Blessing of the Ancients

"Twenty men? That's it?", Godrick raised an eyebrow as he reclined on a lavish seat in the carriage.

"Frankly, it's quite overkill", Roidh said dryly, sitting opposite him in his golden armour. "Five is more than enough, but we have to take into account...complications. Godefroy the Grafted could take us by surprise."

"My betrayal you mean.", he smirked while Taraghlan snorted next to him.

"Yes", Roidh replied with a straight face. "Take no offence. It's merely procedure."

Godrick shook his head before looking out a small window on the side of the carriage, watching people go about their lives.

It was only now that he realised how extraordinary Leyndell truly was. The golden rooftops reflected the soothing light from the Erdtree that loomed above them while vendors, soldiers, civilians, perfumers and Knights roamed the streets, selling, marching, and talking like anybody else, a stark contrast to the husk of a city that it'd turned into in the game.

You could occasionally see dried-out, grey people who lay hunched over in corners - a product of the endless life during Marika's reign, but it did nothing to dull the city's grandeur, especially when the Erdtree and Granssax blotted out the skies.

After almost an hour, the carriage finally ground to a halt.

"We're here, my Lord", Earnan's muffled voice sounded from outside the carriage before he opened the doors, revealing a magnificent scene.

A gigantic cathedral that he most certainly had not seen in-game stood proudly before him. Plated in gold and surrounded by draconic imagery, the building cradled Gransax's chest, the gigantic Ancient Dragon corpse just above them.

"Marika's tits...", a soldier whispered in awe, gaining a furious glare from Earnan.

"Only Godrick can enter, no one else", Roidh firmly announced, looking at the soldier in amusement.

"What! Tha-

"It's fine", Godrick interrupted Taraghlan's outburst before looking at Roidh. "Lead the way"

"Most certainly", Roidh smiled. gesturing forward with a large hand.

***

As he entered the cathedral with Roidh by his side, he couldn't help but be impressed. It was akin to Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Gigantic ceilings were plated with gold, but the iconography and murals were of Ancients Dragons, Godwyn and the magnificence of the Erdtree. Dragon Knights with stats that he could barely see through bowed to them as they stood guard next to stone dragon statues as golden lightning flickered on their speartips.

"Impressive, is it not?", a proud Roidh said, as he led Godrick to a large set of stone doors that were inlaid with gold carvings.

"Godefroy was indeed delusional if he thought Leyndell was so easy to take", he replied to which Roidh laughed uproariously and pushed open the 10-inch thick stone doors as though they were wood, revealing an enormous stone ceiling.

'No...those are the gravelstone scales of Grandsax', he took in a deep breath. This hall was built directly under Gransax's chest.

He looked around, finding the hall empty except for a gigantic stone statue of the four-headed dragon Placidusax and a lone figure who knelt before it.

"Good luck", Roidh spoke behind him before exiting the hall and closing the stone doors behind him.

'Ominus', he shrugged to himself and took a step forward only to halt when the lone figure in the distance vanished, appearing before him in an instant.

To put it lightly, she was the most beautiful person he'd ever laid his eyes on. Even he, with his muted emotions, could appreciate the woman before him. Nobody on Earth could even begin to compare.

A figure that her simple gown could barely contain, silky pure-white hair that messily spread across her shoulders and a smug grin that would've driven any man wild. Yet all was not dainty and harmless. Her fingers ended in naturally long sharpened fingernails that evoked the sense of dangerous claws, grey, stone-like skin and almost blinding Grace-given golden eyes that glinted with a dangerous, almost bestial light.

[Observe]

(Character Sheet

 Lansseax

 Age: Hundred thousand five hundred and ten years, one-month-old

 HP: ?????

 FP: ????

 Strength: ???

 Dexterity: ???

 Endurance: ????

 Vigor: ????

 Mind: ???

 Intelligence: ???

 Faith: ????

 Skills: ???

 Incantations: ???)

"Godrick the Golden, descendant of Godwyn the Golden and the Golden Lineage," she spoke slowly, her voice sounding akin to a sword dragged across stone, as her blinding eyes roamed his figure. "Why art thou here?"

"For the Blessing of the Ancient Dragons", Godrick answered as calmly as he could as every hair on his body stood up in fear.

"Why?", she dragged out the word.

"Because I am more worthy than the Dragon Knights you've given it to", he said looking into her eyes, no matter how blinding it was. She would not bother giving him the blessing if he said it was for defending Leyndell, thus he had to be a bit bold. Moreover, Roidh had already informed her of it yet she had asked revealing her thoughts on his worth.

"Thou bluffest much for such a weakling. Worthy? Why shouldst thou deserve aught when I can crush thee beneath a claw of mine like a bug?", she growled, a bestial growl that echoed in the hall.

"Because you will not be able to in a century", he rebutted.

"Humph!", she furrowed her brow before scratching her chin with a fingernail. "Show me thy conviction."

"Hm?", he frowned. "I do not understand."

"Let me bite off a finger", she smiled at him with a mouth full of unusually sharp teeth.

"Take a hand instead", he said without missing a beat, holding out his left arm, much to Lansseax's joy.

