AGE OF PEACE

CHAPTER 0 - DEATH IS ONLY THE BEGINNING 

AGE OF PEACE 

TARNISHED POV

As far as the eyes can see, there are only bodies. Death surrounded me as the Rune of Death worked wonders in my hands. All my eight attributes lay at 99, the maximum amount the runes can strengthen me. My strength had grown enormously from the weak run-of-the-mill Tarnished who used to shoot poison arrows at enemies and then run away as the soldiers of Godrick chased me. I evolved from hiding and killing to killing and hiding, again and again, until everything in Stromvaile lay dead at my feet. 

I remembered the feeling of ecstasy as the runes turned to strength. It showed in my direct engagement with the soldiers while still running away from the bosses that roamed the lands in-between. The gods in the Lands Between considered all Tarnished as dogs barking at their betters. Fifty years later, I had killed Godrick the Grafted. 

Godrick was always considered the one with the least pure blood among the demigods. When news broke of his death, it was met with scorn and derision. Godrick, in their eyes, had fallen to a new low. No one among the gods had even entertained a single thought that maybe a Tarnished had grown strong enough to kill a demigod. 

Sir Gideon was considered the highest level a Tarnished could rise to among the gods. His attitude and ambition to not even consider taking a piece of the Elden Ring set the assumption among the gods that all Tarnished who attempted to take a piece of the Elden Ring would fail miserably. 

A few years later, when the Festival of Radahn had concluded and Radahn lay dead, it was simply a case of a mad dog being put to rest. As the festival included all warriors from the Lands Between that the followers of Radahn could find, the gods assumed it was a matter of a hunt gone right. No matter how strong a mindless beast was, it could be put down with the right tools and circumstances, with the right brain leading them. 

As such, another demigod fell and was ignored, even when rumors broke out that there were fewer than 10 great warriors. They all would have died if not for a lowly Tarnished who went head-to-head with Radahn and even held his own for a brief time. With the help of the great warriors, I landed the finishing blow that killed Radahn. 

The gods always had an uneasy truce, and it showed when more and more gods lay dead. They considered it a conspiracy by the fellow gods and refused to act, even at times directly refusing to help the other neighboring gods as they did not want to risk the piece of the Elden Ring they held in their very hands. 

When close to half the gods lay dead in the Lands Between and showed no signs of reoccurring as gods do after death (as death is more like a long sleep to the gods and demigods), panic started. An expedition was led, commissioned by the remaining gods. When they found Maliketh the Black Blade dead and the Rune of Death missing from its place, a long order to arms was announced by the Council of the Gods to lead an army against the Tarnished that had come close to becoming an Elden Lord. 

A whole year was spent gathering close to a million soldiers, knights, sorcerers, dragons, and every being that swore allegiance to one of the still-alive gods and those that wanted revenge for their gods that were killed by the Tarnished. To the gods, the fear and vigilance were more towards the Rune of Death wielded by the Tarnished and not towards the Tarnished that wielded it. They had, in their arrogance, underestimated the Tarnished yet again.

The army was still united and ready, but when news reached the gods that the Tarnished they were hunting was in the Haligtree and planning to kill Melania, the gods all let out a collective sigh of relief. Melania, among the gods, had a reputation as a mutant-born, a freak among the gods. Still, no one underestimated Melania; they feared her. The gods were happy, irrespective of the result of the fight, as anyone who even nears Melania, much less fights her, gets affected by the Scarlet Rot. Even if the Tarnished wins, which was a highly unlikely scenario among the gods, he would share the same fate as Radahn and would go feral from the pain and misery. 

The army was disbanded as unnecessary now, but Rhllor, a fire demon god, and He Who Dwells Beneath the Waves, another sea god, came to an uneasy mutual alliance. The Elden Ring would never be completed, and the sea and land would be ruled over by the Drowned God and Rhllor, respectively. As such, they both dragged their feet when sending their armies back to their castles. When most of the forces had gone home, they led an attack on the Council of Gods and were almost successful, but the gods rallied together and escaped, with a few gods dying. A few even went as far as to flee the Lands Between, and the remaining gods rallied together and raised another army. The remaining gods clashed again for 30 years continuously, killing each other where betrayal and conspiracy ran rampant between the gods. Some of the gods were even willing to help Rhllor and the Drowned God as long as they could have the pieces of the Elden Ring held by the gods. 

