's face.
"What pathetic thing is this?"
BOOM!
"AH!" Godrick screamed in agony as the small fireball exploded directly into his face.
Getting up and stepping away, I saw that Nepheli had recovered.
"Nepheli with me." Together we ran towards Godrick, me with the ornate blades and Nepheli with her axes.
We launched a flurry of blows at Godrick, I finished using the blade ash of war, and thrusted both blades into Godrick's body. Nepheli did the same with her axes, we took our weapons away from Godrick and he fell.
"I am the Lord of all that is Golden. And one day we will return together... To our home, bathed in rays of gold..."
Most of Godrick's body disappeared, leaving only his torso and head on, the ground, souls and runes came to me, but there's something else, I got a type of rune more powerful than the others, and a magic item.
An orange light formed in my left hand and from that light came the image of Godrick, this may be useful later, and I kept both items in my bag. Nepheli was disappearing, I waved goodbye to her, Nepheli did the same, and soon she was gone.
Well, this fight took a while, but there's something weird about it. I hurt myself more fighting Margit than fighting Godrick, but that begs the question. If Margit is stronger than Godrick, why was he defending the entrance to the castle? More mysteries arise.
It's no use thinking about it now, I used a miracle to heal my wounds, when I was about to go away, I saw small green dots coming out of Godrick's corpse.
Bright bugs, I took my Ashen Mist Heart from my bag and approached the corpse, I felt the mist enveloping me, I wonder what memory I'm going to enter.
END OF THE CHAPTER
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