Walking into the Carian Study Hall, Gawain found the interior in a state of disarray and long-term neglect. While the Royal Family hadn't entirely abandoned control over the facility, it could clearly never return to its former glory.
"The Carian Study Hall houses many scrolls that even the Academy's Grand Library does not possess," Ranni remarked. "I haven't returned here in a long time, but under the watch of Preceptor Miriam and those Fingercreepers, it should be relatively undisturbed. After this, I permit you, as an ally of the Carian Royalty, to take charge of all the scrolls here. Leaving them to rot would be a waste, and I suspect it is a result Mother would be pleased to see."
"Thank you. I won't let your gift go to waste."
"I should hope so. Follow me."
Ranni stepped forward and placed the Carian Inverted Statue upon the central pedestal. Immediately, the entire Study Hall began to shudder violently. The building itself transformed in a manner that would be inconceivable to anyone watching from the outside—it turned completely upside down.
Under Ranni's guidance, Gawain descended through the elevator shaft, now swarming with Fingercreepers, into the heart of the inverted Study Hall. The layout was largely consistent with his memory. He could vaguely sense a pair of eyes watching him from a corner, but no attack came. After all, the person beside him was effectively the sole remaining spokesperson for the Carian Royal Family. Other members were either in self-imposed isolation, turned into snakes, or—in the case of one particular brother—spirited away by a "certain feminine boy."
Reaching the central area through a complex route, Gawain timed his jump perfectly, landing on the large lift mechanism below. The aged wooden structure let out an eerie groan before slowly descending. He pushed open the grand doors, and the Divine Tower of Liurnia stood before them.
Before they could travel far, a black mist coalesced in the air, and a bloated, corpulent figure occupied the center of the road, wreathed in the aura of Black Flame.
However, the moment the Godskin Noble saw who the intruder was, the fiercely burning Black Flame flickered. It wasn't just because the true master of the Divine Tower had returned; it was because the man accompanying Ranni radiated an aura that filled him with both a strange familiarity and primal terror.
Only individuals like the Godskin Apostles, who possessed a profound understanding of fire, could truly grasp the nature of the power within this man—a power that even carried a trace of the essence of their former mistress, the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
Sheathing his stitcher, the Godskin Noble stepped forward and bowed deeply. "Lady Ranni, why have you returned so suddenly? And... who might this individual beside you be?"
"Do not ask unnecessary questions," Ranni replied coldly. "Guard your post and allow no outsiders to approach. Am I clear?"
The Godskin Noble suppressed his curiosity and stepped aside, making a path. However, his eyes remained fixed on the terrifying stranger, and the noble robe made of human skin draped over his shoulders trembled uncontrollably. He was certain—this man carried the power of the Gloam-Eyed Queen. It seemed that even after all these years, the Carians and the Flame were fated to be inseparable.
"Is he a Godskin Noble under your command?" Gawain asked. "I heard there's one beneath General Radahn's Divine Tower as well, though I didn't see him last time."
"I wouldn't call them 'subjects,'" Ranni explained. "Those remnants of the Gloam-Eyed Queen's followers chose to cooperate with the Carian Royalty to resist the Golden Order for their own interests. Though his behavior just now was a bit odd. Was it because of you?"
"Who knows? Maybe he saw something he wasn't supposed to."
Ranni didn't dwell on it, attributing it perhaps to his unique Maiden. However, as they approached their destination, her outward composure began to fray.
"Enough. There is no use in hiding it now. Follow me."
The lift reached the highest point of the tower. Ranni led the way up the final set of stairs, and they emerged onto the summit.
There were no remains of the Two Fingers here. Instead, Gawain was met with a charred, blackened corpse. Even curled in a fetal position, the scale of the body revealed it had once belonged to a demigod. It lay silently in the center of the platform, its hand still clutching a talisman.
A look of nostalgia crossed Ranni's face as she walked toward the corpse. Looking at it was like looking at her former self; memories of the past flooded her mind. She had never thought she would return here, just as she had thought she would never see her mother at the Academy again.
"This body...?"
"This was once me. On the Night of the Black Knives, in order to escape the fate ordained by the Two Fingers, I chose to slay my own flesh to escape in spirit. My body was left here, along with the power of the Rune of Death I had stolen."
Ranni gently pried open the fingers of the corpse and retrieved the talisman, holding it in her hands. She looked up at the star-studded sky, seemingly transported back to the years when her mother had tutored her.