When Gideon Ofnir, the gods' dog who stayed neutral in the war, brought news that the Tarnished had succeeded in killing Melania and had even retained his sanity, the gods lost it. They ordered Sir Gideon Ofnir to bring them the Tarnished's head, and the two fingers could even keep the pieces of the Elden Ring as a reward for their service. When Gideon lay dead and the gods scrambled away, not knowing what to do now, Godfrey, the first Elden Lord, entered the Lands Between and led a brutal conquest to unite the Lands Between. He personally visited the castles of all the lords and gods in the Lands Between and offered them a choice: stand with him as he becomes the Elden Lord or die. 

The bloody conquest was a rousing success, and all the remaining gods had sworn allegiance to Godfrey, the First Elden Lord. The gods were a bit miffed as they could not become the Elden Lord, but they would gladly have one of their own, the strongest among them, as an Elden Lord rather than a foreign Tarnished. So, with a heavy heart and believing that this was the best circumstance they could hope for, they called their banners again and all together traveled to the Erdtree, hoping to at least see the Tarnished, who was the root cause of most of their sufferings, killed by Godfrey. 

Godfrey was not like those proud and arrogant gods, and he even had his own code of honor. He had his spies and those of the gods under him bring in all the information they could about the Tarnished, and it was a lot. They together found some shocking information about the Tarnished. The one who had mastered a thousand spells and incantations and all the dragon gods, including the most feared and terrifying of them all, the Dragonlord Placidusax, was killed by the Tarnished. All hearts were sacrificed and eaten in the Church of the Dragon Communion. He, the Tarnished, was a master of a thousand weapons, and the remembrances of the enemies he felled were taken by him and wielded by him as if he had wielded them his whole life. Primeval sorceries, Blackflame incantations, Bloodflame incantations, Frenzied Flame incantations, and so much more forbidden and terrifying magic was wielded by the Tarnished. 

When the gods finally had all the information they had about the Tarnished, there was more awe and respect, with a healthy respect of fear among the gods. When the greatest duel in the Lands Between happened, and the fight went on for seven days with neither the Tarnished nor Godfrey coming ahead. The day after seven days, Hoarah Loux (the being that was Godfrey before becoming Elden Lord and is still a terrifying existence) went to fight the Tarnished, and the Lands Between shook as the terrifying battle reached a fever pitch. The gods, who were all condemned to just watch and forbidden to interfere by Godfrey, watched the greatest warrior god in the Lands Between fall at the hands of a Tarnished. A Tarnished who, hundred years ago, the gods would not have even spared another look for a second, defeated the greatest among them. 

Then came Radagon and the Elden Beast, and the gods believed they were justified when they ran away when they saw Godfrey fall. With most of the pieces of the Elden Ring collected by the Tarnished and only a few pieces lay in the Lands Between. A great race started among the gods that tried to put up as much distance between the Tarnished and themselves. After 25 years of hide and seek that pissed off the Tarnished, resulting in him killing every single god in the Lands Between as brutally as possible, the Tarnished had finally become the Elden Lord. All who opposed him lay dead, and all the other gods that tried to interfere lay dead with them. Except for the final piece held by Melina the Maiden.

RANDOM KNIGHT OF LEYNDELL POV:

The war among the gods was over, with the only surviving gods being those that survived by going into hiding. Some foolish gods tried to hide with a piece of the Elden Ring, not knowing that when two pieces of the Elden Ring are near, they attract each other. As such, it was easy for the Tarnished Warrior God to find and kill them all. The smart gods that were still alive were because they left all their retainers and equipment and fled the Lands Between. 

The Knight of Leyndell had surrendered after seeing the Godkiller (another epithet given to the Tarnished) kill Godfrey. Now that was a surprise if there ever was one. So when finally the Tarnished announced that the Great War was over, all were invited for the crowning of the new Elden Lord. Most of the inhabitants were relieved as the Great War was over, and they could go about their daily lives in peace.

THE DAY OF THE CORONATION

Most knights in Leyndell were surprised when they were ordered to protect a very important guest that was supposed to arrive for the coronation, and only those highly trusted by the Tarnished were even allowed near the carriage. When it was found that the person in the carriage was none other than Melina the Maiden, the last Shardbearer, they figured that she was here to swear allegiance to the next Elden Lord and unite the Elden Ring. She might have offered her shard and allegiance for her life. Smart gods are rare, but he has just met another, he considered. 

