Galus stared at the mountain of a man, sitting on the decapitated armored horse, the rider struggling at Godfrey's grip around his neck. Godfrey looked at Galus and then to the rider, then grabbed rider by the head and wrenched it to the right, then to the left and then heaved and their head went off like a damn dandelion. Godfrey got grabbing his massive battleaxe from the ground below severed stump of it's neck and cleaned it off.

Galus got down from his horse, and hesitantly approached him. "Uh, hello... There..."

Nepheli came up beside Galus and looked at Godfrey. "You look... Familiar..." She said.

Godfrey looked at her, then at the rest of the group. "A shard bearer, a knight of the round table, an outlander, a disgraced knight, a blind woman, and an albinauric. If this weren't the start of a bad joke I don't know what is." Lobo chuffed and the spectral Serosh on Godfrey's back gave a low growl.

Galus closed his eyes and hoped that they wouldn't be murdered by this giga Chad. "Listen, we're just wanting to get past this place as fast as we can, maybe cause a little bit of Chaos while we're here."

Edgar looked at Galus like he was mad. "Lower your head that's-"

Galus waved him off. "Godfrey, I know, the man who had it all and then got kicked out by his wife because he was no longer useful."

Godfrey looked over toward the decapitated horse. "You have no idea how true that is..."

Galus looked at him. "But you still want to be elden lord."

Godfrey hesitated, but nodded. "I do."

Galus gestured to Nepheli. "Even if it requires the murder of your children?"

Godfrey turned on him and pointed at him. "Do not judge me, you have no idea what it is to fall from grace!"

Galus chuckled. "You're right, but if I'm honest, if I wanted to kill myself, I'd jump from the height of your power to the depth of your squalor."

Godfrey sighed. "For. Your information, I'm not here to kill Morgott... I'm here to finally become the father I always should have been... Now you there," Godfrey pointed at Nepheli. "Where'd you get those axes?"

Nepheli looked at them and ran her thumb on the hawk embroidery on the axe. "My father gave these to me, before he left for war, when I was just four..."

Godfrey gave a small smile under his small beard. "You couldn't even lift them up back then."

Nepheli looked at him. "How did you..."

Godfrey nodded. "What happened to Gideon? He was supposed to be watching over you."

Lattena raised a hand. "I used him as target practice."

Godfrey glared. "He was a good friend of mine..." He growled.

Galus stepped between them. "He destroyed her home, killed her people, she killed him, it's that simple."

Godfrey stepped forward staring down at Galus, now Galus was tall but Godfrey made Blaidd look like a rat terrier, about ten foot tall.

Nepheli looked at Godfrey. "Your last name, what is it?"

Godfrey looked away from Galus. "Loux, my name is Horah Loux, warrior."

Nepheli looked down, Galus could see she was already processing Gideon's death, this was complicating things.

Godfrey nodded toward the gate. "Come on then, all of you, let's go."

Galus shrugged following behind the battleaxe wielding mountain. "So uh, where are we going?"

Godfrey grunted as he kicks in the gate to Leyndell which had been locked. It flew off it's hinges Galus saw cracks form on the wall around the gateway. "My old keep, place is an armory, built to withstand an extended siege, it's got a garden where fruit and vegetables are grown, a well, about three armies worth of weapons."

Galus nodded. "And uh, why are we going there?"

Godfrey laughed. "Because! That's where I left my favorite ale!"

Galus didn't drink, he'd had problems with a father who'd drink to much and whip him with a leather belt. "We're going to the Haligtree, and I for one don't have much time for drinks."

Godfrey waved a hand over a root cluster in the middle of the bridge, and Galus decided it'd probably be best for him not to tear this one apart. "That's your choice boy, but good luck convincing my son to let you get out of here alive, much less to wherever this Haligtree is."

Lattena spoke up. "It's over past the mountain tops of the giants."

Godfrey grunted. "That's not exactly a place many go, unless they had their eyes torn out and were wrapped in thorns. But I get the feeling you want express tickets."

Galus smiled. "Yeah, I've already lost one eye so let's call it a discount, but hey, I think I can pull off the crown of thorns, I hear it's all the rage among religious martyr fashion design."

