Chapter 3: The Wayward Soul

Across the Lands Between, below the warring factions and the silent hills, a network of life and lights spreads across the entire broken kingdom.

It's a web of roots, of which nearly doubles the Erdtree itself in size. The roots extend through every land, digging down to the depths of the deepest caves. They even pierce the surface, where they grow into massive trees of their own, though they are minor compared to the Erdtree.

It's a complex network, yet she navigates it effortlessly, travelling along at near the speed of light itself. Up and down, side to side. She's still trying to remember where she's going; despite her years moving through these roots, she still has a hard time remembering which way goes which. It's a mess down here, like getting caught up in millions of rivers, all running down their own paths. She's had a few times where her paths stopped suddenly, where the roots reached the farthest they could, before halting completely. Dead end after dead end, the outer roots are frustrating to say the least.

How long has it been? Since she was cut off from the Erdtree?

She can't remember any longer, the years have molded into one blurry set of events. All she knows is, the barrier that's been placed outside of the Altus Plateau stops all from entering or exiting. It runs deep, encompasses the Capital like a shell. It was placed to stop the factions from invading the Leyndell, but she was caught outside the border. She now wanders the outer roots, hoping for a route that can lead her back through the barrier, and into the inner ring. Long and far, she travels; from the rot blighted wilds of Caelid, to the mana depraved lakebed of Liurnia. Deep in caves and the ocean, the highest points of the minor erdtrees where she can get a view of the landscape.

Nowhere, not a single hole or chink in the barrier. She feels like one exists, but she can't find it.

For now, she travels through Limgrave, riding along the light in the roots as she explores new systems. She hopes that, against her better judgement, there is a clue here, some way to circumnavigate the barrier. The roots take her down deep, travelling underneath a shallow lake near the southeastern point of Limgrave. She knows the place, it's a lake to a fire dragon. The beast's name is Agheel, and he's a brute. She loops around, as the roots breach the surface and slither about the southern end of the lake. It takes her westward, before firing south again. Where might this root take me? she wonders. She's never gone this way before. Southern Limgrave and the land known as the Weeping Peninsula are new territory for her, the chances of anything related to the barrier is a grain of a chance. It makes no sense to travel here, but she's spurred on by desperation.

She can only hope, that she can find something.

Her vision of flowing gold and sparkling light is suddenly interrupted, as the root breaches the ground for only a moment. Like being dragged into a riptide, she's thrust into a breach in the root, an area where her form makes contact with the air. The gold light floods away, replacing with colors of green, grey, blue, and brown. Her bare feet land on grass; she stumbles backward as she rapidly decelerates. She's left bewildered for a moment, quite nearly falling over. She steadies herself, that sense of vertigo slowly fades away.

Oh. She thinks to herself. Another breach.

She looks about, taking in the scenery to try and gather her bearings. She looks to be near the southern tip of Limgrave, she can see Godrick the Golden's castle from here. She stands on a grassy hill, overlooking a small forest dead ahead. The vast ocean on the left, Agheel's lake on the right. And, ever beautiful, so vast that it seems to conquer the sky, is the Erdtree.

It envelops the northern view, combating the sun itself in terms of illumination. Her eye lingers on it for a moment, feeling a sense of loneliness catch hold of her corporeal heart. She wants nothing more than to go back, and be enveloped in that warm light. She feels like a lost soul, no home to call her own. She fights back what could be considered tears and whisks her gaze away. She doesn't like being out of the root system, it makes feel even more detached from her home. She feels alien in her own body; it makes her anxious. She wants to leave, and there's only one way to do so.

Her eye casts downward, looking at the thing that forced her into the world. A flame of a golden aura flickers near the ground, levitating above cracked bark and reaching tendrils. The aura is no bigger than a hand, looks weak enough that one could blow it away. But it's merely concentrated light leaking from the Erdtree's roots, and one could never snuff it out. That's what breaches are. Areas where the roots have been cut, and the Erdtree's lifeblood siphons out into the atmosphere. Many such breaches as this one dot the land, whether they be on the surface, up on a mountain, or deep in a cave. Each is different in its own way, yet they all have things in common. Whatever was capable of cutting the Erdtree's roots probably made all of the breaches, and it seems it was not done by accident. Another thing is her relationship with the breaches. She can't leave the realm of the light they leak; her form isn't capable of it.

In the brace of the Erdtree in Leyndell, she could move about as she pleased, for the light was all encompassing. But out here? She can never hope to stray too far from the breaches, and she can go nowhere if not through the roots. Small bubbles of life, in a world she could never explore on foot. Such is her existence, and until she gets through the barrier, it seems it will be her fate. Cursed ever to wander, never to have a home again. A terrible fate, one she will never accept.

I am wasting my time.

She retraces her steps to the site of the breach, reaching out to return to the roots.

I must return to my search.

Thinking about her situation does her no good, she can only keep hope to find a way through the barrier. And if that means searching every root? Even if that takes thousands of years, so be it.

"Yes yes, come closer."

She freezes in place, her eye perking up.

Who?

She thinks, twisting her head to the source of the voice. Nobody should be able to see her, she isn't visible now.

So, who?

There's a man, standing near the edge of the hill, before it drops steeply to the entrance of the forest below. He's looking right at her, behind a disturbing white mask. The rest of him is wrapped up in cloth, where she can make out splotches of dried blood. It seems he attempted to wash them off, but it makes the edges of the splotches all the clearer. He's bad news, and he's looking right at her. She stays frozen, she wouldn't dare to say anything. He has a dagger, its hilt peeks out from his right hip. This is bad, if he has the power to see her even when she's invisible, he probably has the power to kill her as well. The Lands Between is filled with foreign magics and incantations, there's so many different types she doesn't have a clue about. It isn't a stretch that such powers to kill spirits and ghosts exist. She isn't taking her chances.

It will be fine.

She shivers, taking rapid glances at the aura of the breach.

If I can make it to the breach, it will be fine.

The man cocks his head.

"Right this way, right this way."

She takes a step toward the breach, hoping the man won't notice. He seems to, his eyes become hard.

"Are you listening to me?"

He asks, a twinge of incredulousness laces his voice. She debates leaping for the breach, hoping the man won't catch her. She doesn't know her chances, but she-

Someone passes right through her.

She feels a shiver travel down her back, and she nearly lets out a yelp. It's been a while since a solid object passed through her, she can best describe the sensation like an itching pain, a buzz that makes her wince. A young man walks straight toward the masked man, seemingly taking no notice to her presence. He isn't looking at the masked man either, his gaze is locked onto the Erdtree. Body covered in mud, form on the scrawny side. He looks to be a peasant, though his clothes don't match.

He passes by the breach, and the aura flickers, leaning toward him like a plant seeking sunlight.

It clicks in her head.

A Tarnished.

"Tarnished?"

The masked man says, one of his eyes twitches.

"What might you be doing? Halt."

The Tarnished doesn't stop his stride, drawing close enough to touch the masked man if he leaned in. He isn't halting. The masked man takes a step back, one of his gloved hands reaching for the dagger at his hip. He looks like he's getting ready to fight, but he shouts instead, his mask vibrates from his voice.

"Hey!"

The Tarnished seemingly breaks out of his trance with the Erdtree, leaping backward.

"Yeah!?"He shouts.

She cocks her head, studying the Tarnished over. She forgets about the breach; forgets she should leave and get back to searching. For some reason, following her trend of abstaining from better judgement today, she stays.

Just who might this be?