Galus stepped up onto a large root and saw exactly what he was expecting. a group of scarlet Valkyries surrounding another scarlet Valkyrie with a prosthetic, he saw a bunch of violet fire closing around them, and they were clearly trying to kill Millicent before the fire reached them, and in the lead of these Valkyries was none other than the girl who'd attacked him in limgrave.

Galus leapt down to the pond and walked through the mostly harmless violet flames burning a path through the pond. he shouted. "Hey, don't you think that fighting six v one is a fair fight? I'm sure she could kick your collective ass but I'm not one to miss out on a righteous ass kicking." the girls turned around in surprise and Millicent did not miss a beat cutting down two of them and punching the other with her prosthetic. that's three down three to go.

Galus grinned as the central girl snarled. "You..."

"Me." He said a cheshire smile.

"Is there nothing you won't ruin for me?!" She screamed leaping at him and swinging her sword.

He leapt back his prosthetic's blade launching him into the air as it unfolded, he soared right over her sword and raised a hand as he soared and summoned a discus of light shrinking it down and shooting it at her at the speed of an angry wasp and pierced right through her leg. he summoned a second though left this one as a regular size and used it to glide back down to the ground, he saw the other two Valkyries running at him flanking like fucking velociraptors, he landed and swung his discus to the over his and released his grip, making it spin around him spinning around him and he danced back as the one with the spear smacked his discus out of the air.

He blocked the dual scimitars of the second one with his sword and unfolded the prosthetic blade again and kicked, sending a gust of lightning and storm wind at the woman, she dodged back but got blown back and into a large root, you can't dodge the wind, it's part of what made Nepheli so damn powerful, though being the daughter of the paragon of giga chads and having the great rune of the golden lineage definitely didn't hurt. He spun backwards, his sword over his head and brought it around in a wide slash, the ethereal amber sword that extended his reach and power, he slashed the last woman who had tried to attack him again.

Galus turned seeing the lead bitch getting up wiping a drip of crimson tears from the corner of her mouth. He rolled his shoulders and popped his neck as he approached her, she smiled getting into a stance. he waved his sword over his head in a long slow arch, about five small swords floating around him, all small curved hound swords, and they shot at her with almost bullet speed. she slashed them out of the air, before rushing him, he skipped backwards and narrowly dodged a stab from her sword, his peg leg tapped onto the ashy shore and leapt to the side as she slashed at him, he countered with a downward slash though she parried his sword with her own and her hand glowed with a toxic light and blasted a cloud of green spores at him, he covered his face with his cloak just in time and closed his eye, though now he was all but blind, all... but. he ripped off his eyepatch, he was definitely regretting not using this in his fight with Crepus. His eye rolled around in his skull until the rune faced the outside world and glowed, his vision gained a bluish hue and he could see an aura around the girl and... another one behind her.

Before she could swing her sword at him a golden fist slammed into the back of her head, He could almost see the little blue birds chirping while they merrily fly circles around her head before she fell to the ground unconscious. Millicent his fucking hero of the day stood before him, apparently she wasn't the trusting type anymore because she pointed her damn sword at him, he was pretty sure the last person he'd met who hadn't pointed a weapon at him as soon as they saw him was Nepheli, though she was still a broken girl back then. He looked at her with look that basically said 'really man?' but she didn't relent. "Who are you." She said in a rather commanding voice.

Galus looked down at the body, then back to her. "By the looks of it, someone who shares a common goal with you."

She made a scoffing noise. "the hell do you know of my goals?"

Galus shrugged. "Well, so far as I see it, this can end one of two ways. Option one, you can martyr yourself right here and turn into a puddle of rotten flesh in the hopes that someone will give the unalloyed golden needle to Malenia. Option two, you can keep your needle, and we can go get Miquella to make her a new one and you both live without dying a gruesome death. of course there's always that ever coveted third door where you kill me and leave my body to feed the gulls while you then proceed to martyr yourself and hope that someone else can give your needle to Malenia."

Millicent looked at him, no, studied him for an entire minute straight before speaking. "And how do you propose we find Miquella? he's been missing for at least fifty years, smarter men than you have tried to find him."

Galus winced at the comment, but stayed his course. "I know exactly where he is, he lies beneath Caelid."

Millicent raised an eyebrow. "Really." She said, clearly skeptical.

Galus nodded. "Believe me or don't but if I'm right you and Malenia will get to live and we can rebuild the haligtree to what it was meant to be, a haven for those on the fringes. If I'm wrong the needle's right there for you to pull later."

Millicent looked at him. "I might have a fountain of time but Malenia-"

Galus cut her off. "Is a big girl who can take care of herself, she's been dealing with this since birth, I'm sure she can deal with it for a few more weeks."

Millicent studied him for a second longer then nodded. "Fine, three weeks, if we don't find him by then I-" She was cut off by one of the soldiers who came huffing after him.

"Sir, don't run off like that..." the soldier trailed off as he caught his breath.

Galus turned. "I had it in hand, in the meantime grab some chains and shackle them." Galus turned back to Millicent but he saw that she had fainted from the flames of slumber. He sighed and picked her up and handed her to the soldier. "Put her into the nicest room we have that doesn't belong to lord Miquella or Lady Malenia, and make damned sure she has her sword with her, I don't need her tearing down half the city looking for it, trying to build trust and disarming someone against their will is a sure way to destroy whatever trust there is. As for the rest bring them to whatever equates to a prison here."