They came up to the destroyed portion of the wall, and the view of Leyndell was a hundred times more stunning in person. And the positively massive corpse of the stone dragon Granssax lied at the edge of the city. "Wow..." Nepheli said, and some of the others nodded in agreement, aside from Lattena that was, and Galus was right there with her. "Huh, seeing a lot of gold here, probably got something really ugly to hide." Galus looked pointedly at Godfrey.

Godfrey saw that and gave him a pointed look as well. "Insinuating something boy?"

Galus nodded. "Who wants to take a family trip to the sewers?!" He announced.

Everyone looked at him like he'd just taken a shit on their breakfast. Except for Godfrey, who just sighed. "That law was passed at the end of my reign, by my wife, I... Didn't want to do it, but I could sense my favor was waning, so I went along with it to hold onto my power."

Galus sighed. "Bureaucracy..."

Godfrey nodded sitting down on the edge looking over the city. "Yeah, but how do you know about the Omen? I know damn well you're not from here, and most people who are from here, don't know about the fact this city has a rotten foundation."

Galus sat down next to him. "That's a complicated story, one I might tell you some day."

Godfrey growled and Galus was afraid he was about to push him over the side or something.

Galus was honestly tired of repeating the whole story, he never liked lying as he was a man who prided himself on his honesty so it physically hurt every time he told the story, but at the same time how the hell could he explain what a video game is to a man in a medieval world.

Serosh growled and Godfrey nodded. "We should get going, I'll skip the keep, I can always come back to it." Godfrey got up.

Galus quickly backed up from it as well and got up and quickly followed along, eventually coming to a rampart.

Edgar looked at the dragons corpse. "Lord above, how was there not more damage to the city? That thing could have swiped it's giant lightning bolt to the right and destroyed half the cities buildings."

Godfrey grunted. "That was after my time."

Galus looked thoughtful. "Anyone else notice the massive claw marks on it's side?"

Edgar looked at them. "Yeah, why?"

Galus shook his head. "I'd have to look closer but the gold inside the wound is darker, as if it was burned."

Lattena looked at the clawmarks. "What are you thinking?"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Galus thought a moment. "Heard a story a while back, that Granssax lead a rebellion against the dragon lord Placidusax, the dragons who once would form an impenetrable wall of stone around him in battle turned against him, those claw marks remind me of the claws of Placidusax who could form claws made from lightning, it'd explain why they're dark and scorched."

Godfrey grunted. "Hell of a story boy."

Edgar looked at the massive bolt of lightning. "I still don't get it, how did they manage to kill this massive creature before it destroyed everything. Far as I can see all it would need to do is roll over and the city would be crushed."

Galus shook his head. "Can't help you in that department, I'd I had to guess it was Godwyn maybe with Lanssax and her brother, can't remember who they are."

Godfrey smiled. "That's my boy, where is little Godwyn by the way, last I saw him he was a little older than Nephi."

Galus winced. "He died... Like... Died died... And is currently showing the roots of the erd tree a new meaning of the word pain."

Godfrey's smile vanished like a light. "Who did that?"

Galus probably made a mistake so he'd take the guy punch and lie once more. "Marika, the assassins were numen who were close to her."

Godfrey growled and Serosh gave a roar and Galus saw the anger fade slightly but not completely. "Why would she do that?"

Galus sighed. "A plot, to destroy the elden ring and the erd tree, by killing it by the roots, because she tires of serving as a vessel for the greater will."

Godfrey closed his eyes, and a tear ran down his cheek. "I... Cannot believe you."

Galus nodded. "It's hard to believe. I wouldn't believe me either if I were in your shoes."

They continued on. Godfrey not breathing a word as they walked.

Galus saw some of the Envoys, he wasn't sure if they'd be hostile, though the music they played was... Unsettling.

One of the envoys turned and tried to hit Godfrey with his dinky little trumpet, though he was just smacked with Godfrey's fist and white goop splattered the wall and floor. One of the larger envoys rolled toward them and swung it's not so dinky trumpet and in fact looked like a Japanese Kanabo without the spikes. Godfrey grabbed it's trumpet midswing and ripped it from their grasp before ramming it down their throat the trumpet made a wheezing sound and then gurgles as white blood bubbled up from the tubes and ran like a fountain. Galus turned summoning his discs and tossed them they zipped and cut through a couple of envoys their little snowman bodies sheered in half.