He and his fellow brother took her to the throne, and there were a lot of people there to see their new Elden Lord. But I suppose it's not every day a Tarnished becomes a king among gods. Some were also here to see the Elden Ring, he supposed, and after all, it was the reason for the Great War. So it was the greatest shock of his entire miserable life when he saw the Tarnished, the Godkiller, the master of a thousand weapons, sorcerer extraordinaire, kneeling to Melina the Maiden. He even saw a few knights guarding her faint when met with the sight of the Tarnished kneeling to Melina. 

The entire room had gotten dead silent, and he could even hear his own heartbeat. Suddenly, he felt a bit light-headed but steadied himself. Seeing him almost trip when he tried to steady himself, the kneeling Tarnished had a smile on his face, the bastard. And then he said the greatest tale ever heard of how he came to be in front of the whole inhabitants of Leyndell, the tale of the millennium, a tale that would be said for centuries. 

Of how a lowly Tarnished was saved from the edge of death by Melina, a story of a kind goddess who dirtied her own hands to save a lowly Tarnished. The saved Tarnished who swore himself to this kind goddess looked at the situation in the Lands Between and saw thousands dying every day while the gods fought while she tried to save those affected by the war. She just wanted peace and to help those that she could. When he tried to help her by growing stronger, he failed again and almost died again, and Melina saved him yet again and offered him a choice. If he really wanted to help people by becoming stronger, she would help him grow stronger by turning runes to strength, and all she asked was for him to save anyone he could in the Lands Between. 

So began the Tarnished's journey towards greatness. Of how when he killed Godrick the Grafted, she declared him a true knight that fought for peace. And how when he finally had to face Melania for her piece of the shard she bore, she gave him a blessing that would counter the fearsome Scarlet Rot. When he finally had all the pieces of the Elden Ring, he offered it to her, to the one god who cared. Finally, the Knight understood the Tarnished's plan of how he would bring peace to the Lands Between by finally having the realm a kind and competent Elden Lord.

MELINA'S POV:

She always knew her knight had a kind heart, and she felt that he would be a great Elden Lord. So when he invited her to the coronation, she was happy to bring her shard to the Elden Lord that she felt was more worthy, her knight. She was ready to kneel and swear her allegiance to the new Elden Lord, but he gave her the shock of her entire life when she saw him kneeling to her with a smile and asking her to take the Elden Ring and become Elden Lord. The rest of the ceremony was a blur to her.

Finally, she confronted him in his room at night, questioning why he gave away such a great opportunity to become Elden Lord and would pass it on to her. She felt miserable and cried when he told her that he was dying. He found that after 99, the attributes stopped increasing, and he used a forbidden item to increase all his attributes to 100. This gave him great strength and power, but the price he had to pay was his own life. She cried and cried in his arms the whole night.

When she woke up, she found herself in her bed. She went outside to find him with determination and resolve in her heart. As a powerful sorceress, there must be some way to save him. She found him waiting outside her room and then she asked for the item he wielded to increase his strength beyond 100. He replied that it was destroyed with its use.

"I will invite all the sorcerers and magicians of this land. I will use Cerulean Tear after Cerulean Tear on you until I find a way to save you. This I, Melina, forswear," she vowed. He just smiled and told her, "There are 10 days left before I breathe my last. My soul and spiritual abilities have never felt stronger or better, and even now, I feel my spiritual attributes are in the 200s to 400s. Physically, I feel like I just arrived in the Lands Between, weak and slow. My soul is too strong for my body, as such, it is destroying it. I give it a day or two before I lose consciousness, and a week later, my own soul would have snuffed me out. It is a bit funny when you think about it, killed by my own soul."

"NOOOO, you will not die, not unless I have anything to say about it," Melina stopped and said, "What if you are reborn?" "I just said that Cerulean Tears don't work anymore. They used to slow the decay of my body, but they stopped a long time ago," said the Tarnished. "No, you misunderstand me. I meant rebirth of the whole soul and body, not just body through Cerulean Tears. I have an artifact called the Face of Khepri, one from the outer realms, one of my mother's artifacts she used to punish gods with a mortal life. It needed the Elden Ring to function and would turn gods to humans, and they would live a human life until their death in the human world. I can restrict the artifact to not dampen your powers. You would have a peaceful life in the mortal world. With just your magic and sorcery alone, you would live for 300 to 600 years. A strong soul would nourish the body if reborn, instead of it feeding on your life force like now. What do you say, my Tarnished Knight? Will you be reborn and then show the humans what a true knight is, in both body and soul?"