"Good", she giggled before flickering for a nanosecond.

(HP -25)

"Grgnh!", Godrick clenched his jaw as his arm was cleanly sliced off at the shoulder before he could even register it, blood spurting from his stump, reducing his HP further.

He grabbed the Finger Seal with his remaining hand and instantly cast [Heal]. The [Blessed Dew Talisman]'s constant HP regen along with the [Heal] sealed the wound within seconds, driving out the pain. The golden light rested upon him for a few seconds before he rose to his feet, staring at Lansseax with disgruntlement.

"Not even a shout? A curse?" she questioned as she opened her jaws unnaturally wide and swallowed the entire arm, droplets of blood dripping down her chin. "The Dragon Knights were weak; they frowned upon offering a finger, yet thou hast offered an arm. Godwyn shall rest easy knowing he hath a descendant such as thee."

"I hope so", he said, spitting out some blood when he'd accidentally bit the tip of his tongue.

"Hmmm...", Lansseax moved toward him and grabbed him by the arm sending tendrils of heat coursing through his veins.

He let out a gasp and fell to his knees as something entered his body.

"By mine ancient power, I bestow upon thee the most mighty blessing of Lannseax", she boomed, her voice deepening and reverberating across the hall. "May the resistance to lightning course through thy veins, as doth the fortitude of ancient dragons. May thy strength and constitution mirror our eternal might. May thy be known and hailed by my ancient kin, yet beware, for the wrath of drakes shall follow."

Cracking sounds echoed in the hall as Godrick's body seemed to break down and build back up, blood flowing down his nostrils. His figure grew a few inches as broken organs, bones and blood spewed out of his mouth in vile vomit. Even the stump that was his left arm began to wiggle and grow.

[Gained Greater Blessing of Ancient Dragon Lannseax (Passive): Ancient Dragons recognise you and shall commune with you as equals while drakes shall attack you on sight. Increased damage negation to all kinds of Lightning (+20% resistance). Ability to increase physical stats beyond the limit of the human race via training (10+). +3 Strength. +5 Endurance. +5 Vigor.]

Godrick climbed to his feet, and the gigantic increase in physical stats made him feel akin to being thrown into a new body, which he might as well have. Standing at a respectable 6 feet, his body seemed to have been reborn, with muscle making up much of his mass; the stump of his left arm now spouting a new limb.

(Character Sheet :

 Godrick the Golden ( Level 1 )

 Age: Twenty-three and three months old

 EXP: 1/100

 HP: 100{ Healthy }

 FP: 50

 Strength: 5->8

 Dexterity: 5.1

 Endurance: 5.7->10.7

 Vigor: 5->10

 Mind: 5.1

 Intelligence: 5.1

 Faith: 14)

"One century hence, I shall come find thee," Lannseax growled, now tilting her head up to Godrick. "No magic, sorcery, or prayer shall stay my coming, and lest thou wound my body, thou shalt make for a tasty morsel."

"I shall rip out one of your horns if that makes you happy", Godrick quipped tiredly.

"I shall hold thee to that," she grinned wider as though that'd genuinely make her happier. "The blood of Godwyn the Golden must achieve that, at the very least."

***

"You sure he's your Lord?", Roidh asked Earnan as they stood outside the cathedral. "Doesn't seem like what the rumours make of him."

He did not answer. He had already insulted his lord before. Never again.

"You know, there's a decent chance that he may never walk out of there", Roidh continued to test his patience. "Ancient Dragon's are not known for their kindness."

"Shut up, else I'll shove my spear through that gaping trap of yours", Earnan spat knowing full well that he was well and truly outmatched.

"Is that so?", Roidh grinned menacingly, twirling the gravelstone scale among gauntleted fingers. "How about this? Let's not resort to violence like lesser men. Instead, I bet ten runes that Godrick will come out without gaining what he came for. What say you?"

"Runes?", Earnan raised an eyebrow.

When the Shattering happened, it was said that the Elden Ring split into Great Runes and billions and billions of smaller runes. Unlike the former who seeked out worthy hosts, the smaller runes merely settled in any living thing.

Eventually, due to runes being part of the Elden Ring, they became far more valuable than gold. Even more so since killing another being would transfer its runes to the killer.

"Too much for you?", Roidh grinned.

"No. It's a deal", Earnan snorted and clasped his armoured hand around Roidh's, for the first time feeling the man's monstrous strength.

As though it was perfectly timed, the doors to the cathedral opened revealing a bloodied Godrick with a torn sleeve. The scene immediately put Earnan on high alert. The sounds of tens of swords and spears being drawn and readied rang outside the cathedral as Godrick's men readied for battle.

"Impossible! He did it", Roidh's awed reaction made everyone halt their actions.

Earnan calmed his heart and took a closer look at his Lord, his brows disappearing into his hair.

He seemed transformed, far more muscular, taller and with sharper, more domineering features, but that wasn't what shocked him most.

It was when Godrick looked up and smiled at them that his face overlapped with his old lord. Those mannerisms, those calm eyes and blessed by the Ancient Dragons.

Was his lord the second coming of Godwyn the Golden?

***

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