Galus watched as a three golden bubbles appeared around him, and he dodged away as they exploded in a splash of oil like liquid, it splashed on the stone and Galus saw it sizzle on the stone though not quite xenomorph level of acid it was slower and eventually stopped and disappeared about an inch into the stone. Now he realized why little bubbles actually hurt in the game.

Galus walked over to the next recalling the discs to his hands and wielded them as war fans again as he rushed toward the next three, though he saw them each get struck in the head by arrows before he could kill them.

Edgar went in and skewered one of the creatures with his halberds spear tip and then used its long shaft like a fulcrum on his shoulder to launch it's corpse into the city.

------------

Meanwhile a couple of Leyndell soldiers are patrolling along the streets and a corpse of an envoy lands in front of them with a white splat. They look at eachother then at the corpse, then up at the ramparts of the wall and see the fighting going on up on the walls.

The older of the two soldiers looked at the other. "Go gather reinforcements, we have more tarnished at the walls."

The younger soldier looked at him. "Shouldn't our outer patrols have alerted us to the invading force?"

The older one shook his head. "Can't alert us if they're dead."

The younger man paled. "That's impossible, we have nearly a hundred soldiers patrolling Altus for intruders they can't all be dead!"

The older soldier smacked him in the helmet. "I said go alert the others and stop working on logistics!"

The soldier saluted with a fist to his chest and booked it to the nearest knight so they could rally the forces.

----------

Lattena spotted Lobos ear twitch as he padded on the street, then his nose twitch and he turned sniffing the air, Lobo padded over to the corner around a house, the two looked over the corner and Lattena's eyes widened as she saw a large contingent of troops marching toward her position, Edgar looked around the corner and saw the way the troops were positioned, he whispered. "Looks like a shield wall, if you can get above them they should be defenseless unless they raise their shields above their heads. In that case we'd need something to cause an explosion in their midst."

Galus nodded, and turned to Irina who was holding the horses. "Stay here, and Nepheli can protect you. I'll climb up onto the roof and cause some mayhem in their ranks while Edgar ans Lattena distract them in their front."

Galus climbed up to the roof and took out an old guitar he'd found on Korne's old mule. So he did what he really wanted to do for a while, and started playing a song a bit harder than it was probably made to withstand. "Good morning Leyndell! Let's get this party started!" He proceeded to summon three large rings of light and threw them into the main body of the army and then had the three rings start spinning rapidly and expanding the circle, many of the soldier's in the center of the enemy legion were being cut up. Galus jumped down toward the center of the bloodied street and threw the guitar over his shoulder watching it break apart, he always wanted to host a rock concert. He landed on one of his discs and walked down them like a staircase. He opened his arms wide, he had no quarrels with killing Leyndell soldiers, to him it was like killing inquisitors in the witch hunts or Nazis, and who didn't like killing Nazis?

Edgar gaped at Galus, he was acting completely different than he usually did, he never seemed to enjoy killing save for where it was either necessary or when it would save another's life, but here he was reveling in their deaths like it was a game, Edgar heard him say he hated the golden order but he didn't know he hated them to this degree.

Edgar charged the front line and flew over their shield wall with a gust of storm wind before coming down with a blast of storm wind that blew a couple off their feet and the rest of them stumbled back or to the side or forwards with their shield wall sufficiently disrupted Lattena shot the shield bearers who had their shields knocked to the side or stumbled in such a way that their shield wasn't completely covering them. Slowly and surely the army that was split down the middle was slowly destroyed, Galus had all but taken care of the middle of the army, leaving the front of it to Lattena and Edgar, Godfrey took the back of the army, it was a massacre.

Galus recalled the discs save for one which he used as a shield, And unsheathed his sword. One of the survivors ran at him with their sword and shield, Galus swung his shield sheering through their sword then kicked him over onto his back and skewered him with his sword, though they blocked it with their shield. Galus ducked a sword as a second soldier came charging at him, he kicked the soldier and threw his shield at him cutting through his mid section and then recalled it to his wrist, he turned to see a Leyndell soldier try to punch him with his shield, it landed and Galus felt it clang his helmet. He stumbled backwards and shook his head before punching the soldier with his own shield his head in half. He turned and saw an actual knight walking toward him.