"You were willing to die for me, my knight. Now I'm asking you to live for me. You would be stuck in the cycle of reincarnation, being born again and again on the planet you go to. Do there what you did in the realm of the gods in the Lands Between. Bring peace to a corrupted realm I see called Planetos. The civilization on the planet is old, almost 30,000 years, and yet they have not developed enough to have peace. You were always looking for a purpose. The knight I saved in the swamps of Aeonia was fighting poison and enemies while hoping you held off the enemy long enough for the people to escape. I am asking again, as your queen and Elden Lord. You can never come to the Lands Between, as the realm of the gods and humans are separated by natural laws. But I would be happy and content to see you happy in the mortal realm. I will start the ritual. You will not die here. Your story is not the end. It is, in fact, just the beginning," Melina had a huge smile on her face as she looked at the Tarnished as she started speaking. It ended with a look of anticipation and a little bit of dread should he refuse and just accept death.

TARNISHED POV:

The prospect of being reborn in a mortal realm where he would be the strongest was appealing, but then he remembered that he would be human. He would never be as fast or strong as he was as a Tarnished. He would be as easily killed as any other human, with human attributes of 4 to 5, which is considered pitiful in the Lands Between. But in the human world, the peak human would have attributes close to 1 or 2 in vigor, strength, dexterity, and endurance. The powerful humans would have one of those four attributes as close to 2. 

He had never felt more alive than with a weapon in his right hand, a seal in his left, and the enemy's eyes filled with rage that his attack missed by the smallest margin possible. The moment after he landed a fatal attack and won a fight that was so close to defeat was exhilarating. He decided then and there that the fight must go on, that his lust for battle had not yet subsided. He turned to Melina and saw his goddess was anxious from him being in deep thought. He decided he would miss her transforming the Lands Between into a peaceful place, especially now that she was the Elden Lord. Just as she could not see him in the mortal world, the journey must go on. He kneeled and said the magic words she was looking for. "I accept, my lady."

MELINA'S POV:

(1 day later in the root of the Erdtree where the ritual and artifact had been assembled)

"You would not remember most of the memories in the Lands Between, but your sorceries and incantations are within your soul. I would make it such that your left arm, which has heavily bonded with the seals, will stay with you. A seal for each finger as a human. 

The Erdtree seal and Golden Order seal will combine into your index finger.

The Gravel Stone seal and Dragon Communion seal in your thumb. 

(The Frenzied Flame, she shuddered when she thought of the Flame of Chaos and felt that it should be destroyed. But chaos was a part of order, for he had killed Melania, the Blade of Miquella, using a Frenzied Flame incantation. Without the Frenzied Flame, order would not fall upon the Lands Between.)

The Frenzied Flame and Godslayer seal in your middle finger. 

The Clawmark seal and Giants seal in your ring finger. 

The Stabilizing seal, which would help your soul bear all these seals within itself, will be in your pinky finger. 

And last but not least, the Ashes seal will be in your right arm. It contains all the ashes of war you used and will work with a similarly sized weapon as long as it is held in the right hand."

She had an expert in the art of soul carving, but she still was a bit nervous throughout the whole process. But when it was done and her knight thanked her, she felt that she had succeeded in her first sealing array as an Elden Lord. The Elden Ring was used to bind the carvings in his soul. She added a stronger heart, denser bones, resistance to heat and cold, and finally, each and every incantation and sorcery he had was carved in his soul painstakingly. It took close to an hour before she was done. The soul carvings took to him without any signs of rejection, and she breathed another sigh of relief. All his physical attributes would be at 10 and could grow up to 15 when trained hard enough. She felt that for a human, that would already be enough to beat anyone he would fight with. She felt his physical attributes drop to 1 and knew he would not live to see the end of the day. Thus, the ritual began after saying her final goodbyes.

TARNISHED POV:

He felt his strength drop to zero and found his hands were the heaviest they had ever felt. Even when he blocked a hit from the Fire Giant, he did not feel his own hands so heavy. Then his legs felt like they were carrying an incredible load, and they gave out. He was still in the ritual circle when he fell, so he counted himself lucky. His dexterity was next, and his nerves were the next to go. He thanked his luck as with his nerves fried, he did not feel any pain. The ritual was close to completion. He saw a white light breaking apart from the circle and go through him. He felt his endurance drop to zero, and all his muscles gave out. He could not feel or move anything. He felt trapped in his own body. Then he saw his vigor fluctuating and then drop to zero. The world started turning dark, and then something was being pulled from his chest. Finally, he closed his eyes in peace.