The soldier heaved as Millicent's weight practically made the tired soldier fall over. he smiled as the rest of the soldiers came over the ridge and the soldier passed Millicent to them relaying Galus' orders.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Galus walked over to the entryway to the next area and hopped down the ladder and into the aqua duct. he walked casually sheathing his sword and turned the corner stopping to survey the view, looked like the fire had spread to the rest of the haligtree, but he'd noticed that the flames didn't effect living creatures, atleast not the rot inside them, if they were dead or inanimate it was a different story, but the rot was still inside of a living shell. he'd seen that firsthand when his flames failed to hurt the rot kin pests.

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

Lattena saw the flames approaching, it was almost a comfort to see the flames of slumber, she knew Lobo wouldn't be effected as he was a follower of Saint Trina, but she was pleasantly surprised to see that the soldiers also weren't effected, she saw the haligtree symbols on their tabards and gold crowns glow a pale gold. Herself however was feeling a little dizzy and the ants in front of them went limp some falling off the walls followed by burning fungus and lichen. "Go in... kill the queen ant... and any you see along the way..." She said before lying on Lobo's back and falling asleep. The Soldiers around her started forward and into the cave killing any ants in their way as they made their way into the burning cave which was almost blindingly bright.

Lattena looked around seeing a field filled with gold and silver flowers it was night, and the silver petals seemed to glow in the moonlight, a pair of thrones sat in the dark grass, she was seemingly alone in this rather beautiful place. "So, he actually did it..." She heard a feminine voice behind her, she twisted around and faced a small girl with silver hair and violet eyes. "I didn't think he'd actually burn the haligtree, but frankly I'm glad he didn't use actual fire."

Lattena frowned. "I'm sorry, I need to get back to the waking world lady Trina."

"No, The troops are protected by their crests, they can take care of the ants, I've been wanting to talk to you anyways." Trina said. "James, what do you think of him?"

"Who?" Lattena asked.

"Right, he's been going by a new name Galus, your thoughts." She said, a bit of annoyance in her tone.

"I like him, We've been fighting for about two weeks now and he's shown none of the hostility toward me or my kind that many other humans do, hell he even went out of his way to rescue my people." Lattena said, a small smile on her face.

"And you plan to accompany him on his mission to kill Mohg?" Trina asked, as she sat down in front of lattena and plucked a flower.

"Of course, I have no intention of letting him fight alone." Lattena said, wondering where this is going.

"Well, you should know that he plans to bring Malenia with him, it's part of the reason he came to the Haligtree in the first place." Trina said, inspecting the flower before putting it back down and the flower seemed to grow roots digging into the ground. "Miquella is smart but I doubted his judgement with James, frankly I thought he'd die in the first day, when a week went by and he still lived I wasn't impressed but I was surprised, He came recommended by a friend of his you know, a fellow 'officer of the law' he called himself, he said if we wanted someone who would survive in a world like this we'd want him, needless to say I was skeptical but he's proven me wrong three times now."

Lattena was confused by all of this, but Galus did explain he wasn't from here. "What do you mean? I thought Galus came from another country."

Trina laughed. "Yeah, another country in another world."

Lattena blinked. "Another... world?"

Trina nodded. "yes, another world, it's fascinating stuff, there's a world which has many wonderous contraptions, hell Miquella remade a type of metal bow and arrow that uses pully systems, we never did find out what happened to it..."

Lattena frowned. "Uhhh..."

Trina looked like she realized she was rambling. "I'm sorry, I brought you here to ask something of you."

Lattena bowed. "What do you need?"

Trina patted the air. "No need for that. I need you to find my sword, it was last seen in Caelid, it's my gift to Galus and I know he fears Caelid and that fear is not misplaced, the scarlet rot is a vile and corrosive substance that eats steel like paper and that place is very well infested with it, even the sand itself is tinged red with the fungus, You do not need to acquire it immediately but it will be needed eventually, likely after you all kill Mohg." She explains.

Lattena blinked. "Mohg, who's that?"

Trina spat into the dark grass, but then sighed sadly. "Mohg... is filth of the highest order, but he has been mistreated his entire life by his own parents, he is the twin brother of Morgott who you have met, he too is an omen, and because of their royal blood they didn't have their horns cut off, instead they were shackled in the sewers far beneath Leyndell, but this does not justify the atrocity he wishes to inflict upon me, Miquella and the world."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Galus climbed into the aqueduct, and looked back at the other troops. "I'm going to the roots of the haligtree, I'll take two knights with me, the rest of you can go back to your regular patrols."

Two knights followed him into the aquaduct and they walked to where the water poured off into the sea below, he took a second to see take in the view before walking over to the large root that formed a narrow path. "Sir, this may not be safe." One of the knights said.

"It'll hold." Galus said, though he hugged the wall, he wasn't about to die from fall damage after coming this far, gravity has the highest kill count in any game, especially Soulsborne games, but he had to remind himself that this wasn't a game anymore.

He eventually came to a stop when he ran out of wall, there was the end of the root ahead that lead to a roof top thingy, so he leapt onto it and went to the lowest point, he sighed and leapt off. "Yolo!!!!!" He turned to his back and spread out his arms minimizing the impact as he landed on the soft soil, it hurt like a bitch but he didn't think he had any broken bones, he was lucky he'd learned how to fall right. he got up and looked around, the flames of slumber hadn't reached here yet, which meant that he was probably surrounded by rot kin pests, though he hoped they were all still praying, he put up his hood and snuck forward, the knights leapt down beside him. "Let's go, we'll scout it out, then strike surgically."

The knights nodded their helmeted heads. "Sir."