The knight raised his sword and pointed it at him. "Blasphemer! Fight me!"

Galus shrugged. "You're fucked either way but I have a few seconds to spare." He said throwing his discus shield and the knight dodged it like a pro, Galus shrugged and brought it back and it went right through the knights head taking it off at the neck. So Galus continued fighting the remnants.

Godfrey all but mowed down Leyndell troops his axe sweeping and bodies falling, Godrick felt he should feel something but Serosh just weighed too much for him to focus on the thrill of battle, for all the thrill it brought him he was just scything through oddly screamy grass.

By the time Galus looked around nearly all the soldiers were dead, only a few were left with Lattena and Edgar. And on Godfrey's side none remained.

Almost as soon as the last ones died a tentative Perfumer came out from hiding. "Uh, excuse me, would you allow us to treat our wounded?" They asked in a feminine voice.

Galus grunted and gestured. "If you can find any alive they're yours."

The perfume had a cloth tied to their face but Galus saw in her eyes that she looked surprised.

Galus walked over and told Irina and Nepheli it's safe to come out, and they continued over to the huge gates near the interior wall, some guards tried to nail them with crossbows from the ramparts above but after Lattena shot six arrows and his six heads they seemed to retreat leaving them unchallenged in their approach.

Godfrey kicked the gates down and walked in through, Galus and party following along until coming to a large root, they started walking along the large roots. And eventually had to fight some tree guardians, Galus unmasked one what was underneath wasn't pretty, it looked like someone had started growing bark out of their skin, he even noticed their feet were all rooted and their fingers just branches. Galus inspected the mask before tossing it over the side and into the roiling waters below. Galus was surprised the horses were holding up so well with the fighting and the heights, but these were horses bred and trained for war he supposed.

Galus honestly wondered if he'd get to see a Godfrey vs Godfrey fight of the millenia, he didn't get to wonder for long because he turned to Edgar to ask if he could pass a flask of water but no sound came, he tried to speak again this time louder. Still nothing. Had he gone deff? He started to hear the ringing in his ears when things got too quiet. it was a high pitched sound. And then he saw something wizz by, a damn crossbow bolt and it smelled like something died. He looked over to the where the bolt came from, there was a man in a black cape and hood up there aiming another bolt, Galus summoned a discus shield and the bolt collided with it, he summoned two more so there wouldn't be any opportunity targets. Galus tapped Edgar in the shoulder who jumped and looked at him. Galus tried to speak again, pointing in the direction of the sniper but again no sound came out of his mouth, Edgar shook his head not understanding. Galus mimed shooting a crossbow, he was actually pretty good at charades and could do some pretty damn good initiations of actions. Edgar tried to speak but nothing came out and Tragoth looked slightly panicked, evidently this was like something out of a campfire story. Fucking, confessors.

Hopped onto one of the discs and unsheathed his sword, he wished he realized he could ride discs a long time ago, but he supposed this was Miquella's way of making sure Galus didn't get preconceptions about how these worked thus not making him think of any other solutions with the tools he had, because when you had a hammer every problem looked like a nail, but if you had a hammer, you could figure out a way to screw in screws with the crowbar part of the hammer, one could get very creative when their arsenal is limited.

He raised a second disc to shield him on his approach, before throwing it at the erd tree root the confessor was on, but the disc couldn't cut the massive root, go figure.

Galus ducked a bolt and recalled it and leapt off landing beside the glorified assassin and struck with his sword as he landed they blocked it with a black sword and blasted him in the face with a blot or shadows, he couldn't see, was this jackass somekind of squid? Galus waited and he felt the swords tip start to dig into his back, so he quickly spun and slashed. He felt his sword hit something and felt someone brush past him, he struck again, and after a few seconds his eyes were free of the dark fog. He saw a blood trail along the tree root, evidently they didn't expect someone who larped blindfolded for funsies. He looked down and saw he cut off their arm. Meaning they'd probably bleed out before too long. He snapped his fingers, he could hear again.