"This depicts my mother's story," she said softly. "A young girl who gazed at the stars and walked the night, traveling to chase them. Later, she met the Full Moon and became a Queen."
Ranni's voice was thick with nostalgia, as if she were telling a story to a faithful listener, or perhaps simply whispering to herself. As she spoke, a Dark Moon manifested behind her, slowly rising into the night sky. The cold moonlight bathed the platform, casting her silhouette in a light that was both lonely and mysterious.
Gawain watched the scene, which felt like a glimpse into the "Age of Stars" ending. For a moment, he was dazed. Was this Ranni's Dark Moon? Gazing at the face hidden behind the doll's features, illuminated by the moon, he found he couldn't look away.
Ranni noticed his dazed expression and smiled subtly, letting the Dark Moon fade.
"Let me tell you a story of the past. As you see, I encountered the Dark Moon as a child under my mother's guidance. Beneath that moon, she gave me this talisman, carved with her story. Back then, Radagon had not yet left the Academy. My two brothers cared for me deeply. Everything moved in its rightful place, as naturally as the stars in the sky."
She recalled her childhood—her happiest and most carefree time. She had thought it would last forever, but that beautiful era was as fleeting as Queen Marika's "Eternity."
Gawain thought of the tragedies that followed. Seeing her reluctance to continue, he spoke for her.
"But then Radagon became the Consort of the Eternal. The oaths he once swore became a joke—merely a stepping stone for him to become a hero, and then a King."
"Indeed. After that man left the Academy, Mother became what she is now."
Ranni's voice was a tangle of complex emotions. While she harbored a deep-seated hatred for her biological father, she had also felt his love during her childhood. During their time in the Capital, Radagon hadn't mistreated the three siblings; Rykard had even become a high-ranking Justiciar. Her feelings were an inseparable knot of love and spite.
"Radagon may have betrayed Mother, but perhaps out of a need to monitor us—or perhaps out of some lingering guilt—he brought the three of us to the Capital and assigned us our duties. Some loyal servants followed us there as well. It was then that I was chosen by the Two Fingers as an Empyrean. Among the demigods, only Miquella and Malenia shared that status."
She recalled her feelings at the time: a mix of fury and helplessness. She refused to be a puppet, but she was powerless against the Golden Order at its zenith. From that moment, she began calculating how to gather enough power to break free. Her brothers were only too happy to join her in that plan.
"From the Two Fingers, I was given my Shadow, Blaidd. And Iji, who had cared for me since my time at the Academy, followed me to the Capital. When I decided to defy the Two Fingers and commit my betrayal, only those two remained at my side until now. Unlike those other traitors, they stayed—even knowing that in the end, I would betray everything and cast it all away."
Ranni turned to look at Gawain. For a moment, she saw the silhouettes of Blaidd and Iji standing beside him.
"They are both hopeless, softhearted fools. And so are you. But I must thank you. With you here, at least their fates might change."
"So, I'm a 'hopeless do-gooder' in your eyes? It's a good thing you don't know what I was like before."
Gawain thought of his journey as an Ashen One. His reputation was anything but "softhearted." In Irithyll alone, he had slain enough Silver Knights who betrayed the gods to form a small mountain—not for Proofs of a Concord Kept, but simply to vent his rage on behalf of his Company Captain.
"However... if it's for someone I like, I don't mind playing the do-gooder. No matter what the future holds, I'm willing to see it through with you. Helping you on this journey is my own choice. Call me 'hopeless' if you wish."
Ranni looked at the man speaking such bold, earnest words with a look of resignation. Her heart was a whirlwind of emotions; he was the only one who dared to speak to her with such "flippancy," yet she found she didn't know how to rebut him.
"Sigh... if only you weren't so obsessed with becoming the King of all," she whispered, turning her gaze toward the distant, sky-obscuring Erdtree to hide her burning cheeks.
"I am sorry, but I cannot reciprocate your feelings," she continued. "As I have said, my Order is with the Moon and the Stars. I once swore that all the loneliness at the end of the long night should belong to me alone. You are different. I saw it the moment we met—you remind me of the first Prince, Godwin, who once seemed flawless. Your light shines upon every soul within your reach. Yet you are not like him. You lack the sickening hypocrisy of the Golden Order. That 'Sullen Sun' could never provide true warmth. I believe that in the near future, you will collect the Great Runes of all the demigods and repair the Elden Ring. The Lands Between will then welcome a King unlike any in history. That is the path you should walk."