He walked inside the boss room where the trail lead and saw a distinct pattern on the floor, engraved in gold was what looked to be a sword and axe behind a circle. The gold glowed and a golden Godfrey stood before him, his axe not broken it looked from left then to the right, it spotted Galus and he gulped, he turned to leave but a golden barrier blocked his way, the same barrier that should be on the gate to Leyndell, Galus didn't understand, they only had one shard bearer, unless either Tragoth or Godfrey claimed a great rune.

Galus ducked an axe to the face and narrowly ran away from the landing body or Godfrey. He turned and in a blur he attempted to cut through the aberration, but it blocked him with it's axe, Gals thought he might try something so he touched the axe before dashing away, he attempted to summon the axe, no luck, he supposed it either had to be completely in his hands or it had to be a real weapon, he didn't know yet he was still figuring out his abilities so instead he summoned a second hound fang sword and went at it. Galus saw something in the corner of his eye and narrowly dodged a thrown black sword, he saw it was dripping with poison.

He looked and saw that fucking confessor again, he took a step forward and then his vision doubled, and he felt his heart skip a beat. He looked back at the sword, then looked down at his chest. He summoned his discus and threw it at the confessor, he stumbled and fell onto his chest, he fell unconscious.

------------

Edgar grunted, he'd seen the fight between Galus and the Confessor, and then watched him chase the confessor inside, that was nearly five minutes ago and the sounds of a struggle as if something big was rampaging inside the building. "He's been in there too long."

They walked over to the entrance, the entrance sealed with a golden glow. Godfrey slammed his battle axe's pommel into the stone and slammed his fist into the seal, it didn't budge, the stone however, that cracked, so he pressed his palm to the stone and then reared back and slammed his palm onto the stone, a shockwave ripping the stone asunder and the stones flew inwards.

Lattena ride in on Lobo, firing q barrage at the cloaked figure holding a dagger above his head about to stab Galus in the chest. The man fell backwards and Godfrey walked inside behind her.

He looked around and saw a glowing golden version of... Himself, Godfrey shook his head slowly. "Oh Morgott... I am so sorry... That is the father I should have been, one who protected my children..."

He walked over to the aberration and kicked the thing into the wall, then punched it, his fist passing through it's chest, it cracked like stone before shattering in chunks of fading gold soon the aberration was nothing more than a small sparkle, he grabbed the spark and held it to his chest.

He heard scraping stone behind him, and turned seeing a perfumer who looked tentative, he shuffled over to Galus' body and was met with a halberd pointed at them. "What are you planning to do?"

The perfumer spoke in a feminine voice. "H-he let us treat our wounded, I thought I'd... I'd... Help him..."

Edgar huffed and lowered his halberd and saw the wounds on Galus' back. The chainmail beneath the plates was broken and leather torn, all of which had nearly stopped the confessors blade, but it had dug an inch into his back before the the wound tore and streaked to the left and a scrape along the chain mail showed how he turned after being stabbed. Edgar saw there was a trail of slime along the chainmail and much inside of the wound.

The perfumer looked over the wound and opened a small satchel, and gleaming surgical tools gleamed in the light. "He doesn't have much time, confessor poisons are potent, I'd know, I invented them."

She grabbed her scalpel and made an incision on the wound and puss came oozing out. "Ah, I see, it's an infectant, so that means it's toxic mushroom mixed with powdered Miranda lilly, stirred into resin and slathered on the blade. You can see here some fungus attempting to grow." Indeed there was a few white specks trying to grow on the rapidly rotting flesh. "The best way to save his life would be to burn away the rot. Fire is banned in Leyndell but luckily I'm a perfumer, and I have special privileges."

Edgar watched her work she took out a vial of what looked like cinders and put in a rowa cotton swab into the glowing cinders and slowly the end lit on fire and she took it out before putting it onto his flesh, the most gangrenous flesh and to Edgar's surprise when the fire touched his flesh the rot seemed to burn away before his eyes, it retreated until the greenish white speckled flesh was replaced with puffy red. After that she gave him a green bolus. "It's a mix between the two poisons, it requires two cures to get rid of it completely." She explained.

Edgar knelt down next to Galus and put a hand in his chest. "You alright bud?"

The perfumer looked down at Galus. "He'll be out for about an hour."