Ranni's words were devoid of falsehood. In their time together, she had initially tried to trust him because of her brother's words, but now she truly, deeply acknowledged the "hopeless fool" before her.
"In my eyes, the living beings of this world should be far removed from all Orders, left to think in the dark, free to choose their own path. But if the Order is created by you, and ruled by a King such as yourself... perhaps the Lands Between could have a better future. Certainly better than one under those arrogant Two Fingers. But in neither of those futures is there a place for me. So, even though our paths have overlapped for so long, we must eventually part. I have been happy during this time, but once the Baleful Shadow is hunted, it will indeed be time to say goodbye."
Gawain fell silent. He knew what Ranni was thinking. Her Order lay beyond the world. In her vision, the Elden Ring itself should not exist. Her "Age of Stars" involved her becoming the vessel for the Ring and taking it away from the Lands Between, leaving its inhabitants to their own devices.
She wanted to take the "problem" away and trust in the wisdom of those who remained. While removing the "spaghetti code" of the Golden Order would grant true freedom, it would inevitably lead to another "battle royale" to decide the next winner.
In Ranni's eyes, her goals and his goal of becoming Elden Lord were fundamentally incompatible. Even if she harbored her own "unrealistic fantasies," she believed she couldn't reciprocate his feelings—that it was better for both of them this way.
Gawain smiled knowingly. Ranni was still the Ranni he remembered—firmly walking her own path, her independent spirit unswayable. But she clearly hadn't seen through his true intentions.
"I respect your choice, and I will help you to the very end. But I thought after traveling together for so long, you would have realized my true thoughts. I didn't expect you to have such a high opinion of me, though. You're making me blush. But do you really think I can rule the entire Lands Between and give it a better future? I would never be so arrogant as to overestimate my own abilities."
Ranni froze. Had she been wrong all along? Was he not as obsessed with kingship as she thought? If that were true, perhaps he really could...
Gawain interrupted her thoughts with a self-deprecating laugh.
"I know exactly what I'm capable of. I do believe I will become a King in the eyes of others, but my understanding of a King is likely different from yours—and contrary to the understanding of this world. I think my limit is coming up with reasonable concepts and ideas, and then letting those with actual talent execute them. Look at Stormveil. I haven't spent much time there lately, yet everything is improving. They're even planning to clear the Aeonia Swamp on their own now. It seems my worries were unnecessary."
"You mean... you don't intend to intervene in the specific affairs of the Lands Between's future?"
"I mean I don't have the capacity to intervene, so I'd rather not make a mess. In the place where I used to be active, there were many people like me who were Kings. We shared a common name: Lords of Cinder. To use one's own body as kindling to light a cursed world—that was the reason we threw ourselves into the fire."
Gawain thought of the Nox. Though he didn't agree with their methods, he couldn't deny that theirs was a brilliant era for humanity.
"The Lands Between has many brilliant people—far more than you or I imagine. Even the most unremarkable person can create something astounding. Their collective strength far exceeds what you or I could achieve alone."
In the past, Ranni might not have believed such a claim. As a Princess raised in the Royal Family, her focus had always been on demigods and the Two Fingers. She didn't "discriminate" against mortals; she simply ignored them. In a world full of monsters and gods, how could the strength of mortals compare to a single bloom of Scarlet Rot?
But now, she had a different perspective. This man had a knack for picking out interesting individuals from the masses—like that bald sorcerer, Thops. She had heard of his research; for a mere apprentice to create such a thing was unheard of.
"So, you place your hope in them? You intend to take all the combat and pain upon your shoulders, eliminate every threat, and then... let go?"
Gawain shook his head. That wasn't his vision either.
"No, that wouldn't work either. The collective strength of mortals is great, but they've never truly used it. They are divided by factions, fighting and wasting energy against one another. They've never been truly united. Ranni, even if you achieve your goal and remove all shackles from life in the Lands Between, can you guarantee that another Mother of Fingers—or an even greater calamity—won't descend from the sky to seize control of their destinies once more?"
Ranni remained silent. She had imagined that once free, life would create brilliant achievements like the ancient stargazers on the mountaintops. But it was just as likely they would spiral into an even more desperate abyss.
"If the final result is another such cycle, then it is no concern of mine," she said eventually. "Perhaps thousands of years from now, another stargazer will look at the sky and raise the banner of rebellion against whatever entity imprisons their fate."
"Perhaps in ancient times, another stargazing girl had the same thought and acted on it? Rather than trusting in those who come after, why not seize the opportunity we have now? I am moving toward becoming the Elden Lord. To that end, I will collect as many Great Runes as possible to repair the Elden Ring and, upon that foundation, reshape the broken laws."
Gawain clenched his fist, feeling the Great Runes that had already merged with his Dark Sigil. He had always intended to re-tread his path of hunting Lords of Cinder here, gathering every Great Rune for himself.
"After that, I will not interfere in the daily affairs of the world. Instead, I will use the power of the Elden Ring to establish a barrier for all life—to shield them from the malice of the Stars. Stormhawks will one day grow strong enough to face the storms of Stormveil on their own. But to expect them to grow into eagles before they've even pecked through their shells, without becoming food or pets in the process... that seems a bit too optimistic."
Ranni let out a long breath. "You truly have envisioned a beautiful future. But can you really accomplish such a thing? You would face threats far beyond the Lands Between, and far beyond the Two Fingers. Do you truly believe you can withstand that pressure?"
"I don't know. But someone needs to do it, so why not me? And I've never been alone. Just as a certain Great King of Sunlight once threw himself into the fire to sustain the world, this responsibility is linked to every living thing. No one can stand apart. So you see, our destinies are not in conflict. They have been entwined from the start. What we seek is the same. You don't need to betray or cast aside everything for your Order. Blaidd, Iji, and I—we won't leave you."
Ranni was at a loss. She had never heard such direct, bold words. She didn't know what expression to make. After a moment of internal struggle, she resigned herself to her fate. This man had been entangled with her from the start, just like Blaidd used to chase her around when she was small. There was no escape.
She tried to put on a dignified front, reaching out a hand to signal him to come closer.
"Since you put it that way... the power of the Witch Ranni is not unwilling to be your strength. But do not celebrate too early. This comes with a price. To accept a witch's goodwill is to be under my gaze forever. I shall watch your every move. You must uphold the promises you just made. If I find you have betrayed your oath, like Radagon... I shall not forgive you."
"Honestly, what kind of person do you take me for? But I knew you wouldn't refuse me."
"Stop with the idle chatter. Sit. I have a gift for you—consider it thanks for these past days."
"A gift? What's so mysterious that I have to sit down for it?"
Gawain was pushed to the ground before he could get an answer. Ranni's doll face showed a hint of hesitation, and the faint, true image of her spirit beside it looked visibly shy. Finally, she sat down facing him. Her doll-face and her spirit slowly approached his.
The doll's upper hands rested on his shoulders, while the lower hands reached out to interlock her fingers with his. She spoke with a tone of command that brooked no refusal.
"Do not move. Accept this gift."
As she leaned in, their foreheads touched under the starlight. They could clearly feel each other's temperature—one as cold as the Dark Moon, one as hot as the blazing Sun.
A Great Rune, enveloped in a chilling aura, slowly drifted out of Ranni's doll body and merged into Gawain's. It was a complete, fully activated transfer.
"This is... your Great Rune?! The rumors said you discarded it after the Night of the Black Knives to sever your status as a demigod!"
Ranni's lips curled into a sly smile. She had successfully fooled everyone once again.
"You said it yourself—they are rumors. While I did discard my status and my body to ensure the plan's success, that doesn't mean I would allow anyone else to lay a finger on my Rune. Its power is too great to ignore. Even if I had no use for it, I had to keep it. I kept it hidden until I could reclaim it. Today, I entrust it to you. Guard it well, and do not bring shame to the name of Ranni."
As the ceremony concluded, Ranni's aloof facade finally cracked. She immediately let go of his hands. A small amount of contact should have sufficed; she didn't know why she had reached out to interlock her fingers with his.
Before she could pull her other hands away, Gawain pulled her doll body into a firm embrace. His warmth reached her soul through the doll's sensors. She tapped his back in a futile attempt to get him to let go, but she couldn't break free.
Finally, giving up, she petulantly wrapped her arms around his waist. They remained there, locked together on the summit of the Divine Tower. There was no one to disturb them tonight; even the stars were held at bay by the light of the Dark Moon.
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Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash (229 chapter - Ongoing)
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